first harvest of the spring

The first half pound of asparagus has been harvested and will be headed to the big city.  This is from the first asparagus bed that we planted several years ago.  Last year we were able to enjoy a few of the spears but this year we should be able to harvest and use it at will.  We started our plants from seed instead of buying year old crowns so we had an extra year of growing needed before we can enjoy them.  This is the row that is east of the potager and last year I planted two more rows in the big garden and I have seeds started for two more rows that will also go in the big garden a little later this spring.   

April showers...

After missing the last couple of predicted rains we are finally getting some moisture.  So far the rain has been a gentle shower.  I don't have my rain gauge out yet as we are still in line for some lows in the upper 20s and sure enough I would forget to empty it and it would be done for but I am glad to be getting some precipitation.

I have been working on getting the tomato and pepper seedlings up potted into cups and tomorrow should be the last of them.  This year we are trying two hot peppers and a bell pepper.  I have not grown peppers from seed so it is a new this year.  So far they seem to be doing okay.  We selected six different tomatoes, a hybrid slicer, two heirloom slicers, an heirloom paste and two cherry tomatoes, one a standard sized cherry and one a grape sized cherry.  Both of the cherries are heirloom as well.  So far the plants are looking healthy.  It is fun seeing the tub after tub of cups lining the tables and shelves.

I planted a few potatoes.  Last year I didn't get all of my potatoes dug before the snow came.  This year I am going to grow some above ground in containers.  I started some in containers last year but they did not get the attention that they needed as they were in the potager which was mostly neglected.  I am hoping that having them planted in the big garden will work better.

Yesterday I had a chance to work on the raspberry row and the asparagus row that are near the potager.  I raked away as much of the dead plant material as I could but will still need to do some hand weeding.  No sign of asparagus popping through the soil yet but the raspberries are starting to get some leaves on the canes and I noticed some signs of life in the row of sand cherries as well.  Mom and Dad have rhubarb coming but theirs is a bit protected.  Mine is only protected by weeds. :) 

a little progress on the to-do list

Back on January 19 I created a list of goals for the garden.  You can see the list here.  I am pleased to report a little progress on a couple of the items on the list. 

On the weekend we had a bit of sun and some warmth so it was a good day to work outside.  I always like to reuse items if I can and last year Nikole and Brad shared some fencing that they had purchased for their yard hoping to deter their large number of bunny visitors to their garden.  They did not feel that the wire was successful and brought their excess to the farm.  There was a lot of fencing and last year I cut a bunch of it to make a trellis for the pole beans and a second one for the peas.  I used some of it to make a few tomato cages from this plan.  I wanted to see if I liked them and if they worked as well as advertized (they did) I would make more.  I also had spotted a couple of wooden rectangles constructed of 2z4s in the machine shed that at one time had belonged to my dad and he was willing to share so I topped each of the frames with fencing to make racks for curing/drying vegetables after harvest.  This was not on the to-do list and would not be needed until harvest but since they required a bigger section of the fencing it made since to cut those bigger pieces first and then the smaller pieces for the tomatoes from what was left.  I was able to get fencing cut and attached to the 2x2 posts to make six tomato stakes.  I have a bunch more to do but was glad to have gotten a start.  The next warm day I hope to knock out a few more. 

Also on the list were several items in the greenhouse. I am always looking to make better use of the limited growing space in the greenhouse.  Note to anyone thinking of building a winter growing space: if you can, build it bigger than you think you want!  Back in December I added a shelf for germinating seeds.  I was able to find a coated wire shelf at Menards that fit my seedling heat mat and mounted it on the wall.  This freed up table space for another couple of tubs of lettuces.  Not long after that Caitlin and I were back at Menards and bought 10 metal L shaped shelf brackets to put on the East and West end walls for more shelving.  This shelving would hold flats of seedlings that come off the heat mat and trays of shoots and cresses that are grown right in the black trays.  I put up four of the brackets and scrounged up two 48 inch long pieces of plywood for two four foot long shelves on the west wall.  For a few days the boards rested on top of the shelf brackets without being fastened as I wanted to make sure that I had it right before committing to it permanently.  I was kind of glad that I waited to fasten as I decided that I would put longer boards and more brackets onthe west wall and move the shorter boards to the east wall. I left that arrangement for a couple of days to make sure that it was right and then fastened it all down.  Number of square feet of growing space added: east wall 8, west wall 16.

