tomato update

these babies are definitely in the class that farmer fred and bill bird have produced. they arent leggy, they are lush, rich green - not induced by excessive nitrogen - but deep green indicative of a strong well built plant. scroll down a few posts and compare their size today versus when i first transplanted them into the 1 gallon pots.

keith - the seed guy - is still working on wave two of the tomatoes, but these babies have just skyrocketed since i transplanted them into 1 gallon containers.

some topsoil and dr. earth is all i have added to these pots. 2010 is going to be a good year.

#3

well you cant count your chickens before their hatched, same thing goes for swarms - but if i get this one home , we will be well along at re-establishing the apiary i gave up when we moved to diamond springs.

this swarm thought it wanted to live in serrano. a rather posh, ritzy, way too expensive for my income place to live - and its behind gates, which makes it extra special. well the serrano folks dont take kindly to bees trying to take up residence in their neighborhood. this is a second swarm i got a call from in this area. thats ok, their loss is my gain.

it was another good sized swarm, not as big as folsom's but i will take it. about 3 feet off the ground on a small oak tree. a few snips of some limbs, a few squirts of sugar water and 'BAM' right onto the ground.

you guessed it, trajectory calcs were off again.

the bees survived, i pulled out with only one minor sting and if the bees stay in the hive when i go back to pick them up, we will put this in the win column. my goal is 5 hives - i am buying a nuc from sac beekeeping supply and hope to get 4 swarms - only one left to fill my quota. after that - mr. bird in natomas, swarm #5 has your name written all over it.

preppin' the potatoes

taking a quick look at bill bird's fledgling potato patch got me thinkin' i might have missed the bus - however, i live at 1850 foot in elevation (he is in the natomas area, so its way closer to sea level) and still at risk of a hard freeze into early may. so planting the spuds is still probably a bit early up here - however, i will risk it in a week or two.

this is the first time i have planted potatoes in over 10 years. the heavier soil in cameron park didnt lend itself to very good potato harvests, but my newly built beds with the fluffy soil is ideal for a huge harvest. i am so looking forward to home grown potatoes - i'm thinking its going to be a great fall.

in the past, i had issues w/ the seed potatoes rotting once planted. my guess is the heavy soil, in cameron park, kept them a bit wetter than optimal - but i think the major contributing factor was i didnt let the potatoes harden off when i cut them in preparation for planting. this year will be different!

this evening, i cut my 'taters and they are in the kitchen drying off on the cut end. according to the the potato flier i received from the frontyard nursery, it suggests that you should treat the cut ends with sulphur or at least let it dry for a day - prior to planting. not having sulphur handy, i chose the latter. these spuds will be set aside for a week before planting.