Chickie and Hoop Tunnel Updates

Still too cold for the baby chickies to be outside all day, but I fashioned a makeshift mobile hoop house for them so that they can enjoy some sunshine and fresh greens.  They still get a little freaked out about being moved in and out, but they do enjoy being out when they can.  The plastic diffuses the light, provides wind protection, and also produces a greenhouse effect so that it is in the mid-80*F inside.    I face the opening away from the wind. 

Peas, lettuce and some red onions are doing quite well in the low tunnel.  Probably could have started the lettuce earlier, but I'm still pretty excited about it.  And the first pea flowers are opening.

This photo is from a little earlier in the month.

Garlic in the foreground.  Taken the cover off of one of the hoop tunnels.

View of the neighbor's trees seems closer in this photo, but they are really probably 75 feet or so away.  You can see the framework for the fencing that the guys are putting in.

They are bright pink-ish purple when young, and fade to a more blue-lavender color.

Mid-March

A short, Mid-March photographic tour. 

Deciduous Magnolia blooming right on schedule.

Jefferson Peach (Planted Fall 2015) teasing with flower buds

Dandelions already in bloom under last year's dry crabgrass.

Strawberries coming back to life.

Cherry Plum blooms among the lichen.

Do not believe your wife...

...when she says that there will not be any more baby chickens raised in the living-room... Baby Cuckoo Marans came home during the worst ice storm of the year... so of course they could not stay out in the shed.  Even if the shed was heated...  Yes, I do have the best husband...

Just a few days old and already getting feathers.

Aren't I a cutie?  Don't you love hearing me cheep all night?

Scout looking over his future charges.

Daring Spring with Low Tunnels

I've always wanted to try winter gardening, but when it is 0*F at night and in the teens during the day, I don't want to be outside any more than the plants do!  And thus, another reason I am delighted to have returned to The South!  Dipping into the teens at night, and barely above freezing this week - but 32*F I can do.  Time to build my first low tunnel "mini-greenhouse."

The Plan

Build two low tunnels for two of my beds.  Each bed is about 3 foot wide and 6 foot long.  These beds are next door to each other.  As for what to plant, I'm going to keep it simple and plant peas, spinach, lettuce, and bok choi.

The Materials & Equipment

The following materials list is for one 6 foot low tunnel

• 6 - 2 ft pieces of rebar
• 3 - 10 ft pieces of 3/4 in "schedule 40" pvc pipe cut to 7 ft lengths
• 10 ft x 12 ft row cover material (extra amounts to bury sides and gather ends)

The Build

1. Drive 2 ft pieces of rebar 1 foot or so into the ground (preferably when ground is not already frozen).  Some people recommended at a slight outward cant; however, I chose to put them in as straight as possible, thinking this might be more successful in frozen ground.  I put one piece of rebar at each corner of the bed, and one on each side.

2. Bend the pipes and insert them over the rebar. 

3. Cover with row cover.

It is January as I write this, and, of course, late January and February are our cold and ice storm months, so I may have to repeat sowing a few times before I get something to eat - but the scientist (or the kid) in me loves to experiment. Crossing my fingers!  Still can't believe that I am sowing seeds in January.

Planting Muscadines

Well, some people are successful at growing wine grapes here in Middle TN, but research makes it seem like I might not be as successful, at least not for a first grape venture - too hot, too much rain, too much clay.  But Muscadines - they were born in The South and love it here.  Even so, the success rate for propagation from hardwood cuttings is still supposed to be only 70% or so.  For $7 for 6 cuttings, I figured I'd take my chances.  And, support a small time farmer.  And if half of them survive, I have Muscadine grapes forever?

Cuttings arrived in damp packing inside zip closure bags, and sat in my mailbox for a few days in freezing weather.  Then they sat next to the tea pot in a 70*F room for several days.  Finally, after all of that abuse, I got down to actually getting them planted.

