Starting over, my new garden

 The gardening venture begins anew in a different place.  My daughter and her husband will enjoy the fruits of my labor in the raised beds I left behind at the house we have owned for over 20 years.  I now get to garden in a much larger plot, but one that has been neglected.  One previous gardener used Roundup on a paint roller to "weed" the garden.  The second gardener, I have learned from second hand reports, put in plants and and did very little follow up.  I can believe the reports as I spent all of last summer just trying to clean up dead weed stalks only to find all the precious little babies they were sprouting underneath.  I resorted to the first gardeners technique and used herbicide to control the weeds, but did not plant.  It was tilled a couple times as the compaction was horrific and I expanded the bound with the herbicide to bring it up to the size it was when I I kept a small corner plot her over 20 years ago in the after work hours.
I have decided to not till again this spring to keep the covered weed seeds under the soil and deal with the ones that have and will sprout at the surface.  They are numerous!  I brought in some composted manure last fall which covered the smallest of areas.  This is where I will put my beds of seeds like spinach and such.  The other vine crops will get a mound of compost at their planting site with weed cloth or mulch around their growing area to try and suppress the potential weed army rallying forces underground.

I started this year off as I always do with peas.  The garden here tends to stay wet, so I have chosen to use the mounding method to create raised beds.  I loved my foot high, wood sided beds at home, but I am not going to invest in the materials or labor to do this here.  Starting with the area where the manure was spread last fall, I raked and mixed the soil a bit.  After getting it a bit loose, I pulled it up into a pile and then leveled off two rows for putting in my two different types of peas.  I like the sugar pods, but still enjoy the pleasure of shelling out peas as well.  They are starting off about six inches high, but will settle as the season goes on.  I will side dress these rows with carrots or other rooting crops to take over when the peas are done.  Right now the sprouting peas are covered with mesh to keep the squirrels and chipmunks from digging up and eating the peas as seeds.  I always soak my seeds first as the germination is so much better when I do.
I have to fence this garden much more heavily than I did in my urban plot.  The property is fenced off from the roaming deer herds for the nursery crops, but we still have four residential does that still call this home.  I put a hardware cloth and t-post fence around the perimeter of part of the garden that will keep the tastiest crops away from bunnies and wood chucks.  I am certain that I will have to do battle with something even still.

Next to each t-post is a ten foot conduit post pounded in about two feet.  I fashioned a hook for the top of each to hang a five foot wide mesh cloth that meets up to the three foot tall hardware cloth.  All together they form an eight foot tall enclosure which should keep the deer away from my peas, greens and bean crops.  The opening is an over-lap of the mesh with a gate of hardware cloth.  I have to duck to get through the mesh over-lap, but it is a small sacrifice.  Time will tell how effective this will be.  I did not dig the hardware cloth in very deep and this may be my weak spot if I don't monitor the perimeter enough.

Once my perimeter was secure (this was two separate weekends to accomplish) I felt I could continue with the actual gardening.  I used my Weed Dragon to scorch the weeds that were abundantly germinating already.  Next to the pea rows, I formed a square bed for my greens like spinach and lettuce as well as some root crops of parsnips and salsify.  Both root crops are over 100 days to maturity and are best harvested after frost for sweeter quality.  I have not added my kale yet, but need to make that a priority.  I have greenhouse starts of cabbage and bok choy to add as well.  I just hope the enclosure will fit them all!
I put the tender onion plants in as well.  I did two types of bulb onions, Ailsa Craig and Walla Walla.  I also have Lancelot leeks which I plan on mounding to blanch the stems as they grow.  These were also greenhouse starts back in February.  Onions and leeks are very long season crops when started from seed.  I have decided that the radicchio is going to be a fall crop this year to form the best heads closer to frost.  I also put in my radishes, French Breakfast and April Cross, for my early crop.  I have another called Rat-tailed which is grown for its seed heads that will go in later.  I put in short rows of these as one family can only eat so many ripening radishes at once. Straw that was used for winter protection around my potted fruit crops is down on my walking paths for mulch.  This will get turned in next fall to compost in ground for more soil tilth in future years.  I can't wait for the weather to warm if only to shorten the distance I have to run a hose to water.  I don't have a rain barrel area established here yet as I need to put up some gutter on the shed close to the garden.  I have an idea, I just need to execute.  I look forward to some rain water for spot watering the garden here.

