The Toy Box

The glass bird next to the Aussie yogurt is a gift from my mothers trip to New Zealand.

Deborah ....just remembered

Lavender Debs wrote:The glass bird next to the Aussie yogurt is a gift from my mothers trip to New Zealand.

Deborah ....just remembered

Hi Deb,
I have been to NZ twice for holidays about 30 years ago and Ruth and I plan to go about Sept next year for a month. My Mum has a similar glass bird that she got in NZ years ago.
Thanks for the info about your compost barrels. I have bought 2 and have both full at present, well half full as it wont mix if they are too full I have found.
Have another pile ready to go in as soon as one is empty. I have found they take about a month to compost over summer. Like you find it is not fine like a heap but I dig it in anyway. I have been adding blud and bone, pea straw, house scraps, lawn clippings and weeds from our cottage garden.
I do enjoy all your posts, keep it up.
Cheers Ray
who is going on 10 days holiday on monday

Do you have angle worms in your garden? When I am weeding the flower beds, if I come across a worm I toss it into the bin with the weeds. The reason is because I keep one bin with the door facing up and one facing down. Since the pile only rolls, at least the worms have to move from one place to another and they seem to keep it aerated. (Does that make sense?)

I give each bin 2 and a half rolls when I turn them. Right now I am turning them on every day that is a multiple of 3. When I am less anxious for compost, I turn them on Friday.

The year old compost was heavy and very hard to turn (bin quite full) but the compost was really nice. Just a few potato skins and garlic bottoms that did not break down. The one month old compost is black and crumbly. It is damper then I like but I think that is the wet grass my Ray has put in. I’ve started a grass pile near the garden where I have the guys dump clippings and have been filling a dishpan heaping full of straw dry clippings, adding it to the bin every time I go out to turn them, along with the alfalfa meal or the activator. Offerings from the kitchen come every night. Not much brown going in and I need to figure that out.

Deborah …..way kewl about your vacation. We have one coming up smack dab in the middle of gardening season. I’m up for it!

Lavender Debs wrote:Do you have angle worms in your garden? When I am weeding the flower beds, if I come across a worm I toss it into the bin with the weeds. The reason is because I keep one bin with the door facing up and one facing down. Since the pile only rolls, at least the worms have to move from one place to another and they seem to keep it aerated. (Does that make sense?)

I give each bin 2 and a half rolls when I turn them. Right now I am turning them on every day that is a multiple of 3. When I am less anxious for compost, I turn them on Friday.

The year old compost was heavy and very hard to turn (bin quite full) but the compost was really nice. Just a few potato skins and garlic bottoms that did not break down. The one month old compost is black and crumbly. It is damper then I like but I think that is the wet grass my Ray has put in. I’ve started a grass pile near the garden where I have the guys dump clippings and have been filling a dishpan heaping full of straw dry clippings, adding it to the bin every time I go out to turn them, along with the alfalfa meal or the activator. Offerings from the kitchen come every night. Not much brown going in and I need to figure that out.

Deborah …..way kewl about your vacation. We have one coming up smack dab in the middle of gardening season. I’m up for it!

Hi Deb,
I have a worm farm and toss a few in the bins from that. I find I don't have many worms in the sfg mix. My extra pile on the ground does get a few.
My barrels spin end on end so mix really well, I turn them every second day. They get a bit heavy to spin so I don't fill them more than half but get a full wheel barrow of compost each time. Like yours it is a bit wet often so have been adding some pea straw which we get in small bales for about $7. The barrels are one of the best things I have as you don't need to do heavy digging in the compost pile. We have an advantage that we garden all year round so able to use the compost all the time. I also put a lot in the flower garden as we have very sandy soil.
Beautiful sunny Easter Day here and about to go and water the flowers.
Cheers Ray

There was only half an inch of water in the little rain gauge but a big puddle of water had depressed the small wire cage on box #2. Only one square has been planted in this box and of course, only one square was pressed on by the puddle.


My newly transplanted onions look just fine.


