Endurance Garden 2014

[endurance]

It could have been A Lot worse.  This is about seven miles from my house.

[AvenueQ]

Jeez, like my garden needs any more hail this year! Not sure if it got hit, might've missed it since we only got rain at the house. It's been a hell of a spring for hail along the front range.

[endurance]

You can't be serious...



Yep, that's ice on my rear window this morning.  After getting a half inch of rain last night, we woke to ice on the deck and car windshields.  Yay! 

I went out to the garden this morning and it didn't look like anything had frost on it.  The ground might have held enough warmth to prevent actual freezing.  We shall see.  When I get home tonight I'll see how things look.  With all the rain we've received in the last week, I'm hoping I'll see a thriving garden and now frost-borne devastation. 

[cohutt]

lol. Hailstorms sound like a herd of 100,000 squirrels racing towards you through the woods.

Same sort of damage here in the last one to roll through. all the large leafed plants were unfazed except for a clean hole punched through multiple leaves. 

[endurance]

My perennials are thriving, my veggies are getting by, my taters are underway.


In the foreground, Valerian (three plants), Thin-leaf Huckleberry, HoneyCrisp Apple, and as you go to the right there's a Red Delicious Apple


Viewed from below, potato boxes on the right, SunChokes just below the first wall, my veggie garden in the near bed to the right.


Thriving Arnica, Red Currants, Strawberries, Comfrey, Bugleweed, Siberian Pea Shrub, Pear tree...


Sugar Snap Peas getting underway with a struggling All Field Berry and new raspberry getting started.


One of my new cold-hardy peach trees just starting to leaf out with my struggling veggies in the background.

[d3nni5]

I like the peach tree.   Been thinking about getting one of those myself.   You have a great looking garden!

[endurance]

I like the peach tree.   Been thinking about getting one of those myself.   You have a great looking garden!

Mine are from Raintree Nursery, but I hear there's a place in Maine that specializes in cold weather, late budding varieties of fruit trees.  I haven't located them yet, but I plan on finding them by next ordering season (March-April).  One of the two peaches I planted this year still hasn't put out leaves.  I'm starting to get a bit worried about it.  The soil and location I have it in is one of the best places in the garden, so I'm not sure why it's not thriving.

My Valerian is flowering.  A subtle scent, but very pleasant.


As mentioned in another thread, I planted four Valerians, one in 2012 and three last year.  They're all thriving, even in my worst soil with way too much competition around it.  It seems to be relatively drought tolerant (survived last summer), full sun tolerant, and shade tolerant.  I'm actually thinking of harvesting some roots next spring to plant more (never got any seed to take in 2011 or 2012 when I planted) and putting it in areas where I want to create more shade for my plants that can't take full sun, but won't have tree cover for years.

[AvenueQ]

My Valerian is flowering.  A subtle scent, but very pleasant.

Really? 'Cause the scent that comes out of the bottle of valerian pills I have is definitely not subtle

[Cedar]

How did I miss you had snow?!?!? Yikes! Other than that, it is looking nice in the other photos.

Cedar

[endurance]

Really? 'Cause the scent that comes out of the bottle of valerian pills I have is definitely not subtle

The valerian pills are made from the roots, not the flowers.

And that's not snow, Cedar, it's hail on the roads and ice scraped off my car window. 

[Cedar]

And that's not snow, Cedar, it's hail on the roads and ice scraped off my car window.

That is even worse. I have braved a hail storm in Canada to put umbrellas over my MUST SURVIVE tomato plants.

Cedar

[annmedford]

Well, it's 24F outside right now and it snowed five inches, but I decided to get my order in on some plants to be delivered May 21 (last frost date).



