Bad birdies and broody hens

I made the unfortunate mistake of uncovering ripe blueberry bushes. To my dismay they were void of anything blue by morning. I had been showing the bushes to friends, as this year marks our first blueberry harvest. What a shame! They are now recovered, but the majority of this years crop was stolen.
I then realized I have even bigger fish to fry. My don's hen, General, has been acting rather strange this week. I noticed that she looks pretty fluffy and makes strange noises when laying her egg each day. I have collected several very warm eggs. Yesterday, I pulled her off the nest to forage with the others, but within minutes she was sitting back in the coop. Then it dawned on me that she has gone broody.
At this point its just comical, she screeched when the coop door is opened and acts like a real turkey. Today our other two hens wanted to harass her off the clutch so they could add to it. They are not acting like she is but they insisted on sitting on top of her in order to lay the eggs with the clutch.
Last night I ordered 10 rare breed hatching eggs. We will move her to her own place with her 10 plastic Easter eggs and replace them Friday when the eggs are shipped in. 44$ for 10, which is rather steep! I hope she hatches them all and that many are pullets!

New *Improved* Berry Bed

It is so nice out today I decided to do some clean up and mess around in the garden.  the soil is still too cold for most things, but worse still, it is too wet to even touch!

I cleared out bed #2, to let the soil warm up a little and dry out.  I left the straw for later use in compost or mulch if it isn't too soggy.

I planted some mint in the "cabbage patch" so to speak, where the broccoli and Brussels Sprouts will be soon.  It is supposed to help deter the cabbage moth, which was a real pain picking caterpillars last year.  hopefully it helps.  I brought out the seedlings, and put them in the prop box.  I have been keeping an eye on them, and will have to watch the nighttime temperature and cover them if it gets too cool.  They are a hardy group of crops though, so I am hoping this sturdies them up and gets them ready to transplant.  I know that their growth will improve drastically once they can stretch out their roots.  I also took the lettuce that I seeded and put in the prop box as well, in hopes that it will improve germination.  I am trying ot use up all the old seeds I have and get use of them, while at the same time, not holding on to valueless goods!

So...I have also been coming up with clever ways to recycle trash from the yard, and just general ideas to make the yard look nice.

• I decided to use Mickey's old holey work boots as a flower pot. {why not? they'll just go to a landfill anyways, why not let them be fully rotten by the time they get there?}
• I took an old broken chair of the kids and sunk a flower pot into it, and added a gimpy trellis.  I plan to find something to plant in it, just as soon as I decide where I want it.
• I decided that I am definitely interested in vining hops up to the treehouse.  It is the perfect height and would give some much needed shade for the gardeners and skate boarders below.  I may do grapes up one side and hops on the other and put some garden furniture under the decking. Sounds pretty.
• I would love to make a hammock.  Or two, or four.
• I would love to make garden furniture from saplings, and stumps, etc. Then plant with vines!
• I want to put a Tee Pee up in my garden (not just the ones for my pole beans).  My mom gave me one made with treated 1x2 and muslin cloth.  It just needs to be set up.  I was thinking that by the end of the week, it should be less soggy out and we can do that!
• When I plant my corn, I want to make a maze. {Maize?  Anyone? tee hee}                               Granted, it will be a rather small maze, but who cares? Not my kids!  So, instead of just planting blocks of rows, I will have to make up a design, and incorporate that into my succession sowing plan.  It may complicate it a bit, but that seems to be the way I like things!
• Help Chas plant a real garden.  Since I stole his blocks.....well, I feel like he needs a small domain to master.  We will figure out what stuff he would like and get him growing, too.  Audrey gets the area around the swingset, until we decide to move it, and I am also going to occupy much of the space below his treehouse. (but hey, he gets a sweet treehouse, so fair is fair!) So he gets to decide.  Either that or he can take over the soon to be herb garden, that seems to be his favorite thing, MINT TEA!!!!
• Planting of Elderberries and Jerusalem Artichokes.....hmmm...this one is trickier for me.  First, I just read in the Wiki that elderberry plants contain cyanide.  Although the flowers and berries are safe to eat, the leaves, twigs and roots can build up to be toxic.  {I DID NOT KNOW THAT!!!}.  And honestly, from the talk of the Perennial sunflowers being 'like' potatoes, I thought the tubers were larger and/or perhaps the  plant would be larger.  HMMMM.....I just don't know which would be better in the garden area, if either.  I thought I preferred the elderberry because of it's ability to spread and fill quickly, it has a nice perfume to the flowers, the berries are adored by many native birds, as well as native people, and has been consumed, as such for centuries.  Not to mention making wines an jams....but I did not, however, know that the rest of the plant was a natural (aren't they all?) source of cyanide.  *I think I will have to think about it*

Yep, I thought all that up, today! And, I also got something done from my summer list!

