Critter and Garden Update

Ok, here's a catch-up blog posting. The time away from regular computer work was supposed to help but ..

- day one found the milking goat's hooves being tended to by a pro because they hadn't been trimmed. EVER. they were turned in, making soft pads instead of calluses, and causing her to be very grumpy. no wonder.

-day two saw my hand getting sliced by a chicken coop when I tripped over one of our goats, and then on the way to get it taken care of, got a traffic ticket

-day three showed up with a sudden mouse invasion in our barn and an allergy attack for all of us here

-day four gave us progress (finally) on finishing the outside goat pen AND cancelling our quail and silkie chicken order until we have more time to devote to them

-day five found us in the middle of a wind storm, with tomatoes and squashes blowing nearly horizontal.

... other things ...

...our corn, sunflowers, cucumbers, melons and other seeds planted are bursting from the surface of the soil. Since we got such a late start on all gardening things, the corn probably won't be mature before the first frost but will provide a good place for beans to climb, and a windbreak for other plants.

...Hubby stepped on a screw (thankfully didn't go through to his foot) and I put my hand on a screw (yes, I did get impaled) plus cut both index fingers on baling wire. Can't really use either hand to hold tools and can barely type. Argh.

...Tomatoes (several varieties), black beauty eggplant and mini red bell peppers potted and against the workshop (windbreak). Have more still to pot up and get outside or in the green room.

...Planted many seedlings (squashes and cucumbers and 1 cantaloupe) in the plastic kiddie pool "container" that are having a growth spurt. Mulched with grass hay yesterday then watered real good. Hope the horrible wind this week doesn't kill them. And some rain would help save our backs and my cut-up hands.

...Flowers on our potatoes in boxes! More specifically, it's those potatoes that I had bought at the store to eat (last October?) for .99 cents for 10 pounds ... but they developed sprouts on them before I had a chance to eat them. Yes, using the chicken-poo boxes (from when the chicks were babies in boxes) worked very well, because those are the potatoes growing the best! The ones in boxes without chicken poo are lagging behind, and further behind are the rose finn fingerling potatoes that I bought specifically to plant. Hmmm... will definitely have to remember all of this for next year. Um... now that some are flowering, wonder what I'm supposed to do next?

...Planted more of those sprouted store-bought eating/baking potatoes in a kiddie pool, along with onion sets, soy beans and hutterite (white) soup beans.

...Took video of the trimming/cleaning of the "milking goat" 's hooves. Person who did it says it looks like they were NEVER done. Unless goats have access to lots of rocks (for climbing) then goat hooves need to be trimmed regularly .. about every 6-8 weeks. This goat is over 2 years old so they had grown in and around and couldn't allow calluses to grow on her little pads. Will try to post the video on youtube soon because it accurate shows how horrible the goat's hooves were when we got her. Really is abuse. Shame!

...Found an alternative source of goat milk. Really had to since the one we had refused to be milked without two additional helpers, taking over an hour a day. Way too long.

...Made our first raw milk goat yogurt and it did amazing! Very thick and quite tart. Subsequent batches will get honey and vanilla mixed in before getting processed. Meanwhile, Hubby's yogurt for this morning breakfast has a spoonful of blackberry jam in it.

...Used more raw goat milk to make a rice pudding, but forgot to add sugar. Hubby's in heaven anyway.

...Henny Penny's chicken house has been moved into a 6x10 dog kennel in the backyard. Finally. Spent her first night there so waking up this morning to the possibility of bugs and the definite of direct sunshine. Can barely wait to check on her!

...The goats spent their first night in their outside pen. It's about 9 times bigger than where they have been, so they were quite confused as to where to lay down for the night. Just hung around the gate, I guess hoping we'd come back. Hubby and I had to go out after dark and corral them into the little tarp-covered home we made for them. Guess we'll have to do that for several nights until they get the idea that it'll be warmer in there. That's also where we put the hay. Waiting for sun-up so I can look out of my window and see what they are up to!

Still need to take pictures of our garden. Coming up this next week, we hope to:

...Finish another outside chicken coop for the 7 week old chicks and move them in
...Pot up the rest of the tomatoes and peppers and move outside
...Build frames for berry bushes/brambles
...Plant the berry bushes/brambles

I'll try to post a couple of times a week. As other gardeners know, Summer is our busiest time!

