frontstepdesign

Rather than lawn service...

Tomorrow morning, I get coaching for my garden!  I am sooo excited!  More later.

Tomato Types

Baskets of tomatoes in every color of orange, red, yellow, purple...I love those pictures, and I've got about ten types in the ground now.  I chose mine based on the catalog descriptions from Totally Tomatoes, but here's the list from a farm outside Tallahassee, who has a bit more experience with Deep South tomato production.

Farmer Hermans Little Yellers, Tommy Toes, Brown Berries, Cherokee Purples, 
Big Rainbows, Mortgage Lifters, Striped Roman, Blue Beech.

Don't you just love those names?

More on bees

The blogosphere is helping with my bee info problem.

Neil Gaiman posted about a friend of his who also keeps bees.  Sharon, of Birdchick Blog, has been posting video of her hives Kitty and Olga.  (Apparently you name hives.  Geek.Farm.Life has been running a hive-naming contest for their two - "Sweet and Low" are currently trouncing "Thelma and Louise" and "Alpha and Beta", tied at second place.) 

(Must you have two hives?  Sharon mentions in one of her comments that when her hives are full, in each one there will be two deeps full of bees and brood, and one full of honey for the sustainance of the hive all winter.  But I think beekeeping in Minnesota is probably somewhat different than down here at 30dN.  I need to get me to the place in Crestview that knows bees.)

I'm also learning about birds from Sharon.  This is good, since until now I could identify a seagull, a bluejay, a hummingbird (yes, how is that not a bug?!), an owl, a pelican, an egret, a dove, and a pigeon.  All local.  That's about it.  No idea what the little browny birds are - wrens?.  Oh!  I know a robin, too, because our yard was full of robins in the early spring, when I piled all the spring oak leaves onto the garden beds.  And ducks and geese are easy when I see them on the ground.  I really should learn more of my local flora & fauna.   Here's a helpful page on a helpful site - these silhouettes give you the basic kinds of birds.  I've been wanting posters of local birds/trees/spiders/etc...but until those drop into my lap, these silhouettes will have to do.

Bee boxes

[cross-posted on Greet's Middle Ages]

I bought these bee boxes the other day.

I only meant to buy two, because theoretically I believe in baby steps.  However, the universe frequently has other plans.  (See spinning, and weaving.)  They were at a junktique store, and the owner wanted them All Gone.  So I got ten bee boxes for $50.  (I would be happy to share - I have four covers, so three more people could get some boxes.)  Obviously they need some work - I hope the frames are still acceptable to the bees.

So, in the manner of things, information is starting to trickle in about beekeeping.  The blogosphere provided geek.farm.life's podcasts about beekeeping.  Neil Gaiman has a couple of boxes.  Sheila, who I met via spinning at the Saturday in the Park, told me about the local beekeeping society.  Googling that, I found an online magazine.  I'll keep you posted.

In other food news, the solar oven from Path to Freedom's Peddler's Wagon offshoot came in.  I've made two peach cakes (the dump one, and a more conventional, frostable, 9x13) and zucchini chocolate chip cookies from Barbara Kingsolver's new book in the oven so far.  I like it.

Here's how the lemon tree is doing.

I am trying very hard not to count them, nor to research how to preserve lemons, because that will surely hex the tree.  Someone has already hexed the tree, anyway - it's infested with a white fuzzy insect that is doing strange mutilations to some of the leaves.  Yet, it blooms again, fulfilling the promise of year-round lemons that is the Meyer repulation.  I am terribly grateful.

And I planted 83 (still haven't counted, but something slightly less than 96) tomato plants on Saturday, and some eggplant, cucumber, and watermelon.  No zucchini - I like it fine, but my husband doesn't, and they're cheap enough from the farmer's market.  Besides, I'd like to do my neighbors the service of being able to happily accept extra zucchini in August.

That triangle structure is for the melons and squash.  Behind the dune daisies (dunno sci name) are two rows of EIGHT varieties of tomatoes, started from seed.

I put one each of the tomato varieties in a container, also, for scientific purposes.  (Must make more Virginia Creeper cages.)

Barbara Kingsolver

I didn't know Barbara Kingsolver had Hero potential.

I associated her with her novels, The Bean Trees, and The Poisonwood Bible.  I think I've read both of these - though honestly I'm not a huge fiction reader, and I don't remember them.

[My mother will laugh - I spent most of my childhood immersed in fiction.  She was a librarian, and STILL had trouble keeping me in books.  But I think much of that had to do with needing to distract myself from problems that I didn't yet have the power to address.]

Since I've been grown up, I have tried to do, rather than read about it, and this means very little fiction.  However, I heard about Animal, Vegetable, Mineral from a friend (thanks Trisha!) and Mom and I picked it up when I was in Tally.  I took it home.

It's wonderful.  Right up my alley - full of arcane statistics of how bad the normal food delivery process is, with Kingsolver's writerly talents dangling the luscious alternatives - your own produce, your neighbor's animals, learning to make cheese (!) - terrific recipes for seasonal meals, tidbits of food history, tips on how to grow them better...I frequently wish I'd had some alternate anachronistic upbringing, one where I could have learned at the elbow of an elder relative some system of making all the domestic acts work.  Kingsolver calls this CULTURE, and her book is a close substitute.  Thank you for writing it, Barbara (and Camille, and Steven).

(I also want to read Plenty, about the same zeitgeist, Eat Local.

