Yet more mulch

Have all the trenches mulched now and some of the mounds. Still a bit more to do with the mounds but it's looking pretty decent. 

Lettuce is slowly coming up. Tomato plants are struggling because the temperature is swinging wildly. I may start a few more tomato seeds just in case. They would be late to mature but they would produce this season. 

Unexpectedly, potatoes are looking pretty good so far. 

Gave another shot at using acid to kill off the Chinese elm trees tonight. Mixed acid, ammonia nod water. Used at least 2 1/2 gals of acid. Poured the mixture in the soil, let it sink in and kept spraying more water until the ground was saturated, which should let it get down to root level. I'll keep repeating that process until I see some results. It's still the least toxic approach I can think of. 

All of the trees I've planted are now doing really well. So are the rose bushes.

So it looks like I'm actually learning something and the work I've done is producing some results! Yay!

More mulch

Got the second big row covered with weed fabric and mulch this evening. 

Planted the rest of the tomatoes I had started. Some kind of small but hoping they survive. 

Planted out peppers. Pretty sure most of them will make it.

Most of the things I planted out today aren't mulched yet. However, the ground is well irrigated and the plants are hardened off. Long as there isn't too much sodium in the soil for them, they should survive. 

Lettuce is coming up. Still quite tiny. 

Pulled quite a bit of bindweed. Thousands more coming up but can't reliably tell the difference between that, lettuce and spinach yet. Have to pull it as it grows to an identifiable point. Going to be a big job all summer. If I don't seem to win the battle during the summer, I'll solarize the whole garden in the fall, when it's still warm enough to do so and just keep the fall crops to a minimum. 

Solarizing and mulch

Made the decision to solarize the section around the trees, where I planted flowers last year. That men's placing plastic sheeting down and weighting it to keep it from blowing away. Then leaving it there for 4-6 weeks. That's supposed to kill off weed seeds because it heats the soil as much as 160 degrees down to as much as a foot. 

Using the mulch for the paths in the garden, along with the weed fabric. Figure I can do all the rows that way for around $30 more. That should help control weeds plus moisture loss. Not to mention decrease dirt tracked in the house and make the whole garden look nicer. 

Finally found a concentration of acid which works for killing weeds and grass in my soil. It takes nearly half pure battery acid and a large amount of ammonia. My. Soil remains so alkaline that it fizzes when a strong acid is applied. 

Tried applying a large amount of acid to deep soil around the trees I'm trying to kill. Hasn't worked yet. If nothing in a day or two, have to repeat the process. 

Planted out some tomatoes and pumpkins couple nights ago. Applied weed fabric and mulch to the tomato mounds. I may have enough mulch on hand to finish that. If not, another $3 will finish that. I have enough weed fabric for that already cut to size.

Planted sugar cane last night. Not sure it will grow. It was pretty dry and I'm not sure it will grow if that dry. If it doesn't sprout in a couple weeks have to see if I can buy more. 

I did apply weed and grass killer in some spots and ground clear in other spots outside the food garden this weekend. 

Trimmed the grape vines. One vine already has thousands of tiny grapes forming. Hoping to coax them into a larger size this year. Waiting to see if the other vines forms grapes this year. Saw one small bunch today. 

Ran acid and ammonia through the irrigation lines tonight. Think I need to do a lot more of that, with how alkaline the soil remains. Not sure yet but think the weed fabric and mulch should help retain some acidity. I know it should help other benefits, including earthworms. 

Few final steps

I basically have a few final steps to getting the garden completely set up for the year. 

Drag out the weed whacker and clear a few spaces I couldn't do any other way. Then rake.

Till the last small section of the north garden.

Get the irrigation system set up for the areas around the trees in the west. Or plug the holes for a few weeks, then get more weed fabric and mulch to landscape it better. Kinda leaning toward the latter. Use mixed colors of mulch for a nicer appearance. 

Get the fence repaired from the dog damage.

I can get most of this done this evening. Not so sure about the fence. That may have to wait. 

Ammonium sulpahte test

Got the three dogs to the shelter. Oldest female is off her tie-out line and has an invisible fence collar on. Now that there's no other dog she will risk attacking.

Did the test with ammonia and sulfuric acid. Put a few drops of each into glass containers. Took them both outside. Then poured the acid into the ammonia. The reaction was.. nothing visible. Not even a puff of CO2. That's good. Means it's safe to mix them in a sprayer and apply or in the fertilizer injector, each in varying dilution. Want to see just how well this mixture works to clear any clogged emitters. 

I did leave the glass jar in the sun, to let it evaporate and see if any precipitate crystals form, which I understand is supposed to happen. Won't be much with the amount in the jar. 

