This year Kassy and I found ourselves in the greenhouse right about the time when the number of new cases of Corona was increasing exponentially, just before they peaked, and not long after very real meat shortages began. I assumed a constant stream of new cases, and so we did what any dignified gardeners would do: Plant like crazy! We started with Tomatoes and placed nearly 600 seeds in the soil. Next up Peppers with a more conservative 160 seeds, many of which just recently germinated.

After tomatoes, we switched focus to winter squashes. Butternut, Spaghetti squash and Acorn squash have been known to last well into February if stored properly, and so I stopped counting seeds after the sixth tray of Acorn squash.

Kassy planted her traditional center tray full of flowers. At first, I think she assumed that she was losing her normal center tray so that I could grow more food, but I made clear her flowers were a necessity. I just so happened to add a three-tiered shelf right in front to hold more veggies.

Two years ago I received a Aerogarden that allows me to grow cherry tomatoes indoors all year round. This spring I decided to trim the plant and place the trimmings in water to grow new roots. After they had roots I potted them up and placed them in a shaded part of the greenhouse for a few days. Once they were used to the sunlight, I moved them into their current location. You can tell the plants are getting plenty of sunlight as they are compact and not reaching for the sun.

I’m also trying a new method to grow peas. Peas are very easy to grow, but I almost never get any from my garden. Every year it seems one critter or another figures out how to get around the electric fence and eat them all before I can pick them. This year I will not be beaten, and have decided to try this vertical growing method.

So the idea here is pretty simple, and based on Hydroponics: I have a large tube capped on both ends with holes drilled every inch and filled with water. The holes have small PVC pipe sections filled with soil. My hope is that the roots of the peas will descend into the larger pipe tricking the plant into growing larger then the small pipe would normally allow. You see plants are smart enough to only grow as big above the soil as there roots are below the soil. I’ve tried a very similar setup with lettuce and although it works, the lettuce only grows about 2 inches tall.

My panic has long since subdued, but there has been a noteworthy side effect: 7 gardens have been partially or fully stocked with the plants shown. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the other plants that are leftover… and so I have a new panic, 7 gardens full, and I still have half my plants left. This should be interesting…

This year I hope to take a much harder swing at propagating cuttings, and to scale up my efforts, I’m bringing back the bones of the old hoop house I originally constructed 6 years ago. I’ll modify the design to provide shading from the sun rather than protection from cold. Instead of a clear plastic cover, I’ll use 50% shade cloth.

I had stored all of these water pipes in a bundle tucked into the corner of a shed, and when I pulled them out I had only minimal damage. A quick trip to the big box store with a mask over my face and I soon had all the parts I needed in my gloved hand.

I asked my wife, Kassy for help, and I was surprised how quick we got the basic structure in place. The frame consists of Schedule 40 1/2″ piping, so the first step was gluing them all together. After that, we secured them to a treated 2×4 with exterior screws. I should note the original iteration of the design lacked glue, and I believe that was one of the shortcomings of the design.

The raising of the hoop worked out better than I initially hooped. I asked Kassy to hold her foot down on one of the 2x4s while I picked up the center. I was able to slip between the pipes as I lifted, and when I started to lower it, I noticed it stayed in place really well. I must admit this was a really clever design mistake inherited from the original design. If you look closely at the place where the pipes connect to the 2×4 you will notice that they extend past it. When the structure was raised, they dug into the soil just enough to hold it into place. I really lucked out that time! The original hoop house had a 2×8 at the base, and I just re-used most of the pre-drilled holes.

Next up, I added two pieces of tin commonly used on metal roofs. You may be asking why? Well, the shade cloth I bought was 18′ X 12′ and the area I needed to cover was about 20′ x 12′. I also had a hunch that the metal would help stiffen the structure, again thinking about the last version that failed. Before attaching the metal I drove four boards about 3 feet into the ground on each corner.

The shade cloth was a breeze to add. We used zip ties to hold it in place while deciding what to do for the ends of the building.

I chose the location of this hoop house because it was far out of sight of the house. I thought about leveling the soil with the tractor but I’ve learned all too well what sort of mess that would make. Freshly worked soil turns into a muddy mess that adds pounds of mud to your boots, not something I cared to venture into. I compromised by leaving the building on a fairly decent slope, which is only terribly noticeable when I leveled the support shown above.

