Nice November

It's been the nicest November that I can remember. This time last year we had already had our first snow storm. Unlike the typical greyness of brooding clouds and cool morning fog, the month showed off its golden side. The usually shy sun has played with Natures' colour palette and has found the gold shades ranging from light tan of cut wheat to the darkest browns of the discarded leaves.

It's been mild for November, while the frost decorates the land most mornings with a chilling reminder of what is to come, the days warm in the weakening sun. Sometimes it even hits the double digits. I've rarely had to keep the wood furnace running all day. Usually I get it going in the morning and let it burn out by mid day. I'll start it again as the sun sets and the damp settles in.

I've been able to continue to do outdoor work and get to know November a little bit better. I always thought that November was bitter and mean, uncaring. Now I know it's more thoughtful than that and actually can be reflective. It has a prettiness that's easy to miss when I rush from its usual wind-pelted rains that keeps me indoors as much as possible. I like this warm side of November, it's a nice change.

Little Orphaned Kits

My dear Ceilidh died very suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday. I have no idea why. She seemed to be in perfect health. She did have a gummy eye that I had treated with chamomile tea, it cleared up completely until about a week ago. Ceilidh was a Californian and I had her for a couple of years. She was a bit on the standoffish side, had more important things to do that letting me rub her head. But she was an excellent mom, having many litters and raising them successfully. I'll miss Ceilidh, she was snobby but she was a delight to watch in 'mom' mode.
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When Ceilidh died, she left 5 thirteen day old kits. She obviously was taking great care of them, they're all huge, round, alert and happy. Their eyes are open and they are nibbling on hay, oats and pellets but they are too young to survive without some kind of version of mother's milk. So I'm hand feeding them. Hand feeding kits usually has a very high mortality rate. I'm hoping because they're not newborns that their survival rate is much higher. I'm using a homemade formula consisting of whole milk, egg yolk and sulfured molasses. I've used it before and it seems to be nourishing. Mind you, I've never raised kits on this formula, just hand fed a couple for a day or two until they could be re-united with their mom and siblings. The biggest thing about hand feeding kits is trying not to drown the poor little things when syringing formula into their teeny, tiny little mouths. It's a drop-by-drop process right now but I'm hoping they'll clue in that the hard plastic thing has yummy food in it, I'm hoping that will make it easier.

Saving Tomato Seeds

I was quite pleased with the results of my cold frame experiment this year. I've decided to save some tomato seeds the 'right' way in lieu of just throwing all the seeds and skins in a cold frame and hope for the best. It worked but the tomatoes did start late and there was too many of them. So I'm going to be more organized for next year.

Saving tomato seeds is a little bit more complicated than just grabbing the seeds and drying them out. There's a whole process to them. Selecting the tomatoes that are ripe to the point of spoiling is what most instructions recommend. I picked one beefsteak, two romas and a heritage tomato. I know for a fact the heritage tomato is one of the plants that sprung up in my cold frame because I didn't buy heritage tomatoes last year. So if I get any plants from this tomato it will be second generation DaM Farm tomatoes. Tomatoes are self pollinating and don't usually cross-pollinate so, unlike pumpkins for example, it's rare to get cross species.

The second step is to cut the tomato sideways or through its 'equator'. I would imagine the point is to have easy access to the seeds. It worked well for the beefsteak and heritage tomatoes. I found the romas, with their long oval shape, were better if I sliced them lengthwise, I got much better access to the seeds. I used a spoon to get the seeds out. After fooling a round for a bit several different spoons, I finally found one that worked the best with both less mess and general grossness. Over-ripe, squishy tomatoes definitely have an "ew" factor. The type of spoon is what I call a grapefruit spoon used to scoop out the insides of grapefruit. The end is not a point but straight across and while not sharp, it's not a blunted as a regular spoon. It does a really good job on getting the seeds stuck on the side of the tomato walls.

Once the tomato seeds have been collected, I put them each in their own labeled glass and added a couple of tablespoons of water. Then I covered the glass with plastic wrap and poked a hole in the wrap. This where is gets all scientific. The reason for doing this is so the seeds can ferment. It gets rid of germs and disease that might be in the seeds. The hole in the wrap provides air exchange which is necessary for the whole process. It's recommended to place the containers either in a sunny window or on top of the fridge. I chose the fridge, mid-October in PEI means sunny windows are not a consistent thing. Besides, being on top of the fridge means, I see them all the time and won't forget to stir them daily which is also part of the process.

