eh

I don't have much to report. Friday I spread straw between rainstorms. Saturday it rained and I brought some plants for my friend's balcony garden. Today it got to nearly 95F, followed by severe storms.

I haven't been able to get in the garden for all of the wet. It looks like it might be nicer this afternoon, so I'll be able to check the status of the straw and fill the bird feeders.

I've got to replant the soy beans. They've completely skunked out. I haven't been terribly successful with the lettuce so far, so I may plant more carrot and lettuce seed.

That's about all.

Memorial Day is the standard date to start planting gardens here in Minnesota and farm fields are almost completely planted. I know a lot of farmers were able to plant in early April. I'm not sure if that means we're going to have early crops or bigger crops than normal.

The Pflaum's, the folks that I buy plants from at the Farmer's Market obviously got an early start because most of their seedlings were getting good and root bound last week.

I'm at a tipping point. I could buy a few more packs of plants and fill in the naked spots with a surer thing, or I can plant seeds, wait, and still hold my head high if there are bare spots.

Lots of water

We've had hours of soaking rain for the last few days. It's supposed to rain again tonight so I went to check on things. According to my rain gauge, my garden had more than 2.5 inches of rain, but I think it might have been more. Everything that was in a container was completely overflowing. The seedlings that are still cupped were in a plastic under-the-bed bin. The cups were overflowing. The bin was over flowing. Amazingly, nothing was dead. Everything was turned on it's side to drain while I worked.

We're expecting more rain tonight, but Sunday, it's supposed to be 95F+ and hazy. The rain has been washing away some of my surface soil. The heat will turn the silica left on the top of the soil tough and crusty. Today I cultivated and spread straw. The straw is wet and heavy so I spread it thinly. It's hung up on the leaves, but I expect it to settle in. The onions and garlic are suffering from rain wash, so over the next few weeks, I hope to get them well covered with straw to slow down the rain and keep the bulbs out of direct sunlight. I hope it works.

More and Less

I had a slow start today and couldn't get myself to the garden until this afternoon. I've been 2 days behind on watering, so it had to happen today. I also moved a lot of seedlings to the garden still in their cups, so they'd dry up really fast.

After watering, I grabbed a chair, faced where the sun should be, and read for a while. With the little bit I got, I still turned pink. More to come.

There was a lot of activity this evening. There's always a crowd an hour or two before the sun goes down, but this gang wasn't just watering. Today was a building and planting day.

It really began to feel like rain and I realized it would be a good time to get the cupped seedlings in the ground to get settled in over tonight and tomorrow's rain. The tomato seedlings I started, but hadn't planted toughened up. The plan is that they will climb up the sides of the arbor thingy from the inside and the outside. A few days ago, I saw that some of last week's tomato seedlings completely disappeared, but when I got to digging around, I found them. They were smaller than I remember and they were barely above ground, but they were there and alive. I've got all the tomatoes I think I have space for now. I have more plants. Some will go to friends. Some might be back-ups in another part of the garden.

I put in the last of the peppers that were cupped - at least 7. Looking at them now, I think I've put the peppers too close to each other. There's a big empty spot next to them I have no plans for. I have other empty spots I've decided to keep so I might have room for the squash vines. I'm still not quite sure what I'm doing there. I've been very successful with butternut squash in the past and I've struggled with space. I think I've got it down all right.

The lettuce, spinach, herbs area is really stiffled. Things aren't nearly as far along as I'd like.

I churned and scuffed up as much of the soil as I could to prepare for the rain. Things were getting too smooth and crusty from the rain.

All that's really left to figure out is the brussel sprout bed. The broadcast seeds are coming along nicely. The seedlings that were being out-paced by the weeds last week are big enough to be identifiable. They're turning up in clusters and will need to be thinned. That's happy news. I have some cupped seedlings too. I'm giving them a lot of room. Not only are they delicious, but they're kind of cool. I've seen stalks almost 4 feet tall with hundreds of sprouts. I'll have my own little field of them and I'll harvest after the first frost or two.

