Peas Please

Peas went into the ground a few days ago (I'm a little behind on my blogging). According to my records from last year I wasn't close to planting any seeds in the ground yet. So I feel a slight triumph at just being able to plant some things at all right now.

I soaked these peas in water overnight. Just before going to bed the night before I poured the peas in a cup (as seen above) and filled it with water so that all the peas were submerged. The next morning, the first thing I did that day after breakfast was go out and plant those peas.

To make planting easier and faster I thought that I would try something different. I took a plastic mixing spoon from the kitchen which I never use and measured out a couple inches on the end of the handle, marking the inches with electrical tape. My spacing for planting was one inch apart, an inch deep and the rows six inches apart to create a double row, which I read was a more efficient use of space as opposed to single rows. Using the spoon handle I pushed the end in to the one inch mark and repeated. My actual spacing was about three inches for the peas, but it should be just fine. Into each hole I poked one of the seeds and covered them all up when I was done.

I have been watering every day and continue to have high hopes for a pea harvest this year. Last year was a total failure.

Today I prepared a whole new pea bed to plant tomorrow. I'm determined to get peas! This row is at the opposite end of the garden as the first row I planted a few days ago. I worked in plenty of compost too. I guess we will find out within a ... week (?) if I did alright.

Onion Set Planting Time

Things are going in the ground in the garden. I purchased a few scoops of onion sets from my local garden store. For about $2.50 at $1.75 per pound I got enough red, yellow and white onions to plant at least two 15' rows of each.

Anyway, I went about planting some of my sets last week. Onions are fine to plant when the soil temperature has reached 35 degrees. Sets are easy to plant. I space them approximately six inches apart and poke them in the soil so that they are covered by about a half inch of soil. You always want to plant them in the appropriate orientation so that the rooted end is on the bottom when its going in the ground.

One thing I have been thinking about is what vegetables are the most economical to grow in your own garden. Some are fun to grow and tastier than store bought versions but definitely not economical for sure (corn and peas come to mind). However, I was thinking about these little onion sets and was wondering... is it very economical to grow your own onions? I've determined that they are. When visiting the grocery store, I was picking out a red onion to buy and took note that the price per pound for the onion was ... somewhere around $1.35. So for full grown onions they were comparable in a general sense to the price per pound for the onion sets which were $1.75. If I was mathematically inclined I could make some interesting illustrations right now I am sure, but just imagine all those tiny onion sets growing in size and value as they mature... because as my boyfriend pointed out, if the onion set increases six times its size... essentially you've increased your investment by as much. Pretty cool!

Suprise Snake Bathroom Visitor

A snake in my bathroom?

Last night just as I finished brushing my teeth I was met with a surprise. A cute little garter snake. It was quietly (as if snakes are anything else) peering up at me from the bath rug. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I have to say it quite startled me. "There's a snake in the bathroom!", I announced loudly for all of the house to hear.

It was a bit on bigger side for the garter snakes I've seen around here, especially the poor injured one I found in the kitchen this winter thanks to the cat. Could this be one of his relatives? Probably. As we seem to have a nice healthy population of garter snakes around here, I wouldn't be surprised if they were all semi related to all the ones we believe live in the crawl space under the house. Which may just be where he came from.

Since we are going through a bit of an 'unseasonably warm' heat wave, all the doors and windows were open to air out the house. The hypothesis stands that the snake just came in through one of the open doors from their home under our home. Which was exactly right where I returned this guy.

However easier said than done. These little guys are really tough! Unbelievably strong is more like it. He slithered away into a crevice in a corner and then turned himself into a pretzel of snake. Not even a coil as one would expect of a snake. A total pretzel ball of muscle. Every attempt to gingerly pull him out of this position seemed fruitless as it only re-shifted its position and re-wedged himself in this space. This reminded me of the time I found a snake under one of burners of the range top... it tried to escape into the oven and when I tried to pull on it, it was impossible because the snake had wound itself around elements inside the stove. Anyway eventually all of my taunting must have made my bathroom visitor uncomfortable and it somehow found an escape gape in the trim and ventured out onto the open floor where he was easier to grab hold of. "You should put gloves," my boyfriend observed, "what if it bites?". I've handled many garter snakes and have never faced any aggression, they are as harmless as toads.


And no, this isn't some April fools joke, even though the timing was appropriate.

Whats Growing Outside

Wild onions

The rain has finally let up. In the next couple days the temperatures are expected to soar from the 30-40 degree weather we have been having in the last half of the month to upper 60's and even lower 80's on Saturday! What a great way to bring in April!

Warmer and dryer weather? This can only mean that one will find me outside at every possible moment to soak it up and garden away.

Today wasn't 80 degrees, but it did call for a round of photos to update what's been growing around the place. The wild onions (above) I found in the yard. They are easily overlooked, but since I've learned how to identify them I seem to find them in patches of grass where ever I go. You can eat them and use them just as you would chives... as that's pretty much what they are.

Wild garlic

Does the lawn need to be mowed already? Nope- that's wild garlic on the sprawl. Another volunteer that keeps coming back year after year. These guys make pretty decent garlic bread if you have the patience to dig them up and wash all of their tiny bulbs. I forget about them once summer is in full swing, but I wonder how large the bulbs do get- if I were to try digging them up in the fall, would they be an even more worthy treat?

