Work from home

Not sure I have mentioned here. I lost my job in December, the week before Christmas. As of right now, I have not found a new job. 

I have not limited my search to nursing. Indeed, I rather feel it is time to move on. I am not happy with the medical field here. 

It took many weeks of battle but I finally won my UI (Unemployment Insurance). I also got a moderate tax refund. Nearly every penny of both have been required to catch up on bills. I was behind on mortgage, electric, water, gas, internet, satellite TV and child support, among other things. Had to allow my prepaid cell phone to lapse and be turned off for over a week. Happily, I still had my VOIP service.

Had a garage sale. Didn't make much. 

I started going to a plasma center to donate, where you are paid for the time it requires.

Now that things are fairly caught up and a little more secure, in the past week, I started acting on an idea. To start a business from home. Going to start making hope chests and window seats, then move on to custom work. I've purchased a few tools I needed for that. Will be buying more within the next week and acquire more over time to do more specialty work. I am still going to the plasma center and using the money from that for the tools and supplies. Once I can sell a few items, I will turn some of that money back for more tools and supplies. 

Aside from that, I am hoping to make a profit from the garden this year. The planned garden is less diverse but expanded in size this year. Mostly tomatoes but with plenty of other things included.

I am not going to do simple, mundane items from the shop. My plans are for more artistic designs, with airbrushed art painted on. I can do more classical work if someone asks for it. One benefit selling locally is that I can offer a lifetime warranty. If anything is flawed in the workmanship, I will repair it free of charge or replace it if necessary, at my option. If something other than workmanship, I can repair it inexpensively. All designs original and no two completely alike. 

Nearly there. Will have the shop functional within the week. 

Once I start building things, I will compile a portfolio and build a website. I will take photos of every piece I build and place them in a book and web gallery.

I'm not going to focus strictly on wood and paint. Going to expand my artistic horizons and start picking up other things as well. Learn some works with leather, metal, glass, stone and possibly other media. 

None of this is going to happen overnight. I feel like this year is going to be a rough one. However, I also feel strangely optimistic about this. It feels like the right direction for me. I don't often feel that. It's a good feeling.

Solarium down

Took the solarium down on Sat. What remained of it. Winds picked up so strongly it was unsafe to leave it up. Looks like a temporary structure just isn't going to work at all. 

Temps at night have dropped back into the 20's. Luckily, nothing in the garden has sprouted yet, so I don't have to replant. Just have to wait until it's warm enough for things to start coming up. Maybe another two weeks.

So much for an early spring.

Should be warm enough during the day to get more done outside this week. Still more tilling, cutting and so forth to do before planting. 

Some good news is that most of my earliest tomato plants have formed true leaves. Many of those have multiple sprouts in single pots. Let them grow a little larger and stronger, then separate them into other pots. At this rate, they should produce fruit by early May, if the weather is warm enough.

One strawberry plant is now revived and another is showing signs of life. Not anywhere near the hopes for a whole crop of them but a good sign. First time they have survived even one season. 

Still waiting on results of the water test. Had thought it would have been done by now. Guess I'm just being impatient. 

Destruction

The solarium has suffered significant destruction. Winds have done damage at the top, while dogs have shredded the bottom. Not much I can do which will last at the moment, until I can afford more materials. 

I'm unemployed at the moment. Been waiting for unemployment benefits. Been waiting for about six weeks now. The UI system in NM is in such horrible shape that there was a state senate meeting today to look into it. Waiting to hear the news report on that this evening.

One upside. Night temps last night and tonight are slightly above freezing. Hoping that means I'll be seeing some spinach sprouting this weekend. 

Well, this will still be the best year for the garden so far.. if I'm still living here. Finances being what they are at the moment, that's in question.

Still lots of clay

Some parts of the garden and yard still have lots of clay. Getting better but enough to be something of a problem.

It's fairly easy to tell how much clay is in any particular area. Water barely penetrates but sits on the surface for a long time. The more healthy soil absorbs water almost instantly. So, some parts of the garden can be watered and the water instantly soaks in. In other areas, it takes longer and can run off of mounds before soaking into the soil. 

The more clay areas have not yet been tilled this year. My biggest concern is how much this reflects how much sodium still remains in the soil. I am going to till more over the next week or two and treat heavily with sulfuric acid. Of course, also tilling in organic material. I think the corn from last year is really helping with that.

I do still continue doing lots of reading to learn more about correcting the soil. One thing I have definitely confirmed is that the sulfuric acid is the right thing to be doing. 

I had my suspicions and confirmed that as long as soil remains heavily clay, it indicates an alkaline condition and a high sodium content. The acid dissolves the clay, making the soil more porous and allowing the sodium to leach downward.