east wall

west wall

I did something similar to create suspended shelves over the row of tables in the center of the room.  I wanted a way to use the space above the tables without too much shading of the plants on the tables.  I picked up a couple of coated wire shelves and temporarily hung them with bale twine to see if I liked it.  Once I determined that it would work we purchased more shelving and used hardware and chain that dad had to permanently hang the shelves.  Number of square feet of growing space added above tables: 20.

temporary suspended shelves

new chain supports replace the twine

I am thinking that those spaces will become vital once we get started with growing the summer transplants.

Right now I start my winter greens seeds in the greenhouse but I am starting my tender summer plants in the house where the temperature is consistently warm.  When I have guessed that we are done with below zero temps I will move the seed starting out to the greenhouse but for now, when it drops to way below zero even with supplemental heat it still may drop down to 25° in the greenhouse overnight.  25° degrees is tolerated by the greens but most of the others would be goners.  It is kind of early yet for starting most things but the asparagus seedlings are up and flourishing.  On my to-do list is an item to plant the remaining asparagus.  I am planning four 16 foot long rows of asparagus in my big garden. One went in two years ago and another two went in last year and the last will go in this spring.  We have started all of our asparagus from seed and had good success. 

asparagus seedlings

 Because the asparagus seed packet did not fill my tray I planted some herbs thinking that even though it was too early to start seeds for transplant to the outdoor garden these could be potted up as houseplants until spring.  So I planted some of two kinds of basil, some sage and some thyme.  Below is a basil seedling.  It is so darn cute but also pretty amazing.  It is less than two inches tall and has four leaves but even when it was only two leaves it already had that wonderful basil aroma.  One little whiff has me dreaming of caprese with homemade mozzarella and ripened-on-the-vine-and-warm-from-the-garden tomatoes.

baby basil plant

Think spring!




   

a few signs of spring

We had four tenths of an inch of rain overnight along with some thunder and lightening.  More is predicted for this evening and overnight and we are in a tornado watch.  It would seem like spring has arrived.  I did a little tour of the growing spaces looking for evidence of spring's arrival and some plants are showing no evidence.  Lots of trees are not leafing out yet but a few have started.

The flowering ornamental from Nikole

The west apple tree

The east apple tree

one plum tree

the other plum

The replacement pear planted last year

No potatoes growing yet but I checked the peas and found a few were starting to sprout.

The rhubarb that was not visible a couple of days ago now looks like this.

The raspberry plants that I transplanted from where they were growing wild in the grove are starting to get some green on them.

Our first asparagus spear has started to grow.

 There is a bird nest on the grape arbor.  No signs of life yet from the grape vines but it seems that they have usually been later to come around.

The fern peony is coming along.  Nearby is one of Sadie's favorite places to lay so I have added a tomato cage in hopes of preventing it from getting napped on.

And a couple other signs of spring:

The grass is green and needs to be mowed.
Gemma was outside of the fence and couldn't find her way back in today.  Twice.
We have seen our first wood ticks and garter snakes.
We have had invitations to three weddings, two college graduations, one high school graduation, prom grand march, three May birthdays, a three day weekend and mother's day.

And Sadie manages to find every new pile of weeds or freshly turned earth to sleep on.  Gotta love her.  Yesterday I missed getting pictures of her sleeping in the center raised bed in the potager and the day before I missed getting a picture of her sleeping on the compost pile. 

