Of soil blocks, barnyard birds, and more

Last post I mentioned a short video on soil block making. When we shot it, the quality turned out good, but somewhere while uploading it here, the quality went downhill, as they say. I'm gonna post it anyway, sorry about the waviness. I'm gonna have to try and see what I can do for next time. Here goes.....

Other things popping here are baby zucchinis, for one thing. We started some zukes earlier in April, in 2 inch soil blocks, in the heated seed starting greenhouse, then potted them up into 4 inchers, put them into the ground May 5 if memory serves, and look what's there now!

Fried zucchini in the works

After we put them into the ground, that night, it got down to about 23 degrees F; however, under the little low tunnel inside the higher grow tunnel, they were fine. The lettuce pictures below, while only under a single layer low tunnel outside the bigger tunnel, survived as well, and are thriving.

Closest lettuce is a variety called "Kweik"

Teide Lettuce in foreground, green onions in background.

Meanwhile, we're constantly planting more in the seed starting house, and will be until late summer/early fall. Lots of crops can be grown in the cooler fall temperatures, and can handle frost quite well. So, in order to continue harvesting, you need to keep planting. While crops like these tomatos....

certainly loathe cooler weather, crops like these lettuces actually like more moderate temps to grow in.

One of the new crops we're trying this year is called the Potato Onion; they set multiple bulbs under ground like spuds, and are supposed to be very long keeping. We bought a few sets last fall, planted them, and they are sending up shoots. I'll save most of the bulbs and replant them for a year or two, building up my seed stock. Maybe they will appear on the market tables in a couple years.

Potato Onions, fall planted and now appearing.

On another front, last year we bought what was supposed to be a pair of geese. I like geese, in that they enjoy eating grass, indeed thrive on grass, as many a beachgoer can attest to after having stepped in or slipped on grassy green you-know-what. :) Tufted Roman geese are supposed to be more docile, although a bit smaller than some other breeds, and having little kids around, it's nice to not have to worry about honking geese biting and chasing clamoring kids around all day. Anyway, the pair of geese must not have been a pair after all, since we never got any eggs, and they certainly didn't seem inclined toward love; rather, they fought like a cat and dog until they apparently figured out who was dominant. One of them "bought the farm", as they say, last fall (no, he wasn't put in the oven for Thanksgiving, he just up and died.) Since then, the other one, simply named "Goosie", has been a bit lonely, following us around as we go about our tasks.

Goosie with an attitude

Although they are supposed to be gentle, he still tries to show who is boss. However, one day he tried chasing Janice, the queen of the castle here. She promptly turned, ran at him, and he quickly figured out he wasn't so big after all, and turned tail and ran. :) He needs some goose friends, and after they grow out their feathers, he'll have some.

Picked up this morning at the post office, now it's nap time.

We also have laying hens, who contribute fresh eggs to the meals around here, manure to compost, and when they are through with their laying lives, good canned broth and stew meat. :) However, the bird pictured below is more of a novelty. 

White Silkie bantam

Silkies are really odd, with feathers more like fur or hair rather than feathers, a fifth toe, and black skin. Apparently, the meat has a really dark hue as well, and is a delicacy in the Orient. I will probably utilize them as setters, since they are small, and we're not too keen on eating bluish/blackish meat anyway. :) They do also contribute an element of entertainment, watching them scurry around the barnyard, picking and scratching, with the little fluffy "tophats". Maybe I'll bring a couple to market this summer, like a show and tell. 

In closing, I'm just gonna dig back in the archives for a couple more pictures.

How "bee" you?

Blackberry pickin' time

Well, time to roll. Y'all take care now!!

It continues....

What a week, weather wise! The gray, cool, cloudy, rainy weather brought back (bad) memories of last July. Hopefully it is not a harbinger of things to come. :) However, shortly after waking up early Wednesday morning, I heard a robin singing. 'Twas a cheery sound, especially when I peeked around the shade to see the gray, misty, foggy early morning; rather depressing to the spirits. Then, after walking to the other side of the house, I heard a White-Throated Sparrow, happily giving his song. Perhaps we humans are the only ones who let the weather get us down. The birds don't seem to mind in the least. :)

Last post I wrote about the raised bed/hugel beds in the seed starting greenhouse. Here's some more about that.

 Under the spread goat bedding is a hole about the length of the bed, with logs filling it. We then add some soil back in, along with lime, since the soil in that area seems to be acidic.

Better Homes and Gardens type fanciness, NOT! :)

Then keep adding soil and lime from time to time, until we get almost full, then add a layer of good dark compost, like this.

Pretty, ain't it?

The beds serve as a lower level spot to put seed flats; when the starts are in the garden, I'll transplant crops that I want to grow later into the fall/winter. Kind of an experiment, to see if I can keep my darlin' and the little munchers in homegrown toothsome delicacies late into the fall. Should work, think I. On to other things,

The rhubarb was coming up happily until......

Yup, deer ate some of them down.

I don't remember having much of a problem with the deer chomping on my rhubarb, but this year, they came by one night and gobbled some of them up. I assume they are really hungry after the long winter we had. Time to extend the electric fence, I guess. I needed to do it anyway, this will light a fire under me to get it done. :)
Here's some more seedling pics.

Baby Cascade Glaze Collards, yum yum!

Teide, a red lettuce I'm trialing this year

Happy vibrantly-green tomatos

Lots of kale

Planning to start setting out transplants on Monday, both in the growing tunnel and under "low tunnels"- kale, green onions, lettuce, collards, chard in the low tunnels. Zucchini and cuke transplants under low tunnels inside the grow tunnel, the double buffering should protect them well from any (hopefully) light frosts we have from now until June. We'll probably set out the first tomatos under double cover in about a week or so. And of course, more seeds will be going into soil blocks as the spring rolls along. Busy, but fun, time of the year.
And here's some from the not-too-distant past, for old time's sake. :)

Simpson Elite lettuce, large-size and oh-so-good.
 

Lutz Green Leaf or Winterkeeper beets.

Ali Baba watermelon

Kuroda carrots, we love them.

And, my apologies for this last picture. 'Twas an awfully long, hard winter, as y'all know, but every time I look at this on my monitor background I marvel at the beauty of the cold, windswept landscape.
If my tracks weren't in it, it would be perfect, I think.

Next post I think I'm gonna talk a bit about soil blocks, maybe even post a little video clip of us making some. Gotta run, y'all take care now. Happy trails! :)