I've determined that this year, I'm going to spray (in streams) a strong sulfuric acid solution in the rows between mounds to control weeds and acidify the soil while doing drip irrigation on top of the mounds. Most of the acid will be neutralized in the rows before working by capillary action to the mounds. Keep a close eye on the pH of the mounds. If the mounds start becoming too acidic, it's unlikely I'll have to do anything but stop the acid treatments for a while. 

Temps are climbing slowly. I'm hoping to see some spinach and lettuce sprouting soon. 

Broccoli and I just don't seem to get along. The broccoli seedlings don't seem to be doing well at all. Blah.

Temp swings

Not holding out much hope for the broccoli any more. Not going to give up entirely, just not expecting much. 

Biggest problem is temperature extremes. Right now, the night temps are still dropping below freezing. By the time night temps remain above freezing, day temps will be climbing above 80. Either extreme and broccoli just doesn't do well. 

I'm guessing most commercial broccoli is grown in highly controlled greenhouse conditions. If not, it's grown in a much milder climate than this.

On the other hand, I have lots of  tomato seedlings coming up inside. Once temps remain above freezing outside, I can get hundreds more started in the solarium. First couple hundred will be for my own garden. The rest will be sold as seedlings/plants.

I'd been searching for a couple of days for the warranty on the well pump. Finally found it today. Whew! Was getting worried I would have to buy a whole new pump. Not sure I mentioned before but the pump casing cracked. How that happened, I have no idea. It's been sitting in the same place all last summer and through the winter. I drained it to keep water from expanding in it during the winter. Since I bought the extended warranty, I can take it back and exchange it. Harbor Freight is good about honoring their warranties. 

As a bonus, I also found the warranty on the smaller utility pump while searching for the well pump warranty. I had forgotten I even got the extended warranty on the utility pump. 

Sent out water samples from the well and the municipal water to be tested. From the stains the water has caused, I'm suspecting it has a high iron content. It would be crazy if the well water has a high iron level, as much as the surface soil lacks iron and nitrogen. You would think some level of them both would seep upward over centuries. Especially the nitrogen. Guess the clay is just too dense. 

I wonder. Enough acidity, enough irrigation, enough growth on the top, could it eventually change the nature of the soil down to the water table? After all, the water table is only 6 ft down. I don't expect water to seep upward but if a cycle begins which allows the nutrients to seep upward, it would completely change the nature of my soil as long as the aquifer runs beneath it. 

Dog damage

The battle with the dogs continues. They seem intent on destroying anything to do with the garden.

They have torn holes in the plastic sheeting of the solarium in several places. I patched that with old tarps. They tore down the tarps. I stapled up some poultry netting to the wood, then placed the tarps over that. They jumped on the netting, tearing that down along with the tarps. Now one of the tarps is too torn up to use and I don't have the money to buy another one.

I've placed plastic sheeting and tarps over the young broccoli plants outside. They drag the tarp and sometimes the sheeting off, causing damage and exposing the plants to cold. This afternoon, I placed two small bowls of water on top of the tarp, so when they dragged the tarp, they got drenched. I've already had to replant a number of seeds. 

They still keep working their way under the gate, even with wood placed in front of the gate to the garden. So I also placed a small bucket of water on top of the gate. They move the gate and once again, they get drenched. 

I'll keep trying that for now. If that doesn't work, I'll have to get a rheostat and place a couple of electrical leads to deter them. Just enough power to get their attention, not harm them. 

If I don't control the dogs, I will not have a garden this year. Besides, in the places I plant flowers, I want to be able to smell flowers, not dog shit. I want to attract bees and butterflies, not flies and maggots. 

Tried setting up the commercial shelves in the solarium today. With the current arrangement, the shelves are too big. I may be able to set the shelves up in another place and wrap them with plastic sheeting. Maybe with magnets to close it up. Or bungee cords. 

Almost all the sheetrock is dissolved and broken into small pieces now. I won't be doing that again. Too much time, too much work and too much space. Besides, it was quite ugly. I'll stick with buying bags of gypsum pellets. 

I still have iron sulfate left from last year. That takes care of the iron and some sulfur.

The gypsum (and gypsum board) is calcium sulfate. That's calcium and more sulfur.

I'm still applying sulfuric acid, which adds more sulfur. 

The soil tests high in potassium already.

The well water is high in nitrates. If I need more nitrogen, ammonia will work. 

For basic needs, that just leaves phosphorous. Found a 5 lb bag of high phosphorous fertilizer (0-46-0) on Amazon for a good price.  