Materials:

• Cuttings
• Rooting hormone
• Seed starting mix combined with vermiculite or perlite
• Pots
• Pencil or chopstick or something similar to make holes with
• Knife or fingernail or something to scrap the very outer layer of bark off of the cuttings
• Seed starting heating pad
• Something to help retain humidity (mini green house)

Procedure:

1.  Rinsed cuttings and set in tepid water
2.  Filled well cleaned reused pots with 75% seed starting mix + 25% vermiculite (because that is what I had on hand)
3.  Used a chopstick to make holes in the potting mix slightly bigger than the cutting (so that the rooting hormone would not be scraped off
4.  Scraped the outer layer off of the cutting in several places where I hoped roots would grow - this is called wounding the cutting

I made several scrapings along the part of the cutting that would be under the potting mix.

3.  Applied rooting hormone to the whole length of the cutting that would be underground.  Note how I have just made a little slit in the seal of the jar? That is so I can drop the jell onto a coffee stirrer from above without actually touching the coffee stick and contaminating the bottle.  I use the coffee stick like a spatula.

A little goes a long way. 

4.  Placed cuttings in the holes in the potting mix, and pressed the potting mix down so it would make good contact with the cutting
5.  Made a little greenhouse for them out of plastic wrap.  Used chopsticks to hold the plastic off of the cuttings.
6.  Going to set them on a seed starting mat in a cool room to hopefully encourage roots to grow, but buds to stay dormant until roots are well on their way.

Another winter project started.  Another distraction to keep me from planting tomatoes in January!

Journal Entry 2016-01-14

Gardening in Middle Tennessee
Lunch [Note: presumably this entry was written during lunch while at work.]

CHICKENS

 Ordered feed and waterer for baby chicks last night. "Fancy" chicken tractor costs $350.  I know I can cut some costs.

4x10 = 40 sq. ft. Could I make a 4x10 foot brooder that would become the base of my chicken tractor? Or do I need a dedicated brooder anyway?

• 6x8 brooder for ~25 chicks
• 4x12 brooder for ~25 chicks
• 4x10 would be ok for a week or two

---

How did this entry get here? What are Journal Entries? https://www.thelittlebiddyhenhouse.com/2018/12/combining-blogs.html

Permaculture Elements: CowPeas/Southern Peas

If you think that "cowpeas" consist only of California Blackeye, then you have a sweet surprise in store. I've gone a little crazy in collecting them since they did so well last summer - now have over 25 cultivars in my collection.

The cowpea is a member of the bean family.  I have found them to be one of the "set it and forget it" crops for here in the mid-South.

Family: Fabaceae  Genus: Vigna  Species: unguiculata

Sample Cultivars: Colossus, Iron & Clay, Mayo Colima, Hog Brains

Other Names: Southern Peas, crowder peas, blackeyed peas, and also lubia, niebe, coupe or frijole

Hog Brains cow peas -
I've never seen a hog's brain, so I can't tell you if there are any real similarities!

(More photos below.)

Intrinsic Characteristics

• Permaculture Zones: All, especially zones 2 and 3
• Layers: Understory, herbaceous
• Placement: gardens, main crop gardens, in the edges or during the establishment of food forests and orchards
• Size: cultivars range in size from 2-3 foot "bush peas" to vigorous climbers that will top 10 feet.
• Vegetable Type: Annual
• Seed Saving: Easy

Outputs
Note that while some outputs don't need any additional inputs and can stand on their own, many of the outputs may or could.  Where space, time, and interest intersect, I will include them.

• For the Bees - nectar and pollen
• Fresh food for - People, chickens, hogs, horses, turkey, goats, deer, and other wildlife; both leaves, young "snap beans" and peas are edible.  Young "snap beans" taste similar to Asian long beans (they are related).  Whole vines can be uprooted at the end of the season and fed directly to livestock
• Preserved for People - dried peas can be used in soups, freeze or can shelled fresh peas and/or young beans
• Preserved for animal consumption - dried peas, dried stalks and leaves
• Leaves - high nutrient and protein content when used fresh
• Soil improvement - cowpeas are both a legume (nitrogen fixing) and has a deep tap root for soil improvement. I plant them around young trees, each tree getting its own cultivar
• Seeds - Generally self-fertile, open pollinated seeds will come true to type
• Vines - vines can be used for shade or to block views

Inputs
Note: some of these inputs may not be needed for your situation, but here are some things to get you started

• Wood mulch and/or compost - I have found that this is generally not needed here in Middle Tennessee
• Support- tall, vining types need strong support.  Vines on weak supports may topple the support
• Wire fencing - or other protection, especially in zones 3, 4 and 5 where there is deer and other wildlife pressure

Other Things

• Climate - are you in the hot, humid South where it rains "all the time"? They will love you.  Hot and dry - they like that too.  Are you in a short season area?  There are some  bush varieties that mature in 60 days.
• Seed Saving - Select for plants that mature early, have lots of peas in the pod, and that look "true to type."  They are generally self-fertile and come true to type; however, separation of the cultivars may help prevent cross-pollination in a highly diverse environment where pollinator pressure is high.  Tag the pods you wish to keep for seeds and let them dry on the vine.