I took away the old compost bin from between the Asparagus, and the Blueberries! YAY! =)

It worked out pretty well, with the "core samples" I "borrowed/stole" from Chas' garden of last year.  

The concrete tubes fit about right as the back of the bed, and they are officially "full sun" now....not that they were in dense shade before, but they are no longer sheltered at all.  I really like it and it is a real improvement aesthetically.  

(Picture of last years Bed)

I am sure that my round-up spraying neighbors, who have the most direct view of my lovely garden, will appreciate any changes in that department.  I am pretty sure that they do not value my pallet compost bins nearly as much as I (and my veggies) do! =)  But hey, all in good time. All in good time!

It is improving.  And I am designating directives left and right. this will be this, and that will be that.  Later this is that and that is this.....it's a fun daydream for me, to decide what is best for a given situation....and trial and error, as always! Like my Ajuga....a failure in the Box elder Bed out front...but success in the side yard to the east.  Same for tulips and other bulbs...they need to head east as well...it is all just a try and see how it goes adventure.  Sometimes it is all gravy....and sometimes it's a rock-hard biscuit! But it is just how you learn why things work and why they don't or how to trick them into growing anyways! Fun stuff.....and today is no different!

Oh, and speaking of today.....PEA SPROUTERS!!!  Audrey was so excited to hear that they sprouted! and from what I could tell, they have grown since this morning! Seriously! When I first saw them up, I brushed the straw away and they had just broken the surface and they are at least 1/2 " now, and probably taller later.  It is just amazing! If you actually had the patience to ( and I do) you could literally watch them grow.  And I have heard of Hops being even faster growing, and can, on a good day, gain a foot in one day! Awesome!

No carrot sprouts, as of yet.  I plan to plant out another patch in succession and pray that the first still sprouts.  If not, I will get back around to their turn again.  I put in a few more spinach in a little cellpack, as well....just keep sowing, sowing, sowing.....OH! I am so excited Spring is finally here! =)

PH and my blueberries

Ok....the other day i took a soil sample from he blueberry bed. To make it as accurate as possible I took the samples in between plants, and not directly next to them where more fertilizers and amendments are added. Last year, I built the bed with oak leaf mold and my Ozarks soil (which is very alkaline). I added 3 cu. ft. of peat. A full bag of soil acidifier, and fertilized with Hollytone.

I have read that it can take the better part of a year for the PH to drop even one point. I am assuming that the soil was 7.0 (neutral) to begin with, although the probe type tester does not seem that accurate to me....

So, I took this soil sample, then went ahead and dusted around each bush with sulfur and hollytone, because I knew that the soil would still be too high, and I really want them to be in the best possible condition when they leaf out.

The PH to me looks like its between 7.0-6.0, but it's not a good sign either way, although it's progress in the right direction.

(This is why it is SO important to plan ahead , even two years for blueberries if you have alkaline soil. This is also why a raised bed will help reduce leaching the alkalinity from the native soil, although, there are no guarantees!) I believe that I will have to continue to do foliar iron sprays all season, to ensure their viability, until the soil is in proper range....and I need to get another bag of soil acidifier on the soil ASAP. And a healthy mulch of pine would also be beneficial.

Foliar Sprays <---------(taken from this PDF)

Foliar sprays of iron sulfate or iron chelates may provide quick response, often in a matter

of days. However, the treatment is often spotty and only temporary. Multiple applications

per season may be needed. Effects will not carry over into subsequent years.

Foliar applications are generally not recommended due to application limitations.

Complete coverage of all leaves is essential. Individual leaves not treated may remain

chlorotic. Coverage on large trees is impractical to impossible.

There is a small margin between an iron concentration that will green up the leaves and a

concentration that will cause leaf burn. Leaf tissues are rather prone to turn black from an

iron burn. Following an iron sulfate foliar treatment, it is common to see leaves that

remain chlorotic, leaves that green up, and leaves with black burn spots on the same plant.

