Potato Growing

Last year I read of someone in a gardening group who was growing potatoes in black plastic trash/garbage bags. I thought it was a neat idea to grow them up and instead of using a lot of space and doing a lot of digging. This year I'm reading of using 55 gallon barrels to do the same. So it was only natural for a light-bulb moment, right?

I'm going to try a few of the woven grain bags for growing my potatoes this year! I thought the grain bags would do a better job due to having better drainage. Not to mention, I just happen to have an abundance of them. I'll just place them where I want to expand another plot/bed. The biggest job will be getting the compost and potato sprouts in the bags. I'll just fold the tops down to make it easy and can unfold as needed. As the potato plants start to grow, the technique is to add more compost and a few more potato seeds. So it should be pretty darned easy to get started.

Then I can use the compost/dirt from the bags to expand that garden plot without a lot of work. I can cut the bags to retrieve my yummy potatoes and the dirt will spill right where I want it. Plus the bags sitting on the edge of that plot should kill off a lot of the grass making it even easier.

Have any of you tried container growing potatoes? I've done ground planting, trench with hay planting, etc in the past. I've run into problems with slugs or something chewing on my potatoes. So I think the woven bags might just be an improvement in the pest department too!

What Season is it?

It is Seed Catalog Season, of course!

There's nothing like reaching into the mail box and pulling out a sign that Spring is really coming! I think it's the best time of the year to collect my mail. I still get the bills, but the seed catalogs brighten it immensely!

I got the Baker Creek Catalog first so the photos here are pics I took of their catalog. I LOVE their catalog. The photos are just awesome. I think I should consider framing a couple of the pics to display.

Along with Baker Creek's catalog, I've also gotten the following:

RH Schumway

Jung Seeds & Plants

Gurneys

Gardens Alive

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

Territorial Seed Company

Miller Nurseries

And what a breath of Spring they are. It is also nice that we are having a VERY mild Winter so far. I can't believe how mild it is. I can deal with this! I wish it was like this most years instead of this being a totally unusual one! I regress....

I'm really enjoying the seed catalogs. I'm marking x's near the seeds I need and filling the pages with sticky notes to find those pages again. Next, I'll jot what the seeds on those pages are at the top of the sticky notes. I COULD do that at the same time that I stick them in, but I really enjoy a 2nd trip thru the catalogs to do this. It also makes the 2nd trip faster so if I missed anything I can catch it and it's a good prelim for the next thing I do. And, that is a list of what I want to get. Then I'll note the prices and catalog page for each item. After that I use my list to price compare and also to see if there are any catalogs that won't make the cut this year. If shipping and handling prices weren't so high, I'd order a few from each catalog. It won't work that way for me again this year.

I really do have fun doing this. I guess it's the "dream" and yet it's a necessity to plant a garden. And, I'm started with my reviews.

THEN, it happened! I had to make a trip to Dollar General yesterday, along with getting gas and goat and poultry feed. And what did Dollar General have? A nice, big see display, all nicely full and no empty spots! Yes, I did it. I bought a whole lot of packages of seeds. What was a gal to do? I need to garden! They are filling a need, and they sucked me right in with marketing! The majority of seeds are only 3 for $1. It's a far cry from the $3 seeds for 1 packet in my lovely catalogs! AND, NO shipping and handling charges! Granted the packets don't have as many seeds as the major seed companies do, but I don't always need 1,000 seeds, even for zucchinis!

Needless to say, I now need to make a list of what I have and then I can resume perusing the seed catalogs.

I even grabbed a few flower seeds! Nasturims are good bug deterrants and are fun to see down amongst the squash plants. Nasturim flowers are also edible, as are the squash blossoms! So, if I get hungry I can eat flowers!

I might not like normal winters, but I sure do enjoy Seed Catalog Season! I do enjoy a good deal too. I shouldn't look to see how much I spent on seeds. It might blow my mind and that would ruin the rest of my season!

Tomatoes!

We had to go to town Monday to pick up prescriptions, a few groceries and the usual.

