Down On The Allotment

One of the things I discovered in New Home 2.0 is that they have a community garden program. Turns out you can get on a wait list.  Turns out that, sometimes, your number gets called.

Welcome to The Allotment.

The allotment (M01) on your map as you follow along) is a 10' x 20'. For this section, I paid the princely sum of $45.00 a year.  I am required to provide 12 hours of volunteer labor.  The site will provide tools and mulch; supplements and plants are our own responsibility.  As a bonus, it is a five minute walk from our apartment.

What am I growing this year?  I have to do some garden design (still a bit early as our nights are coolish to plant).  I order (via the good folks at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company) two varieties of corn, beans, and potatoes.  I have a Spring Barley I will try to get in the ground (so excited be able to run an actual plot of grains in the fall).  Likely some peppers and tomatoes and maybe one (and only one) squash plant.

I am genuinely excited about gardening for the first time a while - with the caveat, of course, that we really all know why I am doing this:

God’s Purposes

Or as C.S. Lewis said in Mere Christianity, "There are only two kinds of people in the end:  Those who say 'Thy will be done' and those who say 'Thy will be done'. "
 

Of Autumn And A Roof Update

 Autumn seems to have arrived with all the subtlety of a freight train.

Our days have noticeably cooled off - and more importantly, the humidity has dropped to levels manageable for human existence.  Some mornings earlier this week were - if you can believe it - actually  cold.  I may or may not have actually have actually used layers for the first time since February of this year.

The shocking thing to me is that this year's transition from Summer to Autumn seems abrupt.  No easing in to anything, no slow slide into another season.  It almost as quickly as the Christmas candies will be appearing in two weeks when we pass Halloween.

This sudden transition has left me in a bit of disarray.

I had not really thought or planned towards my Fall garden, and now I am scrambling to get something in the ground.  I say scrambling; likely we have at least another month of reasonable weather and part of the speed is self inflicted in that I will be at The Ranch next week (where there, it is already wood stove season).  And added to that is the fact that what is currently taking up the bulk of my garden - sweet potato vines - have not yet started to wither, so I am working around them. Still, I managed to clean up the garden this week and get garlic in.  It is something, anyway.

The other big issue is the roof, of course.

I heard back from the construction company.  Turns out things are somewhat as I had anticipated: they were more than happy to be my new best roofing friend with the prospect of an insurance billing paying for everything; with the much reduced amount of our payout, actual economics came into play.  They can only make money if we financed some portion of the roof with a 75% down payment.  I do not inherently mind the statement that they need to make money; I am firm believer we all should.  What I do mind is the illusion of enthusiasm right up to the point of finding out that I was much less of a viable prospect. The even more bothersome thing is that - not totally through their fault) - I have lost about two weeks waiting for all of this to get sorted out.

Another roofing person comes today to confirm the inspection.  I have been quite up front that the payment from insurance has been made and this will be an all cash transaction.  We will see what they come  back with.  I have a base price now for roof replacement, so that is what I will be planning for.  It is doable for us, but not an expense we needed at this time.

Sigh.  The simple joys of any season seem too often pushed out by the realities of life anymore.

2023 Gardening: A's Garden Update

 You may remember that earlier this Spring, I tried an experiment by planting a smaller space in front of our house.  I called A's Garden in hopes it would attract birds:

Almost two month in, we have progress!

The fact that the one side has grown much more than the other is surprising to me.  I am not sure if this is due to seed distribution, watering, or sunlight.

And, we even got some flowers!

I am so used to such things not working in my favor that I am genuinely surprised when they do.

2023 Gardening: A's Garden

(Apologies.  This would usually be a Collapse segment; my heart has just not been into writing it this week.  Seneca will return next Thursday)

The first small space for a garden I wanted to start with this year is the space right outside of our main living room window:

As perhaps can be gleaned from the pictures, originally this had more brush cover but much of it died over the last two years due to our cold snaps.  But my real reason for doing this is that the window makes this a ground level view, both for me from where I work and on the table, from where A the Cat often sits. I was suddenly struck as I was looking at it one day that, due to the hidden nature of the outer brush line, it would make a wonderful sort of "Secret Garden" for A the Cat to spend his time looking out the window at.

