Bikerscum - Patrick St. Jean

Well, I had this grandiose scheme to put up a twenty foot tall trellis support for the hops to grow up. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be. The PVC was too flexible to raise to that height, so I dropped it down to ten feet and it's up. We'll see what we need to do once the vines get up to the top. I can try training them another way at that point.

It looks like we're past the last of the cold weather and since this weekend is looking absolutely gorgeous, I went out back to do a little more work in the garden. I've gotten one more cucumber in the ground. They did really badly with the cold, with me losing 5 of 6 that were planted first time around. I also planted one of the cantaloupes, the anaheim peppers, jalapeños, banana peppers, and a sprite tomato. I also planted another batch of carrot seeds, some more lettuce, and try three at one of the broccoli. After that a lot of mulching of the more established plants and then running some fertilizer over everything.

Well, both hop rhizomes are in the ground now. Now I've got to work on a climbing support for them. It's going to be interesting figuring out how to work that in with the bird netting that's currently covering the entire garden. They both looked really happy, throwing off shoots left and right in the plastic bag they came in. I also got some mulch spread over some of the taller plants that ought to help retain moisture, etc. The tomatoes and cucumbers are still really unhappy. I'm thinking they got planted too soon. But there's more still inside so all is not lost.

I got woken up at about 3:30 this morning to the pounding of hail on my roof. I ran to the back door because I was worried about the garden being completely wiped out. There was golf ball sized hail falling and literally bouncing off the bird netting that we'd put up on Saturday. I was amazed, and after I'd gotten up in the morning and looked, there was no damage to the garden at all. The Jeep has some more dents, but that's not a big deal, they just blend in with the rock rash...

I checked the mail today and there was an envelope there with a couple cascades rhizomes. They look nice and healthy, with new shoots coming out already. They're resting in the fridge until I get time to get outside and plant them.

Not a good week to be garden plants. We had some severe weather roll through, but then again it is spring in Texas. Looks like three of the broccoli, one jalapeño, and one of the tomatoes got damaged by the winds. I've got one more of the tomatoes still inside, but the rest will have to be re-seeded.

More work in the garden today, got the seeds for the lettuce, beans, squash, chives, catnip, basil, and dill in the ground. The seedlings on the kitchen table are looking good and some of them are going to be ready for the dirt next weekend. Got to get the bird netting put up though...

There are now 16 carrots, 32 peas (16 snow and 16 pod), and a couple catnip plants seeded in the soil. After the crazy week we had with snow, 80 degree temperatures, and then snow again, hopefully we're past the last frost. If not, it really doesn't matter for these seeds, they're all frost hardy.

I got the garden's squares marked off with some jute twine and then planted the onions. There are now 64 onion plants growing and it looks like we're going to get a bunch of rain tonight and tomorrow so that ought to make them a little happier. It's starting to look like a garden now. I've also uploaded some more pictures to the album...

The paper pots have been made, filled with dirt, and the delicate plants which need to be seeded indoors for early planting have been seeded. Now it's just a waiting game to see which seeds come up and which don't. I've put a few extras in the pots just in case, so we'll see...