I found the goatie kids a new little tykes toy for clambering all over. It's like a toy box (probably was one) but no lid ($1.99). They'll be able to crawl in it or on it. They tend to like places to crawl into for a snooze. We're getting quite a playground going in the big stall in the barn! I also found a short but very sturdy table for $1.99. I want to see if I can find a piece of rubber (old car mats?) to gorilla glue on top as it's pretty slick. I want to glue some around the edges too so the corners are less dangerous. I'll use my dremel to take a bit of the sharpness out of the corners too. I don't want a bruised udder or such from someone clowning .... goating around. The design of the legs is "all stability" and they are a good-sized, heavy weight material (metal/steel) that won't tip or such.

I found the mark down section at the Meijers garden center and, OH MY, I was sunk! I bought a bunch more tomato plants CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! I also got quite a selection of pepper plants that I didn't have. Then I found packages of asparagus and strawberries even CHEAPER! I've not seen them near that price for YEARS!

I was really really hoping to find a few more rhubarb plants, but no luck there.

I LOVE to look at all the yard toys in the garden centers. Have you seen this year's watering cans that are pigs and roosters? They are a dark metal and so cute! They are also still there on the garden center shelves though. I just "drooled" a little with a smile on my face while "examining" them workmanship and design. CUTE!!

I'm going to have a new asparagus and strawberry bed! I'm estic! My old ones had seen better days and had been so aged they couldn't revitalize themselves. They were also too far from the house and the wildlife did too much damage. The strawberry shoots had reverted to the tiny little bits of a berry and loaded with tons of seeds. Next year we'll have fresh, new plants producing! The asparagus will need an extra year though.

I better be doing a whole lot of tomato canning late summer! And I'll have green tomatoes to "spare"! I discovered green tomato pie that is remarkably like apple. I also had never heard of freezing some green tomato slices for later frying or roasting. Roasted green tomatoes are good too!

I'm behind on my gardening and now I need to get myself back in gear! I have my work cut out for me! It's raining right now though, so I get to take a break and share with you!

I also bought a heavy-duty, outdoor electric cord at WalMart (pricy). Upon getting home, hubby noticed it is NOT grounded! I read all the front of the package how it's useful for all the outdoor needs, including electric tools like trimmers and such. But, WHY IN THE WORLD isn't it grounded? I actually wonder if it's a legal requirement (all the UL "mumble-jumble" that they be. What ever, I'm returning it. I don't want to fry myself or the horses or goats on the stock tank, etc.

All in all, it was a good trip but TIRING! And I found gas 20 cents a gallon cheaper then here our little rural village!

Bring on the strawberries!!!

BUSY! VERY BUSY!

Goodness, I am so busy right now and I know it's going to be worse as soon as I have more kids and does to be milked! I don't have near enough energy to keep up with all I'd like to get done right now!

I have a couple does I'm watching closely. I bought a cam for the barn a couple years ago and it's now obsolete due to the monitor being a combo tv and monitor. It's not up to the digital tv signals we now have. It didn't work well in the metal pole barn before so it's a lost cause that I could dearly use.

Since Spirit kidded and one buckling didn't make it and Buster almost didn't, I'm afraid to not be checking on them much more frequently. That entails doning barn boots and a coat and high-tailing it to the barn. Being goats, one can't just walk into the barn and take a quick peek. EVERYONE expects to be greeted and to get their scratching. The 3 and 5 am checks are getting to me already! What do I find when I make those checks? 2 pens of sleeping goats. Sometimes they have laid down in a different direction after I leave and I find they've moved since the last check. It was horrible to lose the buckling and I just can't have it happen again.

I'm trying to get feet trimmed, which I'm behind on. My nippers are too dull and I can't find the whet stone. So I bought some cheap ones to "get me by" and they aren't going to do much trimming. Maaaayyybe for the ND's but not the standard sized goats!

