Seasons in the Soil » Gardening

Worthy lawsuits

Annette — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:56:59 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of overly-litigious people or corporations. That’s why I was quite happy to see this suit last year from a wide group against Monsanto. Monsanto, of course, has “security” people that roam around, getting in the faces of farmers when they suspect their GMO crap has “been utilized” by those farmers, when in fact, it is Monsanto doing the trespassing. Most farmers wind up settling – and being bound by gag orders – because they simply do not have the money to fight. This battle, though, is well worth it, and it boggles the mind that anyone would agree with Monsanto’s arguments that the farmers are infringing when Monsanto’s seed invades their fields. It will take a couple of years to get this done, but hopefully more sensible minds will prevail and people can tell Monsanto to get stuffed when they come knocking.

More bad PR lessons

Annette — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:26:56 +0000

Much like the Dervaes clan and their ill-advised foray into attempting to trademark common phrases, The National Wildlife Federation decided it would be a grand idea to partner with Scott’s. The fallout has been rather spectacular and outrage is spreading – if you’ll pardon the term – like wildfire. Scott’s make a variety of chemicals for gardens and lawns, and is also the distributor for Monsanto’s RoundUp. To top things off, Scott’s was just assessed fines totaling $4.5 million (US) for knowingly selling tainted birdseed and for falsifying EPA pesticide registration numbers. The very rich irony here is the statement from NWF about how part of their reasoning behind the partnership with Scott’s is to address the “alarming decline” in songbird populations.

Massive fail.

Chief bottle washer

Annette — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:39:30 +0000

Ever wonder about that phrase? Wonder no more.

Bottling bucket, spigot, siphons, bottles, and caps, all washed and ready to be sanitized Saturday. Also known as: bottling day.

Before bottling, though, there are a number of other things that have to be done, primarily outside. Unlike our neighbors to the north, it’s going to be rather balmy here for the next week or so, with temps in the mid to upper 70s. Winter in Florida. Have to love it.

Late summer harvest

Annette — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:18:51 +0000

It’s been a grey, dreary day here. If we lived anywhere else, it would be a wintry day, or what we used to call a snow day when we lived up north. Except here in the south, it was mostly just rainy for a good portion of the day and overcast when the rain moved along. It was just one of those days where you want to curl up under a blanket with a good book. I sorted seeds and looked at some more seed catalogs (and worked) instead. And just to remind myself of what comes from all the hard work I put in on the ranch…

This was a late summer harvest – ok, it was in the latter part of October, but around here, that counts. I’m not able to munch on jalapenos like I used to, but that’s true of almost everything I grow around here.

There’s just something reassuring about being able to put up the fruits (and veggies) of your labor.

Fall in the garden

Annette — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:15:18 +0000

Blueberry

Girl (and a little man) power

Annette — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:23:56 +0000

My sister and mom cleaned more stuff out of the garage today, toting it to the barn and arranging it. They also moved a bunch of dirt, a handful of pallets, and moved a triple stack of large stone pavers from one place to another. I was very impressed by their industry.

What was I doing? My “helper” (my nephew) and I were reconfiguring some of the 4×4 frames up in the front garden into 4×20 frames. Well, mostly, I was doing this, and my nephew was playing with the drill, or playing with the dog, or escaping to ride his tractor around the yard while yelling questions or commentary to me. Three – almost four – year olds do have short attention spans, much like the dogs, so it isn’t anything out of the ordinary, and he’s cute so there’s that. Having his “help” tends to slow down whatever is going on, but it’s good to have him around at this age, and enjoy him before he turns into a sullen teenager who would rather die than be caught hanging out with family.

In the end, the other team got much more done than we (I) did, but I did finish off that reconfiguration. One more down, and that’s good.

A check on the flats showed that the oregano has germinated quite nicely, and at least one of the stevia seeds has as well. Progress.

A rain of disappointment

Annette — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:43:56 +0000

A sputtering, timid spit of rain is our net result from what began with such promise last night. Just a trace of the wet stuff, not enough to even register on the weather station’s gauge. The huge blob of clouds blew apart before reaching us. Since we have not as yet dug the trench to run irrigation back to the orchard area, that means wrangling hoses for me tomorrow in order to get the trees watered before they keel over from dehydration. On the plus side, no rain means I’m not hauling the four new servers to the NOC in a downpour.

Waiting for rain

Annette — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:41:05 +0000

We live (as I think I’ve mentioned) in the Bermuda Triangle of weather here. Common mythology says it rains every afternoon in Florida in the summer for a short while. In our corner of the county, the fronts and clouds and rain seem to break apart or skirt to the north or south of us, never quite reaching potential. There was a period last year where it didn’t rain for over a month here although it rained in areas around us. So when we look at the forecast, and it says 20% or 40% chance of rain for us, we plan on watering because the better chance is that it won’t rain on us. Things are looking up tonight and tomorrow, though: 60% tonight, 70% tomorrow. We may get lucky, and the trees back in the orchard will stop looking quite so sad and pathetic, and the garlic will be watered without me having to get the irrigation rerun on the reconfigured frames out front.

Two more flats started: habanero, jalapeno, two types of cayenne, tabasco, pepperoncino. Next up: more onions for our short days here.

First flat out

Annette — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 18:11:47 +0000

I promised myself that this weekend would see at least one flat started in the (now clean) barn. Done: artichokes, lavender, stevia, and oregano went into this one. They’re settled in, the dome is on, and the lights are lowered to just above the top of the dome, set on a timer so I don’t have to remember to go out every evening to turn them off.

Last night while clicking around I found someone’s page about the exact, necessary steps to start pepper seeds. I agreed with some of the items, but disagreed with more, and closed it out, vowing to continue my method that according to this person should not work at all. The final seven plus pounds of peppers I took in just after the new year before the killing frost came tells me we must be on the right track.

More flats to come. Next weekend I’d like to start the tomatoes and peppers to get them going and be ready by March to get them out. I took a detour through the rear garden on my way back in, and despite what I’d hoped, the shelling peas did not survive the temperatures in the teens that we had. Those will need to come out, but that’s a good thing, as it means I can top those frames with some good topsoil and compost to have them ready for whatever will go in there next. Brassicas, I think. Today during football will be an ideal time to map out what goes where for spring planting.

The season ends

Annette — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:23:55 +0000

The 2011 season has finally come to an end. Tonight and over the next couple of nights, we’ll be seeing hard freezes here in the country, so I went out late this afternoon and picked the remainder of the peppers, and cut some herbs in the event the plants can’t stand the chill.

The garlic will stay out through the winter and spring, and be fine bedded down with hay for the duration.

This is the main garlic area, and there are more frames off in the distance as well. It’s looking quite healthy, and planting it earlier in October seems to have paid off, with good growth prior to the onset of real winter, such as it is around here.

The final harvest from last year’s garden, although I’m hoping the herbs will pull themselves through.

Rosemary, oregano, marjoram, thyme, shelling peas, and a bunch of peppers. The oregano has already been picked, dried, and put away. The marjoram is currently drying after several rinses to get rid of the dirt – no crunchiness allowed. That will be next to be pulled and dried, followed by the rosemary. The only issue with pulling herbs is that the rosemary is so very strong my hands smell like pine trees now, even after several washes.

In a bit, it will be time to head out and turn on the taps at the remote areas where we have lines run to avoid any nasty surprises in the morning. I’m so happy that our really cold weather tends to be very brief in duration. I’m not a fan.