The variety of peach is a late blooming cold hardy one that might prevent losing the harvest like last year to a late frost.  I'm finally dialing in the needs of the All Field Berries over the last two years and know that they need to get in some of my moister/shadier spots to thrive.  I wanted to try some yellow raspberries this year since I have had a lot of bird loss in years past and I've heard the birds aren't as keen on the yellow ones.  I love currants, they're nitrogen fixers, too, and have done really well on my property so far.  And Salmonberry is new.  Anyone who's grown them before, please let me know if you have any recommendations on where to plant them.

We have a contender peach and it does great for us. We are homesteading in North central Maine cool side of zone 5, we have it planted so that it has good sun exposure but some protection from the cold west winter winds. Nothing like a sun ripened peach warm off the tree. I think I've never had a real peach until off our tree. yum. Currants do reat for us too also gooseberries.
Currants and especially gooseberries can fruit with some shade but perfer sun.
anything I can do to help.. let me know!

[annmedford]

The boxes are for potatoes, which must go in next.  I still need to clear a spot for them and get some dirt... maybe.  What do you think about trying to grow them in just wood chips (1/4") and aged (two seasons old) horse manure?  I thought about doing one box as an experiment this year.  I have more of those two things than I have dirt around here and while $35 a yard for planter mix is reasonable, it's not free.  The boxes use around a half yard and last year I had them where the new bed I just built is. 

We've put soil at he bottom of the box for potatoes, plopped the seed potatoes down and uses sawdust/composted critter manure-bedding for the filling, works a treat and the mix becomes even better for next year.

[annmedford]

Mine are from Raintree Nursery, but  . (hear there's a place in Maine that specializes in cold weather, late budding varieties of fruit trees.  I haven't located them yet, but I plan on finding them by next ordering season (March-April

I believe you mean FEDCO seeds, they are localish to me in Maine...(80 miles)
They are fabulous, reasonable, dependable, and are very useful to the cooler climate permaculturist (no affiliation, just a lond time customer)

[endurance]

Thanks, Ann for the information and support.  It's been a great year so far with amazing moisture. 

I didn't start watering until just a few weeks ago and even now it's far less than years past.  My perennial beds are doing well without much water at all (mainly just need water on the echinecea and strawberries near the edges, everything else seems do be doing well), but the veggies are needing more and more water as the summer gets hotter.  I need to get some more mulch down around my veggies soon.  I mulched my potatoes last night with about 6" of mostly horse manure that had run through my chipper/shredder (some wood chips, too).

I'm essentially out of storage rain water and hoping watering restrictions don't kick in anytime soon.  We could use some more significant rainfall.  The storms we've been getting lately moisten the very top layer of mulch or soil, but generally do nothing to contribute to my water storage (1/10th inch that pretty much gets absorbed or evaporates off the shingles).  We could use a good soaking rain before the 4th so fires won't become a problem.

Thanks to Angus's post on mapping, I finally got the chance to calculate the square footage I actually have under cultivation.  I eyeballed it at about 2,000 square feet this year, but based on this, I was off significantly.  Looks like right around 1,400.

[Chemsoldier]

Sorry you are not getting more rain up your way Endurance.   We got a decent soaker around Cheyenne Mountain Thursday or so, but on my side of the springs it just sprinkled.  Schizophrenic weather..

Now we are dry as a bone and windy. Red Flag warning at mid-day today.

[endurance]

Sorry you are not getting more rain up your way Endurance.   We got a decent soaker around Cheyenne Mountain Thursday or so, but on my side of the springs it just sprinkled.  Schizophrenic weather..

Now we are dry as a bone and windy. Red Flag warning at mid-day today.

Our 4th plans are contingent on things staying pretty ideal.  Fireworks just might be cancelled.  Fortunately we're staying in reasonable relative humidities, but this wind isn't helping one bit.

[Cedar]

Crummy on the fire watch guys.. if I could have sent you some rain I would have.

Cedar

[endurance]

Crummy on the fire watch guys.. if I could have sent you some rain I would have.