Bandit is being a bad buck right now. He's gotten an attitude and doesn't want to cooperate. He does one to bash everything he can and flip it around, relocate it, etc. I haven't got a pen I can keep him in at the moment. He's just being horrible. This has all started with him since Nipper died. They were penned together and I suspect it's got something to do with not having a head-buttin buddy to help keep him occupied and entertained. I've tried putting him in with the herd queen and her buddy and he was stressing the two of them beyond tolerable. He totally terrorizes the ND does. I also have to wonder if he head-butted June Bug causing her aborting her quads. I just don't know. I do know Bandit is being a total jerk at the moment and none of the does want to be near him but he wants to be with them.

I have the 6 kids in the house and the 3 LaManchas are big enough to be outside now but it's still too cold out for them without a heat lamp. I can't do a heat lamp at the current time as the wood chucks burrowed and chewed the electric line to the barn. This falls under that category of "if it's not one thing it's another"! Fire code now requires that a barn have it's own circuit box and electric hook up. So it's not a cheap fix. :(

Anyway, these 6 in the house are a hoot and they are fun. BUT it's not fun to have 2 who have found they can jump out and run thru the house screaming for me. The 2 mini Aussies are fine with it and just tule along with them but the 2 corgis are older and don't like it. They have the opinion (as do I) they have a place they belong so they should be where they belong. That is not going into the dog crates, jumping on beds, jumping on the couch or chairs, etc.

Buster and the 2 ND boys are doing fine in the house and don't cause the commotion the LaManchas do simply because they are younger or smaller or both. Tiny Tim is so tiny we keep saying he could stay small and stay a house goat. He's considerably smaller than the cats, so SMALL.

I've lost a few hens to varmits again. In 3 days I've trapped 2 opossums and a huge racoon. I hope that's the end of it for some time but who knows. I do know I've lost a couple good hens that I'm not happy about. :( No offense to anyone, but out in the country, one has to either allow predators to help themselves or trap and dispatch them. It's illegal to transport them for relocation due to transporting illnesses and especially the potential for rabies into other areas. Most of the rabies around here is bats and feral cats. It's figured it's only a matter of time before rabid coons hitch a semi ride or such and introduce the coon type of rabies. They are very tough on anyone breaking the law due to being on the edge of the current coon rabies spreading west.

On the gardening front, I was finally able to stick a shovel into one of the raised beds. I also was finally able to pull the last of the brussel sprout plants up. I have one left to take the sprouts off of and then they are done. That's pretty good to still have veggies from last year's gardening! Plus we both love brussel sprouts so it's nice to have them when I see them in the stores for $2.99 and up /#!

It's time to do a bit of soil turning and readying the beds for planting. I'm sure enjoying having some better weather even if it's still coat and boots weather!

Spring is always a busy time with tons to do and yet I always wish Winter would get over and Spring get here.

So, I'm busy but it's a good busy and inspite of some of it being chaotic, it's productive. Soon I'll be able to get by with just a flannel shirt and skip the boots!

Seed Catalogs

I got my first seed catalog for the 2011 gardening year! It's the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog which came first again this year.

I LOVE getting the seed catalogs and spend hours exploring them from cover to cover, over and over. I see so many seeds I MUST have and so many I would LOVE to have but can't afford "this year". Then there are all those which I wouldn't buy but find interesting to read about and see the pic.

Why is it we are so enthralled with these catalogs? Is it because it's a "breath of Spring to come", or a chance to get out of some housework, chore we should get done and haven't, or just because it's fun to dream and to plan our garden and food for the next year?

I think it's all of those for me. Now, if the rest of the catalogs would please hurry up and get here..... I'm so ready for them!

Addicted to Gardening

You Know You're Addicted to Gardening When....

* Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs and a cup of coffee.
* You grab other people's banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for your compost pile.
* You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean.
* All your neighbors come and ask you questions.
* You know the temperature of your compost every day.
* You buy a bigger truck so that you can haul more mulch.
* You enjoy crushing Japanese beetles because you like the sound that it makes (ok.. not me).
* Your boss makes "taking care of the office plants" an official part of your job description.
* Your non-gardening spouse becomes conversant in botanical names.
* You find yourself feeling leaves, flowers and trunks of trees wherever you go, even at funerals.
* You dumpster-dive for discarded bulbs after commercial landscapers remove them to plant annuals.
* You plan vacation trips around the locations of botanical gardens, arboreta, historic gardens, etc.
* You sneak home a 7 foot Japanese Maple and wonder if your spouse will notice.
* When considering your budget, plants are more important than groceries.
* You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools.
* You appreciate your Master Gardener badge more than your jewelry.
* You talk "dirt" at baseball practice.
* You spend more time chopping your kitchen greens for the compost pile than for cooking (ok, not me either).
* You like the smell of horse manure better than Estee Lauder.
* You rejoice in rain…even after 10 straight days of it.
* You have pride in how bad your hands look.(I will never be a palmolive commercial.)
* You have a decorative compost container on your kitchen counter.
* You can give away plants easily, but compost is another thing.
* Soil test results actually mean something.
* You understand what IPM means and are happy about it.
* You'd rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store.
* You know that Sevin is not a number.
* You take every single person who enters your house on a "garden tour".
* You look at your child's sandbox and see a raised bed.
* You ask for tools for Christmas, Mother/Father's day, your Birthday and any other occasion you can think of.
* You can't bear to thin seedlings and throw them away.
* You scold total strangers who don't take care of their potted plants.
* You know how many bags of fertilizer/potting soil,/mulch your car will hold.
* You drive around the neighborhood hoping to score extra bags of leaves for your compost pile.
* Your preferred reading matter is seed catalogs.

And last but not least, you know that the four seasons are:
* Planning the Garden
* Preparing the Garden
* Gardening~and~Preparing
* Planning for the next Garden

Update or Catch Up

Update or Catch Up? I would guess this is both! So much has been going on that I'm "whipped"!


I'm now milking 5 does by hand. Due to Danika and Raquel being first fresheners, it's taking a LOT of time. And I DO mean a LOT! I want these does to be the kind one can just tie and milk, no drama, no hassle, etc. How I handle them now is setting them up for their milking behavior for a long time. Both will be sold and hopefully their new owners will continue the "program" and not untrain them! Danika is catching on to this FAST and is such a sweetie! Raquel is a theatrical drama queen and a rodeo bronc! I am LAVISH with the treats, rubbings, and giving them the time needed. I've gone from 45 minutes in the evening to 2 1/2 - 3 hours! That's time feeding goats and chickens for the evening, collecting any more eggs, bottle feeding 4 kids, and milking. (Summer only takes a second to give her a sour cream container of food morning and evening as she has pasture but expects to get fed with the goats! Silly horse but she's a dear.)


Raquel is improving every milking but oh so slowly! She's getting right on the stand and her head locked into the head gate (which she ripped off the stand and clunked me in the back of the head with). She's standing there to get started eating and then I pet and praise her, give her a treat, and then sit and pet her an talk with her a minute. When she ripped the head gate off, she fell off the stand and bruised her udder. Now she's milking bloody milk on that side of her udder. She has a NICE BIG udder and wonderful teats and orifices. She's now being MUCH better and not bucking with milking the not-sore-side (left) of her udder but she's "going rodeo" with the bruised side. She's VERY easy to milk if she'd just stand still. It has to be milked out so she doesn't get scar tissue and mastitis. Anyway, after she's milked (hobbled too) I am leaving her to stand on the milk stand and to chill out. I then milk her momma right next to her just tied and standing on the ground so she is watching a good milker stand right. It also gives her herd security that she's not alone. She can also see her pen mates on her other side as it's a half wall and wire for the top half. What a challenge this has been! But progress is being made and that's my clue that things are going in the right direction!

Now I have to put a price on them and I'm not sure what to put! I need to decide an individual price for each but also a "2 for" price. They are twins and very bonded. They'd be much happier to go together to a new home. I'm also considering offer a free stud service for them if the new owners will supply the feed for them while here for breeding. I'm seeing some prices locally but they seem to be one extreme or the other. I also have a lot invested in these 3 yearling does ($ and time). I needed to see what their dams were producing though so needed to grow out a few of their offspring to see what I need to most work on in breeding improvements. We can't really improve upon them a lot if we don't know what they produce so we know what genes need to come in to cross on them! I now have a very good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of both senior does. Kids are always adorable and cute but one can't know their true mettle if one doesn't raise them up to freshening and milk them a while!

