liquid sunshine and the slow moving bandidos

Well rain is usually helpful in a garden but 3 straight weeks of the stuff is not. Certain seeds need heat/sun to even germinate (sprout) and corn is one of them. Beth planted a ton of corn but only a handful have appeared and those only popped up this week. "Knee high by the forth of July" is the old adage for how tall your corn plants should be for them to be ready in time. Ours will be nowhere near that. I've noticed that farmers around us are having the same problem. They're growing feed corn (for animals or fuel, not for human consumption) but even it is tiny and yellower than I remember it last year.
Corn is a tough crop to grow here in the NW. It needs a fair amount of nitrogen in the soil and a long hot summer to really mature. I tossed some nitrogen rich fertilizer in there at the end of the season last year so that should be good but there's nothing I can do with this weather. If the weather stays cool and overcast and rainy then it looks like our corn will be a bust.

We're not giving up! I love to grow corn, its a part of my childhood. I would spend hours in my folk's garden as a kid out in the corn rows playing with my Hot Wheels cars in and around the stalks. I can't really imagine doing a garden without corn but I am starting to wonder if its a feasible crop to grow out here. We're not out of options yet though! We're going to either plant some more seeds or buy some starts to help get us back on schedule. We'll see how it goes. I just wanted to give you all a heads up so that you know our corn production might not be as good as we'd like it to be...

Sadly the weather isn't the only thing that's causing problems with our garden. Slugs are out in force this year. We had a bit of trouble with them last year but nothing like this. They have taken the greens off of almost all the onions (I've been told that the onions will continue to grow without them), they've devoured the little ball zucchinis we had growing and they even took out an entire zucchini plant! There is a "beer method" where you pour some beer into a cup or bucket that is level with the ground and the beer attracts them to the cup where they either drown or get hammered and die I'm not sure which but it sorta works. I wanted a stronger method so I have put a line of snail bait right at the foot of our fence. It shouldn't interact with the veggies at all since we're not planting anything there. Yesterday I checked and at least a couple slugs were reduced to goo because of that line of death. Tanis and I also noticed that they're also getting to the other zucchinis that are in the middle of the garden. since its in the center and not the edge I will employ the beer method. Hopefully the neighborhood cats will leave it alone and not start a kegger next to the carrots.

On the flip side from a weed standpoint the garden is doing awesome! You guys are doing such a great job and keeping them at bay that there hasn't been a real outbreak yet! Woot!

Also the peas and the beans are popping up all over the place! Well not all over the place but all over where they were planted. If everything goes right we'll have lots of beans and peas.

Here's a question for ya! Why is it that snails/slugs don't eat weeds? How awesome would that be if that's all they did eat?! but noOoOoOoo they have to go after the stuff you plant and water, nurture and throw all of your energy into...and when do they attack? At night!!! the bandits!! So annoying!!!! k, I'm done...

Scott

PS - how many people are now picturing slugs with little sombreros on?!....just me?

Three's a charm

Well after about a week and a half of grow time and maybe even some sun the garden had produced more weeds! If it would only product corn as well, Oi!

Saturday Stephanie and Ivy came over and while Ivy, Dylan and I tortured our chronically scared dog with attention and petting Tanis and Steph gave the garden a good once over. They were able to get rid of all the weeds around the corn, yes corn! (more on that later). Again this is more of that detailed weeding that is crucial, time consuming and harder to see which makes the accomplishment feel some what less I'm afraid. No matter tho! They did a great job!! And Ivy carried an impressive amount of pots all at once. very coordinated!

Fabulous job ladies! All three of you!

steady hands

They just keep coming!

Having found a strange attraction to the garden (or a need to have dirt under her nails) Kerri came back in the evening this time bringing with her fellow co-oper, Deana. They were able to do get a lot of detailed weeding done. This is the type of weeding that frequently gets overlooked because its not as flashy as some of the others. Getting down in between the newly sprouted peas and carrots to get rid of those sneaky camouflaged weeds is an important job and they did it incredibly well. I imagine its a little like brain surgery... only replace the brain with little pea starts and the scalpel with slender female hands...Also post op is probably way cleaner! Well it is dirt but I still think it's cleaner.

Good job doctors.. I mean weeders!

"Form of a pitch fork!"

Yet another one...

Wednesday afternoon or early evening or even what some might call dusk... Amy and Anna came out and weeded the whole section between the strawberries and cedar tree so that we can plant there now! I heard Kerri say no less than three times, "I can't believe they weeded all that!" . I had to agree. their weeding proficiency does seem to be above that of normal humans. I have not found out if they form some sort of super weeder only when together (like Voltron or the Wonder Twins) or if they are each individually exceptional... More observation will be needed...

Great job ladies!

Here comes the sun...

Here's another delayed update on the garden!

A couple Wednesdays ago (the 4th) Kerri came over in the morning and Tanis and her weeded the peas, onions, and cucumbers! Not only did they do that but they de-slugged the garden. I wish I could say that was the last of those viscous villains but their numbers seem to exceed comprehension...

Way to sling those slugs!

PS - I prefer squishing them instead of throwing them just so I know that that one at least isn't coming back.

Tut tut it looks like rain...

Rain rain, go away, come again another day...

Seriously...just stop now...

perfect lawn

To all of you who have used rolls of turf or sod to create the perfect lawn I say to you...

