looking forward to 2014 spring

Lavender Debs wrote:THE FRONT GARDEN: It is mostly dreams. We have a multi pear tree that we want to plant there. But, if there is room, we would like to put in a couple of pie cherries. The Artichokes look like we lost them to the first frost.

Imagine my surprise So we cannot afford to make more SFG's. What to do, what to do? I've been following this guy in Sequim who does this whole, Back To Eden thing. I notice a thread (practically a yarn) on my favorite board, so I have a look see, since we are going to start doing that with the new beds. Who started it and who is the resident expert? Why it is my sweet Rose!!! Suprise! I am only up to page 5 of the post, but am I ever jazzed!

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Debs: You are SO close to The "real" Back to Eden Garden! You should GO!! we ventured 1,500 miles to see it! Worth every moment! He does tours every Sunday at 2:30 during the garden season...you can check on the Back to Eden website for dates. It's amazing! We are doing our beds that style....we're about 5 months in so far. I posted a link above from a "guy" who goes to Paul's house quite often, and posts youtube vids that are really good! would love to hear from you...in the other thread of course

gwennifer wrote:Yeah Plantoid, like I said  - you gotta read the comments under that video to take the idea and make it safer.      Here's another with the same concept, but with conduit instead of an extension cord, a porcelain fixture for the bulb, and the whole thing is enclosed in cement/stone so the waterer isn't sitting over the exposed bulb.  (Plus the inverted funnel over the waterer so the chickens can't jump up on it).

However, since you're relying on the bulb heating the stone that the waterer is sitting on, if you read the comments you'll see people are having a hard time figuring out what wattage of bulb to use to heat their stones up.  

By the way, you're method seems to be an automatic waterer - a way to keep a clean supply of water for the chickens.  I can't see how it keeps the water from freezing?  Maybe I'm missing something.  

 Sorry for not replying sooner.

I'd use a low wattage ceramic black heat bulb suspended by a chain  two feet above the drinker area and have a big reflector shade on it to push the radiated black heat down over the area.

The low spectrum black heat of the bulb/lamp will keep thing quite warm and they are fairly cheap to buy .


See if you can view this site.. the 60 watt bulbs are OK & you can also get them @ 40 watts
http://www.wiltonpets.co.uk/MoreDetails_44430_Black-Magic-Ceramic-Heat-Bulbs.aspx

Yep, that link works Plantoid. Thx.

thanks for the info and drawing plantiod, as seeing how cold our winter is this year....we will need to prepare some kind of heated water for our new hens come next winter....

happy gardening
rose

I've just been thinking about cost of the heater/electricity .. I suppose you could get a mechanical plug in timer ( electronic ones start to die at minus 18 oC /18 oF ) if you set for coming on/off on alternate segments the most you have to cough up is 12 hrs. of power per day .

For a 40 watt lamp that would be ( 12x40 )480 watts per 24 hrs. 

 Round it up to 0.5 Kw/hr per day , here in the UK that would hit us for less than £ 0.17 p per day
 

Work that for the number of days you expect to have to run at  that rate  
 Obviously as already said you'll only need to use it in severe cold weathers.

Read a rumor from one of my favorite face book pages that  is only about 5ish weeks away   with the snow gone and the rain that has set in ...no wonder I was up late last night sowing some spring starts into indoor trays....hoping the weather that has now turned to rain will continue to warm up enough to send our onions and leeks out to our small un heated green house to make room under lights indoors for....
  

lettuce, 7 different kinds with a few new ones.

