Peppers, Broccoli and Corn Seedling Update

The Peppers I started growing from seed this year are doing fantastic. I'm very happy not only with the germination rate, but also the growth. If you look closely, you can see pepper flowers forming in the picture above.

It's too early for the flowers. If I pinch them off now, the energy will instead go into the plant itself. I want better root growth and plant growth instead of flowers at this point. I pinched off all the flower buds on the 2 pepper plants that were sending them out.

I'll benefit by enjoying even more delicious peppers this year. The picture above is from last year and all the pepper plants were loaded.

My second round of broccoli seeds germinated very well. I planted several seeds into each up. Since my first germination did not go so well, I need all of these small seedlings this time around.

Yesterday I got them all separated and planted into their own cups. They will stay in the cups until it is time to transplant them right into the garden.

Here is one of the two corn varieties I am growing this year. This is Simonet and I seeded them mostly one to a cup, but there are several with two seeds per cup. I will have to transplant these into their own cups very soon. Maybe even this afternoon if I get a chance. This corn will be planted soon into our Greenhouse.

I also need to get my other corn seeded. I have many things on my plate right now. We are heading for the Coast tomorrow. It will be just an overnight trip, but one that needs to be made.

If Samantha is reading this post, I did receive your comment. I will try to get a diagram up next week of our various gardens. It's on the list!

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Getting the Greenhouse Ready for Spring

Yesterday afternoon it was nice and sunny. I took advantage of that in the afternoon to get some work done on the Greenhouse.

We built this Greenhouse in June 2008. Check this out to see how we built it in a weekend.

Over time, we made some improvements to it by edging the beds inside. The Gman also built a collapsible table inside - this is where I can hold flats and flats of seedlings.

In early Winter, once all the veggies have been harvested, we get the Greenhouse ready for winter. Due to the large amount of snowfall here, we put a tarp over the Greenhouse, in hopes that this will help the snow to slide off. If you live in a high snowfall area, make sure you design your Greenhouse with a steep enough pitch on the roof so the snow slides off.

During the Winter, after large snowfalls, I have to do some maintenance if I want my Greenhouse to have a better chance of withstanding the weather. If you click on here you can see how I make sure the snow comes off the roof.

I also have to shovel a wide path around the sides of the Greenhouse. It would do us no good to have the snow slide off the roof, only to stay around the perimeter and slowly crush the sides of the Greenhouse.

In those pictures, you can see how we weigh down the tarp. We use old bleach and milk jugs which we have filled with water. Why are they painted black?

These jugs do double duty here. Not only do we use them to weigh down the tarp over the Winter, but we use them inside the Greenhouse during the growing season.

We set them alongside the plants - because they are black, they will warm up quickly with the sun shining on them. Then at night, when the temperatures cool down, these jugs release some of that warmth they soaked up earlier in the day.

Here's a picture I took yesterday. You can see that most of the snow around the Greenhouse is now gone.

And another picture after the work was done. The tarp is folded and tied up and put away in the shop. The jugs have had another quick coat of spray paint, as some were starting to flake.

Here's why we do all this work! Check out the tomatoes, these plants are loaded with fruit. We also grow some corn in the Greenhouse as well as peppers and squash.

Do you have a Greenhouse?  Or are you planning to build one?

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Greenhouse Maintenance

Yes there is maintenance that needs to be done on greenhouses in the winter....

namely, getting the snow off the roof after a heavy fall....

A few years ago, my neglect caused this to happen.

And I don't want it to ever happen again!

Here's our greenhouse in late Spring.

we grow peppers, some corn and tomatoes inside.

These heat loving veggies are too difficult to grow outside

here in the Cariboo, because of the extreme

temperature swings from day to nite.

Corn, peppers and Tomatoes gone crazy! Tied up with strings...

these are a few of my favourite things.

Soooo, with all this snow we have been having, there was a pretty

good load of it sitting on the greenhouse roof.

The other day I shovelled a path from the main path to

the greenhouse, and then brought a broom inside.

Using the business end (don't use the handle end - you WILL

poke holes in the roof!) I kept giving the roof nudges with

the broom until the snow gave way.  Here you can see that,

altho it is off the roof, it has now piled up along the sides.

It was getting dark so I left it like that overnite.

But, the snow HAS to be moved away from the sides....

or your greenhouse sides could cave in, due to all

the pressure from the pushing snow.

