And on the seventh day...
Feb. 25th, 2011 00:50![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillI can hardly believe the amount of progress I made on the yard and garden in the last few days... several things which have been languishing for months or years, done. I'm not even exhausted. Though I am sore; the bad weather is a bit of a blessing, actually, as it may give me a chance to get my right arm speaking to me again. Still, it was worth it.
I managed to adjust the scythe -- it is a matter of twisting the wooden handles in a reverse-thread direction, and given a bit of scotch-brite pad the channel-locks did the trick. The hard part was figuring out where I wanted the grips, and holding them there long enough to tighten everything again. After that, I tried it out and found that it cuts a straight swath with a reach-and-pull motion, not the arcs that European models have. Fair enough. I finished off by sharpening it: the factory edge is a different angle than what I use with the stone, so it'll take a few rounds to get it consistently sharp. It cuts easily in the meantime, though -- all I have to do is wave it in the direction of the grass.
I killed my arm by reconstructing the winter garden. The bed had been dug two and a half years ago or so, then left with the mounds of dirt next to it. They hardened in the meantime, and even with the amount of straight-down biting I was able to do with the shovel, I had to do quite a bit of cleanup with horizontal shoveling, and that's always hard on the shoulder and arm (and my thigh, where I brace my elbow). The plot is back in operation, having had a load of horse manure buried under the newly-replaced earth, and I took a bit of time to plant the young garlic and multiplier onions that had been left to their own devices in planters. It won't be much of a harvest this summer, but they should be a decent size by next year. Mostly, it just feels good to have it useful again, rather than a half-abandoned area filled with weeds. It's all tidied up just in time for the rain to water in the transplants and pack the soil.
The alliums took up all of the central bed, but I'll use the outer ring for annual herbs like dill. Maybe I'll dig a bit of it for amendments and plant some beets for the first time in years. I like beets, we just don't eat that many of them, but I think it's time to grow a few and see whether we can put them in the menu more often. The seed is short-lived (5 years, tops) and suffers from inbreeding, so I need to buy seed packs every couple of years -- that's a bit of a mental hurdle for me, as I like having my own seed stock on hand. Come to think of it, though, beets are perennials here (contrary to most standard literature)... maybe I can dedicate a small area to a set of seed beets. They need water in the summer, which can be arranged, but the taproots would run so deep they could take care of themselves in the winter. I don't even need that many -- six to eight should be plenty. Hmmm.... Perhaps in the corners of the winter plot, or an out-of-the-way bit of the front strip? I need to think about this.
I need to finish pruning back the rosemary bush that accidentally took root on the outer ring... I've done about a third of the necessary pruning, and offered to send dried rosemary to the east coast so it doesn't go to waste (what need would we have for it here?). I'll finish chopping it back when this set of flowers fades. Perhaps I can try to move it at the end of this year, before it starts putting out new growth; I need a bush out front, but this one already has a 2" trunk, and it'll be a bear to transplant. Still, it's in the way where it is. A bit of research tells me that rosemary is as tough as its demeanor would suggest, so I should be able to pull it off around Thanksgiving or so. If it doesn't make the move, I have lots of clones...
I covered a couple of summer garden beds with plastic to keep them diggable despite the rain, though it's early yet. Beds that are dug earlier tend to have poorer nutrition than freshly dug ones, but I can't dig fifteen garden beds in a week. :/ I need to cover the lime tree against the cold (thank goodness I hadn't unbent it from its christmas-tree-light-bound winter huddle yet) and put a tarp over the citronella geranium, which I pruned naked figuring we were past hard frosts. Silly me, here we are with one of the warmest and coldest winters on record, about to get snow for the second year in a row... I should really have expected this plot twist. :P I think it'll be fine, though.
I'm still waiting for my tomato seed orders and the seed from the pepper collector, and the seed I sowed hasn't come up yet -- if I don't see something by tomorrow night, I'll break out a heat mat. I would have expected sprouts from the coriander by now, at the very least. The first round always takes forever...
Today's dose of (in)sanity brought to you by Terry Molloy, as our favorite psychotic genius mad-scientist goes all gentle and avuncular. *shiver*
I managed to adjust the scythe -- it is a matter of twisting the wooden handles in a reverse-thread direction, and given a bit of scotch-brite pad the channel-locks did the trick. The hard part was figuring out where I wanted the grips, and holding them there long enough to tighten everything again. After that, I tried it out and found that it cuts a straight swath with a reach-and-pull motion, not the arcs that European models have. Fair enough. I finished off by sharpening it: the factory edge is a different angle than what I use with the stone, so it'll take a few rounds to get it consistently sharp. It cuts easily in the meantime, though -- all I have to do is wave it in the direction of the grass.
