Diary

Sunday, May 07, 2023

Today’s forecast is 12c and this is the first day this year when I felt like working outside the entire day. After lunch the air became chilly, but that biting north-easterly wind was gone.

The pairs of fruit trees (apple and pear) that I left on the front lawn appear to have survived the winter. Tiny red buds appear at the tops of their six-inch stems.

I must put the fruit trees on plates after lunch, otherwise their roots will tap into the lawn.

Several glades of crocus have appeared where they were left last year. The bulbs I planted in the east end of the southern bed have not yet shown shoots.

Around the tree remnants of the original settings have appeared. These are left-over bulbs that I missed while harvesting last year. Year by year these bulbs will propagate and I can harvest their offspring.

A disappointment to me. I hoped for a complete cover of colour over my rockery last year and this year, but I the crocus appear not to do well in the rockery. Perhaps the soil is just too shallow.

But my new glades look great.

Thirteen bins of compost from last year’s grass clippings and sawdust.

I broke open this bin two weeks ago by removing one of the four panels. After lunch I chipped and dug away a six-inch face layer. Doesn’t this look great. Free!

Here is my first harvested barrow of compost. Chunks of grass clippings from the skin/crust abound but they will be useful at the destination.

I had previously shaved the western end of the southern bed to make the eastern half super-high. Now I wait for rain to settle it all down in time for spring planting.

And now I can start dumping compost into the hole made at the western end.

Once this bed is done I can go to work on the northern bed, shaving towards the eastern end and filling with compost at the western end.

Once the crops are in, I use the soil, which was composted the previous year and finished breaking down this year, into tubs for my winter-time practice of propagating and potting house-plants.

Monday, May 08, 2023

The first of my forty garlic bulbs have poked through the plot built with shaved soil.

The first of what I think is a mass of crocus bulbs is poked through.

And a first row of hyacinths in the driveway beds.

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

We are scheduled for three days of sunshine at 8, 11, and 8c.

Seed Catalogue

I had a couple of dozen of bulbs, mostly unknown, and in various stages of decomposition or growth. I planted them in my fifth panel of the southern bed. Those that survive I will label and carefully set out in their proper beds when autumn arrives. In the meantime I may have a little bit of beauty near the food crops.

I grabbed the first of two artichoke root-cellar pails from my front door. Thinking it would be a simple process I began to sieve them through my first sieve created in spring 2019.

Pointless task. I was not able to eat through all my tubers, and the entire tub has sprouted. On the surface you’d think “pick off the top layer, then tip out some gravel, then pick off the next layer, ...”. No. Each tuber has sent its roots to the base of the tub.

I set out about two dozen in the original artichoke bed. That will yield more than I can eat for the next year.

Here is the view from the western end of the northern bed’s first panel.

After this I dug holes with the trowel and dropped each tuber into a hole and covered it lightly.

My theory is that after watering them this evening, the soil will settle, the shoots will take off, and when the shoots are one or two feet high, I will toss in many shovels of compost to (a) build up the height of the bed and (b) provide nutrition for the plants. At that time the roots should be well-developed and not get compost-burn.

Here is the panel, lightly covered, waiting for watering and LIFE!

I put this root-mass by the book bin in case anyone is curious enough to ask.

I pulled the first cases of seeds from my catalogue. Beets. “Detroit”, “Cylindria”, and “Early Wonder”. I have three seed trays prepared on the porch (easy to bring in if frost threatens), so tonight I will soak them and prepare their three plastic identification strips for planting Thursday or Friday.

After lunch I attacked the first of thirteen compost bins with the mattock I assembled late last year. The head was given to me; the handle I shaped from a leftover piece of 2”x1” lumber that framed a window.

The blade of the shovel rests on compost that is still frozen solid. Let’s see how many days it takes to thaw once the surface has been removed.

With the back and western panel, I have at least four panels so I could start a new compost bin strip along the western side of the lot, and area that has not been productive these past four years.

I trundled four heaped barrows and then hit “rock bottom” – the frozen mass.

Thursday, May 11, 2023

Soaked thee types of Beetroot and two types of Pumpkin seed.

Barrowed three more loads of compost from the first bin to the Southern bed.

Detroit: The numbered DVD, the original seed packet, a lid soaking forty seeds, the plastic stick label.

Cylindria: The numbered DVD, the original seed packet, a lid soaking forty seeds, the plastic stick label.

Early Wonder: The numbered DVD, the original seed packet, a lid soaking forty seeds, the plastic stick label.