I used what little compost I had left last fall to create a rhubarb bed with bounds.  There was a ceramic "planter" already in place in the yard.  After digging down over two feet, I decided it wasn't getting removed.  I vaguely remember this being put in by my former manager and it involved heavy equipment.  One of my rhubarb varieties didn't make it through summer in the pot that I was growing my roots in.  I think a watering lapse or late planting was to blame.  I was scrambling about with my garlic bulbs last fall looking for a place to put them in before winter.  The rhubarb plot was the only area that I did not plan on disturbing the following year.  It was also the only area that I am not battling weeds.  I will get through the weed ordeal... The garlic has sprouted with hopes of another crop to come this year.
I will continue to plan and plant.  It is almost like learning how to garden all over again.  There is so much work to get done, but I can see all of it in my mind.  I can't wait to share it all with you.

Greenhouse work is never ending...or so it seems right now

The work just seems to go on and on lately.  Storms this week kept inside a couple of days to knock out some serious amounts of plants, but there is still so much ahead of us before the last plant has been put in its place.  Empty spaces in the propagation area means work is getting done.  It is all the full spaces that get a bit overwhelming at times.

We still have much vegetative propagation to complete.  We were having great success with our bottom heat, but when I was getting shocks from it, our electrician determined that we were getting voltage leak from all our mats.  They weren't wired with grounded plugs as they should have been.  The manufacturer took them back, but that left us without the much needed bottom heat that was really promoting root growth on the cuttings.  I am going to make this a priority to find a substitute to get us through the remainder of the season.  Just another thing.
The rain really came down on Thursday.  We did not get the violent storms that caused damage just to the south of us, but our fields were flooded.  I was able to take a small crew and pull a few of our odd trees here and there without impact to the soil in those spots, but we still have so much to get out.  We need some dry days to get the rest out before temperatures force bud, and then we are stuck once again without the work being finished.

This feeling of never catching up is nothing new.  We have always had the glut of work which wears you thin every spring.  The one difference this year from my past experience is years of experience on the work crew.  What seems to be natural ways of doing things to me, is not the way that most of the staff has learned.  When I left the greenhouse in 2010, there was a retirement followed by another retirement.  New staff was brought on, but even two of those hires didn't stay on.  The retirement of the last of the "old guard" this year greatly diminished the years of experience of the staff.  Don't get me wrong, they know what they are doing.  They just don't know all the tricks for time saving and labor saving techniques.  
I don't like to intervene on a regular basis, but I also do not want to continue use of inefficient practices at the expense of labor hours being wasted.  Labor is your most important asset regardless of what our corporate culture will say.  Politics has been overrun by money from people who don't know what a hard days work is.  They continue to dismiss the working class as expendable.  This has caused an increased loss of morale in the workforce which continues to be compensated less as cost of living continues to increase.  I don't see this ending any time soon.  My staff is my most valuable asset.  Automation is just another tool, it is not the answer to replacing workers in this industry.
This has ended up being more of a soap box entry than a journal entry.  I have done laborer work since I was 15.  I know how hard this work is on the body.  I'm not that old but feel my years when I step out of bed in the morning.  I am not alone.  Just remember when you head out to the garden center this spring, that there was someone who put that seed in the dirt long before it came to you.  We do this not for the money, but because we love what we do.  I encourage you to go to the mom and pop greenhouses instead of the bargain areas of the big box stores for your garden plants.  You will be helping support a family business and receive plants that were well cared for.  Spend some time talking to the people who sell you your plants.  The person that will and can answer your questions is the one who deserves your dollars.