Then I wait 3 days letting the tomatoes ferment. Apparently knowing the seeds are ready is easy, you just wait for a disgusting, scummy, smelly, slimy layer form on the top of the water. It also attracts those horrible little fruit fly things and haunt me this time of year. So here they are, all scummed up and ready for the next step.

Now I skim off as much scum as I can and pour the contents into a small strainer, the kind you'd use for herbs or tea, if you didn't have a tea-ball. Then I rinsed the seeds under running water until all the little half rotted pulp bits and what not is gone. I put them on coffee filters to air out. After a couple of days, I put the seeds directly on the plate since they were all sticking to the coffee filters. Apparently it takes about a week for them to completely dry, when that happens,I'll bag and tag 'em. And next spring, I'll see if I did dry them right or not.

Hey Man, Thanks (Gardern Reflections 2009)

All that's left to do is the crying. Well no, not really. The tomato teepees need to come down and be stored for next year. The nasturtiums can be pulled and dried for the rabbits and the rest of the carrots need to come out. There's no crying to be done this year. To tell you the truth, I am left with a sense of amazement, it's been one heck of a harvest.

Almost everything did well. I pretty much kept with the same companion planting I did last year. I had most of the onions growing in the annex and got 2 half feed bags of great onions from two packages. I might buy 3 packs next year.

I did over-plant terribly this year. I did that the first year and then I smartened up. This year, there were a couple of issues that led me to over-plant. I was using my own saved pumpkin seeds for the first time and I was a little unsure if they'd work so I planted a bit more than usual. I ended up with 80 some pumpkins. That's a lot of pumpkins considering last year I thought 40 was too many. I won't plant the cucumbers near the pumpkins again though. The pumpkins did overtake them a bit. I have also found out that planting plants of the same family close together does attract more of the harmful bugs. Planting crops farther away from each other means more travel time for the bugs and they can't get as established and do as much damage. I didn't have much of a problem with bugs this year because I brought Mandellas out to the garden whenever I was weeding and she had a wonderful time eating earwigs, (her favorite) cucumber beetles and anything else she could get her little hooked beak around. She was terrific bug control and great company in the garden.

I didn't really over plant the tomatoes per se. I did the cold frame experiment and bought a couple of flats of tomatoes just in case. All did very well and, ta-dah! - 9 boxes of tomatoes. I'm not thinking I'm going to run out of canned tomatoes this year.

I did have a part of the garden not do well at all so I replanted the beans and carrots in the new lasagna garden where they did very, very well. Hopefully letting that part of the garden go fallow after dumping a lot of compost and rabbit manure on it will help for the next season.

The three sisters did well. The corn was from my own seed. Now that was pretty easy to save, all I did was dry out a cob of corn. I ended up planting way to much, again, because I wasn't sure that it would work. Happily, a friend of mine was having terrible luck with her corn and I was able to give her all my extra plants. They transplanted well and she had a good crop of corn as well. I have found letting the corn get to 4 - 6 inches high before planting the snowpeas a good idea. That way the fast growing snowpeas don't over-run the corn which grows much slower at the start.

I planted some organic lettuce mix and beets this year, courtesy of my mom (Eileen) who sent me some seeds, they did beautifully as did the chard. I think I will plant more packs of lettuce next year. I planted 6 packs but with the rabbits, us and all our visitors, I kept running out. I think I might go up to 10 packs next year. I'm the only one in the family who eats beets so a pack is more than enough. The rabbits love it too and I have found if I leave a few beets hanging around, I can harvest the leaves for the bunnies right up to almost snow cover.

The herbs, mainly dill and basil seem to like the lasagna garden better. The dill did very well there. The basil, planted with the tomatoes in the main garden, was average. Last year when I grew it in the lasanga garden, it was exceptional.