Spray hitting the sidewalk, house, and other objects may leave a permanent rusty

discoloration. Chelated iron sprays are inactivated by sunlight.

223-7

Foliar applications may be made with some iron chelates or with iron sulfate products.

Both types of products are equally effective, but iron chelates are more expensive. See

product label for specific application rates and instructions. With foliar applications, spray

in the evening or on cloudy days when drying time is slower. A few drops of liquid

dishwashing soap or commercial wetting agent will enhance sticking properties.

I do believe that this PDF has been my most helpful reference for information on Blueberries and PH....also, the problem of super high PH in Colorado soils, and free-lime content. Very, very interesting stuff. And really helps me understand the "Why" of the problem, instead of "What is the problem?".....that helps the info stick! =) In fact, because of the PH issue...looking up this blueberry information, and reading the Colorado State Master Gardener information...I became (yet again) so thankful for the internet, and PDF's! Most states have a master gardener program, and I really want to join in my state...but haven't yet.

Reading these PDF's gave me that epiphany, in my amateur gardener's mentality..."the OHHHHH! I get it!!!!"....If you want to grow acid loving plants, definitely read these.

This is the potassium test. It was kinda hard to figure out which one it looked most like.

Phosphorus.

nitrogen.

I don't know about you, but I don't feel that comfortable with anaylizing this results!

I see medium to high on nutrient values and "way too high for blueberries" on the PH.

Reading more I came across this tidbit again:

The preferred way of applying nitrogen is injected through the irrigation system. Soluble N

forms may also be applied on the surface near the plant row and irrigated in with sprinklers or

rainfall. Use ammonium forms of N (e.g. ammonium sulfate, urea,). Blueberries prefer the ammonium form of N and ammonium is the predominate N form in the soil at low pH.

{From: Santa Barbara}

Forgot about that.

(most of these links are from last year, but I am brushing up on the info and these little excerpts are vital to me.)

The tables at Michigan State are helpful for large acreage amounts but I will have to decide how much acidifier I need for my plot. I am seriously considering sending in samples to the University Extension for this and maybe finding out about a leaf sample test. It could really help pin point exactly what needs to happen, because there is a good possibility of over fertilization when nutrients are present but locked up because of PH. In other words, I could easily shock these guys by having too much of a good thing, by trying to overcompensate for issues created by planting the berries in soil with a higher PH value, or while the PH lowering compounds are still at work lowering the PH, and I continue to add them, the total amount may eventually become much too much....so I need to be very careful while playing with the soil, so to speak.

I am stuck inside since the weather has turned cold and dreary...so this is just "Food for thought today"....... MMMMM....blueberries!

How to Put in a Raised Bed for Blueberries

Today I started, and have almost finished putting together a raised bed for the blueberries we purchased months ago. They have been residing all this time in a thick bed of chopped and moistened oak leaves to keep them from drying out in their measly 1 gallon pots. I had removed each bush from their pots and loosened and moistened the potting mix, then amended it with my own mix of peat moss and fertilizer. I was hoping to counteract any raising PH level that might occur from water leaching since they were at the nursery. (I use the term Nursery VERY loosely, they were purchased in the garden center at Lowe's.....could be worse I suppose, I could have bought them at Wally-World!)

I have also sprayed them with a foliar spray of Iron. I noticed that the new growth is pale yellow-green. And I wanted to ensure that they did not have nutrient deficiencies. So I have been trying to make due, and keep them going "as is".

Today I mowed over my pile of oak leaves, bagged it up and moved it away to the compost heap (starting a new pile). Then I had to bust out the tiller. I left a layer a few inches deep of the chopped leaves and "duff" layer under the leaf bin and tilled it up. I then added my opened bag of peat moss, dusted the entire surface with sulfur and dumped a bag of soil acidifier in there. I then raked it all up to mix it in, and tilled it again. I added a full bag of peat and tilled some more. I wanted to be sure to thoroughly mix the soil with the peat and left over leaf mold.....and make sure that the amendments were thoroughly incorporated. I dug a few holes and popped the blueberries in the homes. I haven't removed their buckets yet, but only because I am letting the soil and amendments mellow and I may add compost, or other things before planting. I am trying to be patient, but I would like the job to be done! I busted my hump on this bed today. I probably put in 5 or 6 hours so far.

Lessons in the garden....I feel like I am actually learning!

