As the Spindle Turns . . .

When I posted my YouTube video (https://youtu.be/uzC-iq6f08I?si=N2Uz0FNlQE5REfvo), it was about to storm. The storm had plenty of time to practice being fierce as it traversed the midwest. By the time it got to Pittsburgh, it was mighty. There are downed trees everywhere. A good portion of Pittsburgh was without power. The 911 call center was fielding 1000 calls an hour. A neighborhood called Allentown, had a man electrocuted right outside the police station, with the electric company helpless to turn off power to the downed line. Weather reporters think a tornado touched down in Penn Hills. This morning on the way to a doctor's appointment, we had to drive under an electric line that was holding up a tree. The power was out throughout that township. Our township was fine. We still have power. It has got me doing some serious thinking.

One: I need to can safe water for emergencies.
Two: I need to pressure can meat for storage without refrigeration.
Three: I made a wishlist of tools I want. Obviously, I can't buy them all. But I can make a start.
Four: I need to work on firewood storage for winter emergencies.

I know a lot of people are thinking about what it might mean to have empty store shelves. It's probably too late to stock up now. We are there. Right now is the best it will be for the foreseeable future. Separate wants from needs. Prioritize.

I had been looking at replacing my 25 year old solar oven. I paid all of $120 for it. It's a Solavore, made of plastic that has warped over time. I started using it for low temperature applications. I can dry wood in it; dye yarn; and dehydrate food. Its days of 325° F temps are over. I have been wanting a Sun Oven. I went to their webpage, almost nothing except accessories and replacement parts. I looked on Lehmann's website, also nothing. They always had Sun Ovens in stock. I went to eBay and found what I wanted but the oven was too expensive. Out of the blue, the seller offered a reduction of $80. I couldn't make it work but found a 'second' with a defect for much cheaper. The flaw is that the height (angle) post is missing and it has no manual. I don't need a manual as I have used a solar oven for years. The post isn't necessary. I live on a hill and already know how to optimize thermal radiation for my area. Keeping it from sliding off the table is the only thing necessary. A reduction in price? So very worth it!

I tallied the lettuce, spinach and asparagus for the year. I have harvested 5 lbs. of produce so far. Asparagus season is almost over. I have to get out and harvest spinach. The seedling trays are back outside after the 65 mph winds; they are hardening off. The Mexican sunflowers went in today. More plants get planted tomorrow before the next storm. So much to do!

For those of you who don't know, DEP stands for the Department of Environmental Protection. Residential asbestos removal is not under their purview. Residential areas are not required to have special protections. However, OSHA may have other standards for workers. DEP will be issuing guidelines for local municipalities shortly. The spread of asbestos dust is what causes health issues. If the roof is wet down while being removed, it is not a problem. If flooring is painted to contain the particles from breaking free, it is safe to remove. If I fear for particles hitting my garden, I should hose it down. That is the low down. Asbestos is a silicate base and naturally occurring. You don't want the fibrous material in insulation or in talcum powder. Talc is also a similar molecule to asbestos. Both develop together in mineral deposits.

The borough has not contacted me. There were all sorts of unmarked trucks that showed up as we were leaving to have Chrono's pre-chemo bloodwork done. There was a dump truck to collect debris. The house needing work has no driveway. There is no place for these vehicles or the dump truck. When we got home, 40 minutes later, there was no evidence they had ever been there. I suspect they need a permit and a section of the street closed off so they can work. Some of the trucks had pulled into a different neighbor's driveway. He is the one with the biggest complaint.



I got to garden peacefully today. I watered in plants. We are under a fire watch. So much of NJ is already on fire. Pennsylvania, not yet.

My lawn mower will not start. I am so tired of fighting with it. I may just order a new one while prices are still low. I also had to preemptively order things for the business. Tariffs take effect on April 26th at another one of my suppliers. I suspect they will clear out warehouses and downsize. There are a lot of warehouses for lease in the area. New grid walls arrived today along with paper shopping bags. Chrono had to order a bunch of stuff too. Such unnecessary havoc! How does a business plan? In a normal year, I know how much I need. In a recession, I probably don't need to order at all. Flip a coin?

