rainbow gardener's 2019 gardens

[rainbowgardener]

well, it is finally underway. Here in the south, I feel like the season is already ahead of me. A couple trips to California to see the grandbabies, a lot of work weeding and mulching the new foundation plantings, and other stuff going on.

In the last couple days I have planted in the ground, spinach, broccoli, snow peas.

Yay!!

[SQWIB]

Awesome, can't wait to see some photos!

[rainbowgardener]

Soon, when I get a little more done. Have now also planted chard, leeks, more broccoli (it's our favorite!), onions, mixed lettuces. Used up the compost I had on hand, so I'm working on turning over the compost pile to get to the finished stuff at the bottom.

[rainbowgardener]

So I planted all those seeds when we had a little break from the rain. But since then we have had nothing but rain, rain and more rain. Much of the yard looks like a lake.... I worry that all my little seeds are just drowning out there.

2018 was a record breaking rain year for Chattanooga with 67 inches (!!). Normal is 52, which seems like plenty already. And the pattern has just kept on going. Year to date 2019 we have already had 13 more inches of rain! We aren't getting the cold and snow that many places are, but it sure is wet .

I love to garden; it is my passion. But I would never be a farmer (i.e. have my livelihood depend on my crops). It seems like it is always too wet or too dry or too hot or too cold or too windy or whatever. It's amazing anyone ever succeeds in producing crops.

[applestar]

Even with your raised beds? Maybe the seeds will wake up when there is more sun to warm them a little, and remind them that it’s early spring over there. I bet the earthworms in the area have all migrated up into the drier raised beds. But if not, you might want to inoculate with bio-tone or other beneficial micro-organisms

How did the compost pile look? Mine is pretty much frozen, but I’m thinking about trying to turn it over top to bottom one day when it’s warmer.

How are your dogs and chickens doing with the wet yard?

[rainbowgardener]

The raised beds do drain better and don't puddle. But that doesn't stop all the seeds from being constantly wet, in the constant rain....

I am working on turning the compost pile over, bottom to top, after using up the compost I had on hand with the planting I've been doing. It looks fine (never did freeze), though a bit rough. Some of what we use as chicken bedding is wood chips, which don't break down very fast.

Our two dogs are different. Shibu HATES getting wet, will stay in all day rather than go out in rain or puddles. Ari doesn't mind it nearly as much, but won't go out if it is really raining (not just sprinkling). The chickens are pretty hardy, but huddle up under the deck or the house eaves if they are free ranging and it is really raining.

We have seven chickens now. After we got our (six) chickens, our neighbors down the street fell in love with them and got their own. A couple weeks ago something (dog or coyote) broke through an old wooden fence (literally broke one of the boards in half) and killed all but one of their chickens while they were free ranging. Chickens are flock birds and don't like to be alone. So we took their last chicken. You can't just throw her in with the existing flock; they will gang up on her. So we made a second wire cage next to the first, so they could see and hear each other, but were separated. They free ranged together, but initially the stranger was always on the opposite side of the yard. It only took them about four days of that to get used to each other. Now they are caged together and the new one runs with the flock. We are being extra careful. Last summer, the horse ranch behind us had all their hens killed, they think by a coyote.

[rainbowgardener]

My son gifted me with a couple of dwarf apricot tree seedlings, which I planted.

So now our mini-orchard is two each of apricots, peaches, apples, and figs. We have blueberry bushes in the front foundation plantings and elderberry in the backyard. I have an avocado tree and a hardy banana on order. With our chicken eggs, tons of veggies and herbs, and black tea caffeine from the camellia bush, come the apocalypse we will still eat well!!

[rainbowgardener]

To date I have planted mixed lettuces, spinach, two plantings of broccoli, chard, kale, carrots, peas, celery, potatoes, cabbage, onion, leeks, and the first planting of corn!! (That may be a bit early, but jal_ut swears you can plant corn before the last frost date. I was at our last frost date and soil temp was up to 60, so I thought I would try)

Some of that I had to replant after we had most of a month of rain all the time.