One of the fence panels was blown away from its post and there was a roof shingle on the lawn (not good) but the Quick Shade that Jason and I put up a few days ago is still standing strong with only one little rip less than an inch long. It should be easy to fix with tent tape.

I noticed a funny little "weed" in the lettuce square. I've seen it before but it did not occur to me what it was until I pulled it up and saw that it was attached to a potato skin. OH NO! One of the joys of home grown compost is potatoes. I noticed a couple of them in the spinach square too. I just left them for now; I might make other arrangements for them, but not so close to where I will put tomatoes.


Right now, everything is "after the storm fresh" But this morning the power was out and the wind was howling. Since then the temperature has jumped 15 degrees and the sky has gone from gloomy to glorious. It is probable that I am sitting between two systems. The weather lady from KIRO is saying that the snow level may well drop to sea-level before the day is done.

Deborah ....wondering about the implications for this, the first day of Ray's vacation.

Deb - i was loooking at your first post there with the chicken wire cage around your garden... is it just chicken wire bent into a square or is there some sort of frame? Do you just lift it off when you want to get in? Our property is unfenced right now I and I am concerned for Deer and maybe squirrel - I wonder if that would keep them out? Looks like a great idea!!

Jennifer

Jennifer I will try to get a better post for you when I get home from school today (4/20) but here are the basics.

The base of the chick wire (smaller mesh then chicken wire) cage is a 2" x 2" x 4' frame that fits over the SFG. It is held on with a set of hinges. You can see this frame in many photos. It is leaning against the fence behind the garden. The chick wire is stapled to the frame. The top of the cage is zip-tied (the bright colors) to the sides of the cage. (that might not make sense without a pic and I am running late) My husband used to make frameless rabbit hutches and used the same idea for this. The top and sides overlap about 10 inches and are zipped at both edges (this isn't translating well is it?)

The top is covered with a sheet of plastic because the PNW is more likely to have drowning rain then frost in the spring. The plastic was to keep the garden less wet.

That is the short, rushed version. I have way better pics of the cage before it went on the garden but am out of time this AM.

Deborah ....hope to be back by about 3:30 PM

Hi Deb I do enjoy reading your posts and seeing the pictures of your garden.

I will be interested to follow your progress with planting by the moon. I started a couple of months ago and definately seeing a difference in spinach and silver beet. I planted both in the moon time and some a week later. Probably about 20% better growth at this stage. I put in some turnip, raddish and lettuce seed last sunday, the first 2 correctly by the moon and lettuce not, to see if there was a difference. Turnip and raddish up in 2 days and no sign of the lettuce yet. Planted more lettuce last night in the correct moon time. Will keep you posted.
Ray

There is an icy chill blowing in from the Bearing Sea. At nearly 9 AM in late April I want to wrap one of Rudy Valentine’s fleece blankets around my shoulders when I step out the door. I worry that readers are going to believe that it never warms up in the PNW. I suspect that when the air is warm and fragrant, alive with birdsong instead of howling wind in my ears I become busy with puttering rather than picture taking. Days like today compel me to fill a mug with java and sit close to the warm bellies of sleeping puppies.

Back to the subject of blossoms.

The Yellow Transparent branch of the apple tree is bursting with blossoms. I know that I cannot let it make apples this year but for now I am enjoying the pretty blossoms.



The first time I brought home a trio of blueberries, Bluecrop was one of them. In such a tiny garden as mine, I tend to not buy the common, because, as the category implies, they are common, not only easy to find but inexpensive. With my blueberry shopping I still came home with a common Bluecrop. I only remembered how faithful it was to give me fruit for my morning bowl for some 25 years. Even though Ray moved the mature bushes twice they still gave us berries every year. We must have had twelve different types of plants, both high bush and low, sprawling and vase like. Of all of them, Bluecrop was one of just a couple that always did what they were created to do.



The little pot of strawberries has a promise of soon coming blossoms. Funny how the strawberry blossoms are the last of the berry blossoms to show but the first to fruit. Even the wild blackberry just over the fence is covered with blossoms.



