Oakdale Farm: The Game Is Afoot! (but watch where you step): The Farm Report 3-16-2019

The Game Is Afoot!
(but watch where you step)
The Farm Report 3-16-2019

The Gardening Game is officially ON! I have begun the seed starting business. First up is leeks. I have for several years enjoyed the BBC gardening shows featuring Monty Don. The English, I have determined, are the real gardeners of the world. They do it in earnest, and they do things in ways that are a little unusual for us. Growing leeks is one thing I have learned to do from Monty Don. Leeks are used in the kitchen as late season/overwintered onion substitutes. In soups and stews, they are delicious. They love cold, and will winter over even in our brutal climate. They take a LONG time to grow, so even though they will be November's crop I need to start them now. I'll teach you how I do it as the season goes on. They are easy and fun. I start them in a little tray with the seeds spread thickly. Not all will make it, so no need to be fussy about spacing right now. Today's goal: Get 'em to grow!

Here's an English Monty Don trick: After the seeds are pressed down into their growing medium (potting soil) I cover them with stone chips. I'm using granite chips I get from the farm supply store - because I have them. Pea gravel would work too. According to Monty, and supported by my own experience, the stone topper provides heat to the seeds, stays dry to ward off the dread 'damping off' disease, and gives the little sprouts something to push up against driving their roots down into the soil.

Of course, I cheat every way I can. I also set the trays on insulated growing boxes with an electric heat mat underneath them. The lights are on a timer. Some seeds need light to sprout (like lettuce) while some don't care, and others need dark. I have a piece of black plastic I can lay over the seed trays for the night owls.

This thermostat controls the temperature in the seed trays. There is a little probe sensor that I stick into the actual potting soil.

With all the tricks and some heat and good luck, after just a few days, Hey Presto!, we have new little plants up and growing. So far, I have leeks, several kinds of onions you just can't get without starting from seeds and some flowers. Fancy geraniums, French marigolds and this year's planter box flowers: salvia. We alternate the flower boxes in front of the shop each year. One year it is salvia, and the next year it is French marigolds. The marigolds had the jurisdiction last year, so it will be fire red salvia this year.

I get a farmer's news rag in the mail. It usually has old pictures from the ag days of the past. This one really caught my eye. They are growing celery in Nebraska! So here's today's 'Joyce Story.' Some years ago when we were visiting our sons in Wisconsin we just had to (had to!) stop at the Jung's Nursery store in Sun Prairie where my son Jon and his family live. Joyce added some celery plants to the loot we were going to drag all the way home. I ridiculed the idea, saying it wouldn't grow, it was too cheap to buy, and why would we ever want to grow that!? I was pretty outspoken. She just smiled at me and told me to pay the bill. I did and we left. Time passed. The celery not only grew, it flourished. It not only flourished, it became MY favorite garden veggie plant. Joyce smiled some more. Why is it my fav? Aroma! We (I) discovered that the celery growing in the garden scented the whole garden from morning to night. My morning garden strolls were greeted with that wonderful homemade soup smell of celery! So, ever since, I have grown celery. We never actually used too much in cooking, and certainly never tried to preserve very much of it. But the fresh product out in the garden is worth every ounce of trouble it takes to grow. Stay tuned; I'll teach you how I do it as we go along. You'll probably want some too.

But let's recap for just a moment. This winter has been absolutely brutal. Did I mention BRUTAL!? This is my good neighbor Steve coming to plow me out for the umpteenth time. His tractors seem to keep getting bigger and bigger as the snows accumulate. Sometime this summer, I'll probably have a picture of my 1947 Farmall M (Emmie) in the show. When you see Emmie, remember that her back tires - the working ones - are smaller than the front tires on Steve's tractor. Emmie has 4 tires including the two little front ones. Steve has 8 great big tires. That tractor is serious business. And the blade ain't kid's stuff either.

My 1952 Henry Ford 8N has a 7 foot blade. I don't know how long Steve's is, but it is WAY longer than Henry's Blade Could this be called blade envy?

Out he goes until next time. We both hope there isn't going to be a next time. Thanks Steve - and Brady!

So even when it is miserable out, there is still some fun to be had. I watched this little squirrel one morning. He was digging for walnuts. He found some too! How do they do that? What was special fun was that the snow was about a foot deep right there where he is digging. He'd dig and dig, then come up for air. He'd look around to make sure he wasn't going to be somebody else's meal, then he'd do a nose dive and only his tail would be sticking up.

It is a little hard to see, but that's him out there with his tail in the air.

Then March came. Just a couple of days after Steve plowed me out, the weather changed. If you're keeping souvenirs then you can call this the March Calendar picture.

Tons of snow, then all of a sudden way above freezing temps during the day and a bright powerful sunshine and guess what you get? Lake Inman behind the shop. The water was almost to my shop door, and the pool was almost a foot deep out there. The ground was frozen, so it just sat on top.

At night, it froze again. My car has been frozen in the ice for about 6 weeks this winter. It is helpless on slick surfaces, but when the tires get frozen into little ice cups, she ain't goin' nowhere. Thank goodness for a 4-wheel drive pickup!

And in case you are keeping Iowa Shop Window Calendar Pictures, you could also call this one the March Calendar picture. About 4 days after the other one where the snows started to melt, they REALLY melted. Poof! all the snow was gone. The ground is deeply frozen. So what happens? Flooding! Walnut creek, that notoriously ornery little creek, loves to flood. It is an old Corp of Engineers case study in what happens when engineering types mess with Mother Nature. It isn't good. Mother Nature will have her way! The Missouri River is flooding now with record highs. Walnut creek backs up into the Nishnabotna river, which backs up into the Missouri river. Where I live, this all happens within a matter of just a few miles. The ducks and geese love it though. Rumor has it that the Corp is using explosives on the Missouri to blast out the ice floes. This might help get the flood waters out. Rumor also has it that the Corp has opened the flood gates upstream at the Gavin's Point dam. Fun to follow. I can remember seeing people water skiing on the flooded Missouri river bottom in 1960. My Mom reminds me that the floods in 1952 were devastating. We're about to break those records, I fear.