Signs of Spring

Posted on March 1, 2010 by cmf

IMG 0230 225x300 Signs of Spring These are the chives that overwintered in my mudroom — they started coming back about two weeks ago, which makes overwintering them totally worthwhile. Although it’s warm here — nearly 60 degrees yesterday! And the sun is beginning to shine again, the ground is still frozen, and the garden chives and parsley have only just begun to think about greening up.

Yesterday I got the seeds out, and started organizing them again. I usually start tomatoes and peppers around the fifteenth of march, under lights in the basement. But it’s always an adventure deciding what to plant this year. I have a couple of new projects — among them, completing the fence around the raised beds to keep the chickens and dogs out of the food crops, and I think I want to try a hoop house this spring. I have a couple of square beds, six feet along each side, and I just need to get the Sweetheart, who builds things for a living, to calculate the materials for me, and I think I’m going to experiment with starting early in one bed. It would be nice to have some spinach, or early greens — maybe some Asian greens like tatsoi and gai lan, which are impossible to buy anywhere near here. Into each spring, a little garden project must fall …

Storm Windows, Already?

Posted on October 9, 2009 by cmf

It’s supposed to go down into the single digits tonight, so this afternoon, despite the fact that it was only 25 degrees out, and snowy, I got the storm windows out of the shed, and put them up.

Every year I forget what a colossal pain in the ass they are. I replaced all the old windows in my house except for those in the living room. They’re really old double-hung windows, so old that the glass is wavy, and I just fell in love with them. So I kept the clunky old wooden storm windows that go with them, and there I was, on a ladder, cursing and banging at them with a hammer to make them fit. Ugh.

But now they’re up, and the storm-door insert is in my screen door, and the house is feeling all cozy and battened down for winter.

It’s supposed to go back up into the 60s next week, so I buried the garden in straw and covered it in plastic. I’m hoping to keep at least the hardy greens alive. I decided this summer that what I really love are the spring and fall crops, I’m not so much for the mid-summer heat crops, and I’d hate to lose all my greens.

We also got the chickens stet up with a (ridiculously expensive!) heated base for their water unit, and a 100 watt light bulb to heat the coop. They sort of hate the light bulb — it goes against their urge to roost someplace dark in the evening, so I ordered a red heat bulb for reptiles. However, tonight they’re going to have to sleep with the lights on — it was 16 degrees outside this morning when I got up, and 28 degrees inside the coop (I’m a little obsessive about remote-control thermometers). So if it goes down to 0 tonight, it’ll only be about 10 degrees in the coop, and that’s too cold. We’ll have to see how they do … I hope I don’t wake up to chicken-sicles tomorrow (or frozen eggs!) …

Seed Saving: Tomatoes

Posted on September 1, 2009 by cmf

Galina Tomatoes, saving seed

I was picking tomatoes this morning when it occurred to me that part of my problem with seed saving is managing to remember which tomato is which. I planted nine varieties this year, and many of them are a lot alike — Perestroika and Grushovka, for example. And I tend to pick in a big basket, where they get mixed up.

So tomorrow, I have to pay more attention, because it’s time to start putting some seed aside for next year. This morning I did Galina, this yellow cherry that I love, and Mountain Princess, which gets mangled by the flea beetle but which is my most dependable early producer (yes, I realize it’s September, hardly anyone else’s definition of “early” but we had a cold summer this year).

Seed starting isn’t difficult but you have to be willing to put up with some uckiness. The seeds need to ferment, and mold, and get sort of disgusting in order to break down the gel packs in which the tomato encases them. My method is generally to squeeze out the seedy part into a jar, add enough water so they won’t dry up, and stick them in a corner until they start to do their business. For a good step by step guide to this process, check out this link.

Last year I saved my favorite, Jaunne Flammé and it was really fun this spring when instead of a few tiny seeds in the bottom of the package I had a whole honking bunch of them. And not only do I have enough seeds for several years, but I have seed from tomatoes that have already done well in my own yard, in our weird climate. I like the idea of saving seed across the years, and winding up with personalized seed that is uniquely adapted to my particular microclimate (now if I could only get them to grow out of the reach of chickens).

