Garden: Potato Project update April 22, 2013

I am still amazed every time I look at the potatoes growing in those laundry baskets. Even if they don't produce any potatoes, they are beautiful to look at. Check out how fast they've grown!! Cool.  I planted some red potatoes in another basket and they are just starting to grow. I also planted some sweet potatoes yesterday--we'll see how they do. So far so good.


Russetts planted 3-6-13



Russetts progress 4-22-13

 

Garden: Update April 22, 2013

The garden has kicked in to super fast growing mode now and all of the beds are filling in nicely. Tomatoes, snap peas, and radishes are ripening, the cilantro, radishes, lettuce are actually bolting and the squash is starting to appear.  The flowers and sunflowers are beginning to bloom, too and the whole garden feels alive.

Nasturtium



Tomatillo  (purple variety I think) Salsa Verde here I come!



Cucumbers and zucchini

First Spring Sunflower (10-12 feet tall)

Pretty sure this is an acorn squash.

Raised bed



Cucumbers and squash




Celery



Snap peas and poppy wildflowers

Chickens: Chicken nipples and poop-free water April 2013

I have longed for a way to water the chickens without refilling AND cleaning the waterer often as I do now. Again, google and YouTube came through for me....Chicken nipples!!! (btw-this will certainly work for other small animals too)  My husband ordered some for me online and they've been sitting on the counter for a few weeks. I've gone over in my mind how I want to use them and came up with several different designs and this morning I finally figured I'd try to make it happen. Online, there are so many ways to make a  poop-free waterer but nothing really caught my eye. I wanted to use something I had around the house to keep costs down but I want it to look good so I began my search around the house. I found an ice cream bucket, empty plastic protein powder jug, and an apple cider vineger bottle.  I practiced on some small breast pump bottles I had laying around to make sure I had the right drill bit. What I found is that the drill bit size will vary based on the thickness of the plastic. My watering nipples came from Hong Kong with no explanation so I had to figure this out on my own.  For instance..the first one I did was with the ACV bottle. I wanted a portable waterer for the chicken playpen that I move around the yard so this was perfect. I've also read that ACV is good in the chicken's water so I didn't even rinse it out. I used a 3/8 in drill bit and loads of teflon tape on the nipples, screwed one in, tested it for leaks and what do you know...Success!! The chickens took to it right away, too. They peck at anything and the red nipple was extremely tempting for them. Awesome!


Watering Nipples




Portable waterer from an Apple Cider Vinegar bottle (plastic)

 I figured since that was successful, I would move on to a bigger one for the coop. This one will be connected to the auto drip system from the adjoining garden so the chickens will have a constant fresh supply of clean poop-free water. At least that's what I see in my head.
I started with the ice cream bucket. Cute and had a handle.. perfect, right? Wrong. What I found with this experiment was that the 3/8 in drill bit was too big. The plastic was much thinner than the ACV lid and even with loads of teflon tape it leaked like crazy. Bummer. But it did look good.

Baby was still sleeping so I moved on to the protein powder jug which had much thicker plastic. This time I used a smaller drill bit (5/16) and moved the drill around a bit to make the hole a bit bigger. The nipples were extremely tight when I screwed them in and after a leak test---again---Success!!  I hung it in the coop and will wait for hubbie to connect it to the auto drip. I'll see if that jug is big enough and if not I'll move on to the cat litter bucket I have waiting in the wings.  It's been a good morning.

Garden: April 4, 2013 update, Bug Spray, DE, and Dave Owens

Planting:
Well, the planting phase of this season is winding down. Now I just have to water and wait. In Phoenix, most veggies must be in the ground by now so they get a good start before the harsh summer kicks in.  Last year I made detailed maps of what, when and where I planted everything but this year I threw caution to the wind and planted in more of a controlled chaotic kind of way. I did pay a little attention to companion planting, nitrogen fixing vs heavy feeders, sun and water needs but for the most part I have no idea what's in the various gardens and I am excited by that. I also planted more flowers than I did last year to attract the bees and just to make things prettier.  It's like a mystery garden and it's fun to be surprised. These past few weeks especially I find myself plopping in a seed here and a seed there of radish, cucumber, peas, beans and sunflowers in open spaces. So we will see, won't we? So exciting!
Harvesting:
I started eating radishes this week and have my first banana pepper and tomatoes and peas popping out. woohoo. Should have cherry tomatoes in my salad by next week.
Bugs:
 For bug control, I whipped up some garlic and hot pepper spray and every morning when the baby takes his first nap, I put on my floppy hat, grab my coffee cup and survey the gardens. I then blast anything that moves.  I'm sure I'm killing innocent "good" bugs but I don't know the difference.  What I do know is that something is causing little holes in the leaves of the beans, radishes, peppers and kohl rabi.  I think I'm totally losing the bug battle but at least I feel like I'm trying. Oh well. I made the spray by pureeing several cloves of garlic with some assorted hot peppers I had frozen from last summer's garden. Dave Owens-the Garden Guy turned me on to that recipe...that and Diatomaceous Earth (DE--food grade)-more on that later. I strain the juice and pour the concentrate into a glass jar. The pulp I freeze in ice cube trays

to sparingly use in soups, etc... I mix a little of the concentrate with water in a spray bottle and keep in the garden. Sometimes I get wild and add a drop of dish soap in.  It's like spraying garlic/pepper salad dressing --smells amazing!!

Book Plug:

Dave Owens site: http://www.gardenguy.com/

His book is my garden bible: Extreme Gardening: How To Grow Organic In The Hostile Deserts

Diatomaceous Earth:

I am not an expert on this but I do use it in the chicken coop and the garden. Here is a good website about DE:  http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

 I put it in a shaker (empty salsa jar with holes poked in the lid) and scatter all around the plants and in the coop bedding.

2 important points:

1. Food Grade only! Not the kind used in pool filters.
2. When they say not to breathe it--they are right!!  It fills up your lungs in a hurry no matter how careful you are. I know first hand.


First Radishes




Back wall bed. Sunflowers, various squash, cucumbers, radishes and miscellaneous flowers. Who knows what else I threw in there..maybe eggplant?? I can't remember.


 



Garden: Great Potato Project Update April 2013

The potatoes continue to grow faster than I can cover them with dirt. Cool!  The red and hot pink baskets below are almost full. Can't wait to see if we really get potatoes out of them.

Potato Project April 4 2013