Broccoli Picking

I've had a pretty paltry broccoli crop this year. The chickens took out
a plant or two and for some reason others didn't survive to adulthood.
I think I've got some cauliflower coming along - we'll see what my
teenage plants produce. Here's two broccoli photos.

One shows a big sprig that I should have picked sooner (see the buds starting to bloom).
The other shows a plant that was moments away from getting picked.

Some of these plants will keep putting up small sprigs and can continue
to be harvested for a few weeks. The amounts are good for salads or, I
suppose, omelets. Some plants will produce a huge, several-pound head. I
don't think I'm getting any of those this year.

- Bruce

Garden Frames and the Peril of Floating Row Covers

It's survival of the fittest out there, and in our California garden, plant seedlings are not the fittest. Slugs, snails, birds, cutworms, wind, cold, and weeds all take their toll, with the pests probably doing the most damage. Floating row covers are supposedly the way to go. I got some of that fabric a few years ago, and, let's say, the results were mixed. I don't have the patience to deal with lightweight fabric, finding the hoops, and weighing down all the edges (which somehow get caught in my shoes and ripped out of the ground the next time I go in the garden) the way you're supposed to with those covers.

So, I had a great idea. I'd make wooden frames, attach the floating row cover fabric to it, and just lay it in the garden over my seeds. I got some 2x2 redwood, along with some 1x2 (or so) redwood, built a bunch of frames, carefully put the row-cover material over them (wrapping it around the 1*2 sections and nailing them down so there'd be good strain relief on the fabric), and then planting some seeds and putting a frame over them. It looked great, that frame did, out there. It even worked! I got a great patch of lettuce and beets from seed, without having to sprout indoors and transplant.

Sadly, I think the reason the frame and fabric worked is I put it out in winter, and the fabric only lets rainwater through. It doesn't rain here in the spring, summer, and fall, and the fabric doesn't seem to let water from the sprinklers through. I kid you not - I even took some photos to show the frames on our driveway (above) and how dry the driveway was after I sprayed the frames from the hose. If you care, I could explain why the frames don't let sprinkler water through (at least my theory), but the bottom line was I had a lot of seeds that weren't sprouting under the frames. Sometimes, the garden would be wet everywhere except where the frames covered it!

Time to turn to the neighbors. I decided to replace the row-cover material with window screening. I figured someone would have old window screens in their garage that no longer fit any windows on their house, so I asked around. Well, a neighbor had a roll of screen tucked away. He traded it to me for some lettuce (I'll drop some eggs by, too) and I've started upgrading the frames. One photo shows a frame with the screen next to one with the row-cover after both had been sprayed by a hose. Low-and-behold, the frame with the screen (on the left in the photo below) lets water through and the row-cover didn't. (If that's not science in action, I don't know what is).

I'll keep a few row-cover covered screens for winter, when they should keep the soil warmer and rain will keep things damp. Otherwise, I'm converting most of my frames. They'll keep the pests away and should really increase the number of plants that survive childhood.

- Bruce

Our Grand Dame- Henny Penny

Henny Penny rules our roost. When you keep chickens suddenly all those cliches about "being broody", and "pecking order" start to make sense. We bought Henny Penny as a chick last winter so she is almost 18 months old. She lays a beautiful brown egg every day most of the year and alternate days during the winter.

We named out blog after Henny Penny because she is our trick chicken. She comes walking up the stairs onto our deck (a full flight) and pecks at our back door to ask for treats. She'll do just about anything for a tasty raisin or dried blueberry. (We get our organic raisins from the Benzler Farm in Fresno.) Since she has had such tremendous success, the other girls have followed her example and some afternoons I'll look over when I hear a light knock to find four chickens waiting impatiently for us to open the door. Henny Penny keeps the rest of the flock, and us, in line.

