A New Raised Bed
This raised bed started with a brick walkway to get from the greenhouse to the garage. It was a self defense effort to stop my wife from killing me over the mud. I realized that if I was carrying things too close past the green house, I might break a window. The raised bed seemed like the perfect solution.
I tilled the area, then dug the dirt out and put it on plastic trash bags. The bottom was filled with several inches of half finished compost. This was topped with rock phosphate and about 4” of dirt bringing things back up to ground level. A frame with old 2” X 8” lumber from the deck I am tearing down went on top of this. It is 2’ wide and 12’ long. That was filled to the brim with another layer of compost and the rest of the dirt from the hole.
Today the bed will be planted with beets, carrots, radishes, oak leaf lettuce, chives and thyme. The root crops and the lettuce should all be harvested by the end of May leaving Chives and Thyme as a permanent crop.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Everything but Potatoes
Everything but Potatoes
Many of my friends are amazed that I have been planting stuff in my garden all winter. I have to tell you. As of yesterday, everything I have planted has come up except for the potatoes. The garlic hasn’t come up; but I just planted that last week. The temperature was projected to go down to 26 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday morning. I rushed around and covered everything up with straw. I waited until the bird bath thawed out and pulled the straw off. Not a thing was damaged. Last night a rabbit ate one of my little cabbage plants. That could happen any time.
The blueberries and paw-paw plants and vine peach seeds came in Thursday from Burgess Seeds. I planted them Saturday morning. They were a little disappointing. The blueberry plants were like the little pots of plants that are sold in Home Depot for less than $2. The paw-paws were little sticks with a vestigial root on them. I planted them in pots they were so small. I was afraid they would get lost in the yard. Vine peaches are a type of cantaloupe. They don’t disclose that in the catalog.
The strawberry slips that Michael and Winter Swol donated are really doing great. The blackberries have started to green up as well. Yeah Spring!!!
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Many of my friends are amazed that I have been planting stuff in my garden all winter. I have to tell you. As of yesterday, everything I have planted has come up except for the potatoes. The garlic hasn’t come up; but I just planted that last week. The temperature was projected to go down to 26 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday morning. I rushed around and covered everything up with straw. I waited until the bird bath thawed out and pulled the straw off. Not a thing was damaged. Last night a rabbit ate one of my little cabbage plants. That could happen any time.
The blueberries and paw-paw plants and vine peach seeds came in Thursday from Burgess Seeds. I planted them Saturday morning. They were a little disappointing. The blueberry plants were like the little pots of plants that are sold in Home Depot for less than $2. The paw-paws were little sticks with a vestigial root on them. I planted them in pots they were so small. I was afraid they would get lost in the yard. Vine peaches are a type of cantaloupe. They don’t disclose that in the catalog.
The strawberry slips that Michael and Winter Swol donated are really doing great. The blackberries have started to green up as well. Yeah Spring!!!
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Spring Fever
Spring Fever
I know that Spring hasn’t sprung; but my fever is building. The redbuds, lilacs and daffodils are blooming. My friend’s Lenten roses are loaded with blossoms. Lots of little things are greening up in the garden. I even need to cut the grass in the back yard.
This time of year always gets me excited and makes me want to be outside. I have a bunch of new projects in the dream and early starting stages. I will recite them here, not because anyone cares; but because if I list them here and don’t do them, I will be humiliated. I am going to make a raised bed adjacent to my greenhouse that will double as a cold frame. I have already started this. The boards are painted. Around the greenhouse and the raised bed will be a brick walkway to the driveway so I won’t track in so much dirt and catch so much hell from my wife. I have already done part of this.
I also want to build a lumber rack and a firewood rick, to improve organization in my yard. I am tearing down the deck behind the house to build a patio. My wife wants me to make a pergola in the back yard where a big red tip tree is growing. I am willing to build the pergola to get rid of the red tip tree.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
I know that Spring hasn’t sprung; but my fever is building. The redbuds, lilacs and daffodils are blooming. My friend’s Lenten roses are loaded with blossoms. Lots of little things are greening up in the garden. I even need to cut the grass in the back yard.
This time of year always gets me excited and makes me want to be outside. I have a bunch of new projects in the dream and early starting stages. I will recite them here, not because anyone cares; but because if I list them here and don’t do them, I will be humiliated. I am going to make a raised bed adjacent to my greenhouse that will double as a cold frame. I have already started this. The boards are painted. Around the greenhouse and the raised bed will be a brick walkway to the driveway so I won’t track in so much dirt and catch so much hell from my wife. I have already done part of this.
I also want to build a lumber rack and a firewood rick, to improve organization in my yard. I am tearing down the deck behind the house to build a patio. My wife wants me to make a pergola in the back yard where a big red tip tree is growing. I am willing to build the pergola to get rid of the red tip tree.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Happy Sadie Hawkins Day (maybe)
Happy Sadie Hawkins Day (maybe)
I don’t want to get into the controversy of Feb 29 and November dates for Sadie Hawkins day. I celebrate both. I have not written to this blog for a couple weeks so I have a lot to update.