The rules that I have are simple:  I need to do something that will be as drought resistant as possible and will require minimal care.  Secondarily, something that will attract birds and insects for A to watch.

The first part was the removal of the dead bushes.  You can see them more clearly in the first picture. One - completely dead - was very easy to remove. The second, not quite dead was not nearly so easy.

After that, it was time for top soil.  I had originally only gone with two bags and raked it...

And then I went back and got another two bags as the first two were not really enough:

For seeds, I had made a purchase from Native American Seeds for the "Pocket Prairie" mix, a mixtures of grasses and wildflowers:

I scattered the seeds:

One thing that I wanted to try was a bird bath.  They are a bit much to buy, but I saw a great suggestion: use the base of a clay pot for one.

I laid down leftover hay from the rabbits to give the seeds a little cover:

That was about two weeks ago this.  This was taken yesterday:  seedlings are starting to pop up.

2023 Gardening: Buying Seeds

 Of course with getting ready for gardening and land re-design, one needs seeds to do it.

It would be fair to say that I have all the seeds I could possible need at this point from previous years of growing or previous purchases.  It would be fair.  But I think it is a form of (helpful) mental instability that almost every gardener I know always buy more seeds  anyway.  

Part of it is to try different or new plants we have not grown in the past

Part of it, I suspect, is also the fact that we like looking through seed catalogs and then ordering.  It combines garden therapy and retail therapy into a nice package - and hopefully, with crops at the end.

As longer term readers may recall, last year my previous long term seed supplier made a decision to be political about an issue they had no need to be political about.  I tend to be a lazy shopper, and the only thing that will encourage me to change vendors is either 1) Bad product and unsatisfactory service; or 2) Choosing sides on things you have not need to and so disrespecting your customer base.  Thankfully, I was able to find the good folks at Baker Creek Seeds:

I have made at least two orders with them to date (and the third one is on the way).  They are prompt, have a wonderful selection and great seed packets, and they send an extra packet of seeds.  They also do non-political sorts of profit sharing for things like agricultural improvements and programs, something I am 100% on board with.  They are good folks, well worth your time and money.

They do not not, however, really carry a large selection of grain or pasture grasses, two things I was also looking for.  Grain is just a habit that I enjoy; although I never really get a huge harvest, it makes me happy to grow it.  And with my work to develop/restore my lawn this year, I needed to find something that was bit more native than the usual Johnson Grass/Bermuda Grass and certainly more drouth resistant.

In the past I have received e-mails (and visited the sites) of Prairie Nursery  and Prairie Moon Nursery. They both have great websites and I would encourage you to go there and look around.  There is a lot in the alternate field/lawn covering and habitat restoration arena I had no idea was out there.  They seem like the sort of companies I need to order something from, if for no other reason than I support the sorts of things they are doing.

Unfortunately, for this initial effort, they do not have anything which seems to immediately fit my bill, as I am slightly outside of the growing zones they target.  So I had to keep looking.

Then, after a fair amount of slowly drifting on the ebbing tides of InterWeb searches, I found the good folks at Native American Seeds:

Also seem like fine folks:  same mission as the folks above, covering a set of different planting zones.  Turns out they did have some of what I needed (what I bought will have to wait for the first few restoration products [I am told this sort of thing is a useful device to build tension and lure readers back]).  They also - thankfully like everyone else - send you a catalog.  In this case, one with a pretty righteous pictures of a puma on the cover:

Because nothing says "I like gardening" like an apex predator on the cover!

This is not to rule out my local non-big box nurseries, and I do need to take some time next week (before Spring gets away from me) to stop by at least one of those as well (they need my support too).

I love this time of year, if for no other reason than the anticipation of growing things has not yet given way to the reality of trying to grow things.  

That, and not matter how much I fail, gardening fills some hole in my soul that nothing else will.

2023 Garden (And Others): Small Spaces

Much like Seneca in yesterday's post. the season for Spring planting is virtually upon us - for better or worse, Spring appears to have already sprung.  The best I can hope for at this point is that Summer does not start in April and extend through October.

