Back in the Saddle Again: The Farm Report 03-28-2020

Back in the Saddle Again
The Farm Report
03-28-2020

'Never give in! Never ever ever give in,' said Winston Churchill. And I don't. The billboard tarp is back in place and this time it is fixed tight in place! The minibeds are under construction and I'm a happy, hopeful, camper/gardener again. Annie seems to have lost interest in this project.

How did I do it? Well, these giant ground cover staples saved the day. The really sorry point is that I already had 'em when I laid out the tarp the first time. Apparently they don't work when they're in a box inside the shop. You actually have to poke 'em down through the tarp into the ground if they are to work. I also used an ice chipper to push the edge of the tarp down into the ground all around all around. And on with the show....

I do want to make a point about these little mini-gardens. The wood is not for the classical 'raised bed' idea. I've tried that before in a number of different ways, and it just doesn't work out for me. My climate is one reason. My soil is another reason. Raised beds are touted to allow drainage. My soil is officially Marshal Silt Loam. It is ideal. It is like a cellulose sponge. You can lay a running garden hose on this soil and the water takes a long time before it quits soaking into the dirt. You would think it is sand, but it isn't. With sand, the water would just run through and be gone. With this soil, it is soaking in like water into a sponge. So I don't get soggy soil, and I don't like raised beds. The wood frames WILL give me and my little plant babies some wind protection - and help us all to stay inside the lines when we color.

Got Peas! Who knew it would be this much fun to watch a person's pea in a bucket? (I'm still about 8 years old in my brain....)

My neighbor wants early sweet corn. Sweet corn doesn't sprout if the ground is cold, so you have to wait to plant it. But then one night I woke up with a shocking realization: I have a greenhouse now! So I got some 72 plug trays out and planted my little sweet corn seeds in the plugs (Ambrosia Hybrid if you're curious. It is a sister to Bodacious. Both are extra good.)

Three trays will plant four rows 25 feet long. Perfect to start the season. There are 6 trays here if you're counting. One patch for me, one patch for Lana! And yes, they are sitting on my table saw. I do everything in my shop.

Per Eliot Coleman's ideas, I made up some foam tray holders. They last for years. Tape, glue and foam is all you need to make 'em. They stack for starting.

I sealed them up in a bag to keep them from drying out while they get their legs underneath themselves and begin to grow roots. 'We're alive!' If you try this, remember to open the bag during the day so the air can exchange. If you don't you'll learn all about 'damping off' fungus - and how to steam cook sweet corn seeds. If you're counting, yes, there are only 4 trays here. This ain't my first rodeo kids. The other two are in another place trying to sprout with another method. I hedge my bets whenever I can. 

The hydroponic strawberry patch is recovering. I made a goof. I didn't follow the directions - again. The experts recommend pulling the plants after they've gone dormant and storing them in a protected box of damp chips or sand for the hard winter. Mine were doing so well I kept them in the tubes. They began to grow again about the middle of February. I was thrilled. I was tasting fresh strawberries! Then it got really really cold - and froze off the new growth and killed them.

Winston Churchill also said, 'You can count on the Americans to do the right thing - after they've exhausted every other possibility.' Guilty. His comment seems most relevant to us right now in the Corona War, but for me in the greenhouse, it means I needed to buy in some new strawberry plants. These are Seascape - a day neutral (everbearing) strawberry that is said to love hydroponic growing. Aren't they beautiful plants?! They will live in these little 'net' pots.

I have been accused of needing to 'perfect' everything. Seems logical to me.... So first I cut out the bottoms.

Then I take a scissors and cut one side so the little pot opens like a clam shell.

There's nothing difficult about raising strawberries except they like to be planted JUST RIGHT. Not too deep, not too shallow; just right. See where the roots meet the crown? Get the idea? Not too deep, not too shallow.

Only we're planting in a soil-less hydroponic system. Something's gotta hold 'em in place. I'm using common rock wool insulation.

My clam shell idea worked perfectly! The little plant is in place, at the level it likes, and the roots go through the bottom of the pot without any damage at all.

I have one of those staplers that looks like a pair of pliers. It is one of the handiest things in the drawer. One staple to hold it all together, and we're ready to go into the Hydroponic Tubes where the water and fertilizer can feed and nourish them.

Pop and we're in.

Just one week later, and we're not only in, we're off and running! Strawberry plants seem to love the hydroponic method. AND, I won't have to bend over to pick the fruit! 