One year in, almost

I started to blog to give me a way to journal my gardening year.  It was more to help me remember what I did from year to year.  What worked and what didn't.  It also became my creative outlet for a less than satisfying job when it came to my passion for growing and enjoying plants.  I don't have that job anymore, so the blog is not for creative reasons.  It has taken a different turn in that I now include a lot of my professional life in my pages.

Being a manager at a facility that runs both a greenhouse and nursery operation has not been without its challenges.  Add in the municipal factor and you add a layer of politics to the mix.  I walked into a job just about a year ago to perform a miracle of sorts.  The plants we have been working with and getting into the greenhouse this year already were still in their seedling stage at the beginning of May last year.  There were (and still are) a large group of city employees that wanted to see the operation continue to be successful and be a part of our forestry operations.  They worked extra hard to help get the job done and successfully get most of the work accomplished.  Some things had to be left behind when time ran out on digging trees or when crop failure and unavailability stood in our path.  Overall, we did get the crop into the greenhouse and get a product out to the customer.  The trees we didn't get out last spring are hopefully all going to get where they need to go.

You inherit things when you take over where others left off.  Over stock on most everything was my inheritance.  We are still using some soiless mix in some of our pots that was purchased in August of 2013.  We finally got in some new mix with a viable wetting agent for our bedding plant crops this spring.  We have some items that don't suit our needs that I can't give away.  Other things have found a new purpose.  Some have been exchanged with other agencies for things we do need.  We can now get all the equipment and implements into covered spaces each day.  We can also go into our storage areas and access what we need without having to move several items to get to it.  We have also found things that were thought to be lost to the ages, but have been found in our explorations.  

The other part of the job is finding new ways to do things for the sake of making the job easier.  Since I was on the working end of this operation for 20 years before, I knew what challenges were face on a daily basis.  We changed layouts, altered irrigation, and looked at the job from a different angle to find how we could get the work done with the least amount of effort.  All phases of plant care to plant shipping were considered in my layout of greenhouse crops.  Grouping things which require hand watering in areas where we have no over head irrigation (yet) down to how we load a truck so that our plants follow a path of sorts.  Temperature considerations were huge.  Often times we haven't dialed back our greenhouses in spring because we had cold sensitive crops in the same house as those that can take it cool.  Hardening off items for our customers is high on my priority list.  Most of all, I wanted to make it about making it easier for the person that spends their weekends here alone caring for 28.000 square feet of greenhouse space.  Work smarter, not harder is the motto.  We are also going to try to grow more items in their shipping trays to avoid the slow downs faced by having to flat everything up in order to get it on the truck.  Whether all this proves to be a smart move is yet to be seen.  Stay tuned.

One thing that we were able to get this spring was new ventilation in an old house.  It had always been a source of frustration that the house was never able to cool off once the sun came out.  It wasn't designed right and a redesign with new heating made the problem worse.  Hopefully we will have corrected the problem with better placement of vents and fans.  Again, stay tuned.  

The rain is falling early this morning and is going to keep it up all day.  This will hamper our operations a bit, but we will concentrate on some greenhouse work today.  Little by little we will get through the season and come to the end like we do every year.  I am privileged to be able to do this with such a good group of hard workers.  You don't know city workers like I know city workers.  They are cut out for the task. 

Birch syrup a small batch process

Well...

if you aren't busy enough take up a hobby.  I have been enjoying the country life and the opportunities it offers when you have the resources available.  On a whim, I decided to order 10 spiles and bags for a maple syrup run.  It has been a fantastic spring in Wisconsin for a good run.  I have boiled down over three gallons of maple syrup to enjoy and share.  I have made more pancakes in the last two weeks for various company than I have in the last year.  The Better Homes and Gardens favorite pancake recipe is in my head.  I also found that I can substitute soy or almond milk with very good results.  The key to good pancakes is make sure your griddle is good and hot before you put the first batter on.
 