As I think I have mentioned previously, between last year's Face Of The Sun event and this Winter's Arctic Blast From The (Glacial) Past, most of what we had as landscaping - to be fair, not much - is pretty much trashed.  On one hand, that is pretty depressing.  On the other hand, it is the opportunity to resign things.

The "redesign" has two elements.  The first is that whatever I do, it needs to be able to manage striking heat, Arctic cold, and periods of drouth.  The other is that rather than try to remake everything, I am going to try to do things in smaller chunks (simply put, I do better with smaller chunks).

What does that mean?

The garden area will be refocused into my two strips, the one that I typically use and the one along the house:

The strip along the house.  Long time readers will note that the lime trees have been pulled out - they did not make it this year, so I made the call.  Of note for both of these areas is that I intend to to use a small scale irrigation system this year - the cost is not much and it will undoubtedly cost me less overall than last year's hose and sprinkler system on a timer.

This stretch is is in front of our house at the front door - not as important to me, but it does matter to The Ravishing Mrs. TB, so I will need to figure out something within the confines of overall guidences.

This last area is directly outside our front window.  Originally there were bushes that grew in the open space there, but they died out in the storm two years ago - however, the outer hedge has maintained itself rather nicely, so it almost a sort of "hidden garden".

My current "office looks out it as well, so improving it will help me as well.

For the larger "lawn" spaces, I am working on locating a drouth-resistant grass that is relatively native that can make do with no formal irrigation system (the cost of installing one is probably daunting enough, but especially in this economy, probably unwise as I will likely not get the value out of it). 

2023 Garden: Planning

 I am trying to get an early start on my garden planning this year.

One of my goals for this year was "Learn more about permacultures and gardening" and do it.  Part of this just stems from the fact that my gardens here have been marginal at best, which is likely due to a combination factors:  poorly chosen plantings (what grew in Old Home will not grow in New Home), erratic water management, some distressingly hot Summers, and dumb luck (always bad).  Part of this also stems from the fact that overall, our suburban home landscape is set up just like everyone else's around here with grass (that never quite gets enough water for the Summer except in an exceptionally wet one) and no sprinkler system (which makes aforementioned watering a chore, as well as expensive).

I have been reading, of course (my solution to everything). A book that I recommend and fully intend to review (makes careful note to do so) is Gabe Brown's Dirt To Soil, which talks a great deal (almost exclusively) about soil restoration as path to topsoil rebuilding, soil improvement, and water retention.  These are all things that my garden - and my yard - would benefit from.

So the "Plan the Garden" project has turned into "plan the garden and improve the entire yard" project.

In terms of the garden, I think it wise to pull the total amount of area I was planting.  Readers from last year may recall The Red Neck Raised Bed, the pile of decaying wood pellets from my rabbits that I attempted to grow sweet potatoes in (and failed badly).   This would not only focus my efforts a bit more, but especially allow me to get my watering more under control

Another note is that the lime trees got hit by the cold snap we had (yet again) and shed their leaves (yet again).  They are going to come out this year for sure; I got one good crop of limes but never another (and I had no idea why they are marketed in my part of the country).  If I can find a mandarin tree that would be even better as they have a lower cold tolerance (but no luck to date) - but even then, I am not planting it in the same place.

What that will leave me with is one section that is 20' x 2'8" and a smaller section (now with the aforementioned lime trees to be removed of 16' x 3'.  That is a total square footage of 61' - which should be enough for me to do some good if I just focus on that area (to more or less the exclusion of all else).

The rest of the yard?  I am really given consideration to treating it effectively as "pasture".  Long time readers may recall I attempted to seed with clover some years back (which did not really take hold).  Brown's book has given me more to think about in this regard - to be fair, the soil hereabouts has largely all been "lawn" for almost 30 years and a monoculture anywhere will strip out certain nutrients.

To be frank, the other thing I am looking for is ease of management.  Assuming the world does not fall apart between now and the end of Autumn (would that this be true), I will likely be away for a bit.  I would like to have something that, with a bit of automated watering, can still be managed even though I am not here.