Old favorites: Black seeded Simpson, Butter Crunch

New to the garden: Red Romaine, Green Towers Romaine, Great lakes which is a head lettuce our daughter wanted to grow, Red fire and lettuce seeds from free seeds from Ray's give away which I believe is some kind of a butter crunch....

spinach, old favorite Olympia and new French Fire Red Orach

celery, old favorite Tall Utah

Cauliflower, early snow ball

Broccoli, old favorite Packman

Cabbage, new from Seattle Seed Co:  suppose to be early 62 days, Golden Acre, not sure if the new Golden Acre green cabbage will compete in size with our all time favorite Danish Ball head 125 days, but an earlier cabbage will be nice and we will still grow our Danish Ball for a fall/winter harvest as its done great each year during our wet, cold seasons...and Im sure our chickens will love its large leaves   

we are very excited to try Red Express from Seattle Seed Co 50-60 days, an early cabbage that is red and was bred to do well in our cool wet weather...we haven't been able to grow a good red cabbage from sowing to the table and hope this will fill the void

bok choi, debating if we should direct sow, or start seedlings as they bolted quite early last year from seedling starts....

in a couple of weeks direct sowing our favorites:

sugar snap peas, old favorite from Ed Humes

potatoes, old favorite Yukon, Russets, reds, and new blue/purple and Russian fingerlings

radish, old favorite French Breakfast

Cilantro

giving turnips another try... new From Seattle Seed Co, Gold Ball

a few carrots,

for fun..... solar yellow, cosmic purple, pellet rainbow,

for early sowing..... Nantindo, Mignon,

early sowing plus trying pellet seeds, Nelson, Napoli, Mokum

Seeds from last year that did ok (we are working hard this year for better carrots) Ingot, Scarlet Nates, King Midas, Bolero, Babette a French baby carrots

lemon grass new haven't tried growing yet

and our Son's most loved Sorrel....he is so excited that we finally figured out his lovely sorrel that he has been eating the last couple of years from his school garden!

What have you sown? or planning on sowing this spring?

Please give your favorites and what you are trying new for

   as it will be here before we know it!

happy gardening
rose

Family.....I love seeing that you are already sowing your seeds.
As for the Red Express cabbage, we are in the north in Maine and we love the Red Express.  Its not huge and fits well in a foot square, too.

Wow, lots of stuff, familygardening. I imagine you'll probably be germinating some of the usual, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash, a bit later?

Re sorrel, that's the one that's supposed to taste like oysters, right? I'm trying to broaden my palate, and either way, that's one I haven't tried yet.

quiltbea wrote:Family.....I love seeing that you are already sowing your seeds.
As for the Red Express cabbage, we are in the north in Maine and we love the Red Express.  Its not huge and fits well in a foot square, too.

quiltbea thank you so much for the feed back on the red cabbage....so glad to hear you love it and its on the smaller size!

we are growing it this spring and was curious if you have tried growing it for a fall/winter harvest? we would plant it under cover in one of our hoop beds....

hugs
rose

Marc Iverson wrote:Wow, lots of stuff, familygardening.  I imagine you'll probably be germinating some of the usual, like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash, a bit later?

Re sorrel, that's the one that's supposed to taste like oysters, right?  I'm trying to broaden my palate, and either way, that's one I haven't tried yet.

Marc yes next will be the warmer veggies tomatoes, peppers and such.....  

this year we are focusing on timing our seedlings starts as to when they are old enough to go outside into the green house the next ones get started....other wise we tend to have babies everywhere in our tiny home, and the more I have been reading the more im finding that tomatoes don't really do to well if you raise them indoors for a long period of time before transplanting them outside....not sure if that's true for us or not, but we are going to give it a try and start them a tad bit later then we have been over the last couple of years......

last year we started tomato and peppers the first of March, this year Im thinking to start them in the middle of march....that way the spring seedlings should be ready to go out to the green house or be out in the garden by then......

then the cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and such should be ready to start indoors the first of April, as the tomato and peppers go off out to the green house sometime in April or May depending on our weather....with our weather we never know if it will be warm enough in May or June for tomato and peppers to be out in the garden.....

there is some kind of timing for these things and yet there is a gamble at the same time LOL we are still working on all this....trying to make it as affordiable and easy as possiable to grow more food   and have a bit of fun at the same time!