Just glad to know I'm not taking my life in my hands by mixing the two together if I make the solution a strong one. I'll mix a solution in the fertilizer injector this evening and run it through the irrigation lines. 

Haven't gotten the check valve yet for the fertilizer injector, so using the fertilizer injector still involves being nearby while using it. 

Survived

As of this moment, it appears like everything survived the short freeze last night. I don't have a thermometer outside at the moment (another victim of the dogs), so I can only rely on weather reports to say if it actually did freeze in my immediate location. It doesn't really look like it did. The irrigation system worked as it should, which would have probably had the smaller lines frozen if it did. 

In any case, only one pumpkin vine looks iffy this morning, which could have been bent by the covering I placed on the plant shelves. However, with freezing you don't always know right away. The damage may not been seen until later in the day. If it did freeze, it wasn't enough to hit the roots of anything.

Learned something last night. I've avoided mixing ammonia and sulfuric acid together because I thought they would neutralize each other. Turns out that's a mistake. I should be mixing them. The sulfuric acid alone is unbuffered. So, part if it combines with calcium carbonate and forms calcium sulfate, which is good and loosens the soil. However, the rest is instantly neutralized by calcium carbonate and sodium in the soil and the acidity factor is gone in seconds. If I combine ammonia and sulfuric acid, they combine (within limits) to form ammonia sulphate, which is a buffered acid and affects the soil pH much longer. I'm still only going to do this in dilute solution until I do a very limited test (few drops of each) to see just how violent the full strength reaction is. That may be the key to killing off those trees on the far west fence. I don't think the acid has been working because it never has a chance to reach the roots. I'll try the full strength test later today. Outside, of course. 

Getting some things done to simplify my life today. Taking the younger female dog and two older puppies to the shelter. Clear out the Camaro and sell it. Maybe clean out the truck and sell it, as well. Get the pantry in better order and then start on the workshop. The combination of all the above will be major steps toward organizing my life. 

Before any of that, have to give the dogs a tick bath. Not so simple. 

Any way, getting rid of the dogs will make it much easier to get the yard cleaned up and keep it cleaner.. and better smelling. The whole yard nearest the house smells like dog waste. Even picking it up just reduces the smell but doesn't eliminate it. Once some of the dogs are gone, can run the sprinklers extensively and get rid of the odor. This will also reduce my cost on dog food by nearly half. In a few weeks, repeat the process with the older female and her puppies, once they're weaned. With the younger female and pups gone, I can also put the invisible fence collar back on the older female and let her loose from her tie-out line. She won't attack the male because he's strong enough to rip her to shreds. Yet he's also the nicest and smartest dog of all and the only one we're keeping. 

Been waiting for the dogs to finish eating. That doesn't take long. Now it's time to start washing them. Yuck.

Ramping up

Started lots of flower seeds last night. Mostly Blue Bonnet, Baby's Breath and Marigolds. I could not find the Zinnia seeds I saved from last year. So I bought some more of those today. 

I also started some Sugar Baby watermelon seeds. Think I'm kind of sticking with those this year instead of the giants. I don't know. Maybe a few giant seeds. Soon as I find them. Not a lot, though. The giant fruits wind up mostly as compost instead of food. 

Daughter helped me set up the flower bed today and plant a few live flowers there. 

Picked up a 6 quart jug of battery acid today. Wanted to see first of all if that has a dispenser mechanism on it. It that size does, the 5 gal will, as they're from the same company. It does. Kind of. It has a dispensing tube coming out of the bag in a box. Good enough. Too bad no clamp is included but I can figure out something to use for a clamp. Just the 6 quart size lets me up the concentration a lot to use it more effectively as a grass and weed killer where I don't want things growing. 

Of course, the places I applied acid the other day just served to accelerate growth. The soil still remains so alkaline that applying acid at nearly zero pH just served to increase acidity to a healthy level. So, it's going to take a lot more acid to be effective as an herbicide. 

I can get to some of those things tomorrow. Daughter wanted to go back to her mother's today instead of tomorrow because she wants some time with her mother while they're both off from school and work. So, I have a day to myself. First one in quite a while when not sick. 

Forgot to mention that I got the irrigation system up and running for the front yard this weekend. Still need to clear some dead grass and debris from some areas in the back yard. Thinning out the areas being irrigated, so pressure will be better and fewer weeds to deal with. Spread Cosmos seeds in the front yard and hoping for a mixture of Sunflowers and Cosmos. I think they coexist reasonably well. They seemed like it in limited spots last year in the back yard. 