As far as my new projects went, one, the tomato cold frame, was very successful and the other, the potato tire growing scheme was an utter failure. I'm hoping to expand on the cold frame idea I used for the tomatoes. And I'm not ready to give up on the potato project completely, think next year I'll tweak it a bit and see what happens. I think that's the best part of garden, the plans, the hopes, the sense of accomplishment sprout right along with the seeds.

Chicken Update

Today I gave the chickens the insides of the pumpkins I baked for freezing. Of course, there's always one in the crowd more interested in the empty container than in the seeds. I guess she's just making sure I didn't leave any in there, she probably figures you never can tell with humans.

A hen Doin' Her Job

This year, we decided to keep more hens over the winter. The demand for our eggs has increased to the point where sometimes we don't have eggs for ourselves. That kind of defeats the whole reason of chickens in the first place. We're hoping by having 17 hens instead of 10 will meet all our needs. I'm also thinking the more warm bodies in the coop the warmer it will be this winter. Personally, I really think we need a four legged animal in there to use as a walking furnace. A friend of mine has a goat and her barn stays a lot warmer than my coop. I'm leaning towards a donkey. Always wanted a donkey. Don isn't too sure about a donkey, may-be he figures he gets enough braying as is. (Now there's a question best left unasked!)

I'm hoping the increased number of hens will keep the two roosters living in relative harmony. So far it's been working. Last year, I ended up separating the roos because one was being harried to death. This year I kept two new roos and they are getting along better. Each have their own harem of hens and as long as the second rooster, Chandler, doesn't start courting one of Captain Morgans' ladies, they co-exist pretty well. They don't ever fight, Chandler knows he's second fiddle and seems to be fine with that arrangement. He doesn't crow and he always gives way to Captain Morgan. I think because there's more hens, they can easily share without any conflicts. The real test will be when they are cooped up together days on end during a winter storm or cold snap.

Captain Morgan (front) and Chandler (back) Ignoring Each Other Peacefully.

We're thinking next spring of getting a few more layers, hopefully Americaunas, like Leah; green eggs are cool. I might look into getting a few meat birds to raise over the summer as well. I really like my dual purpose chickens but it takes two birds to feed us, it might be nice to have a few of the bigger variety. While we might expand our variety, we will keep mainly to our heritage breeds. They don't have the problems the modern breeds have. Modern meat birds, because they're so heavy tend to go lame easily. Modern egg layers won't go broody; that trait is pretty much bred right out of them. That means they won't sit on a nest to incubate and raise chicks. I certainly prefer broody hens to incubators and brooders. What ever we do, as long as I can go into the coop and thrill to a nest full of eggs, I'll be happy.

Dusk and the Rabbits

Today I decided to breed my does for the last time before spring. I like to give my rabbits a break from raising litters over the winter. So I was puttering around, letting the rabbits do their thing when Dusk wandered in. I don't mind when Dusk comes to visit, he's always well behaved. Of course, it helps that he has absolutely no prey drive at all. While it might be a dogs' 'nature' to run down a rabbit, it's not in Dusk's nature to even dream of harming another creature.

Hanging with the rabbits is a special treat for Dusk. If working with the rabbits is my favorite chore, it's definitely Dusk's favorite pastime as well. When he sees them, his ears perk up and the tail starts going a mile a minute. He doesn't mind baby rabbits climbing all over him and he likes to visit everyone. His favorite buddy seems to be Ocean. Ocean is a Creme D'Argent and my main buck. None of the rabbits are frightened of Dusk but most just ignore him. Not Ocean, though, he seems to like Dusk's company as much as Dusk likes his. Ocean will hop right over to him and settle down next to him. I don't know if you'd call it friendship but it sure looks like it's a mutual understanding.

Ocean and Dusk hanging out, shooting the rabbit poo.

Making Salsa

We've just come off of two beautiful weeks of Autumn glory. The days were sunny and crisp, rosying my cheeks and warming my heart. It was a great time to work outside and enjoy the colour and the accomplishment. Sometimes life is just like biting into an apple.