Cedar

We got super lucky and got dumped on for about an hour before we lit off the fireworks.  5/8" of rain in just over an hour.  Everything was soaked when the first fuse was lit.  It saved our bacon!  As it was, I was serving as a division supervisor with two brush trucks and five person hand crew and the 11 of us were running our butts off just putting out smoldering embers.  Had it been dry, well, I don't want to talk about it.

Oh, and after the big rain my other new peach tree finally started leafing out!  I really thought it was dead for a while, but apparently it's just a very late bloomer.  Hopefully there's enough summer remaining to build up the energy it'll need to make it through the winter.

[d3nni5]

Oh, and after the big rain my other new peach tree finally started leafing out!  I really thought it was dead for a while, but apparently it's just a very late bloomer.  Hopefully there's enough summer remaining to build up the energy it'll need to make it through the winter.

Cool, I dunno if i can grow one here in WV, but I'm going to try next year i think.

[endurance]

RAIN!!!

Ok, as if the 4th of July 5/8" wasn't great, this week is incredible for rain, albeit some has come too much all at once. 

For instance, this:



All that came in 45 minutes!  I was away on a call (standing outside in a t-shirt, of course) and came home to a swale that overflowed for the first time ever.


 
No harm done, as it drained into another terrace, which filled, then spilled over the rock wall with no damage.  No, this wasn't by design.  It was designed to spill out the ends, but as I've tweaked some things (cinderblocks to keep rabbits from getting under the fence, added a water diversion ditch to collect more water) I've made the ends a bit too high.  I'll see what I can come up with for a solution, but given this is the first time I've had a spill over, I'm not that concerned.  It only spilled over for a few minutes before the rain subsided and a storm like this only comes once every few years. 


As the water soaks in...

I'm also collecting soil in the swale


My dog ball pass-thru has filled with soil.  Guess that's just more for the next bed.

[Cedar]

Were you able to catch and storewater? And you might move your chair to higher ground... just sayin. 

Cedar

[endurance]

Were you able to catch and storewater? And you might move your chair to higher ground... just sayin. 

Cedar

I captured about 400 gallons this week.  As always, it's a matter of capacity and how much gutter I have.  I was watching it just pour off one of my eaves and shaking my head.  One 30' gutter would have added probably 200 gallons on that storm.  That said, it probably would have maxed out every tank I have.

[Nicodemus]

And you might move your chair to higher ground... just sayin. 

He got confused. He figured if a Hugel Bed did so well in his area that a Hugel Chair would work as well.

[endurance]

He got confused. He figured if a Hugel Bed did so well in his area that a Hugel Chair would work as well.

Actually, I'd just sprinkled chia seeds on the chair in my effort to create the first-ever Chia Pet Chair.

It's the one spot in my garden that's always shaded after work, so that's where I unwind in the evening.

Oh, and I've received 7/8" of rain in the last two days, so the monsoon continues.

[Cedar]

Actually, I'd just sprinkled chia seeds on the chair in my effort to create the first-ever Chia Pet Chair.

Not seriously? 

Cedar

[endurance]

It's been a good year, but it sounds like it's all ending right now.  My wife just called and we're getting hammered with 3/4"-1" hail and it's been going on for at least 10 minutes. 

Such is life.  All I can do is hope the roof is undamaged and there's no real damage to the homestead.

[d3nni5]

It's been a good year, but it sounds like it's all ending right now.  My wife just called and we're getting hammered with 3/4"-1" hail and it's been going on for at least 10 minutes. 

Such is life.  All I can do is hope the roof is undamaged and there's no real damage to the homestead.

How did this turn out?   Any hail damage?  Garden make it through?

[endurance]

How did this turn out?   Any hail damage?  Garden make it through?

Actually, I was surprised at how well things 'endured' the storm.  Yes, my comfrey is shredded and so is my Rhubarb, but pretty much everything else looks like it should make it.  The zucchini might struggle with some torn leaves, but I was getting sick of it anyway.   

I have pics to post as soon as I get a chance to upload.

Overall, not bad.