Work, but little to show for it...

We redesigned the layout of the garden into thirds rather than quarters. We now have one third devoted to the Ruth Stout method and the other two thirds containing double dug beds as advocated by John Jeavons - quite a contrast in labor...

Why do I say we have little to show for our work? We have had frost after frost, wind and more wind, and unseasonably cool daytime temperatures (10 degrees F below normal), and drought conditions.

On May 24th all of our tomato, pepper, and squash transplants were killed by an unpredicted frost on the first night that they were placed out to harden off! We had frost nearly every night since then through June 4th! Potato shoots have been killed off and all beans that had emerged were killed also. Needless to say everything else has been slooooowwwww to emerge.

A planting we will go...

Today - Mother's Day - I made a little progress with planting the narrowest and longest arc of the garden. About a third of the bed has been double dug, had sod/thatch placed ten inches below the soil, watered thoroughly, and back filled with A horizon material. A final seedbed was prepared by belly rubbing an inch of vermicompost on top. Using a 9" isosceles triangle as a template - Onions, Sugar Snap Peas, and Carrots were planted in rotation with a full triangle devoted to each crop.

What do I expect? Onions and peas - are considered "antagonists" according to Jeavons "How To Grow More Vegetables" - does this apply to sugar snap peas? I don't know but carrots need lots of nitrogen and I expect the peas to provide this as an intercrop...I'm actually expecting all of them to thrive...

The plane, the plane...

With apologies to you Fantasy Island addicts...a plan has now emerged from the injured gardener...

Patience...will be required.

Last years plots will receive the following treatment(s):

• Green manure plots (2) will be allowed to grow until the clover looks like it is taking off - the rye has started to thrive already. When this happens they will be turned over and planted with a mixture meant to produce a crop and build OM...just what is not clear yet.
• The intercropped plots (4) will be left until their N-fixer covers (planted late) start to thrive, then they will be covered in "belly rub" vermicompost, and then turned over. They will be planted in primarily three sister intercrops...

Potato seed has been "planted" in sod sandwiches - to be planted as space becomes available in the new double dug plots. The outside arc along the fence will be planted to combinations of carrots, onions, & super sugar snaps. More later...

Another compost approach...

Yesterday I started a new compost "pile". This time I used a combination of just about everything that I have on hand.

Last fall, I mowed a small plot of grass and left it stacked uncovered for the winter. In addition I have watered it well all spring. When I removed the top layers I found that it was wet internally (photo above) but just beginning to break down if at all.

In addition, I collected from two different friends wood lots a good sized sample of leaf and wood based well composted material and leaf litter. In addition, I collected a small amount of composted cattle manure. With these materials I want to formulate a better compost "starter".

These materials were blended and a small amount was placed in the straw cavity, then covered with a layer of the sod and thatch that I am using for vermicomposting in place.

All of this was covered with a fresh layer of kitchen compost and a small amount of wood ash. Evrything was recovered with the top straw layers, well watered, and will be opened in a month to check on the progress it's made...

Catching up...

As usual with the beginning of May physical gardening activities increase - making writing about them more difficult.

On May 1 - I sowed the seed of Blue Wind broccoli, Caraflex cabbage, Brilliant celeriac, Orion fennel, Orient Express eggplant (zero emergence from first sowing), Winter Density Romaine, Breen Romaine, Cajun Delight okra (already emerging today the 5th), Bottle Gourd Mix (2008 seed from Burpee), Costata Romanesco zuchinni, Spaghetti squash, Black Forest kabocha, Waltham butternut, and Xiang Cai cilantro.

Soil test results got back yesterday and were disappointing at first glance - organic matter only increased from 1.8 to 1.9% over last year - this demonstrates that the addition of deep rooting crops alone will not move the OM level up at an accelerated rate. This sample did not contain any soil from the plots that just had a Fall Green manure and daikon planting. Next year it will be made up of a composite of these 6 - 25 sq. ft. research plots. Otherwise other than nitrogen levels pH and soil fertility factors look about the same or slightly better than last year. The optimistic outlook is that we grew a crop and improved the soil albeit only slightly...Pasha has suggested using the belly rub technique to add some vermicompost to these plots as well and this I will do...but another year will pass before we re-measure the OM of these plots.

