Pictures of the water I have saved that has dripped off my house

The first two pictures are the containers of water I was able to collect in December and January.  I try and collect as much water as possible every winter.  I do not have rain gutters so I get what I can that drips off of the house.  I mainly collect from one side, because of the easy access to it.

Here are most of my water containers under the drip line of the eaves.

This is the last of the containers except for a fifty gallon drum that collects water too.


The next picture is almost  all of the water I was able to collect in December, January, and February.  I have never collected so much water before.  I was also able to get a very large amount of containers that hold about 2 1/2 gallons that were going to be thrown out, so that helped too.

Here are most of the containers.  The ones against the house are 1/2 to 3/4 full.  Waiting for the rain this weekend to fill them up more.  Not showing against the house are one more red tub, another tote the size of the gray tote, and the 50 gallon drum.  They are about 1/2 full also.  I will fill in the empty spaces against the house with more small buckets before the rain begins.

Updated pictures of seedlings and garden beds

  

3/28/11 -- Here is a typical picture of one of my raised beds just after I add equal amounts of peat moss, manure, and compost.  I mix everything in with a shovel.

 3/28/11 -- Here is what it looks like after I have mostly leveled it.  I actually thought it was level until I looked at this picture.

3/30/11 -- This is my ring of onions.  I am going to plant summer squash in the middle.  I bought a bunch of Walla Walla onion starts at the store.  I wasn't going to plant any, because I don't like them, but then I decided they may be helpful with pest control.

3/30/11 -- I stuck all the leftover onions, from making the ring, in with the broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts.  Hoping for pest control help here too.

3/28/11 -- I have noticed that the plants indoors have not been leaning to the window so much since I put the foil around them.  Today I decided to see what would happen to them in the shade outside with the foil.  I also used a clear lid to block some of the breeze off of the tomato seedlings.  None of these seedlings had any direct sunlight on them today.

3/28/11 -- See the tomato seedling leaning towards the foil.

3/28/11 -- Here are some herbs leaning towards the foil also.

3/28/11 -- The tall ones are the tomatillos leaning towards the foil.  For the next two days I took the plants outside a little earlier in the day, so they would get direct sunlight and put the foil around them also.  They stayed upright better.

3/30/11 -- I spent the day transplanting, because the roots are coming out of the bottom of the pots and if they are not transplanted soon they will start dying.  Some herbs I transplanted into the little white recycled pots against the door.  Some of the herbs I transplanted into larger pots.  The four front pots will probably not be transplanted again.  These will be easy to bring into the house once winter starts if they are kept in these pots.

3/30/11-- Close up of some of today's transplants.  Picture taken the day after transplanting.

3/30/11-- Another close up of more of today's transplants.  Picture taken the day after transplanting.

3/30/11 -- Another transplant picture.  I recycled containers for all of my transplants.

3/30/11 -- I transplanted basil into 2 containers like this.  Ten basil plants is a good start.  More will be planted.  I will use a lot fresh and dry a lot for spaghetti sauce.  The spaghetti sauce recipe will be on my other blog later this summer.

Pictures of How I am Protecting my Plants Outside

I have 11 raised beds in my garden.  This year is redid six of the beds so that they are all the size of the glass doors we use for protecting the crops.

Potatoes planted 3/17/11 were covered with glass on 3/22.

Potatoes planted 3/17/11 and 3/22 were covered with glass on 3/22.

Transplanted the broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts that were growing inside the house on 3/22.  Also transplanted 2 cabbage that where still alive from last year that had hardly grown into this bed.  Covered it with glass on 3/22.  This glass door is about 2 inches narrower than the rest so on 3/23 I placed an old sheet along the edge to fill the gap.

The potato tote went into the garage on 3/21 and back outside on 3/22.  It is very flexible and the soil cracks open when moving it, so it will have to stay outside.  We wrapped a moving blanket around the 3 outer sides.  I barely reaches around the corners to the fourth side, but it is enough that the frame of the adjacent bed holds the blanket in place.  Then a small window was placed on top.

Using Foil to Reflect Light onto Seedlings

While I was researching different ways to build a solar oven I found an article about what to do with aluminum foil.  One of the things listed was about lining a box with foil and placing a plant in the box to reflect the light onto the plant so it would be more compact.

These tomato plants are so leggy that I thought a foil box may help them.  I really don’t mind them being leggy if the plants are strong, because everything you see will be planted underground anyway.  More about planting tomatoes next month.