Yesterday, the inevitable weather temper tantrum happened and kept me inside. Being in a warm home with a wood fire going made up for the rain and gusty winds. Looking outside at the flash of red in the old maple by the house turned the sky from a depressing grey curtain of cloud into a perfect backdrop

Well, if I can't be outside in the Autumn air with its indescribable crispness, I'll be in the kitchen, experiencing the 'other' Autumn smell as pumpkins, apples or tomatoes are processed for the winter. A lot of baking happens in the fall here at the DaM Farm. But today I decided to make salsa. I always can my tomatoes first then if there's any left over, I'll make salsa. It was a great year for my tomatoes and I harvested about 11 - 12 bushels (listen to me, talking farmer talk - bushels!) so there was lots of extras. This is the third year I've made it but it's the first year I've done it from scratch. I used a package salsa canning mix previously. I looked around at various recipes and decided on a fairly simple one to start with, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro and dried crushed red pepper. One of the recipes suggested that draining the tomatoes after cutting would make a thicker salsa. I love thick salsa and did find my salsa a bit on the runny side so I did that. I kept all the juice that I drained out and made tomato juice. I figure it will be great to add as liquid to the crock pot for roasts stews and making chicken or rabbit stock. I still have a load of tomatoes left so I will be making another batch of salsa. We love it here, 24 bottles is not too much at all.

Little Chick Update

After doing the Chicken coop update, I realized there were a few things that I mentioned but hadn't followed up for a while. So I thought I'd start updating some of them starting with the little chick in the incubator that could not get out of his shell on his own.

It seemed this little chick was doomed from the start, he couldn't even get out of his own shell. Everything I read said that helping a chick out of the egg was not a great idea because if the chick is not strong enough to manage to get out on his own, he wouldn't survive anyway. Or so the theory goes. I fully intended to follow this advice, but the theory did not take into account the chick peeping all day long. This chick cracked his shell in the morning and started peeping. After a few hours of this, I couldn't just stand by and listen to him anymore; he was stuck and scared so I helped him out. He was wobbly and certainly a little different than the other chicks so I secluded him for a few days as he got his feet under him. I started calling him Tiny Tim.

After a few days, he was pretty steady on his feet so I put him with all the other chicks. Being the smallest in the bunch, he learned to stand up for himself and be insistent about getting food and water. None of the other chicks picked on him, they just tended to run over him in their rush for food. He'd just get right back up and join in at the feeding dish. Things seemed to be working out for him.

Once the chicks were too big for the brooder, I moved them into the vacant rabbit colonies in the chicken coop. Everybody thrived. I could always spot Tiny Tim because he was smaller than the rest. No matter, he was growing and developing at his own pace and could keep up with the rest. I always make a point of picking up and holding the chicks so they'd become accustomed to human touch, I must admit Tiny Tim got more than his fair share of petting. Once they got old enough, I cut a little hole in the chick area wall to the main coop. That way, the more adventurous ones could go and mingle but still be able to get back to their safe area if any of the big chickens decided to be morons. And that's where poor Tiny Tim got himself into a world of trouble.

In the chicken coup, the main flock had 21 previously hatched chicks about 2 months older than the incubator chicks. Several of the young roosters started hanging out together and developed a real gang mentality. All that was missing were cigarettes hanging out of their little beaks and cans of spray paint. Generally the two older roosters kept everything under control. But the J.D.s (juvenile delinquents) were opportunistic and if the occasion would arise, they'd give grief to any chicken in their line of fire. I started counting down to when I could put those three into the freezer, a first for me.

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I never thought for a moment that Tiny Tim would venture out of the safe area. I should have known better; his determination and bravery was apparent from the day I helped him out; the bird was a fighter. So the poor little thing went out into the big old coop and the rotten roosters were all over him. Don noticed the commotion when he was doing some outside work. He started yelling for me and finally I heard him. I found doing his best to keep the roosters away from poor Tiny Tim as he cowered under a board. Not only did Tiny Tim venture out into the coop, he managed to get outside into the pasture. Once out there, I guess he lost his bearings and couldn't figure out how to get back inside, the J.D.s took advantage of the situation. I picked him up and Don was sure the chick would need to be put down. He was beat up. I took him inside and examined him. The J.D.s must have chased him into a corner and pecked at him when he couldn't escape. I make a habit of going out every hour when new chicks are venturing out so I knew this incident was less than 15 minutes old. They sure did a number on him in that short time, though. All his feathers on his lower back were gone and he was missing a patch of skin. I washed him off as gently as I could with warm water. I kept him in a cat carrier in the kitchen. For the first day, he was very quiet and didn't do much. The next he started moving around and eating. By the fourth day he was giving his opinion on everything and really enjoyed helping me sweep. His wounds healed well and quickly. I suppose it was one of those cases of looking a lot worse than it really was.