This is my garden cart/chuck wagon/plant starter cloche. Yes,  I did sew up the plastic bonnet for the cover on my new sewing machine. I don't sew many bride's maid's dresses (as in none) but I do find that knowing how to sew things together has lots of good uses in the shop - and even in the garden! Since there is no wind inside the greenhouse, any light cheap plastic will do. The bows are made from cheap plastic electric conduit pipes. I pull the cover down at night to help keep them warm. Think 'greenhouse inside a greenhouse.'

Once sprouted in my heated setup in the shop, then the little babies come out to the greenhouse. Every pot is a different kind of plant. Lots and lots of 'em! Once they have their first set of true leaves, I'll pick them out and re-pot them into bigger trays. Those big pots in the back are full of Dahlias. I like flowers, too. They like it warm and take a while to bloom, so I'm giving them a head start in the greenhouse as well.

My garlic! Usually, you plant garlic out in the fall. This year, I didn't get it done. So I tried something new. I put a piece of cling wrap kitchen film over a pint jar (like maybe after I used the beans I'd canned in it?). Then I made a slit and set one whole bulb of garlic in the slit. I filled the jar with water just up to the slit so the bulb would would know there was water down there. Turns out, they love it! I've had these in my kitchen window sill all winter. See the squared off ends of the leaves? I've been cutting fresh garlic for my cottage cheese and sauces all winter, too. I'll definitely do this again next winter. 

I just pushed the cling wrap down to make a little nest for each bulb.

Look at those roots!

So on the way out to the garden to plant the garlic I saw these pretty little flowers. You've gotta love Mama Nature. These flowers are on a really pernicious weed commonly called 'Creeping Charlie.' Hate the weed; love the flowers?

Then I got to the garden. "What's making all these perfectly shaped holes?" I said to mayself. Then I remembered. These holes are where leftover radishes and carrots lived. When I plowed the garden in the fall, they were left behind. Over the winter, the roots rotted away leaving perfect soil aeration pockets. Another reason for fall ground cover plantings!

I'm an old guy with a bum back. Bending over is really hard for me. What to do? Engage brain. I use my little Earthway Seeder to mark off the row. Then I made a little planting jig. I cut a piece of scrap 2-inch PVC drain pipe in half the long way and shaped a pointy end.

To plant my onion plants or garlic, I stood up, placed a plant on the tube at the top end and let go. Like a kid coming down a waterpark slide, PLOP! the plant landed exactly where I wanted it in the row.

PVC pipe is slick inside, so when I pulled the pipe out, the onion stayed behind. A little light soil work when the whole row was set out, and Bob's Yer Uncle, as they say.

Well, it was a long, but happy, day in the shop and the garden. The weather was chilly (cold, Nancy) and I wanted to still be outside. The Front Porch at Oakdale Manor came to the rescue! (FYI, This is an inside joke and I should take a minute to explain it for my readers who are 'not from here.' Where I live, nursing homes for the elderly are usually named 'Manor' something. Like Tabor Manor, or Windsor Manor. A 'country home' is what they used to call the County Poor Farm. So when I call the house 'Oakdale Manor' or refer to it as my 'Randolph Country Home,' I'm not trying to be high-fallutin' I'm just playing on local words and having a personal grin for myself.  Sorry if you didn't get the joke last time. Some readers did ask....) I'm really rural out here, and now I'm really sequestered all by myself, but I'm not totally disconnected. I borrowed from all technology frames and here is how I spent the evening. That is my favorite porch chair there that you can't quite make out. I'm sitting between two kerosene heaters. The one burning on my left was my Great Grandmother, Amanda's Perfection heater. The one on my right is a modern catalytic burner (because I needed two to be comfortable!) and that is my iPad streaming TV shows in the middle. Yep! I'm sitting on the porch in a winter parka coat between two kerosene heaters watching TV on an iPad. But I'm outside! We northern hermits gotta do what we gotta do! It was fun though. I hope the guys in white coats don't come haul me off someday.

And here's what I was seeing off in the distance from The Front Porch. There ain't much night life goin' on out here on the farm right now. That's all I have for night lights. The two on the left are lights on my neighbor's house and barn, about a mile away. The one on the right is a night light on a grain bin about 5 miles away. That's it. There are no other lights to see. Social distancing? Not a problem for me. All is well at Oakdale Farm.