2011 June

I harvested all the corn this morning and blanched it for 4 minutes, put it in plastic freezor bags and into the freezor.  Good tastee corn.  These PICTURES also show other vegetables that are all coming off at the same time.  This is what you see in the pictures:  corn, zuchinni, butternut, chilli, pepper, cucumber, eggplant, tomatoes, marigold seed and 3 different kinds of desert flowers I grew in a bed and collected the seeds.  They are from seeds Sheredith gave me last Christmas.  I now have many times more seed then she gave me for the next planting.

I was awared the cook's hat because I was the cook at girl's camp last week.  I now spend more time in the kitchen and love my hat.

I taught a gardening class to the KBP ward last Thursday and give a class to the SGP ward this coming Tuesday.

I made my first contact with the East Valley Men's Center to get them started on their first garden project.

Garden Plan

Starting with the planting chart prepared by the UofA Agricultural Extension Service, I prepared a plan for my garden.
1. I selected varieties that grow well in my area and which my family enjoys.
2. I created a spreadsheet showing the varieties and the months they are planted and harvested.
3. I labeled each variety as W=winter and S=summer.
4. I "sorted" the spreadsheet by W/S and alphabetically by variety name.

The result is a spreadsheet showing me what to plant when and a layout of my garden into a Winter zone and a Summer zone.

Click here for a downloadable copy of the spreadsheet. GARDEN PLAN
Let me know what you think!

2011 April

I wish I had been keeping this blog up over the months just so I had a decent record. Here is a quick update.

The Wally's Worm experiment is over. WORMS

I have tried various watering systems in the past. I have flood irrigation to my yard which I consider a blessing. But the garden still needs supplemental watering. I think I have settled on a bubbler system for the summer garden. I installed a faucet at the corner of the garden and a PVC line with values and bubblers. I can adjust the bubblers as I water to ensure equal coverage throughout the garden. It works pretty well, though not automatic. Here are few pictures.

On another note the U of A agricultural service has a very nice garden planning chart I think is pretty good. CHART

Worms

I have wanted to try Vermicomposting for a long time. Finally I purchased some worms through the mail. There are many internet sites where you can learn all about worms and where to purchase them. This is one of the many sites for WORMS. I quote them here:

"Two breeds are used in vermicomposting: Eisenia foetida or Lumbricu rubella. Worm populations double each month. Mature redworms make two or three capsules a week, each producing two or three hatchlings after about three weeks. The hatchlings are tiny white threads about half an inch long, but they grow fast, reaching sexual maturity in four to six weeks and making their own capsules. Three months later they're grandparents!

This rapid breeding rate means the worm population easily adjusts to conditions in the worm box according to the feed supply and the proportion of worm casts to feed and bedding---their casts are slightly toxic to them, and as the box gets "full" they'll either leave, if there's anywhere for them to go, or they'll die off."

I include a picture of me receiving 2 lbs of "Eisenia foetide" in a plastic bag and a picture where I have dumped them into their new home. Their new home is a wooden sided box I built from scrap lumber held together with metal braces.

I have had them for a month. I was keeping a lid on the box, but ended up throwing so much garden waste into the box it is over flowing.

I am really worried about what is going to happen to my worms in the fierce Mesa, Arizona heat when the ambient temperature is well over 100 degrees. I put the box under a tree and have a long needle thermometer to monitor the inside temperature. I am hoping for the best. If you have a good idea how to keep them cool---let me know.

25 April 2011

The great Wally's Worm experimental is over! This is what went wrong. Generally speaking we have had pretty mild temperatures so far. However, I found the temperature reaching near 100 degrees F inside the box due to composting material. When that happened all the worms migrated as far from the middle of the box as they could hugging the outside boards. I watered the box which dropped the temperature. The worms seems really happy generally speaking, but then I noticed a lot of fruit lies and it was starting to stink. Then this morning I opened the lid and found a great big cockroach. I haven't seen a cockroach around here for a long time. That was the final straw. I dug a hole in one of the rows of my garden and dumped the whole pile into the ground. I think the worms will be happier and I know my wife is a LOT happier.

So ends the worms experiment. I know some people are doing it successfully, but I certainly haven't learned how to do it. Maybe another day.