So I am re-reading my gardening books and my permaculture works and looking at the Baker Creek Seed Catalog and really trying to make hard decisions on what will grow and what we will likely eat.

Gardening:  A practice where hope truly can spring eternal, even in the face of repeated failures

Redneck Raised Bed: Post-Game Edition

 As some readers may recall from earlier this year, one experiment I tried was taking the area that I keep the used rabbit litter in and essentially setting it up as a planting bed as it was already container - The "Redneck Raised Bed":

It seemed like a logical use:  good soil substitute, shaded, easy to water with a little ingenuity.  I planted sweet potatoes - and they grew, luxuriously all Summer and into the Autumn.

Yesterday - as the cold is finally here - I finally went to dig them up:

The final verdict:  Nothing.  Not a single sweet potato.  Perhaps one or two small fingerlings that could be used as seed potatoes for next year.

I believe the technical gardening term for this is "bupkis".  

I am more than a little disappointed - not that anything did not grow as that has happened many times, but that what seemed - and looked - like a logical plan yielded precisely nothing.

That said, taking my wounded pride in hand, I did learn a couple of things:

1)  Things would in fact grow there (I had a lot of vegetative growth);

2)  I could keep things sufficiently wet to grow things.

So maybe the failure is not total - not sweet potatoes, but something else.

Still, I hate it when a plan does not work out as I had imagined.

Baker Creek Seeds

 One of the things I have been in a passive search for over the last 5-6 months is an alternative or additional seed supplier.

Multiple suppliers is a good thing, of course - and especially given the current supply chain challenges.  What added to the need was that my current supplier did a thing that I detest:  they made a political statement about something that had precisely zero to do with seeds.  Make a statement related to what you do, that I can handle. Make a statement about something that has nothing to do with how you make your money...it is a free market.

After some random searching (literally random:  entered "Open Pollinated Seed Suppliers/Heirloom Seed Suppliers" and seeing what came up), I stumbled across Baker Creek Seeds

There is never not a good time to order seeds, right?  So I went through and found three packs (leeks, spinach, and barley) and ordered.  

One immediate good point:  They do not charge for continental U.S. Shipping. So that is already a plus and saves me from buying "extra" to fill out an order.

The seeds came in fancy envelope:

With a fancier back!

When I opened my package, low and behold, I had not three but four seed packets - a free extra (the lettuce below).  When was the last time that happened to me?

Back side of the packets:

I have to say I was quite pleasantly surprised.

My only grouse at the moment is they do not seem to have a lot of grain related seeds (I have this weird interest in grain growing.  Color me silly), but maybe it was the season.  Certainly a company I will be going back to come Spring.

2022 Garden And Redneck Raised Bed Update

I have been remiss in getting my Spring (almost Summer now) garden in, what with the rain and traveling and staying busy - we literally went from the end of Spring to Summer in a week.  But I had a late start to Iaijtustu class yesterday, so I made some time.

As an update, The Redneck Raised Bed is going well.  If you look just beyond the neighbor's squash plant growing through the fence...

You will see the friendly little sweet potato sprouts.  This is promising.  And the watering situation seems to be very effective.

In terms of the rest of the garden, this is what we have (tomatoes and peppers have already been planted):

First thing was to pull up the green onions (I honestly thought they were garlic):

This year's line up:  Black eyed peas, Soybeans, Lemon Cucumbers, Daikon Radishes, Valencia Onions and Mill Creek Onions (from seed; not a lot of expectation there); Okra, Royal Burgundy Bush Beans; Calypso Dry Beans, Lemon Cucumbers, Sugar Drip Sorghum, and a new corn variety, Bloody Butcher (I refuse to not prove I can grow corn here and will continue to rotate varieties):

I got everything into the ground except the Calypso Beans and the Sugar Sorghum , as the Wheat and Rye I planted has not completed the drying process.  Sorghum grows very well here so no worries there.  

