Derecho?

I hadn't heard of this word until the last week of June 2012.  Check it out.  A Derecho is a straight-line windstorm that often offers up hurricane-force winds.  What we observed after arriving home 48 hours after the storm passed through (we were out of town) seemed to be true to form.  Trees were down everywhere - most snapped like matchsticks.  Our neighbors barn was picked up and moved from its foundation.  Power lines were strewn about and laid across the road like snakes.  We knew the power was out at our home and now we understood it would be awhile before it was back on.  There was much destruction to sift through.

Our home was spared any damage.  My husband likes to make fun of me for wanting to buy a house without large trees in close proximity.  He finally saw firsthand why this is one of my 'things'.  Our gardens were a bit beat up.  Corn was laying flat on the ground.  Hops vines which I had growing in pots were either dead or completely missing.  Yes, completely missing (pot and all) from the property.  Flowers were toppled over.  All in all though, I'll take a beat up garden over a tree on my house.  I propped those corn stalks up.  Cleaned up the debris and we're pretty much in good shape almost a month later.

We did endure 8 days without power during the hottest week of the summer!  The contents of our kitchen fridge/freezer were shot by the time we got home.  We were able to salvage most of what was in our basement freezer like deer meet and broccoli and peas I had just harvested and put up.  That was a relief.  It's just hard to let go of food you work so hard for.  We dumped it all into a cooler and brought it to my freezer at work.  Thankfully there was no loss of power there.  A university has to run and this one did without skipping a beat!  The freezer was so full, I had to duct tape it shut.  Luckily there is also a shower there so we kept mostly clean during that week although it was a little challenging.  It makes you realize just how dependent and vulnerable you are on electricity.  It exposed some of our weaknesses and has encouraged us to make some changes, so this is good.

After a week of powerless living, thankfully, we had a vacation planned and were able to get out of town for some R&R.  We're home now and all seems to be back in order.  Lots to write about and will do that soon!

No title necessary....

This greenery (and reddery!) speaks for itself.  This year's broccoli harvest has been epic and free from pesky caterpillars.  The heads have been divinely uniform (a virgo's dream) and plentiful.  It gives me motivation to forge ahead and try for the fall crop that never seems to happen.  The peas were placed in a more accessible bed (last year they were in the back of our front flower patch) so harvests have been easy and therefore more frequent.  All is well in the 'garden of plenty' and I appear to be staying on top of things for once.  This usually changes, but for now, I'm going to revel in my successes!

Garden mathematics

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The Colorado potato beetles are back.  I got a head start with their control this year.  I waited far too long in 2011.  Everything turned out okay but I do believe the plants suffered a bit and the resulting yields weren't anything to write home about.  This week I've made a point to go to the potato patch every other day or so to pick these suckers off the leaves.  Luckily, they're slow and apparently tasty (to chickens).  I collect them in a bowl and drop them into the chicken run and the ladies make quick work of them.  It's fascinating to take a pesty protein and turn it into a more delicious one.  It reminds me how much living on this earth means that you participate in one big cycle of life.  Thank you chickens, thank you bugs.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday on a Monday...

Hops trellis progress!

Garden notes...

We took a deep breath after our hops/septic adventure last week and regrouped.  We think we were much too far away from the septic field to have hit it, but we definitely encountered a suspicious, random patch of crushed gravel about a foot below the soil surface.  What was this doing in the middle of an old pasture?  We're not sure, but we suspect we may have been near the 'reserve' area for our septic system.  This is the area that has been set aside for a new system, should the current one fail.  We've certainly done some learning this week.

So - we tilled up a new area for our hops patch and will give it another go.  Luckily, our rhizomes are growing well in pots, so we still have a little time.  We don't expect much from them this year but we wanted to at least get this thing going.  When you're a gardener, you know you need to be patient, plan ahead and have faith in that which is yet to come.  : )

In other news, the broccoli plants are forming flowers as well as that famous cruciferous 'stank'.  I've sprayed at least one round of Bacillus thuringiensis for caterpillar control and was happy to finally find this product offered at the big box stores.  Our local nurseries don't always have it on hand.  The strawberries are trying to spit out another round of fruit and the raspberries are coming on-line.  Here's hoping the birds stay away.  The snow peas are popping.  I blanched a batch of them this week in hopes of FoodSaver(ing) them for the freezer.  No dice.  Pulled that puppy out of the cabinet after its long winter slumber and was met with sealing silence.  It was old and tired so I expected this outcome sometime soon.  We're biting the bullet and pulling in some reinforcements.  Can't make it through a summer without one!

On a final note, my zinnias started flowering.  Good grief.  The colors are absolutely to.die.for.  Seriously.  This is the 'Benary's Giant Mix' from Johnny's Selected Seeds.  The photos on the website do not do the colors justice.  Rich and delicious they are.  Do yourself a favor and grow some!

Sunday afternoon vacation

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon when you're tired, sweaty and frustrated after potentially digging into your septic drain field while trying to install support poles for your hops plants?

You drop everything and go to the river for a float.  Instant relaxation.  Instant vacation.  Thanking my lucky stars to have this in my 'backyard'.

Cattle panels - not just for cattle!

Thanks to another time-sucking website - a.k.a. Pinterest - I have discovered something very 'pinteresting'.  Cattle panels!  I knew of their existence prior to seeing them on this fun little site, however, they were, in my eyes, previously reserved for my cattle farming neighbors that are dotted up and down our pretty little valley.  No, no.  They are not just for the cattle farmers.  They are for you and they are for me.  Look at all the fun things you can do with a cattle panel!

Thankfully I made this discovery before the 2012 growing season.  I've been trying to solve a tomato support problem for many years now -  without spending a million dollars.  I once had a client who let me purchase these Texas Tomato Cages for his garden.  They were truly fantastic and I highly recommend them if you can afford the price.  I am however, trying to find a better way to make tomato support happen on a shoestring budget.  I like to grow an indeterminate type of tomato called San Marzano.  It's great for sauces and processing which is mainly what I like to do with a tomato since I can't stand to eat one raw (crazy, I know!).  So, by the end of July, these tomatoes are growing like drunken fools, sprawled out all over the place.  They need assistance and those little round cages you get at one of the big box stores ain't gonna cut it!

So, cattle panels it is.  So far, so good.

I purchased 3 panels from our local hardware store and sandwiched two rows of San Marzanos between them.  I plan to tie them to the panels and place side supports through the panel slots as needed (if needed).  The triangular support to the right of the rows I made with the excess panel material that I cut off from the ends.  I zip-tied them together and the resulting structure is VERY sturdy.  That lone tomato is a 'Juliet' which I planted for the husband.  It's a grape-type that's a great little snack (if you like raw tomatoes!).  

These panels appear to be able to withstand the test of time.  They're tough and heavy though, so heads up.  You will also need a good pair of bolt cutters if you plan to trim them down.  The best part is that there will be no storage issues after the growing season is over.  I plan on resting them against the garden fence for the winter.  Voilà!