Do Little Ducklings Like Water? 4.22.22

 Yes they do!

Rufus at the Oregon Tulip Festival. 4.23.22

 There were lots of tulips there.  South of Oregon City.  I think Rufus got a little overstimulated but if so, he's all better now.

The Buried Dead Chicken Test. 4.21.22

 For the past two years, I grew sweet corn in this area.  The year before, it was potatoes, and squash the year before that.  Last winter, I buried a dead chicken who was viciously murdered by some sort of chicken-obsessed predator.  Then I planted nematocidal mustard in the bed for green manure and to kill of any nematodes.

The lush thick leaves are the mustard on the chicken grave.  The test is the mustard where there are no buried chicken victims.

It's the same seeds, but obviously the area over the chicken is much more fertile than the rest.  Those leaves are green and lush, and the plants are very vigorous.  The other mustard plants are puny and unhealthy looking.

That proves that the soil there is now depleted and needs fertilizer (preferably organic) or nothing will grow well there.

It also proves that chicken corpses make a good fertilizer, at least for mustards.

The Last Batch of Seed Potatoes are Planted. 4.21.22

Thanks to my helper who dug the trenches, I was able to plant two rows of late potato Elba and one of mid season potato Soraya.  This area has not been used for garden before.

That's the last of the potato starts.  I could celebrate by having an impromptu parade on Main street, but I feel too tired LOL.

Just because potato starts in a trench aren't all that interesting, here is a free vintage illustration of potatoes from a website called freevintageillustrations.com.

It doesn't look like potatoes have changed much over the years 😀

Trench of Elba potato starts, before covering them.  I mixed in about a half cup of "Morecrop" vegetable fertilizer in the trench before planting.

Here is a view with my loyal companion.  He's keeping a careful watch so that evil cats and stupid deer don't attack.

Making Some Gingersnap Cookies. 4.20.22

 After my mom's cousin Pearl died, my mom gave me the cookbook that she had inherited from Pearl.

It's mostly just sat in my baking cabinet.  Thanks to the pandemic, I've been baking more and got it out.  With feelings of nostalgia, I bought a Sunbeam stand mixer.  I didn't want a mixer made in "that" country. Plus I could have bought a Kitchen Aid, which ate certainly high quality, solid made-in-USA machines.  However, the big Kitchen-Aid mixers are too big and heavy for me, and the mini model still cost more than double what the Sunbeam cost.  Plus nostalgia, my mom had a Sunbeam.  This one is remarkably like hers.  More plastic, not as heavy, but it still reminds me of her.

So I used her recipe book to make a batch of gingersnaps.  I've never made them before, but it was pretty easy.  I love molasses, so these were right up my alley.

I wasn't able to spend a lot of time with my mom in her later years, but sometimes she sent me cookies.  I can look at these as a gift from her.

Edit:  I looked at the label on the bottom of the mixer.  Made in China.  Well, I will keep it but won't buy another from them if this one breaks.  I don't mind buying imported goods, but I think we should have the ability to determine where something is made before we buy it.

Planting Some Soraya Midseason Potatoes in Potato Bag. 4.20.22

 It was raining and I am feeling the effects of a shot from yesterday.  I was able to plant the potato growing bag that I made yesterday with five chitted starts.

Here is how they looked before I covered them.

Sewing a Potato-Growing Bag from Landscape Fabric. 4.17.22

I read in a book that potato-growing bags can be made from weed suppressing fabric ("Growing Potatoes" by Dion Rosser). But no pattern was provided. We have a roll of landscaping fabric so I decided to try. I measured the diameter of a half-barrel planted and went with that.

I'm making a second one with more precision so will give details when I post that. This one is roughly 2 feet in diameter, with sides that can unfold to 2 feet tall. The top and bottom are reinforced, and the bottom has about a dozen one inch holes cut for drainage, with button-hole type reinforcement around the drainage holes. The sides and bottom ate double layer of landscape fabric. I used denim-weight polyester thread so the seams wouldn't deteriorate with soil contact and moisture. 

 Here is the final result. I planted it with five Kennebec seed potato chunks. The sides are folded down and will be unfolded upwards as needed as I fill in more soil during growth.

This was so much easier than planting in the ground. Incredibly easier. Now the important test is to see how they grow and produce.

Kitchen Garden. 4.16.22

I'm pretty happy with the vegetable half. The fruit half will need a lot more tidying up this Spring.

First Apple Blossoms. 4.16.22

It's interesting, Gravenstein isn't the first to bloom. Scarlet Sentinel is the most prolific in bloom at the moment. It's by itself, with no apple trees blooming nearby. It will be interesting to see if it sets fruit. It usually does. A good, late pie apple that keeps well.

Others starting to bloom. Zestar got hit by the sleet and snow. Still lots of buds to open.

Summerred is also blooming. There are lots more to bloom over the next month.

Potatoes. 4.16.22

Also known as "The truffles of Bavaria (I just made that up LOL). The first batch that I planted, from sprouted potatoes, is all growing. These are the red potatoes that I planted Feb 13.

The second batch, from "official" seed potatoes, is also all growing. I planted those March 12, so they needed about a month to emerge. Most have been visible for about a week. They are Yukon Gold and Red Norland, which is what they had at that Orange big box store at the time.

Yesterday I finished planting the earliest of early varieties, Envoy. It will be interesting to compare. Half are in the ground and half are in nursery bag containers. Yesterday or the day before, I planted all of the early variety, Yukon Gem, in the ground. They are an improved Yukon Gem, more productive and disease resistant. Today I planted the first of the midseason potatoes, my favorite variety Kennebec. I reserved a few starts for a container that I'm sewing. That leaves the other midsesson, a German variety I haven't tried before, Soraya. So maybe they really are "The truffle of Bavaria" LOL. And the late season Elba. I hope to have those in the ground in a few days. I think this will be more than we need. The harvesting season will be June to Sept, and some shoukd keep at least 3 months, maybe quite a bit longer. No Russets this year, but Kennebec can do anything a Russet can do, and do it better. Next year I'll cut back, grow the top four maybe - a super early, and early, a mid, and a late season. Depends on how they perform this year and if the container method is worthwhile and easier.