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When he was healed, perky and extremely noisy, I brought him out to the coop again. I put him with three other chicks a hen had a few before in the other vacant rabbit colony. At first I kept him in a cage in the area. After everybody got used to each other, I opened the cage door for a bit. After a while, all four were great friends. Tiny Tim now was about 4 months old and was obviously a hen so I changed her name from Tiny Tim to Timbitts.

When the four chicks were old enough, I put them in the main coop. The J.D.s had gone off to their proper place and were now called Sunday Dinner. Chickens have quite the social order and there is a little jostling as hens learn their place in their community. The older hens tend to be higher up in the hierarchy and don't mind reminding the younger ones of this fact. Timbitts figured out how to beat the system by hanging with our main rooster, Captain Morgan. He never let the chickens squabble for long and the hens knew better to start the old dominance game anywhere near him. Captain Morgan also seemed to have a soft spot for Timbitts so the other hens gave her no big problems.

I tagged Timbitts with my version of a leg ring, a plastic electricians tie, just so I could spot her easily. I didn't need to, Timbitts stands out in any crowd. It didn't hurt that she managed to twist her toe and now it's crooked so that's a dead give away. The toe doesn't bother her and she doesn't limp. She seems to be having a great time out there and enjoys her life. She is way past due to start laying and she hasn't. I don't care, she's a little chick that defied the odds and a prime example of why 'livestock' should be redefined. She's staying :).

Timbitts with two of her buddies sharing scratch.

A Frosty Flight of Fancy

Around this time of year, I start waiting for the first frost. I know it's coming, it's just a matter of time. Almost everything in my garden can tolerate one light frost but once that happens, whatever's left out in garden, usually tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkins need to come in or I'll lose them. Carrots tolerate frost pretty well so they'll come in last. I've been known to pick carrots right into November. As long as they're in before the first snow.

I begin listening for frost warnings on the radio and watch Autumns' touch in my garden; her tattle-tale signs are everywhere. The most delicate plants have edges bleached musty white as the nights become too cold for them. The green fronds of the carrots burnish orange embers at their tips. I know Autumn is whispering, I hear her voice on the winds as Autumn tells them of their new purpose. Winds move through the branches, coldly shaking weak and fragile leaves from the trees. Things pale in the winds' cooling breath. The sky is pale, the sun is pale, the grass loses its green vibrancy. The colour has faded. But before Autumn splatters all hues of red, yellow, orange and brown on the earth, the colour needs to drain even more.

Autumn will walk at night, looking and selecting what will be colored and when. She'll dress the landscape as she dresses herself; in all tones of yellow, orange and brown. She'll lean over the ground, her long, red hair flowing down. With a slender white hand she touches the earth and a shiver runs over the ground. She's brought the frost. And a warning, "Get ready. Prepare what you need to stay warm, fed and safe. My father Winter is coming and he is not a gentle nor fair man." Autumn helps us become strong because Winter will take the weak
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In the morning, the shiver Autumn brought crunches under my feet as I walk on the stiff grass. The first hard frost is here. As the sun touches the earth and the trees' shadows move away slowly through the day, the frost will vanish. But the results will remain. Whitened pumpkin leaves and black tomato plants protect their fruit for the last time. The last of the crop needs to come in and the garden will be put to bed. The season will end with a blanket of snow.

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Thanks for the warning, Autumn. Thanks for giving me just a little more time to finish the harvest. While your touch is cold, your colours are warm. Now I wait for them, delighting in their vibrancy and the crispness. Stay as long as you want, don't hurry away. I'm in no rush to see your father again.
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Frost vanishing from my garden in the sun's early light.

Even the roof of the chicken coop gets a touch of frost at its edges.

Chicken Coop Update

Someone who reads my blog mentioned that they never saw any pictures of the chicken coop bunny barn combo we built last year. Oops. There's a couple of reason for that. One: I forgot. Two: It took us a year to get around to painting it so it was only really completed this summer. A special thanks for Derek for helping out while he was here on vacation; Kipling said it best, "You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din".