Flowers are born in small clusters of two or three.

Most of the ones I have grown start out with purple to lavender flowers that fade to cream or yellow by late morning.

Ants like cowpeas but don't appear to harm them.

I call this the "winged" stage - soon slender pods will emerge from the wings. The bean on the right is still a little young for stir fry, but might be tasty as a raw snack while gardening.

Just right for stir-fry!

 This set of cow peas are growing under an apple tree that was planted early in the Spring - they successfully mitigated the crabgrass, fixed nitrogen for the tree, and provided tasty eats, too!

Just about ready for fresh shelling peas.

I usually wait until the bean part starts changing color for fresh shelling peas.  In the case of "purple hulls," they will turn purple, so you'll know when to pick.

Pink Eye Purple Hulls in the foreground.

Fresh from the field - Dreaming of Summer!

2015 Recap and Some Lessons Learned - Part 2

If I seem to ramble... well, why yes, I am.  :)

2015 Cayenne Pepper Bumper Crop

Firsts

• Dried peppers
• Made venison jerky (or any kind of jerky)
• Learned to use a pressure cooker
• Helped field dress a deer
• Grew sweet potatoes
• Started willow and hybrid poplar trees from 5" cuttings
• Harvested and process Black Walnuts

Raised Beds - Things I knew, and new lessons learned

It takes 3-5 years for lawns, abandoned pastures, or desert sand to really start producing well.  I have seen this happen everywhere I have gardened.  So I did not adhere to strictly regenerative and/or organic methods, although I did not use pesticides.  Our pasture is clay and slabs of limestone rock.  I wanted some kind of garden.  This meant that there was quite a bit of "garden soil" brought in from "the big box stores."  Much of it laced with Miracle Grow, because it is pretty darn difficult to get "plain old garden soil."  Most of the beds were only 6 inches in depth, which was OK for most things.

• Not enough mulch.  
• There is never enough mulch.  But I can get the shredded wood stuff for free, and I know what the deal is.   And I still didn't get enough of it!
• Putting a layer of mulch under the raised beds would have helped keep the crab grass from invading from below (even though I thought I killed it by black plastic tarping the areas before building the beds)
• Not a wide enough, deep enough layer of mulch between the field and my beds - crab grass had a mere 12 inches to leap to get into my beds.  In The South, with 1-3 inches of rain a week, that is not a difficult thing for it to do.  Cardboard under paths covered in at least 6 inches of  shredded wood chips.  Where I did that, I mostly won.  Around the edges, I didn't do that.  I lost!
• No edgings on beds.
• Too expensive, no time, weird weather, she said.  Pounding thunderstorms eroded the edge of beds, allowing crab grass to sneak in.  (The upside - it also allowed some rouge passion flowers and honeysuckle to pop up.  Depending on the bed, that was a good thing.)
• More difficult to build deeper beds without siding.  Sweet potatoes were yummy and of OK size, but many of them made a right angle when they hit the clay bottom, and so were weirdly shaped.  Didn't hurt their taste, but probably not what the market is looking for if I go down the path to small commercial plantings.  10" deep was not deep enough for pretty and fat tubers - but was quite enough for thinner ones to cut into "rounds" for chips or for mashing or dicing into recipes.  
• They just looked messy by the end of summer (I say this like none of my gardens have ever been messy by the end of summer!  If I am honest, most... er, all? of my gardens are messy by the end of summer.  I blame it on business travel.  Yes, that's it!)

I know there is mulch somewhere under that crabgrass!

