Gardening #4: Rototilling Time

This weekend Scott set to work on tuning up the rototiller I inherited from my grandfather so we could get the garden beds ready for planting.

This rototiller is probably 20 years old, but my "Fix it up Chappy" oiled and scrubbed and replaced fluids and belts. It runs like a champ now.

Fall leaves covered the garden all winter, and the manure added last year and compost added this year served to make some dark chocolaty-looking soil when tilled up:



Very gratifying.

Now, if I only had some goat manure to add to the mix...

Gardening #3: Low Budget Patio

Its official: Spring is in full swing and there must be something like "vernal spores" in my bloodstream that have been lying dormant all winter. I think they are waking up and activating the part of my brain that has an evolutionary link to my beagle: I just want to dig.

Our backyard is rather large, but there is really nowhere formal to sit and barbecue or listen to the birds. So, I'm building a patio. I have no money to spend on it, so I'm going to scrounge building materials. But first, the excavation.

I would have put Maisy to work on the job, but she wouldn't follow my guidelines and I was worried it might encourage future unsolicited digging in the garden. Her trench, however, was a work to be admired by anyone with Spring Fever-dig-o-mania:

With inspiration from the dogs, I got to work. After some huffing and puffing and back-strained shoveling, the result is below with a few of the pavers I got from my neighbor.

Since this is a low budget operation, I'm using whatever I can find around the yard as patio material. I have a collection of random flat rocks that I threw in around the pavers.


There is also sand from an old sandbox I made for the dogs last year (a.k.a. Kitty's litter box) that is being used for packing between stones. The dogs seem to like this use of the sand just fine too:


I'm still scrounging for flagstones and sand to finish this up. I'm using our local Free Cycle site to request materials. If that doesn't pan out, I might have to resort to roving the neighborhood under the cover of darknss to liberate abandoned piles of flat stone (neighbors beware).

Spring Shirt

Kitty Kitty Boom Boom is rearing its cute little head from the grave again: I used some fabric I got there for a spring shirt, probably the single best thing I have ever sewn.

I have been known to be a "gorilla seamstress" as my roommate likes to call it; sewing things to get them done as quickly as possible, without taking a lot of time and being impatient to see the end results. However, on this one, I took my time.

I ironed. I pinned. I clipped loose thread. But most of all, I experimented.

Amazingly enough, I didn't have a real pattern- kind of just winged it based on a shirt in a catalog (that I can't afford to buy), and a few hand-me-down shirts. I did create a rough pattern (at left) out of handy-dandy brown paper bag, and made it a bit bigger to allow for later tweaks.

Bias tape make the seems look nicer. Here is how to do it.

Zipper practice makes perfect- I'm finally getting better at this. Experimentation with a white band below the bust and spending time on the finishing touches was a big help- making sure the hem for both front and back lined up and ironing it before sewing it, and darting the bias tap into place on the arm and neck corners. I even put in a "tag" that is some strategically- colored ribbon that you can hang up the shirt on.


It is supposed to snow here tonight, but I'm well prepared for when the weather takes a turn for the warmer. I don't want to be caught out in the spring weather without the right gear (that would be super embarrassing in Durango).

In the meantime, I'm looking longingly forward to sunshine and warmer times, as seen here in the glamor shot at left.

Gardeing #2: Seedlings, Cover Crops, and Compost

Getting excited for spring as the days get longer and my attention span at work gets shorter (these are most certainly inversely related). My garlic came up already and was looking good as I was relocating my compost pile last night (at left).

I've been thinking about how to diminish weed growth in the garden without using weed barrier. Organic Gardening Magazine advocates the use of cover crops for many reasons, but they can also be used between flowers and vegetables if done right. Here are the benefits.

This article advises to plant cover crops after your veggies and flowers are at least 1/3 of the way through their growth cycle so that your green lovelies aren't out-competed by quick growing buckwheat or clover. The article also states the cover crop needs to eventually be mowed and then killed. Hmmm, I bet some goats could help with that (someday...).

Check out the progress of my seedlings:

Lettuce (weeks 1, 2, and 3)

Herbs (weeks 2, and 3)

Tomatoes (weeks 1 and 2)

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Traveling last weekend was a non-stop, action-filled trip. Here are some pics:

Planes:
Flight over the Wasatch with Rob Hunter
(Founder and Owner of Prepared Pilot)
Trains:
Boarding the train in Green River, UT
Tumble-weed Capitol of Nowhere

Automobiles:

The whole purpose of the trip was to
buy a new (used) automobile:

Just kidding, but I think folks in Green River
still use this for emergencies. Seriously.

