Blossoms Galore and Garden Expansion

I am always impressed by how beautiful the wild azaleas are. We have them in white and pink and combinations thereof.

The azaleas and the dogwoods really catch your attention but the tiny wild flowers at your feet are just as pretty. Here we have Bird's Foot Violet, Yellow Violet, Dwarf Iris, and Trillium.  This year, there was more Trillium than I have ever noticed before.

Carolyn made this lovely Easter table decoration with an arrangement of Bluets and moss along with her hand-painted eggs.

The garden space enclosure is three times the size of last year's.  Let me tell you that driving T-posts is not among my favorite things to do.  Still, I managed to get it done in just a few days. I explained the 3D deer fence in the March 2020 post Beware the Ides of March.

The garden really had to be larger to accommodate the larger number of varieties we wanted to try this year.  Among the new crops are: Cabbage, Broccoli, Sweet Peas, Winter Squash, Red Onion, Tomatillo - just to name a few.

I don't have pictures to include here but we are attempting to root Redbud, Coosa Dogwood, and Yates Apple trees.

As hinted in the previous post, I have actually begun work on what will become a new flush toilet system. Here is where the "septic tank" will be located.  This will not be a traditional septic system.  Instead of relying on anaerobic bacteria to break down solids, I will employ thousands of red wiggler worms to do this in an aerobic environment. Liquid will rapidly filter through a few hundred pounds of wood chips and exit the tank into a "greenfilter" bed  filled with nitrogen-loving plants.  You can read all about this system here: http://www.vermicompostingtoilets.net/

Next step is to lay cinder block on the concrete pad I just poured then back fill three sides leaving an access point for maintenance on the downhill side. 

In Like a Lamb...

 ...Out Like a Lion

At least that is the way it seemed.  March just kind of eased in on us in such a gentle way that we were already putting plants in the ground outside.  Then came the last week of the month where we had one weather warning after another - Severe Thunderstorm, Flash Flood, and most dreaded of all Tornado.

Tonight and the next two nights come with frost/freeze warnings. We are hoping for the best for all those little plants Carolyn has already put out. Most are cold hardy so we are not too worried.

Carolyn has already started some of the summer crop seeds - tomato, pepper, etc. Once they are an inch or so tall, she transfers them to larger pots then eventually into the garden. In the larger pots, she plants them fairly shallow so she can add soil as they grow to prevent them from becoming too "leggy". When she transplants them into the garden, I make a cover out of tulle to keep some of the insects off them until they are larger. Using row covers is something new for us. Honestly, they are not protecting the plants all that well. Next year we may wait to transplant until the plants are larger and can withstand a bite or two. 

This month was significant for us in that we were both able to get our COVID-19 vaccine. Both rounds of the Pfizer. While we do not feel this makes us invincible, it does give us a little more confidence we won't be killed by this virus. If only everyone would do what they could to fight this, we could avoid further suffering.

I started digging new hugels last month and continued into March. We now have three new ones and I plan to add one more in the next week - if the rain will ever slack up.  The basic drill is to dig a deep trench, fill it with a layer of dead wood, add a layer of clay soil, another layer of dead wood, another layer of clay soil, top with a layer of good garden soil, and finally top with several inches of wood chips to hold moisture and block weeds.

In addition to the hugels, I made a proper drain field for the kitchen drain. It had been simply pouring out onto the surface of the ground. I diverted the pipe toward the new garden area and added a clean-out port. Now the kitchen sink water drains into a deep pit filled with wood chips. Hopefully this will benefit some of the plants inside the deer fence.

When she is not helping me unload a trailer full of something, or tending her seedlings, or preparing something delicious to eat, Carolyn can be found tending one of her flower beds. 

Well, that's it for now. Stay tuned for exciting bathroom developments. Until then, peace be with you.

New Year - New hope

We are all hoping for a better new year. Even if you do not believe in a better political climate, you can hope for a better economic climate and a better health climate. Getting to see our friends and visit with our kids and grandkids again will be wonderful.

We've gotten several little dustings of snow up here on the mountain in the past month. And it's been cold enough to frost our collards several times. But occasionally, even when it's cold, the sun does come out and makes you feel better. On those rare events we will try to get out and do something in preparation for the coming growing season.

For example, we've begun building our mountain of wood chips. We make the wood chips from downed limbs and dead trees mostly found along the side of our drive. This also helps keep that area clear for the Bush Hog. We use these woodchips extensively in the garden. They are good for retaining moisture and blocking weeds. We've also begun expanding our garden to be about three times larger than last year's. Check this page for a description of our hugelkultur method.

Also, we have pruned back the muscadine vines and transplanted a row of wild blueberry bushes.

Additionally we have started several trays of seeds indoors and we have already transferred some of them to their permanent location in our original garden. It is still quite early so for the cold sensitive plants I quickly constructed a small row cover from some old tarp material. On sunny days we have to pull this tarp back to keep the plants from getting too warm but it does protect them on those frosty nights and from the torrential downpours.

So far we have started turnips, cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, several varieties of lettuce, mizuna, tatsoi, arugula, several varieties of kale, and beets.

I completed a little project I started at the end of last year to rebuild my Bush Hog. This involved replacing the lower oil seal in the gearbox and the blades. As you can see from this picture the old blades were pretty used up. Right now TRAKKER is in the shop getting work done on his clutch and brake shoes. Also I replaced the battery in the wood chipper and put new tires on its wheels.

That's it for now. Get vaccinated and stay safe.