More plants have survived that I thought would last week. Less worry, and less dirty work to do. I will watch it grow, harvest in a few weeks, and watch the birds in between. 

I spent some time clearing out the edge lawn-edge of my garden plot. When I was digging out the weeds and clumps of grass, I dug up Japanese beetles and some kind of larvae I've only seen on websites and pesticide packages.

I've tried to be "brave" about squishing up the posts that will ruin my plants, but doing it with my hands is so hard. I have to be wearing gloves, and it helps if I can pick up the creature with soil so I don't have to look at the guts or feel the crunch.

The wind has been blowing around the green mesh fencing I have on the outside edge of my plot. It's an east-west fence and it billows in the northern and southern wind. The posts are holding up well, but the bottom edge isn't secure. When I cleaned it up, I pinned down the edges with garden staples. I probably bought twice as many as I needed, but I'm covered to be sure and I have extra just in case.

I cloched a few of the greens I bought at the farmer's market on Saturday. It really worked well with the spinach and lettuce. In just a couple of days they look really great.

Some of the baby tomato plants I started and transferred to the garden have completely disappeared. Not even a wilted, flattened stem. I hope that they might just be sleeping from the shock and they'll perk up in a few days. It's happened before with other plants, but I've never started tomatoes before. I still have some that haven't been moved, so I will let them grow more before I put them in the ground. I'm very happy to say that not all of the tomatoes I've already planted have died. I'm very excited to see what happens.

I didn't get to the garden today, but I plan on going out tomorrow when it's not very, very hot. I churned up the dirt a bit. With the rain and watering, the silt washed away leaving a shiny shellac of silica on top. The water just runs off to the low spots. So far I'm not able to churn up all of the garden because in areas I've seeded, the plants aren't big enough to see clearly. When the water washes over the top the baby plants are deep enough that their stems are locked into the silica and they aren't washed away.

I'll take more pictures tomorrow. I've also got to install the strings for the beans and other climbers (they're doing great).

This bit of weather coming up is really warm for Minnesota in May. We've had a really warm spring (and winter, and fall), but there is always a chance that something strange can happen with the weather. I think we'll skip the tornadoes this week since it's already been warmish.

Pictures! Tomorrow! Yay!

Weekend planting

We have had a definite break in the rain. Friday we had grey skies and got a trace of rain. Yesterday was lovely. Today and this week are supposed to be great.

I decided to get some herbs from the Pflaum Family at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market. They have been so helpful with my gardening these last few years. They've answered my questions, and best, most happiest of all, the seedlings they sell are totally reliable and only $2 or 3/$5 for pots that are about 2"x2" with several seedlings in each clump. I've made mistakes in the past, killed something I liked, and was able to go back and get some more.

Yesterday, I grabbed a flat and started shopping. I decided to get 3 different varieties of slicing tomatoes, rosemary, basil, lemon basil, lemon thyme, catnip, Italian parsley, spinach, salad mix, pole beans, sweet peas and probably something I'm missing.

I planted everything I bought plus tomatoes, peppers, and some squash. The garden is really filling out. The seedlings help me visualize how the garden will look over time. I can't quite tell if things are too close together. I'm planting double wide rows of peppers and they seem a bit dense. I've staggered the tomatoes into two rows  with some closer and some further from the arbor. I plan on putting twine woven on the arbor uprights to  support the tomatoes.

I bought pole beans. I really like fresh green beans and I really like to watch them grow. They climb so fast. They are next to cucumbers and zucchini. I've set them on the east side of the arbor about a foot from the base. I'm going to run twine from the plants to the top of the arbor.

I'm going to move the last of the seedlings to the greenhouse or maybe outside because the greenhouse is getting really hot during the day. When I was moving things around yesterday, I noticed the spinach seedlings in my apartment were bolting. They're only 2" tall! I'm going to take them outside and shade all of the spinach with a tight weave nylon window screen so they are mostly shaded. I should have put them in sooner. I didn't get any spinach last year - it bolted right away. My book says this is caused by days that are too sunny too long. Wish me luck.