As you may remember last year, I took Leigh Tate's most excellent solution of using Ollahs, sealed clay pots, as localized watering points.  These worked okay, but I still had issues with overall dryness. I fully intend to exploit the ollahs again this year, but am also rigging a watering system (hereby called The Redneck Sprinkler System) for daily watering - especially with going back to The Ranch one week out of every four, it just seems like a lower risk overall (yes, I know I am hitting the walkway.  Working on it). It also hits that back section, which now frees that up for a big more usage.  I currently have mint there and it loves the moisture.  I enjoy mint for the odor and the plant itself, so it makes me happy:

The one issue is the spot right under the sprinkler: It is dry (the former sprinkler I was using - which was actually pretty effective - they no longer seem to make.  Trying the other Big Box store today to see what they have).

 In terms of expanding the garden, I am counting the Redneck Raised Bed as my expansion (really, wasted space otherwise).  I think I can make more progress with more intensely gardening the area that I have.

Redneck Raised Bed

 You may remember two weeks ago when, in the question of positing what to do about the Slab in my backyard, I mentioned that I had a rather large pile of degraded wood pellets, rabbit droppings, and hay:

One suggestion - A good one - was to make this a raised bed.  I thought about it, measured out the length, and calculated what it would take in pre-fitted stones to make a raised bed, and balked.  That was a bit more money than I intended to spend.

And then I started thinking.  The chicken wire essentially restrains the materials in there - has for 3 years or more, and I can add hay if I want to give a little more firmness.  I suddenly thought of the concept of a "potato tower":  a container - be it a burlap sack, a paper sack, or even tires - that contained growing medium and potatoes and was used as an in situ location for growing.  Why, I wondered, could I replicate it?

Well, I had seed potatoes:

I made rows and planted them.  I left the farther third "free" of planting - I will dump the new materials there, and then re-rake at the end of the season.

Below is the finished product.  You will note the sprinkler on the bed - given that I travel at least one week a month, it is just easier to have something hooked up to a timer.

To be fair, I have no idea if this actually will work - I have had plenty of "good ideas" that have not.  But worst case, I tried something and failed.  Best part:  total cost of the project essentially zero dollars (yes, I bought a new hose and sprinkler, but I was going to do that anyway).  If it works, I added a bed for no money whatsoever. If it does not work, I figure out something else.

Either way, I win.

Preserving Lemons

 About two weeks ago Nighean Bhan came home with a container of Meyer Lemons from the store - "because they were on sale".  She needed a few to make lemon juice but had a number leftover.  Was there anything I wanted to do them?

If only I had a book...

The recipe that leapt out at me was Moroccan  Preserved Lemons.  They are a staple of Moroccan cooking and I had actually found some last year a a specialty store.  Preserving citrus (beyond drying them) is always of interest to me, so why not?

Step One: Quarter the lemons.

Step Two:  Prepare a container of kosher salt and thoroughly cover lemons with salt.

(Instruction 2.5:  Be aware the combination of lemon juice and salt on small cuts caused by cutting said lemons may induce "sensation"...)

Step Three:  Allow the lemons to sit for 24 hours to soften.  After 24 hours, dry them off (note:  I had no drying to do).

Step Four:  The next day, prepare your other ingredients:  cinnamon sticks (one per jar), garlic cloves (one per jar), black pepper, bay leaves (one per jar), paprika (although not specified, please, please use Hungarian Paprika.  There is no other.), olive oil (the recipe called for a 1:1 ratio of olive oil to vegetable oil, but I am not a fan of vegetable oil), and a sealable jar to put it all in.

Step Five: Create a layer of lemons, then pepper and paprika them.

Step Six:  Cover the layer with olive oil. Rinse and repeat.  At some point drop in one or more peeled and slightly macerated garlic cloves.

Step Seven:  When near the top, cover with olive oil.  Insert a cinnamon stick down the center and add a bay leaf.

Step Eight:  Seal Jars.  Allow to refrigerate for 3 weeks.  Lemons may be used for 6 weeks after that.

I have to confess I am pretty excited about this, not only because it is a new thing (and hopefully a new way to preserve lemons) but the fact that (as The Shield Maiden pointed out) that I will likely end up with a great deal of spicy lemon olive oil, which I am pretty sure will go well with homemade bread.