I settled on using a tarp to block sunlight on the edges, and initially, I just folded over the excess so I could re-use the tarps later. After considering the number of snakes that we see in the yard and imagining how much they would love to hang out in a folded over tarp, I opted to trim off the excess!

So there it is, a 50% shaded hoop house. In June I’ll stock this with hundreds, perhaps thousands of cuttings ranging from elderberries and blueberries to rhododendrons and azalea. I’ve already begun running water lines, and I have an automated sprinkling system that will be added next.

After finishing the hoop house, I decided to check on last year’s trails. I was having good luck till nearly the end of last summer when I thought all of my cuttings had died. I was quite surprised to see growth this spring on 14 of the cuttings even after I had given up on them!

Well, That was an adventure. I built, sold and shipped over 400 wine tables of various design all around the world within about three years time 5/2015- 7/2018. I have learned a lot and ultimately closed my Etsy shop so I could actually do something other than work. You see it’s not easy to work full time and run a business after work. I missed my life and my garden. So what now ? Well, with the world as it is, quarantine and COVID-19, perhaps its time to go back to the garden, pick up some old hobbies and get back to blogging!

I just love my Nanking cherry bushes, and with a heavy frost due, I thought I should try an experiment. I covered most of the bushes with a tarp and left a few flowers exposed. Just as I thought; It appears the exposed flowers (on the bottom) might be damaged, and therefore are unlikely to produce the cherries I love. The flowers on the top look unscathed. I guess only time will tell if covering them makes a difference. I’ll keep you posted on that later.

A few weeks ago, I planted some broccoli, swish chard, pak-choi, and spinach. I was worried that the little seedlings would suffer from the frost, but they look pretty good this morning.

I have yet another project in the works, a 50% shade hoop house. If you scroll down far enough you’ll see the original hoop house I made six years ago. It ultimately was knocked over by the wind, and at that time I had just met my soon to be wife, so the hoop house took a back seat.

I saved the “bones” of the hoop house, and I’m reusing them now. This iteration is meant for propagation – the cloning of plants from cuttings. Here I hope to continue my experiments rooting new plants including blueberries, Nan-king cherries, and many flowering bushes. I’m sure I’ll touch on that again later this year.

I have lots of other items to fill in the gap I’ve left here, from about 2015 to 2020, lots of changes, lots of growth, and plenty of tough projects. I’ll “dig” into the David Brown 885 later, but here’s a hint: I rebuilt that diesel engine and if that wasn’t enough self-punishment, I rebuilt the transmission too.

Wine Bottle and Glass Stand

After much discussion between Kassy, Nate and myself, I’ve finally opened an Etsy shop to sell the products of my second favorite hobby: Woodworking. Above, you can see my third item for sale, a wine bottle and glass holder for outdoor use. It will hold one 750ml bottle, and two wine glasses.

At this point, I’m keeping my expectations as grounded as possible, but wouldn’t it be great if this shop turned a profit, or even generated enough revenue to buy more tools ?

You can visit my etsy shop “NWPABackwoods” by clicking here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NWPABackwoods?ref=hdr_shop_menu 

Thanks !

Just in case your wondering, my favorite hobby is playing in the dirt, whether it be on the dozer, or planting tomatoes. =)

Garden and Dozer

It’s been an unseasonable cool summer, with what seems like twice the normal amount of rain. I’ve only had to water the garden in the first few weeks after it was planted, and I haven’t touched it since.  The crops are still doing very well for the most part. Thankfully this new garden area is on a decent slope, just like all my others have been.

Waltham Butternut

I managed to dump two large dump truck loads of manure on the top end of the garden, and I spread it out fairly well with the tractor. Unfortunately when you dump an entire truck load in one spot, it compacts the manure at the bottom and it was quite difficult to spread that last six inches or so of fertilizer. In this area, I planted my winter squashes: Waltham Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti and new for me this year: Bush Squash.

Endless Zucchini

I had started about five zucchini plants in the greenhouse, and planted an entire row nearby from seeds. Nearly 50 plants emerged from the soil, and many of them have began full on zucchini production. I don’t think it needs to be written, but I will be buried under piles of green goodness in a few short weeks time.

Another great crop this year has been the cucumbers. I’ve planted a mixture of seeds from previous years, and three types seem to be doing quite well. Straight 8, Boston Pickling and another strange elongated variety have produced nearly four shopping bags of cucumbers. What a great year for Mother to be making pickles, as I usually round up the cucumbers and drop them off for Mom to can them.