So here is how I applied the foil concept to my tomato seedlings.

Lined a box with aluminum foil.

Placed a phone book inside to set the tomato tray on to be closer to the light.

Placed the tomato seedlings on the phone book.

I decided to put my Ottlite light above the box.  If I didn't put the light over the box

then I would have raised the back of it slightly to get more sunlight into the box.

Maybe foil behind the box and over the light will create a better reflection? 

View from the back.  The open side is facing the window.

Pictures Using Aluminum Foil to Reflect Light onto Plants



I have no idea if this will be helpful, but it is worth trying since the bad weather is not allowing me to put the plants outside.  The idea behind the foil is to reflect light back onto the plants and keep them growing more compact.

Foil lined box for the tomato seedlings.

Three foil covered pieces of cardboard pieces on top.  On the bottom is a box I sliced open down one side.  I wrinkled the 4 pieces that I put on the flaps to see if the wrinkles would make more angles to reflect light off of.  I cut the flaps off of the bottom of the box.

I taped the three pieces of cardboard together at the top and slightly angled the bottom edges out.  I also raised the back bottom edge slightly to tilt it towards the window more.

Here are the plants at the west facing window.  I also decided to place a piece of foil from the back of the box up onto the Ottlite light.  More and better reflection?  Time will tell.

Same picture as above with the Ottlite turned on this time.

Here is the box I slit open and wrinkled the foil on the top flaps.  I may shorten this box.  The left side of this picture is next to the west facing window also.

I also covered more cardboard with foil and placed it behind the seedlings under the grow light in the south facing window.

More plants in the south facing window under the grow light.

How to Plant Potatoes

Planting Potatoes – Details about what I did (See pictures in previous post.)

So I really did plant my potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day despite the cold this year.

The ones is the tote are Yukon Gold.  I don’t have as much luck with them, so I planted some of them in the tote to experiment with and some in the ground.  In the ground are blue, red, Yukon Gold.  Cal White will be planted soon.

The planting beds are about 2 ½ feet wide and 6 feet long.  There are two rows in each bed with 6 seed potatoes in each row.  Seed potatoes are the potatoes you use to grow new plants with. I save the little ones from my garden and plant them the next year.

My husband decided to dig trenches 10 inches deep this year in hopes of more potatoes.  Usually we dig about 6 to 8 inches.  We laid the little potatoes left over from last year in the trenches and placed part with the most eyes on it facing up.  Then we covered the potatoes with 2 inches of soil.

I bought a pH tester and am watching the pH this year.  The pH is currently at 7.3.  I should be 4.8 to 6.5.  When the potato plants get 4 inches tall I am going to add 2 inches of peat moss.  Peat moss will lower the pH.  The pH in peat moss is about 4.5. I could add the peat moss to the soil I took out of the ground, I think I will try this first and then mix the soil and peat moss and maybe compost for the next covering of the plants. I’m in the mood to experiment this year.

Planting Potatoes in a Container (See pictures in previous post.)

As you can see from my pictures my container is a clear tote.  It measures 32” x 13” x 13”.  A clear container is not good for planting in, because you don’t want the roots exposed to the sun and the sun makes potatoes green.  Green potatoes are poisonous.

I lined my tote with flattened 12-pack soda boxes.  They were free, sturdy, flexible, and in the recycle bin.  I then added 2 inches of soil.  I placed 4 Yukon Gold seed potatoes on top of the soil and covered it with 2 more inches of soil.  My tote does have a crack in the bottom at one end.  I will watch it so make sure the excess water can drain out through there.

You can plant your potatoes in any container that is at least 12 inches across and 12 inches tall.  Experiment like me and let me know your results. See How to Plant and Grow Potatoes for more details.

How to Plant and Grow Potatoes

Start all potatoes with certified seed potatoes.  These are free from disease.  Do not use potatoes from the store.  They are sprayed with a growth inhibitor.  If the potatoes are large, cut them into pieces with 2 or 3 eyes per piece.  The eyes are the little indentations where the sprouts grow from.  You can let the pieces dry for 24 hours if you want.  I do not take the time to do that.  I cut and plant right away.

Dig trenches about 6 to 8 inches deep.  Place your potatoes in the trenches with the eyes facing up.  Plant them about 8 inches apart. Now cover the potatoes with 2 inches of soil and wait for them to grow.