Growing Potatoes in a Trash Can or Bag

I got my seed potatoes the other day in the mail: Rose Finn Apple. Fingerlings. They are laying on a table in my grow room (because the instructions said to do that 1-2 weeks before planting). Plus I have store-bought baking potatoes from last Fall that have begun to sprout (I know... these might not produce very well so I'll double or triple how many I place in each container).

At our last house in 2008, we used tires to grow potatoes. What worked fine until a neighbor played a little trick on us, and we lost all of our potatoes. Plus you need to be really careful about using tires that haven't had "fix-o-flat" used in them. I guess we could try again, but we don't have any extra tires around anymore.

Somewhere I'd read that it's possible to grow potatoes in hay/straw. Lay some down, place the cut seed potatoes, cover with hay and keep covering as the leaves and stems get taller. Always leave a little leaf showing.

That seemed easy, so I thought maybe I'd do that. Take my 2x2 frames and fill with hay, then as I added more hay, add more frames till it gets kinda tall and allow to die back. I already have the wood for frames. We have plenty of hay for the critters, so it would be no problem to use some for the potatoes.

But then, as I was researching how long it takes potatoes to grow to maturity, I came across a little thing about how to grow potatoes in a trash can.

I know. Convenient!

Here's a link: http://www.ehow.com/how_2222722_grow-potatoes-garbage-can.html using a 30-gallon trash can.

This makes me think... regular sized kitchen trash cans are available at the dollar store for about $3 each. Our soil here is mostly sand anyway. Plus I have lots of cheap large black trash bags and empty Miracle Grow potting soil bags. I did a bit more research, and made the following plan:

-start now... a few weeks before the "last frost" for Zone 5
-a week or two before planting date, set seed potatoes where exposed to light and temps between 60-70 degrees
-a day or 2 before planting, use sharp clean knife to slice potatoes (1-2 eyes per part)
-buy a few 30-gallon kitchen trash cans (or use big bags)
-somehow label the can/bag with what kind of potatoes will be grown in it
-drill (or poke) 3 holes in the bottom of each can/bag
-drill (or poke) 2-3 holes around outside of can/bag, 3-6 inches up
-place a couple of layers of newspaper in bottom (to slow drainage)
-add couple of inches of hay or shredded newspaper
-add a few inches of potting soil
-add 3-4 potato eyes (eyes pointed up), spread out
-cover with another few inches of potting soil
-water but don't allow to get soggy; keep moist
-place can/bag in area where it will get 4-6 hours of sunlight
-bring can/bag inside if threatened with frost, and back out when it's "safe"
-... or place the lid over it at night (off during the day)
-in a few days, you'll see sprouts
-add a little more compost, soil or hay (we'll probably use hay)
-leave about 1 inch of leaves uncovered
-keep steadily moist and mounded (but not soggy)
-keep adding compost and so on, leaving that 1 inch showing
-on very hot days, move cans to where they can be shaded
-make sure bags or trash cans are supported so they don't fall over when full
-little offshoots form on the growing stem on which taters grow all the way up the stem
-by end of growing season, can/bag will be full
-if frost comes before you're ready to harvest, bring inside if possible
-do not expose potatoes to sunlight (causes greening which is somewhat poisonous)
-when flowers start, you can harvest new potatoes (usually in July)
-when the flowers fade and plant stalks die/turn yellow, the bigguns start to grow
-when ready to harvest, allow soil to dry out 2-3 days
-gently dump entire can or split bag onto a tarp
-pick out potatoes, handling as little as possible
-place the potatoes in sun for 2-3 hours to dry (some ref says 2-3 days)
-brush off soil (do NOT wash until ready to use)
-store in cool dark area (38-40 degrees) between sheets of newspaper
-collect soil from tarp and use again for something else (or place in composter)
-sterilize container with sun or bleach and put away to use next year
-for people who have a long growing season, start Crop #2 mid-June

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Days to Maturity (Potatoes):
Early varieties 70 to 90 days, mid season varieties 90 to 120 days, late varieties 120 to 140 days.
No clue what the baking potatoes I bought at the store to eat are... possibly late? The Rose Finn Apple potatoes take 90-110 days.

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We have so many of those pallets that we got the other weekend, AND I have lots of black trash bags (although they are the cheap kind so I'll double up). And since we have no soil, just sand, for this first year here, I'm buying big bags of Miracle Grow potting soil; I think I'll keep those bags and use them! I also have big bags from when I bought rice. So we'll place the pallets on the sandy soil where I want the potatoes, and start the potatoes-in-bags there. The pallets will keep the cheap bags from decomposing on the soil and will help the bag heat up. Hopefully not too hot!