I used forty seeds from each packet and will sow them in separate but adjacent plots. I start them off in seed-trays because beets transplant quite well, and I can hurry the seed trays indoors if frost threatens.

Pumpkin Canary Yellow: The numbered DVD, the original seed packet, a lid soaking nine seeds, the plastic stick label.

Pumpkin Jarrahdale: The numbered DVD, the original seed packet, a lid soaking nine seeds, the plastic stick label.

Bonavista has a garden club; I have compost, trees, seeds, artichoke tubers, ...

I break open the second compost bin. This is fun.

Yes, that is a layer of ice circled in yellow. I thought I would have a crust of grass around each bin, but no, from the compost point of view this is just one enormous bin twenty feet long and six and a half feet wide, so of course all the grass that lined the bin is decomposed.

My strata of ice in more detail.

The top surfaces of the bins are dried grass, but a thin layer only. For my purposes they are insignificant compared to the entire mass.

I discover that the top two inches are thawed, but further inspection shows that this bin is thawed all the way through, except for that lenticular chunk that I pried out.

Good!

Friday, May 12, 2023

I bought three packets of nasturtium seeds and prepared fifteen tubs of soil – compost from the bins covered with a two-inch layer of soil. There are sixty-three seeds in total, so four seeds per tub, but an extra seed in the three largest tubs.

My idea is to have a solid mass of bright nasturtium flowers against the dark-green leaves. The leaves are edible and add a peppery taste to salads.

If the plants are prolific, I can spread them out along the western edge of the driveway, or alternate them to both sides of the driveway.

Here are 63 nasturtium seeds, soaking for 24 hours.

Planted out the pumpkin. I have a tray for each of the two types. Each tray receives its neatly-spaced nine seeds and a plastic label.

Then I sprinkle about one inch of rinsed roadside grit (see later today) atop the seeds. The grit will protect the seeds from direct bombardment by water droplets; will serve as mulch; provides minimal obstruction for the plumicles.

Another view of the two pumpkin trays. This year I shall plant “canary yellow” in the front driveway bed, as a showcase, and the Jarrahdale in the south bed.

Here are the three types of beetroot seed, each in its own tray, with rinsed grit atop and a plastic label.

I cannot be bothered arranging forty seeds in four rows of ten. I drain the water from them, then lightly rub the collection of forty seeds between my hands to spread them on the soil.

Rinsed Grit

Each year the town council delivers salted grit to my yard; sometimes they dump it on my lawn, sometimes across the end of my driveway. As a make-work project I brush the grit into a windrow, shovel it into a barrow, and load it into large tubs (3 or 4-gallon)

The tubs sit against the laundry wall and catch the Spring, Summer, and Fall rains that cascade from the gutter-less roof at this point. Water drains straight through, removing a large proportion of the salt.

The rinsed grit goes into 25-litre pails as I build up my root cellars.

As the pails are emptied, I bag the grit and store it in the shed for seeding-time

Bulbs

This year the driveway bed will host Canary Yellow pumpkins, but I am thinking of setting up a mass display of bulbs next year, after which the pumpkins can have the patch.

That suggests that this year I should harvest – by colour – as many bulbs as I can, and plant them in “stripes” in the fall.

(a) Yellow daffodils

(b) Red Tulips

(c) Purple crocus

(d) Yellow crocus

(e) Lavender crocus

(f) Purple hyacinth

Saturday, May 13, 2023

At around ten Canadian dollars per wheelbarrow load, I am motivated to barrow compost from my thirteen bins to various points in the yard.

The nasturtium seeds are planted, four soaked seeds per pot. I thumb-press each seed about one inch into the soil that was watered yesterday afternoon, then cover it with a half-inch layer of rinsed grit (see the pot at the top of the image)

Potato Chitts

I saved a few potatoes from my latest purchases from Foodland. Commercial potatoes are sprayed with a chemical to inhibit sprouts. Nonetheless it doesn’t hurt to attempt to sprout potatoes.

Four small potatoes produced two halves per spud, each half with one or two places where one-millimetre sprouts were evident.

Paper pulp egg cartons make ideal containers. Face up to help the cut surface to scar or seal or whatever the term is.

The green bag is for boiling potatoes. Until three years ago I had not realized that there were different purposes for potatoes. I knew that there were verities, but didn’t know that each variety was bred for a method of cooking.

Here is a bag with an carton of chitts nestling inside. Plenty of air passage and no direct light of interior or exterior source.

Same deal for Mashing potatoes.

Same deal for Baking potatoes.

Same deal for Roasting potatoes which, to my delight, are excellent for French Fried potatoes.

