Sunday May 20th

An overcast day, great time to work in garden.  I pulled about half of the pine needles from the blueberry greenhouse.  It should have been done much earlier in the season but so many other things to do at "Snowshoe Inn".  I found that the soil was about 2 to 4 degrees cooler under the pine needles than in open garden.  It is obvious, but good to verify what I expected.  I will return the pine needles to the greenhouse when soil temperature reaches 70 degrees this summer to keep the soil cooler.  I am going to wait a while before pruning the damaged stems this season. I am hoping that much of what I think are dead are not so.  Garlic is still looking great.  The spinach in the cool greenhouse and greens in the grow room are growing faster than we can eat them.  I am going to have to just feed the compost pile soon to keep things going.  The spinach is beginning to show signs of bolting.  I did transplant some more spinach to the open garden so the harvest will be somewhat continuous.  I made up two trays of soil blocks and sowed about one and half last night. I want a potting shed, the greenhouse is too small and too hot this time of the year to work.

Well we had a T'Storm last night but not much moisture.  Oh, it sounded like a freight trail coming down the canyon.  Forecast for this week is much cooler and wet.  They current forecast has Snow later in the week.  Well see if it happens.

Bob

Early Spring

Well it is hard to believe it was 16 degrees a few days ago.  Today it was 80 degrees.  We had mom out for her Sunday at "Snowshoe Inn".  She spent the whole day on the patio with out TV!  I transplanted Walla Walla White and red storing onion plants, also transplanted asparagus root. I wish I know why my asparagus plants were not taking.  If they do not take soon, I am going to dig them up and replace them with something else.   My blueberry's took an other hit this winter.  The plants did not go dormant early enough last winter and tops froze back this winter.   Like I have said if it was easy it would not bee so much fun??   Warm weather is forecast to last a week or so.   We will see what happens.   I need to sow snow peas in soil blocks in greenhouse soon, also squash for transplanting in the middle of June. I noticed that my tomato plants have begin to germinate today.  In six weeks I will have tomato plants to out plant. I hope in 8 weeks to have pepper plants to out plant.  In August I start seedling for my winter garden. 

Keep warm and dry

Bob

Is it Spring Yet?

Well May 4th it snowed off and on all day at Snowshoe Inn.  I do have garlic in low tunnel that is up to 14 inches tall. The garlic in the adjoining raised bed is only partially germinated.  The power of the low tunnel is so evident in my location.  I did out plant some seedlings last weekend, lettuce, cabbage, etc.  good cool weather crops.  They seem to survived the last few nights with temperatures down to low 20's.  This weekend we visited Tiffany in Hermiston and celebrated Ryan's birthday.  Great time to see the kids, they grow up so fast.  I brought up some seedlings for her garden and planted her stock trough again.  3 tomato plants, some lemon cucumbers, green & yellow zucchini, Etc.  Now it is up to her to take care of them.  Upon returning tonight I found my order of onion plants from Johnny's seed in mail box.  With the warmer weather in the forecast I will have to plant 150 onion plants Monday or Tuesday.  I never run out of things to do.  The greenhouse and low tunnels are filling with seedlings and I hope to have most of the summer garden planted by the middle of June.  Soon after that I will begin to sow my true love, the winter garden.  I am really looking forward to expanding that endeavor.  Winter is when I have the time to garden and enjoy the bounty. 

     
                       The first Bickleton blooms, April 15, 2012

 This last weekend was amazing!  One of the many reasons I love living where I do.  Those blissfully perfect days, where the temperature is perfect, the birds and squirrels are tormenting each other in the trees around us, and the smell of cut grass is all around me.

I decided it was time.  I took my starts out and started planting in the raised beds.  I found that my labeling did not "last" the way I had hoped, so I have a few mystery plants that I hope I gave enough room in the bed.  I did direct sow some of the cabbages and cauliflower, just in case...

 

I followed the plan I had built online, and it worked out very nicely.  I did give myself a little too much room on a few of the rows and I had a gap in the middle of my garden, so I planted two rows of corn that were not on the plan.  Derrick didn't want me to plant corn again, but it was one of my most favorite things harvesting last year, so I'm going for it again!