The pie cherries are still a promise.



One last blossom of note is the red Rhododendron that was here when we bought the house. The yard was wild and overgrown when we moved in. Rhododendrons don't mind. She survives the fast games of tag that the puppies play as they throw themselves under the cover of her boughs. Even though her leathery leaves give testimony that puppies play here, she blooms each spring anyway



Since this is a SFG forum, and I am a SFG'ner, here are a few shots of the stars of the squares (as Peter Marshel might have said back in the 70's.

The ever-growing Chinese Peas


The rest of the peas ....sweet, and snap.


Baby Bok Choi


We have already had salad from the toy box. The salad squares are all coming back from that first clipping.


The best surprise (so far) this year has been the heirloom Speckled Trout's Back lettuce. Faintly sweet with a surprisingly nutty flavor. The catalog promises that it holds up well in summer. We shall see.


Finally, the Purple Asparagus. I chose the only slightly green spear for picture day because it shows up against the soil the best.


We still have some Asparagus crowns we would like to find a home for. Ray thinks he should expand the Asparagus bed, which is a good idea. We need to do it soon. The little bed with the white PVC cover is where the some of the asparagus lives. One of the asparagus pots is in the foreground, quickly outgrowing the holding pot it is camping in.


Deborah ....who can see the sun coming through the window but isn't feeling the warm kiss of the rays

I know, not a big deal if you are gardening in California or Georgia, but I am in Washington State and it is a huge deal to me! I should have taken a photo of the plated salad, but all I have is my unwashed radishes.


More cold weather coming in. Chilly today..... oh, hey, that sounds like a great idea. I'm going to put beans to soak while we are at church. I may still end up using canned. I can still get nice peppers (grown in Mexico), fresh cilantro (California I think) and canned Tomatoes from the market the Mexican and Russian momma's shop at, in downtown Everett. The BEST peppers for chili.

My guys had to make a run to Mt. Vernon yesterday for a sprocket to get the garage door opener to work again. I went along for the ride and had them to take me to the Mt. Vernon Natural Foods Co-op. Picked up more seed for summer beans, a small Cinderella pumpkin, a package of dill and plain ol' sweet basil (as if basil can be described as "plain"). I only went for basil. Think I will start a few pots inside today, after church.....and chili.

Deborah... now where did I put that sweater?

Hi Deb,
I did enjoy your little video. A was wondering about the purpose of the calcium tablet in the basket ? I have never heard of that before.

You asked about my winter tomatos. They are growing really well despite our nights now getting down to about 6C (about 42F) It shouldn't get much colder than that. Now about 3 to 4 ft high and all varieties have flowers and one variety Stupice with small fruit. Really excited how they are growing and waiting to see if the fruit actually ripen over winter. There are 15 plants growing. I will upload some more pictures at the weekend. Extremely busy at work and it was nice to come home tonight and potter in my garden. Bok Choi, spinach, silver beet, peas and carrots pulled for dinner tonight. Have lots of cabbage, broccoli, red beet, raddish and cauliflower growing nicely. leeks and onions half grown.

I will be interested to see how your upside down tomato grows. I have a couple of pots that I grow flowers in upside down and that works well. I am sure you will keep us posted.

Ray trying to de-stress in the garden tonight. Might take a bottle of nice red as well.

Thanks so much Ray!

There is a whole discussion going on in another thread about using different forms of calcium to prevent blossom end rot.

I have seen gardeners toss in ground oyster shells to prevent BER. On the thread in the main forum gardeners are using egg shells and I forget what else. I think it was Belfrebat who said that when she sees signs of it she dissolves several calcium supplements into water and pours that into her tomato bed. I am assuming she meant supplements like this, and she did not say how much (several.... but how many milligrams of actual calcium?). I have never done this before with calcium, another experiment. Sometimes it is frustrating to live so far north of gardeners who are already worrying about such things as blossom end rot. Once in a while, like this time, there is an advantage.

