More Leaves

The last yard waste pickup of the year missed my neighbour's house around the corner. Twenty-three bags of great leaves. What a great opportunity to top off each of the beds to which we had just added fifteen yards of aged cow manure. The leaves will help to minimize erosion in the beds this fall and next spring; and once we get to spring, the worms will take over and incorporate everything into the soil. What a great find!

Here's what the entire garden looked like after we were finished and you can see how the individual beds have changed since we started photographing each bed last April. 

End of Season 2015

Today we finished at Riel House by transferring the last of the mulch pile in the parking lot into the Parking Lot Garden.

At last! 21 October 2015

It has been a strenuous year. Perhaps we took on too much this year by planting a two thousand square foot Parking Lot Garden with native plants and creating thirty raised beds in the Produce Garden, each bed four feet wide and twenty-two feet long. But it's done, and everything looks great. 

To see what our thirty raised beds look like, here's the Produce Garden 2015 video.

Bulbs for Entrance Beds

Today, in the Left Entrance Beds, we planted bulbs that were donated to Riel House by GM. The  Left Entrance Beds face south and southwest.

Galanthus - Flore Pieno (Double Snowdrop) - 27

Narcissi - Irene Copeland - 39

Narcissi - Wisely - 27

Tulip - Single Early Sunny Prince - 15

Going . . . . going . . . . gone!

We had fifteen yards of aged cow manure delivered on September 30. It took us almost three weeks, but it's gone!

30 September 2015

1 October 2015

6 October 2015

7 October 2015

9 October 2015

13 October 2015

16 October 2015 before

16 October 2015 after

19 October 2015 before

19 October 2015 - ALL GONE!

and to think we almost ordered an additional fifteen yards . . . yikes!

Leaves

My neighbour's property is a leaf magnet. Although the surrounding houses have some leaves this time of the year, their house would be knee deep in leaves were they not diligent in raking and bagging them.

Fortunately leaves are great mulch: helping soil retain moisture, preventing erosion, suffocating weeds and minimizing soil compaction where we walk. If we incorporate leaves in beds, particularly shredded leaves, that helps to enrich the soil. Last year we added 100 bags of leaves into the paths and beds.

This morning, I took my neighbour's first seven bags of the year to Riel House and distributed them along the central path in the Produce Garden. Last year's mulch had disintegrated over the summer.

First seven bags - October 2015

About 2/3 of the central path covered - 2015

Ain't No Mountain High Enough: Moving Manure Part 2

When you put a former IT manager and an accountant/educator together, everything immediately turns into process. How can activities be effective and efficient? How do you employ the correct resources at the right time? How do you stop from running into each other?

So even though this is gardening, here's what we've learned about process after just one morning of manure work:

• two people are required at a minimum.
• recognize that fifteen yards of manure must be dumped outside of a fenced in garden with raised beds. In our case, the distance to be traveled from pile to bed and back is up to 200 feet.
• ask for aged manure that has been sieved. Since ours wasn't sieved, separate the big lumps as you are loading the good manure to be moved. The big lumps go in a storage area that already contains almost-ready soil, compost and leaves.
• transport the good manure in four 21L pails(.75 cubic feet) inside a wheel barrow (6 cubic feet) since it is too hard to unload this size of wheelbarrow in the constrained space between rows and up in raised beds
• each person loads two pails all the while separating the big lumps.
• the first person takes the manure into the beds and dumps the individual pails then exits the garden and returns to the pile. Once each bed is full (currently sixteen pails), rake the manure over the entire bed.
• the second person keeps the source pile neat, rakes the manure on either side of the loading area all the while looking for more large lumps for the storage area. 
• We anticipate it takes half an hour to top off each of our beds with the manure.
• If there are more than two people, the third person rakes the raised beds.
• If there are more than three people, then the fourth person helps at the pile, either moving big lumps to the storage area, or keeping the pile organized. If you have another four pails, then these could be loaded for the returning first person and wheelbarrow.
• If there are more than four people, more wheelbarrows! More pails!

Moving Manure

Today, we started to move the manure into the Produce Garden beds.The rake in the first picture defines the original perimeter of the pile. We moved about 1 1/2 yards of the 15 yards.Hmmmm 10%. We have a ways to go.

Here's the pile when we finished today:

Here's the pile when we started:

 

September Precipitation: Nine Inches More than 1886

And still this year's soil seems dry when we dig into it.