Good Things

• Just did stuff
• Planned stuff
• The balance between just doing and planning wasn't perfect, but did lead to successes
• Roma Tomato VF seeds from 2006 - on the edge of tomato seed viability - germinated well, and have replenished my seed stock.  I had some seed from 2011, so I knew I'd be OK in the Roma Tomato VF department - but I am sentimental - that packet of seeds has grown tomatoes for me at 3 homes.  Now it is in a place where it can be grown out for generations and adapt to the region.  
• Trialing all different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, cowpeas, summer squash, and winter squash was absolutely the educational experience that I expected them to be.  And a yummy experience it was, too.
• I spent too much on seeds.  So much fun.  So many types of beans - who knew? (You'll see this listed under the "bad things" too!)
• Kept enough things isolated, that I was able to save seed from several toms and several cowpeas
• Trees, glorious trees - got the first part of the orchard planted!  Extended Autumn weather meant that even though I was late in ordering, I got to put in both Spring and Fall trees!  Carolina Bell peaches, Karla Rose nectarine (had to buy my namesake!), September Wonder Fuji apples, Sweetheart cherries - what dreams are made of.  Dreams to hopefully come true in 3-4 years! (Stamps feet.  I'm not moving again.  Left the last place just as the apples started to produce.)

Bad Things

So nothing really bad happened except for the squash bugs!  Luckily I got some summer squash before the attack, but really? I had no zucchini to assault people with?

• Do I get to mention squash bugs again?  Apparently I've never before gardened where there are squash bugs?  Google is my friend - going to be prepared this season.  I know what your eggs look like, and I'm learning what your life cycle is - I'm going to be gunning for you!
• Spent too much on seeds.  Many never got planted.  I just hoarded them.  Most will be viable for several years.  So, of course, Mom sent me $$ for my garden for Christmas and my Birthday... so what did I spend it on. Dang, you, Johnny's and Baker Creek - I was supposed to not order more seeds for this year... (but I am giggling while I type this - because I'm doubling the size of the garden for next year...)
• I tried to start small because I know this is year one, and there are a lot of outside inputs to a brand new garden... but I, of course, over-did it.  I have never been good at starting small.
• I am no longer 25.  This makes me, perhaps (only perhaps) a better gardener... but it does mean that the joints protest more and I am not as inclined to stand outside in cold, wet weather.  

Do more of these things

• Dry hot peppers - they take up way less space than in the freezer - and it makes it easier to give away (or sell?)  As mentioned before, cayennes love it here.  It's too humid to completely dry without a dehydrator, but they can start off drying in the sun, and then be whisked into the dehydrator to finish off.
• Mulch more - duh!
•  Plant more sunflowers - the flowers face East when they mature - so a perfect screen for our suburban neighbors - lots of cherry sunflowers facing them!  Maybe I don't need a new perimeter fence next year.  Maybe I can fill some vases full of flowers for some of those neighbors.
• Pay more attention to variety isolation for seed saving purposes.  i.e. instead of planting two kinds of cow peas around a tree, limit each tree to its own kind.  I know most cow peas will self pollinate before an insect has brought them a neighbor's pollen; however, in a garden with as much diversity as I have, in the middle of a diverse pasture, pollinator pressure is high here.  Honey bees may not be as prolific as may have been here before, but all kinds of other solitary bees, wasps, hornets, and flies love to buzz buzz around the flowers.
• Save more seeds.
• Pick and freeze more "shelly beans" and ripe, but not dried, cow peas.
• Take more photos that might be more commercially viable.
• Add 1,000 photos to my stock photo site.
• Continue trialing things, but start ramping up production for things that worked well last year - maybe enough to share.  Maybe enough to sell a bit?  TN Yellow Cherry tomatoes, Roma VF tomatoes, Mexico Midget cherry tomatoes, Mayo Colima cowpeas, Mammoth sunflowers...
• Continue to weigh harvest - but maybe get a different type of scale - the one I have is pretty impractical to weigh 20 or even 10 pounds of something.
• Keep keeping good records.  Especially of things one is breeding for seed.
• Keep improving the soil and switch to significantly more regenerative practices

Been feeling like Autumn these last few weeks
- a reminder that winter will get here.

