Due to the nice clear weather I have decided to get going on some spring time projects.

First one moving some of my Raspberries. I had recieved some starts from a friend 4 years ago. Had so many that I gave some to the neighbor. His went wild, I believe due to the South Facing location and the wall behind them that allows them to stay warmer.

Mind have kind of been floundering, so today I moved some to a nice South facing location.

I had made the rocker box, pictured below. It works pretty good for removing large rocks and weeds.

I have 2 screens, one is 1x2 mesh, the other in 1/2 x 1, the second one is pretty much useless.

More to follow

Trash from the dirt I rocker, house has been here for 30 years. Nice

Finished area, I added 10lbs of coffee grounds and 1/2 wheel barrow of compost (chicken manure,grass clippings,leafs, and cedar chips from the chicken house) Might be to hot, I am the trail and error type. Should read a book about it.

Oh! There's the raspberries. I couldn't take my eyes off the melons.
I'm not sure the cedar chips are a good idea as cedar trees are somewhat toxic to other plants growing around them.At least, I think that's the way it works.
I'm getting my small garden area ready also. We can usually plant a few things in February but the way the weather's been this year, I may wait until March when the frost is no longer an issue. It was cold enough this morning to hurt some plants.

Adding wood that has not been 'broken down' to some degree causes a nitrogen problem in many cases. The bacteria that breaks down the cellulose in wood is 'fixed' , and can be unavailable to the plant. Addition of nitrogen to the area in question may be needed. Cedar is also a bit acidic as I remember, and high acid ph also causes some problems in the plants ability to uptake nitrogen.
Generally speaking, I do not add wood to my soils for 'texturing', and prefer to use well rotted compost of one sort or another.

Good Job on the plantings!

Also what KK said on the wood/bark. It won't "add" anything to the soil and will rob the soil of beneficial ingrediants. Raspberry plants aren't too sensitive, but until they are well estabished, I would just leave the soil exposed and add fertilizer. You'll be hoeing newly sprouted weeds for a little while now since the soil has been disturbed, so why put stuff in your way?

I need to get out and cane mine....but, but, but there are fish to chase.

Thanks,

The compost is made with the combonation listed. Its pretty well composted. Must be 50 worms per shovel full of compost. The chips are the fine kind that are used for I think hamster bedding we use them in the nesting boxes.

I mixed it in the rocker box thingie. Shoveled the dirt and compost into the rocker thingie. rocked it and ended up the the last picture.

Currently building some smaller planter boxes for the deck

My raspberries went wild last year. I had to thin them out and my dad has replanted the ones I thinned out. I had some large berries last summer. Yes they do like the southern exposure.

Probably a good weekend to get out in the yard. Finish the pruning. Maybe a few other things too. It would be nice to get out and fish too at least for a day.

I will start my peas in a month.

What about beans, is it to early for beans????

WTF...it's february!

don't put anything in until may, except peas and spuds.

think man!...think!

beans...pshaaaaaw

Ugh ok, feels like spring. I am off most of March and would like to pursue the double stripe.

How about tilling is is it too early for tilling

I agree with Stam. Don't jump the gun or you'll have to re-plant everything later. Tilling in some fertilizer now is fine and starting some seeds in containers.........indoors.

I get anxious too, but I don't start planting until the end of April and tomatoes go in around Mother's Day.

By the way, besides my rather large veg garden, I have a small nursery of trees from seedlings to 6 footers. Cedars, hemlocks and spruce. I'm selling them cheap just to cover my cost of the potting soil and containers. A lot less than a real nursery.

Snake

maybe not too early but it could still be too wet, the problem with messin' with the dirt too much now is that if you "clump it up" with a rototiller now you'll be stuck with hard dirt balls all through the summer (similar to blueballs) not good, *if* you planted a cover of ryegrass or clover or peas just let it go until the first good dry spell in april then whack it down and grind it in.

Like stated before, if you must start growing stuff now do peppers and tomatoes from seed and start them indoors...and, you can put in your lettuce, brocolli and cabbage early too...even late march, start from seeds now.

Snakes deal sounds like a good one, you should check that out.

I will just keep building more planters for the deck.

I am envious! The only way I could get my soil to stick together is if I used Elmers glue!

I have been amending the sand and gravel here for 8 years. It's pathetic.

I'm lucky, good dirt here....I've been growin' stuff here for over 20 years and it just keeps getting better and better, this is last years startup, I've got a combo of winter peas, rygrass and crimson clover on it now, with a full row of garlic under a bunch of mulch since october, about 7 different varieties.



I piled about a yard of horseshit on the rhubarb..so aunty, if you like pie I can bring you more rhubarb than you can ever use when we go shrimpin.

I've got to get a camera and start posting pics. Stam, our gardens look pretty much the same........similar dimensions and 8' fence to keep deer out, but I've got a grape arbor for an entry way, small goldfish pond, and green house.

Hey Jason, I'm freaking out. Your dog could be my dog's twin. Red cattle dog named Kit, a 4 1/2 year old firecracker. Very cool.

Snake

Mom's rhubarb pie.......drooool

I'm garden friendly. Lots of peppers, speaking of I pickled Japs like Stam but mine were too hot to eat. Last year my Anaheims were loaded. Didn't know what to do with all of them so gave a ton away. Cutting back on the peppers this year.

Butternut squash is now the king of the garden. I train them to climb and they do really good. They store real well in the shed until January then they start getting rotten.

Early girl tomatoes are the only tomatoes I've grown for the last 6 years. I'm tempted to switch for variety, but it's hard to risk the guaranteed results.

Artechokes? If you have the room, you gotta try them. Cool plants and if you let the choke bloom the flower is really cool.