Our sons beloved Sorrel I haven't tasted yet....he says its sour kind of like a *Sour Patch Kids candy*   

hugs
rose

Ah, "Sour Oyster" is my favorite candy flavor!

Susan and I just planted the purple beans from Bakers and Provider beans this morning. We have two zucchinis in the beds and spraying organic fungicide and stuff often. They are lovely but tricky here.  We filled out the 4 by 7 bed the other day with planting beets and carrots as well as pole beans and sugar snaps.

Family.....Here's a photo of a few of the Red Express cabbage in my garden.

I used insect barrier to foil the flea beetles.
They are redder when the head-up at maturity.

QB, Looks pretty enough to be in a front flower bed!

kauairosina wrote:Susan and I just planted the purple beans from Bakers and Provider beans this morning. We have two zucchinis in the beds and spraying organic fungicide and stuff often. They are lovely but tricky here.  We filled out the 4 by 7 bed the other day with planting beets and carrots as well as pole beans and sugar snaps.

wow...  you have lots of goodies growing.....what is your weather this time of year?

I love Purple and Provider beans they are the first ones up in the garden   they have always done well for us....this year hubby said he didn't want to plant any bush green beans, because he hates bending over to harvest them....we are getting spoiled with pole beans LOL....I cant help it though....snuck in some of buying new purple bush beans for this year....I want early beans   ours wont be sown for a while now

happy gardening
rose

quiltbea wrote:Family.....Here's a photo of a few of the Red Express cabbage in my garden.

I used insect barrier to foil the flea beetles.
They are redder when the head-up at maturity.

oh wow!! those are beautiful QB!!

the red veins that looks more purple/pink along the leaf are so pretty up against the green like that...when they head up do they keep that color?...just love them! and cant wait to taste them! Im sure they make a beautiful salad!....and cooked...oh me oh my..... do they keep their color once cook?

hugs
rose.....who is so excited over cabbage....not sure why...but we sure do love cabbage that is grown in our back yard....there is nothing that can compare to it.....the taste is so much different then what you purchase at the store....and I keep thinking how much our chickens will love the variety of goodies they are sure to get..... 

I love getting my school work done early so I can use a computer that lets me log in AND see your beautiful pictures!!

Debs..... whose neighbor refilled the tote with perfectly composted horse poo AND gave Ray a couple of cards so we can go and fill the trailer whenever we need to. JOY

FamilyGardening wrote: ....

spinach, old favorite Olympia and new French Fire Red Orach

Cabbage, new from Seattle Seed Co: suppose to be early 62 days, Golden Acre, not sure if the new Golden Acre green cabbage will compete in size with our all time favorite Danish Ball head 125 days, but an earlier cabbage will be nice and we will still grow our Danish Ball for a fall/winter harvest as its done great each year during our wet, cold seasons...and Im sure our chickens will love its large leaves

snip
What have you sown? or planning on sowing this spring?

Please give your favorites and what you are trying new for

as it will be here before we know it!

happy gardening
rose

This was Golden Acre at 1 per square.
Starting about 4th of July, we harvested which ever head looked largest for summer slaw, giving the others room to grow.

This is a good example of a Golden Acre. As the season progressed I had to trim back more slug damage (It was a cool, foggy August that season)

Most of my onions (Red Torpedo and leeks) are out in the green house with spinach and a Valentine Mix lettuce. Artichokes are on the window seal with micro greens. The rest of my onions (new york early) are sprouting on the heat mat with a mild mescaline mix. I am holding back with how much I start because my time is so limited. It has finally got to where I still have some daylight to putze in after school, after I walk the dogs. Yea!!

NOW, about that spinach.....