I moved lots of seedlings outside today. So of course the weather report now calls for freezing for a short time tonight. So now I need to cover the racks before bed. Just going to use the Mylar blankets and place a gallon jug of hot water in the bottom of each rack. That should be sufficient to keep the temperature of the racks above freezing for the night. Temp isn't supposed to drop that low until nearly dawn. It's about 50 degrees right now. 

Toxic

Not too much agricultural going on today. I was pretty tired after work. 

Had to clean up after the dogs. That was no small task. 

I did get out with both sprayers and treated for weeds. 

Used acid on the garden paths in a really strong solution. Give that a day or two before I till. Hoping this works to kill the grass and weeds off. I did realize that with drip irrigation the acid on the paths won't immediately help the soil in the mounds. Not until it rains, if then. Otherwise, probably not until next year, after the garden is tilled again and the soil gets mixed up again. But I can apply acid heavily to the sides of the mounds and it should do some level of good. Most value to things growing is going to remain adding acid the the irrigation water on occasion.

Outside the food garden, I sprayed weed killer. Luckily, the weeds are mostly coming in before the grass is. Even with the large numbers, it was possible to spray individual weeds. Still lots more to go but off to a decent start. 

Diverted

Never did get around to treating the grass growing in the garden paths with acid. Had to divert my attention to fixing the dryer. And though it wasn't required immediately, diverted attention to clearing around rosebushes and trees in the front yard. That was just long overdue. I'll try to get to the acid treatment this evening. 

Planning on starting lots of flower seeds this weekend with daughter's help. 

Need a couple of connectors to get the irrigation going in the front yard. Because I caught the main irrigation line in the tiller tines and sliced it up. At least it can be spliced. I need to reconfigure that zone, any way. To make trimming easier..without catching the lines in machinery. 

Once the mortgage is current, I'm going to save up some money. Then rent a long UHaul one day, go to a home improvement store and buy a lot of lumber and concrete for various projects. Including the large swing I've been promising daughter for quite some time. Money and other repairs kept getting in the way. Good thing is that the price of lumber has actually gone down a bit over the last few years. 

Manicuring

I'm actually beginning to get the yard looking slightly more manicured. 

Not too much done this evening but I did get out and rake up a lot of debris from the front yard. Dead grass, largely tilled out recently. Dead parts of old sunflowers. Still lots of material was tilled in. 

Couldn't till very well or deeply around rose bushes and small trees yesterday for fear of tearing up roots. So this evening I grabbed the claw hammer and cleared grass and weeds from around those. 

Now I need to get some weed fabric for the base of those. Then mulch over that. Good part is that the fabric decreases how much mulch is needed. I've mulched some areas before but grass grew right through it. May have actually helped the grass grow better. Though I admit I didn't place enough of it. Weed fabric is on sale for $5 a roll at Home Depot. One roll will apply all the rose bushes and trees, the flower bed in the back yard and still have some left over. 

Started hardening off plants today. Somewhat cool front coming in over the weekend but not too cold. Maybe cool enough for cool weather crops to germinate? I hope. Being more patient with hardening things off this year over previous years. I can probably plant out the giant pumpkins next week. Start planting out tomatoes the week after that. Maybe peppers another week later. All are looking good.

Wiped out

I am wiped out.

Raked up lots of dead grass and weeds, piled it all in the compost bin. Because of so many weeds, going to have to find a way to retain heat to kill off the seeds. Think I'll apply a whole bunch of ammonia, cover with a couple layers of black plastic and some scrap wood for a few weeks. 

Still a battle with the dogs. Youngest female turned out the battery was no good, so she was still getting in the garden. Doesn't look like she did any damage. The oldest male, however has managed on several occasions to shake his unit off his collar. He got into the garden and dug up the dead puppy I buried almost two weeks ago..and tried to eat part of it. That was all kinds of fun to deal with. His unit is now duct taped to prevent more issues like that. 

Last evening, planted potatoes and more carrot seeds. A lot more carrot seeds. 

Things are looking pretty decent. Lot of work left to do. Still, I think I should have both back and front yards in decent enough condition again to not be ashamed to post pictures. Maybe even be proud of it!

Irrigation improved

Found a couple of leaks in the irrigation system last night to one zone. Plugged those and the pressure is vastly improved. I was wondering if there was a kink in the main line because the other zone pressurized fine. Or of I had too many micro-sprinklers on that zone. Didn't think so. Problem solved.

Hopefully solved with enough time remaining for cool weather crops to germinate. If not, that side of the garden is going to be largely bare for some time. 

I see a few small lettuce sprouts coming up. For all I know, there may have been more and the dogs took them out. They chewed the tops off the few onions remaining. Not sure if the onions will form new tops or not. Wait and see. 