Meet our girls- Snowball

You'll have figured out from earlier posts that not only are we are growing food in our small suburban yard but we are keeping chickens. We have four laying hens- the maximum allowed by local law. Each has a distinct personality and we find ourselves watching "chicken tv" out the kitchen windows. Our eldest chicken is not the top of the pecking order, but she is a pretty quirky bird. Snowball is a black Modern Game bantam, purchased so the kids would have a small bird to handle when showing poultry at the County Fair. Snowball was one of a pair of bantams but her "sister", named Flaming-y (for her penchant for standing on one food) died last summer of a prolapsed vent. Snowball lays one small white egg every two or three days. We use two of these eggs to replace one in recipes.

My favorite thing about Snowball is that she is a talker. She murmurs to herself as she walks about the yard making small noises almost constantly. She is attached to Henny Penny and when they get separated, Snowball talks loudly letting us know that she is not comfortable with things the way they are. Maybe she is like a pure-bred dog or cat because she seems like something of a prima dona.

Planting a Tomato Plant, Fending Off the Chickens

Here's how I planted a tomato plant today. Basically, I dug a hole, filled it with water, and poured in homemade potting soil (our soil has a lot of clay in it, so I want something that provides drainage around the roots). Then I plucked the leaves off the bottom half of the tomato plant, pulled the entire root-mass out of the nursery pot, and planted it as deep as I could (the top leaves are just at ground level). That lets the plant develop roots along the buried stem and makes for a
stronger plant (or so they say). I sunk an empty flower pot next to it that I'll fill with water periodically. That pot will deliver water deeper into the soil and hopefully reduct the amount of watering I need to do. I finished filling in with soil.

The photo above shows one chicken keeping an eye on the hole - there's no telling what the shovel will turn up. You can see the plant-protection devices next to the chicken. If they weren't there, the young tomato plants would turn into chicken food.

I dug the hole, now I'm filling it with water to give the plant something to drink when it goes into the hole.

I put in homemade potting soil (only because that's what I had quickly available). I didn't want to reuse the soil I dug out of the hole because it has so much clay that it doesn't drain well. The photo shows that the potting soil is suspended in the water, which hadn't drained out of the hole yet (due to the clay). That pot comes off before the plant goes in the ground.

When I take the plant out of the plastic pot, I'll bury the stem in soil all the way up to the bottom set of leaves. I'll pinch that bottom branch (or two) off to put as much of the stalk in the ground as possible, so it can all form roots. The plant will grow just fine.

Now I'm putting the plant in the hole, so the leaves will be just above surface level. I'll fill the hole with more soil, so there's still a bit of a depression to collect water. I'll also dig an empty flower pot into the ground next to the plant so I can fill the pot with water and the water will trickle deeper into the ground.

Here's the pot going in.

The final planted plant, under the empty milk crate the keeps the chickens away.

As I planted, I fended off the chickens. They love when I garden.
Henney Penney knows the best pickings are in the fresh dirt, so she's
underfoot always. The two Ameracauna's have a real taste for tomato
leaves, so I have to protect the plants (you can see them next to the
caged plant). They all love to scratch in the dry soil around the
tomatos, so it's become a real challenge to keep the plants alive.

Photographer: Anya

Author: Bruce

Boring Stuff

Now, this is a post about boring stuff (a.k.a yard work). Yesterday (4/18/09) we did about 2.5 hours of yard work total. Let me tell you that was one of the more boring experiences of having a farm. We mostly weeded the front yard, not a very pretty site. We also planted a lemon tree and some flowers in the evening while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on NPR. That was an enlightening experience.
-Anya

Vermiculite and Make-It-Yourself Potting Soil

I've gotten tired of buying bags of potting soil. There's umpteen choices at the local box stores and garden centers, but I doubt the seeds care all that much what they grow in. Also, I've found some of the potting materials I've tried don't work all that well. They form a water-impermeable layer on top and when I water the pots, the water doesn't soak in.