Here she is on a new pile of weeds that had just been raked out of the flower bed and not yet picked up. 

Someday I am going to do a post that is just pictures of Sadie napping in different spots on the farm.  She is a sweet girl and the farm wouldn't be the same without her so I don't really mind if she flattens a few flowers.


 

a few tomato pictures for nikole

We started a few tomato seeds a while back in order to check their viability.  It was my first attempt at saving tomato seeds and I wanted to make sure that they would grow before we sent off our seed order in case we needed to order replacement seeds.  And they grew, so now we are keeping them under lights and the next experiment will be if we can get a jump on the season and see how these really early planted transplants do.  But in the meantime here are a few pictures:

These are the tallest plants Brandywines and pastes

shorter plants under a shorter light source

these are paste on the left and cherry on the right

baby basil seedlings

asparagus seedlings

We have about 35 tomato transplants started.  I thought I planted 27--nine of three kinds.  Once it warms up they will go into bigger pots and out to the greenhouse.  I think I will try planting some in permanent containers which can then be moved outside and some will be transplanted into the garden once it warms up.  Conventional wisdom is that transplants that are too large do not transplant well so it will be an opportunity to do some comparisons. 

I also decided to try growing onions and leeks from seed for the first time.  I picked up a couple packets of seeds and am starting them in a thickly planted container and will separate them once they are sprouted into individual cells.  We will see how that goes.  They are on  the heat mat but not sprouted yet.

The weather forecast is suggesting that this is our last really cold day for a while with a little warm spell coming.  I am sure it is not the last subzero weather we will have but any little break is welcome. 

asparagus update

I am wanting to expand our asparagus plantings.  Two years ago we started some plants from seed and put in one row of asparagus near the potager between the transplanted black raspberries and the blueberry plants.  Last year we let them grow but did not harvest them.  This year we should be able to eat some of our asparagus.  Now I have been eying the cornfield. I have a row of posts that I am in the processing of installing to divide the north half from the south half.  My plan for the posts is to have them hold sprinklers so that I can irrigate the cornfield without having to drag hoses between the plants possibly damaging the plants in the process.  I am also planning to place house numbers on the posts to help with record keeping.  The posts are installed every five raised rows.  Last fall I dug up a few more raspberry canes that grow along the grove and planted them between two of the posts.  I plant to do more this spring using every other section.  I will plant asparagus in the alternating sections.   The pictures are kind of dark but you can see the raised rows in the front, the row of poles and the corn stalks behind.  I still have a few rows to build and posts to install at the far end but hopefully an early spring will allow those to be finished as one of the first spring projects. 

 On January 23 I planted a 9 cell pack of asparagus plants and put them on the heat mat.  On the 31st I planted another 9 cell pack.  Between planting the first set and the planting the second set I did a little reading and found that some people were suggesting soaking the seeds just prior to planting so I did that with the second batch.  So far three seedlings have popped thru in the first batch with none yet on the second batch.  I have quite a few more seeds to plant and was reading today that the asparagus seeds can take up to ten weeks to germinate.  So today I soaked and planted the remaining of my seeds so I have just over 100 more seeds in cells and on the heat mat.  If we get a good rate of germination in a couple years we should have plenty of  asparagus for our family needs with some to sell at the end of the driveway in the farmstand. 

I have been working on the awning for the farmstand and have it built and just need to install it on the farmstand.  I am thinking it is going to take a second pair of hands to put it on.  It will be hinged so that it can be moveable if needed.  I still have the end cap for the roof to put up but I wanted to have Cait put some writing on it before we install it.  The background is painted white but I think it would be cute with some writing on it.

