In the Garden: 2022, part 3 - Continuing to Plan

Since my last post (part 2 on 2/2/22 ha), I received all of the ordered varietals and maintained my organization by planting date.  My seed box is packed very full.  :-)

I have a loose plan for what to plant where.

I intended to prune my Black Raspberries in mid-February, but we've actually had winter, including some extremely cold temperatures.... so this has not yet been completed

The "sun room" has not gotten warmer since January, so I'm losing confidence that this will be useful for seed starting.  Which means I will likely be on the hunt for seedlings in mid-May, rather than starting the late-season seeds here...  on the bright side, I will have lots of late-season seeds for next year.  :-D

I still need to clean out the beds and improve the soil with the alpaca and goat manure we've collected thus far.

I also need to firm up the compost location.

While there is always more to do, and it is snowing today, there are signs of spring... Robins, Red-winged Black Birds, tiny bits of green... spring will be here soon.

Garden 2022, part 2

I did not spend much time watching the sun exposure at the new place over last summer.  The photo I shared last time shows the beds being quite shaded by Pine Trees.... though, I do remember it getting hot out there.

I finished compiling my Planting Wish List a few days ago and found my inventory and starting tools.

I organized the existing seeds into one container by planting date, and ordered the remaining varietals, which should arrive in a few weeks.

Personally, I want to be able to put up a lot of vegetables; especially beans, peas, corn, and tomatoes.  But I need to be cognizant of my available time, along with the other projects we expect to be doing this year.  So I will attempt to grow enough tomatoes for canning.... because Hubba says, "Life is too short to eat winter tomatoes,"  and the remainder will be primarily for our own consumption upon picking.

We have a "sun room" on the new house that I was planning to use for starting seeds.  It hasn't been as warm as I expected and it leaks water (the floor is wet from snow melting in January).   So adding that to the fact that it blocks the view of the back yard, it will be going away at some point... in favor of a proper green house and letting more light into the house.

In the meantime, I hope it will warm up as the days get longer, If so, I will start late-season seeds in here around the end of March.  If not, I will look locally for plants that have already been started.

Of the things the former owners did have planted, there were far too many Sunflowers, two extremely large Rhubarb plants and two Black Raspberries.

The Sunflowers will be pulled and given to the chickens if they find their way into any of the walk ways.

Rhubarb, while I enjoy it, is toxic to goats and chickens.  Both of which have access in the current location, so these will either be moved or removed over the summer.

The Black Raspberries were a special treat last summer... so I've been researching how/when to prune them because we definitely want these to continue.

I found a few good resources; Colorado State University Extension, Iowa State University Extension and The Coloradoan.  So it seems like February should be the best time for pruning... keeping 5-ish viable canes per plant at about 18-inches tall.

There is also an ornamental Pear Tree (in the background) and a prolific Crabapple Tree... so while I'm quite disappointed that this is not a fruit-bearing Pear, I will have to try out a few Crabapple recipes next fall.

To the extent that each growing season is a bit of an experiment, this year is absolutely that.

Happy Planning for Planting!

(...and we're happy to finally be having some winter!!)

Garden 2019, part 3

Now that it's starting to get warmer (today was gorgeous) and spring things are available in the hardware stores, I was able to do the first project of the season.... replace the whiskey barrels.

These two half-barrels were left by the previous owners of our house.

They were on our back porch, have had several things in them over the years, and were barely holding together.  So it was time for an upgrade.

I removed the chives (which are starting to sprout!) and added the remaining dirt to the vegetable garden.

I added ~50% alpaca manure to commercial top soil and mixed it together.

I put the new barrels under our rain chains, added the soil mix...

and replanted the chives.

I will add other herbs such as basil, rosemary, thyme, and cilantro once we're passed our last freeze in about a month or so.

It's time to plant the early season seeds in the vegetable garden, but the soil was too wet to work today.  Hopefully the sun and rain will coordinate to give me a good weekend working day soon.  Regardless, it was wonderful to be able to spend some time outside today, playing in the dirt, while wearing short sleeves.

Garden 2019, part 2

My seeds arrived last week, so I took some time over the weekend to plan the layout of my garden.

My intention is to do weekly plantings with a companion strategy.

Normally I just start planting from North to South and plant everything in one shot, according to the weather.

This year, my hope is that if I spend an hour or two each weekend planting, rather than an entire day, we should have a more stable and longer harvest.

I've been interested in companion gardening for quite a while, but this will be the first season where I've put more thought into companions beyond water and sun needs.

