Winter...

...is here in the Northwest. Rain, cold. I probably won't be able to drive in to my garden until June. I went there yesterday and rototilled for about 1 1/2 hours. I had bought a used Troybilt Horse tiller and wanted to try it. It was able to till the corn rows, with frequent stops to clear the tines. The 8 Hp engine is very stong and does not die on uneven ground or tough going. I'm very happy with it. I got all but one corn row tilled under.

The soil is getting very wet though and this was the last of the tilling for this year. I'll clean up the tiller, change oil and store it away. I'll remove the starting battery and keep it in my closet until spring.

A Green Thing To Do

Last month we installed 24 solar photo-voltaic panels on the roof of our house. Each panel is rated at 210 watts, so we should be able to produce 5 kilowatts of power. Integrated over a typical sunny day, that would be about 6-7 kilowatt-hours of energy/day. Our house uses an average of 10 kilowatt-hours/day. It will be interesting to see how this actually works out. In fact, since it was connected to the grid and everything started working 2 days ago, we have been generating about 2.5 kilowatt-hours/day. These have been very cloudy days.

I am anxiously awaiting a nice sunny day to see how well the system will do but the forecast doesn't look good. We seem to definitely be into a winter weather pattern in the Maritime Northwest. But every month we do get a few cold bright days. On those days the system should, well, shine.

I figure that with all the incentives for installing solar power, the payback will be about 10 years -- at today's power rates.

Winter Rains Started

It's October. The rains have started. I had intended to get all of the garden tilled before the rains started. I only got about 2/3 tilled. The %$#@* tiller I bought cheap last summer stops running about every 5 minutes. It wears me out just pulling the starter rope. Next year, I want a better tiller.

Yesterday, Greg's dad came and picked the rest of the corn. he got a wheelbarrow load -- I'd estimate 150 ears. The corn stalks are going down fast with the rain and wind. But he stuck with it and got a good load for Greg and Sara. They bought our old freezer and will fill about 1/4 of it with corn. Happy to help them.

We've only had about an inch of rain this month and I noticed as I was trying to till yesterday that the soil is still fairly dry down 2 inches. The rains haven't really raised the water table yet. Today promises harder rain and that may make it difficult to till or even drive in to the garden next week.

Raised Bed Report

This year about half our vegetable plantings were made on raised beds. In April and May we thought that was necessary to get the root zone above the water table. Upon reflection, I thing we were mostly wrong in that belief. The soil was very 'cloddy' and full of grass roots. It did not work down well on those raised beds. The seeds did not get good contact with the soil and germination was low.

By July, the water table had dropped a couple of feet and the plants on the raised beds could not reach the water. the grass also grew prolifically on the slopes of the raised beds and had to be dealt with by hand because the rototiller wouldn't run at that angle.

In retrospect, I believe that when dealing with a quarter-acre of garden, it is better to plant most crops in rows on grade. If one must wait until June for the soil to be dry enough to do that, then wait. This flies in the face of the conventional beliefs that raised beds are better. But I put more credibility on experience than belief.

The crops that we did plant at grade level did very well. Black plastic work well to control weeds (and grass) for the pumpkins (as well as raise the soil temperature.) Crops like corn and beans could be cultivated much more easily with the rototiller than by hand.

Next year: fewer raised beds.

Cucumbers

We've gotten several dozen cucumbers from the four vines that survived to maturity. The seed did not germinate well and the plants seemed to take forever to start growing. When they did grow they produced a bumper crop. Next summer we will concentrate on better soil preparation and fertilizing for cucumbers. I was able to can 4 quarts of dill spears and 4 pints of dill slices.

Lots of Corn

The corn is ready. I picked 50 ears Saturday for a five-course, local organic dinner we put on for about 30 friends. I'd estimate there are another 100 ears ready to pick. That should be enough for the two of for the winter, although it is a bit less than I was hoping to get. We'll definitely grow corn next year.

Melons`

Well I have harvested about 3 Noir des Carmes melons. They are absolutely wonderful. There was one rotten melon and I don't know where it came from but I will save the seeds from it. My fingerling pototoes had wireworms, so we will have to take care of those guys. All and all the plot did pretty good. Getting cucumbers and my tomatoes are starting to get ripe. I have a new puppy, his name is Steele you may see him around the farm with me.