I also wanted to share that having the leaves on the garden made pulling up the few weeds a SNAP!  I only had weeds where the leaves had blown off and they were very minimal.  I'm definitely doing that again next year!

I also see the way with raised beds.  My back and knees are a touch sore today bending over and working in that dirt.  Maybe once a year I'll add a bed to the garden, that keeps the cost down and hopefully as I keep doing this I'll get to know how I like my garden laid out so I don't place a bed somewhere I regret!

Anyway, I hope everyone else has had a chance to get out there and work in there garden!  Tis the season!

Seed Tips

I found this interesting way to plant the seeds for my garden.  I am going to try this when it's finally time to get out there!

-e

Winter letting up some

I was out in the garden today and found my first garlic breaking the ground. It is a variety called Siberian. It is the earliest this season. This is in a bed with a plastic cover to keep snow off bed and warm the soil. The other garlic bed still has 5 inches of snow cover. I also checked out the cabbage bed. I found one small red cabbage that was still firm. I harvested it and we will enjoy it tonight for dinner. :) When the snow melts some more I will look for a savoy cabbage and see if any of them survived the winter. I also have quite a few leeks from last year in another covered bed. Sunday I will go out and sow a few more seedlings in the greenhouse in 68 cell flats. I have a few leeks up now in flats. I will move them out to the hot bed in 3 weeks or so. The cost of heating the hot bed is high so I will keep them in the heated greenhouse as long as possible. By the time the snow is melted off I expect to have many seedlings going ready for transplanting to the garden after the last killing frost.

Last Week February 2012

Well weather remains unsettled. Friday night and Saturday morning we received about 10 to 12 inches of snow at Snowshoe Inn. I had to dig the truck plow out of the snow and put back on truck to clear the roads in the neighborhood and mom's driveway. She got a couple of inches in town. Today Sunday it was clear at 5 am when I feed Pepper, It remains partly cloudy with more sun than clouds. It is in the 70's in the greenhouse today. I picked spinach for tonight's dinner from the greenhouse and will pick some chives tonight for the baked potatoes just before dinner. Also before dinner I will pick some more micro greens from the grow room. I am getting better at growing them. I have learned to sow half a flat each Sunday or Monday, that is about how many we use each week. With two flats going, four half flats, fresh seeded, one week old seedlings, two week old seedlings and harvesting 3 week old seedlings. It is a long time up here at Snowshoe inn before the last frost day passes. One of the hardest things to learn is to be patient and spring will come. Seedlings sown too early in the greenhouse and held too long before transplanting tend not to grow too well when transplanted. I think that was the problem with my cole crops last season.

Keep warm & dry

Bob

Winter Gardening 1st week February 2012

Well the first week of February and winter is still here at Snowshoe Inn. We have about 10 inches of snow pack at the moment. This is much less than "Normal" I have been spending my time with online and hard copy seed catelogs. The internet has really changed things over the past few years.

I did sow some winter crops in the cold greenhouse last fall, but the soil was too dry at the time and germination was poor. I have been grazing off the few spinach plants that germinated for the past month. I am finally getting Bobbe trained to ask me for "fresh spinach" each night for our dinner salad. I also have a few leeks in the cold greenhouse to harvest off an on. I have lots to learn about growing them but they do add to the winter meals.

I did not start the grow room in the basement until late in the season. This year I am harvesting Micro greens. These are red and green mustard seedlings that are harvested at 3 to 4 weeks at the four leaf stage of growth. They add a little spice to our dinner salads and to my sandwiches. I also have some more spinach, arugula, leaf lettuce growing. I should be able to start harvesting the leaf lettuce next week. The grow room is a hydroponic system with a ebb & flow system I have built. It works well if I keep on top of the water system and manage the fertilizers.

The out door garden will not start growing until may for the early crops and 2nd week of June for the warm weather crops. It seems as if I need to plant my summer crops at the same time as I plant my late fall and winter crops. I think over time I will be more of a winter gardener than a traditional summer gardener.

Everyone keep warm & dry

B

January 2012 Storm

Winter has taken it's tole on the lilacs behind the house.  Notice the front 1/2 is laying over from the ice..