When the plants get about 4 inches tall cover them with 2 more inches of soil.  When they get 4 inches above the soil level cover them with 2 more inches of soil.  Keep doing this until you get the trenches filled back up.

Now you have the option of piling more soil around the plants, piling straw around the plants, or doing nothing.  It is up to you and how many potatoes you want. The piling is officially called “hilling up”.

Potatoes grow off of the roots.  The more roots the more potatoes.  That is why you want to keep hilling up as the plant grows.

Harvest your potatoes anytime after the plants have died or cover them once winter starts and dig them up as needed all winter if you don’t have indoor storage space.  If kept indoors they must be kept cold or they will start to grow.  I keep mine in a refrigerator that is for storing produce all winter.

Dos, Don’t, and Things You Should Know about Potatoes

Don’t eat the green potatoes that are exposed to the sun.  They are poisonous.

Keep the soil evenly moist.

Dry soil causes knobby potatoes.

Dry then wet soil can cause the new formed potatoes to start growing like seed potatoes.  It can also cause hallow centers in the potatoes.

Too much nitrogen causes brown hard spots on the skins.

Potatoes like sandy soil.

Don’t worry about the leaves freezing.  Mine do every year.

Keep the pH below 6.5 for best results. Compost, peat moss and soil sulfur lower pH.  This should be worked into to soil weeks before planting.

Fresh potatoes will cook in ½ the time or less than store bought.

It takes a day or two for the peels to harden.

I dig some tiny potatoes after the flowers bloom to have new potatoes and peas for dinner.

Pictures from Planting Potatoes on February 17th.

This bed is 2 1/2 feet wide by 6 feet long.  The trenches were dug 10 inches deep this year.

This is the trench digger taking a break while I get the seed potatoes and take pictures.

There are 6 potatoes in each row.

Close up of the potatoes in the trenches.  The 2 on the left are new Yukon Gold seed potatoes I bought this year.  The rest are leftover blue potatoes from my harvest last year.  Lots of roots from the grape vines, but that won't matter.

Another close up of the Yukon Gold seed potatoes.

These are all of the potaoes I have left from last years harvest.  I selected the little healthy ones with lots of eyes for planting.

I lined my clear tote with 12-pack soda boxes.  Plant roots need to be in the dark and the sun makes potatoes green.  Green potatoes are poisonous.

The tote now has 2 inches of soil in the bottom.

Four Yukon Gold potatoes placed on top of the two inches of soil.

Here the potatoes are covered with two inches of soil.  Now it is time to wait for them to grow.

There are two 25 gallon buckets of soil to go back into the trenches to cover the potatoes when needed.

Pictures of progress

Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts 3/5/11.  These plants did not go under the grow light until 3/6/11.



Broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts 3/8/11.  Notice how much they have grown in 3 days.  They are getting too leggy.  They have been under the grow light for 2 days with the lid on the tray.

Took the tray cover off of the broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts 3/8/11. The grow light is now resting on the trays. This will stop the plants from getting so leggy.

Turned the grow light off for the picture.  Notice how much smaller these herbs are that have stayed under the grow light compared the the previous plants that spent so much time is just plain sunlight from the window.  This picture looks funny because the grow light is the same white color as the background.

Outside for some natural light 3/8/11.  Notice they are in the shade.  The thermometer read 58 degrees outside.  I set the timer and checked on them every 10 minutes.  It was a little windy and wanted to make sure the wind didn't start blowing hard.  They stayed out for 30 minutes from 1:15 to 1:45 this afternoon.  I take my plants out anytime the temperature is above 45 degrees.  They will go outside tomorrow, weather permitting for about 45 to 60 minutes depending on the wind.  There is only about 10 seeds that have germinated in the 6 pack pots, but out they go too.

This camera changes the date as it pleases I think.  I set it to today's date with the month first before I took the first picture.  You can see what good that did.  Changed it again for the previous picture.

Here are the broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts and herbs under the grow light with the light off.  Notice the plants in the left tray are up inside the light fixture.  They are fine.  They will not burn or damage the light, but they will stop growing so leggy trying to reach the light now.

Same picture as above.  Just showing how it looks with the light on.  I do keep the blinds open all day also.  For pictures I have to close the blinds, because of the glare.

A view of the other window of seed trays.  The ones in the greenhouse are there just to get them as close to the window as possible at this time.  Later the greenhouse will be used for putting the plants outside with protection from the wind and cold before transplanting in the garden.

I have to move more furniture around in the spring than I do at Christmas for the tree.