Back to Eden Gardening

[Beekissed]

Got the 4 dwarf apple trees planted today...decided to plant them up next to the garden so they can benefit from the nutrient runoff from these wood chips. I'm also going to start the wood chips around them as well, so put two cattle panel rings of 2 ft high, lined with fencing to hold in the material, around two of the trees. Will do the same around the other two trees when I get more cattle panels.

Planted those with chicken compost in the hole...basically just leaf mold on steroids, as it has composted along with the chicken manure. I'm hoping that adds the necessary fungi along the roots for good growth and nutrient uptake.

Checked the onion seeds to see if anything is happening there...the seed tape has literally disappeared. Not a shred to be found. But did find a few tiny sprouts of onion under there, so I need to learn some patience. As usual.

The peach trees are continuing to bloom....never saw them bloom this much or for this long before. The good news is that every kind of pollinator out there is working those blossoms, especially a whole bunch of wild honeybees!

This bodes well for my attempts to bait in a swarm this year. Not a honeybee to be found all last year, not a single one except a lonely scout bee around this time of the season, but then no more bees.

Worked on the hive today and am getting excited about getting it done..this little nightstand is the perfect proportion to take a Langstroth frame, which is an answer to prayer so I shouldn't be surprised. I ordered some Lang frames that are designed for use in a top bar or Warre hive if desired and I will modify them even further by leaving the bottom bar off the frame and cutting the side bars down a bit.

I'll post pics when I get it all done and painted up...it should be mighty cute when all is said and done. Then comes the true test...will the bees see it as a potential home?

 

[Beekissed]

Finally got my pepper seeds in the tray today and also a tray of maters, with more coming along tomorrow.

More taters up in the garden and the rhubarb is up bigger as well. Saw some radishes up.

Saw little pink buds out on the new apple trees and also a few out on the big trees also. At least I know there are plenty of pollinators working the buds this year. If we get as many peaches as blossom on the peach trees, we'll be propping those limbs like crazy.

Lilac bush also has bloom starting to form and blossom forming on the smaller clematis vines. Spring is springing!!!

Another little blossom has arrived here...my second grandchild was born today and is just as pretty as a flower! She's healthy and beautiful, a huge blessing from God.

 

[ninnymary]

Congratulations on that new grandchild. You can never have enough of them. You sure are getting showers of blessings!

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Finally got some seeds into seed trays, only 2 wks behind schedule but more than a week ahead of last year's attempt.

Got 8 1/2 doz. maters in trays~Brandywine, Pruden's Purple, Big Rainbow, Jetstar, Roma, and Sweet One Millions.

6 doz. peppers in trays and this time I've studied up on how to get them to germinate better, so they are in shallow soil and sitting on heating pads right now. They are sitting in a window in the cabin while the other trays are in Mom's garden tub, where there's good light all day long from her skylight. It's warm in that cabin...supposed to snow tonight, so the wood stove feels GOOD.

Peppers include~Kaleidoscope Mix(Green peppers, purple, red, pale yellow, etc.), sweet banana peppers, hot banana peppers, jalapenos, and some unknown little sweet pepper from the store....looks like a little hot pepper but has a really good flavor and is sweet. My brother requested that one.

Also did a dozen of celery...not sure if those will come up. Those seeds are as tiny as baby fleas. And a half dozen chives.

Now...I still have a wash pan I usually plant with something, usually flowers, herbs or some such, so I'll have to decide what to plant in that.

Went and got a load of free straw again today...loose straw, most dry and not composted, but some of the black gold underneath. Just got it before this squall hit....been blowing hard all day but it's really roaring out there right now. Sounds like a freight train rolling up on that ridge!

Will place that straw around the newly planted apple trees. Since we are getting a locust hatch this year, I'll have to protect those trees as soon as the blossoms have cycled through. I've seen what the locusts can do to young fruit trees and it ain't pretty. They can be the death of young trees and it seems they especially love young fruit trees for some reason.

 

[journey11]

Congratulations on the new grandbaby, Beekissed!

I'm hoping to get my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant seeds started this evening. It seems like every year I get held up on planting by the torrential rains and risk them getting rootbound, so by my calculations, now is not too late to start. (Of course, the rain won't be stopping you now that you BTE.)

 

[Beekissed]

Yep...no more worries about too wet to plant. And I thank God for it!

Thanks, Journey....she's a real snugly bug and I can't wait to get some real time holding her. LOVE me some babies!!!

 

[Beekissed]

Rhubarb is up well and looking good. Potatoes had gotten frosted in that cold snap, but they are still there under the leaves, just waiting on the warmth. I dug down to look at one of the sprouts and they are as thick as my thumb, with roots coming off the sprout at various stages and more hair like roots off the seed potato itself. Big ol' worms under there, just working on all that good compost piled up around the spuds.

Garlic is growing and the onions are tiny little threads and finally coming out of the soil. Found a new rabbit hole in the deer netting fence, which could explain why my sugar snap peas are sparse and I've seen no carrots or lettuce yet.

Will get the fencing up next week, if the Lord wills it.

Have to reseed some tomatoes tomorrow and will hope they get big enough to even plant this spring. My gardening is not going to plan this year at all...does it ever?

 

[baymule]

Congrats on the new grand baby! I know Grandma will see to it that she knows all about gardening and real living. God sure knew what he was doing when he invented grandparents!

 

[ninnymary]

It seems like forever since we had an update from you @Beekissed . But I guess it's been only 2 weeks. Anything happening in that Back to Eden garden? I love to hear your reports.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Absolutely nothing....so far I'm incredibly unimpressed with the BTE method, though it could be that I skewed results by adding leaves to the layers. Slugs are consuming my potato vines, down deep in the leaf mound and up above, everything that is currently growing looks malnourished in some way, just like last year.

I haven't side dressed anything with nitrogen/chicken litter as they advise, so that may help but I'm seriously doubting it.

Looks to be another year of extreme bug predation as well, with everything that is currently growing looking very bug eaten....that's not something we are used to here at all, so I'm attributing that to the chemical signals being put out there by these plants in distress.

Lettuce, carrots, onion seeds, sugar snap peas, broccoli, etc. were planted weeks ago....nothing has come up. And those were planted on the soil~not in the chips~and covered with potting soil. Nothing.

So far my garden looks like a barren wasteland, much like last year when the chips were new against the soil...I could understand last year, but this year they've had a chance to compost down and it's looking much the same.

Getting a lot of rain right now and that might factor in, but I doubt it. The garlic is growing but is stunted, curled and yellow looking. Strawberry plants put out weeks ago have not grown a single inch.

One never knows until they try a method if it's going to be successful, but for better or worse, I'm committed to this now and will have to ride it out....maybe it will all be a lovely, rich and verdant garden in about 3 yrs, but who's to say?