Beautify Your Patio with Edible Ornaments is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

This year we are approaching the gardening in a different fashion than we did in recent years past. That is, we have not even looked at a seed catalog.

Last year the garden was a disaster mostly because of family health emergencies and the poor economy.
This year we have not even thought of what we would grow. As a matter of fact, after looking at the books it is evident that we loose money with the greenhouse, it actually costs us to keep it going.
So we may not even open it up to the public this year.
We have decided to concentrate on the perennials. They are easy to grow and we can dig them from our existing beds.

At least that is the plan for now. More will be revealed in time!

It looks like spring has sprung. is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

The weather has been hot, true, but we have had water in the garden well all season long. As a matter of fact a rather large bull frog has taken up residence. I can’t imagine how he got there because the stone sides of the well are nearly 3 foot high. I suppose he could have jumped it but why would he? Can frogs smell water? Maybe a trick from a tricksty neighbor?
Only the frog knows for sure and he is not saying. As long as there is water in the well he should be fine but he might be better off out of the well. Trouble is getting him out of the well. He has a little ledge to rest on but the minute anyone peers over the top he dives into the water. We will try a net attached to a long pole.

As far as the water goes we seem to be OK. It is raining right now, a slow soaking rain, and that should keep the tomato plants hydrated. Our garden is the low spot for at least 50 acres and so it usually does not need much watering which is good because we pay for the water. When we looked at the property to buy, everything out back was unmowed and very wet. The ground quivered under foot and there were legions of leopard frogs. At that time it was too wet for gardening but mowing helped to equalize the moisture content and it is fine for gardening now.

The tomatoes are coming in great. We grew a number of cherry tomatoes as well as early girl, better boy and brandywine.

The cherry’s are coming in first for us but they all are late compared to other gardeners. We started late this year but we are only a bit behind at this point. Growing so many cherry tomatoes was an experiment that is going well. The main problem is how to get rid of them. Giving them to friends and family works fine but we had high hopes of selling them at farmers markets. Farmers markets are fine to visit but for us the time spent is not productive. Our present arrangement does not allow use enough space out front for a proper vegetable stand. So we will continue to experiment in the hopes that we can find a better spot in the future.

The peppers are going gang busters. We set about 100 plants and with a yield of about 5 peppers per we have a bumper crop. The walls are not quite as thick as some we have grown but they are juicy and the flavor is great.

What we do not sell or eat fresh get cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces and frozen for future use. Already there are at least 10 stuffed quart bags in the freezer. We cull the crowders so the others have room to grow. More will be picked green and about 1/2 the crop will be left to turn red. The peppers sugar increases as they ripen so we ill have tart green and sweet red peppers for stirfrys and casseroles for a year or more.

Other choirs are winding down. Most of the perennials are sold and it looks like we will be starting fresh next year which is find because some of the old pots were full of weeds. Plus we don’t have to water them. I think we are not keeping the green house going this winter. We will be using a smaller version, yet to be built.

I procured a greenhouse hoop bender that will turn 2 pieces of 10’6″ 17 gauge chain link fence top rail into a 12′ greenhouse hoop. This make s the hoops much less expensive and there is no shipping cost. A larger bender available for 20′ hoops but we figure it’s better to start small and move up. Judging by the requests on Craigs List for greenhouse hoops we may be able to sell a few as well.

We are still putting up the end of the pickles. Last week we picked a wheel barrow load of cucumbers for pickles and they are nearly all caned as bread and butter or dill pickles, depending on the size.

Corn is everywhere. We don’t grow it because it takes up quite a bit of space so we get it from a road side stand. One stand we like is Hunters just outside Plessus on rt 26. They usually have a good supply of corn, pumpkins and other crops for sale all season.

They have an interesting way to buy the corn. It make buying just a few ears easy. They also furnish a can for husking and this year they are selling totes to carry the corn.

We had the corn last night night with our tomatoes and cucumbers. Perfect.

Hot dry weather stunting zucchini? is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

We have picked lots of cukes for pickles. We grow eureka for bread and butter pickles and regal for the dills. They get washed and stored in the frig until we have enough to run a batch.

Finding the dill was a bit of a challenge.

Trying to call the grocery stores is an exercise in futility. After numerous hang ups, and goof ups, no we are not looking for dill pickles, we abandoned that approach.

We should have grown it but for some reason it was overlooked. It was a hectic spring with numerous emergancies and life happens but we will not forget next year!

We finally found some dill on Wesley Island at Cross Island Farms.
Dani, one of the owners, gave us a tour of the farm and a great deal on the dill. They sell organic vegetables, eggs, and more.
It looks like we will have enough for this batch but we will have to find some more.