A little while later, here's the job done (for now)

I've got about a 3 foot area dug out all around the greenhouse.

If a Lot more snow falls, this job needs to be repeated.

Cuz, if I want to grow lots of great food inside....

I have to make sure I do the Winter maintenance.

Have you been looking after your greenhouse this Winter?

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Ginger is spending part of her days hanging out down at the barn...I take her down with me when I go to feed and leave it up to her as to whether she wants to come back up to the house....

She won't go down there on her own, I carry her. But once down there, she often finds something to amuse herself (like chasing balls of fluff from the cottonwoods) and stays down there for awhile.

I have now got the temporary fencing up down there for the hens. In the afternoons after their egg laying is finished, I open up the runs and they can go out all around the barn and forage for some food. They are doing a good job of "weeding" down close to the barn!

In the evening I go down and put them back in their run and bring all the meat birds back into the meat bird room.

Busy hens laying lots of eggs now every day for us!

The meat birds are getting bigger!

They are now six weeks old....so in two weeks we can probably start butchering.

I've started scrambling eggs  daily to give to them which they love!

Greenhouse hot Peppers coming along nicely

The tomato plants are growing and flowering!

On the left are the peppers. Along the back is the Corn....this year we bought a Stihl with a blade attachment. I've been using it to clean up along side the upper driveway. It works awesome!

We also got the tiller attachment....it also works well but it is quite heavy for me to use. My arms will be Huge by the time I get all the tilling done around here!

My right arm does bother me after using it....it still gets sore.

We are harvesting Spinach, Lettuce Greens and Turnips now. The peas are growing wonderfully and are just now starting to flower. I did put them in a bit late this Year....

Today I am concentrating on getting more eggs Pickled....and I want to finish the Upper pathway in the Main Garden. I am putting down empty feed bags, then putting Straw on top of that. I'd rather not had to resort to the feed bags, but I have to do something to reduce the amount of weeding around here.

Next week, I think a bit of Fishing is in the plans! Fun....we love fishing here in the Cariboo, there are so many lakes to choose from! They stock most of the lakes around here so fishing is almost always good!

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In The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse is off to a good start....the plants don't look quite as nice as last year.

This year I didn't even get the Greenhouse opened up in time to receive my flats of seedlings! Too much to do around here, and I was just moving my trays out onto the porch during the day, then bringing them in at night.

These jugs are filled with water....we use them to weigh down the tarp which is put over the greenhouse for the Winter. (An attempt to keep the wind from ruining the plastic.)

This year, I have spray painted them a flat black. I'll place them inside the greenhouse. The jugs should warm up nicely during the day and then release that heat during the night.

I planted the corn....then something (maybe a mouse?) came along later that day and cleanly broke off two of the corn plants. Grrrr.....so I planted some more seeds, hoping that will work.

The tomatoes, staked and tied....we reduced the number of plants for this year. I think we have 4 Cherry, 2 Beefstake and 5 Jetsetters.....

We plan on making a trip to Lilloet for a day of tomato picking later this Summer. We just don't have enuf room for all the tomato plants we would need!

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Heirloom Tomatoes

A friend was here for a visit today and brought this beautiful basket of heirloom tomatoes that she got from another friend.....they're gorgeous!

And since they are heirloom, we'll save seed from each of them. We can try to grow them next year....there are at least 4 different kinds in the basket...also some tomatillos and a couple of sweet peppers.

And...I sorted thru my paper bags of our homegrown Amish Paste and Romas...got quite a few ripe ones! So got them washed and cut up and tossed them in the freezer. We're now down to 1 paper bag full of 'maters left to ripen.

I got a card from a good high school friend...I got a chuckle from it! Grrrrrrrr

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'Maters, 'Taters and Hats

Appointment yesterday went well....felt so good when we got home, I got a few things done. Lots to do still around here and best to get something done while I can.

Checked again on the 'maters in the paper bags.....took out all the nice ripe ones. Found a few more with frost damage on them (foreground), and set them aside for the pigs.

We could maybe cut away the portions damaged by frost and freeze the rest of the mater but I'm not sure....I'll need to look into that - does anyone know if that is ok to do?

Put the rest back in the paper bags, with a thin layer of newspaper on top, making sure I added quite a few fairly ripe tomatoes to each bag.

I'm going to try to get out later this morning once it warms up and keep on digging potatoes....I think we're down to digging the last 7 rows. Gotta get the job done and move onto something else!