I am also building a little table that will hold a cooler and I am planning to have bags of mixed greens for sale from the cooler on warmer days this winter.  Some of the greens are ready and more are close.  It will give me a chance to use my cute antique scale as I think I will price the bags of lettuce by weight.  

first of the month garden update-berries and 'gus

Last year Caitlin and I transplanted some of the black raspberry canes that have grown wild along the edges of our grove into a row near the potager.  We nursed them along hoping that without competition from weeds and trees and a little TLC they would take root and provide bigger and better berries than the wild ones.  A few of the plants did not flourish and later in the summer these were replaced with more.  This is what they look like now.

The old growth from last year has smaller leaves and had flowers this spring.  Here is a shot of some of last years growth with the developing berries.

 And here is a shot of the new growth.  These did not have flowers and so there are no developing berries.  I will be watching to see if they fruit yet this fall or if we wait until next year.  I love the pleated look of the leaves.  There is quite a bit of this new growth especially at the north end of the row. 

The raspberries always remind me of my kids' Grandpa Warren who would stop over every summer to forage for berries.

Here is a couple of shots of our asparagus.  We have had so much wind that they seem to be growing at an angle.  I took some string and tried to keep the fronds out of the way of the mower.  There are still spears coming up and the temptation to pick them is great but I know I must let them go to get stronger plants for next year.  The two replacement plants are doing well.  Today I added a little more dirt to their holes.

And then the blueberries.  I have been worrying over these six blueberry plants.

We planted them in 2011 and last year they did not do much.  They didn't really grow and all my efforts to acidify the soil seemed to have no effect.  It was with bated breath that I watched in the spring to see if they would come up.  They did.  I have six plants, two each of three varieties and each of the pair seems to be doing  similarly.  I have one variety that is small and more yellow in color.  I am still worried about these guys.

One variety that is more green,

And one variety that has berries forming!  These guys give me hope.

Not a lot of berries but I am excited to see even these few.

watering the cornfield

Well, we didn't get the rain that was predicted on Friday so on Saturday I hauled water to the cornfield to water.  The little green wagon that pulls behind the lawn mower holds 8 cat litter boxes and I think that I made six trips.  I got all of the south half and the melon patch done and half of the Johnny's sweet corn.  I am still considering laying a hose through the grove to allow for easier watering.  I may have to get some measurements to see what I have for hose and how wide the grove is.  I am not sure how easy it will be to drag that much hose to the end of the cornfield. 

The weed situation is pretty grim.  With all the moisture that we have had the lawn and the weeds are flourishing. I did weed the orchard, rhubarb, blueberries, asparagus and black raspberries.  There were two holes in the row of asparagus and the two new transplants that were grown for those spots are now planted and everything got a drink of water.  There were a few blossoms on one variety of blueberry and lots of blossoms on the raspberries. 

I am noticing that there are blossoms on the older growth of raspberries (what we planted last year). There is also lots of new growth coming which is not flowering yet.  Perhaps it will not flower until next year.  I will have to note where the fruit comes and then make note what to prune.  These plants are transplants from those that have grown wild on the edges of the grove so we do not know what variety they were. 

The grape plants got weeded and watered but I still have to weed the patio stones under the arbor.  All four of the grape vines are getting lots of little baby grapes.

I have lots of weeding left to do in the flower beds so that will be on the agenda for this week as well as planting the rest of the sweet corn.  It will be interesting to see if there is a benefit come harvest to staggering the plantings of the corn.   

Took Sunday off to go to the lake for Father's Day.  The mosquitoes were thick by the time we got back to the farm so there was no chance for evening weeding.  I did harvest a few radishes and made some kale chips to take along to the lake. 

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

gone three days and look what happens

Last night i returned after three wonderful days in Kansas.  Well, to be honest it was two days in the car, one fun evening, one lovely day and one fun breakfast in Kansas.  The reason for the Kansas trip was to attend the graduation of my youngest, Caitlin, who received her Master's Degree in Interior Architecture and Product Design from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas.  I couldn't be prouder and that event deserves its own post and I will do that soon.

A lot happened while I was gone.

