December Garden Tasks

December 5, 2022 Sarah

It’s December. We are nearly 1 week in. The weather speaks winter, not fall, though the Winter Solstice won’t be here for more than 2 weeks. It’s dark in general, the days are short, the nights long.

(And there is still minutes to lose before it starts getting longer light)

We have seen the first snow of winter already, and the first power outages.

And I am here to tell you something:

You don’t have to do anything this month if you don’t want to. It’s OK. You can choose to hibernate!

(I don’t know the artist, but it really evokes how I feel about the start of winter)

It’s not the worst thing. In fact, it may well be what you need. Use this cold month to hide from the world, nap a lot, cook good food and read.

But if you feel the need to be productive? Here are things to do this month:

Harvest foliage for decorations, if you like to do that. Make wreaths and bows.
Decorate the yard with items for birds.
Go outside on a clear day, and assess losses from wind and cold. Pick up branches and other items broken in storms and make a pile – for burning, or for chipping. If you like to do it, use them for a fire-pit, for the coming Winter Solstice. If you lost trees, start bucking them for firewood. If you do it now, it won’t be overwhelming in the spring.
Check your faucet covers are on tight for winter.
Start a gardening journal for the year.
Get your infrastructure done when it’s still cooler out, but not frozen – pick a sunny day to work. Weed existing areas. Build raised beds, open up and till the land if you want in ground. Our ground rarely freezes on the island (outside of the once or twice a year Frasier River Valley freezes that come down from Canada.) It’s just a lot easier to work under a lower sun, in the 40’s than rushing in April in the heat. And…if you weed now, then the weeds never get a chance to grow big – and get bigger roots. Yes, there will be weeks in the low 30’s, but if we get a warm week, come out of hibernation.
How much to grow. I sat down and wrote this article for myself. Because it’s just that much easier if you have a guide to go off of. Start planning for next spring.
If you have chickens, take the time to clean up when it’s not raining. If you have wood chips from fallen trees/branches, spread them thickly in their runs, so the mud/poop isn’t as bad. It makes a huge difference.
Start a compost pile if you haven’t, and eventually you will have free compost soil to use.
Start ordering seeds. Get what you want while everything is in stock.
Order potato seed online.
Start plotting out what you want to grow, and where in your garden. Be on paper, or online. This will help you to not over buy seeds.
But most of all, just take time for yourself!

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading

October On The Homestead

November 1, 2022 Sarah

If October had a feeling it was this:

A neat display at the library on the north end of our island. The kind of display that says quietly “hey, it’s almost time where we get to read whenever we want!”.

The youngest chickens grew quickly in October (there are 4, 3 dark, 1 light in color). They were born to their mama in the 4th week of August making them about 2 months old now. Not long after this I moved them to the main run with the other chickens, and they spent October learning to run with the big birds.

Seeding kept me busy enough in the hot days in early October. We had “joked” in August that we’d have a good Indian Summer to make up for the Spring that never showed up. Turned out our joking was right on. No rain and even though the days shortened quickly, it heated up quickly every day from 10 am to 4 pm. Until the start of the 4th week and it just turned off, sharply. We didn’t get August forest fire smoke this year, we got it in October. The days were often hard to work in, when the winds blew down the mountains across the water. This last week has been rainy, and I will take it.

And yes, the greenhouse grew well.

Those forest fires bring intense sunsets. The 4th week brings darkness early though. The sun won’t set after 6 pm for many months. Since Congress won’t approve Washington State’s request to get off Daylight Savings Time, first week of November brings us sunsets before 5 pm. Joy.

Chores were started for the coming cold season. I “lock” the water hydrants on the property to avoid them getting bumped. The water gets turned off internally as well. They may be frost line ones, but I don’t take chances with deep freezes.

We tore out some of the beds. This bed, once we remove the irrigation in it, will be tilled and reshaped, then tarped for winter. It needs help after many years of productive work.

We took in a flock of 10 hens in mid October from people moving. They moved into the quarantine coop.

A moth that landed on our youngest as he was doing farm chores. It was probably cold. When it opened up its wings, it was filled with bright pink and red. Alistaire tucked it away in a sheltered area to warm up. Eventually it flew away.

Fall settles in. Snow is predicted next week. For now, it’s farm chores between rain storms, and to dream of next spring.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading · Urban Homesteading

In Ground Versus Hanging Strawberry Plants: A Season of Studying

September 30, 2022 Sarah

You might ask…why write about growing strawberries on the last day of September? As fall settles in you have time to ponder, to dream, to plan for the coming early spring. You will find the time goes by faster than you think. So start thinking now!