River birch is just one of the genus that can be tapped for sap

Birch syrup production is more labor intensive.  It takes twice as much, if not more, birch sap than maple to make the same amount of syrup.  I have been using an electric roaster to do overnight evaporation of concentrated sap to save some time of sitting with it.  The syrup has a much more caramel flavor with a definite molasses side.  I have not picked up on any spicy notes in my syrup as some sites would suggest.
Needless to say, I have come to the end of my run.  After collecting over 20 gallons of sap in one day, I woke up sore and tired.  I have a full-time job running the nursery and greenhouse, so a hobby is not something I need in the middle of spring.  I promised someone birch sap on Monday for his attempt at birch beer, so today I will collect and filter today's sap and put it on ice.  After I get through yesterday's run, I am out of the syrup making business until next year.  I hear that butternuts make a nice syrup...

Maple Syrup Time

I picked up a new hobby this spring.  I thought about it briefly then decided to just order the supplies for 10 taps just to get a start.  It has been a fantastic spring to start collecting sap for maple syrup.  The trees have been running for weeks with the cold weather holding out to keep the run going and the sap running clear.  Even after missing the first big weekend, I have boiled up almost three gallons of syrup from 10 sugar maple taps.

In preparation for the run, I made a sugar shack for boiling the sap under cover.  It seemed premature without having splines and bags yet, but I had the time to do a good job.  My husband provided input and an occasional second set of hands to cut and hold wood in place.
The base that holds it all together is my upright planter that holds my Alpine strawberry planters.  The structure also provides a protected location for any early  

lettuce crops I may get out into the planter this season.  The same camp stove that proved to be invaluable for canning works out great for boiling sap.  Since you boil down 40 gallons of sap to get one gallon of syrup, you are boiling off A LOT of water which would not be good in any home environment.  You also have a bit of sugary residue that can coat surfaces inside the house.  
Unless you have a large refrigerator or lots of time and can boil everyday, you will need to have a way to keep sap cold until you can boil it down.

 I had a lot of snow on the north side of the house.  I stowed the jugs in the pile until I was able to boil down sap.  Until the snow completely melted, I was set.  After the snow melted, I cleaned out my large five day cold cooler and put the sap right in.  Adding a floating milk jug of ice added the cold.  
My canning kettles were the best tools for the cooking process.  I purchased a long stainless steel pan for evaporation, but the width of the burners didn't provide heat over the whole pan.  It does work on my stove burners, so it gets use inside for the final boil when I have larger quantities of final syrup.  I found a large funnel at a surplus store which has been invaluable for collection of the sap into the narrow jugs openings.  The jugs are better than buckets for collection as I have to drive out to my taps.  Closed water jugs do not slosh around like buckets.  I am glad I went with the bags as they have been good with keeping out excess moisture and are easy to use.  The jugs also keep out melting snow when you have them buried in it.  Some of the other items I gathered were muslin and cotton batting from my sewing room to filter out the bugs and clear up the syrup for canning.  A candy thermometer and digital thermometer for checking temperature of syrup. 
Seven degrees over the boiling point of water is the requirement for syrup.  Measure the boiling point of water while boiling your syrup as barometric pressure can change it from 212 degrees Fahrenheit.  

The weather has been warm during the day for boiling up until this past week.  The fun part of the cold has been watching the steam rise and curl from the sugar shack vents.  The cold has also made storing the sap easy once again.  I like to bring in the final boil which has also made the house sweet with the smell of syrup.  I have not grown tired of it yet.  I used our wood potbelly stove only once for boiling a portion of the syrup.  It added a smoky note to this batch of syrup.  I have chosen pints and half pints for canning it up.  Clean jars and hot lids are all that is required.  After fastening the jar rings down, you lay the jar on its side to seal the lid.  Enjoying the syrup is a sweet ending to a very satisfying hobby.  Now I have some taps in birch trees to try something different.  Why not?  


http://ohioline.osu.edu/for-fact/0036.html

My seeds have come, now let's talk about onions. the

I was so happy to open the mailbox yesterday and find seeds there for me.  They were not for the greenhouses as have been all the shipments for the past two months.  These are mine.  I am so happy to think that the gardening season gets to begin.

