Changes of Seasons and Things to Do

Gardening - It's time to be thinking about what I'll be doing with the summer vegetables and how to work around those early spring vegetables still blooming and producing food. There is no question that I have enough gardening space set up. Now, I have to make a decision about where I want to put what -- and, that is not my strongest point.

My self-watering planters are happily waiting for the transplants and, because all of a sudden we have had some unseasonably cool weather decide to show its face, I'm going to wait until after I have finished filming before sending them out.

Bowling - It's getting down to the wire for the winter league bowling and I find that I'm an interesting position, this year. On both teams, we have managed to finish sixth. It's all in how you look at it. The first league has 26 teams and so sixth place is very good. The second league has six teams and maintaining sixth place took considerable effort. (See? That's how you make lemonade out of lemons!) These are both daytime leaks and don't have anywhere near the stress that you can find on nighttime leagues, when the almost professional bowlers come out to play.

The best thing about bowling in the daytime has been discovering that I can still do most of the things I want to do in the evening without having to worry about finding substitutes. The best thing about bowling, for me, is that you can do it at any age and it just makes the feel good. Our oldest bowler just celebrated her 86th birthday. I can only hope that I'll still be doing my share of bowling at that age.

Clutter -I'm still trying to sort out craft supplies from pottery supplies from woodshop supplies, and it looks as though it may take the better part of the summer for me to finish. Even though I've made a big dent in getting rid of the trash, I'm still involved in a lot of back-and-forth between the two buildings, trying to find a final home for everything.

My favorite thing is actually getting rid of a lot of the stuff that I have been wanting to get rid of for, lo, these many years. With an incinerator close by, there's little chance of having to take back the decision, once I've dropped it into the flames. This is good.

Broccoli In; Brussel Sprouts Out!

The gardens have been really great, this year. Unfortunately, we've been having some very unseasonably hot days and this has really been stressing my broccoli. Out of eight very big plants, only one has really shaped up to looking like when you might buy at the grocery store.

Although the rest of the plants are very healthy, they would never be chosen for anyone's photo shoot. I have been in a constant battle against Mother Nature, deflowering my broccoli by pinching off the center heads, thereby causing any number of side shoots. Since the entire plant is edible, this has not bothered me, albeit, it's the last place I bring people to view the garden.

It really is a happy little garden, even though the broccoli, spinach, and lettuce keep trying to complete their lifecycle. We have been having absolutely delicious fresh garden salads almost every night, which is all that one can ask for. The garden peas have finally began to develop their stronger stalks and spread out their feelers though the nearest trellis string. Some have even chosen to use nearby onion stems. It doesn't matter. Everyone's happy.

Although I'm delighted with the growth of the brussels sprouts, I will be planted them in the same garden bed, next year. They offer a lot of shade to the lettuce and spinach but take up way too much room that I would rather give to more prolific plants. Gardening, like bowling, is nothing more than a series of adjustments.

Garden Beckons Before Bloggin

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted; but, I have a good reason. I have had to get the spring gardens planted and some new beds set up for rotating crops.

The large container garden has already provided two meals of "greens." I was able to combine radish and turnip greens, along with some green onions and three or four one-inch radishes, flavored with fresh lemon thyme. As old as she is, my sister had never had radish greens and was delighted with the taste.

We have had an unusually hot period, these last few weeks, and the growth has been phenomenal. I am just going to keep my fingers crossed that any upcoming cold snaps leave my little seedlings in the hothouse, alone. I don't know what's going on, this year, but the weather best straighten itself out.

I have been keeping a photographic history of this year's garden and will let you know when I have them posted to my website.

Trellises Shouldn't Cost a Fortune

Thought I'd do a follow-up on the trellises. Using the found materials, after clearing up the woods, I was left with three cattle gates, lots of metal fence posts, and 2"x4" fencing. So, that's going to be the permanent trellising in the back section of the yard for grapevines, raspberries, gourds, etc.

For the inside back yard, will use pvc pipes, painted with fusion. These will be easy to take down in winter and leave the space open for additional layers of composting material. Here's what I'm going to do, just in case you want to try it, yourself. Just remember that most of my materials were "found" and available for free. So, I don't mind paying for the pvc trellises, which will be under $25 for all three beds and will last for many years.

Full-grown plants weigh plenty when full of stems, leaves, and fruit or vegetables. You need sturdy support but you don't need much more than 2"x2" posts or 1.5" pvc piping. First and foremost, use what you have, which includes old ladders, stepstools, door frames, whatever. Bring it all together by painting the same color and folks will think you're really clever.

To make two pvc trellises, you'll need:

• four (4) 10-foot 1-1/4" pvc pipes
• one (1) 8-foot 1-1/2" pvc pipe
• four (4) 4-foot or 6-foot rebars
• four (4) 1-1/4" pvc elbows
• two (2) 1-1/4" pvc straight connectors
• twine

1. Cut a 3' section off each 10-foot 1-1/4" pipe.
2. Connect two 3' sections with one straight connector to make crossbar
3. Cut 8-foot 1-1/2" pipe into four (4) 2' pieces.
4. Drive (use rubber mallet or place a board over end of pipe and use regular hammer) two 2' pvc pieces into ground, the width of one connected crossbar and elbow at each end. (approx. six feet)
5. Drive one rebar into center of pipe, leave at least two feet exposed above top edge
6. Position and drive 7' 1-1/4" pvc pipe over rebar and into 2' 1-1/2" pipe
7. Place elbows on each top and attach crossbars (see pix)
8. Attach twine horizontally every 8" between sides of each trellis. Attach a length of twine every 8" on crossbar and connect with a knot at every horizontal meeting to bottom of trellis. Repeat every 8" across crossbar.