You can see below that this year's lows float along close to highs in 1886. Global warming?

 See References for all weather comparisons since April.

Manure, Glorious Manure!

If worms could sing, it would be "Food, Glorious Food!" from Oliver. But I digress.

Here's what fifteen yards of aged cow manure looks like:

You can see Produce Garden Beds 1-16 in the background are eagerly awaiting this feast.

We will place the manure on top of the beds, add shredded leaves on top of that, then water. The worms inside the beds will surface through these two new layers, grab something to eat, and then dive back down to consume and poop what they have just retrieved. Like dolphins. And that's how we make better soil!

After this first load, we'll order another fifteen yards to go into Beds 17-28 plus the Kitchen Garden. If we've underestimated, then a third load is required. 

Oh, we'll also add unshredded leaves into the paths to protect where we walk, and to help soak up rainwater that will slowly percolate under the raised beds - and keep the beds moist from underneath.

Soil Sampling in the Produce Garden.

Trying to get the soil sampler into a bed that hasn't been raised.

Today, we took fourteen soil samples (Beds 1 4 5 8 9 12 13 16 17 20 21 24 25 28) from the Produce Garden. We needed to do this before we started to spread manure on all the beds later this week. 

It was a "reasonable" effort to drive the soil sampler into Beds 1-8, which were the raised corn beds this year. Beds 9-16, the raised potato beds, were easy to retrieve the soil sample. The ease with which to get the samples from Beds 17-28 depended on whether we had raised the beds since the harvest of September 16. The recently raised beds were similar in effort to the corn beds. The beds that have not yet been raised proved difficult to insert the sampler. I was concerned with either breaking the horizontal plate or the vertical shaft as I levered the sampler into the ground.

When we attempted to take samples last spring (before we began raising the beds), it was very difficult to insert the sampler into the soil. Then it was almost impossible to get the sampler out of the ground. Then we couldn't get the sample out of the sampler. We gave up. Going forward, we'll take samples in the fall, and then compare them to previous years to see how we're doing.

Now we mix up the 14 samples to achieve a consistent soil mix, then select two pounds (the size of a freezer bag). That's what gets submitted to the lab for soil testing.

I'll report back once we have results.

Preparing the Produce Garden for 2016

We are very keen to have the Produce Garden ready to plant right after May 23 in 2016 (Victoria Day). To that goal, here's what we need to accomplish this fall:

• raise the remaining beds by lowering their surrounding paths
• add existing compost on top of beds
• add aged manure on top of all beds
• add shredded leaves on top of all beds
• add leaves into all paths 

We have found a source of manure. We will contact Riel House neighbours regarding their leaves. We will scrounge whatever leaves we can find from our neighbours and in our neighbourhoods. 

In the fall of 2014, we added one hundred bags of leaves into the Produce Garden. In the spring of 2015, we raised Beds 1 to 16 and mulched them with grass cuttings and thatch that Parks Canada had vacuumed off the property.  Also, we no longer walk in the growing areas, only in the paths.

The soil is better than in prior years, and look at the worms! Double click, then drill down into the photograph.


What we have learned over the last year, is that as soon as you throw something on the ground, things want to live underneath it. Worms, bugs, bacteria, fungus. Water collects underneath and helps to keep the soil moist. And what we throw on the ground we call mulch. 

Here are two pictures from fall 2013 when we thought that neat was good. Notice how grey and dry the soil is. I was about to turn over the soil in this area and had difficulty getting the garden fork into the ground.

2013: Grey Dry Hard

Kids - do not try this at home!

Digging is bad for soil structure. Do not dig! Do not rototill! Please read Teaming with Microbes by Lowenfels & Lewis.

Digging of Remainder of Beds

We will raise the remaining beds in the Produce Garden. We started last spring (actually April 29) to dig out the paths surrounding each bed by lowering the path - and so raising the bed. Each bed takes approximately 1 1/2 hours to move soil from the path into the bed, and then place mulch in the lowered path.

Beds 17, 19 and 20 raised and paths mulched

We still have Beds 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 to prepare. We may leave Beds 18, 26 and 28 until next spring because they contain sunflowers with their seeds that we would like to employ to attract birds (and their fertilizing poop!) over the winter. Regardless, that is nine beds at 1.5 hours per bed equals almost five volunteer days (three hours per day).

As in the previous post Leaf Mulch, Soil, Future Mulch, we are using Beds 29 and 30 as a storage area.