Tomatoes haven’t done as well this year as in the past, but their short stature hasn’t stopped them from going into full on production. I will have way too many tomatoes again this year. I blame the copious amounts of blue water that I spread over them while applying anti-blight spray.  (The water is colored blue by the Miracle Grow plant food I use).

OC-3 IXK-3Hercules Engine Out

This year my focus is once again on machinery, and pushing myself out of my own comfort zone. You see this dozer has been a great piece of machinery that I’ve accomplished a good amount of work with, but one day the engine started making a serious and steady banging sound. It had to be removed and repaired before the entire engine became unusable.

Once again, I turned to my friend Shayne to guide me through the process. I’ve worked on engines a few times in the past, but it’s not something that comes second nature to me. With George and Shayne’s serious help, we removed the engine, and determined that the Rod Bearings were the cause of the noise, and they had to be replaced. If your ever in the same boat, go ahead and buy a micrometer and measure the crankshaft before ordering new bearings.  The cost of the micrometer will surely offset the amount of postage you may incur in sending back the wrong bearings as I have learned.

CrankShaft

One more thing I’ve learned is that some earlier OC-3 Hercules IXK-3 engines have poured in bearings made of a soft metal. The problem with these bearings is that they wont just snap out like newer bearings, so I had to purchase new connecting rods. It seems the use of these cast bearings was changed part way through the production of these dozers, starting with the newer style bearings being used after serial number 1285102. If it was only the rod bearings I would have been long done with this project, but replacing the rod itself requires removing the head from the engine.

Pistons

Once I pulled the head off, I noticed one more problem. Take a look at those pistons ! Even a career computer guy like me knows all that black build up is not good for the engine. It will have to be cleaned off before I put the old girl back together.

All in all, it’s been a great experience. I’ve learned so much from this dozer, and now I can add dozer engine repair to my resume. I now feel much more comfortable with engines and mechanics, and I hope to put this puzzle back together this Friday. Let’s hope there are no more hitches along the way !

Base Frame and Ends

I’ve been meaning to take cool weather veggies more seriously for several years now. I’ve never had much luck with the likes of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, and thought there might be an issue with my timing. I was also interested in extending the growing season in the spring and fall, so I decided somewhere in the depths of the miserable winter of 2013-2014 to construct a hoop house.

All Hoops Up

I found a blog post online which included plans for a 50 dollar hoop house: http://doorgarden.com/10/50-dollar-hoop-house-green-house  I didn’t follow their plans exactly, and modified it to suit my own purposes and the building materials I had on hand.

I made the base out of treated 2 x 10’s, nailing them together on the ends. If I could do this again, I would use screws or bolts to fasten the boards, and even add posts on the corners, to anchor the building. I used some old trim boards to create the end caps, leaving a door area open on the front end.

Plastic Covering On

The plastic was quite a bit more expensive then I imagined, coming in at $80 + shipping, but it’s very thick plastic, and it’s what the “professionals” use. I managed to cover the ends with a much cheaper drop cloth type plastic used by painters. Since this end wont have to carry the weight of the snow, it should be just fine.

Under The Plastic

By the start of February, I had the hoop house covered, and ready to plant, with one exception: I had to wait for the soil to thaw. This winter was particularly cold, reaching as low as -15 when the wind chill was factored in.

First Trial Planting

While I was waiting for the soil to thaw, I placed two bags of potting soil in the hoop house, and planted chard, spinach and lettuce. Rather then spread the soil on the ground, I simply cut the top off the bag, and poked some holes through the bags base. This would allow excess water to drain, but at the same time act as a weed barrier.

All Seeds In

So what have I learned from all this work ? The middle of March seems to be a good time to plant spinach, lettuce, carrots, onions, and radishes. Swiss Chard didn’t seem to do well, but eventually did grow. I planted broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi, peas, endive and escarole a few weeks later, and all are doing great.

I’ve also learned a thing or two about hoop house construction. You see we had some extreme winds, and the building took a serious beating. I came home from work to find it all but flattened, and nearly blown away. To counter the winds, I will actually glue the pvc pipes together next time, and also sink end posts a few feet into the ground to resist wind damage.

The plastic worked very well, even in the high winds, but I also need to think about an automatic heat venting system for sunny days.

I’ve since transplanted all of the broccoli out into the much bigger garden, and plan to do so with the cauliflower as well.