Tilled around the trees in the back yard last evening and mulched heavily around them. Set up irrigation to the trees but haven't set up irrigation to the surrounding area yet. Have to clear more dead grass before doing that. Going to be a lot of manual labor to weed the back area this year but at least I should be able to do so. I have more time than last year and my health is better. 

Also tilled out a few flower beds. Going to mulch one and plant later. May wait until after next paycheck and get some weed fabric, then mulch. 

Planted potatoes and lots more carrots last evening. 

Unhappy doggies

Installed the new cable for the invisible dog fence this evening. Took a bit of work to dig it in. The tiller helped a lot but the wire is so light that it required crawling on hands and knees to bury it. Left an area for hardening off plants so the dogs can't reach them. So, that solves the problem of the dogs getting in the garden, digging things up, trampling seeds out of place, moving the drip lines and crapping everywhere. 

By the time I was done with that, it was getting dark. Ran to the store for a few things. Including more carrot seeds, which I kept forgetting to pick up. Got all short length carrots because the soil is still so hard (or was last year) that long carrots break off too easily. But got lots of seeds. Hope for a better carrot crop this year. Wasn't bad last year. 

Getting the shopping done this evening leaves more room to get some other things done tomorrow evening. Get the carrots seeds planted, cultivate around the trees and mulch there.

The new tiller tines work great! Much less work than it has been to get the trench dug for the cable. 

Tired now. Think I should sleep well tonight. 

Few things done

I went out and raked out a lot of the old grass and placed it in the compost bin. That reduces a lot of the material that needs to be burned or tilled under in the last few areas.

Planted the rest of the lettuce seeds I had on hand, which amounted to a considerable space if they grow to any decent size. 

The cucumbers have mostly died off. Not sure why. They're in containers. Not sure if it's wind or what. Can't be salt because I'm not using any native soil. Maybe they still needed more time to harden off? I planted more seeds in the same containers and placed a single layer of mulch on top to control surface moisture loss. Could be that it's still too cool for them. Been bringing them in on colder nights but maybe it's not enough. 

Used a claw hammer to remove grass from around one rose bush which was being strangled by the grass. Then placed a lot of mulch around that bush and watered well. 

Have to do the same thing with one more rose bush and all the small trees in front and back yards. Ones in back will be easiest because I can use the tiller to a large degree. Set to cultivate, so I don't hit anything but the most shallow roots. I think the plum and largest apple tree have gained enough size to reach the resident underground water. 

The largest apple tree has lots of flowers but not sure it will produce many, if any, apples this year. All I've read says you have to cross-pollinate two kinds of apples and the smaller tree isn't large enough to produce flowers yet. Hopefully by next year. 

Picked up 4 bags of mulch and some new micro-sprinklers on the way home from dropping daughter off. One bag goes an amazing distance and should do a lot to make things more attractive. Help keep weeds under control and reduce water needs. Though once the trees tap the underground water, I probably don't need to water them at all. 

I was going to work on the yard some more when I got home this evening but the wind picked up and the temperature dropped just enough to be uncomfortable. So, hoping to be able to get the rest of the major work done in the next 2-3 evenings. 

Maintenance is already setting in. Noted grass and weed seeds sprouting already where I tilled. Much easier to keep controlled with the current arrangement than any previous year.

Had to pick up trash for the second time in a week. Winds have blown garbage over the fence into the yard.  

I'm just happy that I don't have any big reasons to have to climb under the car at the moment.

More irrigation revisions

Made a couple more revisions to the irrigation system today. 

I did use poly fill stuffing in the center of the filters to increase efficiency of the filters. Easy to do, basically free and can replace the material many times with the remaining stuffing. It didn't impact the pressure output by any noticeable degree. 

Installed drip lines for daughter's small garden. Replaced the lines for the lettuce patch. All seem to be working much better now. 

Get the last lettuce seeds planted tomorrow. That's taking a chance with the dogs because they can still invade the garden and have dug in several places. Where they haven't dug, they've trampled and scattered soil. So I have not question there will be bare patches. Not doing like last year, though. This time any lettuce not growing where I want it will be tilled under. 

Have to get flower seeds started this week. 

Not going to be able to afford a plastic drum to make a compost tumbler this paycheck, unless I sell the Camaro. Wish I could get 2-3 of those and do away with the compost pile. I admit the tumblers do a much better job and look better. 

Light frost

So, temperature did drop down to freezing last night but only a light frost. Nothing too damaging since I took steps to protect the most vulnerable plants.

