The Plants Survived!

Following up on my earlier post, all the plants survived their first freezing temps.  The National Weather Service put out a frost alert for last night which presented much more detailed information than usual, including news that the wind advisory was no longer in effect and advice to protect delicate plants and bring pets indoors!  I truly felt like they immediately took my feedback to heart.  We’ll see if that holds true for future forecasts.

So all the delicate vegetable plants were covered with plastic sheeting and were well protected last night from the cold air, which had dipped into the mid-20’s before dawn.  And, of course, the hens had hot oatmeal for breakfast this morning.  I just ordered 10 more 2-lb. bags of Bob’s Red Mill organic old fashioned rolled oats (whole) from www.iherb.com.

 

Freezing Temps This Morning

I checked the garden at 7:45 this morning to find some stiff lettuce, radicchio and broccoli plants, and a check of the thermometer showed 29.1ºF (6 feet above the ground).  I set my soil thermometer on the ground near them and got a reading of 34ºF.  It was useless to cover them, as the high winds at night blow them off.  One particularly strong gust blew the shade cloth off of the aquaponic garden, wooden rod and all, the night before last.

In an attempt to save the freezing plants, I managed to get a trickle of water to go through the ice-filled hose and ran the water all over the delicate plants, filling their dry basins, so that when they thaw they will immediately be able to draw water into their leaves, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll survive, if there’s not too much cell damage already.

I checked the National Weather Service forecast again to see if I missed the freeze warning, but there was no freeze warning for our area, so I sent them feedback about it.  It may not help, but it won’t hurt to let them know they screwed up by predicting lows in the 30’s to 40’s instead of 20’s to 30’s and not putting out a freeze warning here.  The freezing temps they predicted for Christmas morning didn’t occur, either.  It’s so frustrating!

Holiday Season Update – Dec. 23, 2015

Meet Smokey, the latest addition to our menagerie.

Happy Holidays!  It’s going to be a cold Christmas in Southern California!  By policy, we’ve always stayed home for the holiday to avoid unnecessary traveling.  This year, however, my eldest brother, Mark, and his girlfriend of one year plus, Karen, decided to have a Christmas Eve party at Mark’s house in Julian, which is in the mountains east of San Diego.  So my family of four is traveling tomorrow morning from north L.A.  My youngest sister, Martha, her husband, Brian, his mother, Jeanette, and their two little dogs are leaving today.  They’re renting a house in Julian (in town) for three days, and we’ll stay there tomorrow and tomorrow night and return home on Christmas day.  There is a good chance for a little bit of wet snow to fall in Julian on Christmas morning!

This is predicted to be an El Niño winter.  The first storms of the season brought us brief periods of light rain followed by cold air, and, of course, there’s always the wind that comes before and after each system, sometimes gusting up to 35 mph.  Yesterday a full day of very light rain followed a good rainfall the previous night, so now we’re soaked and I don’t have to be concerned with watering the vegetables for a few days.  The larger plants, broccoli and cabbage, will still be okay after a few days, but the seedlings need more attention in our sandy soil because the top two inches dry out quickly in windy conditions.  Sometimes I swear I can hear the wind sucking the water right out of it!  The temperatures since mid-October have been cooler than normal, and about two weeks ago we had a low of 33ºF.  Lately, the lows have been between 38ºF and 42ºF, with highs in the 50’s and 60’s, but this storm brought another cold air mass, and temperatures will drop at night into the 20’s and 30’s.  I’m hoping it won’t drop to freezing here, but just in case, today I’ll have to work out a way to protect the 18-foot long bed of lettuce plants.

Vegetables in the ground so far include broccoli and cabbage transplants, radishes, turnips, carrots, Swiss chard, baby bok choy, turnip greens, four types of lettuce, endive, radicchio, garlic (102), sweet onions, red onions (trying these for the first time) and scallions.  None of the peas sprouted, and I don’t know why.  I should have planted spinach already, but clients have given me a lot of work with deadlines to meet.  Next week the work will lighten significantly, so spinach will be planted then, along with more lettuce and other greens.  Red potatoes will go in during the first week of January.  I have four celery plants and one romaine lettuce in the aquaponic garden (with 2-1/2 dozen goldfish in the tank).  I’ve given up trying to raise catfish or tilapia because they all die off for reasons I can’t figure out, making it very expensive to use them just for their waste materials.  Our fish supplier wanted $15 each for small catfish this year!