The tomatoes were reaching a point where they needed some support. Many of our tomatoes like the super sweet 100s are indeterminate and tend to grow very tall. As a matter of fact a neighbor had one that was around 7 feet tall. These plants yield a lot of cherry tomatoes and especially if they are kept off the ground. In our case, where we plant 3 foot rows separated by a 3 foot grass access row, it is important to keep the plants where they are suppose to be so that we can mow between the rows. This way we can easily pick from both sides.

This means staking them with bamboo, a job I never looked forward to because the bamboo is about 1/2 inches wide and the hammer head is around an inch. Striking a solid blow every time is very difficult and the hammer head often glances off making it slow work at best and ending up with bruised hands at the worst. I thought there must be a better way.

While looking through a garden catalog I saw a post driver that is made from a length of steel pipe with one end sealed and handles on the sides. The idea is to slide the driver over the post and use the weight to drive the post. If driving a bamboo stake seems dangerous think about swinging a sledge hammer trying to hit a post. I have done it and it is not as easy as it looks.

Why not make a smaller version or the post driver for garden stakes? No reason why not so that’s what I did.

A one and a half inch piece of pipe would be wide enough so I checked with the metal supply and they had a piece that was about 2 feed long. The weight was good, not too heavy to use but enough oomph to drive the stakes. The metal supply company spun some threads on one end and I think they charged me something like $12.00 for the whole thing.

I bought a one and a half inch pipe cap for around 2 dollars from the plumbing section of a hardware store.

The cap gets threaded on the pipe. Hand tight is good enough.

The pipe is slid over the end of the stake. It’s nice to have someone handing the stakes because this method works fast.
Having a helper means there is no bending or stooping to pick up supplies.

Slide the pipe up and down to drive the stake, using the weight of the pipe to do the work.
If a stake should split the splinters are held safely inside the pipe.

The job went quick and easy compared to driving with a hammer. Now all the tomatoes are tied up with pieces of old t-shirts, just tight enough to hold them up and out of the way of the lawnmower.

Other than that we have just been busy trying to get things in order to move the “storage” greenhouse to the back of the property. That meant moving one of the boats up and putting it undercover for restoration. As a matter of fact we started a blog to document the progress. It is Collecting Fire Wood.
When fiberglass boats became popular the dealers would burn the wooden boats taken in trade thinking there was no value in these old relics. They would strip the hardware and power then burn them in a pile.

The weather had turned more seasonal with 70′s and low 80′s and that makes working outside easier, and more fun.

End of July and garden is in full swing! is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

The tomatoes plants are growing fast in this warm weather. Last week was very hot and dry and it was looking like we would need to water the plants but a good soaking rain, about 2″, came and solved that problem.
Now the problem is to get them staked. We use 4′ bamboo poles and strips of T-shirt material. The knobs on the bamboo keep the knots from slipping down the pole.

As a matter of fact our dug well has water to the top. We must remember to get some mosquito cakes to keep the larva from developing. There are plans in the works for a screen to keep the mosquitoes out but it is pretty far down on the priority list.

If the weather turns damp we may be in for a dose of the “blight” that we saw last year. The early blight was brought in from store bought plants and is carried on the wind. Even our northern grown plants were subject to damage. We talked to out greenhouse inspector this weekend and he said at this point the blight is not in our area but it might do well to spray some copper based fungicide. There are copper based products that are considered organic. We have some other organic products we will be using as well.

The squash and cukes seem fine and there are small 3″ fruit on the yellow squash vines. In a few days we should have some nice little squash.

The peppers love the hot weather and are gowning nicely with small fruit started as well.

Lastly tonight is the second farmers market held at the Cooperative Extension in Watertown. We went last week and a group of brave gardeners braved the heat to offer greens, tomatoes, cheese, bread and other local products. This market does not allow crafts or rummage or imported vegetables when there are vendors with stock.

So better get down and tie the tomatoes up off the ground.

To plant good basil one needs to rant and rave. is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

As a matter of fact we had a number of customers buying replacement tomatoes because they started too early and were nipped by the frost. I don’t care how warm the spring is we can have a frost up to and after Memorial Day.

A week or two will not really make a big difference as our plants had a good head start to begin with. As a matter of fact some of the squash already had small fruit showing when we planted them but we have seen this in the past and once they are in the ground they will take off.

This year we are using burlap bags for weed control in the yellow squash and zucchini beds. The burlap is in the form of coffee bags from where else but a coffee roasting company in Syracuse. They gave us as many as we wanted for free and that amounted to about 1/2 a pickup truck load. And we have a full sized pickup bed. We laid them down with an over lap of about 6 inches in one direction and side to side in the other. They are heavy and should hold fast in normal light wind, especially once the plants cover the area, but we stapled the edged down with bent coat hangers to keep the bags in place until the plants are well established.