As a result of the test, we will have to ensure that we use nitrogen fixers intercropped with not only sweet corn and potatoes, but also carrots, cabbage, greens, tomatoes, peppers, and squashes.

Currently I'm on an injury timeout - my back and right shoulder are giving me great pain as a result of helping a friend move and install about 300" of fencing and then coming home and spending the day on some obsessive double digging...hopefully my miracle working friend the physical therapist can put me on the mend...

Planting time in Abundance...

The first double dug bed of 2009 is now planted - much earlier than last year. It contains red and white organic potato seed. Mars onion sets, red and green romaine lettuce seed, Daikon radishes, garlic transplants, and the flags are reserving spots for snap beans - later in the season.

The basic companion planting spacing tool was the 18" equilateral triangle used by Jeavon's - with modifications for the bed arc.

Bed preparation was a bit unique - 12" of soil (A horizon) was removed, a 10" fork was used to aereate the B horizon, belly rubbed thatch layer was place (upside down) on top of the aereated B horizon and watered thoroughly. This was covered with the next few inches from the top of the A horizon (most rooted zone) and the final layer made up of the well mixed remaining excavated soil.

One remarkable difference in soil temperatures was observed - soil in an undug bed was measured at a temperature of 52.9 F - the double-dug bed was 64.8 F at the same depth - about 5". After planting and a thorough watering with well water about 6PM, the soil temperature was measured to be 59 F at about 5".

A double digging we will go...

On April 24th I began double digging the first arced bed of our circular garden. The soil is covered with a thick thatch of grasses which are just starting to green up (see photo to right) . The soil temperature at 5" depth was 52 F. I observed a few earthworms at work and the soil moisture was just about perfect for working the soil.

This year I allowed the "thatch/sod" layer to dry out in the sun for a short period and then gave it a "belly rub" to remove the loose or loosely adhering soil and micro flora and fauna. As this was rubbed or drummed off it became obvious that it had the texteur of vermicomposted materials - beautiful from a gardener's point of view.

The photo on the left will give you an idea of the thickness of the organic material left after the adherents had been rubbed off. The soil temperature at a 16" depth was 47 F.

And this organic layer was placed on top of the areated B horizon and then thoroughly watered to aid in the composting/breakdown process.

And this is what the first arc looked like with the first two flat shovel widths double dug, composted and turned over.

Soil sample & more...

On Wenesday April 15th the weather was perfect for pulling a soil sample. I sampled in four different spots from last years plots - using the augur from AMS. It worked great and the structure (crumb) of the samples was visibly better than last year. It will be interesting to see this year's results for organic matter - two of the four samples had residual clumps of the sod that I buried afull 12" deep last year (see photo). It was a dry year...

On Friday April 17th planted seeds of Blue Wind Brooccoli, Caraflex cabbage, Orient Express eggplant, Juliet grape tomato, New Girl slicing tomato, and Sam Marzano plum tomato. Today is the last quarter moon.

Celeriac, Sacred tobacco, and tobacco alata were transplanted this week. Peppers are nearly ready to transplant...

Pepper power...

The three pepper varieties that I planted on April Fool's Day are beginning to emerge.

I've transplanted to "growing bags" the white sage, garlic, cilantro, and fennel - all four responded well to the new growing media - a 2 to 1 mix of a Ball commercial germination mix and the sandy undersoil from our newly dug well.

I've agreed to give a talk for Earth Day on composting in the biointensive growing system - with very little effort - Mr. Google - I found a very good introductory web site with a lot of useful information about composting - http://www.composting101.com/ - enjoy.

The ground is still somewhat frozen here but we have placed the fence posts for 1885 sq. ft. area that will contain our plots and food plants. It is a circle 49' in diameter.

Kicking it up a notch...

Set germination bed heater up a notch and planted pepper seed. Johnny's recommends between 80 and 90 F for peppers - mine has been maintaining about 75 F.