First come the onions.  These are the earliest seeds I put in.  I like seed onions.  They are the first year of growth for an onion.  Onions are biennials which means that it takes two years to complete the life cycle.  The first year you get a plant with a completely formed bulb.  If you would leave that in the ground during a mild winter and mulch it over, it would sprout again from the bulb the next spring.  This is what you are growing when you buy onion sets.  This is the second year growth.  The second year and onion grows, it will put up growth again and it will form a bulb.  The difference in the second year is that the plant wants to send up a flower head and complete the life cycle for which it was meant...reproduction of its species.  By growing onion seeds, my plants spend their time just growing with no energy or size lost to pursuit of reproduction.

Buying onion seeds is also a bit of science.  Where in the world are you growing them and in what season?  Here in the upper Midwest we grow onions during the long summer months.  We grow LONG DAY onions here.  I like Ailsa Craig, Walla Walla, Sweet Spanish, and Copra.  I usually only grow one or two types of onions.  I also like to grow keepers which will dry their skins and hold for much of the winter with no additional preparation.  They just need it cool, dry, and dark.  Now if I lived in the South and grew a crop of onions during the winter months (onions are good cool season crops) or maybe in the Mediterranean countries also during winter months, I would choose SHORT DAY onions.  These are breed to grow and bulb up during short day periods when the light is not at its best.  I do not know if they grow short day onions in a greenhouse setting in the north during the winter.  Why in the world would we when you can grow them in the summer and keep them in the winter?  I am still using the onions I harvested last fall.  If they start sprouting, I use those onions first.  I also break off the green tops to slow the process when I can't use them fast enough.

I also grow bunching onions which most people would call green onions when they go to shop in the produce section.  They don't really bulb out and you pull and use them...green!   Both types can be put in when the ground is cold but workable.  I typically shoot for mid-April in our neck of the woods.  I am able to put the plants in the ground as well as put in the bunching onion seeds.  Both will put up with the weather that our Wisconsin springs tend to dish out with wild variety and extremes.  It seems to be an awful thing to put out seedling, but you are rewarded with early onions with good bulb set.

If you haven't ordered your onion seeds yet, you may find some on a rack at one of your better garden centers if you are not up to waiting for shipment.  Seeds started in January and February will reward you with a wonderful crop of onions long into winter.

A different sort of spring, a bigger sort of greenhouse

Everything about this spring and the preparations I have been making will be a little bigger and and a little different than my past spring posts and updates.  This year I have a staff to help me get the job done, and then some when the work load gets even bigger.
I won't be washing pots and flats in my basement wash tub and lining them up to dry on the basement floor.  In fact, I probably won't have much to do with it at all.  Considering that I did this job for 19 plus years before I left for my last job, it is not like I didn't do my time.  Now I have to decide when and what gets done.

It is a lot more fun doing it with a great group of workers than it is alone.  I am going to take this to a different level than past years in that I want to maximize the greenhouse space with rotations of plants to the out-of-doors during the late spring time to harden some things off and get a little more bench space to expand our crop offerings.  I do not have a crystal ball to predict the weather, so it is a bit of a guessing game and a gamble all at once.

We are propagating on a much larger level than I did in my basement greenhouse as well.  We experimented with perlite over heat cables and found that although it was good, heat mats with flats of media are better.  We also tried some different rooting hormone.  The powder was good, but the gel was better.  The staff has been working and researching different methods and it is paying off in better results.

The workforce has taken a change and we now have the men out-numbering the women this time around.  It reminds me of the times when I first got into this industry and I was often the only female on staff.  I remember working for a large insurance company on the ground maintenance staff and saw only one other female on the other side of operations with 75 men in between.  I got so used to being solo that now I often don't notice the numbers of male vs female.  I do notice how much younger they all look now...

The days are getting longer and we are looking forward to a promising spring.  It will not be without its problems, as it never is when you are dealing with living things.  We have over 200,000 plants that have to find their place in the greenhouse so they can grow their best.  I am so excited to be heading into spring with a plan and people that are going to get through it with me.