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Saturday Wrap-Up
20 Feb 2021 03:03 pmI went down to the basement to plant more cold weather plants. It helps me get a head start on the garden. I'm still shooting for 500 pounds of food. As I watered the lettuce, I noticed an infestation of aphids. Aphids have predators in the wild but are nice and comfy in my basement. I was heart broken. The problem needs to be addressed immediately before every seedling is affected. I have trays of cabbage, chard, and leeks already in progress. They still have loose fitting lids on them.
My first thought was that it will be going down to three degrees tonight. I cut all the lettuce. It is 3 months old at this point with roots growing out of the bottom of their containers. I harvested it all and soaked the leaves a good long time. Gosh, that water is really cold! The trays all got walked outside. The plastic becomes brittle at these temperatures, however, if they sit untouched on the table, they should be fine. We'll hit 50 degrees later in the week ahead. I'll toss them into the compost then and bleach the trays.
Now what to do about the rest of my babies? After poking around on the internet, I found a spray called Earth Ally, OMRI rated. It contains peppermint oil, clove oil, and rosemary oil. So I grabbed my essential oils and a spray bottle. I put in some 7th generation dish soap, and two drops each of rosemary oil, peppermint oil, and clove oil. Yes, those stinking bugs were in my baby lettuce too. I did pinch a few just to make myself feel better and gave everybody a good sprits. Also did my cabbage babies.
How'd they get here?? I have a theory. I brought in strawberry transplants in fall. They all died. I thought I was an idiot for not knowing how to plant them properly. In retrospect, it could have been bugs that killed them.
Today's harvest is the last of the lettuce I'll see this month. I got 4 oz. from three trays (18 plants each). I tossed the tomato volunteer out in the cold as well. I am going to need more compost for the garden this year and working on the compost pile makes me happy. It's going to take me three weeks or more to fill it back up again. I'm starting from scratch. The goal is a 4 foot cube. (64 cubic feet) If I produce 1 cubic foot a day, it will take me 64 days to fill this thing. I don't have leaves or grass clippings or manure. I may have to break down and actually talk to a Starbucks manager. Not ideal in the time of Covid.
Once the snow starts melting, we'll see if I can get some bush clippings for the compost. I've never been so happy to welcome mud season. This is the first year where we had 28 straight days of snow cover, continuously. It did not go above 32 degrees in all that time. Usually our snow melts a day or so after falling. Next week looks to be closer to normal weather. Climate change is going to screw with everyone's garden or farm crops. I wish I had better news, but building a resilient system is the best any of us can do.
The climate goals are in the news again. Every government is saying one thing and doing another. Ours included. Despite the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline, several more lines did get approval. If I could afford to, I'd get off-grid now. I'd also get an electric car. I discovered a new podcast on Spotify called How to Save a Planet. It isn't as depressing as some of the other doom and gloom climate sites. It offers real solutions to overwhelming problems. Another person who has more uplifting solutions is Geoff Lawton, using permaculture techniques. https://www.discoverpermaculture.com/permaculture-masterclass-video-1
Granted, he is hawking his course, but people who take his course come out changed individuals. They have a fire in their belly to make effective change in the world. We need more of that. Preparing in any way you can is all we as individuals can do. More work is needed on a national and global scale. That gets into politics and stepping on wealthy corporate toes. Folks, we gotta do something. Time is running out.
I have a lot more work to do. Being February, I always want to rearrange my furniture. It's my version of positive change on my environment. I also gave my house plants a spa day. I need potting soil designed for succulents. I have a plant that is now 4 plants and no dirt left at all. The basement bathroom got scrubbed. Thank goodness what I thought was mold wasn't. But I am still thinking about turning a few walls into cob because the drywall is prone to mold. If the wood frame is sound when I remove the drywall, I have to figure a way to create lath on which to apply the cob. I can harvest spring branches for this, but I need something that runs floor to ceiling as my "warp" to weave them around. This is perplexing me. It has to be thin, mount into a 2 x 4 and be 8 feet long. Do they make dowel in 1/2' by 8'? I'd rather repurpose something and not buy new. Would crown molding even work? Would I need rebar? Decisions, decisions. Suggestions welcome. Back to work for me.