This batch had budlets on only one half of each spud. The budletless halves, top right of image, will be used for frenched fries for supper tonight.

Here are the four bags on a shelf in the shed. I will inspect again in one week. Once the chitts have sprouted well, they can be planted in my potato bed.

The northern bed in the back yard. The plastic strip at the left is labeled “Dianne”, not an official species. A friend brought me a bag of produce from her yard; I ate all the potatoes but one and kept that in a bag. It sprouted well, so today I planted it with its label.

While raking that part of the bed I uncovered an Artichoke tuber with two shoots, so I split that in half and planted both halves with a white stake labeled “A”.

Sunday, May 14, 2023

We had light showers through the night, about one millimetre per hour, running on to about 2pm. This sounds like 12mm of rain, but the total is more like 6. (later: I was WRONG; I hauled in seven pails of rain water during the morning, partly because me new rain trough is so efficient). The Data Report says 15 millimetres, a good fall.

Monday, May 15, 2023

I thought to hang out the washing to see how it affected my use of the new plot for compost bins. Not at all!

Four 36” panels are propped against the western fence.

A small set of 30” panels leans against a tree trunk.

There is plenty of room, perhaps for a dozen bins, which is only one less than I used last year.

And remember, this four feet of land was unusable the past four years.

By late afternoon I have discharged two full and one half-full bin. I am gradually chewing my way along both columns.

The first bin is set up. It has a bed of the pumpkin vines that came off the driveway bed late in the fall, too late for them to decompose.

I have three bins set up, open for now. The theory is that I can easily dump bags of grass clippings in there with layers of sawdust and soil.

The driveway bed builds up. I have four or five barrows in there; it’s a start. I want to build the bed to about four inches above the level of the lawn.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Under the second compost bin was a treasure trove of six-inch spikes(rusted), four-inch nails (rusty) and three-inch rocks. I loaded a barrow of this mélange and headed off to the soil-sieve. There is no way I can use this as soil, no matter how rich.

Switched sieves to use the coarse sieve (chicken wire) and surprise! The mesh on this sieve is shorter, does NOT extend to the pivot point, so it is marginally more effective than my finer mesh sieve whose mesh extends to or just beyond the pivot-point.

I learn something new every day.

A barrow of rich blended soil.

I trundled only two barrows of finished compost, but in clearing out a barrow of rocks and nails, I shifted to a faster method of sieving debris, so on balance a good day.

Some kind person left a dozen large pots by the book bin. Thank You Kind person!

I found an unopened packet of watermelon seeds and set out four of them to soak overnight. If I plant four and two survive setting-out, there will be plenty of watermelon for all my neighbours.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

The first daffodil is trying to open up!

I try to move three loads of compost each day. The material is not completely rotted down. There are what I call crusts of material that in some places is essentially unaltered grass clippings, matted.

For the driveway bed this matters little. The grass will make good feed for any earthworms that come to the surface. They can drag it into their burrows and eat it at leisure, safe from the seagulls, crows, and other rapacious avians.

A close-up shot of part of my driveway bed.

This day I completed one strip, perhaps twelve barrows, or $132 down at Foodland. Five or six more strips to go. At three barrows per day I will need 20 to 24 days to complete the job. Be ready for pumpkin seedlings a month from now.

The face of the compost after this morning’s three barrow-loads. The material is till frozen in parts. I have a cunning plan:-

At the end of my shift, I claw away at the face with my mattock. This allows a little more heat to enter the pit, maybe thaw enough to add to what is clawed away to make three more barrow loads tomorrow.

Speaking of seeds, the four watermelons are in a tray, pressed in to the damp soil, sprinkled with rinsed grit from last year, and watered one more time.

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Moved another three barrows of compost. This daily task takes but fifteen minutes, is exercise AND makes me cover the length of my lot (for inspection)

My four gooseberry bushes (well, “sticks”), survived the winter and are now sending out leaves.

The layering seems to have worked. Today I would like to sever and dig up the layers and transplant them into the main bed.

Beautiful to my eyes.

The lone daffodil in a sea of blackcurrant canes. I have begun to collect the deadwood from where I lopped off my original four plants from four years ago. I wonder now if Hubert gave them away because they had stopped producing?

Friday, May 19, 2023

Difficult to make out in the poor light, but some of those jade leaves have sprouted.

Here is a better view.

And the one leaf planted six months ago is coming along nicely.

The Lone Daffodil.

Back on April 12th I demarked several; small [plots of bulbs, but have now forgotten what each plot held; I neglected to write it down.

