We got your pickled beets right here!

 

It's pickle beet time! Since the half row was doing so well and we just couldn't eat beets every night of the week, I figured it was time to make pickle. Using my mom's (and her mom's before her) recipe.

Topped.

Washed.

All the cooking and canning are done in the garage. But the pickle syrup was made in the house. Man it smelled just like grandma's house.

And there you go; four quarts and 12 pints.

More Early Spring Activities

After the initial work up last week of the winter rye cover crop, it was time to work in some mushroom soil. Here is what two yards looks like when spread out just before tilling.

And this is after two perpendicular passes with the tiller. After it sits for a week or two to give the rye time to rot in, it should be good to go.

And time to edge the strawberry bed. Once the crowns take off the sides will be filled in with straw.

The weeping cherry is in full bloom and the honey bees are really going after it.

 But it's still a bit early for the fruit cherries to be in bloom. This is a good thing as we're having a late hard freeze tonight. These are buds on the Regina tree which is now five years old and about fifteen feet tall. Unfortunately, it requires a pollinator, and the Blackgold we planted next to it died two years ago. It was replaced with two more last summer. Not sure if we'll get any fruit this season or not.

UPDATE: More COVID-1984

 While the COVID-1984 lockdown madness has been interesting to say the least, working from home full-time has totally changed the gardening process. The biggest change being able to keep a closer eye on things like applying organic pest control on an almost daily basis (due to poor persistence and rain shower wash-off). And slipping out at lunch time to do some daily weed pulls. This makes weekend maintenance much easier.

The first year (2020) was novel enough to keep me motivated. But as the pandemic dragged into the 2021 growing season, I got a bit lazy with secession planting and maximizing output. And I just didn't have the enthusiasm to do any posts. But as Biden-flation rears its ugly head, I hope to do a better job this season of keeping all aspects of the patch in full production.

So yesterday (March 23) was the first turn over of the over-wintered rye cover crop. The key to this process is to cut back the growth before attempting to till. Otherwise you get a mess tightly wrapped around the tiller tines and a gumming up of the whole process. I used the weed whacker to make quick work of this. Then its two rounds with the tiller.

Before and after shots.

 

End of Season 2020

 

Furnace filters replaced, check; water filter replaced, check; drains cleared, check; septic tank pumped out, check; outdoor power equipment cleaned and serviced, check; garden cleared, cultivated and over-seeded with winter rye, check. We are ready for winter!

With COVID and forced telework, this was the first season I was able to go with total organic pest control. There is nothing like keeping a daily check on the patch and reapplying various organic sprays exactly when needed. All and all if was an excellent season.

The last remaining crop for winter is our kale. This year we planted a full row of Lacinato and a second row of Dazzling Blue, Red Russian and Premier COL (one third of each) in late August so it would be up and well on its way by heavy frost. Last year our crop was nipped by an early heavy freeze before it had a chance to harden off to the colder weather. This year we were careful to get it up and under row cover before the heavier frosts.

Since kale can take some pretty cold temps, the row cover is little more than insect grade Agribon. Just enough protection to hold off the worst of the freeze and still provide some heat retention and good light transmission. This usually keeps us with kale well into January.

Late Summer Goings on in The Patch

 

I saved the Indian corn from last year's Thanskgiving table decorations to see what kind of yield I would get; planting four short rows at high density (two of the dark maroon, and two of the tri-color; selecting seeds that were more on the dark purple side). Damn, every kernel sprouted, and most stalks have at least two good ears forming up. And unlike the modern field hybrids, some of these have topped off at 12 ft.!!!! But there is a lot of variation in individual phenotype. Some of the stalks are stunted, have weird ear formations or were so weak as to fall over. This is not unexpected for wild open-pollinated varieties. I can't wait to see what kind of total yield I get and most will be ground for meal but some saved for this year's fall decorations or to give away. 

Indian corn (aka flint corn, native corn, etc.) was the primary corn of my Virginia dirt farmer ancestors. There really was no modern hybrid corn like we see today until after the Civil War.

