Here we go!

Weather here is warming up slowly. Few light frosts still in the forecast but overall warm enough to start planting many things. Just hope for no repeat of a late hard freeze like last year.

Haven't gotten the well pump going yet. Turns out the well is clogged. I believe the water level rises and carries sediment into the pipes. Neighbor has had to clear his in the past. Tried for some time today to clear it but no luck. I'll try using some PVC hooked together to clear it, then just use that as an intake pipe. More permanent and no risk of hose collapsing from suction. If that doesn't work, I'll have to get a long 1/2" drain snake.


Well pump or no well pump, going to plant grass and maybe flowers in the front yard tomorrow. Use municipal water for now. In theory, I can hook up the well pump on a timer to the water hose and that would automate watering the lawn until grass seeds sprout. 


Started some strawberries inside tonight. Apparently, you can start them outdoors and small plants are tolerant to light frost. Going to get much of the main garden started next weekend. I buy the roots in a bag from WalMart. Only $3 for 10 roots as opposed to $1.50 or more for potted plants. Not certain of viability but many of the roots have green leaves on them, so I have high hopes. Got 40 so far and may get more later. (Can you tell I like strawberries?)


No blueberry plants out at WalMart yet. Hopefully soon. Lowe's has them but they cost more there. Found something out I did not know. Some blueberry bushes grow as much as 15' tall! That can change several considerations of where to plant them. Have to check the plants when buying them. Start in containers and prepare the soil for the chosen spot then. Add lots of gypsum, sulfur and Azalea food to the soil. They are very salt intolerant and require really acidic soil. In short, not made for this soil or environment at all. 


I ordered an attachment for the tiller to make things a bit easier. It's a planter/furrower attachment. Forms mounds for planting. With all the other things I have going on, it will save a lot of time and effort. Wouldn't have gotten it this year but it was on sale for half price at a really good time for me. If it works as fast as the tiller does, I can form the entire garden in a couple of hours. 


House wiring is progressing. Not nearly as fast as I would like. Got bummed for a while because I had thought I would be done with this weeks ago. However, I installed the new ceiling fan/light in the living room tonight. Have multiple circuits in place for fixtures to be hooked up. Cables run to daughter's room and the office. So, not exactly sitting still, just not all that much truly visible at the moment. That will change quickly. Patching some walls will go quickly, while others will still require lots more cutting to even holes up before patching. 


Story of my life. Have to take on a lot at once, so it lokks like I'm standing still for a while. Then, suddenly, it's all done at once.

Pump and chipper

Got the pump a few days ago. Not a formal well pump but a utility pump. Supposed to pump as much and as high as the well pumps I saw at Harbor Freight but doesn't have a tank. Came with a plastic cone screen which fit the backcheck valve I had, so just had to get an adapter to connect to the hose. Get it set up to run tomorrow.

The wood chipper I ordered came today. Haven't tried it out yet but but got it put together. It appears sturdy and well made. Give it a try tomorrow or Fri.

That seems to complete the power tools I need for the yard and garden. Now have a tiller, well pump and wood chipper. Already had a lawn mower, chain saw and weed eater. Most anything else can be done manually. 

Still going to get some more gypsum and sulfur to get the soil ready for spring. Picked up a couple bags of standard fertilizer formulated for southwestern soil, so it contains iron, zinc and more sulfur. Fact is, I'm not sure how much sulfur I would have to add before it would be too much. I do know it's a lot more than I'm adding. 

Didn't get much sleep today and nothing done. Get to bed and get things done tomorrow but wiring does take precedence still. Hopefully not for much longer.

Sprouting!

Seeds that daughter and I started last weekend are sprouting already! Yay! Thousands of tiny flower plants coming up! We had used plastic shoe boxes and I covered those with loose plastic wrap to retain moisture. Once they gain in size a bit, I'll remove the plastic wrap.

I finally ordered a wood chipper. Should be delivered next week. Just a small one. I don't need a huge one. It will help with breaking down the 8 trees sitting on the ground. Pile up the wood chips, spice them with ammonia and let them compost. 

I was also thinking it may help a lot with breaking down the gypsum board. Soak the gypsum down and let it soften, then run the pieces through the chipper. Then cultivate the pieces in. Though I may still buy more bags of gypsum to add to the soil. 

Really expanding the amount of flowers this year. Planting flowering trees and ground blooms everywhere. Daughter is really happy about that! My hope is to one day put the local Botanical Garden to shame! (Not my motivator but something that would be cool.)

We found a place near the house which has thousands of cocoons hanging from the trees. More than I've ever seen in one place! Going to go back soon and collect a bunch of them. Make another fake tree to hang them on. Or two.

Cold snap is still with us. Supposed to get down to low 20's again this coming week. Days are still as warm as 60, though. Still, an early spring is forecast. After 2/20/12, I have another week off. During that time, planning on forming up the garden for the spring. Start getting some cool weather crops in the ground. Mostly potatoes, onions, broccoli and spinach. Not planting peas this year. Too much work for too little return. 