Starting Early

I'm so excited for my garden next year I ordered my seeds today online.  I used Territorial Seed company to get most everything I wanted.  I got a few things I didn't even know I wanted too.  Of course I am SURE I will over do it again, I have a feeling that will be habitual, but I'm very happy with my selection this year and variety I plan on planting vs last years masses of squash, kohlrabi and peas.  :)  More variety, smaller quantities!  I have learned something from my first round.  I've also ordered myself some flowers that I read are good for bringing in "good insects" so I hope to not create the aphid smorgasbord that was last years garden.  (Also, Territorial has a nice little garden "planner" that I'm just playing around with.  I think this might be a lot of fun to lay everything out and review before planting.  I really like the idea.)

Sunflowers, Morning Gold, Huckleberries, Blueberries, two types of potatoes, cabbages, green beans, lettuce, spinach and many more!  I've also built a spreadsheet with the dates to start my seeds and when to plant them in the ground and what to plant next to them  .I hope to be efficient with the space I have but there are so many factors to keep in mind.  I get caught up in total overall space but sometimes forget about watering preferences of each plant.  Not to mention the sun/shade needs of each one.  Thankfully most of my garden is full sun,  I have a few spots of shade, and one area under the neighbors pine tree that will be my asparagus home but other than that I'm hoping everything wants the sun!

On a side note, the Jalapeno plant that I re-potted seems to be surviving.  I brought it inside when it started getting cold and it sat unattended for almost a month down in our basement (I forgot about it!) then it was moved upstairs into a room with some sun.  It lost a lot of leaves, but checking on it today it seems to be perking back up.  I think I'm going to actually pot it in a nice pot and keep it year round in the house.  I know it's silly but I really have grown attached to that plant!  I loved the peppers it gave me this year.  I'm seeing it more as a reminder or collectible from my first garden at this point.  I hope I can keep it for a while.

Anyway, I hope your winter gardens are going well.  I find I'm never home before the sun goes down much and I'm a wimp in the cold so I really only have brussel sprouts going now.  Not much else.  I could be doing stuff, the weather has been mild enough but I think I'm a fair weather gardener at this point.

Happy 2012!  I hope we all have a fruitful year in our respective gardens.

Gardening 2nd week December

Well no photos this time. Just reminder of things to do in December. I just finished splitting the last of the firewood for the year. I now have 8 cords in the shed. I am a little bit of an Internet junky and found a great site on you tube. The Victorian kitchen garden. It was produced by the BBC in the "80's I believe. My broad band is quite slow but it is interesting to learn more about how they grew food for "The Big House" in Victorian times.

Also seed catalogs are showing up in the mail. By the first of the year the big box stores will be having generic seeds on sale. Watch the sales and pick up many of the generic seeds for next spring. Remember when the growing season starts for your location and do not sow too soon. I know I always sow too soon and pay the price with slow growth on my gardens.

Keep warm and remember old gardeners do not die they just spade away.

B

Later in Life

I can hardly wait for winter to be over and we're only in fall.  

I found this really great idea for a pathway in my garden.  See the slices of wood?  I think this is such a great look and so creative!  I've attached the website I found it at here.  

  

I also love this idea for some rain storage in my garden so I don't have to drag the hose across my yard all of next year.  I'm sure it will not keep my garden watered all year, but it'll be a nice option to have when we do get some rain.  :)  

Website is here.

Bedtime

I worked on my garden yesterday.  It was the perfect fall day in Portland.  Lots of sunshine and very brisk air.  I didn't get out there until around 1 and by the time I was "calling it a day" around 3pm the sun was already behind the clouds making it feel like 6pm!  I didn't get nearly enough done, but I had let the weeds take over, so the weeding part of my chores were a lot bigger than I planned for.

It was a little heartbreaking pulling out some of the plants that were not quiet dead yet.  I kept hoping those bell pepper plants would produce SOMETHING!  Not one bell all summer.  :(  Green leaves, happy little flowers, but no peppers!  My jalapeno plant...I'm going to try potting it and bringing it inside.  I can't seem to let that one go.  It gave me so many wonderful peppers!  If I can keep it going, I'm going to try.