I was so excited to see that there are pretty decently sized potatoes when went to check them last night. I was trying to decide if I should add soil to hill them or if the straw was sufficient. I decided to add soil to every plant once I saw the state of growth. I want more than a few taters per plant, and I felt like the straw was just turning the already weak stalks to mush and harboring slugs closer to the plant than I would like.Since I am hoping to multiply the number of potatoes that we harvest by keeping them hilled well, I thought the best "method" was a combination of methods. I pulled back my straw "hills" and added approximately 5 gallons of soil per hill, maybe more on the larger plants....and replaced the straw. I tried to use the really moist, soggy straw against the soil hills, and the drier, outermost straw further up the plant to support the "hilling".

Some of the spuds looked edible. Like these small ones in the picture they were about the size you would pick out to make baked potatoes for the kids...or for roasts (new potato sized, and some smaller, too).....BEAUTIFUL!!!! I can't describe how excited I was to see these little tubers, I had to run to the house to grab a phone or camera to take a picture! I imagine digging them in a few months, and I am just so proud of my little "grocery store" sprouted potatoes...and everyone says they treat them to prevent sprouting! HA! these had HUGE gangly sprouts!!! Next year I will fork up the moola for seed potatoes, and rotate beds or cover crops to avoid issues with pest and disease...but as for experimental food growing.....I think we're doin' alright!!!

(now lets try garlic again!)

the Asparagus i s doing pretty well. I have noticed some slight yellowing of the ferns but they seem healthy despite this. I am trying a foliar iron feed to help with this and I intend to allow them to dry a bit more between waterings, as I have read this can cause yellowing as well. But I figured the iron wouldn't hurt, and I was spraying the blueberries anyways.....

I have been fertilizing about every other week with a 13-13-13 all purpose. Some of the spears have been coming up so thick that it is very tempting to taste one, but I know that it would risk the health of the crowns so I don't! But it is mouth wateringly tempting. I am thinking about withholding Nitrogen, so I may have to buy a new fertilizer, so the ferns don't get too spindly.

The first picture shows how many spears are forming from one healthy crown. This second picture shows the size of spears that have been coming up. This one is about to loosen and turn into fern......

I can't wait to harvest something from the garden!

Yesterday I noticed a bunch of yellow orange eggs under a potato leaf, and from reading I know that is a Colorado potato beetle larva cluster (most likely), and we smooshed them without prejudice (and without talking a picture). I have also noticed a lot of flea beetle activity on the potatoes as well, I have just not concluded what I will do about it. Other than that, there haven't been a lot of Japanese Beetles, YET....or cabbage worms, like my father in law had on his broccoli. they are crafty little buggers, hiding along the leaf veins and are a bluish green like the broccoli (because that is what they chowed down on!) and that makes them very hard to find!!! I have only found one in my garden and it was a striped one. And I also found one asparagus beetle as well. Any other holes we've found that weren't from caterpillars and flea beetles have likely been due to slugs. Which is starting to become a nuisance. I think I may need some Diatomaceous earth. That or beer bait, but I think I'd rather drink it!

Overall, the garden is doing quite well. I have been working on moving the compost and bins to the other side of the garden. And preparing to plant out fruits. I have spent a lot of time investigating pale green new growth in blueberries. The only conclusion I can come to is that the soil in their pots has a higher PH than it should. This prevents the uptake of important nutrients such as: Nitrogen, Sulfur, Iron , Magnesium and other trace minerals that are important for the proper chlorination of the leaves.....the best and most sure way to solve this is to acidify the soil greatly, and feed with an acid loving plant food, as for azaleas. I will have to mix peat into the planting and test the ph often. I plan to mulch with chopped oak leaves, pine bark and needles. I have heard that commercial growers mayy use leaf testing over soil testing to manage PH and nutrients because the test results fluctuate so much through out the growing seson, it may be more accurate. That is something to check out in the future....once they are planted!

Edit: "Iron is necessary for the formation of chlorophyll, which is responsible for the

green color in plants and necessary for photosynthesis (sugar production in plants).

Any reduction in chlorophyll during the growing season reduces plant growth,

vigor, and tolerance to stress conditions. Plants with reduced vigor from iron

chlorosis are more prone to winter injury, and winter injury may aggravate an iron

chlorosis problem. Weakened plants also are more susceptible to other diseases

and insect infestations." (read from : coloradogarden notes iron chlorosis _)