We had a shot of rain on Friday night or Saturday, more rain during the day on Sunday and still more rain during the night on Sunday night.  I hear predictions of more rain Monday afternoon or evening and maybe more still the next couple of days. 

The lawn grew.  It desperately needs to be mowed but of course it cannot be mowed while it is this wet.  One good thing is that by the time I am able to mow it i should have enough grass clippings to pick up and spread between the rows in my new growing space.  Not only is it long but there are wide swaths of yellow dandelions.

The orchard--the apple trees and plum trees are blooming.  We have flowers opening on both apple trees and both plum trees.  Both of the pears, last year's and the replacement planted a few weeks ago, are getting leaves and I am hoping that flowers won't be far behind.  The flowering cherry, an ornamental tree is also blooming.  I am hoping that will bring the mason bees to the yard and they will find the house I set out for them.

The asparagus went from being a bunch of spears to being fern-like over the weekend.  I knows that there is probably a word for that but it eludes me now.

The rhubarb is getting bigger and still needs desperately to be weeded.

More of the raspberry canes are leafing out.

The blueberries do not look any worse.  The one variety still has no leaves but the other two varieties are looking okay.   I am glad for the rain because I think the rain water might be better than the well water.  Last year I pH tested my well water and it was alkaline so it is not helping to acidify my soil.  I think that I will make an attempt to capture rainwater over the next few days and use that for watering.

The peas are up.  The transplanted kale are surviving.  The potatoes are just starting to come in a couple spots.  Maybe some varieties are earlier than others.  Nothing coming yet from the strawberries, a couple of the grapevines are just starting to get leaves the others are not yet.  Nothing much from the garlic. 

the berries and asparagus get a little attention

The past couple days I have been working on weeding, fertilizing and mulching the raspberry canes, blueberry bushes and the asparagus.  The raspberry canes were transplants that were moved from the edge of the grove to a new spot where hopefully they can be managed to grow bigger berries.  Our are black raspberry canes that start out red and turn black when ripe.  Quite a few of the transplanted canes are getting leaves on them so I am hoping that most of them made it thru the winter.

The asparagus is some that we started from seed last winter and planted outside when the ground warmed up.  We dug a trench and planted the plants in the bottom of it and gradually  added soil to the trench as the plants got taller.  This spring there are one or more spears popping up by nearly every plant.  There were a couple of plants that didn't make it through the summer so we had a couple gaps in the spacing.  I was hoping that they might come back this spring so we will watch for them and if they don't come perhaps replace them with new plants.  I did start more seeds this winter again in case there was a failure over winter.  Now the decision will be whether to share the new plants or start another row.

The blueberries have been a struggle.  We planted them in 2011.  Six plants, two each of three varieties.  We did not plan ahead for them and prepare a spot with acidic soil and so I have been trying to amend the soil around them.  Last year they did not grow and looked sickly, kind of yellow.  We did several things hoping to have both quick and long term changes in the pH.  I was kind of afraid that they might not come up this year.  This year I purchased a pH meter and so far my readings suggest that my blueberry soil is still too alkaline.  All of the plants seem to have come up.  Two of the varieties are doing better than the third.  They are yellow in color but getting little leaves on them so I am going to do a little more research and see if I can find out if that is normal.

I did not get the rhubarb weeded but that is on my list for next week.  This weekend I will be gone watching my youngest receive her Master's Degree in Interior Architecture and Product Design at Kansas State.

As an update the greenhouse is way too warm so once I get back the plants in there are going in the ground.  There is the possibility of rain so I am hoping that if it is cloudy it will stay cooler in there. I am currently trying to get an inventory of the transplants that I have so that I can work on my garden plan while riding in the car.

All of the orchard trees are getting bigger buds and little leaves.  One of the plums has tiny white flowers coming.  The other plum has two different types of wood so I am not sure if that is the way that it is supposed to grow or if there are suckers coming from below the graft.  More research needed...