Yes, so soon, we are harvesting. I cut a little over a half pound of spinach yesterday. Chrono picked a pound of asparagus today. She thinks there could be another half pound in 2 days. Lettuce will also be ready in two days.

I think it is time to put away the frost blankets. They need to be off of the plants at a bare minimum. There are three sets outside. None are in good shape. The backyard strawberry bed got weeded. It isn't flowering yet. I need to paint stones red soon to be pretend strawberries. It helps train baby robins to not eat my berries. It worked last year. I am running late. I painted them last year on the 17th of April.



The front strawberries already have blooms. Those are ever-bearing strawberries while the backyard ones are June bearing. The onions I grew from seed have been planted amongst the June bearing strawberries. There were not that many. The Utah Sweet Spanish onions got planted in front and a little up the side in the cinderblock pockets. The Yellow Granax are short day onions. Those were not appropriate for my area but I planted them anyway. They went along the back cinderblocks. The Red onions, Flat of Italy, went in the bed proper since they should be wider. The biggest achievement of the day was digging a deep hole for a cherry tree. Even though it was a bare root tree, it is in bloom now. The second tree has yet to be planted. Cherries work best in twos for complete germination. Mine are Montgomery (sour) cherries. So, yay! stuff got done.

The lowest temperature over the next ten days will be 46 degrees F. So many plants need to get hardened off before being planted in the ground. The fact that I emptied one tray means I get to bring up another from the basement to take its place on the front steps. I'd like to get the Celosia planted soon although they aren't big yet. I am trying to decide what will go in front of them. They are yellow, orange and red. I have peach colored snapdragons or red salvia, or copper colored strawflowers. I also have peach strawflowers. I thought I'd put nasturtiums in front of those to create a tiered-effect. I have both red nasturtiums and orange. I also have marigolds. Decisions, decisions. . .

Yesterday was a day of weather, aches and pains, and random power outages. Not every day is a productive day. We do the best we can. Dishes got done anyhow. Errands were annoying with every traffic light out. My guess is the rain followed by a wind storm knocked down trees. The traffic lights were out for 2 hours. The house had power fluctuations but thankfully we had power.

I learned I really shouldn't knit without back support. I am out of shape. My husband is an epileptic. What that means is that we don't have chairs. Over the years, seizure after seizure has cost him a lot of his memories and caused me a loss of furniture. Hospital bills while they sorted out his medication were extremely painful so the furniture never got replaced. It is what it is. No back support. I have weaving benches or the floor. Treasure your memories. Not everyone gets to keep theirs. I do my best to help him rebuild his neural pathways.

Quince


Today's chores are all over the map. Every bed in the garden wants something done all at the same time. I started making a list and gave up when it got too long. Gardens are all about timing. The trees typically need to be planted by April 15th to ensure survival as dry season approaches. The weeds are overwhelming. Purple dead nettle as far as the eye can see. Some thistles thrown in for good measure along with yellow dock. My area is 2 weeks away from last frost. Melons, cucumbers, and squash need to be started. Tonight will see frost for sure. The dewpoint is 32 and the temperature will hit 30. All the potatoes in grow bags must be put undercover. We'll lose quinces and apples. I can't cover them adequately. Someone down the hill has tree covers that look like giant hair nets. I wonder where you get something like that? They may have made them themselves because they fit perfectly.

Apple


I am running out of potting soil and pots. The goal was to move everything out in waves. Plant the cold weather crops into the ground and the reuse the pots for the warm weather plants. The weather didn't cooperate. Not all of the cold weather plants can go in the ground until tomorrow. Some of the beets went in with the rest of the strawberries. But the additional work that one small section caused! The Siberian elm tree removal went okay. Four hostas started popping up. Those got moved to the back. The soil in the back is pure clay and solid as a rock. I worked to put the hostas around a hazelnut tree. The thistles and other weeds were thick. Then back to the front to put in the beets and strawberries. Soil had to get mixed to replace all the hosta holes. Nothing is ever easy. Bed preparation is really a chore on its own.