I'm going to try to spend all day outside reading and planting the last of the seedlings and a few more seeds. Everything should be done. All I'll need to do after is water, weed, and maybe thin. Oh, and eat too. The peas should be producing pretty quick.

Sprinkle and little peppers

Today was my first real day of watering. I got to use my brand new Black N Decker spray nozzle and I see that the building has replaced last year's hose that was cracked and leaking. It might even be long enough to reach the whole garden. I am really, really lucky that my plot is closest to the spigot.

Last night, I put about a dozen peppers in the ground - poblano and cubanelle. I put stakes next to all of them so I can see where they were in case they die off. I didn't water them in. Only one was not doing well, and it was really small compared to the rest.

The weeds are starting to pass the brussel sprout seedlings. Since I broadcast the seeds and didn't lay them in rows, I'm not sure what is what right now.

Also, the songbird seed mix got everywhere and it's sprouting. Last year's seed had been neutralized so it wouldn't sprout. Not this stuff. There was so much seed dumped on the ground from the storms that I brought the songbird feeder inside to get the birds to do some cleanup. The nyjer seed chickadee feeder was empty so I refilled it. Since the seeds are so tiny, and the chicks have to pull them out of the sock mesh, it doesn't spill, even when it's really windy. The songbird feeder will go out again tomorrow and there should be some sweet singing tomorrow evening.

I've moved more seedlings from my apartment to our greenhouse and they'll be ready to go outside in a few days. Tomatoes will be last.

*happy dance*

A few days ago, I had a dream about creatures that look like meal worms being inside vegetables that were cut open.

Then I had a dream that my hands were cupped full of seeds and there were meal worms squirming around in the seeds.

This morning, I had a dream that a large part of my plastic mesh fence blew over onto the garden. I went to the garden and my neighbors laughed at me for my lousy fence and when I pulled up the fence to stake it in, all of the soil beneath was carpeted with seedlings. And they didn't have any.

I've had a lot of dreams about the garden, but I think this group means something special.

I haven't been able to work in the garden for days because of all of the rain, but I thought I'd check it. We had rain again today and we got another .25 inch. The bird feeder was completely empty and seeds were scattered everywhere.

I straightened up the fence with the longer poles I bought this weekend and filled the bird feeder.The brussel sprout seeds I scattered are sprouting! Delicate lines of sprouts show where the lettuce and carrots will grow and all of the alums are shooting up green stems!

I'm not sure I should be so giddy. Honestly, this isn't about the wonder of nature, it's about validation that I didn't screw up.

I can hear a lot of birds at the feeder - all kinds of song. I will gladly buy bird seed for having that sound in the evening.

It's rain again

 We had a wicked rain storm again last night. Thunder and lightning and driving rain that sounded like hail.

I checked the rain gauge this morning and for all day yesterday and last night, we had 2.5 inches of rain. That's nearly 5 inches in the last 3 days. We might get rain again tonight.

This morning my squash seedlings were flattened and the leaves were pasted down with mud. The plastic mesh fence caught a lot of wind and  came loose in places - the peas couldn't hold on to it. All of the water highlighted the high spots with sand and low spots with silt. I can level things. Everything is very fixable and it's kind of nice to have a test like this so early in the season

It's going to be good. Hopefully it will be warm enough in 2 weeks that I can get serious about transplanting the peppers and tomatoes.

It looks like the brussel sprouts might be sprouting and the onions are spouting too.

Good stuff.

1st Market day of the season

I went to the Farmer's Market for the first time today. I was looking for the guy who sells cat grass and seeds. He's not there all season, so I was really happy to find him. I got oat grass and wheat grass seed for $5. It's plenty to keep a couple of pots in rotation to keep Emma happy.