YOU CHEAT!!!

That was all...

Scott

Peas a poppin!

The peas are already starting to come up and the ball zucchini have little balls on them!...I probably should have worded that differently...

Tanis and I grabbed a couple more tomato plants this weekend which brings our total up to...uhh... a lot. four or five.. I'm not sure.

We also grabbed some more cucumber starts which still need to be planted and some lemon thyme (which Tanis got for the yummy smell).

While Tanis is off in Spokane with the boy I've been trying to get a bunch of work done in the yard but have yet to get in the garden. :-) I have it on my giant list of things to do but its slipping down the roster since I have more pressing matters to attend to. Like fixing the screen door that the cats busted through or weeding our sad excuse for a front flowerbed that everyone and their neighbor sees. Besides, I don't wanna hog all the fun of weeding! What kind of host would I be?!

Which reminds me. If you are under the assumption that since it's early there aren't any weeds to be dealt with yet you would be mistaken. They're small but numerous, like leprechauns! So feel free to schedule a weed time.

And so it begins...again

Year two!

The garden has been tilled and things are being planted as I type... at least I think so. Tanis planted the onions, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes for Seed's Farmer's Market booth and some of the peas about a week back. We have two tomato plants, but we're hoping to get a couple more here soon.

Today Beth and Kerri came over and helped finish up the planting. Seems like every year (all two of them) we're planting later than we had liked, but I think we're still ahead of last years planting..*quick check at last years post to see when we planted* good gravy we're only two days ahead of last year!! How do ya like that!? I'm personally a little bummed. I blame the weather! Stupid rain, then more rain, then snow, and then even more rain!

anywhoo... mad props and whatnot to Beth and Kerri!

A word from the Mrs:

This morning Kerri and Beth came over and really got the rest of the garden planted! Together we put in another row of peas, carrots, three rows of corn, a row of zucchinis, and planted the green beans! The garden is really ramping up! The little girls did great playing in the yard and Dylan was happy in the exersaucer most of the time. It's always a little more tricky with kids but today was just perfect!

So...now that the garden is mostly planted the next step is making sure it gets watered and weeded. Kerri and Beth planning to come back next Wednesday at 10am and Kerri is coming back with Deana in the evening. I will be gone Sunday afternoon-Tuesday night, but will be back to help on Wednesday. If you want to come over and do some weeding there is definitely work to be done now. The planted rows will need a little time to get established but the strawberries need weeding and also an area between the strawberries and tree. We can plant there once it's weeded. If you have any extra pots sitting around that you'd like to share, we could use them for herbs. Scott got dill, basil, mint, maybe some others that we can plant. I need to get more potting soil...i should be making a list for myself :o)

back to me:

On a posting note I'll do my best to keep this blog updated with the latest from the garden. If I had a better grasp on technology and mass quantities of time on my hands I'd create a garden cam but...that's not going to happen. Instead please enjoy the time-lapse header...which is grossly out of date...sigh...

New member of the family!

So I wanted to introduce the newest member of the family…no not Dylan, everyone knows him.

<- Pic of her to follow shortly ->

This is Bernice. She’s a 6.0 hp Troy Bilt Super Bronco tiller (whew). For people who want the gist, she makes the garden pretty and the dirt soft all while burying the weeds in a shallow grave.

A more detailed spec of her:

• Counter-rotating tines for easy use and greater control
• Cast-iron transmission with bronze gear drive
• 1 forward speed with power reverse
• 16" tilling width
• 10" tine diameter
• Adjustable tilling depth up to 6"
• Just One Hand operation
• 12" ag tires for easier manueverability
• Limited lifetime warranty
• 208cc Troy-Bilt engine (lies! It’s a Tecumseh engine.)


<- Insert Tim Allen grunting here ->

The one hand operation is a bit of a stretch, at least when your garden has a fair amount of weeds in it, which ours did. I was able to operate her with one hand but that was after the garden had been run through a couple of times. So yeah, sure, if you’re dirt is loose and sans-weeds then yes you can do it one handed, but not before then.
We actually got her a couple weeks ago and I should have taken a picture of her when she was brand new clean but I forgot. Now she’s dirty and probably always will be, but she’ll wear it like a badge of honor! I have zero buyer’s remorse which is nice (and rare). I did find a couple design flaws but they’re really minimal and don’t effect the ability of the tiller. Only thing I wish it had is a Briggs and Stratton engine (B&S is the best) and the ability to attach a plow to the backend. The next tiller size up (the Pony) can add a plow which makes raised rows for you. A super nice feature but mine apparently can’t handle it even though there’s only a 0.5 hp and about 2” tilling width difference between the pony and bronco. *rolls eyes* Oh well. Maybe I can jury-rig something.
Starting the ol’ girl is a bit of a chore. I seem to always flood the engine. The first time I tried to start it I spent 15 minutes yanking on it’s cord and cursing the fact that it is a Tecumseh engine. I read and re-read the manual to make sure I didn’t have to pull, push or twist something else to get it going. In the end I just pulled the air filter off and cranked it again and that worked. Seems like the choke doesn’t give it enough air at the start…or I don’t have enough pull. Either way it’s a simple remedy and once it’s warmed up it’s easy to get it going again.

Well that was probably more information than you wanted to know about some random yard equipment but now you’ll totally nail the Jeopardy category “Sign of the Tines”