Garlic

On to more domestic edibles... my garlic! This garlic which I planted last November is off to a great start. I planted three rows (for 2009 I had two) and this was the only one I did not mulch with leaves... I wonder if they are growing faster because the soil has warmed up faster... and now I wonder why I mulched the other too (it was because my garden books told me to).

Rhubarb

The rhubarb. Its so pretty, I love all the color and texture of its emerging leaves... which you don't eat. Only the stems are used in cooking (pies and jams in our case) as the leaves are toxic. I don't know how long this patch has been growing on the property, but it was a welcome addition to the palate as I had never tasted rhubarb until last year.

Leeks

Last but not least, the leek seedlings. Oh how I fretted about their germination in February, but they turned out great after all. The year old seeds were planted almost exactly two months ago today. They are getting big enough that I decided to start hardening them off... today... which they were allowed one half hour of pure sunlight. Tomorrow will be more.

The U-Haul Composting Disaster

Half of the load.

Oh boy... where to start.

What gardener could pass up the chance at a huge cash load of compost? This gardening girl could not. After a previous post on composting one can understand that only so much compost can be acquired through the waste produced by their own home and yard. Anything is better than none, but more is better!

That's why when the opportunity to get more had sprouted up how could I not take advantage of it?

So one day I ran into some friends I had not seen in awhile. We got to talking... which usually hits on gardening eventually... whereupon we were reminded of an idea we had come up with earlier in the year where we should all get together one day in spring and rent a U-Haul truck to collect compost for our gardens. When you don't own a truck you have to be more creative at times on how to get things done.

We determined that in two days all of our schedules were positively aligned to allow us to follow through with our compost day plans.

First off, it had been raining. When we got going on that damp Tuesday morning it was chilly and gloomy... but not raining. So far so good. Probably should have checked the weather though.

Our friends car was at the shop, so we had to pick them up before we headed to the U-Haul. This will prove its complications as you will see. First off, I would like to say how proud I am that I was able to fit, four people, ten five gallon buckets, three shovels and a garden fork in my Honda Fit (a small car that lives up to its name).

After renting the U-Haul, instead of driving the truck and the car over we somehow decided it would be better to U-Haul-pool... two people in the cab and two in the ... back? Talking about precious cargo.

We signed in at the public works facility and backed right up to a fresh pile of compost that was just brought over by another friend who I didn't even realize worked at the facility who was operating the heavy machinery there. The first shovels full of compost entered the U-Haul around 10:30am, by 11:30am or a little later we ... were sagging. And by we I mean the U-Haul. It was a bit surprising how fast we filled that thing up! We were in such a routine of shoveling and filling up buckets and emptying them in the truck that no one really thought about... maximum load capacities or anything like that.

Oh my.

So we began to worry... are we over our maximum weight capacity already? Have we gone too far. We stopped loading up the compost and... realized that it wouldn't be safe to allow anyone to ride in the back anymore... because risks of suffocation and death. Therefore, because my car was not there we had to all U-Haul-pool in the cab of the truck... four adults in a three person capacity vehicle. My boyfriend was driving, so one friend sat on the lap of the other and I sat in the middle where I couldn't get my seat belt to work... and our friends' seat belt just wouldn't stretch that far... so you have now three persons driving without a seat belt in a U-Haul truck full of dirt and possibly over their maximum weight capacity.

This situation had us all slightly unnerved. What if the police pulled us over? Our paranoia led us to take as many back roads as possible to our first stop, my garden. This decision was made mostly because the trip to my home had the least steep hill and this made us feel that it would be the safest route to take for our overloaded U-Haul which was definitely not enjoying all our golden compost.

When we pulled into the driveway... we were in celebratory mode, because... we made it! You would have thought we just survived some great battle. We all jumped out of the U-Haul to go inside the house to recover... but my boyfriend was still driving...

Lets back up a second here to our garden fence design, which has an extra wide gate that allows for a truck to drive in if needed to unload manure, compost, a roto-tiller (if we ever get to use one) and other supplies as needed.

...My boyfriend was driving the U-Haul to the garden as was earlier mentioned by myself to the others that this would make it so convenient when it came to unloading (we were already tired as it was). If we were not all so exuberant from our victorious journey, our brains might have been more reflective on the fact that it had been raining for several days in a row. If we had thought it over better... we would have realized what a horrible horrible idea it was to unload the U-Haul at the garden.

When I went back outside, I found the U-Haul stuck in the backyard lawn. I have to hand it to him, my boyfriend made it quite far before it got hampered down by its own weight and the wet ground. It may have well made it if he didn't slow down to turn to avoid a group of bushes.

We did what? We got a U-Haul truck full of compost stuck in the backyard? Yes. And it went from bad to worse as we tried to get it unstuck.

Before.

And not so far after. It got worse believe me.