And did the prices of strawberries make you blanch this year?

Local prices were crazy, even trucked in ones from California and Mexico were often $5 to 10 a pound here in the northwest! (That same half flat was under $20 just last year!)

Over the years, in both urban and rural settings, I have worked hard on growing strawberry plants. Both traditional and alpine types. Growing in ground, in raised beds, in gutter setups, in pots and in hanging baskets. If there is a method, I have probably tried it.

The end result is fresh berries for the children to eat, and maybe if I get outside early, we have dried ones for the winter to enjoy. No fungicides used. Ever. No insecticides. No questionable fertilizers. No herbicides. And not stored/sold in one use plastic clamshells, where the berries are weeks old often.

(These evil strawberry pots are often left on the side of the road for free. They sucker you in. And they are not great. At all. Why? The strawberries just don’t get enough rooting, and they dry out too fast in the summer. If you do use these, keep them up off the ground, as slugs also love them. Yet, I will still stop and pick up a free one…..)

This hot mess of a pallet strawberry planter actually works well – if you keep it off the direct ground (think stone pavers under it).

In this post, I will be discussing growing traditional plants, of the everbearing types (where you get a crop in early summer, then in late summer/fall) such as Quinalt, Seascape, Ozark Beauty, Albion, and Everest – and yes, there are more than that. They are easy to source at garden centers and nurseries, or from friends who have runners. While they don’t produce massive crops like the June Bearing types do, they have some of the best berries around and eating them in early October is a treat. I highly recommend having a number of the plants. The flowers are pretty, and bees love them. Pruning back runners can be done with fingers.

Over the years I found some distinct issues/problems with growing in ground and in raised beds:

The bane of strawberry plants is the slug, the invasive types, that love to eat the berries, leave slime everywhere, and their eggs that look like translucent pearls behind.
It is also easy for the plants to become a mess, with runners going everywhere, and weeds hard to remove. With soil right below, the new runners root constantly, and quickly.
Picking isn’t fun. You must wiggle through the mess, then try to not step on any berries. Feet get damp in early fall. Berries are often hidden under leaves.
The berries can rot from not drying out, as the leaves hold the moisture, and the berries tend to lay on the ground, touching soil.
The soil takes longer to warm up, dry out in spring.
Birds find field berries an easy target.

Where as, with hanging pots, and gutter setups:

Pots warm up and stay warmer for far longer.
Good ventilation from wind keeps the plants less likely to get mold.
The pots dry out and the leaves don’t stay all wet.
Runners are easy to trim back.
Berries are easy to see, and to pick.
The berries often hang over the sides, so they don’t rot like on the ground.
You can bring the plants into a greenhouse in late fall and winter, and extend the crops.
Slugs are rarely an issue if hung high enough up – and if they are trying you are likely to see them, and can destroy them.
Birds can be dissuaded with netting over each container.

It had occurred to me this year how much success I had at our last place, when I used an old swing frame to grow berries from, and that we had pot hangers on every fence post, with a pot hanging.

(An early version of it. I still wish we had brought it with us, but by then the grapes on the sides had grown up)

(The second year, as it got lush. It was so nice to sit in there.)

I had struggled these past 4 years, wanting large beds of berries, yet getting very few berries back from my time investment. I did everything by the book, with in ground berries.

So I reversed, gave up the dream (mostly) of ground berries and went back to hanging pots. And they thrived. In a way I hadn’t seen in years, production of berries went up and off the charts.

It seems they enjoy nearly no slugs, drying in the wind, and the pollinators seem to enjoy flying high.

Awhile back my neighbor gave me a nearly free dog kennel, that I turned into a potting cage (to keep deer out of). It’s 6 feet tall or so, and works great.

Who it made happiest were our children, they now run out there and pick – it’s right at face level for them. They can see all the berries, and the ones growing on runners, hanging down? Those are their favorite berries, where they brag to each other what they found.

Inside are 3 pop up greenhouses we use in season, tables and yes, a potting area, but also strawberry plants lining the walls, hanging high. My plan this coming spring is to top it with bird netting to ensure even less issues happen, but with winter coming, I will hold off for now.

The point is this: Hanging pots work great for us. I wish I had realized this earlier on, but I was very stubborn about it. And that I don’t have to bend over to pick, weed and prune them anymore? That in itself is a bonus.

You’ve got 5 months to think it out. Start planning and you might have a great berry harvest come next summer.

