Hibernation

The deer were devastating, but lessons learned.

The best defense is a good... defense.

Been a while since my last entry.  It's been so hot that it's tough to get anything to sprout.  The cabbage bolted so I cut it all down and got a few small heads out of it.  It shall be sauerkraut soon!  The chard is growing strong and allowing for a large harvest each week.  The biggest recent development is the deer...

Yup, they found the potatoes.  The damage wasn't too extensive with only a couple plants stripped of foliage.  I added some fencing at deer-level to limit their access while still allowing me to reach under for maintenance.

They found the blueberries too, so they've received the dome.

I had left the cover off the sweet potatoes to let them get a good soaking of rain one day.  This was a mistake.  The deer promptly ate a nice section while I was away.  The rest of the row however is still doing well and should provide a good crop.

But there is a problem.  The area the deer hit also seems to be suffering from some sort of infection.  I haven't yet been able to identify what it is.  The leaves are turning completely black and dying off.  I've found a couple bacterial infections that come close to the description, but I'm not certain yet.

Hopefully it doesn't spread.

The sweet potatoes also have a companion now.

I dropped a yellow squash seed that had survived winter in the compost bin.  It managed to sprout in the walkway so I just let it go.  Pretty strong little plant so I'll be keeping its seed later.

Finally, some radishes have sprouted.

Still no sign of the parsnips or chives though.  The heat is proving to be a barrier in getting things to come up.  I'm probably going to have to get some peppers started indoors if I want to have any before the end of the season.

For now though I'm just glad that my efforts at controlling the deer, when actually applied, are proving successful.

Got crabgrass?

Things are progressing this season.  It got hot and dry quick but fortunately I haven't needed to water very much.

The potatoes are coming along strong, growing very fast and might need one more layer of straw.

The second row with the lettuce, spinach, and carrots has turned into more of a crabgrass farm.  I didn't do any weeding to allow for the seed to establish, but the crabgrass just took over.  There's still a scattering of carrots so I'm going to go through and pull out all the grass by hand.

The swiss chard and cabbage are growing well.  Some of the chard might be ready to eat!

The sweet potatoes are in.  To protect them from deer they're going to remain under the row cover for the entire season.  It should be light enough but if not I'll try a different cover.

The onions from last season have gone to seed.  They look almost alien, kinda cool.  Into the compost bin they go!

I'm going to have to put fresh paper down and mulch the paths again.  There's one particular weed I have yet to identify that is very persistent.  It apparently has a deep taproot that no matter how much of it I manage to remove, enough remains for it to regrow.  I've wasted too much time and energy digging them out as they can push their way through the straw, but hopefully some fresh paper will be enough to stop them for a while.

This spud's for YOU!

The potatoes are sprouting spudtacularly.

Blueberry blossoms!

And baby blueberries!!

I think I need to erect deer fencing over the blueberries before they're noticed.

The onions from last season are still going, and flowering.  I've pulled up a couple and they have small but seemingly growing bulbs.  Still not completely sure what they're going to do.

Lettuce!  There's been a scattering of lettuce sprouts, some carrots, and a few spinach.  Wherever things still have yet to come up over the next week or so I'm going to go ahead and plant radishes and parsnips.

Swiss chard and cabbage goin strong!  Pulled the mulch back over and with the rains they really took off.

Next weekend I plan on picking up the sweet potato slips to fill in the third row.

Reseeded second row.

Pulled off the mulch and reseeded the second row.    Sowed spinach and broadcast lettuce and carrots.  It won't be long after sprouting that the spinach and lettuce bolt as it gets hot, at which point the carrots will take over.

This is essentially the same thing I ended up doing last year after attempting to direct seed through the mulch.  So I'm concluding that for the best chances of success only transplants can be planted through the mulch.  For seed the mulch has to be pulled off.


The future home of yummy sweet potatoes.  Hopefully slips will be available next weekend.

The deer ate the tops off these onions last season, but now they came back.  I pulled up one and it didn't have much of a bulb at all.  I've seen no signs of bolting though so I'm just letting them go to see what happens.

The spuds have their eyes on me.

A GREAT day for working in the garden!

I decided to go ahead and plant some potatoes for a fall harvest and to store for winter.  I've never grown them before, but seeing as they try to grow all on their own in my cupboard, I figure it can't be that hard.

