Wheat

The Wheat is coming up... I think. It's hard to tell. The spot where I planted it was never completely cleared of the swamp grass that had been there for 30 years so they are both coming in pretty well. I hope to be able to tell the difference in a few weeks and try to cut the swamp grass down a bit and let the wheat grow above it. The swamp grass makes for good hay so it won't be a total loss if it chokes the wheat a bit. But it's going to be harder to thresh the wheat out.

All it's done for the last week is rain rain rain. That's good for the plants we have in, but I'd like to have put in a few more crops this week. I'll have to wait until the ground dries a little to get in the carrots and beats. They are hard enough to plant when the ground is dry, it's just a sticky mess when the field is mud.

First week of June the corn goes in, and so do some of the squash. Sunflowers can go in too if there is time. Peas are in, and seem to be coming up.

that's about it for now.

-dale

Weasel Video

The weasel is getting bigger and now has a bit of personality, here is a quick vid of him just being him



-dale

Movable Garden Gate

I've had this idea for a while now, and finally decide to try it out. It's a movable garden gate. It most likely looks like just your average gate but it has a few features that make it unique.


The first feature is that it isn't attached to the ground in any way. I't completely self supporting. Which makes it movable if you decide to change your gardening area around from year to year.






The wheels on the top edge of the runners allow it to be tipped forward and rolled wherever it's needed.

The gate hinge it's self is unique in that it is a post and hole type system that allows the gate to swing in both directions. The gate is pinned with lag screws both at the top and bottom, with a pair of washers that act as bearing plates. (you can't see these in this photo tho)

The latch is just a simple farm gate latch screwed to the top of the gate with a hole drilled into the frame wall to hold it closed. And the gate is covered with 14g welded wire fencing to keep animals out.

This gate is built using 2X6s for the frame work and 2X3s for the angled supports and the gate it's self. It could be built using any dimensional lumber but these sizes make for a sturdy gate. All together it cost less than $20.00 and if I decide to paint it it will last for years and years. Unpainted I expect it to last at least 3.

-dale

Garlic MMM MMM yummy

So I planted the garlic today. I tried a new planting method that I hope will work. I dug a ditch and filled it like I explained previously, then covered the mound on top with unfolded sheets of newspaper. I did place a soaker hose along the top of the mound under the paper for watering. I'll explain that in another post.

After the paper was down I poked holes in it. six per sheet. Three on each side of the soaker hose evenly spaced. I jammed the garlic starts in these holes and pressed dirt around the clove/roots.  After all that I put a thin layer of dirt over the news paper. My hope is nothing but the garlic will get enough lite to grow.

This method should work with onions starts too, maybe even corn if you like to start corn indoors. It might work with anything that can be transplanted. Tomatoes? Peppers?

-dale

p.s. Thanks Mom, for all the help.

Yam or Sweet Potato?

A simple explanation of the confusion.


Sweet potatoes are what you see mostly in the regular store and are grown commercially in the States. Yams are not typically grown in this country but imported from Africa. So unless you are shopping in an international market place you are buying a sweet potato.

A botanical explanation of the confusion.


copied from http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/sweetpotato.html


Yams

Yams are closely related to lilies and grasses. Native to Africa and Asia, yams vary in size from that of a small potato to a record 130 pounds (as of 1999). There are over 600 varieties of yams and 95% of these crops are grown in Africa. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are starchier and drier.

Sweet Potatoes
The many varieties of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are members of the morning glory family, Convolvulacea. The skin color can range from white to yellow, red, purple or brown. The flesh also ranges in color from white to yellow, orange, or orange-red. Sweet potato varieties are classified as either ‘firm’ or ‘soft’. When cooked, those in the ‘firm’ category remain firm, while ‘soft’ varieties become soft and moist. It is the ‘soft’ varieties that are often labeled as yams in the United States.

Why the confusion?
In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

There you go.

So I started some Sweet potato slips yesterday. All you need to do (as I understand it) is place a sweet potato in a container of water and wait. It will sprout slips that you can cut off and stick in water to root. I've read suggestion that willow water will help get the roots to start but just plain water should work too. Once the roots are good and started you handle the plant like a tomato plant. Botanically they are similar plants. Keep in mind that sweet potatoes are not frost tolerant at all and need to be kept safe from cold weather.

Sweet potatoes get harvested like regular potatoes but are a bit more delicate so care must be taken not to bruise them. I haven't read too much on storage for them yet. I'll touch on that later.

-dale