04 March 2012

What with gardening season coming right up...

I ordered spawn for reishi and shiitake mushrooms...I'll be cutting some oak logs for plugging and plan on keeping them in the shady area behind the summer screened house...accessible to water in the event that rain doesn't suffice to keep the logs moist.

Started varsity, copra and red zeppelin seeds before we went to Kaua'i for a couple of weeks...they're up and growing...we harvested onions late August last year and dried them well...we've given a number of bags of onions away and still have bags hanging about the house. Even the red zeppelins are still as good as when harvested nearly seven months ago.

Sweet potato is going to be a major crop for me this year...I've had relatively good success the two years I grew them in the lower garden...I've learned, from my experiment with peppers this past season, that 2 mil clear poly over the raised beds and covered along the edges with the soil to form an airtight seal works well to solarize the soil and raise the soil temperature. I cut an X in the plastic where I want to plant...press down to make a depression for water to pool, plant the sweet potato slips or the pepper plants...cover the depression with sand to, once again, provide an air tight seal...and voila! No weeds, constant temps and moisture of the soil above 60 degrees...happy peppers...and by extension...happy sweet potatoes.

And happy us.

1 comment:

Ruth Trowbridge said...

I assume you are the man I noted in homestead.org, right? Thank you very much for allowing me see your valuable insights. Peace

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