Saturday, April 9, 2011

No time

This isn't a typical "Poor me. I have no free time..." post. For what it's worth, I don't generally have any free time, but what parent does have any? Lately, though, I have had even less time. My wife is entrenched in a do-or-die situation trying to finish her Masters Degree. We've had a couple rounds of illness run through the family. Being in semi-single-father mode is pretty much sucking up all my free daylight hours.

Still, I've managed to get a lot done in a little time. I've got one 20'x5' garden bed full of onions and cole crops. As of today, I've got half of another 20'x5' bed full. Today, I planted broccoli. Seedlings are coming along nicely. I think I've figured out how to do this. The only thing I have trouble with is that my plants are a little small. I think the cold nighttime temperatures have stunted them a bit. That said, the plants I have planted have fantastic root systems, so I must have done something right.

I think next year, I will get a big bag of Pro-mix, as I think it would be cheaper than the smaller bags of seed starter. I suppose I could always make my own starter mix, but I don't think that would be any cheaper if I have to buy perlite and peat. I would also have to sterilize it in the oven, which I hear stinks pretty badly. I've noticed a distinct difference in the seedlings started in the Jiffy starter mix versus the Miracle Grow mix. The Miracle grow is far superior.

Next on the list of things to plant is collard greens and probably some perennials. I've got some nice looking lupines ready to plant in the next week or two, plus some Black-eyed Susans as well. In the next couple weeks, I expect that I will start squash/melon seeds and then I'll have the direct seeded things to plant. That will also be the time when I have to plant my main season veggies that I started from seed, so I expect to get much busier right when I get a little more free time.

On the "other stuff" front, my new time consumer project is about to get a lot more time consuming. I am getting bees delivered in a couple weeks. Initially, I was really disappointed that I wouldn't have the bees until after a bunch of flowers bloom. Now that I'm in the thick of it, I realize it was quite fortunate that I didn't get them delivered now. Otherwise, I would have bees without a home to put them in and no time to give them a home either. Getting them the first week of May will actually work out perfectly. I will have them in time for the brambles blooming, plus I will probably get the tail end of the fruit tree bloom period. Ideally, it would be nice to have them build up a good hive before those bloom periods, but I'll take what I can get.

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Showers

If April Showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring? 

...

Pilgrims.

That's an old joke that I remember from my childhood. I posted it here because I'm wondering what April snows bring. According to forecasts, we were supposed to get no more than 1/4" of snow, but we got the whole inch and maybe a little more. The weather has been totally uncooperative lately. We have had temperatures 5 degrees below normal. I have flats of seeds sprouted which I would like to leave out in their cold frames all night, but they wouldn't survive a below freezing night. Fortunately, it looks like we have turned a corner in that aspect.

I'm going well in my yard and garden goals so far. I've had much better results this year with my seed starting, but I've had a few setbacks as well. I'm not sure why, but my basil hasn't come up yet. I've never had trouble getting basil to sprout. Usually, I forget to water it at a critical time and it dies, but I've been much better with that this year. I've got a flat of tomatoes which are up nicely. I've also got eggplant, broccoli, kale, spinach, onions, a bunch of flowers and some herbs. I have a bunch more stuff to start and a bunch more stuff to direct seed, so baring an unexpected nuclear winter, I should have a productive garden this year.

Other than that, my hard work last fall planting almost 300 bulbs is paying off. I have stuff coming up everywhere. I still don't have one of those "garden tour" yards yet. Actually, I probably will never have one of those yards. I plant things where I have a space, near other things, in an environment which I think is right. As such, My garden areas get bigger, but look very piecemeal. If I had the money and time, I would construct the perfect yard which would be a combination of colors and smells and textures and whatnot. Given that I have a job and kids and a house and everything else, I'll stick with my approach.