I can finally get a decent well pump this year. Going to buy that this coming week. I think that, along with the other steps to correct the soil, will make a huge difference this year. Will this be the year that my yard and garden turns around and becomes what I've been hoping for? Have to keep working on it, wait and see.

Cold snap

Of course, shortly after writing about the unseasonably warm weather, a cold front blows in. That's not unexpected here. Got too anxious last year and paid the price. However, it is still much warmer overall than the past three winters, at least. 

Very funny thing. Neighbors saw me cutting trees the other day. Today, they were out with their chain saws. Neighbor to the south was cutting limbs from trees on my property which overhang their yard, mostly near power lines. (Not that close, though.) Told them I was going to ask permission to enter their yard to cut those trees and that I was going to take them down entirely. They offered to do it for me! Nice! Need to make them some cookies or something! So, they cut at least the parts which were causing me the biggest problems for now. I can take the rest down later. 

Got some seeds started last night with daughter's help. Mostly flowers but I did start some tomato seeds. Looks like the plants from last year aren't going to revive, even the indoor ones. That leaves no hope for the ones outdoors. Bummer. But with tilling, soil repair and finally being able to afford a well pump this year, I have much greater hopes of an earlier crop this year, even from seed. 

Bulbs have started growing! Couldn't believe when I was working in the yard, looked over and saw green sprouts coming up in the area where I planted the bulbs, in a definite pattern! Not all of them yet but lots. Promised daughter we will plant lots of flowers this year. We have about a million sunflower and marigold seeds. 

I don't have the time to build any part of the solarium. Too involved with more immediate practical needs, like rewiring the house. With the things I've found, it's a miracle this house hasn't burned to the ground at some point in the past. So, guess what I need to do is construct a seed starting rack to place in the office, by the window. Table there won't hold too much because of surface area. Though if I can find a cheap plastic shelving unit, may forego the work and just use that. 

As far as the wiring goes, I'll be installing outdoor outlets. One of those will mostly be for the well pump but should come in handy for Christmas lights in the winter. 

Toying with ideas. It seems unlikely that I will be able to afford to build a double glazed solarium very soon. So, I was thinking of a greenhouse inside a greenhouse design for winter and early spring. The larger greenhouse would control some temperature and wind. A much smaller, inner greenhouse would offer a place to start seeds early or keep some plants going all year. In summer, it would be easier to keep the same space cooler. If attached to the house, it would help control the house environment even more. If I decide to do away with it later in favor of double glazing, the materials may come in handy for that double glazing of the larger structure. 

Just some thoughts to explore further later.

Getting ready for spring!

Started getting ready for spring this week! 

Weather has been unseasonably warm. So I got 200 lbs of sulfur. In various parts of the yard, I scattered sulfur, gypsum (broken and/or dissolved sheetrock) and dead leaves. Cultivated all that in. Cultivated all the front yard and nearly all the back yard. Total nearly 6000 sq ft cultivated in two days. 

Going to replace all or nearly all the trees on the property. So, started cutting down the existing trees. These trees are all cypress or Chinese elm trees and collectively drop a million seed pods everywhere, so badly they can smother other plants. Even if not, I wind up pulling seedlings every year. I would much prefer having flowering, fruit and nut trees and bushes. Haven't finished yet but cut down 4 trees and most of several others. For the rest, it will take going onto other properties to cut some limbs and bringing the truck into the back yard to attach tension lines for others while cutting. 

Several of the trees I took down had to fall in a limited area to avoid damage to fences or buildings. The first few, I dropped within 2 feet of where I wanted. That was yesterday. Today, something went wrong with my spatial reasoning. Several trunks nearly fell the wrong way. For one, the cut was right but the wind almost pushed it right toward the neighbor's house! Had to attach a ratcheting tension line. No time to get the truck! That stabilized it. Then I had to tie a rope to a low branch, wrap it around my waist and pull. That brought it down in the right direction. Whew! Couple of others wobbled the wrong way but only required a solid push to fall the way I needed. 

So, a lot of the back yard is covered with felled trees. Going to take a lot of work to cut those to pieces. Need to buy a wood chipper with the tax refund when it comes in. That should fill up the compost bin and more! 

Tilling and cultivating have done wonders for weed control. Barely a single weed in the yard. Ones which are still there are in places I can't currently get the tiller into. 

Finally found a local source for agricultural gypsum. Same place I get the sulfur from, Helena Chemical. I had called them a few months ago and asked about it but they said they didn't have it. Thing is, I asked about Calcium Sulfate. Apparently, whomever I talked to didn't know that gypsum is Calcium Sulfate. And they don't sell by the truckload, only by the bag. I'll get a few bags before planting season because the sheetrock is taking so long to break down. Got a fair amount spread but not nearly enough. Also need to get at least one more bag of sulfur because I want to grow blueberries in a limited area. 

Okay, I need some sleep. More wiring tomorrow.