= = = =

Note: I read one website where they used cardboard boxes to do this. Hmmm... we just moved and have a ton of empty moving boxes. Perhaps we could use those? Would need to put a bunch of rocks on the bottom so it wouldn't blow away in the huge winds we get here. But wouldn't the boxes get soggy and disintegrate under rains and regular watering? Wouldn't the beginning (bottom) part of the box be shaded so how would the potato plant grow being in the shade?

I also read about growing potatoes in laundry baskets ... they are cheap at the dollar store too. I'd place rocks in the bottom to keep them from blowing away. The only thing I'd be concerned about is the holes in the baskets... (1) wouldn't the soil fall through in which case it's be smarter to use hay, straw or shredded newspaper instead of soil, and (2) the potatoes could possibly poke through which means they'd turn green so maybe the laundry basket could be placed in one of those cheap black trash bags to keep the sun off. Guess it's the same principle as using a milk crate. Anyone?

Has anybody done it in any of these ways? If so, how successful were you? Did you use potting soil (what kind), compost, yard dirt, hay, straw or what? How many potatoes did you get out of each eye (estimate)? What happens when the plant grows taller than the trash can... just let it keep growing and ignore it?

And ... Can this be done indoors with a grow-light? I would think so, wouldn't you?

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HAPPY EARTH DAY

Volcano equals short growing season?

I was reading some info online about the volcano erupting in Iceland. The article mentioned a close-by volcano, and that if they should both go at nearly the same time, it could essentially cause the opposite of global warming (global cooling). The article went on to say that basically, the SO2 that would be thrown into the stratosphere will cool the planet so quickly that we will have several years of bad harvests.

If that's even a slight possibility, then perhaps I should think about our little homestead/hobby farm in a different light. Here at this altitude in the Colorado Rockies, we already have a short growing season (between 90 and 120 days). How much shorter would it become?

I mean, the scientist wasn't talking about another ice age, was he?

-CORN: I had already chosen Black Aztec corn to grow this year, which can be used sweet (immature and yellow) or dried for corn chips and tortillas (mature and black). It has a maturation date between 75 and 90 days. That should work ok, especially since I start it indoors 2 weeks before I transplant outdoors. OR ... maybe next year I'll get Hickory King yellow corn which is good for roasting, grits and cornmeal, and matures by 85-90 days. What is the fastest growing heirloom corn good for sweet and cornmeal?

-SQUASH: The CORNFIELD Pumpkin (pepo) matures in 90 days which is really quick for a pumpkin. Good for growing in the cornfield (hence the name). Small fruits (10-15 pounds). JACK BE LITTLE pumpkins (pepo) are small, grow in about 90 days and are perfect for feeding livestock as well as using for human consumption (not just for decoration!). BUTTERNUT squash (moschata) matures in just 90 days and really stores well for winter. TABLE QUEEN acorn squash (pepo) has a 80 day growing season... short! So... What is the fastest-growing longest-storing heirloom winter squash?

-POTATOES: This is my first year of growing potatoes. Well, not quite true. We tried in 2008 but a neighbor killed them. How quickly do potatoes grow? From planting the seed potatoes to harvesting, how long does it take?

-MILLET/AMARANTH: This is our first year to grow these. From planting seed to harvesting, how long does it take?

Beans and radishes grow really quickly, as do greens, berries, summer squash, and a few other items. If tomatoes are started in doors and helped along with water-wells after planted outdoors, they will produce quite well before 90 days are up.

As long as we have balanced stores (as in storage, not shopping), and if we have sweets from time to time, we should be fine.

We had already started to set up a "grow room" in our house with "natural light" (grow light) bulbs. So far we just have seedlings, plus full-grown lettuce and strawberries. By the end of this Summer we'll have harvested from this room basics like carrots, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, zucchini, etc. Maybe even beans!

Of course, there's always installing a greenhouse which is what we plan to do. Not exactly good for growing grains (corn, amaranth, millet, etc) or winter squash (pumpkin, butternut, etc.) Maybe I could grow these in the yard, and put some in pots too (to bring into the garage during early frosts). Perhaps that would work.

I guess I should re-qualify here that I'm NOT panicking, and I'm not being the little red hen, or crying wolf. We moved to this little 2 acre plot because we want to be self-reliant and grow just about everything we eat. That, of course, includes growing for our chickens, quail, goat and rabbit. So being prepared JUST IN CASE the alertists are right is just a good idea. In my opinion.

Rambling while writing. It's what I do best!