Looks like every single lettuce and spinach plant I had started previously died off. Mixture of native soil and weak output from the irrigation system in that area. That's okay. At least I know it's not much of an option for starting things like that in the future. I don't think lettuce and spinach have a high rate of transplant success in the first place. Roots of the small plants are too fragile. 

Now the two seed starting flats are clear for other things. And I planted more seeds. Plant out more lettuce this weekend, while there's still a chance of germination. Lettuce grows okay until ambient temp hits 90. Temps are climbing a bit more gradually this year than most, so it seems like I may have a chance for a good cool weather crop. 

Have to finish tilling and weeding final areas this coming week. Get flower seeds started for mid and late summer. Some flowers will come back from last year which grow in early season.

More planting

Taking a shot and planting some more cool weather crops. Carrots, spinach, kale and cilantro. Aside from the carrots, which germinate in cold but grow in warm weather, all of these can be pulled when weather gets too hot and they'll still be edible. 

Temp is supposed to drop to freezing tonight. Think I may wrap the apple and plum trees in Mylar before dark. They both have flowers on them. Have to bring in the potted cucumbers and blueberries. Probably bring the rosebush in too. 

Yep, gonna have to pick up some replacement parts for the irrigation system this weekend. Some parts just aren't working very well.

Pressure problems

Having a slight problem it seems developing enough pressure in one area of the garden. May be that I need to get new drip line for one row. Had a problem getting enough pressure to the same area last year and reconfigured the lines. Try some new smal bore drip line and if that doesn't work, just go with 1/2" drip line for that area and connect other lines to it at the far end.

The rest of the rear zones seem to be doing really well. The north lines are dripping really nicely. The acid cleared the lines as I had hoped. Soil should be ready for planting in no time. 

Now, long as weather cooperates..

Plant out carrots and cilantro this evening. Probably more spinach, as well. I don't have to hol back much on cool weather crops because they'll get pulled pretty soon. Not sure they will even germinate before it gets too hot for them. Worth a try, though.

Adaptation

Figured out a couple of adaptations to make which will improve performance of the irrigation system.

One is to improve filtration. The filters for the irrigation lines are okay for larger particles. Small minerals flow through in large amounts. That's what clogs the emitters over time. Figured out that the filter has enough space in the center for some fibrous filter material. Like poly fill for pillows. That would improve the efficiency of the filter by 200%. Meaning improved emitter life and function.

The other adaptation is for the fertilizer injector. Right now I have to watch the fluid level to be sure it doesn't get low and let air in. Also can't let the timer run out or water pressure backs up and main pump intake goes dry. If I add a 1/4" check valve, keep the flow rate low, I can let it run on the timer and not have to stand there until it ends. Long as there's fluid in the bucket, it's all good.

Didn't plant carrots as planned tonight. Too much wind. 

Getting more pissed off at the dogs day after day. They chewed up another sprinkler. Second one in about two weeks. This morning they displaced every single drip line in the south garden, no exceptions. At least they didn't chew up the lines. However, there was still acid in the lines, which probably explains it. This evening, the puppies were both in the garden. When I went to chase them out, the girl ran away. That made me upset. Then I tried to chase her back to the gate, she holed up behind some cinder blocks. I got around behind her and went to pick her up and she tried to bite me. That almost sent me over the top. Grabbed her snout and then her throat (not hard but to control her). She howled and cried like I was killing her. Then the eldest female started barking like she was going to attack..me. Put the girl over the 2 1/2 ft gate, then cornered the eldest female. One finger pointed at her made her cower on the ground. The female pup wasn't hurt. Came up wagging her tail immediately after.

This has to stop.

Irrigation system

Got 2 out of 3 zones running for the irrigation system for the year! Last zone has to be cleared of some debris before I can make final check of the lines. 

Ran acid through the two complete zone lines. Let that sit for a while. See how the wind is in a little while. May run more acid just to treat the soil. If too windy, I'll let it go and run less acid at a time later on. 

If sun is up in an hour, go ahead and plant out established lettuce and spinach. 

Transplanted the cucumber seedlings into buckets today. Not looking bad. Hardening them off, mostly to wind. They've been in a window, so didn't really need much hardening off to sun. Couple look like they're ready to start sprouting flowers already!

Ordered one more collar for the invisible dog fence. Just have to wait until

 that arrives before digging in new cable. If just one dog has no collar, they would dig and chew up the cable if they aren't getting shocked while doing so. The adult dogs have steered clear of the cables before now. It was the puppies who chewed the cables up. They're just big enough for those collars now. Good thing because they refuse to stay out of the garden, no matter how many times they are chased out. 

Just hoping I can keep them out enough for lettuce and spinach to take root.