April Fool's Day

Schedule calls for sowing seed of the pepper varieties - Ace, Lipstick, and Serrano del Sol - in spite of the fact that outside the weather is frightful.

Celeriac has begun emerging, cilantro is up, as well as fennel.

Have done considerably more mowing with scythe and have a reasonable stack of straw for garden use. Also ordered a soil auger to try a modification of the double digging technique in our particular soil type. Ground is still frozen for the most part...

Too scythe, or not to scythe...

Today I had an inquiry from a friend about mowing with a scythe...and I'm passing along the advice that I sent him...

First, I am not an expert in any sense of the word, second, I had a bad experience with scythes when I was much younger, the one that I was given to use was heavy and dull - both of which made for a bad mowing experience...so I did a little research before I purchased one myself.

One of the first things that I learned was that there is a difference between European and American scythes - this was best explained in this article from the Scythe Supply.

The next step in learning for me was watching a mowing video - which shows what is possible...this one is of a 14 year old expert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugSO54WKm8I

This Scythe buyer's guide probably contains way too much information for the casual reader but I found it to be very useful - and it caused me to begin looking for a local source to fit me with a good european style scythe and the tools that I need to maintain it.

Fortunately for me, this was about an hours drive away at http://mysticprairie.net/. Botan has a scythe shop and expertly fitted me with the correct scythe and was able to supply me with the instruction and tools that I needed to maintain my blade. He does ship scythes and accessories and you can e-mail him for a current price list. Botan also has a number of videos posted on youtoub http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdE3ZHRwo2c and other links from his website.

If you cannot find a local supplier of this quality here is another fabulous site that provides numerous blade choices and expert fitting http://www.scythesupply.com/index.htm.

If you want to look for a less expensive scythe, which has some maybe grudging endorsement from the scythe buyer's guide , Johnny's sells this "folding" one for a very low price. They also have an informational article on peening by scything expert Peter Vido. However, I would not purchase my accessories for sharpening and peening from Johnnny's.

Each person who is mowing with a scythe will need a sharpening stone and a holder for it that will contain water. It is essential to keep the blade sharp during mowing. I would start with just one hammer and anvil for peening (presumably not every blade will need to be peened at the same time) and I purchased a sandflex medium grain hand block for cleaning and polishing my blade after peening.

Emergence...

The first few seedlings of sacred tobacco, tobacco alata, and grandfather sage are beginning to emerge.

Catch up...

Have sown a few more seeds - soaked 24hrs. - then planted 6 seeds of fennel, 6 seeds of cilantro, and 30 seeds of celeriac. Johnny's will be my primary seed source this year. I add a reference site from Cornell University that I have found useful for general information on nearly every crop that you can think of http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/index.html.

Have been mowing to harvest straw for garden needs.

Mooning...

Today after soaking overnight, I planted seeds of White Sage (Grandfather Sage), Native American (Sacred) Tobacco, and Tobacco Alata from The Redwood Seed Company - seeds were from last year. The moon is between full (3/11) and last quarter (3/18).

The Alata is supposed to be a night blooming fragrant flower which was eaten late last season before we ever saw it flower.

The Sacred Tobacco flowers (right) opened early and late in the day and attracted hummingbirds.

The white sage never did much of anything for me last year.

In the beginning...

Today I planted a few sprouting garlic cloves to start the gardening season - here in the Indian Head region of Wisconsin.



This blog is to chronicle the exploits of this venture - the goal is to produce as much food as possible with the minimum of fossil fuel inputs.



Last year I had trial plots of mixed plantings design to grow "soil" - with local agrarian modifications to the "double dig" techniques advocated by John Jeavons in his book "How to grow more vegetables".



My objective is to build our soil - a Chetek Sandy Loam to a 5 or 6% organic matter - with the vegetation it supports naturally, green cover crops, and the household compost that we produce. I am using the Timberleaf Soil Testing service because of their familiarity with the Grow Biointensive methods.



According to our initial soil test (photo right)last May - our soil was 1.8% OM after 14 years of fallow - originally planted in Timothy.