Nonetheless, the bulbs are sprouted and will announce themselves as they come to bloom.

The bulbs are those I neglected to plant at the end of last year, so these little plots will let me re-harvest them at the end of this year for replanting ready for next spring.

Crocus, I believe

And here, garlic?

These are artichoke shoots from the northern bed.

As I dismantle panels, several fall apart. I suspect that where I had screwed the slats together, the screw-holes have rotted enough to let loose the slats. This seems to happen especially in panels that have been completely enclosed by the composting material.

Here is my eastern bed of hyacinths.

And I have a pail of white stakes to mark the crocus as the blooms wither.

I planted a tub of 44 Basil and a tub of 06 Sage. Same technique: soil, press in seed with thumb, cover with 2mm of rinsed grit, water.

Before lunch I had put rows of apples and pears in the northern bed. My theory is that almost nobody who took potted trees brought back pots last year, nobody gets pots this year. They want a fruit tree, they can come back with a pot and an appointment and I’ll dig up a seedling and put it in their pot.

In the meantime I will have a little grove of fruit trees and can add to it each year.

At the eastern end a row of seven unknown types, merely “Apples”

Next a row of two Gee Whiz and seven McIntosh.

Then two rows of, all up, twenty-three pear cores.

I trundled six barrows of compost and planted 23 layered gooseberry runners .

For nine months the view from my study window has included compost bins. Now the view looks strangely bare. Clean and tidy, but bare.

Saturday, May 20, 2023

I made an early morning perambulation of my lot hunting the “wild daffodils”, plants that have sprouted, missed during the latest dig-up. I will let them bloom, and mark them with stakes, and harvest their bulbs in the fall to lay a new bed.

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These two images are of iris shoots. I rescued one of the two plants remaining after the Highway department bulldozed gravel over the plot, but last year they did not bloom. Perhaps this year they will mature and send out blooms. And extra tubers!

Fortuitous because I have some Iris seeds soaking to be planted this morning,

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Of course, an option is for me to transplant these eleven bulbs today and hope that they survive.

I planted Lovage from Matt, but since (a) it isn’t Scott’s Lovage and (b) matt didn’t tell me its name, I have labeled the five rhizomes(?) “Matt’s Lovage”

“Speaking of growing plants from plant tissue instead of seed - I have some lovage 'crowns' on their way to you in the mail - it's similar to the Scots lovage seed packs I gave you, but this one is cultivated specifically for kitchen use, and performs well. It tastes strongly like celery and would work the same way as the other lovage. If you're not a fan of them then I'm sure one of your lovely Bonavista gardening friends would be! The crowns are growing sort of like a carrot, you'll see what I mean - Plant them down so the emerging green tops have about an inch of soil covering them. They're a hardy plant!”

There are but three labels for the five plants.

I set out about three dozen soaked Iris seeds in two medium pots on Seedlings Row.

Sunday, May 21, 2023

Days like today are annoying, 17c predicted and possibly reached, but winds gusting up to 60 Km/h throughout the day. I shifted three barrows of compost (my daily chore) and then came inside. Too windy to sieve sawdust, soil, or junk. Unpleasant to be outside wrestling bin panels, and potting plants means chasing around the lot after pots that have blown away. I spent the day indoors. Sulking.

Monday, May 22, 2023

Another strange day; it started cloudy, gave two hours of sunshine with winds from the South, then turned to North-easterly winds and 6c by 1600 hours. I came inside and left Mervin attacking the compost heap.

I mark each daffodil with a white stake; the stake is placed to the South of each plant, in a consistent manner, so if the leaves wilt away, I can still dig up the bulb.

The driveway bed comes on apace, three barrow-loads at a time.

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

I attack the second in the northern tier of bins; it too is basically not decomposed much at all. This “crust” will go to start the new bins against the Western Wall.

About four more full bins to go down this Southern tier.

I erected three more sides so there are now five open bins ready for grass clippings.

I dug out the marked daffodil bulbs,

Can bulbs that are close to bloom be transplanted and survive to bloom?

I dig a trench at one end of the gooseberry bushes ...

... and laid the dozen bulbs to rest. Let us see if they bloom.

Some crust from the second tier of bins. This material is scraped to one side and can be added, layer by layer, to fresh clippings as those are loaded into bins. The bacteria already present in the crust will accelerate decomposition of the clippings.

I am working on the third-last bin on the primary tier. This bin was loaded during June-July last year, so it is about ten months in process.

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

I woke this morning to a light frost. 0.8c at 0600 so it is still too early to set out seedlings or house plants.

