the 2010 growing season has begun

the word on the street is my tomato seeds have been planted. today, officially, is the start of the 2010 growing season. next stop, the official planting day - farmer fred's bday - april 28th. this year we will use some walls of water and hopefully pull in the growing season. at nearly 1900 foot elevation, i face some challenges that the flatlanders dont. i will be cutting back on the numbers this year to 24 plants - 2009 had 41 plants and it was way too much. as a reminder, here is the first string for 2010.






gregoris altai
early girl
matina
big beef
cabernet
big raspberry
champion 2
costolto fiorentino
nyagous
sioux
super fantastic
black zebra
crnkovic
black from tula
chreokee purple
sun gold
sweet gold
mr. stripey
better boy
bella rosa

i like burn piles

dont know if its the smell of the smoke, or not having to haul it away, or just knowing i am rural enough to do this - but i like it. burn piles are just cool.

half way thru the pile, we continue to add sticks and brush to keep it going. its a hot fire, so we are able to burn some green material.

the end result is a pile of coals, which i will continue to allow to burn and soon it will be very fine ash.

cleanup continues

well, with chain saw in hand, the erck boys hit the backyard over the past few weeks and 8 trips to the dump and one burn pile later, we at least have the brush gone from the yard. we still have quite a bit of logs to cut up and stack (much to the chagrin of my sons) - but hey, they have to earn thier keep - i want something back for all that food they eat - and boy do they eat.




here i am handling my binford 6000 BFC in action. handed down to me by my grandpa. this is an early 70's vintage chain saw and it lights off easy and cuts with the best of them.










photo number two is of my youngest son getting into the action with the binford.










the third photo is of the oldest son, giving direction to jed the wonder dog. looks like jed is taking direction just like the son whose giving him orders :)

the power of frozen water

i'm still working on cleanup from the snow storm. i got my in-laws yard all cleaned up, my chain saw went into the shop - so my progress is a bit stalled. but i wanted to show a few pictures the the damage that 12 inches of snow inflicted upon 2 oak trees on the the property.the first picture shows a major branch which was shattered by the weight of snow on the extended branch. the branch is approximately 6-8 inches in diameter and i have a lopper next to it to give you an idea of scale. this branch was approximately 20 feet up in the tree and when it broke, it didnt fall to the ground - it stayed attached to the tree where it snapped and fell onto the truck (no damage thankfully). i thought about getting a tree cutter out to cut out the failed branch - but once this one was down, what was left was a pretty twiggy remnant, so i dropped the major branch.

the next 2 shots show whats left of another oak tree in the backyard. this is the tree that had its canopy shattered. 3 major limbs broke out of the tree - it no longer has its top. fortunately, when it fell, it missed the fence - i hope i am as lucky when i cut down the tree and fall the trunk. merry christmas - please remember the reason for the season.

the days are getting longer...

i overlooked the official day, but katie @ the punks didnt....

http://www.gardenpunks.com/

my least liked day of the year, is also an annual turning point that provides me with optimism - as the days do start getting longer. its a shame that the long days peak in june (way to early) - i would really like to see a peak around august and a minimum - well could stay where its at. going to work in the dark and getting home in the dark - just leads to a bad general attituds overall. 3 months until equinox - hurry, hurry, hurry.

ge

low snow in the garden

man did we get nailed. not only is this unusual in this area - but this early and this much, a very rare event. we got upwards of 10-12 inches of snow. we lost limbs on oaks and digger pines.

one particular oak (first pic) , saw its canopy shattered - this is actually not a bad thing as this tree being removed will open up the garden area a bit more for summer sun.

the second picture shows how much snow was in the garden - almost 12 inches. given the cold temps, we will see snow on the ground for quite awhile.

bare root team for 2010

you win some and you lose some. i had seven trees die this year. because they were purchased in january 2009 and i planted with ammend - fyn - guarantees them for failure. so here are the replacements i will be getting:

nectarine:
juneglo
heavenly white
arctic blaze
arctic queen
arctic star

spice-zee nectaplum
tri-lite peachplum

new players for the 2010 orchard team are:

nectarine - z-glow and goldmine
cherry - mimi royal, royal lee, stella, lambert, montmorency
asian pear - shinko, hosui
blueberry - oneil, misty, bluecrop, blueray, ozark, reveille

most of the holes are dug, but i have some topsoil to move out of the way - to dig others, i need to extend the drip to cover the new trees and blueberries and i also need to noodle on a solution that keeps the bluejays from eating my blueberries.

i have just about filled up the garden and i still have grapes and raspberries and blackberries that i need to have. so at the other end of the yard - a few years down the road, we will see another garden area to house these vines. now, if i could only have time AND money at the same time to get this done faster.