Sprouted now are the lettuce, spinach, broccoli, chard, peas, leeks, cabbage.

Yay!! And our seven hens are back in full production giving us four to six eggs a day....

[applestar]

Hey if you have eggs to spare, you might be interested in trying this — I was reading a manga with chef’s school setting, and one of the kids made deep-fried medium-set eggs as noodle soup? rice bowl? final touch topping.

Wash and FREEZE whole raw eggs in a zip freezer bag JIK — the eggs will crack during freezing — peel shells from frozen eggs directly out of the freezer, and dip in milk, flour, batter, and deep fry just enough for white to set and yolk to gel, but not fully cook. I think I t’s kind of like deep-fried ice cream.

To be sure, I have NO IDEA if this is a fantasy or real-life do-able technique. Hmm... worst case, could the eggs explode? They are not in shells so they wouldn’t explode like as in microwaved whole egg without piercing the shells, but ....oooh if the batter coverage is incomplete, could the still-liquid white cause spattering?

....maybe I better try this myself before asking anyone else to...

[applestar]

Ah, so convenient when someone else has tried it already!



...as soon as I saw 3 eggs in that little pot I knew that wasn’t the right way —not even 2 at once *I* think.

[SQWIB]

Dam I want chickens, but in Philly we cant have them, I may get some anyway!

[rainbowgardener]

You were right, applestar.... Some of the stuff that I thought was wiped out did eventually sprout. The celery never did appear, but most everything else sprouted.

So the little broccoli and cabbage and pea plants are now big enough that I weeded and mulched around them and put up some trellis for the peas. Everything else is tiny and no sign of the corn or potatoes yet (the last planted). I'm about to plant beans.

Pictures soon! It is starting to look like a garden again!

Plus the strawberries are beautiful and full of blossoms and the asparagus is starting to sprout. Yay, spring!!

Peach trees are about done blooming and the apple trees are starting. The new baby apricots are leafed out.

They sent the avocado and banana trees about two weeks too early and they went through several frosts (wrapped in plastic). The leaves that were on the banana tree look pretty ragged and yellowing, but it is starting to put out a new one, so hopefully they both made it.

We love our chickens . Not only all the wonderful eggs, but they make the garden seem so much more complete. The poop from their tray goes in the compost pile. The raked out bedding from the coop is used for mulch for the garden beds. The pulled weeds (especially the chick weed, which conveniently is our most common weed in the spring) goes to feed the chickens. And now when I find a japanese beetle grub or a cut worm in the soil while I am digging, instead of hating it, I think yay, a nice juicy high protein snack for the chickie ladies. And they are adorable. Every time I set foot in the back yard while they are out free ranging, the whole flock comes running up to say hi to me! They are always curious about what I am doing. I was out weeding and mulching around the fruit trees. The trees are in the side yard. There is fence between the side and back yards. For awhile the hens were all lined up along the fence watching what I was doing, until they got bored.

[applestar]

[rainbowgardener]

So here are garden pictures:
Overview of several of them

L to R : spinach, broccoli, weeds where corn will be later, peas

Over wintered carrots, tiny cabbage seedlings, not visible

Two quarters of what will eventually be a 20' diameter circle, front one has fall planted onions, leeks, chard, potatoes. Back has strawberries and asparagus

There's four more veggie bed not shown yet.

[rainbowgardener]

My post from Apr 2, said that most of the early planted stuff finally came up , but not the celery. A few days ago I discovered a bunch of tiny baby celery seedlings! I had given up on them and planted spinach there, so now they will be all mixed together. It's ok, because the spinach will be done and get out of the way, long before the celery is done. It is very strange though... it was just about three months from when the celery seed was planted to when it finally sprouted! How could it have sat in the soil through all the rain we had and not rotted out and then finally sprout?