Garden Log

[enigmaT120]

@vexed87: Why not experiment with some no till methods since you have so many? You could just cut some holes in newspaper of cardboard, cover with a minimal bit of compost and then use straw. I'm going to try old tire towers this year myself. At the end of the season, I can just hire some gangs of 6th grade boys to come kick them over for me.

I read a book by Ruth Stout, she just covered her seed potatoes up with old straw, and kept adding it as the plants grew. She said she didn't need to water them, but I don't see how that would work in a typically rain-free Oregon summer.

[vexed87]

@7wannabe, @enigmaT120, great idea, as it happens we have straw and sawdust coming out of our ears (rabbits).

I have looked into getting hold of a used rotavator, turns out my dad wanted to get one anyway to turn over an overgrown part of his land. I may get the use of one for free. @Ilorona, I may well be setting up shop.

[7Wannabe5]

@enigmaT120: I don't know when the rains usually stop in Oregon, but potatoes are supposed to be quite drought resistant after they flower. I read waaaaay too many gardening books myself, and it is a constant exercise in having to reconsider suggestions for my own particular circumstances. For instance, adequate water is not a huge issue gardening on clay loam mixed with urban hardcore (buried rubble) in the humid summers we have in Southern Michigan, but I would probably kill any tiller in short order, and a lot of the exposed soil would likely run off into the already over-burdened street drainage system during any one of the fairly frequent major storms we've been experiencing in recent years. In some ways, Michigan is an exception to the rule of land development. Much of the state that was previously logged and farmed is now re-forested (highest percentage forest of any state), and there are rotting buildings and fields of chicory and red clover all over Detroit and other automotive industry cities. The Detroit river is actually quite clean now and you can safely fish right by downtown. OTOH, many of the small resort towns on nearby inland lakes have become residential commuter outer-ring strip mall ugly in the last 30 years.

If I wished to justify my fairly high level of cookie consumption on locavore principles, I might note that I could theoretically bike to the farms of the large beet sugar co-operative which produces Pioneer brand. Of course, I could also just go around tapping sugar maples. I used to live very close biking distance to the headquarters of Eden Foods in the middle of soybean country. Large-scale tofu production is kind of stinky, but not horrible. Kind of like somebody cooking cabbage and dirty socks. The funny thing is that the farmers that grow soybeans in Michigan do not eat tofu, and I don't know anybody who grows it in their gardens here. Maybe I will try. Anyways, I'm not really trying to become a locavore, I have just developed an interest in figuring out where my food comes from.

[cmonkey]

The crocus in our orchard popped open today. It was 77 F ! Everything else is popping up now too...hyacinth, tulips, daffodils.

[George the original one]

4"+ of rain yesterday, possibly 90 mph wind gusts, 24 hour power outage, etc.

Went to check the garden and noticed lettuce & spinach/beets have sprouted. Possibly have arugula sprouts. Feb 15 planting of peas sprouted a few days ago and looking healthy. Jan 31 planting of peas an inch taller. Radishes doing fine. Onions looking drowned...

Original blueberries have leaves popping out. Newer bushes are still only budding.

[enigmaT120]

I planted about 350 baby cedar trees over the past couple of days. It's slow but I have to install protective cage things and bamboo stakes to torment hungry deer. I decided I like cutting trees down better than I like planting them.

You need any western red cedar George? I bought about a hundred too many. I'll probably list them on that forest seedlings network site next week, after I'm sure I've found homes for all that I can.

[George the original one]

Kale sprouted today.

@enigmaT120 - 100 would be about 99 too many for me, LOL. I'm after alder seedlings, though.

[llorona]

A storm came through and flattened my potato plants.

[enigmaT120]

I bet the taters will recover.

[EMJ]

@George the original one
Alders are easy to grow from seed. Collect seed in the fall from ripe cones, sow in pots, overwinter and by the next fall you should have lots of 4 to 6" healthy cedar seedlings.

[George the original one]

That's what I expected with alders and tried that once, but got nothing. Not even cedar seedlings from the alder cones

[EMJ]

@GTOO

What time of year did you collect seed? It's usually not hard to germinate. Perhaps rodents ate your seed or germinants?