One of the Tomatoes is a determinant, the other is indeterminate. I wanted to hang them in the garden area but every post in that space was being used as a backstop for garden covers, future garden covers or was too close to the compost bin.

Awesome news about your tomatoes. Siltz and Stupice were the first two early tomato types on the market for the PNW. I still was wondering if you would actually get tomatoes with the lower light levels of fall and winter. So many veggies are light sensitive. Grow Stupice Grow!! I wonder to myself if you will let them all vine ripen or if you might bring some inside to finish the way the grandparents did in late autumn? It is so interesting to me.

Hope you find that bottle of red to be just the thing. Every day I look at the dandelion blossoms and think, humm, I could be drinking your essence by Christmas if I went and gathered you and your yellow cousins before you turn to fluff. Maybe I will be ready for that by next year. For now I am just so pleased that some sparrow has started a blackberry garden by my back gate.

Deborah .....cheers

Hi Deborah,
I was also planning on planting tomatoes in hanging baskets (a "tasty tumbler" tomatoe), and I thought about putting half a plastic bottle upside down in the middle of the basket to water it through. I used that in baskets with flowers last summer, and it really helped keeping the soil in. I use 50cc waterbottles for it, cut in half, and than I pierce the sides several times with a screwdriver or something. they're only 7 cm in diameter, so they don't take up too much of the surface.

The water bottle is a good idea Mirj, I should have thought of the water problem after the first mat started leaking all over the place. My husband is sure that the mat will absorb some water and swell enough to make this less of a problem. I hope he is right.

I used to keep tall strawberry jars. To make sure that the bottom berries got enough water I would make a wire cylinder that I first wrapped around tightly packed sphagnum moss (do you have that in your area?) When I watered it went right into the cylinder. The moss quickly absorbed the bulk of the water and distributed the water more or less evenly the length of the pot.

I am not that jazzed about upside-down tomatoes, but it is a fun experiment for me. It is the most requested information that visitors ask for. This morning one of them looks fine (the black plum) and one looks violated (Siltz-trying not to use the word "sad" to describe it, I used up my limit of that descriptive word in the video)

Wouldn't you know it.....I put a tomato outside (Ray zip-tied it to the post so it wouldn't swing around in the wind) and wake up this AM to predictions of afternoon hail. Argh!

I'm with you on the turvytops, I think they look silly. plants are meant to grow towards the sun, not the other way!
I bought the tumbling tomatoes because I wanted to put them on top of my rainbarrel to camouflage it a bit. And because I couldn't find them in my area, I bought em online, and they came in a fivepack. A bit more than I can place on the barrel, so I thought, I'll put some in baskets, nice to give away (many birthdays coming up in may/june) combined with some basil, parsley and tropoleaum (don't know the english name for that one) it'll make a colourful present I hope.

We have sphagnum here in Holland too, that's also a good idea. More "natural" than plastic bottles. Works just like vermiculite, actually, holding the water and distributing it. You could fill a cilinder with vermiculite too, maybe. hmm. but not a wire one, I guess.

There I was, minding my own business.....

Isn't that how most great stories start? This isn't a great tale, it is just a rant. At first I thought it was cute. Every time I went out to the box with the home grown compost there would be another potato start. It isn't so cute anymore. If the skin comes up with the shoot than the soil is thoroughly disturbed. If it doesn't then chances are very good that it will send up another start. It isn't blight, it is not a drug addicted child or a cheating husband; I should try and keep some perspective. But can I just say this about that?

ARGHHHHHHHG!!

Deborah ....who feels much better now



Here is one growing under some spininach. I thought is was spinach (shocking, I know) from across the grid.

This one was under the grid between the peas and the beets. I think I was so dazzled by the peas that I didn't look for this one..... although they pop up fast.

This is me, aiming the camera the wrong way because the potato sprouts were making me so crazy! I'm sure that is the problem, it can't be my age or lack of attention can it?