Garden Check - May 2007

Here's what's happening in the garden (crossposted in Greet's Middle Ages) - though I didn't take pictures of all my babies, stupidly.  Also missing are the new arrivals - in Tally I bought a dwarf pomegranate, a dwarf quince, and a red hardy hibiscus/rose mallow.  They go into the ground this weekend, so I'll take their portraits in situ.

This is what Virginia Creeper is meant to do.  Make tomato cages.  Well, and turn red in the fall - but it can do both.  Here's a second version.

I only need about fifty of these, which will pretty well take care of any noxious vine problems this year.  In fact, I'm designating the wire fence along one side of the driveway as 'vine crop zone' and I'm going to mark the creeper stems for protection.  (I can't believe it, either.  Turns out the baddie smilac is also befriendable - it's edible.  More on catbriar later.)

Here's some roses, while they last.

I think this is a Graham Thomas.  Don't remember what is to the right, with the lovely hip, but it was a Martha Stewart variety.

This is my most reliable - some riff on Peace - Blazing Peace, maybe?  No, it's Sunset.

And the rare ballerina - Sydonie.  I bought this in honor of Daan's niece of the same name, for her birth, and kept a sister rose here in case hers in California ever failed.  I think the one in CA is four times the size - I've learned something since about CA gardening versus Panhandle gardening.

Here's some fruit on the trees:

Our first Meyer lemons.  The other two Oscar-the-Grouch trash cans hold Persian limes, and one of them has actual limes on!  It's amazing what plants will do when you feed and water them.

And here's a few plums!  I pollinated both the plum and the lemon trees by hand, but some higher plums and definitely the limes are out of reach - so apparenly SOME flying insects were around to help me.

I'm still thinking about bees, though.

Planned purchases

I've got husbandly goahead for a new appliance!  And I'll just go ahead on my own with the other...

First, it's a solar oven!  I built one as a test from this book, but I didn't do it very carefully, and it only goes up to 200 degrees F.  I want one I can bake in, and either I'll have to do a much more careful job (care I'd rather put into paid or medieval work) or I'll have to support a worthy cause with <$200.  What a choice!

Secondly, it's a really low-flow showerhead.  I better only get one of these to start, as part of the solar shower experiment, since hubby is Very Fond of long hot showers.  Our water here is cheap (I'm not sure why/how that works, and I should find out), so it's not the water cost (though I hope I don't have to say that potable water conservation is always a Good Thing), but I hope I won't have to point out that if we install one on his shower, the gas bill will be lower.  Which he pays.

Soil

Apparently, soil health is important.

Read here.

Last fall, rather than doing like my neighbors, and piling my leaves on the curb for the city to take, I piled mine in my garden beds.  Now, I have leaf mold everywhere, and when I cultivate it, that soil is clearly yummier, with more moisture and bits in than the patch that had winter veg on.  So that's a lesson learned.

Also, I found a bagged composted cow manure for $1.30/40# bag at Home Despot.  Given that I don't have a pickup truck, and I've been burned (invaded!) by uncompletely composted manure in the past, this is a BARGAIN.  Very happily distributing manure every where, even the lawn - which really looks exhausted.

UPDATE: I wonder where the bags of manure come from.  I hope not too far away.

Graywater victory!

So I've been hearing about graywater recycling systems.  Didn't know how they might work, whether they were legal, etc.  They are, but Florida Building Code refers you back to your local municipality to see whether irrigation would be okay.  This makes sense - we want to worry about runoff into local waterways.  So I called, and Mr. John of Public Works was very interested in the idea of individual lots recycling their own graywater to do their own irrigation.  Wahoo!

I've ordered a Builder's Guide to Graywater, and a Branched Drains on Graywater Systems from Oasis Designs, and can't wait to see them.  So exciting!

Yeah, I know, I'm odd.  Now, where can I get some pre-used reservoirs...

House Projects

This counts as re-use, since we live in an old house.  Well, old for this part of Florida = 1948.

Here's the list for the second half of 2006:

1. Change roof color, to increase reflectance values.  It's currently medium gray asphalt shingle, in good condition.  I've been trying to get someone to call me back from Seal-o-flex, but no luck so far.  I want to use Seal-o-Flex to treat a leaky spot, and it might be good to coat the whole roof - but if it's expensive, then maybe I can just paint the roof?  I know, weird, weird, and I'd be painting it white, too.  But the theory says I could reduce the AC part of the bill by 25%, which is $8/month.  Maybe I should try it out on some spare shingles - wonder what sort of heat sensor might work best to measure results.  (I swear, science fair projects are wasted on schoolchildren.  I never had good ideas like this when I was in school.  Ask my mother about the dishwasher and the stainless steel flatware.)
2. Plant basic BioIntensive garden. Half the double-digging is done.
3. Build garage workshop.  Get permit.  Call concrete guys.
4. Install graywater system, for the next drought, and the veg garden.  Find storage canisters.
5. Build arbor to shade hot sunroom.  Cut tube for foundation, dig holes.  Measure for lumber, buy concrete.
6. Prune fig to nettable size.  Look out for nets on sale.
7. Insulate walls.  Get quote for icynene foam.  Figure out alternatives.  DIY foam. Mineral wool?  Vermiculite? Get quotes.
8. Lay new kitchen floor (utility-grade oak strips).
9. Insulate hot water heater. ($15)
10. Sign up for Good Cents Select (get programmable thermostat).
11. Clean and paint front door trim.
12. Paint front door.