Potato Nests.

I finally got around to making the potato towers this weekend. For some reason it seemed so daunting. I had to build something, albeit a very simple something. Potato towers can range from the very simple (stacked tires) to the very complex (solid wooden structures), I've even seen plain sturdy bags for making potato towers. I went with something in between.




Four wooden stakes, with chicken wire encircling it. There is a hay edging, with compost dirt filling the middle.


As the potatoes begin to peek up through the soil and grow I will add more hay edging and cover them with dirt, until by the end of the season the tower is filled to the brim with potatoes (hopefully)!




After the 25 minutes it took me to build both towers and was pretty mad at myself. I've been putting this task off for weeks out of anxiety and it turned out to be so darn simple.

Seedlings.

It's almost time for some of the seedlings to graduate to the yard. This weekend I'm setting out the cabbage and broccoli.

This is my best cabbage. I'm really excited about them; the variety is Mammoth Red Rock. I hope they turn out like they sound.




Something funny happened with a lot of my seedlings. They grew tomatoes off to the side. The best I can come up with is that there were tomato seeds in my compost. I mixed seedling mix and our own compost from the worm bin for all the seedlings. Tomato seeds are hearty and survived the decomposition process and weren't eaten by the worms. There are random tomatoes in about one out of every five pots.




This is my best broccoli. It is the same variety I grew last year, DiCicco, but these seedlings seem a lot stronger and larger than they were last year. The yield last Spring was great, so I'm sure this season will be even better.




The lettuces aren't going out just yet, but this is my best lettuce so far. I can't wait for summer salads.

Report Card.

Planted in the garden today:

• 1 row Northern Lights Swiss Chard
• 1 row Rainbow Carrots
• 1 row Napa Carrots
• 1 row Bloomsdale Savoy Spinach

Harvested from the garden today:

• Last batch arugula (it's starting to flower. Seeds soon!)

Delayed from the garden today:

• Sowing more peas
• Transplanting cabbage and broccoli to garden

I ran out of time to sow the peas. I'll have to get up extra early tomorrow for that one. As for the cabbage and broccoli starts, they are delayed due to weather. The next two days are highs in the 40's and raining. I'm going to wait until this little chilly snap is gone and we are back in the 50's. I don't want to freak the little guys out.

Monday Morning Progress.

Here's a couple photos from this morning's pre-work garden session. I started pulling up the cover crop.




I didn't do anything to the clover and it took off over the winter. This bed had the poorest growth last year and I'm hoping the cover crop will help with that. Legumes have nitrogen fixing nodules on their roots that help put nutrients back in the soil and increase the soil fertility. They also help keep weeds down and naturally fluff the soil with their fibrous roots to make my job come spring a little easier.

The kale has started to flower. That means I'll get to save seeds soon. Good thing, I think I'm out.

Weekday Bread.

The all day bread rise the other day worked. I turned on the oven as soon as I got home and we had fresh-out-of-the-oven whole wheat Italian feather bread to go with our pasta dinner, arugula salad from the garden on the side, of course.

Early rise baking.

It's starting to get lighter earlier in the mornings. I have a really hard time getting out of bed before the sun comes up, something I should remedy if I want to focus more on agricultural pursuits. I was able to get up a little early this morning and had time to start a loaf of bread for dinner tonight. It's a quick loaf normally; it only takes one rise of about an hour. I left it in the fridge this morning though so that hour-long rise can take all day. Hopefully when I get home tonight I can turn on the oven and have fresh homemade bread within the hour.




And, Mike, if you are reading this, sorry I left doughy dishes in the sink. I didn't get up early enough to do the dishes too. Oops.

On the last day of March, Year Two.

Last year on the last day of March I posted several pictures from around the ranch. Here's year two.

**This is a couple days late in posting, but the pictures were taken on March 31st.**

Overwintered garlic and shallots:

Overwintered arugula. We've been having one or two arugula salads a week lately. Arugula + gargonzola + balsamic vinegar = yum.

Overwintered lettuce. Still making a comeback! We can try out a lettuce salad in another week or so.

Radish sprouts. Last year at this time we were already done with the first radish harvest.

New growth starting on the raspberries:

Pea sprouts:

Bolting kale. I'm hoping to harvest seeds soon. We'll get maybe one more harvest of leaves from these guys. There are spring kale sprouts coming up as well, but there will probably a month long gap between the two.

Bifur found me in the garden. He wanted to help. Or he wanted pets. It's hard to tell.