The spinach and greens have come up. The spinach even has true leaves. The onions are about 6” to 8” tall. The 27th and 28th were the days to plant root crops and prune for growth. I planted more radish, carrots and onion sets. I also planted some garlic. I also pruned the new grapevines. I threw the pieces that I cut off of the grapevines into a bucket of water to soak. Next week I will coat the end of them with rooting hormone and stick them in some rockwool.
Speaking of rockwool. The plants that were started in rockwool have been the poorest performers of all the seedlings. Every single marigold died. Some of the seeds did not germinate. None of them are doing really well. Maybe I don’t know how to use rockwool. The jiffy pellets and paper cups did much better. The paper cups did best. They are also the cheapest. I will use them from now on and just use the rockwool that I have left for cloning.
I cut the biggest of the mulberry trees down on the 27th. It was so tall we could not pick the mulberries. I am hoping it will sprout. At any rate, I can take cuttings from the other mulberry tree before I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
I don’t want to get into the controversy of Feb 29 and November dates for Sadie Hawkins day. I celebrate both. I have not written to this blog for a couple weeks so I have a lot to update.
The spinach and greens have come up. The spinach even has true leaves. The onions are about 6” to 8” tall. The 27th and 28th were the days to plant root crops and prune for growth. I planted more radish, carrots and onion sets. I also planted some garlic. I also pruned the new grapevines. I threw the pieces that I cut off of the grapevines into a bucket of water to soak. Next week I will coat the end of them with rooting hormone and stick them in some rockwool.
Speaking of rockwool. The plants that were started in rockwool have been the poorest performers of all the seedlings. Every single marigold died. Some of the seeds did not germinate. None of them are doing really well. Maybe I don’t know how to use rockwool. The jiffy pellets and paper cups did much better. The paper cups did best. They are also the cheapest. I will use them from now on and just use the rockwool that I have left for cloning.
I cut the biggest of the mulberry trees down on the 27th. It was so tall we could not pick the mulberries. I am hoping it will sprout. At any rate, I can take cuttings from the other mulberry tree before I cut it down.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Pre-Season Planting
Pre-Season Planting
There’s a lot of stuff going in the ground. Last week on the “root crop day” I planted beets, carrots, radishes and onion sets again. On the 8th (above ground day) I planted spinach, arugula, mesclun mix, kale, romaine, mustard and turnips. My grapevines and asparagus crowns came in yesterday and today (the 12th) is “transplant day” so in the ground they go. I dug humongous holes for the grapevines yesterday and a long trench for the asparagus. Today it is rainy and miserable; but this is the last day of February for transplanting.
The 8th was also a transplant day and I transplanted a few things in the greenhouse. Here’s a little update on the planting mediums. I planted in soil in cups, jiffy pots and rockwool. The rockwool got the best germination. The soil in cups grows best. I also planted some leftover cabbage seeds in an old aluminum pie plate. That was fantastic. We learn from experience. I don’t expect to start many more seeds this year. I want to try egg cartons next. I may start something just for the heck of it to see how they work.
Spinach and onion sets from an earlier planting are up. My three bins of compost turned into 2 ¾ when I turned it Sunday. I need some stuff to put in the grapevine holes; but the compost isn’t ready. I will buy some earthworm castings and mix that and phosphate rock and lime in with the dirt that came from the holes. I will just mix the earthworm casting for the asparagus. The dirt at the bottom of the grapevine holes tested at between 5.9 and 6.3 for ph which is the very lower limit for grapes. Hopefully the lime will bring it up a little.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
There’s a lot of stuff going in the ground. Last week on the “root crop day” I planted beets, carrots, radishes and onion sets again. On the 8th (above ground day) I planted spinach, arugula, mesclun mix, kale, romaine, mustard and turnips. My grapevines and asparagus crowns came in yesterday and today (the 12th) is “transplant day” so in the ground they go. I dug humongous holes for the grapevines yesterday and a long trench for the asparagus. Today it is rainy and miserable; but this is the last day of February for transplanting.
The 8th was also a transplant day and I transplanted a few things in the greenhouse. Here’s a little update on the planting mediums. I planted in soil in cups, jiffy pots and rockwool. The rockwool got the best germination. The soil in cups grows best. I also planted some leftover cabbage seeds in an old aluminum pie plate. That was fantastic. We learn from experience. I don’t expect to start many more seeds this year. I want to try egg cartons next. I may start something just for the heck of it to see how they work.
