The Endless Winter!

                                   A Week in the Early Spring Garden

It wasn't exactly a pretty week (March 24 - 30) out in the garden, but in spite of the gray skies and low temperatures it was productive. On Sunday we scooped out a nice batch of compost from the heap and spread it in various spots that will be planted in spring crops. We then brought out the first batch of spinach seedlings and planted them under the kitchen window. There's plenty of compost left, however, for the summer growing season. Last summer's zucchini crop came to 35 pounds, much of which we froze. On Sunday evening, we took out the last package of 2012 frozen zucchini from the freezer and had it with our meal. That stretched out pretty well!

Monday was pretty much a loss in terms of the garden as we received a four inch coating of snow and then light rain. The chives, however, didn't seem to mind the snow even a little bit.
    
                              


On Tuesday the snow melted quickly and we transferred a batch of  broccoli starts from indoors to the garden. The  picture shows garden center broccoli plants. Our homegrown broccoli starts are much smaller and to  the left, but under cover cover for the night.

On Wednesday, the herbs we started a month ago finally sprouted. Although only cilantro and thyme are shown, we moved all four plants into the garden just a few steps from the kitchen door. The others are parsley and marjoram.

Our garden soil has an overall pH rating of 7.0. On Thursday, we mixed 12 gallons of fertilizer for "acid soil" loving plants and sprinkled garden lime around the "sweet soil"
 lovers.

Friday was a "cleanup" day. Raking leaves and other "winter" debris added material to the compost heap. We have a second floor kitchen in addition to the normal first floor kitchen. We use it as a "greenhouse" for all the plant starts. Late in the day, we brought down the first of the of indoor garden lettuce. The lettuce met its fate bravely and provided a delicious salad bowl for the evening meal.

 

 

 The weather moderated on Saturday and allowed the  planting of 2 nine foot rows ofsnow peas. Romaine seedlings were taken out to garden and planted. And finally, ending another garden week,  the ever hungry asparagus beds were treated to a special feeding.

Thanks for taking a look. I hope to see you again next week. If you want to leave a comment & can't get through the message system at the bottom of this page, send me a message at chuckscards42@hotmail.com 

odds & ends

                                                     Odds and Ends

The first day of spring came this past week, but we're still waiting for the first "spring" day. The cold, winter-like temperatures have stayed with us and the seedlings we've started remain indoors. Last year, we had spinach, lettuce, and herbs outside in the garden on March 13. It appears that we will be at least two weeks later than that this year. Generally, we've put the early veggies out when the overnight temperatures stay at or  above 28 degrees and covered them overnight. Forecasts show a slight warming trend later this coming week which might allow things to get back to normal, if a bit late.

At least one chore got done in spite of the weather - feeding our acid loving plants. Over last summer, autumn and this winter, we saved all of our coffee grounds (about 20 pounds) in a container outside the kitchen. I braved the cold to spread  the coffee grounds and scratched them into the ground around the hydrangea, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry plants and the Japanese maple tree. Oak leaves and sawdust are also a good amendment for acid loving varieties. Next week, I'll work on the plants that love "sweet" soil.

Our spinach seed starts are growing slowly - more slowly than I anticipated - so I bought a tray of six plants and got them in the ground today (Sunday). Spinach can tolerate some cold, but we will cover them at night if needed. Brick and lumber "construction" is to prevent the squirrels from digging them up.

The indoor lettuce is coming along very nicely. Harvest time may be soon approaching for some of it. Next week, weather permitting, we may be able to get the sweet pea seeds in the ground. Extra sun to help warm the soil would be a very big help.

Another indoor garden special is the cat grass plant. It comes in commercial packs at pet stores and in the pet department of food stores. The seeds are oats, so if you have a "farm" store nearby you can probably get them more inexpensively.  They grow very quickly with no assistance except soil and proper watering. Jingle loves snacking on this stuff!

 Here's hoping for warm sunny weather!  See you next week!

first snow

March 20, 2013!


                                      First Day of Spring, 2013!  Hooray!

                                              Get Out Your pH Meter

 Happy Spring to all! You can see how excited I am about the coming of Spring just by the number of exclamation marks I'm using!  I've SURVIVED another winter! It is a bit of a disappointment that it's a windy and cold day with snow expected late this afternoon. Sunny, calm and 72 degrees would seem much more fitting for the first day of spring.

It was a rather odd winter here in the City of Lancaster which has different climate conditions than those out in the farmlands, small towns and boroughs of Lancaster County.  Our city's first measurable snow fell on March 18, 2013. I believe there was a snowfall in Lancaster last October but that was in autumn which just makes it a freak of nature. I'm certainly not unhappy about the lack of snow, but it's very unusual.

And a big "hello" welcome to Alice C! Thanks for stopping by and for your kind reply to my blog, including your tip to use string lines to clearly identify exactly where seeds are planted in a garden patch.

                                                       Garden pH Meter

Some years ago, Lois bought a garden soil pH meter and it's been helpful in checking our soils. Using a scale from 3.5 (acid) to 9 (alkaline) the meter determines whether the soil needs adjustment to meet the needs of what's being grown. Most gardens will want to be at a 7 - which is on the alkaline (sweet) side. Some plants, like raspberries, blackberries, potatoes, and roses will favor a more acid environment. To increase soil acidity, add lots of coffee grounds, oak leaves, and/or saw dust.  Others, like cherries, lilac, sunflowers and sage prefer a very sweet soil. To sweeten soil, add garden lime.  Your soil can also be tested for a fee by your local county "farm extension" office. In Lancaster, "Lancaster County Farm and Home Center" provides this service.

