Look Dad! Potatoes!!!

A few months ago, when I was planning my study and what I wanted to plant in my vegetable garden, my Dad gave me a great idea for planting potatoes: Take a tire and fill it with good quality, loose soil then add some potato eyes. When the plants get a few inches above the soil, add another tire and soil. Repeat as needed. He said I should be able to get quite a few potatoes when I knocked the stack of tires over in the fall. I was excited to try it.

Last week he asked me if I started the potatoes yet. I hadn’t. But Dave had gotten me my first tire and it was sitting out in the driveway. Then Dave asked me today if I was going to do anything with the tire. So, I dragged my sorry butt to the hardware store for some galvanized ¼” wire (to keep the mice out but let worms in) and began the project.

The only wire I could get was a five foot roll. This turned out to be optimal. I had enough for under the tire and to put over top of the wheelbarrow to screen soil. After placing the tire in the garden, I trucked out to the woods where we’d been dumping leaves and branches for ten years or so. At the bottom of the pile was nice, dark soil. Lots of branches, but that’s where the wheelbarrow screening station came it. I saw lots of millipedes and centipedes – great stuff to relocate to the garden. Also a couple of small worms.

Once my tire was full of soil, I added a little bit of potting soil – just to keep the mix nice and fluffy, added the potatoes, and watered. Now I’ll see if it works :)

Side note: No bee attacks !!!!

Ovechkin and Crosby (not a hockey post!!!)

At last!!! News to blog about! I suppose I should start: the hives now have names. That’s right. I can be totally dorky and refer to my hives with actual names instead of “right hive” and “left hive.” The right hive is Ovechkin (the tall one in the picture) and the left hive is Crosby (the short one). Dave refuses to address them that way.

I’ve been keeping track of their syrup intake over the last two weeks. Ovechkin has gone through 17.5 cups and Crosby consumed 15. Ovechkin is definitely the stronger hive; so strong that I went out this afternoon and added the second brood box of frames to it. Crosby isn’t making comb as fast as I would like. Last Saturday there were still six frames empty in Crosby. If Crosby doesn’t shape up by the end of summer, I may have to combine it with Ovechkin. We’ll see. There’s still plenty of blooming time left.

It was pretty cool seeing the bees bubbling all over the frames in Ovechkin. The queen must be hard at work.

Even better, the bees have stopped attacking me when I putter around the yard.

Garden update: I planted tomatoes, basil, radishes, rosemary, arugula, and zucchini two weeks ago. I had to go out last night and cover them all because frost was in the forecast. I’m glad I did. It was chilly this morning (32 and an icy windshield at 7 AM). I’m planting the cuke seedlings this weekend. They’re on the porch hardening off right now. I’m also putting in my corn seeds and planting my potato eyes in the tire (Dad’s idea). Dave picked me up a few bales of hay and I’ve put that down as mulch. So that’s shaping up very nicely. I’ll have to post a picture once everything is planted.

Why Do My Bees Hate Me?

There is something about me the bees don’t like. Maybe it’s my shampoo or deodorant. Maybe it’s my full blown panic when they get stuck in my hair. Who knows. But when they find me it’s ugly. I had one bee chase me all the way to the garage. Another stung me in the arm, got stuck in my hair and wound up smooshed on the kitchen counter with me in hysterics. My husband just shook his head and went back upstairs muttering “You’re the one who wanted bees.” So I’m giving them - and me - a break. I’ve only gone out to the hives to change their jars of sugar syrup and that involves a minimum of disturbance. We’ll see what happens next weekend when I should lift the inner cover to see if they need another brood box put on.

In light of that, this is a soil post. I got the results back from the Connecticut Ag station. My phosphorus and potassium were fine as was the pH. Nitrogen and organic material were extremely lacking. The report recommended adding cottonseed meal. I put almost 3 lbs on my little plot and sowed a cover crop of wheat, peas, and vetch. I took a picture today, 3 weeks post planting. Not too bad. I have at least another week or so before I start transplanting my cuke and zucchini plants. I’m going to send Dave out for a couple of bales of straw to put down as mulch too. The state says I have sandy soil so I’ll have to be careful. Nutrients leach out quickly and it tends to dry fast. Now if only I can get out to work in it without the bees freaking out.