~Sarah

Gardening · Homesteading

Growing Food In An Off Year Of Weather

August 28, 2022 Sarah

To say the growing season of 2022 was trying…is putting it lightly. As I have talked about since mid winter in early 2022, this winter/spring and into mid summer was cold and wet (see a post I did end of April “The Cool Spring“).

Trees didn’t bloom at all for some. The bees came out weeks late and missed some flows on other trees. Seeds didn’t want to sprout. I keep pushing and went into growing season fingers crossed. Finally in July the sun started showing up and it warmed up into summer. And we have had a garden, and grown food – but not at normal levels. For example, we have taken in about 1/3 of the tomato crop as we normally do. Shelling beans are at the level we will only have seeds for next year, not any for eating. But we do have food, to eat, and to put up for the winter.

And well, I was able to grow tomatoes still. And even some big ones.

It taught me more lessons, maybe ones I needed to hear. That every year will be different, and if it isn’t working, stop, and try another way. Immediately.

One thing was our greenhouses were FULL until end of June, into early July. No planting tomato and pepper plants on Mother’s Day Weekend in May this year. I kept holding back. The plants were huge, but I had no choice in it if I wanted the plants to survive.

When I did take the items out, I wrapped the fencing on each bed with 6 mil thick plastic sheeting (find it in the painting section). This blocked the wind, and kept the soil warmer.

It made a huge difference and is why I feel most of the tomato plants survived and thrive.

We had to wrap one of the coops as well, for there was a mama and her 3 babies in it. They often spend the first weeks downstairs, and the wind howled through, chilling them. Oh the irony – all 3 turned out to be roosters. Gotta love the chances on that.

We used zip ties to connect. Due to the many windstorms out of season I had to replace them periodically.

Another bed wrapped.

So remember the 5 Gallon Bucket method I decided to do for my peppers?

Poblano Peppers, actual big ones.

Red bell peppers. Thick walled and proper size.

In early July I moved the 5 gallon buckets outside and let them reside in one of the main beds, in a line, next to the tomatoes in the ground. They got protected from the wind coming up from the water, and got well watered all summer.

Thick walled, full sized green peppers. The wrapping of the beds made all the difference.

The onions thrived in the no-wind-more-heat way as well.

Overall, it’s been OK. But some areas we were truly hit hard in. No pears, no plums, only one apple tree bloomed on time. The apples, which I removed half of, won’t be good enough to eat (the chickens are happy). The peach tree thrived oddly, and I got a handful of cherries. Oddly the fig trees have done well this year. But swiss chard bolted constantly, as did the lettuce and spinach (not normal here). Carrots and beets grew at half the rate of normal. Peas came ready 4 weeks late, but were ample and delicious. The kohlrabi grew to massive size, the broccoli did well, but the cauliflower bolted and the green cabbage went to seed (and looked like it was sprouting snakes out of the top). It was just so random in what did well, and what did not.

September is around the corner and while it will be warm here for a couple more weeks, summer ends in 3.5 weeks and fall will slip in. A third La Nina winter has been promised (not normal). It leads to promises of a long, cold, and wet fall and winter. Fall crops may be well trying, but I will see that the garlic gets in the ground (that crop grew this year, but was ugly as could be when harvested. Still, it will be fine to seed with this fall.).

~Sarah

Gardening · Herbalism · Homesteading · Preserving

Air Drying Herbs and Flowers

July 7, 2022 Sarah

Drying herbs and flowers is easy to do, and takes little work to put away a years worth. And you don’t need a dehydrator either. My method is very simple: Take a clean brown grocery bag outside and pick, tossing into the bag as you do. Then fold over the top to keep light and dust out, and let air dry. I gently shake the bag(s) daily to move the flowers and leaves around. You get a nicer color this way, and no heat means all the natural essential oils stay. Heat can destroy them.

Once dried I store the smaller items in mason jars.

Larger items, such as Comfrey leaves I store in plastic storage bags, gently placed in so they don’t crumble.

Best use is to store out of light, in a dry area that doesn’t overheat in summer. Use within a year for best quality.

Pick Chamomile early in the day, before the sun hits it.

Chamomile is not only great as a relaxing tea, it can be brewed and used as a hair rinse for blonde hair.

Calendula flower.

Rosemary can be brewed strong, cooled and used as a hair rinse for dark hair.

Sage flowers.

Sage being picked.

Comfrey. Bees love the flowers.

The back of Comfrey leaves are fascinating in the patterns. Dry it and save for making strong brews to soak skin in, if needed.

Dry what you grow, or friends grow, and dry what you use – both in culinary and medicinal uses. Then you won’t ever have to to buy herbs where you don’t know where they were grown.

~Sarah