The indoor garden lettuce patch is coming along nicely! Fresh salad greens are in our near future.

And here are some of the other seed starts that are just beginning to sprout (with the exception of the "cat greens" in the upper left...they will be going down to the kitchen today with the approval of Mica and Jingle.

Thanks for stopping by. Your comments are always appreciated! I'll see you again soon, hopefully on a more spring-like day.

                       A Follow-Up To chucksgadenspot 3/16/13 Entry

Hello again everyone!  I just found some pictures of the "garages" that ultimately became our patio and garden areas. Our house was built on a farm close to the northwest edge of the City of Lancaster. It can be seen on an 1860 city map, but I don't know when it was actually built. An addition was added to the house, probably in the late 1940's.  I believe the garages were built in the 1920's (I found some newspapers from 1926 stuffed in a wall.) when Model T Fords probably fit quite well. The previous owners had taken little care of them and rented them out for "storage" for many years before we bought the house. The '72 Chevy belonged to one of the renters.

Thanks for taking a look. Comments are always welcome! I hope to see you again next week.

Interesting Numbers

                                                          
                                        #'s   Interesting Garden Numbers  #'s

          How many family food dollars can be saved by even a small urban garden?

Some years ago, Lois and I  recognized that we had space for a garden and that garden might include more than just flowers. The space, however, was, at that time, occupied by a pair of double car roofed garages and a 20 foot paved space between them. In reality 90% of our "yard" was a concrete floor surrounded by walls sloping from 10 feet high down to 8 feet. It took us a month to demolish and remove the roof system and heavy wooden door systems. Then we installed a 20 foot wide, 6 foot high fence across the parking pad opening. Now we were ready to build a patio area and the raised garden bed area.

For the garden area, I began by buying 9 pieces of 8"x8"x8' treated timbers to construct  the first"box", the rear of which was the "garage" wall.  Then I had the good luck to be able to salvage about 250  linear feet of used 8x8x8 treated lumber being removed from a spot downtown to expand a parking lot. This addition brought the main box to its full size of approximately 200 square feet. A second box was constructed with the remainder of the salvaged lumber and measures 3'x12'. It's primarily used for strawberries and flowers.

                                                                     March, 2003

Filling the boxes with topsoil was quite another adventure altogether. Although there is a lane next to our house, it isn't wide enough to accommodate a truck. The topsoil to fill the boxes had to be carried in by hand! We didn't have a truck, so we began by loading the car with bags. At one point we paid for a delivery of 60 bags to the street in front of our house.  A friend with a pickup truck also helped us by bringing a load of 40 bags. Ultimately, we brought in 303 bags of topsoil at 40 pounds per bag - 12,120 pounds or 6+ tons of topsoil!

                                                                      June, 2005

Has it been worth it? Absolutely!  Gardening gives joy, teaches patience, and, at times,  makes us deal with disappointment. And it's good physical exercise! But I also believe there's an excellent economic benefit. In the past 3 years, I've weighed every ounce of raw produce that we've brought in from the garden (you're correct, I am crazy). In 2010, the total was 312 pounds. In 2011, the total was 313 pounds. In 2012, our total fell off to a mere 309 pounds! Nearly a half ton of produce over 3 seasons! We used only organic fertilizers and no commercial pesticides - just homegrown care and lots of compost. And we used what we grew. If we didn't eat it as it came into the kitchen, we prepared and froze it in vacuum sealed bags.

What does the average pound of organic produce cost at the store where you shop?  I'll use $2.50 as an average number for the store bought cost of a pound of organic produce. At $2.50/lb. our total "grocery" produce value over the past 3 years is $2,335! That's a lot of food store savings! Are there offsets to that number? Yes, and I would estimate that it comes to about $150 yearly and most of that cost is for water in midsummer dry spells.

                                                                    October, 2007

Now's the time to start your garden planning and getting your space ready. You'll soon be planting fresh homegrown food you can trust while saving money....that's a great combination!

                                                                         ******
Mike B asks the question "Why do you recommend Jet Star tomatoes?" in my 3/11 post.  A while back, we visited a place called the "Tomato Barn" in western Lancaster County near the Susquehanna River. The exclusively sell "Jet Star" and we REALLY liked them. They're medium/large & nicely round with great color outside and inside, excellent flavor, and very small internal stem core. Plants are very productive and have a long season. They aren't the only great tomatoes out there, but it's our current favorite.

The Frugal Gardener's Tip:  Eggshells are a helpful garden soil amendment. Rinse the inside of your broken eggshells in warm water. Dry the shells, making sure all of the albumen (egg white) is removed. Place the shells in your microwave on high for a minute. If you failed to clean the inside of the shells, you will have a very smelly kitchen. Trust me, I know from personal experience! Remove the shells from the microwave carefully...they will be HOT.  After cooling, smash the shells with a rolling pin or other flat kitchen utensil. Sprinkle the shells around your garden plants to add a little extra calcium to your soil. And, of course, you can simply skip all of the above and just mash the fresh wet shells as the are, but they will remain in larger pieces rather than finely ground shells .

 P.S. to my 3/11/13 post - Regarding creating your compost heap, kitchen scraps are certainly wanted, but meat waste should never be added to the compost. The addition of meat would create an attraction to wild animals you most likely would not want in your garden.

P.S. to 3/11/13 post  - When turning over your compost, use your shovel or a garden fork gently to avoid harming the many earthworms your heap will have attracted.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again soon! Comments and your garden tips are always welcome.

chuckscards42@hotmail.com  or http://chucksgardenspot.blogspot.com