Most of our hens are still molting or just coming out of molt.  Four of the Red Rangers and one Ameraucana are still laying, and two of the older Ameraucanas started laying again yesterday, much to my delight.  My egg customers have been rather disappointed with the relative lack of eggs, and basically line up for the next dozen.  So we are seriously considering adding another two dozen hens to the flock early next spring.  We’ll also raise more Red Rangers for slaughter.  Raising more hens means building another hen house.  They love to free-range during the day, and on the really cold mornings I prepare organic oatmeal with fruit (and sometimes almond pieces) for them.  I set two bowls of hot, creamy oats & fruit out in the yard and they can’t wait to get to it, which is very rewarding for me.

Smokey (pictured above) wandered into our yard a week ago.  There were no reports of him missing from anyone’s home, so we decided to keep him.  Our 15-year old tabby, Tiger, (80+ in cat years) is very put out by this newcomer’s presence.  I’ve talked to him about this kitten and he seems to understand me, so he keeps his distance.  Smokey spends his time indoors for now, which helps.  Time will tell whether Tiger will eventually accept his presence or run him off.  It would be really nice to have a good rodent hunter/killer on the property again (Tiger’s worthless), mostly because gophers have invaded the front yard and gardens.  They seem to be drawn to very dry topsoil because the tunnels won’t cave in very easily, and before long the tunnels are everywhere.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday!

Winter Garden for 2016

It’s been a while since I’ve written about my garden; been too busy with higher priority matters.  So the summer garden has come and gone, lettuce, endive, radicchio, carrot and radish seeds have been planted (some twice) and many have sprouted.  Now it’s time to finish planting the majority of the winter garden.  Dave and Aysen are doing a great job preparing the beds as they have time, but 9 out of 19 beds are still not ready for planting.

Granex Wax onion seeds, the variety best suited to this latitude, were planted on November 4th, and seeds of a variety called Red Burgundy, which I’m trying for the first time and claims to be a 100-day variety, were planted November 9th.

103 garlic cloves were planted today.  Tomorrow kale, turnip greens and pea seeds are slated for planting.  The weather is supposed to be dry and windy, but hopefully the temperatures will stay above 70 long enough to promote germination.

What’s Going On With These Hens?

Both of these eggs were laid by the same Rhode Island Red, two days apart.

On May 1st I wrote about the two Rhode Island Reds that stopped laying eggs for only about a week before starting to lay again.  This has become some kind of pattern for them.  They lay eggs for two weeks or so, then take about a week off and start back up, laying eggs with either very soft shells that break in the nest when the hen lays down on it or eggs with very thin, brittle shells that also break, then a few days later turning out eggs that remain whole.  One of these hens is laying normal-size eggs with very light brown shells, while the other is laying jumbo-size eggs with shells that indicate that her shell chamber has either become enlarged or stretches to accommodate the yolk and unusually large amount of albumin she’s producing.  I’m also suspicious that it’s taking two days for her eggs to fully form.  The shell of the egg on the left in the photo above appears to have cracked and “healed” while in the shell chamber, which would logically require that the egg remain in the shell chamber longer than the normal amount of time.

Neither of these hens has shown any sign of molting, and they were hatched in mid-September, 2013, making them 22 months old!  I can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of record.

Free-ranging Hens

The Golden-laced Wyandotte rooster, free-ranging.

He looks like a fine painting!  Blackie has a somewhat difficult time moving about, but he gets where he needs to go.  He has to use his wings to propel himself along, so he needs a rather lengthy “running” area sometimes.  While in the coop, he tends to stay on the cool, shady side most of the day and night.  I’ve noticed that one or two of the hens will stay near him during some portions of the day.

So what do hens do when they free-range?

They peck at the ground and eat whatever they find useful – small rocks (to grind their food), ants, green leaves and bugs are what they’re after.

They look around curiously in case a hen from another flock gets too close.

They make a large hole and take a “dust bath.” Note, however, that one hen is excluded – she’s from a different flock than those in the bathing hole.

They dig into the compost bins to find bugs and worms.

They wait their turn in the dust bowl.

They start to take their turn in the dust bowl, now that the Red Rangers have wandered over to their coop.

They drink from the duck pond.

And they avoid the duck when he chases them.

Since the light-bodied birds are capable of flying up onto the fence railing and making themselves targets for the dogs on the other side, we must limit the amount of time the hens are allowed to free-range in the yard to about an hour a day because we have to keep an eye on them most of the time.

The duck has full range of the yard at all times now, and has become more aggressive toward the hens when they’re out in “his territory.”  One day he caused a squabble among two hens next to each other when he sneaked up from behind, pecked one and ran away.  It was hilarious to see such cunning behavior!

There Will Be Cabbage!

Harvested the first head of Mammoth Red Rock cabbage this season, and it weighed in at 3 lbs. 6 oz.  There are eight small heads continuing to grow.  Enjoy the photos.