I think the next time I go out I'll have a more realistic timeline in place.  I have some pea gravel, left over from our french drain that I was going to use in the entry way of my garden.  I got the weeds pulled up in that area, but didn't get the gravel moved.  I hope to do a little each night until it's done.  Maybe on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

As I finish it up, I'll take some "after" photos to share.  All of these were right when I started.  This is the worst of it.

Gardens 2012

Well as we clean out this summers gardens and prepare them for winter it is time to begin planning for next seasons gardens. Each year I get distracted with my business when my garden needs to go into the ground, may be next year will be better. Just work on improving. Today I found an article in "Oregon Live" about pumpkins for eating. Silly thing. Many years ago Bobbe and I searched out information an cooking with pumpkins and everything we found started with canned pumpkin. Times are changing. Last year I did take a real pumpkin cut it up baked it and made a pumpkin puree that we froze. It was fine but the color was very lite and flavor was not very good. next year I hope to try some more pumpkin varieties and see if I can find one that taste great. Pumpkins and other winter squash take up lots of room in the garden but many of them will stay fresh for many months after harvesting. Oh, Bobbe often puts pumpkin and winter squash chunks in soups and stews. A great addition to a winter meal. Now remember if you do plant pumpkins or winter squash, remember they take up a lot of room in the garden. Well see if this works, the link to the Oregon live site : http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2011/10/pumpkin_in_food_its_scary_good.html#incart_hbx

Bob

Got more Zucchini?

Well it keeps coming. Each week I expect it is the last harvest and the hard frosts stayed away and we keep harvesting a few more. The yellow crook neck were a bust but the regular green zucchini keep on coming. I planted garlic last weekend and will be mailing off some bulbs to Ellie Monday. I hope weather is ok for you then. Plant them 2 inches deep 6 inches apart, mulch and enjoy winter. I need to start my grow room soon but too many irons in the fire now. I still need to put up 4 cords of firewood for winter. We plan to work on that today after I do some work.

Bob

Website Share

I found a wonderful website for home remedies for garden pests/problems.  I just thought I should share it here.

Flowers

I am really not that interested in flowers.  I just don't care one way or the other about them, but I was chatting with my physical therapist about my garden and my aphid issues this last week and she mentioned that she plants a row of flowers a row of veg, etc and that she has very little issues with aphids or other common pests because the flowers attract the "right" kind of bugs.  It sounds very logical, so I was doing a little research on it and it seems like this is a really common way that people grow veg organically.  It allows for a reduction in the need for pesticides....

Now I just need to figure out what flowers to plant next to my veg so they are flowering at the right time of year.  This is getting very complicated now!  :)

Butter leaf lettuce (second batch) is really flourishing!!  Pulled out the Kohlrabi last week and I am overflowing with Jalapenos right now.  Probably the best investment in my garden so far.  That plant has produced pretty much the whole summer and now into fall, with some very flavorful jalapenos.  Definitely getting another one of those!!

Anyone else plant flowers with their Veg?  Any luck??  Suggestions for flowers to plant + veg combo?

I've seen a lot of people on the Internet speaking about planting morning glory...but I always thought that was a weed...maybe I'm thinking of the wrong plant??

Also, sun flowers?  I wish it was spring again already....Still love my garden, but it's not as fun to go out there when it's pouring down.

Garden update

Anyone know what that white powder is on my pumpkins?!

Corn Down

So, I pulled all of my corn out of my garden this last weekend.  I boiled it up and then froze it.  I think it still is very tasty.

My carrots are coming out next I think.  The cabbage got away from me and is a pile of mess.  I pulled out the worst of it, but I kept a few I thought I could salvage.  I'm not sure if I waited too long into the season to plant my onions or not, but they really aren't doing much.  They just seem to be dying but when I pull one out they dont' have the "onion" bulb on the end.  It's just the greens coming out of the ground.

My brussel sprouts and pumpkins seem to be the last survivors.

Oh!  I finally gave up on my tomato plants as well.  They are in the compost bin with the corn stalks.  Seems the garden is ramping down for the winter.  Now that we're in a perfectly lovely Portland winter....