I roast them on the bar'B then peel the hide off, pull out the guts and freeze on a cookie sheet then vac-pac them.....never have too many! jalapenos heat is a hit and miss deal, one time they will kill ya', next time they are too mild, if they seem too hot cut them in half and pull the seeds out, the heat is in the seeds and gristle that holds them in place, brine them overnight in one gallon of water mixed with 1 cup pickling salt, then mix apple cider vinegar, sugar and water for the pickling solution...can't miss. I've done up to 5 gallons in a year and still ran out.

So you soak WHOLE japs in the brine overnight, drain, then pickle/can them?

I just pickled them whole and my 100% beaner wife can't eat them. Maybe the brine cuts the heat.

Like you said Jap heat is hit or miss. I read hot ones come from struggling plants. It really suks making a batch of atomic buffalo turds that come out too hot to eat and then other times they aren't hot at all.

For the peppers do you plant them againt a wall or something? (to help retain heat) I tried them but the plants didn't do well.

yeah...whole, here's what you need to do, take a skinny small thin knife (fillet knife) and poke a hole all the way through, right through the middle then brine them whole, the water and salt will fill up the inside and that seems to flush some of the heat and dissipate it, if the peppers are already mild is makes them even weaker though, then pickle/can them.

jason, yeah, put them up against a sunny wall...even back it with some black plastic and/or fill a bunch of 1 litre pop bottles spray bomb them black and surround each plant (five or six per plant), it really makes a difference early in the year when the days are warm but the nights are not.

Thanks Stam. I'll try that

another bonus is that you get a blast of pickle juice when you bite into them.

I did tomatoes againt a wall last year and they were better than ever, so peppers like that also.

Is there anything else that likes the extra heat?

hemp..?

Nice looking garden, stam.
When we lived outside of Ephrata, we had a 75 x 150 garden with 12 fruit trees, raspberries, asparagas and several other year to year things already planted The woman we bought the house from was showing us what was planted and was real proud of the Evergreen Blackberries she got to grow in the hot weather there. She got kinda pissy when I laughed and told her when I was kid my Dad had me chop blackberries when I was a bad kid and asked if she wanted to dig them out and take them with her as I was getting rid of them. She gave us a long speech about how difficult they were to grow and how I should not tear out what she'd spent all her time cultivating. Since she had our money, I just asked her again if she wanted them and she left in huff. The years we have a pethora of peppers, I crank up the blender and make sauce to put on enchiladas, tacos etc.

So, anyone have a trick to burn the hide off the Anaheims?
I planted some Poblanos last year and they did good. Fatter than an Anaheim but about the same flavor.

And those seem to be quite colorful worms indeed

You just said it...burn the hide off of them, I use a briquet bar-b-q, sit out on the lawn under the apple trees with a cold beer or three and put them on the grill 8 or 10 at a time, first they blister a little..keep going until they are nearly all black, you'll need to "stick" some of them otherwise they'll explode, keep turning them until the whole thing is blistered and black, then put them in a paper grocery bag and roll it shut...just keep adding until you are done, once they are cool the hide peels right off and the stem and seed pod pull right out, I usually eat about a dozen during the process.

When it comes to growing peppers I wish I lived in eastern washington....other than that I'm glad I don't.

And they work, as it seems

Well wholly hell WTF was I thinking, stam you hit the nail on the head (way to early). On the upside, since I started early when the mice found my peas (wiped them out). I was able to get some more planted and now have peas that are about 6 inches tall.


I would really like to do peppers and have some that I started from seeds, I have a area that is full sun. But am concidering doing them in a small green house instead.


Any pepper help will be appricated, I started bannana peppers jalapenos, palambos and cayanne. Going to buy some bell pepper starts.

If you don't have a greenhouse, you should consider one. That's where my master gardener friend grows her peppers that she sells at Farmers Markets.

I have an "A" frame built out of 2x2's over my one and only raised bed. I have rodent issues and they will gobble my asparagus in one night if I don't protect them. Plastic sheeting didn't hold up, so we covered it with fairly sheer burlap. Water, sunlight and air can get in, and some heat builds. Has worked well so far. Once the bulk has been harvested, we allow the remaining spears to go to seed and remove the cover.

I've put in 1/2 my walla walla sweets in raised beds and two rows of corn(different varieties) are in and should be breaking through in a couple of days. There is a lady in town that sells tomato plants (over 30 varieties) and peppers and she is open for this season's business this Saturday. I'll be there. Probably won't put the tomatoes in the ground yet, just in the green house for another week or two. Need sun!

Snake

All I know is that Stam is the master gardner! That pile of rhubarb he gave me cut up enough to make 3 pies.

The rhubarb pie I made yesterday was awesome!

Got some good eats there, Stam!

not me.

I just like rootin' around in the dirt after work....some sh.it grows...some don't.

master gardeners *know* why some sh.it grows and some don't.



rhubarb, lots of garlic, more walla walla's, brocolli, cauliflower, a bunch of cabbage (sauerkraut) leeks, carrots, peas...a measured ton of spuds, (yellow fins, yukons, a couple of red varieties)....hmmm what else? some basil and multiplier onions, romaine and red leaf lettuce.

planted the first corn and beans last night....might be too early but, WTF.

next will be some squash, zuchinni, more corn....peppers and tomatoes, lemon cucumbers...then more corn. and last but not least..

Grapes, strawberry's some bigfatblackberries, and blueberries surround the whole mess and they are all lookin' good, two frost peach trees and a handful of ancient apple trees round out the garden.




and....more corn.

I stopped by your place Stam and put a few seeds of my own in the ground. It's ok if you prune them some after the weather gets a little warmer, but I'll be there to harvest them early in the fall.