I also acquired some head scarfs, sun-dried tomato and roasted garlic oil with balsamic vinegar and I got some mendhi and a bindi from my friend Judi.

It's been stormy for several days now. I stopped by the garden and checked my rain gauge. We got .5 inch of rain last night. We had another really heavy rain this afternoon and we may have more rain tonight.

There are tornado warnings in Minnesota again tonight. Yesterday, a tornado touched down in Kiester, MN (near my hometown) according to a Twin Cities station, but I couldn't get feedback from anyone on FB for details. Social media is the way to go for rural disasters. People can post without electricity or phone and the word can get out fast. Two years ago, there was a lot of damage from a tornado that hopped through that area. I was worried this might be the same, but according to today's news, only one farmstead was hit and the owners actually lived in a farmhouse 2 miles away, so all were safe.

We're in for possible tornadoes in Minnesota again tonight. Before tornadoes come rain, wind, and sometimes hail. Sometimes thunder and lightning.

We won't see the super moon tonight, but we'll get more rain. I'll check the rain gauge tomorrow. It may be around 2 inches.

so nice

I forgot to take a picture of the tomatoes I took to Bible study. I transplanted 48 of the "Red Currant" cherry tomatoes into 3oz paper cups last night. They were all laid out in a shallow bin and I managed to find a home for every one. They were a lot of fun. And I was glad to find homes for them!

I've been so much more successful with seeds than I expected. There is always the chance that I will kill the poor things when I get them in the ground, but the seed stretch is going away and "true" leaves are coming out all over.

I'm really, really happy with the yellow cherry tomatoes. They are getting 6 inches tall, leaves everywhere. It's not weather-safe to put them outside for at least 2 more weeks. They are going to look great.

I stopped by the garden on my way in. The soil is in great shape. In the past, heavy rain would take the soil in the runoff and a layer of sand would be left behind. Then the soil would get really hard and it would have to be cultivated all summer.  Today, the soil is dappled with sand in the rain drop pits, but it's stayed put. The soil didn't run off the mounds and it's all loose and workable. I'm so glad I did all of the pre-work to prepare the soil. I'm very happy.

I checked my rain gauge. We've had 1.5 inches of rain in the last two days. It's been very helpful. The onions and garlic are starting to send up shoots. Rhubarb is coming along. The fence I'm using is plastic and pretty flexible. It's been billowing in the wind. The peas I put in are having a hard time holding on, so I added more stakes. Flowers look very happy. I haven't seen a sign that the seeds are sprouting, but it's been less than a week. This is going to be great.

I plan to get more seedlings ready to go to share when I to to volunteer at church on Tuesday. I still have about 200 seedlings or more of the combined types of seed. I will not be able to use that many, so I'm very happy to share them. So much food from a tiny thing! Nature is wonderful.

abundance shared is abundance doubled

Tomorrow is the last day of Bible Study until the fall. We wrap up with a pot luck and hours of gab. It's not really my thing. I don't eat much. People comment on how little I am eating. I finish eating before everyone else.  You'd be surprised at how much things are about eating when you don't eat.
I LOVE to cook and I'm good at it. I love to cater. I love to set up parties and I love to hide behind an apron. No such luck at a pot luck.

I've been thinking about what I will make for the party or even if I'll go. A few weeks ago, when I was offering someone seedlings, she suggested I bring them to the pot luck as my thing to share.
Easy peasy. I can take them to the party. Make my presence known and dodge out whenever I want because I don't have to wait around to collect my pan or help clean up.

"Red Currant" Indeterminant Cherry Tomatoes

The 36-cell seed starter with tomatoes has been doing really well. Even better than I thought they would be at this point. I pulled out the bin of soil I've got in my living room and the 3oz paper cups I bought and started moving seedlings. I had read something about putting at least three seeds in every container when starting seeds, so that's what I did. I started running out of space so in some of the cells, I sowed five seeds.