Most of my seeds are early season, which means I need to make sure I keep space open for the later and warm season plantings.

I'm looking forward to spring.  :-)

Garden Planning, 2019

I should be able to start working my garden in early-to-mid-March, so now is a good time to start thinking about what to plant.

I used all of my left-over seed the last time I had a garden.  So on a cold and windy New Year's Eve, I went to a few of my favorite online sources for organic seeds and started a list of what I'd like to plant.  I also found this great article comparing organic seed companies at Mother Earth News.

After putting together my wish list, I pared it down.  While my current garden is significantly larger than my previous, it is not as large as I like to think it is... and I've chosen a few varieties that need a lot of space such as melon, pumpkin, butternut squash, and potatoes.

My ultimate goal is to grow the majority of our vegetables, but the truth is until we have a green house it's not likely to happen.  So for now, my goal is to grow some of the vegetables we eat most often.

Happy New Year!

Fiber Arts Friday: Knit Worthy and an Accident

Some people are absolutely Knit Worthy.

These people graciously accept a hand-knit gift.

They love and adore the item for years.

They tell their loved ones how much they love it every time they put it on.

Then one day the item gets misplaced and they frantically search for days.  Only to discover that it found it's way into the laundry.  :-(

When someone loves a hand-knit gift this much, they get a replacement.  :-)

And for this, I love Ravelry!  I did not have much of this yarn left, and had modified the original pattern somewhat.... but I had put the appropriate notes in Ravelry.

Knowing that it had been several years and a completely different state since I purchased this yarn, I took my notes and the tiny bit of yarn to one of my LYSs.  I set out to find something comparable.... a hard thing to do when you know the person loved the original so much.  I came home empty-handed.  :-(

So I decided the check Ravelry on a whim... I found out that this yarn is discontinued, but that several people were interested in selling their stash.

I found a large amount of the same yarn in the same color.  I sent a note inquiring about the stash and crossed my fingers.  By the end of the day, we had an agreement and my new yarn was on it's way.  :-)

I just love Ravelry.  What a tremendous resource.

The yarn arrived earlier this week.  I sent a note to the sender telling her that it arrived and to thank her again.  Then went to add it to my Ravlery stash... only then did I find out that the yarn I just bought was not only the same color, but also the same dye lot!  Wow!! What are the chances of that happening?

And now I not only have enough to replace the hat, but I also have enough to do something larger which I had been wishing I did with the original yarn.  Win-Win.  :-)

The Replacement is now in progress:

Happy Fiber Arts Friday.

Garden: Squash Bugs

I have been very lucky in that all of the vegetable gardens I've had, I've never had an issue with bugs... late freezes, hail, dogs and birds but not bugs.  Until Saturday.  :-/

Miss A was helping me harvest a few veggies when she very calmly told me there were "bugs on that plant over there" and continued checking the other plants for things to harvest.

I verified there was a lot of squash bugs and then quickly had a brain fart about what to do.  So I consulted a few friends and was reminded that dish soap and water should do the trick.

I cut out the affected parts of the plant.  Sprayed a very non-scientific mixture of dish soap and water all over and started looking for the copper colored eggs on the underside of the leaves.

All of that went into the garbage and I sprayed the plant again a short time later.

I also gave it a sprinkling of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) for good measure.

It's a few days later, and it seems that we are now squash bug free.  But I'll keep checking over the next several weeks, just to make sure.

It got me thinking though, how is it that I haven't had an issue with bugs before?  I remember my neighbor saying that she had squash bugs last year, but we did not.

The only thing I really did different this year is the arrangement of the plants.  So perhaps the fact that chiles are not amongst my the other plants is the reason I have bugs this time?  Or maybe there were eggs on my seedlings?  Or perhaps the drought and mild winter have something to do with it.

A Garden Plot

I have mentioned here more than once that I want a vegetable garden.  And finally today, we have a prepared garden space.  :-)

What it looked like this morning.

My awesome neighbor (of plumber sweater fame) broke the ground with his bobcat.

He dug the space to about 8 inches deep then spread the broken ground over the top.

He leveled the space.

Added our Alpaca Manure.

Then let me use his roto-tiller to incorporate the manure.

After about 5 hours of total work, we have a place to plant our veggies this spring.  :-)

It will be a few more weeks before we can plant.  Our official last freeze is Mother's Day.  In the meantime, I will daydream about all the wonderful veggies I might grow this summer.  :-D

One Small Change: Prepare a Garden

Checking in on Earlier Small Changes:
I finally exhausted the conventional shampoo from my May Change and am using more natural products for both my shampoo and conditioner.