I was suppose to be going to pick up an incubator tonight and haven't heard back from the gal. I sure hope she's not changed her mind or something as I really am hoping to get it. I hope tomorrow will work for her.

I have some running around to do tomorrow to get prescriptions and such which means a trip to the "big city" and 40 miles. Then Saturday I have a "date" to pick up a new rooster and need to be back to watch the Preakness! I'm worn out but have to get things done. We had a funeral for the dearest aunt one could hope to have this week so the emotional loss adds to one's running out of steam.

I did get some garden seeding done in the last week also. I have plenty more to do but it's a start. I got my grapevine clippings and have them in water rooting. I'm ready to get them planted too if I can get enough time. I've finally decided on the place which was quite a decision being I sometimes like to leave a couple goats loose and don't want them to "find" the grape vines!

And I need to get some mowing done - BADLY! Even that has an order to make things easier! For one I need to put Summer (horse) in the dog yard for a couple hours as there is some luscious grass there she's wanting. Then I need to take a shovel out and stab a few burdock plants and then I can mow it. Life on a homestead is often like a puzzle. The border needs done first so one can start putting the pieces where they go methodically!

Yesterday (12th) was Miss Molly Ta Mollie's 10th birthday! Molly is my black tri female Corgi. I LOVE this little dog! She's feeling her age unfortunately and having some age issues. I had a litter of pups from her several years ago and then found she has some genetics starting to show up that I won't breed so we've not had any more little Molly's. Bummer but the only ethical thing for me to do.

It seems my work is never done! So much work - so little time!

I can't wait any longer....

so I started a couple pots of tomato and banana pepper seeds today. I'm NEEDING to see something growing.

I'm still excited about getting an egg today too. No lights so this was a totally NATURAL egg and a good little hen! Nothing like a fluffly old woman standing on snow and ice giving some hens a bit of a cheerleading speech about what a good hen the egg layer is. That and the fact that I'm doing my part in feeding them well, warm water, a stinky goat they sit on to warm their tootsies. (Yes, when the buck lays down he usually ends up with a couple hens sneaking in for a cuddle and he lets them! I guess he figures he has a down cover!) I told them they need to reciprocate and I shouldn't be buying chicken feed AND store bought eggs. After all, store bought eggs make me complain!

It got up to 30 today and has been TOTALLY over cast and very dreary looking. I'll take 30 and dreary any day over 0 - 10 (F) and doing chores! I was warm enough to go in the romper room with the jr does and have a seat to visit with them. It's a good way to check them over. I found NO lice (makes me happy) but did see some feet that need a trim. I also was able to do some "feels good" scritching on the 3 does who will be FF and milkers. They will be better able to be relaxed if they enjoy my scritching. The one I've thought would have the most problem with the idea is the one who is first to ask (yes she does!) for that scritching up and down the sides of her throat and under the back of the jaw where the neck, poll, ear and throat intersect. Down the throat where the front of the shoulder attaches is another prize winning spot they enjoy. All 3 are now to the point they will stand and be scritched and let me rub my hands on their backs, sides and thigh without restraint. This is all "work" I like to do while getting them ready for milking. They already eat on the milkstand too. I like to take it slow and easy on them so they keep their trust in humans and hopefully shift into milking with little to no fuss.

I'm down to 2 day's wood left from the pile the neighbors so kindly brought us in the Fall. It's been a huge blessing and been nice to have it kinda close. By the end of the week I'll be hauling from the wood piles and work area. It's twice as far and harder to get through to the snow. But, we're close to the end of January so Spring will soon be along. I'm READY!