My first thought was that it will be going down to three degrees tonight. I cut all the lettuce. It is 3 months old at this point with roots growing out of the bottom of their containers. I harvested it all and soaked the leaves a good long time. Gosh, that water is really cold! The trays all got walked outside. The plastic becomes brittle at these temperatures, however, if they sit untouched on the table, they should be fine. We'll hit 50 degrees later in the week ahead. I'll toss them into the compost then and bleach the trays.
Now what to do about the rest of my babies? After poking around on the internet, I found a spray called Earth Ally, OMRI rated. It contains peppermint oil, clove oil, and rosemary oil. So I grabbed my essential oils and a spray bottle. I put in some 7th generation dish soap, and two drops each of rosemary oil, peppermint oil, and clove oil. Yes, those stinking bugs were in my baby lettuce too. I did pinch a few just to make myself feel better and gave everybody a good sprits. Also did my cabbage babies.
How'd they get here?? I have a theory. I brought in strawberry transplants in fall. They all died. I thought I was an idiot for not knowing how to plant them properly. In retrospect, it could have been bugs that killed them.
Today's harvest is the last of the lettuce I'll see this month. I got 4 oz. from three trays (18 plants each). I tossed the tomato volunteer out in the cold as well. I am going to need more compost for the garden this year and working on the compost pile makes me happy. It's going to take me three weeks or more to fill it back up again. I'm starting from scratch. The goal is a 4 foot cube. (64 cubic feet) If I produce 1 cubic foot a day, it will take me 64 days to fill this thing. I don't have leaves or grass clippings or manure. I may have to break down and actually talk to a Starbucks manager. Not ideal in the time of Covid.
Once the snow starts melting, we'll see if I can get some bush clippings for the compost. I've never been so happy to welcome mud season. This is the first year where we had 28 straight days of snow cover, continuously. It did not go above 32 degrees in all that time. Usually our snow melts a day or so after falling. Next week looks to be closer to normal weather. Climate change is going to screw with everyone's garden or farm crops. I wish I had better news, but building a resilient system is the best any of us can do.
The climate goals are in the news again. Every government is saying one thing and doing another. Ours included. Despite the cancellation of the Keystone pipeline, several more lines did get approval. If I could afford to, I'd get off-grid now. I'd also get an electric car. I discovered a new podcast on Spotify called How to Save a Planet. It isn't as depressing as some of the other doom and gloom climate sites. It offers real solutions to overwhelming problems. Another person who has more uplifting solutions is Geoff Lawton, using permaculture techniques. https://www.discoverpermaculture.com/permaculture-masterclass-video-1
Granted, he is hawking his course, but people who take his course come out changed individuals. They have a fire in their belly to make effective change in the world. We need more of that. Preparing in any way you can is all we as individuals can do. More work is needed on a national and global scale. That gets into politics and stepping on wealthy corporate toes. Folks, we gotta do something. Time is running out.
I have a lot more work to do. Being February, I always want to rearrange my furniture. It's my version of positive change on my environment. I also gave my house plants a spa day. I need potting soil designed for succulents. I have a plant that is now 4 plants and no dirt left at all. The basement bathroom got scrubbed. Thank goodness what I thought was mold wasn't. But I am still thinking about turning a few walls into cob because the drywall is prone to mold. If the wood frame is sound when I remove the drywall, I have to figure a way to create lath on which to apply the cob. I can harvest spring branches for this, but I need something that runs floor to ceiling as my "warp" to weave them around. This is perplexing me. It has to be thin, mount into a 2 x 4 and be 8 feet long. Do they make dowel in 1/2' by 8'? I'd rather repurpose something and not buy new. Would crown molding even work? Would I need rebar? Decisions, decisions. Suggestions welcome. Back to work for me.