New for 2016

• Chickens! Need I say more?
• Ducks - maybe not, but you know, I'm not good at starting small.
• Fencing for the garden area - something deer will respect?
• Expand the garden area by 50%
• Make a formal herb garden
• Grow herbs in pots on the back porch
• Establish strawberries on the edge of the little woods (this may require some major critter protection for a while)
• Haul out my All American cast aluminum canner and use it
• Water bath can small batches in my pressure cooker
• Beat the squash bug team!

Blessings

It is 70*F with thunder and lightning and a constant pouring of rain from steel gray skies.  Christmas ham is in the oven.  Warm doggie at my feet, seed catalogs on the table (thanks, Mom, for the gift for even more seeds!), and dreams of gardens and orchards plotted on the property wall map behind me.  We've been so blessed this year.  Wishing you and yours blessings during this magical time of year, and throughout 2016.

From Our Home to Yours

2015 Recap and Some Lessons Learned - Part 1

The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly of  2015.

Next year's garden is always going to be perfect - it is what keeps gardeners gardening.  But I have to say, that while the 2015 season was wayyyyy far from perfect, I have been so blessed to be back on the land.  And despite 12 days of continuous rains that turned most of the tomatoes to mush, I think this may go down as one of my favorite gardening years... but I think I say that every year!

Summer Harvests

 Major Milestones

• Purchased home with 3.8 acres - suburbia to the left, 20-50 acre lots to the right
• Identified existing trees - black walnut, honey locust, winged elms
• Started first large garden in 4 years
• Had photos accepted to http://www.istockphoto.com/
• Took way more photos than in 2014 - way more than double
• Planted Trees
• 11 fruit trees
• 5 weeping willows that I grew from cuttings and that are now several feet tall
• 6 hybrid poplar trees that I also grew from cuttings and that are now 4 or 5 feet tall
• transplant of a cedar from the little woods to the wind break line
• Opened up some of the woods
• Wood mulched most of the existing trees in the pasture
• Harvested Black Walnuts (still more to process!)
• Gave away some of the harvest as Christmas gifts
• Bought local from local producers for Christmas gifts and consumption of things like jam and veggies that I didn't grow or that didn't do well
• Saved seeds from tomatoes, beans, cow peas, basil
• Froze more than 20 pounds of tomatoes, a pound of basil, lots of bell peppers
• Dried a lot of peppers
• Purchased tools - for gardening, for canning, for dehydrating, for jerky making
• Helped field dress my husband's first TN deer
• Began planting perennials in the herb garden
• Started most of my own vegetables from seed: tomatoes, peppers, beans, cukes, pumpkins, water melon
• Started many of my herbs from seed: basils, lemon balm, oregano, sweet marjoram, flowering sages, sunflowers
• Road in my first helicopter

View of South Kentucky from my first helicopter ride.

Things that love The South

I guess I could have predicted this, but it is good to have the observations any way

• Sunflowers - even ones planted in straight clay with competition from "weeds" grew and flowered.  Seeds from the same packet of Mammoth sunflower that barely made it to 5 feet tall in the desert with a 10" head grew 8 - 12 feet tall with disks that were nearly two feet across, with stalks 2 inches in diameter.  Bees, praying mantis, and all number of insects partook of their abundance.  I harvested some for seeds for 2016, and I left some standing for the birds.
• Cow Peas - Trialed several varieties - planted around my fruit trees for nitrogen, but also in quantities for eating and seed saving.  I don't think I will have to ever buy seeds for them again. The climbers - easily scaled the sunflowers, and even toppled two of the sunflowers from their weight.
• Basil - Grew nearly 4 feet tall - Mrs. Burns Lemon Basil being my favorite
• Peppers - had not grown a lot of peppers before.  Some of them didn't like all the rain, and some went bonkers, even with the rain.  Cayenne peppers - they loved it here.

Last of the Cayenne and Arroz con Pollo drying.

Squash Bug Hell

So I went on a two week business trip seconds before the Squash Bug Hatch. I came back to two acorn squash fruits and one black tail watermelon - the plants themselves were almost completely consumed.  All the cukes and pumpkins were dead, gone, kaput.  Have to tell my boss - no travel during Summer Squash Bug Battle season.

One of two survivors.  Teach me to go on work travel in August!

Next post to include more recap and plans for the future.

Black Walnut Tree (with view of neighbor's home)