Home on the Hill

Well, If I can keep the things living through the -30c winters. We spent the last two days adding a strawberry patch to the side of the Shop. This time of year it gets sun through out the day. We started by leveling out an area about sixteen feet long to put the railway tie retaining walls in. I pinned the ties down with rebar rods. I then covered the inside with some heavy plastic tarp that I get from the hardware store. It's the stuff their lumber comes wrapped in from the mill. We then filled the space with gravel, tamped it down, added a layer of geotextle on top to stop any weeds and put down a couple of inches of sand which we also tamped down. I also added a four inch drain pipe to take away any water draining on the beds from the roof. Then we selected six 18 inch truck tires, cut the tops off and placed them on the sand bed. Filled them with a fairly sandy, loamy mix we had made up previously and then added perlite and peatmoss. While we were hauling gravel and sand...

As a mentioned in an earlier post we spent yesterday finishing the garden planting. We also added 16 more tires of spuds. Late Burbanks and Pontiacs. Jo-Ann had the brainiac idea of putting the smaller car tires on pallets so we could fill them up with planting soil at the pile and then just move them over to the garden where we placed them between the rows of truck tire. Works slick. Another local resource - used pallets. The local hardware store saves them up for me and then gives me a call when I have a trailor load. They are sure handy around the enterprise. The spud-in-a-bag method is pretty simple. I used a small car or truck tire to hold the bag in place and then just filled it with soil after making sure I put a few holes in the bag for drainage. After that we just planted the seed potatoes, eyes up and watered them. So far no spuds, but it's only been a day.. When the spud leaves start to poke through we will keep adding mulch to the bag to force the plant to gr...

Sitting here this morning we are watching a bizarre scene out our kitchen window. Hummingbirds swarming the feeders oblivious to the snow storm behind them. Were having porridge to fortify us before the morning walk. What to wear? I put away the snow boots.. However Jo-Ann did pick up a couple pairs of Arctic wear socks at the trading post in town. On a side note we are saddened to hear of the trading post's upcoming closure- if no one will buy it. It means a 100 kilometer trip to get propane. and good quality work clothes and the only chainsaw retailer from Vanderhoof to Burns lake. The reason seems to be that not enough locals are supporting local businesses. You can get it cheaper in Prince George. only 400 klicks round trip. And it has a casino.. During our walk yesterday we spotted the first flower of the season: It's yellow and the greens are tasty.. Jo-Ann is knitting it a parka. We spent the rest of the day planting the remaining bare tires in the garden. Except ...

Despite the 4C(39F) were putting in the garden. We are starting with Tomatoes, Squashes, Lettuce, Spinach, Carrots, Cabbage, Broccoli, Radishes.. I know it sounds weird, planting tomatoes in this weather - but they are going in mini green houses. All the veggies are. The big trick is to keep them from burning when the sun comes out. As we are planting we are also adding tin foil to the top tire on the inside to reflect the light. It makes a huge difference. I am also adding sand, from our new found pit, and Perlite to loosen up the clay based soil. Actually a glacial alluvial mix. We also plant all the cabbage and squash through slits in a black geo-textile that lets water in, blocks weeds, and keeps heat in the soil. A high tech mulch. I have found a new tool for working in the re-tired garden. It's a three pronged garden fork that has an extending handle. Perfect for stirring up the soil. Here I am making a menacing gesture with it. Or I have gas. I forget. You ca...

We've had some sun lately and I have started to see the snow shrinking around the tire planters in the "re-tired" garden. Planting time in getting closer. The inside six inches of soil that is against the tires is frost free. The middles are still frozen. We left most of the tires with agricultural cloth covering the lids and they didn't stand up to the winters snow. The ones that had plastic on them did. Soon it will be time to repair all the lids, put some more tinfoil in the tires and get ready for planting. Lettuce in May! Yesterday Jo-Ann declared the remaining turnips in the inside out cold storage fridge were now inedible and bound for the compost pile. They lasted over five months which, I believe, is generally pretty good for turnips in cold storage. The big surprise was the zuchinni which lasted three months. We got off to a bad start last year and the turnips especially got crowded out with lambs foot, as the yard help we had hired when we left fo...

But it really works better putting it around the inside of tires to maximize the growing season. Here is how I do it. The first step is to spray the inside of a clean cut truck tire with 3M super 77 contact spray. Then I line the inside with heavy duty tin foil and smooth it out as best I can. I also do the tire lid. It will help reflect light back down onto the plants. The white fabric covering the centre of the tire is agricultural fabric. It lets the light and rain in. I can also use plastic but if you do you have to be very careful not to let the plants burn. Its glued on with acoustic sealant, a messy black stuff that doesn't harden. The reflector " riser " tire gets put over the ones with soil in it and the reflective lid goes on top. I have drip irrigation that waters the plants. The temperature in the tires was close to 33C yesterday. Maybe a little to hot but the average temperature is rapidly falling despite the fall heat wave. I am doing an experiment h...

We were tooling around in the garden today adjusting the sprinkler system and trying some underground drip lines. Gotta like that idea, no waste, water goes directly to the plants roots. While we were out there we had a bit of a brainstorm. We have a couple of tires of soybeans for edemame growing and they require a bit warmer temperatures. We had wrapped tires with green house plastic before. Screwing it to the sides of the tires. We had some plastic left over and came up with this idea: Put the plastic on the inside of the tire, sticking it down into the soil for stability and putting a tire "lid"( with horticultural fabric for venting) on top. 15c rise in temperature. Lots of light. Tried it with the tomatoes all tho we didn't put a top on them. It also helps cut down the wind on the plants. We've been having a lot of high winds and cold temps lately. This looks like another innovation in the world of cold weather gardening. I opened a package from my t...