At any rate — it’s September, but I’ve finally got tomatoes, and zucchini, and even a few green beans. It’s been a very odd growing season this year, and because I was so busy early in the summer trying to save my job, I didn’t spend as much time out there as I’d have liked, so it’s all a little odd. But every summer is a new learning experience (like who knew that marigolds and calendula get so bushy? I didn’t — next year, space them further apart).

Unemployment, Week One

Posted on July 25, 2009 by cmf

So far, so good on the unemployment thing. While it’s never ideal to be the one voted off the island, I find I don’t miss the job at all — I miss the people I worked with, but I don’t miss being chained to my desk from eight in the morning until six at night; I don’t miss the anxiety of thinking someone might send you an instant message while you were getting a cup of tea and then decide you’re slacking; I don’t miss being treated as an incompetent by my manager, and I’m beginning to get over the numbness that has been plagueing my right arm and shoulder for the past couple of months.

This week, frankly, I’ve been sleeping a lot. This feels a lot like the summer after I finished my Phd exams, when I slept, read plotty, unchallenging books (that summer it was the Raj Quartet, this summer it’s the Inspector Montalbano mysteries by Andrea Camelleri), and just went into recovery mode.

The first thing I did last week was to re-organize my office. Out went the big desk that was too high, and which I think was a major contributing factor to the arm numbness. Up from the basement came the ugly-but-comfy armchair and the tilty table from Levengers (really great when I have to type in quotes from books for the new freelance gig). Also up from the basement came my wee desk from Target — when I took the finials off the bottom of the legs, it’s exactly the right midget height for me to sit in a chair with my feet on the floor and type. I pulled out my old corkboard and tacked a few note cards with article ideas up, and purged all the stuff from my office bookshelves that I’m not going to need anymore. A vase of flowers from the garden, and I’m set. A new office for a new era.

I also managed to get a lot of things done that I’ve been working too much to address. I got the snow tires off my car (well, it did snow in June, but not that much). I washed my kitchen floor. I weeded the vegetable garden, picked the peas and the favas and planted some endives for fall. I rebuilt the chicken coop (a proper post on that later) so the chickens can’t get out. Chuck and I went for a 10 mile hike. I went up to my Milk Lady’s farm and relocated the rooster (he’s cock of the walk in the hen house apparently — very much the new guy in town and loving it) and bought some hens from her. I went big-grocery shopping and went to Costco and got some acupuncture for the bad shoulder. I took the dogs swimming in the Yellowstone and then for a short hike (Owen’s robo-leg held up great). I got my hair cut.

And yesterday I finally got back to my new office, finished up one freelance project, got started on another, and figured out how to re-write the opening section of the novel I now have no excuse for not finishing. A week off was delightful, but now I can hear the clock ticking. I have six months to figure out this next part. Six months to finish my novel, and drum up enough freelance projects to keep the little ark afloat. Six months minus one week, and counting …

Tomato Seedlings for Sale

Posted on May 20, 2009 by cmf

For all of you in the Livingston area — I have tomato starts for sale. They were started from seed on March 15, and although you could put them in this weekend (the traditional start time) I’d suggest using Wall o’Water’s if you do. We’re more than likely to get another snowstorm before it’s over, and I’ve had great luck with the Wall o’Waters in the past.

Seedlings are $5 per plant, and all of them are cold-hardy varieties. They’ve been in the cold frame for about 3 weeks, so they’re hardened off and although they’re small right now, a week or so in a nice warm weather in a wall o’water and they should sprout right up. (Plus I transplanted them deep for better root growth.) Also, since I started them myself in sterile soil mix, you shouldn’t have to worry about picking up verticulum wilt.

I have the following varieties available:

Milano Plum: this is a determinate plant (bushy, not viny) and last year it gave me a bumper crop of heavy plum style tomatoes (about 4-6 inches long). These tomatoes were fabulous for salsa.

Mountain Princess: Another determinate plant that sets nice round mid-sized tomatoes (about 3 inches in diameter).

Marmande: From Seeds of Italy. This is an old French tomato that I’ve had great success with the past few years. It ripens fairly late in the season but sets bunches of slightly flat, ridged tomatoes. Great flavor. Semi-determinate plant (responds well to heavy pruning).

Grushovka: A Siberian variety from High Altitude Gardens. Determinate plant that sets clusters of rose-colored, oblong fruits. Very productive.