Lupine, Purple Carnations, and Celosia


I'll pot up the above picture next. There is also a tray of snapdragon ready to harden off. The first level of the terrace should do them nicely. Again, bed prep, weld and St John's Wort need to be moved, probably also yarrow. A little soil improvement is in order too. I'm thinking perlite to loosen the soil. We'll see. It looks like I'm focusing on plants that I know where I want to put them, but really, it's just random. Flowers mostly go into the front yard but some will end up in the back to attract pollinators to the rest of my crops.



Every year, it's more and more random. I think, "Oh, I'll have it in hand by last frost date, May 3rd". Then, it becomes "Surely I'll have it looking nice by Memorial Day". But I still have to get all the warm weather plants in which are in the back garden, like tomatoes. The front gets neglected. Then surely by Flag Day (June 14th) but I still have all these plants and it's almost the 4th of July! giggle We know how this works.

Several of the plants to go in the front are perennials. I shall conveniently avoid having to do this in the future if I can get them to take. That is always the trick. Drought, frosts, and destructive animals have taken their toll. The deer decided that crocuses taste the best this year. Go figure!

Well, it's a plan anyway.

If you are going to do intensive growing, say two or three crops in the same bed in a year, you need to replace nutrients. I started with raised bed garden soil from the hardware store. I had no idea what was in it. I had a soil test run for a baseline. Last year I grew potatoes in the bed. Typically potatoes need potassium. I wondered if it was low. Here's what my soil test yielded.



It looks like I am low on calcium. I would not have guessed this. I also didn't know that the bags of raised bed garden soil were slightly alkaline. Peat moss or coconut coir will acidify the soil just the tiny bit that it needs. I'm not worried about that. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by loss of calcium. I had lettuce in this bed previously. Lettuce, strawberries and tomatoes all require calcium. With tomatoes, not only do they need calcium to prevent blossom end rot, the temperature needs to be in the correct range for the plant to take up the calcium. This is why many growers just buy a foliar calcium spray. It's an easier way to get the plant what it needs. Since I am not growing any calcium intense crops in there this year, I will wait and add comfrey as a mulch. It might help. I also have ground up eggshells that could be added. More than one of my beds is low on calcium.

As to the sulfur, since I am allergic to all vegetables high in sulfur, I am not concerned. My front garden, made of coffee grounds is high in sulfur. If I truly wanted to grow brassicas, I could grow them in a different bed. Same goes for garlic.

It helps to test but it also helps to research your crops to see what the vegetable or fruit needs. Ideally a good sandy loam with a lot of microbiology is best. In this, tests have shown than biology will triumph over chemistry in providing a plant what it needs. A healthy fungal network can supply plants nutrients from much further away.

Time to work on soil health.

Just an update on the potato situation. My goal was 60 grow bags of potatoes. Some people might think that excessive. I have a track record of a half pound of potatoes from each grow bag. That only nets me 30 pounds of potatoes. I don't have a great track record. I may buy potassium to add to the grow bags as fertilizer. It might help. The type of potatoes I grow are smaller varieties. That too has an effect on the yield. At the moment, I have Purple Viking potatoes, Red potatoes (center is red too) and Yukon Gold from the food co-op. Mixed in, I may have old seed potatoes like French fingerling or others I have grown in the past.

Sixty is a lot to get from my motley collection of seed potatoes. When the shoots/vines started going everywhere in the basement, I cut some and put them in water. That is another experiment. Some took and others didn't. That experiment is still ongoing. The ones that rooted got transplanted in dirt in yogurt containers. When those got too big, they were transferred to a grow bag. The current count is 14 bags in the garage and 8 in the basement. Two more nights of cold temperatures before they all get put outside to grow. Tonight's low is 30 and tomorrow is 25 degrees F.

