misadventures of Little Minnie (Tamara)

[littleminnie]

I pulled the Walla Walla bed today.

First half.


Second half.

They are under my drying tarp on shelves. I forgot to take a pic of that. and maybe my camera/phone was foggy or something anyway.
I was worried about the onions because they went in late, got wind-ripped, some had to be replanted but they turned out great again! They love that pure horse manure.
This bed will get fall brassica greens on Friday.

[wolfcub]

What nice looking onions even with all their set backs...

[littleminnie]

Thanks! Two good years now. I think I have the formula that works for here.

[RpR]

Yes you do.

For all the decades I have been growing onions, my results are middling in the best years.

I do well for growing green onions to put in a glass of vinegar and eat at the table but for storage like yours, well, let's say, if small was good, I would be doing very well.

[littleminnie]

Well here is what I do: buy plants from Dixondale. Prep the soil with aged pure horse manure, heavily. Lay four drip lines per bed ( more than any other crop) , cover with plastic mulch. Pop the onions in with a stand transplanter, 10 inches apart and 8 rows per bed, staggered. Keep weeded. That's all. I might do fish emulsion once and I might have put CG on before the plastic. My soil is high in K and P.
years ago at home I planted in weed blocker, cutting out little triangles. I won blue ribbons at the fair for onions that way. Love the stand transplanter!

[littleminnie]

The Sandhill cranes have been hanging out with me. A family of 3.


Fall peas are up. Hopefully they are timed as good or better than last year.


turnip seeds came up in 3 days.

[steev]

Sandhill Cranes; so cool! Best I get are Great Blue Herons, so majestic flying over. I hope to someday have a large pond so they might hang out.

[templeton]

LM,
re your onion success - what is your soil pH? like rpr, my onions are hit and miss, and I've been wondering if my pH balance is wrong,and I need to add lime or wood ash.
And nice to have big birds like that wandering around - all the Brolgas here were wiped out decades ago.
T

[steev]

Nice if you don't have a koi pond for them to harvest. When I have a pond, it will be deeper/steeper, so the fishing isn't so easy for the large wading birds, much as I like them.

[12540dumont]

Aug 5, 2013 21:09:53 GMT -5 steev said:

Speaking of electrical conduit, I think I'll be using it to fence the farm; since it comes 10' lengths, if I drive it 2 1/2' down (I may need pilot holes), I'll have the 7 1/2' needed to keep the deer out. I'll sister it along the sides where I have T-posts, and bolster it with occasional 8' peeler poles or heavier pipe, where there aren't T-posts, then I can run two courses of welded fencing wire to get the height I need.

Well, we bought the bender, borrow it when you wish.

[littleminnie]

Last check in fall my ph was 7.2 but then I put down sulfur in fall and spring. The garden is doing so well this year I don't think I'm doing a soil test in fall.

[littleminnie]

The black and yellow garden spiders are here.


And I have been seed saving.

Must be close to State Fair time!

[steev]

Those big Argiopes are a treat; I've only seen one in the East Bay in fifty years; not their environment, used to have lots out in the Central Valley.

[zeedman]

Those big Argiopes are a treat; I've only seen one in the East Bay in fifty years; not their environment, used to have lots out in the Central Valley.

Some summers the fields are full of them here, although not recently. Got bit by one once, though, and it gets your notice. Apparently it dropped from the web when I disturbed it, and thought the best shelter was my pants leg. When I lived in Cali, I was far more likely to find Black Widows, they really infested my garage at one point.

[steev]

We don't have the Black Widows in the East Bay, same reason, I suppose, just not their environment. Got the BW on the farm, but haven't seen any Argiopes, which would be more welcome.