The plant remains in the ground to provide additional small heads of cabbage throughout the summer.

The largest of the “satellite” cabbage heads growing from the plant from which I just harvested the main head.

Weirdness in the Hen House – May 1, 2015

My two oldest Rhode Island Red hens have been laying eggs since late January and Mid-February, 2014.  In mid-April they stopped laying for about 7 – 10 days or so and I figured it was about time and waited for signs of molting.  Then they started laying again.  At first one laid a soft-shell that she squashed when she sat back down on it, then her next two eggs had a hard-shell.  Then I found another squashed soft-shelled egg, followed by a hard-shelled egg the next day.  So now both of them are laying good eggs again almost every day.  Weird!

Garden Update – April 20, 2015

This radicchio plant has grown a head in its first season! I’ll cut it now and it will grow more plants.

I’ve been very pleased with the radicchio plants that I sowed early last fall.  I’ve kept most of them under screened wire cages for a few months now, nighttime lows have been between 50ºF and 55ºF for the last month, and those that received the most shade have produced heads!  The two that received the most sunlight were not producing heads, so I cut most of the leaves off to force head production; funny thing is, while the one receiving the most shade produced a loose-leaved head after that, the one receiving more sunlight produced more plants!  Radicchio is so fickle!  Meanwhile, the radicchio plants that are now more than 1-1/2 years old (which have been continuously covered with a screened wire cage) have continually grown several new plants each season, but only a few heads this season.  I’ve had to cut plants away and leave only a few to continue growing (and my hens love the leaves), to avoid overcrowding them and encourage head growth, but they just keep growing new plants!  I had no idea that, given the right conditions, Radicchio was so hardy!

This year’s potato harvest (most of it, anyway).

I began harvesting potatoes about two weeks ago, and finished the job today, as I began to realize that new growth on some of the plants meant some of the new spuds were sprouting already.  About five of the plants in containers were growing enormous amounts of foliage, bearing flowers and “fruit” (which none of the other plants were doing), so I decided to remove all of the plants from the containers and the soil gardens.  Those bearing flowers grew lots of hairy roots, but only a couple tiny spuds, which was quite a disappointment!  I also discovered that styrofoam containers do not keep the soil moist, so not much came from those two plants.  The plants that gave up the largest harvest were in 10 – 15 gallon black plastic containers and clay “strawberry pots” with white plastic bags inside them to keep the soil from spilling out of the side openings.  Very large clay pots also worked well, but came in second when it came to moisture retention.  Those containers that retained the most moisture produced the most spuds.

A portion of the front garden, showing the okra bed (with drip tubing in place) and the winter crops that will soon be replaced with corn, beans and habanero peppers.

I was unable to obtain drip tubing with 18″ spacing for the okra bed, so I opted for 6″ spacing because 12″ spacing is too far apart for maximum production.  Besides, since okra likes lots of water and I don’t keep the water on for more than 5-10 minutes, I’m assured it will get all the water it needs.  I laid out the drip tubing first, then started at one end and planted my seeds at every third drip hole after adding organic fertilizer in each hole.  I’ve kept the seeds moist every day for five days, but with temperatures cooling today, I’ll hold off on the water until it warms up again.

Getting ready to plant bell peppers and jalapenos. Giant scallions in the background are being harvested as needed.

I have placed the bell pepper and jalapeno seedlings in the bed they’ll call home to accustom them to the sunlight they’ll receive.  I’ve transplanted the broccoli plants from this bed into large containers at the other end of the garden to make room for the peppers and provide more sunlight for the broccoli.  While several of the “mesclun mix” plants remain in this bed, I’ve pulled most of them since this photo was taken.  Most went to the hens and about 6 or 7 small lettuce, chard and kale plants were transplanted into the aquaponic garden.

The Dutch onions planted from sets will probably not form large bulbs that can be stored because they can’t receive enough daylight hours here.  However, they have become gigantic scallions, and we take them from the garden as needed.  They are perfect for salads, sandwiches, grilling or adding to a stew.

Beets, carrots and lettuce plants

Since installing the micro-watering system in other parts of this garden, I’ve had to water these two beds with a watering can to avoid over-watering other beds.  This method does not work as well as the sprinkler with some crops, however, and most of the lettuce is taking a beating.  Therefore, I’ve removed all the lettuce plants and fed them to the hens.  This bed will now become a home for beans.  I’ve begun to harvest the beets, but the carrots will take much longer.

The first planting of tomatoes. Four of these are Health Kick plum tomatoes, two are supersteaks and two are unknown varieties transplanted from the greenhouse.