We tried several ideas for backing it up, but only succeeded in digging the tires deeper into the earth. The ground was just too soft and the truck too heavy. To lighten the load a little we emptied out my gardens' share of the compost. At this point everyone wanted to just get it out as fast as possible to speed up getting the U-Haul out of the lawn. On the other hand, I argued to use the wheelbarrow to fill up instead of just dumping all the compost in the lawn. While everyone dumped the compost onto the lawn I was transporting wheelbarrow full after wheelbarrow full to the rows of the garden. I felt some slight irritation from the other members of the use, but whats the difference if its dumped on the lawn or in a wheelbarrow? I felt this was more efficient in saving energy and time by not moving the stuff more than needed.

To make matters even worse the lawn is sloped, so every awesome attempt we made to back the big boy up only caused it to slide sideways down the hill slightly. Which was always... into the the pile of compost that was just dumped onto the lawn... hysterically. OK, it may not have been funny at the time, but it makes me laugh out loud now thinking about it (actually I think I laughed then too, just not everyone one else who were even more tired and irritated by the whole situation). By driving/sliding into the pile of compost we had to dig the truck out of the very compost we had transported with it. Using the wheelbarrow wasn't such a bad idea after all. On top of that, the truck was ever slipping closer and closer to our perennial rhubarb patch, which is just starting to pop up.

By around 1:30pm we were giving up. Our whole hearted attempts to get the U-Haul out of the lawn only advanced us further into the soft soil. I had in fact renewed my AAA membership and called them up to see if I could use my one of my service calls. Unfortunately AAA said they would not service a vehicle such as our 14' U-Haul. Hmm. By around 2:00pm we bade goodbye to our friends as a taxi (because my car was at the U-Haul store still!!) drove them away (one had to go to work). We all had given up to call a tow truck, but my boyfriend was determined to save money and get the U-Haul unstuck. Which after about an hour or more he too gave up.

Which is why Mr. Towman had to visit our house.

Hello Mr. Towman

Gardening antics for 2010 have officially begun. So what almost destroyed my rhubarb below? Why did Mr. Towman have to visit our house? Are these two things connected? You'll find out later this week with the full story!

The rhubarb is fine. Other things... maybe not so much.

A Turn for Compost

With the wonderful not freezing weather that we have been having so far this March, I decided to start tackling my spring to-do list. One item was to turn our compost. Above in a picture taken on March 10th, you can see the compost pile before. There are so many ways to do composting that there are whole books on the subject. Ours is fairly simple: welded wire fencing was formed into a circle with its ends bent onto itself to hold its shape and staked to the ground for added support.

Compost needs to be turned over every once in awhile to keep it working right. I don't know all the details, but I do know part of it has to do with air. Compost needs moisture, air, carbon and nitrogen (its more like 1 part nitrogen to 20 parts carbon). Bacteria does most of the work after that.

The nice thing about the welded wire fencing compost bin design is that when your ready to turn the compost you simply unbend the wire, peel it off the compost pile and relocate it directly next to it on the ground. I read that if your compost pile is on bare ground its a good idea to loosen up the soil that will be directly under it. This is supposed to encourage the visitation of earthworms who will help in the breakdown of all that organic matter.

This is the after picture.

I took my garden fork and started working from the top down being conscious of mixing in plenty of carbon in the form of dried up leaves from last fall (which we conveniently piled nearby). I stopped forking when I reached a dark layer of rich looking earth.

There is a way to test if compost is ready for the garden (as I understand if its not completely decomposed it can be harmful to your vegetables). One of my books suggests taking some of the compost and putting it in a mason jar for a few days. After that time, if its smells bad- its not ready; if it smells like dirt- your good to go. I haven't performed this test yet, but this stuff looks pretty ready to me. It has been over a year now since we started this particular pile so some of it has to be ready for sure.

If you garden and don't compost- its highly recommended. One thing your garden soil can never get enough of is organic matter. Composting is one of the best ways to produce your own rich source of organic matter. Keep a container on your counter top and toss in all your kitchen scraps, pretty much anything can go as long as 'it was once alive', as my boyfriend states. Empty as needed. Even if you don't garden composting reduces your garbage production and makes it less stinky too. Above as an example we have a variety of vegetable scraps, tea bags, a wax paper cupcake wrapper, and prunings off of the houseplants, but other things that are great are egg shells, nut shells, coffee grinds, hair or fur. From the yard you can add your grass clippings, weeds, leaves just to name a few.

Its not usually recommended to put anything meat-like in compost... but the logic mostly seems to be because it can attract unwelcome critters to the area. However it can't be harmful as I will attempt to argue.
Recently I read Harvest: A Year in the Life of an Organic Farm by Nicola Smith where livestock which died of whatever natural causes would be conveyored out to a massive compost pile outside the barn. This compost was then eventually used in the soil for their crops. This stuck out in my mind... because a farm was able to successfully compost whole animals! My boyfriend has even read of gardeners who will actually use road kill as an add in for their backyard compost. Given all this, I think a few scraps of meat off your dinner plate will be just fine.

One compost no-no I always read about is pet waste. A cat or dogs' excretion can harbor harmful bacteria that is not good for humans to be exposed to... so you certainly do not want your future food growing in it.

In short composting is super easy, its great for your garden and keeps some really great stuff out of the landfill.