Corn Debris

 

Corn debris surrounding Beds 1-2

Two years ago, we would not have tolerated throwing debris in the garden. Too messy! Why can't things be neat? Cleaned up? Shouldn't all plant debris be in the compost bin? 

What we have learned over the last year, is that as soon as you throw something on the ground, things want to live underneath it. Worms, bugs, bacteria, fungus. Water collects underneath and helps to keep the soil moist. And that is what we call mulch. 

Here are two pictures from fall 2013 when we thought that neat was good. Notice how grey and dry the soil is. I was about to turn over the soil in this area and had difficulty getting the garden fork into the ground.   

Grey Dry Hard

Kids - do not do this at home!

Digging is bad for soil structure. Do not dig! Do not rototill! Please read Teaming with Microbes by Lowenfels & Lewis.

Three Heritage Corn Varieties

Bloody Butcher, Mandan Bride, Black Aztec

We had mixed results with the heritage corn. Some people liked it, some hated it. Personally, I ate some good cobs with lots of flavour, particularly Bloody Butcher; but also some chewy, starchy ones. The operative words in the descriptions below are "flour" and "cornmeal". 

Bloody Butcher

Known in the U.S. since 1845; originally from Virginia. Plants grow to 12’ tall and have at least two ears per stalk; each ear is 8-12” long. Striking maroon and red-black kernels. Used for flour, cornmeal, or corn-on-the-cob when young. Good drought tolerance. Great for fall decorations. 100 – 110 days. (www.seedsavers.org) 

 

Mandan Bride

From the Mandan Indians of Minnesota and North Dakota. Extensive color range includes some attractive striped kernels. Use as a flower corn or for fall displays. Ears are 6-8” long on 6’ plants. 85 -90 days. (www.seedsavers.org)

Black Aztec

 Delicious sweet corn said to have been grown by the Aztecs 2,000 years ago. Introduced to the seed trade by James J. H. Gregory in 1864. Vigorous 6’ plants produce 8” ears that are white at milk stage and turn jet black when mature. Makes an excellent blue cornmeal. 70 -90 days. (www.seedsavers.org)

 

 

Harvest 2015

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" - John Keats - Ode to Autumn

Well, not quite autumn when we harvested on September 16, but you get the picture. Below is the truckload that Parks Canada took to Winnipeg Harvest. In total, 455.5 pounds:

In comparison to prior years:
       - 2013     265.0 pounds
       - 2014     501.0 pounds
       - 2015     455.5 pounds

We're down slightly from last year, BUT, last year, pumpkins were the major contributor to the weight. Winnipeg Harvest said the pumpkins get used as decorations. This year, we planted just a couple of pumpkin seeds, and were not at all successful.This year, potatoes make up the bulk of the weight: 293 pounds of the 455.5 total.

Some potato statistics:
   - we planted 75 pounds of potatoes (1 1/2 bags) 
   - eight beds of potatoes yielded 293 pounds (six bags), so 37 pounds per bed
   - each bed was planted with 22 potatoes (cut in half), almost two pounds per potato 

Rabbits and Traps

Hewwo! Acme Pest Contwol? Weww I have a pest I want contwolled. - Elmer Fudd - Looney Tunes

 

As above, we have tried the large trap for raccoons and skunks (one of our volunteers has had great success trapping  rabbits with this trap). Previously, we had tried the medium trap that is designed for rabbits and squirrels - however, we sense a rabbit reluctance to enter because of its smaller size.

Take a close look at the above picture and you will see the rabbit directly above the highest corner of the cage. I took the picture after I had almost stepped on the rabbit when I was removing the unsuccessful cage from the Produce Garden. The majority of the food we had placed inside and around the cage had been eaten - but - it appears the rabbit was too light weight to trip the metal plate that causes the doors to drop.  

I dumped the remaining bait back in the Produce Garden. Ten minutes later, I took the following picture:

He is very tame . . .

  . . . but not tame in enough to grab by the ears and drive him off the property!

Why, you wascally wabbit!

In gardening, there is always next year.

Precipitation

We are vastly ahead of rainfall from previous years.
This year 20 inches (500 mm). Last year 14 inches (350mm). In 1886, 11 inches (275mm).

I would be surprised if anything was harvested in 1886 given lack of rain and lack of modern water delivery.
See References for month end comparisons of temperature, precipitation and heat.