Here in late summer the really good news is that Japanese beetle season has finally ended; yeah! It is always a battle with these guys. But this year with me being on extended telework due to RONA, I was able to keep a close eye on the bait trap and actually have time to do daily hand picks and almost daily spraying. Organic sprays are nice, but there is little to no persistence especially following rain. I've never been home every day before so this certainly has been a unique garden season. I'm hoping by increasing the diligence this season and applying milky spore under the most susceptible plants, maybe we'll be able to finally tune these pests down a bit. I also hit the ornamental (weeping) cherry with a commercial systemic pesticide this year. The protective effect was miraculous. But you can't use that on anything destined for fruit consumption.

And I was bound and determined to keep the aphids and cucumber beetles under control this year. A combination spray of Neem oil and insecticidal soap applied every three days or so and once a week spinosad seemed to do the trick. So for once we got a full season worth of cucs and squash out of one planting. I suspect too that taking a rest year off last season may have helped break their reproductive cycle. And there is nothing like being able to pick the best-of-the-best for a batch of homofermentative dills. And just in time for the first dill heads to go to seed. Can't wait to crack these open.

So all and all its been an interesting season. For the first time in 18 years I was available to run out and do daily maintenance. Only a few minutes between conference calls or for longer periods over lunch meant a vast increase in the quality of produce and not letting the weeds and other things get out of control. I am very grateful to have had this once in a (working man's) lifetime opportunity.

Soon it will be time to prepare the early spring rows for the fall and winter crops. Already we have broccoli and cauliflower seedlings almost ready for sitting out. The fall carrots and beets were planted this week, and it won't be long before the kale rows are prepared. These will be staggered so as to have health near-mature plants ready by the first heavy frost of the fall. Then they will go under a row cover for winter time greens.

 

Renovation of the Compost Bin

I finally got around to switching out the compost bin this past weekend. Originally it was a circular structure about two yards in diameter made of 2X4 fencing with a couple of feet of rat wire around the bottom to hold in the small material after breakdown. This served us well for nearly 18 years as a fill and forget (no turn) bin system. The new bin was made of three untreated skids with the lower slits covered over with planks from a fourth skid. The front was closed off with a section of the old bin held in place with two T-posts.

But I thought it was time to give this a bit more attention and convert over to a bin that is turned on a regular basis. This switch out was only the second time in 18 years that I've harvested true compost. After removing the top foot or so of undigested material I was able to pull out 8 wheelbarrow loads of good quality compost. This went directly to the main patch for augmenting the soil.

Other than that, the weather continues to be unusually cold with two nights this past weekend getting down to freezing. This most likely will lead to some loss of strawberry blossoms. But since they are so thick, a little thinning might be good.

Spring Time Check In (Rona Edition)

Spring has sprung and a new garden season is underway. After taking off last year to give the beds a much needed rest, this year will be especially important to get back into the hang of seed starting, crop rotation and enhanced production through succession planting.

I say "enhanced production" because with the currently raging COVID pandemic (aka "The Rona"; aka Wuhan Red Death, CCP Virus, Wuhan Lung AIDS, Kung-fu Flu, Chinese Lung Clap, Chinese Bat Cancer, Chinese Lung Crud, all courtesy of the Rott) the latest contagion to crawl out of the  Chinese petri dish, we'll be needing all of the fresh veggie supplementation we can grow over the next few months.

Last summer there were three superficial tills of the beds to suppress weeds and keep our notorious clay soil workable, followed by over seeding with winter rye. After the last till, I over seeded the main plot with buckwheat. This was a spectacular cover crop that was left in place to die down and overwinter. And back in February that too was worked in.

Right now we have a very early crop of mini bok choy, mustard greens and (not pictured) a couple of broccoli. Soon to be followed with more greens and lettuce. Kale and chard were direct seeded last weekend but with the temperature drop these will be delayed a bit. And by May we should be starting tomato and pepper seeds indoors together with more direct seeding outside of squash, beans and cucs.

The other big chores last weekend was to do a final straw-in of the strawberry bed that was established last season. This will be the first time doing this in one of the long beds which should make harvesting a lot easier than doing a big bed in the main plot. I also planted the new raspberry sets in their bed. This time around there were five "Jewel" black (summer bearing) and five "Anne" yellow (ever bearing). These will be ready for first crop next summer.

Other spring time beauties around the compound (as always click on the pic for a larger view):

Heartleaf Brunnera

Regina cherry

Red Bud