Spinach and onion sets from an earlier planting are up. My three bins of compost turned into 2 ¾ when I turned it Sunday. I need some stuff to put in the grapevine holes; but the compost isn’t ready. I will buy some earthworm castings and mix that and phosphate rock and lime in with the dirt that came from the holes. I will just mix the earthworm casting for the asparagus. The dirt at the bottom of the grapevine holes tested at between 5.9 and 6.3 for ph which is the very lower limit for grapes. Hopefully the lime will bring it up a little.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Let There Be Light
Let There be Light
In the last blog you got to hear my complaints about legginess. Today I will share what I discovered. I went to the greatest source of gardening wisdom I have found. That is Mr. Blackely (I hope I spelled that right) at Renfrow’s Store. The day was gorgeous. The weather was almost balmy. The folks at the store were displaying cabbage and lettuce plants and seed potatoes outside. I went in the wonderful old store and shared my sorrows with Mr. Blackely. He said they ( the plants) need more light.
He explained to me that even in a greenhouse, the day length is too short for many plants. He showed me how to place the light for best results. It needs to be very close to the plants. His was about 4” to 6” above the tops of the plants. I headed back to home depot, where I bought a little fluorescent light and a large surge protector. I did not really need the surge protector. I just needed more sockets.
In the late afternoon, I worked in the greenhouse. I decided the beautiful day was a great time to clean thing up. I gave all the plants a little field trip outside and I cleaned up the greenhouse. Not all of the plants seemed to need extra light; and I only bought 1 lamp so I put that one lamp in the darkest space in the greenhouse and put the leggiest plants under the lamp. I’ll give you a progress report on how well that works. Incidentally the plants that seemed to be suffering most were the members of the cole family and the mint family.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
In the last blog you got to hear my complaints about legginess. Today I will share what I discovered. I went to the greatest source of gardening wisdom I have found. That is Mr. Blackely (I hope I spelled that right) at Renfrow’s Store. The day was gorgeous. The weather was almost balmy. The folks at the store were displaying cabbage and lettuce plants and seed potatoes outside. I went in the wonderful old store and shared my sorrows with Mr. Blackely. He said they ( the plants) need more light.
He explained to me that even in a greenhouse, the day length is too short for many plants. He showed me how to place the light for best results. It needs to be very close to the plants. His was about 4” to 6” above the tops of the plants. I headed back to home depot, where I bought a little fluorescent light and a large surge protector. I did not really need the surge protector. I just needed more sockets.
In the late afternoon, I worked in the greenhouse. I decided the beautiful day was a great time to clean thing up. I gave all the plants a little field trip outside and I cleaned up the greenhouse. Not all of the plants seemed to need extra light; and I only bought 1 lamp so I put that one lamp in the darkest space in the greenhouse and put the leggiest plants under the lamp. I’ll give you a progress report on how well that works. Incidentally the plants that seemed to be suffering most were the members of the cole family and the mint family.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com/ , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Early Indications
Early Indications
I used three different planting mediums to start over 1000 plants. I used dirt in cups, Jiffy Pellets and rockwool. Everything did pretty well. The cups were the most work. The Jiffy Pellets and rockwool were about the same. The germination rate between the cups with dirt and the Jiffy Pellets were about the same. (around 80%). The rockwool is almost 100%. Some stuff that I have just planted in rockwool has not come up yet; so a complete analysis is still premature. One problem I am having with all of the mediums is legginess. I am hoping transplanting will fix that.
In the garden, I planted more beets, carrots, radishes onions and potatoes. The only thing growing right now is Arugula and Onions. I did make a new ph map of the garden. The row for potatoes had dropped to 5 after I applied the sulfur. It has bounced back to 6.5. I don’t know if that is caused by the rain or what. I have not put any other amendment on the soil.
On February 1, I started a new compost pile for new compost. The old compost is being isolated so that it will be ready for planting when it is needed. I turned all of the compost Saturday and 4 bins became 3 bins. Most of the leaves and eggshells can still be identified; but most of the other things have become indistinguishable grains. By the time I plant, there will only be one bin.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
I used three different planting mediums to start over 1000 plants. I used dirt in cups, Jiffy Pellets and rockwool. Everything did pretty well. The cups were the most work. The Jiffy Pellets and rockwool were about the same. The germination rate between the cups with dirt and the Jiffy Pellets were about the same. (around 80%). The rockwool is almost 100%. Some stuff that I have just planted in rockwool has not come up yet; so a complete analysis is still premature. One problem I am having with all of the mediums is legginess. I am hoping transplanting will fix that.
In the garden, I planted more beets, carrots, radishes onions and potatoes. The only thing growing right now is Arugula and Onions. I did make a new ph map of the garden. The row for potatoes had dropped to 5 after I applied the sulfur. It has bounced back to 6.5. I don’t know if that is caused by the rain or what. I have not put any other amendment on the soil.
On February 1, I started a new compost pile for new compost. The old compost is being isolated so that it will be ready for planting when it is needed. I turned all of the compost Saturday and 4 bins became 3 bins. Most of the leaves and eggshells can still be identified; but most of the other things have become indistinguishable grains. By the time I plant, there will only be one bin.
David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/.
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