[George the original one]

Sunshine! Wonderful sunshine so I can garden! Forgive my joy, but it's been about a week and a half since we last had weather suitable for gardening. Averaged over an inch of rain each day, with the last two days having many hail showers. I woke up early this morning to the sound of rain and was seriously beginning to doubt the weather forecast.

Expanding the garden into a new bed, about another 120 sq ft. Incorporating compost tomorrow and will let that cook for a couple weeks before planting there. Had thought I'd string the wire for the espaliers, but it didn't happen.

Expect to plant another round of peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, kale, and arugula. Should also be putting celery seeds in pots (if I remember). May go through the old seeds and see what I can get to sprout. There's even a packet of "wildflowers for birds" someone gave us.

[jennypenny]

I snagged a deal on some stone edging that was put on clearance. I ordered over 5000 lbs of it to be delivered tomorrow. I'm going to use it to make some more beds in the yard and around the house. They are the kind that are hollowed out in the middle for planting. I'll plant things I don't want spreading (like mint and strawberries) in the stone walls and then plant vegetables in the beds. I like that I'll be able to rearrange the stones if I want to change how I have the beds arranged at some point.

I usually only plant seedlings except for beans. GTOO and others have encouraged me to try more direct seeding. I'm nervous. I like growing seedlings inside. We'll see how many times a day I'm out checking the progress in the beds LOL.

[7Wannabe5]

Finally! Spring in Michigan. First optimistic crop arugula, spinach, mustard, variety lettuce, variety greens, peas, radishes, dill, cilantro, beets, parsnips, onions and turnips planted. I placed my order for 3 American plums, 2 apple trees, gooseberries, rhubarb and black currants with my county conservation district. I am going to get a bunch more seeds and annual transplants from the urban gardening program, and I still need to order hazelnuts, asparagus, strawberries, sunchokes, apricot, another apple and blueberries. My cherry, blackberries and mulberries survived the winter, but my goji berries appear to be dead. My massive daffodil planting popped up and is just about to start opening. I hate mowing, and my long-term goal is 1800 lbs. of produce each year, so my plan this year is just keep building lasagne beds all season long with whatever compost and mulch I can scrounge or scavenge, and plant, plant, plant. After planting a few random polycultures last year, I've become more confident about my ability to identify random seedlings as they come up and more brave about tasting leaves of plants I can't quite identify. So, no more neat rows for me.

[enigmaT120]

Oregon State University is offering a free intro to permaculture:

http://www.permaculture.co.uk/news/%5Bd ... ory-course

I'll investigate it, I don't know if I'll take it yet.

Edit: Doh! Here's the link to the information and registration site:

http://open.oregonstate.edu/courses/permaculture/

The first link is just an article about the class.

[George the original one]

The syllabus indicates a focus on watershed and design. Instructor stresses it will not be about techniques. Free is a good price, but I think I can skip it this year...

[George the original one]

Invasive Species On My Land

Along the Oregon coast, there are two invasive species of major annoyance. The first is Himalayan blackberry and the second is creeping buttercup.

Recovering land where blackberry has taken hold is relatively straightforward because so many people notice it: see http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/node/580 and http://extension.oregonstate.edu/garden ... y-thickets. I generally use a combination of the mechanical and glyphosate approach, leaning more towards mechanical the closer I am to the water.

Creeping buttercup is less well-known because it is "those pretty yellow flowers in the field". If you don't raise livestock, you might not think it is a problem. However, because it spreads through winddrifted seeds and an aggressive rhizome network, it establishes and spreads quickly. Strong herbicides appear to the be the only approach used commercially. Alternatively, it appears aggressive rooting out will work, but it is a rather nuclear option suitable only where you are already replanting (e.g. new lawn or garden bed). I've chased it out of the vegetable beds, but there's some happily creeping into the compost pile. I'll eventually need to nuke the grass paths to eliminate it from the garden zone.

[Papers of Indenture]

I'm putting in several framed raised beds this weekend....on a slope. Anyone have some tips or tricks? I guess i'm just going to dig out a bit and trench a slot for the down slope underside of the frame to sit in.

[enigmaT120]

On a slope? I think terracing might work, which is basically what you said.

George, I have English Ivy on my place too. I have to look up the butter cup, but I have both Himilaya and Evergreen blackberry.