We gave them a good soaking with a sprinkler and the water trickles down into the soil with no problem. Our hopes are that the bags will hold moisture in and keep the weeds down. The bags probably will not rot away in 1 season so we will probably pull them up and determine if they can be used again or left to the slow compost heap.

We got them in the first place for the asparagus bed but there are enough for that and more.

The tomatoes are planted in rows covered with woven landscape fabric. We till a 3 foot wide row about 30 feet long and cover the whole thing with a strip of landscape fabric. We then leave 2 feet of grass followed by another row and so on. The plants are set in by cutting a slit in the fabric and using a trowel to make a hole deep enough for the plants. We use a premium quality fabric, available only at greenhouse suppliers, and it lasts year after year. We just pull it up in the fall and fold it up until the spring. Like the burlap we use bent coat hangers to hold it down. We are fortunate to have a seemingly endless supply of wire coat hangers. Many people who use a uniform service know that the fresh uniforms come each week with new hangers. We cut them up and bend them with a pair of lines mans pliers.

So we may be a bit late but oh well.

Planting the garden at last. is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

The first obstacle was how to get the tiller from point A, being our place to point B, or the tilling location.
Choice one is to use ramps to drive the tiller into the back of the pickup truck but we have a full sized bed with a big cap and taking the cap on and off is a bit of a pain. The tiller would not fit with the cap on.

The other idea was to use a trailer. We have 2 boat trailers but they have boats and since they are boat trailers the whole idea of trying to figure that out was out of the question. We would have to find a trailer.

My brother has a rather large extended group of friends who always seem to have this and that for sale and he is on the road quite a bit so I called him to see if he had any leads. As it turned out he has a small trailer that he does not need and was willing to sell it for $25.00. What a deal. Right?

When we picked the trailer up we noticed the hubs did not have grease caps and the bearings were very tight and full of stones and grit. Oh well for $25.00 how could I complain. A quick stop at the tractor store and we could have new bearings and caps right?

Turns out the hubs are metric. 52mm to be exact and there are no 52mm parts anywhere in town.

Oh yeah, I had an ad and people were calling to have their gardens tilled. All the warm weather has folks champing at the bit. This just added to the urgency.

Anyway after a 1 1/2 hour web search I was able to locate the bearings which came as a kit with and inside and outside bearing and matching races with dust seals and grease caps. All for about $60.00 including shipping. Still not bad.

Oh and I forgot another thing. The trailer hitch for this trailer is 1 7/8″ and all my boat trailers are 2″. Reese makes a quick change trailer hitch with both sizes for about $40.00. So we now have a quick change ball for the trailers.

After we got the trailer home, after the registration and license, $25.00, we noticed the deck was rotted and the hardware was mismatched and rusted. A piece of plywood would be about $20.00. I cut the bolts off with the torch and decided to clean up the rust with the angle grinder and repaint the frame as long as it was exposed.

Funny thing about angle grinders with wire cups, when they grab hold of trailer light wiring they rip the leads out of the lights. Maybe that can be fixed? I am sure I can find them for sale if they can’t be fixed.

All the time customers are patiently waiting for me to show up with the tiller. Oh yeah the tiller.
We do not have an equipment shed yet so equipment is covered with tarps and can get wet. The throttle cable was rusted solid and a new one was bought for the sum of $25.00.

It’s and easy fix to replace the throttle cable, especially since it it OEM and should fit perfectly. This is where I should mention that our tiller is a deluxe model troy bilt horse with a big steel frame that protects the motor from damage. I thought it would be easier to do maintenance with out the frame it so I took it off. When I was replacing the throttle cable I noticed the carburetor adjustment screw seemed to be in an odd position. I could not understand this because I have adjusted the carb lots of time. It was at such a weird angle that I couldn’t imagine how I would be able to adjust it. I could not understand at all.

Turns out the mower deck to the lawn tractor, yes it’s really a tractor, small but tractor non the less, fell against the carb and broke the tube that connects the carb to the engine. Tom at the Saw Barn had one and it was only $20.00.
I tore the carb down, cleaned it out and replaced the float valve seat and adjusted the float. One pull and it runs like a champ. I was encouraged and I went out and tilled a row just to make sure everything was working.

Meanwhile it’s time to replace the trailer deck but before that I had Metal Man cut me some 2 by 4 pieces of box steel so that I could build racks for the trailer sides. I can weld tolerably well but it seems like every time I do I have to get back into the swing. I guess it took me 3 sockets before my welds looked half way like a real one. They are strong and should hold. I guess the steel was about $24.00 including tax.

I needed wood for the rack and in my book nothing works as well as larch, or tamarack as it is also known. It is full of resin and does not poison the environment or me. The only drawback is the saw mill is 25 miles away and they are the closes source for larch. I can’t lay my hands on the bill for the wood but 6 1by8s and 2 10′ 2by4s cost about $30.00.