Olga’s Round Yellow Chicken: A Siberian variety from High Altitude Gardens. I admit it, I plant this one for the name. Indeterminate plant that sets bright orange, very round tomatoes.

Galina: A Siberian variety from High Altitude Gardens. This is one of my favorite tomatoes. It’s very indeterminate, and will sprawl up and across any trellis you set it on, and it’s also highly productive. This plant sets large yellow cherry tomatoes that have a wonderful balance of sweetness and acid. I’m not a fan of very sweet tomatoes, so I love this one. Kids love it too …

Black Cherry: another sprawling indeterminate plant that bears dark purple cherry tomatoes. Again nice acid-sweet balance. Not quite as early as Galina.

Marglobe: From Seeds of Italy. Old heirloom variety, indeterminate, clusters of medium-sized deep red fruits. Great taste, mid-season.

Principe Borghese: From Seeds of Italy. A classic. Semi-determinate plant, not too sprawly, that throws clusters of small, thick-walled, delicious plum tomatoes. These are the tomatoes that they make sun-dried tomatoes from. I like them for sauce.

Jaunne Flammee: This is one of my favorite tomatoes. Indeterminate and sprawling plant that throws clusters of bright-orange, egg-sized fruits. These are delicious tomatoes that come in about mid-season and continue to ripen all the way through.These seedlings are from seed I saved myself, so they’re acclimated to Montana.

Perestroika: A Siberian variety from High Altitude Gardens. Indeterminate plant that throws nice round medium sized tomatoes. Red-orange fruits with nice flavor.

Prairie Fire: Bushy determinate plants. This is historically the first tomato of the season. Nice round orange-red fruits, on the smaller side but taste really delicious. Plant is prone to flea beetle damage, but that never seems to affect the tomatoes much.

Clean Beds

Posted on March 25, 2009 by cmf

This was my other weekend project — cleaning out the garden beds and turning over the soil. I used straw mulch last year, which was a great success, but it was a seedy batch, and I wound up with a sturdy winter cover crop of wheat. I experimented a couple of months ago with just turning it over. But like the grass that I also have troubles with, it kept coming back.

So this weekend I went through each bed, digging out the wheat, and the carcasses of dead vegetables, and turned over the soil, breaking up lumps along the way. It was good solid physical work. It felt good after a long winter inside. And it’s the sort of quiet, repetitive task that gives you time to think about the things going on in your life. The sun was shining, it was warm, I was back in the garden, and all was good.

This compost bin was nearly empty when I started pulling wheat sprouts. I think it’s going to make a nice start to the season — by default it’s a pretty good mix of green and brown. We’ll see — maybe it’ll heat up. But it was a good weekend of real work.

And now I’m ready to start planting.

Gearing up for spring

Posted on March 3, 2009 by cmf

It’s raining today — a nice soft spring rain, so I took the poor scraggly herbs from the Winter Herb Garden and put them outside the back door. The rosemary seemed particularly crunchy, but it did it’s job — it didn’t die. The thyme has been remarkably successful — the last few weeks it’s been sending out delicious little soft green shoots.

I also got my act together last weekend and organized my seeds. As you can see — my “system” is nothing fancy. A couple of cheap bins from Pamida and a paper bag — but by the end of any garden season they’re a mess — some are in the basket with the cheapo tongue depressor/craft sticks that I use for garden markers (easy to write on with a sharpie, and they compost nicely), some wind up on the seed starting shelves, some sleeves were empty, in general, it was all a mess. So I went through and got everything organized by type — tomatoes, greens, herbs, cucumbers, beans, peppers, etc. Some people organize by planting order, but that’s too daunting and frankly, feels a little constricting. I know the spinach and broccoli rabe will go in first, but I’m never entirely sure beforehand what I’m going to put in next. So there we are — ready to start seeds this weekend or next, and ready to put some early cold crops in the garden beds.

I don’t have a picture of those, but they’re starting to shape up. I loved the straw mulch I used last year, but it had a lot of seeds in it so there’s all sorts of wheat growing in my garden — and it overwintered just fine, so it must be winter wheat. At any rate, I had a lovely half hour or so after work last night turning over the soil in a couple of my raised beds, pulling all those wheaty bits out for the compost. I have two beds now that are all fluffy and ready for seeds. This weekend I’ll clean up the rest, and start with the cool-weather greens. I’m so excited! Another year!

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