Category: Growing organic

planning simplifies my growing

My tomatoes having progressed from 0.7" soil blocks to 2.3" soil blocks are now ready for transplanting to pots.  In early years I used 0.5 gal (64ozs) nursery pots but they took up too much space and needed too much soil.  Now I transplant to  1qt (32 ozs) yogurt pots with holes drilled in their base.  Later I will transplant to their final destination, except for a handful which I will hold in 0.5 gal or 1 gal pots as a reserve for failing tomatoes. I have compost but am short soil for the Read more [...]

quick water pump repair; seedlings doing well

With the beginning of winter I now always ensure that I have disconnected my water pumps and drained the water.  My carport pump (moves 2,400 storage gals) started fine, but my 1hp Water Ace (moves 2,800 storage gals) just made a humming sound when I tried pumping today.  Another challenge! Probably bad brushes I thought but usually there is warning - a lot of spluttering and starting in fits.  Not this time and why should it fail to start after the winter break? I moved it to the workshop Read more [...]

spring time catchup

My recent visit to the west coast set me back on my spring schedule and I have been catching up. Foremost was to get my tomato seeds going.  Last year I collected seed from good heirloom tomato plants and this year, for the first time, I did not purchase any tomato seed.  Though I did buy "Surround" (Kaolin clay) which I will spray on my apple trees when the blossoms have set fruit, and the supplier included gratis, seeds for  Rainbow and Cherry tomatoes.  Plus I had some 2014 and 2015 packets Read more [...]

compost watering & other post winter-funk tasks

We had some cold days (for Georgia) with temps in mid teens, but that is past and I am emerging from my winter funk.  Friday I cranked up the bobcat and worked it a couple hours - moved pine and other logs up the hill to the contour ditches where they will decompose with time; moved two old tractor cultivators from alongside the drive, where they could snag an unwary driver,  to a show off location; and turned >150 leaf bags collected in the fall into a semblance of a compost heap. Saturday Read more [...]

cold hardiness

With temperatures for several consecutive days falling below 25 deg F (excluding wind chill) I decided to see which vegetables in the open raised beds were doing well. Garlic of course relishes winter but it is not for eating now: Collard, kale and turnip greens are doing fine.  Here is a collard: And here is some kale: When it comes to turnip greens, it appears there are two kinds - the true turnip greens with very large leaves and a sturdy white base: And the other Read more [...]

blackberries

In 2011 I planted an assortment of raspberries and blackberries.  The raspberries failed (high heat and humidity?) the blackberries thrived.  Collectively known as brambles, raspberries can be easily identified because they have a hollow center where picked.   2015 was a good year for blackberries - I picked many and froze the surplus and now enjoy them with  oatmeal breakfasts. Blackberries propagate by tip rooting - where their long canes come down to the ground they form roots and new Read more [...]

leaf bag experiment and a cable sizing conundrum

My leaf bag collecting operations produce confusion for some neighbors and emulation with others.  A close neighbor, whose current preoccupation is the recent resignation of Mark Richt, the UGA football coach, was unclear whether I was collecting the leaf bags in order to keep the paper bags or for the leaves, and if the latter, why?  On a more pleasing but also disconcerting note some, or at least one  neighbor, has also begun removing leaf bags from the curbside - new competition for next year?.  Read more [...]

update on growing, blueberries, leaf bag collection, shoe repair & ups

Today is Nov 20 and, after lots of rain earlier in the week the past few days have been in the 60's and 70's and no freezing temps yet.  So my fall greens (collard, kale, turnip greens and radishes) have been doing really well with minimal pest evidence. Each year I get a little better.  I pull the weeds early and cover the growing areas with growth.  Garlic is different since it does not provide shading leaves and does poorly with weeds so I weed carefully before planting garlic and then Read more [...]

stuck waiting

I am in a holding pattern and were it not for the glorious weather I would be frustrated.  From my jungle clearing work and regular pruning and also clearing growth around the chicken paddocks (to better spot and dissuade predators) I have amassed a lot of chipping material. The bush hog is mounted to the tractor and I would like to complete all the bushhogging for the season before I replace it with the chipper.  I only bushhog a couple times during the year and growth rather than kempt Read more [...]

growing update and unusual sights

With shortened sun hours and fall in temperatures, my summer vegetables are yielding, as too are the pests which feasted on the chard, collards and greens.  So I have been clearing the raised beds, adding compost and cool season seeds such as kale, spinach (after 1 week germinating stint in the refrigerator), and turnip greens.  Also lettuce and radishes for harvesting before it gets too cold.  I had packets of several years old seed and not knowing which was viable but knowing that with each Read more [...]