The beauty of these trellises is that they are incredibly portable! Create different widths around the yard and use 5-gallon buckets for your plantings. Next year, move the trellis to a different part of the yard and try something new! Put different trellising plants on either side. Train one to grow straight up and the other to extend vertically for an interesting effect. I'll be doing this with some warmth-loving climbers next to the white side of my workshop so they can enjoy the reflected heat! Now, to go root some cuttings!

February - Planting and Planning

February has brought the cold and wind to NC and lots of garden planning to take advantage of a full 10-month growing pattern. All my seeds have arrived and it's lasagna gardening, all the way!

Have finished my two planned beds (4'x12') in just under three hours for the first 12" of layering using the lasagna method and should finish the rest over the next few days. They're predicing a real drop in temperature, so I want to get these layers really wet to start the breakdown.

Once my camera arrives, I'll post some sequential pix on the www.creativehandz.com website and post just one or two, here. Still have to create my trellises. The back copse of trees has provided me with all kinds of wonderful trellis materials and planting pots! And, still carted away about 2400 pounds of debris off to the dump!

When finished, all the different trellises and 5-gallon buckets will be painted the same color of metallic bronze using my favorite of all paints Krylon Fusion . It covers and becomes a part of everything you spray it on, so it simply will not chip off plastics.

All the seeds that can go directly into the ground are being first set out on a single sheet of 12"x12" newspaper in their finished thinned placement and will be covered with a second sheet of newspaper that's been 'painted' with a very thin flour-paste solution. (The newspaper will keep down the weeds and ultimately become part of the soil; the paste will hold the seeds in position and will add nutrients to the soil, as well.) The benefit of this is that you can use the whole sheet for square-foot gardening or cut in strips for efficient placement in and around other plants. One 12"x12" sheet will hold 64 radishes, carrots, green onions -- well, you get the idea. BUT, you don't have to thin, just put in place and cover with a light mulch.

By the way, you don't ever want to leave the newsprint open to the air! It will become papier mache and take forever to disintegrate!

Garden Eyes Too Big for Garden Tummy?

Well, I've done it. The first lasagna gardening has been put in place, in just under two hours, please, and is a respectable 4 x 12 foot. It was just as easy as the book promised.

I'm so excited about this, that I'm going to be putting in two more gardens over the weekend, along the back and side fencing, for my herbs and cut flowers. What was really fun was watching the expression on the faces of the two fellows that helped me clean out the copse of trees in the back. You would have thought I was showing them a parade of blue elephants!

And, lucky me, there were several bales of old straw that were perfect as compost. They were only recognizable as straw on the outside. The slightest movement caused them to fall apart and reveal an almost completely decomposed center, which was perfect for the lower levels of the layering process. Since I'm going to be building each bed up to a height of 24 inches, I'll save the top five layers for real peat moss and soil.

We've been given a respite from cold, harsh, days, so I should be able to finish everything before another blast of cold weather is upon us. I would like to have at least one good rainy, snowy, coverage over each bed to hasten the decomposition of everything before I start planting in February.

During that rush of cold, I'll be getting my planting sheets ready, using newspaper and a very thin flour solution to position the seeds in their final resting place. Although this isn't mentioned in the lasagna gardening book, it's something I have used in other container gardens. By putting at least two seeds together for syzygy, I'm able to cut out the thinning and transplanting step for almost all of my veggies. This is simply a great way to garden in retirement.

Will be picking up a new digital camera over the weekend so that I can post some pictures at my Creative Handz site. A fast Google on lasagna gardening will bring up any number of sites that show the process, so I don't feel too bad about not sharing mine. I do, however, want to chronicle each garden' s progress.

Now, back to my catalogs.

Planning This Year's Garden

It's my favorite time of year. Time to pull out the old seed catalogs and plan for this year's garden. In addition to the catalogs, I've also discovered a great new source for seeds on eBay at very reasonable prices. And, they're great, but you just can't beat the slow turning of seed catalog pages next to a warm fire in the dead of winter. This will be my first full-scale gardening at the new house.

In addition to the large container garden, I'm going to have two smaller ones and two or three long lasagna gardens for grapes, pole beans and peas, and cucumbers. Have found all kinds of goodies in the copse of trees in the back and will use them for interesting supports. Cool-weather crop planting is just around the corner and seeds have been ordered.

I fell in love with the book by Patricia Lanza. It's easy to read, the instructions are clear, and you're a convert by the middle of the book. Picked up some Lime and Peat Moss, today, and the Good Lord has given me plenty of natural fibers. This is good.

Now, comes the great time of making charts and signs, and getting all my ducks in a row so that everything will run smoothly.

Don't know what was going on, but there were also three large plastic drums I'm going to use as rain catchers, too. Decided to make them art objects, as well, and will start some sketches. These are pretty big drums, so collecting enough water shouldn't be a problem. They're selling around $30.00, so that's a savings of $90, right there. Just to be sure, I'm going to give them a cleaning with bleach and paint a big "NOT POTENT - DO NOT DRINK!" sign on the sides.

Making the final decision of where to place the new gardens will take some time. Maybe a nice cup of tea will help.