Tired of it All
Well lotsa tires anyway. We spent the day weeding out the garden and re planting the tires that had been chocked with pig weed. This is the North end of the garden with a view across the valley. The plywood holds the timers, the white pipes encircle the shut off and isolator valves for the garden and the black conduit is the water and power for the soon to be moved chicken/green house.
The cabbages and squash are doing well. I am taking the lids off during the day but at night I put them back on to hold in some of the heat. The spuds have grown over the tops so they get to chance it. Soon -like the next couple of days the tomatoes will have to survive the night without tops as they have overgrown the tire stacks. If I go higher I won't be able to reach in to weed.
This is the infamous pig weed. Fortunately it is very easy to weed as it doesn't have a big root system when it is small. But it is a prolific grower and easily crowded out the white onions for light domination. It is also very tasty. When it is young, like in these tires it is tender. And plentiful. It grows anywhere the soil is "disturbed". The chickens will run over them selves to nibble on it.
Soil wasn't the only thing disturbed when I saw how overgrown the tires had become in our absence. Anyway we have it back in shape now. I put red plastic over the surface of all the tomatoes and black geotextile in all the tires that have squash.
That should kill the weeds and keep the soil a bit warmer. Apparently the red plastic also makes the tomatoes grow faster and procuce more fruit. It seems to be working judging by the ones I did before we went to the Coast. The spuds didn't need any mulching for weeds as they are drip irrigated and only the spud plant gets any moisture.
We bought a cherry and two apple trees at a local nursery.
I thought I would just dig three quick holes and stick them in. Well as it turns out I needed to downgrade my time estimate once again. The holes need to be three times as big as the pot the tree comes in. We also made up a bunch of potting type soil to help amend the clay ground we put them in. The cherry actually had some green fruit on it. It's a Evans Cherry.
Always nice to get an acknowledgement for our efforts isn't it..
Boose the cat was foreman on the job. Here's a picture of her momentarilly distracted by a bird.
It's overcast today. Perfect for a little jaunt.
The cabbages and squash are doing well. I am taking the lids off during the day but at night I put them back on to hold in some of the heat. The spuds have grown over the tops so they get to chance it. Soon -like the next couple of days the tomatoes will have to survive the night without tops as they have overgrown the tire stacks. If I go higher I won't be able to reach in to weed.
This is the infamous pig weed. Fortunately it is very easy to weed as it doesn't have a big root system when it is small. But it is a prolific grower and easily crowded out the white onions for light domination. It is also very tasty. When it is young, like in these tires it is tender. And plentiful. It grows anywhere the soil is "disturbed". The chickens will run over them selves to nibble on it.
Soil wasn't the only thing disturbed when I saw how overgrown the tires had become in our absence. Anyway we have it back in shape now. I put red plastic over the surface of all the tomatoes and black geotextile in all the tires that have squash.
That should kill the weeds and keep the soil a bit warmer. Apparently the red plastic also makes the tomatoes grow faster and procuce more fruit. It seems to be working judging by the ones I did before we went to the Coast. The spuds didn't need any mulching for weeds as they are drip irrigated and only the spud plant gets any moisture.
We bought a cherry and two apple trees at a local nursery.
I thought I would just dig three quick holes and stick them in. Well as it turns out I needed to downgrade my time estimate once again. The holes need to be three times as big as the pot the tree comes in. We also made up a bunch of potting type soil to help amend the clay ground we put them in. The cherry actually had some green fruit on it. It's a Evans Cherry.
Always nice to get an acknowledgement for our efforts isn't it..
Boose the cat was foreman on the job. Here's a picture of her momentarilly distracted by a bird.
It's overcast today. Perfect for a little jaunt.
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