Being Prepared

When you live in the woods in the mountains, you have a lot of... interesting neighbors. Like the dairy farmer who makes goat cheese every day. And the church organist who practices late at night. And the engineer with the top secret security clearance. And the felon with the chihuahua named Nacho. And the crazy lady who looks like Grandma Death from Donnie Darko who lives in a house with no running water... on purpose. I'm going to let that one sink in for a minute.

Gross, right?

You might also have some neighbors who live in the woods because they believe the world is going to end. Not in the "everyone knows that in billions of years the sun is going to expand and swallow the earth" way. In the "who would you like to have on 'our' team when the sh!# truly hits the fan? This is a very serious question. When the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket... who do you want at your side?" way. And yes, that is a real quote from one of my real neighbors. You can't make this sh!# up. There's this super secret club that Hubby and I were invited to join because Hubby cleared a tree out of the road during a storm and the other guys decided they want him and his chainsaw at their side when the sh!# truly hits the fan.

Anyway, I wanted to see what kind of hilarity would happen at a secret preppers' club in the woods, so we went to one of their meetings. Supposedly, we would be learning how to use acorns for food like the Native Americans did. In reality, one guy had made cookies with acorn flour before the meeting and then described the process to the group. I checked out after a woman asked what kind of sweetener you would use in the apocalypse. After I suggested that you're not going to worry about how sweet your acorn cookies are if you're in a survival situation, I casually mentioned that I'm planting a sugar maple tree so I can try to make my own maple syrup. It almost felt like one of those mic drop moments.

Even though I don't think the world is going to end soon (although with our current political situation, who really knows?), I do think it's a good idea to try to be a little more self sufficient. My sugar maple arrived today, and I know just where it's going. We're starting to run out of sunny places in the yard to put more apples, strawberries, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, pomegranates, figs, nectarines, potatoes, garlic or anything else. But I'm sure we'll figure something out. Or we'll have to start stealing acorns from the woodpeckers to make flour.

7 Steps to Planning Your Garden

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The last several days have been a gross combination of rainy, snowy, foggy, and cold. This is the kind of weather you try really hard not to go outside in, or at least I try really hard not to go outside in. Instead, I'm sitting by the fire planning what to do with my garden in the spring to maximize productivity (and minimize effort and cost). By following these steps, I should be more prepared for spring gardening, which will help me be a more efficient gardener.

First, what do I already have? When Hubby and I bought our home, it came with several apple trees, a rosemary shrub, and a bathtub on the driveway. I've used the rosemary for cooking a handful of times, but we have yet to harvest any apples--what the late snows haven't gotten, the blue jays have. Since moving, we've added 8 hop bines, 5 blackberry bushes, 2 pomegranate trees, a nectarine tree, a passionfruit vine, and the smallest fig "tree" you've ever seen. And we filled the bathtub with strawberries. The only fruit we've gotten to enjoy have been a handful of blackberries, several handfuls of strawberries, and one tiny nectarine. They say a plant's harvest should be better each year, right?

Second, how do I improve what I already have? One of the biggest problems for me is having time to water everything. If I set aside time early in the season to re-vamp the old drip watering system that the previous owners left behind, that will help tremendously. I also have to figure out how to keep the critters at bay. Putting up a super cool owl nest box might help with the rodents, and I might have to try some sort of netting around the apple trees to help with the blue jays.

Third, what usable space do I have? We have a pretty big property. But it's in a forest, which means that there are 80 foot tall trees between the sun and a majority of our garden. 

Fourth, what are my garden goals? Do I want to supplement the fruits and veggies I buy at the store? Do I want to produce enough to be able to stop buying fruits and veggies? What about canning? 

Fifth, what have I learned from past experiences? I've tried buying plants bare-root from the internet. The only plant I've ever bought this way that grew at all was hops. I've learned not to get sucked in by the promises of the seed catalogs that show up in the mail. I've also had extensive personal failings with seeds (nasturtiums being the lone exception in this case). Strawberries have been my biggest success so far. I may want to get a journal like this one to keep track of what works and what doesn't work so I don't keep making the same mistakes year after year.

Sixth, what is my budget? This is the hardest part for me, because I pretty much want all the plants. I know that buying bigger, more established plants will result in bigger harvests sooner than buying smaller, bare-root plants from Home Depot. I've decided to save my Swagbucks rewards until springtime, and then use those for my garden budget.

Seventh, how do I prioritize my goals based on what I have, what I know, and what I can reasonably spend? This part may have to wait until the spring thaw comes and planting season arrives. But at least now I have an idea of what plants I plan to purchase and where in my garden I think they'll thrive.

How would you plan your dream garden?

The Strawberry Experiment, part 2

Hello, friends!

If you read the previous installment of The Strawberry Experiment,  you may remember that phase one (rooting runners while attached to mama plant) was supposed to last 2-4 weeks. Being somewhat impatient, I decided to see if we're ready to move on to phase 2. The results were mixed. Some of the baby plants could hold onto their tiny lots while being picked up. 

Some overachievers already had roots popping out the bottom. 

And some had gotten dislodged and hadn't rooted at all. Yet. Those slackers I stuck back in the soil with a little encouragement to do better next time. Of my 12 baby strawberries that I started with, 7 were ready to go and 5 needed more time. The ones that seemed ready got snipped and carted off to a different part of the yard for replanting and a thorough watering. 

They might not look like much now, but this is just the beginning of phase 2: plant them and see if they keep growing despite the wildlife. Stay tuned for the result of phase 2 in (hopefully) a couple months!

The Strawberry Experiment

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Our house came with so many interesting things. There were all the paint colors (I really do mean ALL, and 50+ cans of paint, mostly from the '90s), and the flower pots buried in the yard, and this, and the bathtub at the end of the driveway.

What would any sane person do with a bathtub in their driveway? I planted strawberries in it, of course. And watered them, and harvested a few little berries here and there, and that was about it for 2 whole years. I've finally paid them enough attention to realize that our five little strawberry plants from Home Depot (Bonnie Plants brand, of course) have more or less outgrown their bathtub. 

Right? 

I'm pretty impressed, actually. I shouldn't be, because strawberries are perennials and like chilly winters (have I mentioned it snows here?). And the other cool thing about strawberries is how they reproduce. A strawberry plant will send runners out that are clones of itself, like this: 

Now, ideally, the runner would root into some nearby dirt and not just hang sadly (and, yes, spiderwebby) down the side of a bathtub. It should start to grow roots and become independent if there's dirt to put roots in. Since I would rather move my strawberry babies to other parts of the yard than let them grow down the bathtub, I decided to see if they're willing to grow in pots. After all, some of them already have roots. They want to grow so much. I'm really just giving them what they want. 

I happen to have some little compostable pots that were 20 for 99 cents at (where else?) the 99 Cent Store. Or you could get these from Amazon (they're basically the same). Throw in a little soil, position the strawberry runner in the middle, secure in place with a railroad staple from the toolshed (why do we have railroad staples?), and water.  Now, in theory, these little guys should root in 2-4 weeks and be ready to be separated from their mama plant (see how I left the "runner" stem attached?). 

The reason I'm calling this an experiment is because I've never done it before. I have no idea if it will work, or, if it does work, if the baby plants will survive replanting in another part of the yard, or if they'll be sturdy enough to survive the winter. But I'm totally willing to give it a try (one of the benefits of strawberry runners is that they're free). And I'll gladly keep you posted on how they're doing. In the meantime, see if you can find all 12 baby strawberry pots in the bathtub: 

Click here if you're ready for what happens next!