I transplanted 40 or so into the tiny cups to take to Bible study and I still had a lot left over. I moved the rest, three to a cup, into the larger party cups that have been in rotation as I've moved seedlings to cups to planting. I lost track, but I think I planted at least five of them with these seedlings. All are watered in.

"Carnival Mix"
Sweet Peppers

I decided to transplant the "Carnival Mix" of peppers from the 18-cell seed starter. These were at least two seeds to a cell, but they're doing so well, it's just a matter of time until I have to move them. So I replanted those too. When I moved them around I realized how well they're doing. The stems are really green and firm; not delicate at all. I moved these three to a cup in the party size cups. All are watered in. I really look forward to see the varieties mature.

I am really happy with how all of this is going. I don't know why I've been so worried. Maybe it's just the wonder of it all. I was genuinely worried that I wouldn't have enough plants from the seeds I sowed and that I would have to buy some from Pflaum's at the farmer's market. Even with all of the sprouts, I've still worried that I would break them or kill them somehow. Last year, things did not go well. I hat lots of weak, spindly seedlings that couldn't handle being moved at all.

I got dirt happy and decided to split up some of the spinach cups too. There are at least five plants in each cup and sometimes many more. The spinach came up OK, but the stems have stayed spindly. Then the food leaves came up, they kept getting longer and longer, just making the whole seedling floppy. The same thing happened with last year's salad mix - they all fell over and died. When they died, I had them in a container and I just left it in the garden. It came back to life and did really well until it bolted.

I'm hoping that this year's floppy spinach, lettuce mix and herbs will revive with more space and heat. I've split my bet though. I've put some of the spinach seedlings in the ground already. Some are in clustered cups, and now some are split up in larger cups. Something is bound to work. I have nearly 50 spinach seedlings between the three settings.

My living room is clearing out. I have cups covering  The Rack, but there are only about a dozen left on the cardboard box island in the middle of the room.  I have some downstairs in the greenhouse too, but I can't remember what is there. These really established tomatoes and peppers could go to the greenhouse now too, but I know my plants are so much further along than the neighbors' and I'm afraid that some will be stolen. It's a sad reality.

Tomorrow after the party, I'm going to check on the peas I transplanted the other day. The rain has been such good timing!

I will take pictures of the minicups for church in the morning. The lighting isn't good here at night.

rain, cheerful rain

It rained last night and this morning we had a heavy rain blow through with high wind. It was supposed to hail to, but we didn't get any here.
There is no need to work at it today.
grow! grow! grow!

Remember, these are BEFORE pictures

Oh, man. I took pictures of my garden plot today and downloading them, they look awful. There is wood everywhere. Right now, I'm using planks to reach into the garden to plant, then backing out and using the plank somewhere else. There's a pile of tools and stakes by the arbor thingy - I'll just call it The Tomato House and the wheely bin is turned over. Embarrassing, but I want to document progress.

Here goes...

The Land. The long plot on the end is mine.

Looking west

Looking east

Onions and garlic near, brussel sprouts and rhubarb far

Rhubarb

Spot for flowers

Soybeans

Marigolds on the fence line keep away pests

The Tomato House

Peas, marigolds ad squash

in the dirt!

It rained last night and the weather is supposed to warm up, and the hose is finally available, so I decided it's time to put some seedlings in the ground.

I am very happy to report that all of the soil prep seems to have done it's job. We've had rain a couple of times now and the top layer has not run off downhill leaving sand. Everything stayed put.

The rhubarb is doing well. The flowers in the bed I put in the other day are starting to perk up, and the marigolds around the garden look very happy.

I decided today is the day for peas. Some of the vines were well over a foot in the apartment and the tendrils were getting frustrated with nothing to hang on to. In they went. I also put in a couple of butternut squash and a zucchini. I have more vines that are ready to go.