The coop is functional and the roof doesn't leak so I'm happy. We put on a high peak roof to help keep the coop cool in the summer. It doesn't seem to make a great deal of difference, if it's 28C outside, it's 28C in the coop but at least it doesn't get any higher than the outside temp. In the fall, Don lays down plywood on the rafters and we store our hay and straw up there. It's convenient and we hope it helps a little to keep warmth in during bitter cold spells. There's at least one window or windowed door on each side of the coop. The windows and doors keep it bright in the winter and hopefully a little warmer. The trees leaf up in the summer and block the sun so it doesn't absolutely bake. We can remove the windows, there's screen to keep the bugs out and hardware wire on top of the screen to keep the raccoons out. Not that I've ever seen a raccoon around, but I don't want to find out they're here by walking into a coop of dead chickens. I had a friend who lost her whole flock to raccoons, she said it was carnage. Bloody bodies everywhere and all the heads were missing. Like to avoid that, if I could. In addition to the windows, there's a few vents for air flow in the winter.

As far as being able to house the rabbits year round, the coop fails miserably. I ended up bringing the rabbits in because I needed the colonies for broody hens and raising chicks. I'm thinking...may-be...next year... of building ~gasp~ another small barn best suited for indoor colonies. Having the rabbits inside isn't a big deal. The basement has 3 north windows, is airy and bright. We run a dehumidifier in the summer so it's not damp. I use woodstove pellets as litter and there's no smell so having the rabbits inside is very workable. And it's convenient, no trucking outside in all kinds of weather. But if they were outside, I could build them a really large outside pen and that would certainly be nice for them. So I'm still thinking, may-be...next year... What's that line from the old movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? "You just keep thinking Butch. That's what you're good at."

A Sea of Pumpkins

It's definitely going to be a bumper crop of pumpkins this year. The vines in the above picture stretch out at least 20 feet. There's absolutely no way I can wade through that, I'll wait till after the first frost to harvest. Once the leaves shrivel, it should be much easier to navigate.

All the pumpkin plants are from seeds that I collected last year from my crop. This seed collecting is turning out to be pretty good, almost a no-brainer actually. I wonder why I always thought I should by my seeds in packages?

I grew two types of pumpkins last year. 'Sugar Pies' are a smaller pumpkin, they're just the right size to feed to the chickens. Last winter, the chickens really enjoyed still warm baked pumpkins. I didn't even have to take the entrails (yes, I know that's not the right word for pumpkin innards but that's what it looks like) out, just cut the pumpkin in half, throw it in the oven and I'm done. The other type of pumpkin was the typical larger good for carving Halloween pumpkin. When I saved the seeds, I made sure to separate and label the different seeds. It turns out that it was probably not necessary. Some of the seeds would likely be hybrids of the two pumpkin types. I would imagine after a couple of years of collecting my own seeds, I will start getting just one size.

The pumpkins seem to be turning early this year. By mid August, I was seen flashes of orange already. They do well planted on the edge of the garden so the vines can stretch out over the grass instead of over-running the other plants. Mind you, I did have get a few vines off the tomato teepees and get them going the right way. All in all, I think it's a good idea to plant them on the garden border.

pumpkin taken Aug. 10

Heavy Rain

What a difference a deluge makes. The river by the end of the summer is a weary, nonchalant thing. It meanders, it pokes along, doesn't seem to take an interest in anything. Birds come and fish, tourists take pictures, fish jump and the water continues to trickle over dam much like a leaky faucet. It's uninterested and, for the most part, it's uninteresting. The dam stands solidly, dark and bored.

Then we get a heavy rain, usually it's the remnants of some post hurricane or tropical storm. That perks the dam up. All of a sudden, it's got more water than it can handle. I can hear the water thunder over it in a continuous and rhythmic drone. Under the dull roar and splashes, the rhythmic drone sounds like heartbeat. And all the dam was made to do, hold the water back, is pushed to its limit. While the water will not be held back, the dam stand firm. The river expands and a new edge is made. The pristine clear water, tinted only by the sky's reflection turns a frothy red as the river bed churns.

