Kieth the seed guys blog - tracks progress here:
http://epigeal.blogspot.com/2011/02/seedlings-planted.html
varieties for 2011 are:
ananias nore <-- new variety
black <-- new variety
better boy
champion
early girl
first lite <-- new variety - supposedly early, we'll see
cherokee purple <-- best purple one i have found
black seaman <-- new variety
bloody butcher
japenese black trifele <-- new variety
isis candy <-- new variety
sun gold <-- *AWESOME* will always have this one
big beef
black zebra <-- *AWESOME* will always have this one
orange flesh purple smudge <-- a new one, unique coloring
super fantastic
i will be planting 21 plants (down from 48 a couple years ago) and some varieties will get 2 plants - others only one. i have a good number of new varieties (at least for me) and also a good number of trusty hybrids - if 2010 taught me anything, tomato growing is a crap shoot, and you gotta have your bets covered.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
its been awhile - but not to worry
way too long - thats just what its been.
but as winter hits, i really dont get a whole lot done in the garden. the garden has been cleaned up, bees mostly made ready for winter and then the holidays. in addition, we got some new flooring, in the kitchen great room, stairs and landing - which meant i had to paint and lots of it. still not done with the painting, but you get the idea.
if you recall the post:
i was pondering on the compost bin i was to make - well, i decided upon 4 bins, approximately 48 inches in width and height. i didnt want to burn a lot of money on new wood for a compost bin, so i have been scrounging for used redwood and once complete, about 2/3 of the bins will be reclaimed redwood.
a lot of the stuff was just laying around the house, my dad kicked in a bunch of 4x4's which i ripped into 2x4's. all in all its coming together quite nicely. i have 2 bins complete and will roll thru the rest as time permits. the compost pile in the above link will soon be moved over into bin #2 to continue its compost work - bin #1 will be the recipient of 2011 green waste.
Friday, November 26, 2010
farmer fred, just may have something...
(and not to imply i dont learn a lot from him)
on december 7 2009. we received, what i believe, was a 100 year storm here in diamond springs.
on that day we received over 12 inches of snow. not earth shattering, but here at 1900 foot elevation, and supposedly below the snowline - it was a bit much.
well, if you recall, we had some severe tree damage across our half acre.
we lost one full oak tree and another oak tree saw 3 of its major trunks (out of six) snap from the weight of the snow. a lesser, tree in the front yard also lost a limb. that tree is a japanese maple that had good symmetry and fall color. the tree was in a challenging place, as it had to endure full southern and western exposure.
not a good thing for a japanese maple, but she seemed to endure the heat ok; up until that point.
the limb was obviously weakly attached, and it snapped off and pretty much ruined the symmetry of the entire tree.
the point of this post is pretty much one-fold. take a look at the photo and you will see severe bark defoliation as a result of sunburn on the trunk, just below the location the branch was broken from. prior to breaking off that limb offered enough canopy cover to shade the trunk from the sun.
having listened to the farmer fred (kfbk and kste garden guy on sundays 8:30 -12) for years and hearing the pro's, cons and arguments about the merits of white washing the trunk of a tree to reduce sun burn - and just recently hearing his talk with annalisa stewart, who maintains white washing isnt proven to do anything but paint a tree white - i believe there is sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest that whitewashing is probably worth the effort.
i would bet there would be an even chance that sunburn would not be as severe. i even offer, if sunscreen is proven to reduce skin sun damage, why wouldnt the same logic flow on trees. paint or sun screen, offers a thin layer to which the rays of the sun hit first, reducing damage to whats underneath. seems logical, but at best - all i have is anecdotal evidence.
one downside, i wouldnt like to have a whitewashed trunk in my front yard. in addition, the lack of symmetry probably will result in the tree getting pulled. it is a focal point in my yard and the way she looks now, is not helpful. i was hoping the tree would push another limb and recover, worst case, i dig it up and plant it in the backyard.
to paint or not to paint - well, i'm thinking i'm back in the painting camp with farmer fred.
Monday, November 22, 2010
got my first 2011 seed catalog today!
got my first seed catalog for 2011 today. totally tomatoes, still looking for tomato growers supply and a couple others - but its looking up!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
when shredders devour themselves
these are the parts, i had to replace on the shredder. somehow one of these guys decided to come loose, and pretty much made the device pretty lethal for all things down stream. these parts are the flail portion of the shredder and are pinned to the flywheel - which is the working end of the device.
black gold - at least the start of it
what you see here, is the makings of the best stuff on earth - or i should say from earth.
well, i decided i have to completely re-rig my compost system.
if you recall a post back in may 2009: http://eldoradogardening.blogspot.com/2009/05/omg-has-been-month-already.html
it turns out this 2 bin system, just didnt have the capacity for the yard waste i was able to generate in a year. this came apparent late in 2009, when i was cleaning out my garden beds. so, that fall - i ripped out the bins (which are real cool and made from recycled plastic - i bought it about 10 years ago at my last house).
so i did the pile thing and didnt shred the garden waste last year; i just kinda chopped it up and let nature takes its course.
i dont have the time to manage the compost pile, so it never warmed up too much. i added dr earth compost builder - and it didnt do much, but relieve my wallet of $10. as fall kicked it and temps cooled, i will be building a new series of bins.
i have been noodling on it awhile and after referencing an online guide:
and farmer freds blog and radio show, http://www.farmerfred.com/
it looks like i will have a 4 or 5 bin system. at this point, i am planning each bin being 4x4 in size, possibly 5x5 depending upon a few factors i am still working on. that would mean a series of bins 20-25 feet long. a monstrosity, for sure, but with some careful landscape planning and i believe i will be able to mask the bins.
this may be overkill, but with a low compost management time, i would bet 4- 5 years should be sufficient to generate compost the slow way. so the way it will work, will be thus - bin 1 will receive all green and brown for 2010. that pile will move to bin 2, in 2011. bin 1, will then take 2011 stuff. each year, the piles will move up 1 bin, and by the time a pile finishes up in bin 5, it should be black gold.
good compost, like fine wine, cant be rushed, and given more and more trees getting larger and generating more leaves, every year- size will matter for my composting. so to make room for the new bins, i had to haul out all of last years compost pile and while i was at it, i figured it would shoot it thru the shreader this year. and the pile you see here is only the pile from last years goodies. shreding of this years garden commences this week.
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