Clipped one last bowl of lettuce before flipping the calendar to May. I have been eating store salads for too long. Can hardly get enough of the fresh stuff. A nice nutty flavor with a perfect balance of sweet to bitter. The sweet nutty flavor is missing from bagged store salad. No wonder we Americans have come to love our strong flavored dressings. It is to cover up the flavor of older lettuce. Fresh greens really do only need the simplest of fruity olive oil, lemon, a dash of vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk it up in the bottom of the bowl, add fresh greens and herbs, light toss and tadaaa.....who needs a main dish? Salad I've missed you.

Oh, and to put April to bed you will never guess what I planted............potatoes. In THEIR OWN BOX. Pink and yellow fingerlings. Spent the afternoon mixing mel's mix for the potato boxes. Felt good.

Deborah .....ready for May Day



Strawberry blossoms

Thank you so much for sharing !! I love the picture you took of the sky and your shoulder !! I laughed out loud when you said cause the taters were making you crazy !! !! Im so glad you share the fun and exasperation, it makes it seem so close to my home!!
I planted russets for the first time in a box, last years were grown in the ground but had very few tiny tiny potoatoes (my soil is almost dead it seems) I have four eyes planted and thought.. how am I going to feed my people with this many potatoes.. so I have another box that needs to be made for them or something. Thank you again for sharing !! Im new here and love seeing everyones gardens
Ha-v-v

No wind, thunder or threat of hail. Just a steady down pour for this May Day 2010. It is warm enough with just a quilt when I am sitting, to have the back door open as I listen to the falling rain. I can tell when there is a break in the rain because the sparrows start singing. The Tomatoes are out getting used to being rained on. The upside-down tomatoes are doing well. There is a mess of odd containers on the back porch collecting rain water. Someday I should find the money and willing labor to install a rain collection system.


If I leave flowers on porches today I will have to buy them. Mine are all covered with big drops of water. (like I need a reason to go shopping at a nursery)

Deborah .....Happy May Day (Thanks Ha!)

It was 38 degrees in the garden this AM. It has not been that cold since February. The weather-underground is setting today's high temp at an unoptimistic 49 with warnings of very cold rain. The finger of Elohim has pushed the Jet Stream far to the south. Just over the North Cascades it is colder still. I ought to stop my whining when I see the snow piled up there. The snow level here is at 1500 feet. If I still lived in Robe Valley, chances are good that I would have woke up to snow.



Sun breaks.... that is what we call it in the North West when there is a hole in the clouds.


Is that sort of odd? The way the rain drops are lined up on the edge of the bok choi as if placed there?


I wish I had picked up more of these wire edging pieces when I found them. The snow peas were streching into the beets area. The fence section fit right in and held the peas up enough to keep them from stealing the rays of the sun on the beets. The bow to stern grid keeps the divider from going too deep into the expensive weed block under the box and the port to starboard part of the grid keeps it from tipping over.


I really need to get out and remove the puppy cover from the first box (the snow peas are too tall to close it). I should probably take the plastic off of both boxes but I think I will wait until the end of the week for the 2nd box. I might just want to cover up all those onions and broccoli. Both kinds of broccoli have sprouted. One is a short season, nutribud, from Greenheart Gardens on Lopez Island. The other is good, old-fashioned "main season" Umpqua from Uprising Seeds in Bellingham. Not much has happened since they sprouted. I think they just feel cold. Same with all the salad that is planted in that box. Most of it has sprouted and is now just waiting for a little heat I think. A couple of cilantro and maybe a fennel or three. Otherwise all is on hold for a change in the jet-stream.

I just got a note that the part I need to make my weed-whacker work again has been shipped. Yea! One thing that does grow very well in this weather is the stuff we like to call the lawn. Not a lot of traditional “grass” but lots of tall green blade stuff, dead-nettle and more that needs the ministry of lawn mower and weed-whacker.

I like to sign off of my video’s with, “now get out and get dirty” Instead, today I will write…..

Deborah ….wipe the mud off your shoes and close the door behind you.