Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween and a Good Post Sandy

We hope everyone faired well through Sandy.  I believe that we, here in Maryland, got off pretty lucky - thankfully.  GSB and the gardens and Farm made it through with very minimal casualties.  The monarch chrysalis was moved inside pre-storm and hatched during the storm and was named Sandy and is now waiting to be released to fly off to Mexico or South America tomorrow or Friday.

Remember to compost those jack-o-lanterns, or break them up in your yard to breakdown and let what ever animals nibble on for a while.  If ya got a rat problem then the yard thing may not be a good idea.

An old Halloween diddy from my elementary school days, think of a witch over her cauldron:

Stirring and stirring and stirring my brew, oooo, oo, oooo, oo, tip, toe, tip, toe, tip, toe,  BOO!

Hope I didn't scare you.  Happy Halloween.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Watching Sandy?

Four of my favorite surf cam links for watching the ocean:

Hatteras Island: http://www.surfline.com/surf-report/rodanthe-southeast_4410/

Outer Banks: http://www.corollasurfshop.com/surf-report/

                      http://www.avalonpier.com/piercam.html

Ocean City, Maryland : http://www.malibus.com/surf-report

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Sandy, Sandy stay away!

O.k., we are on the brink of a possible big storm and I would be just as happy if this isn't one for the record books.  Meteorologically this is fascinating to watch unfold.  Watching the wave and wind maps' predictions on the surfing sites is mesmerizing for me.  If you have the opportunity over the next few days as this storm gets closer watch surf camera sites up and down the east coast to see what wind does to water.   There are surf cams at most of the piers on the Outer Banks as well as in Ocean City Maryland and New Jersey.

That said, my true wish is for Sandy to pass quietly as as far east as possible.

5th grade had another great day of garlic planting and observations in the gardens.  Here are a few of the questions they are pondering:

If one seed clove taken off of a garlic bulb creates another bulb of garlic, then where in the new bulb is the seed clove?  Great garlic information here: http://www.filareefarm.com/pdf/filaree-garlic-catalog2011.pdf

If a mother strawberry plant puts out runners from which daughter plants are born, and the spots on the outside of a strawberry are seeds then what purpose do the seeds serve serve; and if the seed's purpose is to grow new plants how are the distributed? (find some answers for strawberry seeds here: http://strawberryplants.org/2010/05/strawberry-seeds/

Things that make you go hmmm.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

5th graders' new plantings and a Pine Warbler

The 5th graders have spent time over the last two days planting at the Farm.  Yesterday they planted salad boxes  that contain leaf lettuces and will be ready to eat anywhere from 30 to 50 days.  Today they planted garlic and took time to observe the gardens as they get ready for winter.

Shallots and two different 30 day Chinese cabbages also joined the ranks.

Many migratory birds are making their way through the area and today I saw a Pine Warbler in the Pollinator/butterfly garden.  As uber cool the siting was for me, I had startled the bird and it turns out the bird put on a broken-wing fake out for me.  The bird hopped to the ground with it's right wing slightly askew and hopped into a bunch of strawberry plants.  As I kept my eye on the spot where it went into the strawberries, I called Mrs. Primm to come see.  She came right out and we went looking for the "injured' bird.  We looked and looked, but it was gone.

So when we got home we looked in our bird guides to identify the bird.  We then looked online to see if that bird does a broken-wing act and sure enough it does!

How about that.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Bolting Spinach

The weather has been so warm that my spinach has started to bolt.  How crazy is that!?  Things are looking quite good in the garden and my plans for pulling peppers, zinnias, and what not have been thwarted by their continued productivity.  In fact, there are new sunflowers sprouting from seed dropped out of this year's sunflowers.  Even the strawberries are getting bigger, and juicier and sweeter.

So much for starting cold frames.

I'm not complaining, just explaining.  Our spring bulbs arrived so we will be doing a massive planting over the next week.  There are something like 700 bulbs.  It should provide for a very colorful spring.

The raspberries are doing well as are the greens on the hill.  I am going to finally plant those 30 day cabbages this week.  We are also going to start some salad boxes to do some indoor experiments and of course great eats if we are successful.


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Soil Compaction

We have had raised bed gardens/farming at GSB since 2008/2009 school year.  I incorporate mulch in our beds every year.  At the end of every growing season within the raised beds our soil has been compacted as if we were walking on it.  A mystery since we had not been walking in our beds.

Today I am reading an article in Urban Farmer about the benefits of mulch and the author is preaching to the choir until he starts to talk about how mulch layered onto of the soil during the growing season stops soil compaction from - drum roll please - rain.

Soil without mulch on top takes x inches of rain each season, which equates to x gallons of water and each gallon weighs eight pounds and the rain fall from x high up in the sky - yadda, yadda, yadda - compressed soil like the farmer/gardener has been walking in the beds.

Epiphany!

Who would have thunk it - not me.  Next year the farm and garden will have a rich layer of mulch on top, as a shock absorber,  throughout the growing season.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Greens, greens, and more greens

The greens on the hill are showing off.  The greens we planted in pollinator garden are off to a great start.  We hope they continue on their great trend.  The peas, carrots, greens, lettuce and onions on the farm are doing well also, but the coolest discovery today on the farm was the monarch chrysalis on the sunflower.  How about that.

The raspberries are looking very healthy and everything enjoyed yesterday's rain.  We will soon be planting garlic, shallots, pansies, and some 30 day cabbage seeds (that still haven't made it into the ground) next week.

Monday, October 8, 2012

New Raspberries

14 new raspberry bushes were planted today in the garden outside of the 5th grade classroom.  They are fall bearing raspberries.

There are two Crimson Nights, 6 Heritage, and 6 Annes.

The fall greens are sprouting and doing well, the spinach is getting huge, and sunflowers are still coming into their own.  You should stop by to see all the birds feasting in the garden.  Like hot peppers, or are you enjoying ones you have gotten from Green?  Good news, the peppers are still going crazy.  Note to folks who keep picking and stomping the peppers - stop it.

We have onions planted and just received shallot and garlic starts. Yum.  The 30 day cabbage are going in Friday.

Stay tuned, more yumminess coming!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Herring Run Nursery

As we look to expand our gardens and Farm and look to create more habitat and food sources for birds, bees, butterflies and other pollinator friends, I have been looking for resources to supply the flora for these next steps.

There are some really cool nurseries out there and one, specifically, that is local and has been a great partner of ours - Herring Run Nursery.  As they say on their website - they specialize in growing native plants for Maryland's coastal plain and Piedmont regions.

This time of year is a great time to add perennials, shrubs and trees to your landscape.  So, if you are ever considering natives for your landscape visit Herring Run Nursery at www.bluewaterbaltimore.org/herring-run-nursery/native-plants

Happy planting.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Cold Frames

We are going to experiment with cold frames this year on the Farm.  I found an easy structure to build with PVC pipe in Urban Farm magazine.  What I like most about this design is the ability to build as small or large as you want and how inexpensive can be.  We will be looking at how long we can extend a growing season compared to the same crop left out in the cold.  We should also be able to use the frames in the spring to start crops outdoor earlier.  Stay posted.

This article was in the January/February 2011 edition.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Mustard, Kale, Collards, and Swiss Chard

We planted all of these in the pollinator garden today.  We will see how things grow and for things we don't harvest we will see how well they wintered over.

I am still waiting for the rest of my Burpee order and I also bought onion sets at Meyer seed today.