The real deal: My new shiny ride!
Got 29 mpg on the drive home.

Non-stop Nephews:

Soccer, bikes, scooters, you name it, they are on it.

Weed Eaters: Goats who Earn their Keep

I recently stumbled across a website for people in the Northwest who leases there goats out for weed control. I had heard, or herd (heh, heh) of this before when I was doing conservation work, but forgotten all about it.

Jeepers! This is a way I could let my goats earn their own living while organically removing weeds. In our area, they are great for eating knapweed, yellow toadflax, and other pesky plants. The tamarisk and cheatgrass are a bit more problematic (tamarisk is more an unpalatable evergreen and cheatgrass will eventually wear a ruminant's teeth down due to the high silica content).

There are certainly pros and cons (as adequately outlined in this article), but with proper supervision, insurance, and site inspection beforehand, goats can be a great benefit to native ecosystems by giving them a chance to reestablish.

Gardening #1: Plotting and Planning the Plot

There is a little bit of spring in the air tempting and teasing us here in SW Colorado. And as the year slowly progresses I am hampered by two undeniable facts:

• It is March.
  
• I cannot plant until June 4th (frost date here in Durango).

What to do? Plan and dream. And pick up over-wintered dog poop. Gross.

Though I don't have a greenhouse (another accessory that I hope to acquire someday) I've already started some lettuce, herbs, tomatoes and peppers in a south-facing window, supplemented with a grow light to get them started out right. The lettuce and herbs are poking their heads out, which is exciting!

The plot plan is coming together in my head, but I searched around for an on-line garden designing tool so I could get it all down. All I came up with for online planning were tools for landscaping, but they might be useful still.

Here are 10 garden plans from Better Homes and Gardens. These are complete with layout and plant keys. They are nice because they integrate both veggies and flowers.

Here are my basic necessities:

• Tomatoes: Brandywine are my absolute favorite because they are big and juicy. Scott says he also wants cherry tomatoes, and I'm also going to try an heirloom Purple Cherokee variety and some Early Girls this year.
• Peppers: I tried all kinds of peppers last year and Poblanos and Jalapenos were the only ones that really took off and fruited. I think it must have something to do with the climate here and short growing season (I always have a hard time getting my habaneros to fruit, let alone ripen).

Beans: I love making a bean tent (at left) with a couple of varieties of beans. I always get too many, but the neighbors love them so I share
Basil: Always have to have this for fresh basil all summer. When it comes time to harvest, I chop it up and put it in soft butter with garlic and freeze it for herbed butter all winter long.
Beets: You can eat both the leaves and the root! Yum.

• Kale and Chard: I always crave leafy greens all summer. Butter and salt is all you need.
• Summer Squash: Paddy pan, or scallop, and zucchini went crazy in my garden last year (see picture below)
  
• Winter Squash: Butternut is my favorite ever, and then I'll have to do some acorn and pumpkins too.
  

Scott says he wants to concentrate on the sweet corn (we'll get some Olatha Sweet Corn seeds), peas, carrots, and cucumbers. Good thing we have a big plot.

My new hero: Johnnie Seale

Every time I drive to Scott's house, I drive very slowly by a beautiful piece of property with 12 (soon to be 25 or so) goats. Mr. Johnnie Seale is usually out feeding or caring for his goats on Lightner Creek Road and I stopped to speak with him at JP Acres last time I drove by.

Johnnie is a retired major league baseball player who sadly lost his very active wife Peppy to cancer five years ago (one year after she retired from teaching at Ft. Lewis College). He raises goats for the local 4-H club, meat, and some milk. He claims they are of the best stock, as he sends away for semen from the best bucks in the country and artificially inseminates his does. All 9 of his does will kid later this spring (one is due mid-March), and they usually produce 2-3 kids.

Since he is home caring for his goats almost all the time, he invited me to stop back by once the mud season is over and the kids start arriving. I can't wait, and I'm hoping to learn a lot by spending some time with Johnnie.

On a side note, I just found the Dairy Goat Journal that I might be subscribing to soon. It looks like my kind of reading...