I just transplanted a bunch more cuttings into dirt. I won't count my chickens before they hatch. I can say I have 22 grow bags going out of 60. Even if I can plant another 10 from the cuttings, I am still short. I ordered potatoes to fill in the gap. It has been a long time since I ordered seed potatoes. Like every other company, they downsized the packages instead of upping the price. I am a little disappointed. I got 5 raspberry potatoes. Some are long so I should be able to chit both sides and get 10 chunks to plant. The Purple Majesty I ordered are small. 5 potatoes cannot be subdivided easily. I'll get 5. I haven't opened the German butterball yet. Those are a fall potato. If they hold up for a bit, I'll plant them later rather than sooner. That should at least net me another 25 grow bags. Fingers crossed that my shoots take root to make up the difference.

The seed swap was this past weekend. I popped in to drop off seeds. Each time I order, I get a packet of mixed lettuce seeds as a free gift. I don't need 5 packets of "salad" seeds. I'm still working on the lettuce I planted last fall and have new seed coming up for spring. We can't eat brassicas because of the high sulfur content so I dropped off the Hakeuri (salad) turnip seed too. Excess dyeplant seed went to a textile artist in Columbus. This is the part of permaculture that I call Returning the Surplus. For my efforts, I got another grow bag from the seed swap. Locally, the Center for Coalfield Justice runs the seed swap. It was crowded and I didn't stay long. They didn't have anything I wanted. I am a little particular in what I want to grow.

Everyone seems to be afraid of the economy tanking or losing their jobs. I have never seen so many people anxious to pick up seeds without spending any money. There were people of all ages. MI Gardener is experiencing the same. He has 8,000 people waiting for seed orders. Wow. I find March is too late to buy seed. The selection is limited. Also, when stuff should be planted, the seed is not necessarily available. I typically buy my seed after Christmas. I actually don't care if it is from the previous year. That only matters with onions. I ordered my live plants on Black Friday for delivery in March. That worked out okay. It spreads the cost out over the whole year. Live plants are purchased in November, seeds in December, seed starting mix in January, additional grow lights in February, raised bed dirt and amendments in March, and soil tests in September. I think I bought more grow bags in October. Gardening can cost money. It all depends how resourceful you are. Composting never nets me enough for what I need. I live on a hill - erosion is a real thing. I lose a lot of soil.

There are other ways to save money. We do save seed, but not for everything. Theoretically, I could make seed trays out of wood and treat them with linseed or do the Japanese wood burning to preserve the wood. Then I'd never have to buy trays to start seeds. Perlite can be replaced with biochar. Worm castings act like a basic plant growth hormone to the soil, boosting growth. Worms are cheap and bins are anything kicking around the house. There are a lot of little tricks. Personally, I really dislike using plastic to grow in. I worry about micro-plastics. We have enough pollution where I live; I don't need to make more. Lately I've been following Branch and Blossom Farm in MN. She is working to reduce the amount of plastic on her farm. Look for her on Instagram. Just a thought.

This week the weather changes on Thursday. All my cold hardy plants will get put into the ground. The rest of the onions will too. I hope to expand one cinder block bed to put my cucumber trellis on. Now I am off to call tree services again. That tree has to come down so I can work safely next to the garage.

Not to worry. It's a short rant. When we bought this house, I had someone terrace the front. It needed it and the contractor did a good build on the woodwork. However, the fellow refused to listen to me when I told him that I was going to put in my own soil. He tossed in some clean fill he got from a creek bed. Except less than six inches down, it is solid gravel. Do you know what clay plus gravel makes when it's dry? Pure concrete. I cannot tell you how many broken spades it created over the years, both hand held and bigger. Not to mention the wear and tear on my own wrists. I hate guys who outright do not listen to women.



Today was spent picking out gravel. I had to dig out the invasive barberry bush last month. I completely dulled a lopper, trying to snip roots amongst the gravel. After yesterday's hail and windstorm, the gravel was obvious in the pile. Silt had run off into the hole. Today I dumped the worm castings into the hole and a bag of soil. My bucket of gravel is getting too heavy to add much more. I still have a mound of clay and gravel into the next bed over. I had wanted to get a soil sample for testing, but the amount of rock content is too high. I'm going to have to think about this. The gravel is in all manner of sizes, most small. Clay that I'd previously de-rocked got mixed in with the raised bed soil and worm castings. I also put in charcoal I'd made from meat bones. That will definitely keep the deer away.