Rockin' the Cassock.....nice toasty warm little hat, made of fleece...keeps the dome warmer!!

-6C here this morning at 8am....we are hoping it doesn't snow soon. It is Way Tooo early for snow!

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A Good Day's Work (I Guess)

Yesterday I made up my mind about a couple of things I Really Wanted to get done today.....

We have quite a few packages of last year's pork fat sitting in the freezers.....the idea was to cut them and feed off to the hens over winter.

Since, we have to Really concentrate now on emptying the freezers NOW (We're gonna have fresh Pork and Beef going in there soon), I am taking out a few packages at a time and getting them ready for the girls.

Also, picked the tomatoes that were ripening.....seems late this year, but I dunno. I'll probably have to do the paper bag routine again this year, I think....

The other day the Gman pulled all the Onions and hung them up at the barn...here they are hanging out with the garlic!

I got all the kidney beans pulled and hung up in the greenhouse. I was gonna tie them up, but they decided they didn't mind just being sprawled over the ropes....I don't think they will fall down.

The tomatoes.....

the Cherrys have been doing really well....I wish the larger tomatoes would get going!

And.....part of an order that is going out this afternoon.....just have to add some eggs and several pounds of potatoes and it will be done!

I'm Happy with what I have got done so far...I just pitter patter putter all over....but it is amazing to me how much energy I have lost already. Guess chemo's not for wimps.....

When I was in the freezer earlier, I noticed my 12 cups of grated zuccini sitting there patiently waiting for me. If I feel up to it, I'll make up the Zuccini Butter recipe I have....maybe later this week.

As it is, the Gman has had the pressure canner going again. Remember when we parted out 5 of our meat birds? We just tossed their carcasses into the freezers for the time being. Well, now they have been pulled out and he has made a quarts and quarts and quarts of canned chicken broth!

We aren't going to starve this winter, that's for sure! What a fantastic feeling to see all those filled jars on our shelves.....

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Raspberries, Hops.....and the Monster Turnip!

Wednesday we spent working around the place.....we had been away for several days, so animals needed to be checked on, veggies needed to be picked, the worst weeds needed to be pulled, blah blah blah

Picked 1 1/2 pounds of raspberries, weeeee! How nice to see these beauties coming on strong! I measured 2 cups of them out, and put them in freezer bags....tossed them in there! I'll use them up in muffins, or pies over the winter.

Picked, blanched and froze another round of snap peas....still have an ice cream bucket of shell peas waiting for me to bust open, blanch and freeze. Maybe tonite.

The Gman pulled all the yellowing leaves off the chard and fed them off to the animals....

Got a bit of Saskatoon berry picking done in the late afternoon.

Oh! And I went in the greenhouse and cut off the third stalk on the corn. Yes, they pretty much all have 2 ears and many want to grow a 3rd! But it is getting later in the season and those 3rd ears are Very Small, so I don't think there is time. I'd rather have the plant energy put into growing the 2 ears on each stalk instead!

The Hops plant is setting fruit.....We've got this growing along the fence close to the house. It's looking good and next year, it will probably take over the whole fence!

If we have enuf hops set, the Gman would like to try making mangel ale this fall.

And here....is.....the.....Monster Turnip! Unreal....6 1/2 freaking pounds!

We fed it off to the pigs, cutting it up for them. I'm sure it tasted really really Woody, but they don't really care.

Pigs are a great composting system!!!!

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Trimming Tomatoes

Wow! Did our tomatoes ever need a trim job! A LOT to do around here, and a lot harder for just one poor guy to try and get things done....

Gman climbed around inside Greenhouse #1 yesterday.....you can see the plants on the left needed a good trim!

There...that looks better!

And here's that greenhouse finished.....he stripped off all the leaves Below the first set of flowers....this will direct the energy into setting fruit and hopefully getting it to ripen.

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In The Greenhouse

A few greenhouse veggie pics from a couple of days ago....

Tomatoes just starting to form.....

Corn looking nice and bushy!

Tassels on the corn....yippeee! We've been shaking the stalks, hoping for good pollination....

Pumpkin hopefully just starting to form

Squash....these might be Butternut or Table Gold...or it could be Zuccini, as I did stick a couple of them in the Greenhouse....this is what u get when u don't stick a name marker in, lol!!

The squash is Very Slow to get going...oh, well...

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