April 2, 2022

    I sprouted Bitter Gourd seeds. I soaked them in water for 24 hours starting March 28th. I then put them in damp paper towels inside zip lock bags and placed in bed with heat blanket on. The Green Skin has had the best germination so far. Yesterday 16 of the 31 seeds had begun to grow tails so I planted them in starting trays. I added 5 more today that grew tails since yesterday. Of the other three varieties only one seed has sprouted so far. 

I also planted a tray of Borage yesterday and a couple dishes of Butterfly flowers and another type of seed or two. I don't have the names of now. I'll add them in later. 

Last Frost

Today is 6 weeks and 1 day until last frost of May 15th. This coming week will be a push to get as many plants started as I can. I will be cleaning out the small greenhouse, putting on the center cap and getting seed trays started. 

 March 27, 2022

I planted a tray of Jalapeno peppers and a tray of Sweet Peppers , Best Boy & Big Red Tomatoes.  

I had left the Raspberry plants outside for several days, maybe a week, but brought them back into the greenhouse on the 26th of March as we are now entering a period of below freezing nights. On Sunday the 27th, I finished going through the raspberry plants cutting away all the dead leaves and stems, the result of a spider mite infestation. I believe the mites have been eliminated by repeated applications of a neem oil spray and the days and nights spent outside the greenhouse. 

Looking at the week ahead- Monday March 28, 2022 - Saturday April 2, 2022

Weather- Monday and Tuesday look still chilly but dry. Temperatures should be in or near 40's.

               - Wednesday in the 50's but rain

                -Thursday Cold in the 30's and possible snow

                -Friday & Saturday Back to the chilly 40's but dry.

Goals -     -Start the remainder of the milk jugs

                -Set up at least two more seed starting beds

                -Set up one seed starting bed for Garlic seeds

                -Instal fence from the driveway gate to the East line fence with Meyers. Include two gates along the way. Make it Goose proof to Bull proof.

                -Set up and plant/replant the permanent rhubarb bed or beds.

                -Plant the 5 trees purchased last week. Three Apple trees (Honey crisp, Golden Delicious, Cortland), one Peach tree (reliance), and one Pear trees (Bartlete).

                -Eventually the peach trees should be grown in a hoophouse shelter. Reliance is supposed to be hearty to zone 5 but we are at the limit. A hoop house will add 1 to 2 zones. Plan to construct a berm with the tree within to add height and provide more earth heat shelter. Also include a cold sink to drain off the cold air from within the hoop house.

Last Frost- This is week 7 until last frost. It's time to plant and plan in earnest for the coming gardening season. Perhaps it's time to cleanout the little dome in front of the garage. Maybe add bales around the outside and put the top piece back on? 

This looks like work enough for a month. In addition to the above items, I also have the sawmill to put together and the Starlink dish should arrive on Monday. That will have to be installed and set up.

 3/19/2022 I bought two ginger roots at Viking village for $4.99/lbs. They have nubs growing on them and are fat so they look like they will grow nicely, at least one of them does.

I also bought packets of seeds Cabbage/Copenhagen $1.79, Borage $1.89, and Catnip $1.89.  Recipe filed in Garden 2022 folder.

I planted the first bed of starter plants approximately 3x 6 feet formed out of hay bales and covered with a 4 x 8 sheet of double wall polycarbonate. There are over 500 seeds sown in this bed. They include Broccoli, Super blend, Brussels Sproouts, Copenhagen Market Cabbage, Hollyhock flower Outhouse, Dill Super Dukar, Okra Clemson Spineless, Borage Borago officinalis, Calendula radio, Cabbage All seasons, and Rutgers Tomato. 

March 9, 2022

 This morning I planted a tray with 16 cells of Bee balm Panorama Mix (Monarda didyma), the rest of the flat was planted with Wisconsin Lakes Bell Peppers. I also planted 5 milk jugs of Zinnia Exquisite winter sowing. I've noticed a great difference between aronia cuttings taken in December and those taken a month ago in February. Those from February are doing many times better. I did not noticed roots yet on a couple that I dug up but the tops are uniformly greening up where those from December are spotingly showing top growth but many no growth at all. On the photo, the tote on the left are cuttings taken in December. The tote on the right are cuttings taken in February. All have been in a heated greenhouse all thus time.

March 20, 2022- update on the Bee Balm Panorama Mix and The Wisconsin Lakes Bell Peppers. The Bell peppers are beginning to come up. 

2022 Garden

 It is the 8th of March, 2022. I have about 10 pots of Ginger started, a couple trays of Turmeric, another bunch of pots of turmeric and Galangal ginger. I'll take inventory and update the exact amount of those. 