I killed my arm by reconstructing the winter garden. The bed had been dug two and a half years ago or so, then left with the mounds of dirt next to it. They hardened in the meantime, and even with the amount of straight-down biting I was able to do with the shovel, I had to do quite a bit of cleanup with horizontal shoveling, and that's always hard on the shoulder and arm (and my thigh, where I brace my elbow). The plot is back in operation, having had a load of horse manure buried under the newly-replaced earth, and I took a bit of time to plant the young garlic and multiplier onions that had been left to their own devices in planters. It won't be much of a harvest this summer, but they should be a decent size by next year. Mostly, it just feels good to have it useful again, rather than a half-abandoned area filled with weeds. It's all tidied up just in time for the rain to water in the transplants and pack the soil.
The alliums took up all of the central bed, but I'll use the outer ring for annual herbs like dill. Maybe I'll dig a bit of it for amendments and plant some beets for the first time in years. I like beets, we just don't eat that many of them, but I think it's time to grow a few and see whether we can put them in the menu more often. The seed is short-lived (5 years, tops) and suffers from inbreeding, so I need to buy seed packs every couple of years -- that's a bit of a mental hurdle for me, as I like having my own seed stock on hand. Come to think of it, though, beets are perennials here (contrary to most standard literature)... maybe I can dedicate a small area to a set of seed beets. They need water in the summer, which can be arranged, but the taproots would run so deep they could take care of themselves in the winter. I don't even need that many -- six to eight should be plenty. Hmmm.... Perhaps in the corners of the winter plot, or an out-of-the-way bit of the front strip? I need to think about this.
I need to finish pruning back the rosemary bush that accidentally took root on the outer ring... I've done about a third of the necessary pruning, and offered to send dried rosemary to the east coast so it doesn't go to waste (what need would we have for it here?). I'll finish chopping it back when this set of flowers fades. Perhaps I can try to move it at the end of this year, before it starts putting out new growth; I need a bush out front, but this one already has a 2" trunk, and it'll be a bear to transplant. Still, it's in the way where it is. A bit of research tells me that rosemary is as tough as its demeanor would suggest, so I should be able to pull it off around Thanksgiving or so. If it doesn't make the move, I have lots of clones...
I covered a couple of summer garden beds with plastic to keep them diggable despite the rain, though it's early yet. Beds that are dug earlier tend to have poorer nutrition than freshly dug ones, but I can't dig fifteen garden beds in a week. :/ I need to cover the lime tree against the cold (thank goodness I hadn't unbent it from its christmas-tree-light-bound winter huddle yet) and put a tarp over the citronella geranium, which I pruned naked figuring we were past hard frosts. Silly me, here we are with one of the warmest and coldest winters on record, about to get snow for the second year in a row... I should really have expected this plot twist. :P I think it'll be fine, though.
I'm still waiting for my tomato seed orders and the seed from the pepper collector, and the seed I sowed hasn't come up yet -- if I don't see something by tomorrow night, I'll break out a heat mat. I would have expected sprouts from the coriander by now, at the very least. The first round always takes forever...
Today's dose of (in)sanity brought to you by Terry Molloy, as our favorite psychotic genius mad-scientist goes all gentle and avuncular. *shiver*
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no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 16:58 (UTC)I tend to grow beets more for their leaves than roots. Fresh, young beet leaves are almost as mild as spinach, and more nutritious, I'll happily eat them sautéed in breakfast almost every day.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-25 20:53 (UTC)I haven't done peas in a couple of years; maybe this fall. I can't seem to find Sugar Snap seed that doesn't have Ascochyta pisii, so they die of blight as soon as the warm weather comes (I overhead-water them) but they produce reasonably well through the spring.
It's going to be a hard year for stone fruit -- brace yourself for lots of brown rot, if the blooms don't freeze first. :/ I think cherries and almonds will be the hardest hit (along with apples) but apricots may have a hard time.
If you grow beets mostly for the greens, why not grow half beets and half chard? Chard doesn't put so much energy into root production, so it can keep growing the leaves vigorously when the beets slow down. There are some varieties which are just as sweet as the better beet tops.
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 00:26 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 00:29 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 01:31 (UTC)The main thing I've heard is just that Beta vulgaris tends to have higher levels of oxalates in stressed conditions, particularly low water or low nitrogen. Happy chard is sweet chard. :)
no subject
Date: 2011-02-26 04:32 (UTC)