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.