Homesteading In The Pacific Northwest

Saturday, April 20, 2013

And then, having nothing else to do, I planted an orchard ...

7 dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees chosen for the Pacific Northwest from Raintree Nursery.









2 apples and 2 pears so they will cross pollinate ... the cherry, plum and peach self pollinate.


Enjoy!


The light at the end of the tunnel ... updated ...


Planted March 11 ... Peas (Cascadia), Lettuce (Merlot and Red Sails) and Radishes (French Breakfast).  Looking good the first week of April!

Enjoy!




Update: 4/20/2013


Right on schedule ... I need to harvest this bed to have room to plant tomatoes at the end of May.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Potatoes In The Rain ...

I was browsing through some of my favorite gardening blogs yesterday and I came across
a great post Erica's "Northwest Edible Life ... How To Make A Heavy Duty Potato Cage""

Looking at her post I realized that I had the best luck with my potatoes the
 second year I planted them, when I did something similar ....


I didn't do it this way again because I used sphagnum moss to line the cages and it was expensive ... Erica's idea of using weed cloth instead is brilliant!


So yesterday, in the rain, (because it's going to rain for the next week ... or maybe month)
 I went out and planted potatoes!

I cut some old tomato cages in half ...



... pushed the cut wire ends into the soil ...



... lined them with weed cloth (see instructions here), added some soil to the bottom and then the potatoes (Yukon Golds and Red Norlunds from Irish Eyes)...



I made 6 cages ....




I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out ... Thanks Erica!

Enjoy!