Red potatoes

White potatoes

They went in the fourth row set I put in last fall.  Just straw (or what might actually be hay, grumble) layered about a foot deep on top of grass clippings.  All the grass beneath was killed off with everything at the soil almost completely decomposed.  The lower layers of straw were extremely moist and gooey with some mushrooms found, and an ant colony.  I think this means there wasn't sufficient airflow to get a strong decomposition going.

Pulling back the straw I placed the seed potatoes on the ground and recovered with a couple inches of the wettest straw, not too thick as the potatoes had already sprouted.  After the growth breaks through the  surface a bit I'll add more straw, repeating this cycle a couple of times.  The spuds should all grow up and fill the straw with starchy goodness.


The Deer Defense Grid is also in place.  Hard to tell in the photo, I used the old fence to form arches over the first row, capping both ends.

The groundhog can always go under it, and I'll deal with that if it becomes a problem.  But for now this should prevent the deer from browsing on the young cabbage and chard.

Still no sign of the spinach or lettuce.  I'm thinking I might have to just pull the mulch off and reseed the second row as I did the first.  But, it does look like my blueberry bushes made it through winter!

I see super fresh blueberries in my, and quite possible some lucky deer's, future!

Hay is NOT straw!

Given the number of freshly sprouted weeds I'm pulling from my rows, I'm concluding that the person who sold me my straw bales in fact sold me hay bales.  Irritating!

Hay is NOT straw!

Straw is the remnant stalks from a grain harvest.  The grains are harvested and once the stalks die off and dry they are collected and baled.  There is little if any seed present.

Hay is for livestock feeding.  It is often full of seed as it is grown and harvested specifically to provide food for grain-fed animals.

I had found a small vegetable stand that also sold organic straw bales from an in-state Amish community.  Unfortunately they don't seem to have reopened their stand this year.  I guess this means I have to track down a new source for quality straw.

Meet Phil.

Meet Phil.  Please, no comments about his weight.  He's very sensitive, and fat.

Rows 1 and 2 seeded

Pulled off the mulch and seeded row 1 with swiss chard and cabbage.

Seeded row 2 with spinach through holes in mulch.  Broadcast seeded lettuce.  Rain later today should settle the seed down.

Still plotting a fence system.  Currently thinking of using the old fence in sections to form arches over the row similar to the row cover and securing to metal rods.  Row 3 is getting sweet potatoes.  The deer love them but for those I'm going to try just putting a fabric row cover directly on top of the plants.

It's a brand new season!

Time to get things started!  

This year I have a challenge.  The venison menaces shut me down last year, so it's time to experiment.  I tore out the fence as it proved useless once the deer realized the abundance of delicious foods within.

 Instead I am first trying individual protection for each row.  Row covers, in addition to providing warmth and protection from insects, will hopefully prevent deer browsing and discovery of the crops.  If they succeed, they will have no problem trampling the fabric to gain access.  I will then move to row covers built from metal fencing.  We shall see!

Pink

Somewhere a panther is jealous.

Basement Hatch

My house does not have basement stairs, so I decided to add an inside access hatch.  This is a pictorial walk-through of that project.  When I decided to undertake this I found few comparable hatches in my searching online, so I hope my documenting this will help someone else some day.

The location for the hatch was selected based on convenience and the existing floor structure.  The opening was made between two floor joists such that none needed cutting or reinforcement.

Prepared the area.

Cut the initial opening.

Expanded the opening to maximum available size and framed in.

Frame is set below the floor 1/2", the thickness of the plywood for the hatch.

Cut the plywood hatch to size.

Built a support for the hatch.  As this is a small hatch not in a traffic area 1x2 lumber was used.

The support is smaller than the plywood so that the edge of the plywood rests on the frame in the floor.

Aligned door and attached hinge.  Handle is temporary.

Verify clean operation.

The hatch was removed from the floor and the wood laminate flooring was put back down over the opening.  The opening was marked from below and adjusted using the hatch as a template, then cut.

Trimming the flooring pieces for the hatch.  

An approximately 1/2" gap is left in front of the hinge to allow for floor clearance when open.

Reattached hatch and replaced flooring.

Glued hatch flooring down with Liquid Nails.

Added handle and slide lock.

Basement hatch complete.

Next:  ship's ladder.