It's time to transplant the tomato and pepper seedlings from the jiffy starter trays into cups. They're doing really well. (I couldn't remember which is which because I didn't label them when I put in the seeds. The true leaves are out and now I can tell which are which.)

red cherry tomatoes

mixed sweet peppers

Close-up of the red cherry tomatos

It really, really, really looks like a garden now. I took some pictures while things were messy, but it's a start for the record. Next week it will look even greater. Lots of things should be sprouting.

Warm sunny days, rain at night. I couldn't ask for more.

Oo, I forgot. I put two pepper seedlings in just to see if they will survive. Tomatoes and peppers usually go in about three weeks from now, but it might work. 

: p

Briefly, the hose drama continued today. It wasn't there when I went to the garden. When I came back to the building, my key fob that opens the door didn't work. A regular lobby stalker told me I needed to go to the office to have it fixed. This has happened before - faulty system.
I called the manager at corporate to let her know the hose wasn't available. She seemed pretty interested. Then I went to the office to get my key fob fixed - normally it's either programmed into the system or swapped out.
They were expecting me. Before I had time to say it didn't work, the manager told me it was a loaner and I had to pay for it. I did pay for it. Back in 2010. I asked if she turned it off today she said no, she turned it off yesterday. So, she took time to go through my file to find any problems then she intentionally and manually locked me out of the building.
She locked me out of the building.
She went to the electronic ledger and found the payment in August 2010.
Fuss, fuss, fuss, blah, blah, blah, she couldn't fix it, blah, blah, "a guy coming in this afternoon to fix it, blah blah and she finally agreed to swap it instead of making me wait for the guy.
I called back that manager at corporate and left a voicemail. I haven't heard back.

When I got home, there was an envelope on my door

and on the doors of most of my neighbors.

I've been feeling a big nervy about calling my building manager's boss about getting access to water for our garden. Retribution is always possible. I've considered a "surprise" inspection notice or something like that, but envelopes everywhere was a puzzle.

Today is the day the results of the resident feedback survey were responded to via letter. The letter was signed by the same person at the corporate office I spoke with yesterday about the hose access. The garden was mentioned. The dirty halls and lobby were mentioned. Both are the direct responsibility of the building manager.  I don't want to be her today.

Trying to make it look like I'm working hard

My apron thing fell through. I found a person on etsy.com who had a lot of different styles of aprons available. We chatted online for a couple of weeks and then she sent a message that her real job was getting busy, so she has to back out.

I've been looking all over the net again. I'm a big gal, and I hate to buy something online that may or may not fit. I found a few options, some so inexpensive that shipping would double the cost. I asked a super-sewer friend if she would sew one for me if I provided all the fabric, etc, but her sewing machine is broke. I have a sewing machine, but I don't have any room in my apartment to run a machine. I've used my machine sitting on the floor, but it's not the way to go for a nicely finished project.

I've been looking online for some place that would sell aprons locally. I'm not looking for the regular belt around the neck, belt around the waist, kiss the cook kind of apron. I want something that crosses my back and has good sized pockets for my tools so when I bend over, everything stays where I put it.

LOTS of putzing and I got nothing. I live in Minnesota so searching for "apron" "garden" "smock" "country" "minnesota" "history" "prairie", etc in various combinations gets me all kinds of things that are not an item worn on the torso to protect body and clothes while working.

Even the farm supply store doesn't have anything. I started to look at men's work shirts and thought I could modify the sleeves to be the right length, a little belt cinch in the back. Then I thought I could take some of the spare fabric and make pockets. The shirt is about $22, add some notions and thread and I could get the whole thing done for $25.

DUH. I don't need a brand new shirt. I live by several second hand shops and I'm sure I can find something there for a few bucks. I have to train my brain to remember re-purposing things that are used. I've got "buy" down and "make," but re-make doesn't come to mind readily.

I'm blogging from my volunteer gig at church. When I leave here, I'll stop by Savers and get to work at it.

The hose should be available to us today. I called the corporate office for our apartment complex to explain how difficult it has been to get the hose and have the water turned on.

I've got to run errands and take a nap before I can start the crafty business. It's nice to have this checked off the list.