While I was looking for more natural shampoos and conditioners, I found a couple of body lotions that I am also trying out.

As far as my June and July Changes.... time and weed management.  Things have been going pretty well.  I think the salt is finally starting to make a difference in the parking area and the blocking of my time has also been working pretty well.  Of course these things are a continual pursuit.

August Change:
Last April I had grand plans of preparing a garden to be ready for planting by Mother's Day.  When I realized that was just not going to happen, I decided I would have it ready to go before the snow flies so it could spend all winter incorporating our yummy alpaca manure.

So the time has come.... some of our other projects are complete and I have a lot of digging to do.  My goal for August is to begin to prepare our garden area so we can plant veggies next spring.

Fort Collins Farmer's Market

Saturday was opening day for the Larimer County Farmer's Market in Fort Collins.

Hubba and I love the Boulder Farmer's Market, but it's a little far to go on a regular basis and we had herd the Fort Collins market was pretty good.

We were not disappointed.  This market is smaller than the Boulder market, but there was a good variety of everything you would expect to see at a Farmer's Market.

Fort Collins was less crowded than Boulder.  I'm sure it will become more busy as we move into summer since this was the first day of the market.

I love shopping at Farmer's Markets because you have a chance to speak with each of the growers about their product.  The food is fresher because it's local and you're supporting local and small businesses directly.

We came home with honey, strawberries, beets, bread, mushrooms, cherry cider and a source for local, organic, free-range turkey and chicken.

We've been looking for fresh turkey since we moved back to Colorado, so the poultry source is huge.  We ate a lot of fresh turkey when we lived in New Mexico and have been missing it a lot over the last year.
The other thing I noticed was that many of the vendors accept food stamps which I think is fantastic.

Happy Summer.

One Small Change: Weed and Time Management

My One Small Change for June was to manage our weeds with boiling water. 

Boiling Water:

It works pretty well for small areas such as sidewalk cracks.  I have had to re-apply in some cases since this method really requires a generous amount of boiling water to ensure the plants are well-cooked.

So I have been boiling a couple pots while I wash the dishes or make dinner.  Which means this process is slow going, but it does work.  Check out this after photo.

Salt:

Since the boiling water works better in smaller areas, I have started using salt in the parking and driveway areas.  I don't have plans to plant these areas in the future and I don't want to weed them next year.  So I'm not worried about having salty soil in the parking and driveway areas.

This method requires a generous amount of salt.  So I shopped around and was able to find 50 pound bags for about $6 each at a local feed store.

After I got tired of sprinkling salt by the cupful, I used our seed spreader.  While the seed spreader layed the salt down evenly, it wasn't enough to greatly affect the plant growth.  You can see that some areas have dead weeds though.  Perhaps if I went over it a few times??

Dig, Pull and Chop:

In many cases, the weeds are too close to plants we want to keep, so we have to do some good old-fashioned pulling.

Someone told me this is called milk weed, but I always thought milk weed was something else. 

Regardless, it's nasty and we have a lot of them. They have a bazillion seeds and are impossible to pull out of the ground. There was one in one of the corrals and the alpacas would not eat it.

My neighbor told me that goats won't eat them either. So I've started to cut the seed heads off and put them in trash bags. Then digging the plant out with a shovel and composting it.

For July - Weeds:

I plan to continue with our weed elimination program.  It's working, but we have a long way to go with the weeds on our property.

For July - Time Management:

While time management won't directly reduce my impact on our environment.  Starting Alpacamundo, moving to our farm in Colorado and working as an IT Consultant all have their place in enabling our goal for a simpler, more peaceful and eco-friendly life.

The problem is all of these things require a lot of my time and energy and the time between them is blurred.  Working from home and commuting out of state are still relatively new ideas for me.  Which means when I work from home, I want to spend time on farm stuff during the day then I stay up late to work on my clients stuff at night.  When I'm traveling, it's the opposite.

Now bats in the ceiling and escaping alpacas need to be addressed when they occur.  But as a general rule I need to be more structured with my time.

So for July, I will block out a weekly schedule for all of my activities.  I will also carry my idea notebook so I can capture ideas and tasks as they come to mind then work on them during the appropriate blocked time.  I feel if I am able to focus my attention better, I should be able to get it all done more effectively.  Then the more effective I am at getting it done, the more quickly we will reach our goals.