Most of these tomato seedlings were purchased.  One of the two transplanted volunteers from the greenhouse (which is partially shaded) started wilting in the sun, so I placed a shade over it and made sure it had enough water for about four days before removing the shade (visible in the photo below, just above the fellow wearing a hat), and now it’s doing just fine – such a trooper!

My helpers, removing weeds from the fallow beds.

I’ve purchased 12 Roma plants and a Black Cherry tomato plant, but their beds aren’t ready yet.  Two of my helpers are removing weeds and grass, and soon the empty beds will be ready for their new summer plants.  There were two tomato plants in this garden last year, so this year I’ll be planting squash in their spots.

Although I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me, I must admit that I WAS rather surprised when Donovan told me a friend of his who’s never seen my garden wanted to buy some of my fresh produce and as many brown eggs as I had available.  Although I’ve been selling my organic eggs for about a year, I’ve been giving my extra produce to my friends and family.  A few days later, my newest egg customer also asked if she could purchase some of my vegetables!  So now I’m planning my summer garden with these and, hopefully, other people in mind.  I love contributing to the community in this manner!

Woodpecker moving from limb to limb on the sycamore tree.

And last, but not least, I discovered two days ago that a woodpecker is visiting our sycamore.  I managed to get a photo of it just as it was leaving one limb for another.

Another shot of the woodpecker after it moved to another limb.

Winter-Summer Transition Period 2015

A few of the larger garlic bulbs, along with a few medium sized bulbs

While the Sierra Nevada received very little snow (which is terribly unfortunate), Los Angeles had a fairly “normal” winter, including one hail storm.  We had rainfall about every two weeks until late February, freezing temperatures at the end of the year, the usual warm spells, and now the “normal” period of cold, rainy weather that marks the end of winter and the true beginning of spring for us.  After a few days of very spring-like temperatures, a cold front moved in two nights ago, bringing the morning low to 48 and very cool winds throughout the day.  I awoke this morning to broody skys, it remained breezy throughout most of the day, and finally started raining around 3:00, but only enough to moisten the upper 1/4 inch of soil.  Today’s high was 60, so winter clothing was required for outdoor work.

Much as I hate to admit it, I’ve been remiss in planting seeds for summer crops this year.  I should have planted heirloom tomato and pepper seeds in February, but the time slipped by quickly.  However, 30 or more tomato plants have appeared voluntarily in five areas – under the fig tree (courtesy of tomato-stealing vermin), in the greenhouse (unknown reason), in the turtle enclosure (two of them love tomatoes), near one of the vegetable beds (from an heirloom variety that dropped a fruit), and in the aquaponic garden (again, courtesy of tomato-eating vermin).  I’m fairly certain that the plants in the aquaponic garden are Black Krim, since they germinated in the very same space as last year’s plants, but one never knows until the fruit starts ripening.  I let three of the many seedlings grow and two are already three feet tall, bearing flowers, and one has five small tomatoes on it.  The plants in the turtle enclosure will be moved into the main garden soon, but the rest will remain where they are, even though they’re rather crowded, because I don’t know what variety they are – they could all be cherries!  So while I was at the garden center on Sunday I picked up seven more tomato plants (4 Health Kick and 3 Beefsteak), and we’re working on the beds they’ll call home.

I noticed last week that several of the garlic plants appeared to be ready for harvest, so I pulled up the ones with the smallest stems, many of which were falling over.  Yesterday I decided it was time to pull most of the remaining plants, leaving those which sprouted late to continue growing.  I pulled up 83 viable bulbs and about 15 or more that were duds.  Bulb sizes vary from small to large, with one that’s very large.

Ultimately, there’s too much happening to write about.  The crops have all performed well, all things considered.  The turnip greens, chard, spinach and radicchio actually did quite well because of the rain they received, and the radishes were quite large.  I’ve filled a large shopping bag with fresh greens for the hens almost every day, but those crops are beginning to dwindle.  The potato harvest has also begun.  While some containers bore little in the way of viable tubers, a few had some nice surprises in store (especially one of the plants in the strawberry jars with a plastic bag inside them).  The plants in the ground are taking longer, but one has already contributed to the cause.

The first harvesting of potatoes

Dave has been busy removing weeds and grass from areas they don’t belong, working his way from one end of the yard to the other.  Meanwhile, our governor has basically declared a state of emergency with regard to our fresh water situation, and even though we’ve used just over 75% of our allotment these last two months, I decided to pull out the old micro-watering equipment and get to work installing some of it in the vegetable beds.  I’ve had to buy some new parts and additional lines, refresh my knowledge about how the system works, and get help putting things together, but two systems are together now, with two or three left to go.

Dave – taking a break from pulling up rocks, digging up grass and replacing the rock borders of the gardens.

And on that note, I bid you farewell.