Now that I have everything except the plywood and hardware it looks like rain for the next few days so we elected to take the trailer and wood down to Black River where I can finish the job in the nice dry garage. We backed the trailer into the garage and unloaded the larch and finished with the tools when Phyllis mentioned the truck seemed to be sitting at a strange angle.

Oh, I scoffed, I bet one of the air shocks is low and we can level it up when we get back home. I installed air bags because the stupid springs on this Dodge pickup have backward eyes on the ends. It is a really bad design and as a matter of fact we had one break on us with about 600 pounds of clay in the back.

I let some air out of the high side and the truck did not level. At least the flash light works! Naturally when I looked under the truck I discover the leaf spring is broken at the eye and wedged against the bottom of the bed.

Perfect.

$269.00 for parts and that is not even hardware or the stupid broken spring.

If the hardware comes to $20.00 and the spring is $180.00 like the last time that would bring the total to about $469.00 not including my time.

At this rate I will need to till 15.64 gardens to break even.

I believe it would have been less expensive to simply give a 20 dollar bill to anyone who called me for a tilling job.

On a positive note. The popcorn tonight is exceptional and believe it or not that just about evens it out in my book. Life is good!

The great 2010 rototiller saga and massacree is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

This is not uncommon for this time of year. As a matter of fact the temperatures have been fairly mild compared to some years.

Usually the end of May is when we should think about planting in this part of the country but sometimes the weather tricks people into thinking it is time to plant now. That and the big box stores.

The large chain stores do not seem to have a clue or even care that they sell plants out of season and even out of zone.

Only cold hearty plants and vegetables can be safely planted this time of year. This includes some herbs, lettuce, spinach and peas. And that is taking a chance that we will not have a hard freeze. We have had snow on Mothers Day and it is not out of the realm of possibility.

Gardners need to pay atteniogn to the tempratures of the soil as well as the air. Placing black plastic or landscape fabric on the ground can help to raise the soil temprature but it is just as easy to wait.

It is true that we have a shorter growing season than some parts of the country but it has usually been long enough to grow many crops successfully.

Besides, there are plenty of other early spring tasks to attend to. The end of May will be here before you know it!

Still too early to plant the garden. is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

It’s fairly easy to start them from seed. The seed has a hard shell and it helps to scrape the surface of the shell a bit and it also helps to soak the seeds in water overnight.

However we have found what we feel is a better way.
If the seed stalks are left on the plants in the fall the seeds will fall to the ground and spring up every where as little lupine plants.

These little plants are well on the way when the snow is gone and the ground is just thawing. The trick is to get out and dig them up while the earth is still wet and soft from the melting snow. The roots can be very long, a foot or more, and if they become very hard to dig if left to grow deep.
In about an hour the other day I was able to dig up more than 30 small plants, and by small I mean of a size that fills a 1 gallon pot.
A small shovel or hand trowel and dinging with hand seems to work best. Pile them up and load them into a pail or wheel barrow. Keep the roots wet and out of the sun.

If potting them up it is best to get them into the pots right away. If the plants are going to be moved to another garden put them in a plastic bag with some water and transplant them as soon as possible.

New transplants should be kept out of the wind and direct sunlight for a few days. Make sure they do not dry out. We use a time released fertilizer in all of our potted perennials as well as a dose of low nitrogen fertilizer to promote good root growth.

Transplanting Lupines is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.

I cut my left hand index finger with scissors as I was clipping some fancy leaf geraniums for propagation.

This particular plant is Mrs. Henry Cox and it has a very colorful leaf. For one reason or another we are left with a single plant and it is a few years old but has some healthy shoots that I wanted to clip for rooting.

In a case like this, when we have only one plant, we try to get the best yield without ruining the mother plant.

I was cutting into some very hard and old wood and was using quite a bit of force with the Fiskars garden scissors. All at once the scissors snapped shut and my finger was in the way.

I felt the pressure and held it tight because it was one of those times that you know it’s bad and you would rather not see how bad it was. I managed to keep the end of the finger gripped between my thumb and palm while I finished the last 2 cuttings.

Naturally my hands were covered with all kinds of dirt and were stained brown and sticky from handling the cuttings.

I came up to the house and washed my hands with antibacterial soap and dried it up. I let it bleed freely for a minute or so with the thought that this might clean any foreign material from the wound.

Then some band-aids and tape and it should be fine. The only problem is the cut is near the end of my finger and I need it to type. So I will take it easy and keep the posts brief for the time being.

I have had a tetanus shot within the past 10 years so that is not a worry. Tetanus shots are a good idea for people who work in soil and handle sharp tools. Thank God we do not have a giant wind chime order to tie.

Be careful with sissors. is a post from: Old hat, zone 4, cold climate garden blog.