The next biggest question is which plants to put in there. I'm thinking poppies in dark burgundy. I think they are called Black Swan. Supposedly they'll reach 24"-30". It will allow me to put smaller plants in front. I just seeded last year's marigold seeds into the corners. I'm thinking maybe carnations or the bells of Ireland would go nicely. We'll see if I can get a white alyssum to grow for the front. The marigolds can always be transplanted elsewhere. The Cherry Brandy Black-Eyed-Susans might be good. I'd go with a white for contrast except they are all really tall flowers except the alyssum. We'll see if my white echinacea germinates. Or, would the Campfire Rudbeckia go better? Decisions are hard.

A couple of lessons learned. The Mexican sunflowers are big and came up too early. Once the weather settles, they'll want to face east like regular sunflowers. They'll have to go on the fence line. Supposedly, they get tall, 4 ft to 6 ft. The video I saw had them much shorter. I thought they'd be 3 feet. All of them germinated. My very first lupine germinated. I have a very hard time growing those. I just hope it transplants. It looks like a pea.

Good news! My neighbor caught the ground hog last fall when it tried digging under his garage. I can start filling in my hole and installing the dig defense as soon as that tree is gone. It's still resting on my garage. I seriously needed it gone last month. I can't get back there to trim.

No pictures. I refuse to take picture of a pile of clay and gravel. Here's the tree on video
https://youtu.be/RYn8rAdCU9I?si=wo5RwCAUhivA2OHN

I had to move a fence. It wasn't big. It was difficult. T-posts had to get pulled up. Chicken wire had to be detached. The T-post pounder hitting loose posts with a 12 mph wind and getting caught in chicken wire while doing it, that was difficult. After redoing a post three times, I got it straight. The chicken wire got re-attached. The bottom of the wire had to be staked. It was seriously bent chicken wire. I put in the loose 6 foot gridwall panel. A little shimming helped. Hills are annoying to work on. The little fence panels were put back to discourage the deer. Time for a break.

I found my missing hand-held rake. I went back into the garage and got out the hose. Today was bone dry with wind and fire warnings/burn bans. I ran down to the basement to turn on the water. All good.I watered in the strawberries from the 4th or 5th again. I got tired of hauling water. The bird bath is full. Off to run errands. We still ship on Tuesdays. Then head to the library.

It was still light when we got home. I soaked some pea seeds and rejuvenated a block of coconut coir. I planted snap peas along the fence I had moved and put spinach behind them. Everything got watered in.

Moving the seedlings and grow pots in and out is also a chore. I can't wait until I don't have to do it anymore. Tonight's low is 36. I did get lazy and leave the younger potatoes under the awning. The cement and brick heated up pretty good today. The high was 72. I think they'll be fine. Dew point is 27; we won't have dew fall.

I have a lot of garden beds to prepare. The other side of the peas needs to be amended for potatoes. The hellebore bed needs work too so that chard can go in. Holes need to be dug for the cherry trees. And tonight, I found a whole nother packet of strawberries. Say what? How many did they send? I think it was in the cherry tree box.



Still, I managed to clean more of the freezer out. Pumpkin muffins were made. I am working hard to clear out the freezer. Not that I don't want to use it, I do, but Ontario's decision to add a 25% tax on electricity has me concerned about power outages over the summer. Last time the entire eastern seaboard grid went down, we were hit. I was at Pennsic. Ontario into Quebec were hit as well. Here's the news blurb:

By 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003, millions of people had lost power after a tree branch in Ohio sparked an outage that reached seven other states and Canada. People from Michigan to New England had intermittent phone service, no lights, and no air conditioning in the summer heat.

I fully expect that to happen again. Software has been updated to prevent tree limbs from giving a false signal, however, without electricity from Canada, the demand on our lines is greater. The more load, the heavier the lines and more likelihood that they'll hit trees. Yes, something to think about.

Meanwhile I made mozzarella cheese and ricotta is next. There could be lasagna in my future. I have tomato sauce to use up from 2023.