I think I may have found the new Alpine doe I was hoping for. Cross your fingers she's the one. She's a bred 2 year old 2nd freshener. I'm really starting to get more excited about my kids coming. Last year was a disappointment I couldn't catch the does in heat so ended up buying a Nubian buck to breed my Alpine does. I have 3 extremely nice NuPine does (the 3 who will be FF milkers this year but I'd rather have them all be registerable purebreds. So I'm more inline with my goals for this year which makes it more exciting and gets me wishing it would come faster!

I'm also chicken "shopping" and working on my plans for them and incorporating another new breed or 2. I've inquired about an incubator that I'll buy if they'll ship it to me. The ad is from the 18th so I'm hoping it's not been sold already! The price is great!

It's so nice to have it staying light longer! It also means pushing chore time back some too.

It's supper time so I need to get a move on! We're having oven fried chicken, baked potatoes and green bean casserole. I got a 10# bag of chicken at the store for $4.90. It's a great price but I cringe wondering if it's from China. I so hope not but didn't see the origin on the package. I thought it was required now! I'd rather pay a bit more for American raised chicken as I know the water supply and feed is cleaner here than China.

Have a good evening!

Catnip vs roaches

A little catnip a day can keep the roaches away. Two researchers from Iowa State University say the old folklore that catnip repels cockroaches is true. In August 1999 Chris Peterson and Joel Coats reported their findings at the national meeting ofthe American Chemical Society in New Orleans. They said "roaches are repelled by two forms of Nepetalactone, a chemical found in catnip plants". This might lead to greater use of catnip or the development of new natural insect repellants that could be sprayed along baseboards to keep cockroaches from coming out of the walls. "There are really no commercial cockroach repellants", Peterson said. "Most are insecticides designed to kill roaches. People don't seem to just want them to go away-they want them dead.

"Milk may have potential as a fungicide.A report in the October 16 1999 edition of New Scientist suggests that spraying diluted milk on cucumbers and courgettes (zucchini) may be effective in killing powdery mildew, caused by the mold Sphaerotheca fulinginea. This could be a significant benefit for organic farmers trying to meet the growing demand for chemical free vegetables.According to the report, milk's fungicidal powers were discovered by Wagner Bettiol of the environmental laboratory of Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, in Jaguariuna, north of Sao Paulo.Bettiol, who was looking for cheap ways to control plant pests, observed that by-products from milk-processing factories killed powdery mildew on squash. So he decided to simply spray fresh milk on the plants to see if it had the same effect.To his surprise, he found that it did. In fact, spraying heavily infected plants twice a week with a mixture of one part cow's milk to nine parts water was at least as good at stopping mildew as the chemical fungicides fenarimol and benomyl, Bettiol discovered.Bettiol added that several organic growers in his region were able to control less severe outbreaks by spraying once a week with a 5% milk solution. In many cases, milk was both faster and more effective. After two to three weeks of spraying with milk, the area of leaves infected was in some cases only a sixth or less of the area affected on plants treated with chemical fungicide.Bettiol is not yet sure why milk works so well, but he speculates that it helps the plants in two ways. Milk is known to kill some microorganisms. It also contains potassium phosphate, which boosts the plant's immune system and so may help it inhibit the mildew's growth.

***

The above came from a group I belong to and didn't cite the source. It does include a bit about the researchers. Unfortunately I don't know where the source is to get permission to post it and will therefore gladly delete it if needed. I hope that isn't an issue though as roaches can transmit nasty bacteria and such so I"m hoping in the interest of public health that it's ok I have posted this. IF the source is found, I'd appreciate someone making a comment with the info so I can obtain permission (which I really do do!!).

On the home front, I now have catnip growing in a small flower garden spot outside the back door (both sides) and it's now going to stay for it's bug repelling potential. I hope it repels other than roaches (ants would be great). I'll also transplant some from out under my pasture fence to the outside of the kitchen where the gas line hole is (supposedly plugged) and I can sprinkle some (I have LOTS of catnip as I dry it and sell it too - hint hint) at the front door!

And, I now have a new use for souring milk! I wonder if whey does anything helpful like that? I hear it's supposed to be wonderful for tomato plant growth and raspberries!