I have shown this in other photos. About the centre of this image is a grey area.

In close up we see that the grey matter is ash, dry ash. A sack of clippings left for 24 hours begins to burn (spontaneous combustion, but no flames), and I frequently open a sack to demonstrate how rapid is the oxidation of grass.

This ash is dry, like dust, and will blow away on a breeze.

Then over to Dennis’s property. Dennis visited me last year and several times since then and has offered raspberry canes, damson plum trees, grape vine cuttings, strawberry runners, and much more/

My theory was that these photos would help me to identify where I should dig.

In practice it isn’t going to work. While I was there Dennis began clearing up debris that was lying around.

Thursday, May 25, 2023

According to Ventusky, rain will start around 1830 this evening. Buckets out!

At last! This morning brings the first joint blooms from the driveway bed!

In the second-last bed of the first tier I discover some sticks. Now I remember that last year Bernard delivered some bamboo. Bamboo/Cane does not rot well here. I could try soaking it in water for a week or two and see if that encourages bacterial growth.

These three link1 link2 link3 web pages suggest soaking in water and/or shredding. Shredding is not an option for me (unless I make a piston-like stamping mill), but water we have. The alternative is burning, which I already do.

Bamboo has a high silica content “Bamboo includes a lot of silica, which isn’t a necessary component for plant growth but is a great supplement. Silica protects cells from environmental stressors and fungal infections like powdery mildew by strengthening cell walls.”

The driveway bed has a thick layer of compost. The near corner is dried out because it was used as a ramp to the interior of the bed.

Now to rake it, let tonight’s rain settle it a bit, and then plant gooseberry bushes, Jerusalem artichokes, and pumpkins or watermelons.

Tomatoes

Last July 1st I watched a short YouTube video in which a fellow claimed a superb method of producing seedlings of tomatoes. “Take a thin slice of tomato, lay it atop some soil, sprinkle with sand and you will have seedlings in two weeks”.

Absolute rubbish! So on July 1st I placed a thin slice of tomato ... and on July 10th I was transplanting seedlings to a raised bed. I harvested the tomatoes and made Green Tomato Chutney.

So here we are, Thursday, May 25, 2023, perhaps too early for the seeds to sprout, but I have many tins, much rich soil, and tomatoes are cheap in the stores.

I made up two large-diameter tins of soil, and tamped it down.

Here are my slices atop the soil.

And here we are, sprinkled with rinsed grit.

We shall see what we shall see!

Friday, May 26, 2023

Rainy day, strong SE wind, very chilly. Late afternoon I went out to inspect what is left of my compost, and of course one tier is close to the shed. I had thought to shift all that stuff to one side and plant tomatoes along the back wall of the shed.

Then a thought: Why not leave those half-heaps where they are and plant the tomatoes directly atop the beds? Each bed is about 36” square and about 18” high. I should be able to stab four tomato seedlings in each of the five or six beds, let the tomatoes enjoy the semi-composted material, and leave the stuff their to continue composting – for next year!

The driveway bed, compost raked roughly even and two more rows – ten plants? – of gooseberry layers planted out.

The view from the side.

The driveway sports a growing collection of the weed-that-looks-like- Alyssum -but-isn’t. My idea is to give away these tubs as a tangible reminder of The Landfall Garden House.

Close-up shot.

Saturday, May 27, 2023

Artichokes are planted as far back as the left-hand side of my plank, leaving a strip about three feet wide at the house-end of the driveway plot.

The first tier of bins is now emptied and disassembled.

The western side waits for the arrival of grass clippings (see next Wednesday!). I have ample stocks of sawdust and soil.

A better view of the artichoke (yellow) and gooseberry (purple) areas.

Sunday, May 28, 2023

My trial with a dozen transplanted bulbs has worked. Next year I can round up any more strays with confidence.

HA! In the first bin of the second tier I see that Danny’s tree has tossed a maple key, and it has sprouted!

After I took this photo I made a windrow of raked material down the centre line; immediate candidacy for the re-assembled bins.

One 36” bin remained intact, the one holding the maple tree. The other bins are disassembled and the material can sit for a year, or be piled into a heap, or be moved to a fresh set of bins along my southern wall.

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Hooray! The first load of grass clippings has arrived. Eagerly I scooped them up, tossed them into my re-assembled bins, and hung the bags out to dry.

The bags are re-usable, and I don’t like my grass-clippings guys handling smelly rotting material.

Besides which I am greedy and want to grab every clipping of grass that I can!

I took a photo of a plant for my series “ Plants of 60 Canon Bayley Road ”

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