What I want to do this evening is to begin documenting the work being done at Narrows Creek Garden in 2022. Today, I started three trays of seeds I think. One tray has three varieties of peppers: Thai Hot, Habanero, and Jalapeno. The second tray has Spearmint and Common mint (Mentha sp) which I believe is also spearmint. Third is a tray with rows of Onions: Sweet Spanish and bunching. I used one package of Flavor King bunching onions and one package of Ferry-Morse Evergreen Bunching but I doubt I'll ever be able to tell the difference. The packages were from 2018 and 2019 so they may or may not grow. I planted everything heavy assuming germination will be low. All the seeds have been in the greenhouse where temperatures often get over 100 degrees so I need to use up all my old seeds this year or toss them.

In addition to the things started in the greenhouse I have about thirty milk jugs of various seeds winter sown outside. I'll have to inventory those as well and try to continue to post regularly the things I plant this season.

2014 new year dawning

January 21, 2014

Lime Ridge, Wisconsin

After losing reliable internet service in June of 2012, I put several of my web-based projects on standby but I'm happy to report that I've reconnected! God willing... 2014 will be a wonderful year of building, growing, and sharing.

Although I did go into an internet-semi-sleep-mode for 18 months, in real-life I have been busy building a flock of chickens and ducks, constructing domes, and meddling in concrete and hypertufa projects. I won't go into detail other than share a couple photos of what's underway now and I'll fill in the past in bits and pieces later on.

Domes

32 foot dome greenhouse waiting for spring...

A 32 foot dome was put up in October, 2013. Construction was placed on hold awaiting spring. I intend to use this dome to grow early produce for the farm stand. In the background to the left is the 16x32 foot hoop-house with the subterranean heating and cooling system. Right now, it is being utilized to shelter my flock of ducks and chickens but seed starting will begin there in a few more weeks. The birds and the seed trays will have to be kept separated. Ha!

Another smaller dome was constructed last summer which will be home to our 'farm stand'. It will also be used to start or house plants when that time comes. Hundreds of flower bulbs were planted around the dome... can't wait for spring to see how it all looks! However, this morning we are entering another polar vortex with temperatures around -6 (6 below zero!) and forecast to fall further in coming days.

Marigold stands in the snow next to 16 foot dome.

 I have two seed trays containing leeks, swiss chard, and a few tomatoes that were started a few days ago, under grow lights in the basement. These were just old packets of seeds I planted as a test run and to push the season as far as I possibly can. Who knows what the weather will be like in February or early March? I might be able to set these plants out in the hoop-house? 

The Future

Today is a back-to-work-day but before that I will prepare some germination tests of some home-harvested onions, beens, and corn seeds. It is my intention to continue to share the activities at Narrows Creek Garden and Greenhouse through this blog and through Narrows Creek Garden and Greenhouse  You Tube channel  I haven't put up any videos there yet but if you are interested please follow. I've been enjoying my new internet access and spent half the night watching You Tube videos on gardening and seed starting. I just love it!  I hope I can share something of what I'm doing that will bring that same joy, ideas, and knowledge to others who share my interests.

Part 11

Pipes are no longer under water but there is some mud and moisture, maybe as the air begins to circulate it will dry out?

I bought a sump pump yesterday and within an hour the underground system was pumped out. I haven't had to run the pump again all day.


I fasten another barrel over the fan, so that the intake air is being taken from about 7 feet above the floor.
I installed the circulation fan and the two thermostats that operate it so the circulation system is now in operation. I'm not sure how many of the tubes are open but clearly some of them are; there is a nice breeze circulating through the underground tubes. The underground tiles are cold though and tonight the air temperature coming out of the ground is only 34 degrees tonight. It's going to take some time and some warm days to raise that subterranean temperature. This is the grate over where the air comes out from the underground system. A little restrictive maybe?

I also insulated the north wall with R-19 insulation and covered the outside with construction fabric. I'll get the plastic on the interior wall tomorrow. I also filled in around the base so cold air isn't coming in like it was. Even today before all the progress was made sealing it up and with the fan circulating through the underground system part of the afternoon, the temperature got up to 71 degrees. If it's sunny tomorrow I will be surprised if it doesn't reach into the 80's.

Right now, the system is working but cold. On previous nights without the fan running the indoor and out door temperature were the same once the sun went down. Tonight, with the system running, the outdoor temperature is 22 degrees but the greenhouse is at 29. Not a big difference but I expect improvements as the system thaws and recovers from a bad start.