Somewhere, I read that all you need for potting soil is a 50-50 mix of Vermiculite (an expanded form of mica) and peat moss, with maybe some slow-acting fertilizer thrown in. I gave that a try and, low-and-behold, the seeds grow! Now the problem is finding vermiculite. Most garden centers have cute little bags of it, which is fine, but I had visions of saving money and those little bags cost as much as a bag of potting soil. An online search for vermiculite didn't turn anything up. My closest garden center (Home Depot, ironically) doesn't have large bags. I asked about special-ordering it at one specialty garden center, but their supplier had stopped carrying large bags.

I put the big-bag concept on the back burner, but one day on my way into the big-box Home Depot I spied large bags of Vermiculite, just sitting there. I shelled out $27 or so and now I'm set for a while. The photo shows the bag I bought, along with the organic fertilizer I've been using. Of course, I'm out of peat moss, but that's easier to find.

My potting soil recipe.

Ingredients:

Some vermiculite
Some peat moss
Much less organic fertilizer (say 5-3-3).

Put some vermiculite into a five gallon bucket. Add about the same
amount of peat moss (you can go 60-40 on the peat moss/vermiculite mix
if you want to save vermiculite). Mix it. Add a bit of fertilizer
(optional) and mix some more.

Tight Lettuce

I ran across a column today in the Wall Street Journal, loosely titled:  How much can you save growing vegetables?

The bottom line is "a lot", if you don't spend a lot of money on capital costs (such as tools, raised bed, soil, etc). Here, we pay for water, also. Still, spending a few dollars on seeds for many pounds of vegetables, is a pretty good deal (of course, there's the work and occasional crop failure to face).

I try to save where I can, but I do spend money on some things. I've found some tools (like the shovel I leave in the compost area) at yard sales. I keep an eye out for scrap lumber for garden frames and other useful, junked items, left at curbside. Now I want a few old window screens to build more protective screens for my seeds (more about that another day).

What caught my eye in the article was "Plant the lettuce tight enough, and there won't be room for any [weeds]". The photo shows my latest attempt at fighting off the slugs, snails, birds, and other garden evils to grow lettuce from seed in the garden. My attempt succeeded! The weeds manage to poke out here and there, but you can see Romaine packed hip-to-hip, with beets and a "Red Sails" lettuce grabbing space also. I'll pull the weeds this weekend.

Photo of White House Garden

Here's a photo of the White House Garden, taken through the fence in
front of the WH. The photo is not great shakes, but it shows how
Michelle Obama chose a site that can be partially seen by the public.
It's not hidden away somewhere, which it could easily have been. I don't
know how much sun it gets. They were preparing for the "Easter Egg Roll"
the day we were there.

- Bruce

Front Yard Garden - White House

We visited Washington DC yesterday and walked the Mall. We made sure to walk past the White House (we'd tried to get tour tickets, but failed) and low-and-behold, there on the White House lawn (the front lawn, no less) is the new White House garden. It's partially visible from the street, and (garden-envy alert) it's bigger than ours. Of course, they have more resources, including school children and a staff. Kudos to Michelle Obama for getting out there and digging in with this tremendous promotion for backyard gardens.

I'm advocating White House chickens next.

Ten years ago, or so

After we moved into our house ten years ago, I surveyed the small, overgrown vegetable garden the previous owners had left. New to California, the land of milk and honey, I pulled some of the weeds out and dropped some lettuce seeds in. Between the forthcoming winter rains and the reasonably decent soil, I figured salad was in our future.

I watched and sure enough, things grew. Not knowing which sprouts, if any, were lettuce I let it all grow. Lo and behold, I had raised a fresh batch of weeds with no lettuce in sight. I gave it time and, one day a few months later, I surveyed a crop of healthy, ugly-looking weeds and wondered what to do with the patch. Glancing down at my feet, I saw a lettuce plant that had somehow grown and was ready to be picked.

Years later, looking back, I'm amazed that that one plant made it. It's a survival-of-the-fittest world out there, with slugs and snails itching to chow down on fresh vegetables. There are any number of weeds able to out-compete the weaklings sown by man. Birds are raring to snack, and in some cases squirrels partake to. It's man-against-nature, and in our most recent year, a man-against-chicken activity.