Between those things, compost and leaves tilled in, that should be a good start for the garden this year. Now I just have to control the dogs.

Frost tolerance

So, was looking up more specific information for the purple broccoli I am growing. As opposed to standard broccoli. Seems this variety likes cold much more than standard varieties. Several sources state it grows best if overwintered. (Though may die off below 20 degrees F.) Flowers in springtime. Very frost tolerant. 

What this all comes down to is that the current temperatures are probably perfect for this variety of broccoli to be set out in the solarium. Though, the plants being so young, I will prevent them from freezing. So, all of the seedlings are now out in the solarium. That gives them filtered sunlight for most of the day. Can transplant them out once they form some true leaves.

One really good thing bout being able to put them out is that it frees up room inside to start more seeds for warm weather. 

First Beefsteak tomato seeds are sprouting now! Yay! I was starting to worry a little about viability. 

No pepper sprouts yet. Hopefully soon. 

Grower's market

Talked to the people from the South Valley Grower's Market today. The lady I spoke with was really nice, friendly and polite. I really enjoyed talking with her. (Little note: She's from South Carolina.) 

Any way, everything sounds quite reasonable. They only charge $60 per selling season for a spot at the market. So, if things grow as I am hoping, I will be selling produce there every Sat morning this summer. 

One thing I was worried about was if I would have to have some state license or permit. Turns out it's not required. The sellers at the grower's markets are much like myself. Not people with large farms, just large gardens. Not enough to be commercial. Most grow organically or at least, like myself, with no pesticides. 

Sounds like it could be fun!

At this point, I have 157 broccoli seeds planted inside, half of which have sprouted already. Around 90 tomato seeds and 52 pepper seeds started. Have to hold off a bit on any more because I'm out of space for starting seeds. 

Outside, the first half of the garden is planted with around 800 spinach seeds, 200 lettuce and around 1000 carrot seeds. 

Had to put up a fence to keep the dogs out because they were scattering and digging the garden. Not to mention "marking" the entire perimeter of the yard. I cleaned up a huge amount yesterday. Today, they seemed determined to invert their intestines in an attempt to mark the entire yard again. Had to sacrifice some wood I was hoping to save for other projects. They kept getting under the fence and gate. Chased them out at least 5 times today alone. They broke one side of the small gate. Used the wood as a baseboard and stapled the poultry netting to it. Fixed the gate, of course. If that doesn't work, I'll have to electrify the fence for a few days, until they learn a lesson. 

Container shortage

Got lots of seeds started inside now. Biggest problem now is a shortage of containers to start more with. Have at least 90 purple broccoli seeds and 60 tomato seeds, plus peppers. I was happy to find there were many more pepper seeds in the packs than described!

Temps are coming up. Got out today and planted spinach. No exact count but guessing I planted around 500 seeds. Going to plant carrots tomorrow. Don't have as many carrot seeds as I thought left from last year. May go ahead an plant lettuce. If it's too cold, they just won't germinate until it is warm enough. 

Really, really happy to say the soil is the best it has been for planting any year so far. Even with tilling, this is the first year I have not wound up with sore fingers when planting. To be sure, I have a lot of dense clay areas left but it is breaking down and becoming looser. The most active part of the garden has soil that is quite dark and healthy. When tilling, I get a fraction of the dust I once got, no matter how dry the soil is. You can smell the difference and know much of it is healthy soil. 

I am digging out all the remaining plants which I hoped would go dormant and come back this year. Potting them, so I can till and treat those areas with acid. The immediate surrounding areas had lots of grass and weeds. Those are tomatoes and strawberries. 

I'm still trying some less conventional produce. Giant varieties of some things, different colors of others. Some of these have a high failure rate, historically. However, many have a better than average nutritional value and can call for a higher asking price. Even more so if grown with no pesticides. So I am hoping to make some money from the garden this year.

Cold morning

Cold morning but warming up. Temp overnight in my immediate area was 1 degree. I'm waiting for the temperature to be above freezing before getting busy with stuff outside.

Checked the low solarium temperature for last night and it was 12 degrees, so it is keeping the temps higher than outside temp by about 10 degrees. It'll do better after I close up some loose flaps. Need to make a door on each end. As it is, I can start placing cooler weather crops out in the solarium once night temps stay above freezing. Don't think that should be long. For the rare night frost, I can place a blanket or tarp over the seeding racks.

Pepper seeds came today. Rather impressive, since they were sent from VA on Monday by first class mail. If it had been UPS or FedEx, it would have cost around $10 to arrive that quickly. As it is, this company offered free shipping on a $3 order! Nice! It was Hinterland Trading through Amazon.  

I'll get the seeds started tonight.