So happy you have some daylight left after school Debs!! I know how much you miss being out in the Toy box   

Thank you so much for the pictures of the Golden Acre cabbage, good to know that you were able to continue to harvest well into summer   the two beds we are using for our cole crops this year, we will use again, for the same cole crops for a summer planting for a fall/winter harvest....it could just work out that we can harvest and plant seeds or seedlings at the same time....making it much easier this year to continue growing in those beds!

hugs
rose ....who wonders if Debs has tried French Fire Red Orach spinach   

this is what I read about the French Fire Red Orach spinach from ED humes

*Also known as mountain spinach, this green has been cultivated since Roman times. Harvest young leaves 1 to 2 inches long for fresh use. Larger leaves are often used steamed. A colorful and nutritious addition to salads. Leaves can continue to be harvested until plant goes to seed. Can be grown into summer somewhat longer than true spinach. Maturity from 20 to 60 days.*

it looks so pretty too, adding more rainbow color to our diet    

oh im having fun tonight...... look what I found on French Fire Red Orach spinach.....

lots of great history and a neat looking soup recipe  


 http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3692/

you can even enjoy this soup chilled


Red orach sour soup recipe





happy gardening
rose

Wow that red spinach looks very interesting. I like that extra leeway it has to grow further into the summer.

Orach is great stuff. I planted it years ago and it now self seeds and pops up in the early spring garden. We use the early greens in salads and then as it grows in stir frys. Never thought to use it in soup, thanks for the idea.

It is an indicator plant in my garden being one of the earliest plants to germinate. I figure when I see it sprouting I can plant lettuce and Oriental greens and probably carrots. My original seed was for red orach but some how, even with me trying to keep it red it turned green here. O well. Still love it.

Both of my boys and my hubby were home this weekend so I got their inputs on this years garden. I put in my seed orders from Bakers and Territorial.
The result is that this year I will put off trying sweet potatoes again. Just not enough interest. But I will grow some Indian sweet corn. Other new for us will be a couple sweet peppers, now that I have successfully grown a couple hot peppers. A new black tomato (Black Icicle) that is shaped like a sauce/paste tomato and so we hope has similar density.

The main challenge for this year is to finish some major projects started last year. The greenhouse needs a second bed so the tomatoes can rotate. I am moving a few beds to make the pathways easier to negotiate and make one more 3x8 bed.

I am really looking forward to finding out how the asparagus bed over wintered. Will all that effort have paid off or will the roots have rotted like so many before them? Time will tell.

This morning put a trellis across our 7 foot bed because the beans are popping up already. We were so pleased to get great help from the fellow at the ACE hardware store here in Eleele.  We got those short fence poles with the triangles at the bottom, then electric conduit, pvc corners and netting from the guy at the Saturday farmers market from whom I buy some of my plants.  The triangle fence post instead of the rebar that Mel suggests in the book and pvc corners in lieu of metal corners saved us a heap of money.

we had some sun off and on today  

Hubby raised our SFG wooden beds by putting cinder blocks under the bed frames....looks pretty cool....and will give us 48 *1/2 square* planting area in the cinder blocks around the two 4x4 beds...

plus he is going to raise our 1x8 wooden bed with the cinder blocks.... if we can buy some soon ......all the hardware stores in our area are out   then he will add 2 more planting beds connected to the 1x8 bed with cinder blocks, so this area will have a raised 1x8 and 2 smaller ones joined in the front....kind of like a C shape  

looks like    we will be doing a lot of mixing........we are going to use our own home made compost, local mushroom compost and the same company also has a organic compost that is different from the mushroom one...then we will top them with tree service woodchips as a mulch   

today our son cleaned out his self watering container with MM and made sure I took his picture to show you all how big the root system was on his Dino Kale   


he was very excited to find some hidden baby carrots as well   

we also started indoors 41 sugar snap peas, 6 bok choi,...... 4 different peppers a bit early but I want to try pruning them so they will bush out, this will give me more time to do that   

happy to report that all of our cole crops are up and doing great in the green house!, Lettuce and spinach are happy under the light inside....  most everything has germinated   except for the celery.....   its takes foooorever!

today was a good day with lots done and 2 dirty & tired ma and pa and one dirty happy boy!

Happy gardening
rose.....who is off to bed!