After two or three days, the water is spent and the creek goes back to its placid self. The dam lets a trickle of water over its edge. It has done its job, the houses and the road nearby were safe from flood water.

Before And After Hurricane Danny.

Results of the Potato Project

Last spring, I decided to try to grow potatoes in a different way than usual. I called it the potato project. That's a picture of the total harvest. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well I only need one word: Dismal.

I ended up putting on three tires, covering up the plants just so the tips, about 4 - 5 inches showed. Everything looked great. Then a week or so ago, I noticed one of the plants just wilted and died. Ominous. So I took it out and while I was all mucky anyway, decided to dig around in the dirt and see if I could feel any potatoes. I dug two tires deep, nary a tater; nada, zilch, zero, none. I started thinking this wasn't going to work out as well as hoped. A couple of days later, another plant just withered and died. OK, there's something going on. I figured I might as well pull up the plants and gather whatever potatoes there were.

`

The measly amount of potatoes I found were in the bottom tire only and they were all red potatoes. Nothing in the other two. Soooo the theory needs a little work or I did something wrong. I'm guessing I did something wrong. I did plant late and I did over crowd. Maybe that had something to do with it. I think I'd like to try again because the plants were safe from the dreaded potato bug. I'm thinking may-be I'll just use two tires stacked to start and see if they'll do better. On the upside, the potatoes did taste great.

Chicks and Cukes, Mighty Cute

The chickens come in pretty handy when I have an over-abundance of cucumbers. There are only so many cucumber sandwiches, salads and sides you can serve your family before you hear rumblings of a revolt, "Cucumbers AGAIN!?!" "Why did you grow so many?" Point in fact, cucumbers are pretty finicky, some years I might get three out of the whole crop so I have a tendency to over-plant. Then I have seasons like this one where over-planting is a really bad idea because every plant and its brother flourishes and I get lots and lots and lots of cukes. So I serve them when I can and I pickle what I can then I stare at the remaining lot, overflowing in a five gallon pail. I have discovered that cucumbers are a nutritious treat for chickens. Oddly enough, my rabbits won't eat them, but the chickens love 'em. So I am getting rid of the extras and being entertained at the same time. Trust chickens to turn feeding time into dinner-theatre.

Here's three hens sharing nicely, each taking a turn to peck.

And here's Timbits [formerly known as the chicken Tiny Tim) deciding that sharing is NOT for the birds while two hens, in hot pursuit, try to convince her otherwise. Yes, that's a cucumber Timbit is carrying.

Mandellas enjoying the middles of the cukes and leaving the rinds for the chickens.

Pickles

The days are shorter and the nights are longer and both are much cooler. The green of the garden has been splashed with orange, red and yellow as the pumpkins, tomatoes and sunflowers show off their bounty. The beans and cucumbers are just about done and I have way too many. Sure signs of both a great growing season and pickling time. Whoot. Love my pickles.

I never pickled a thing before I moved here. I had to learn in self-defence or get run-over by over-ripe cucumbers moldering on the floor. With the help of a friend who not only makes pickles but jams as well, my first forays was pretty much successful ~ nobody died of botulism and things tasted like they were supposed to.

I doubt if pickling would have been as easy or accomplished if I hadn't a mentor who didn't mind me calling every 10 minutes to ask questions like "Does the brown sugar have to be packed down when I measure? Do I rinse the salt off after draining? How much water should I put in the canner?" In short I was clueless and she was very patient.

Aside from making bread and butter pickles and an awesome mustard relish, both recipes provided by the above mentioned pal, I have discovered you can pickle beans and carrots. There is one recipe I found that uses green beans, garlic and basil. Every time we are invited to a pot-luck I am asked to bring a jar of "those beans". The dilled yellow beans are pretty good and the cinnamon carrots bring an unexpected dash of colour and flavour to otherwise rather plain meals. This year I'm trying something new, dill pickles. As with all my other pickles, I'll try them first and if I don't die of food poisoning or pickle over/under flavourness, I'll serve them to others.

Pop Ups

Ah, the joys of making my own compost. The process isn't all that 'joyful', throw veggie scraps, weeds, etc. into a homemade composter and shovel it around now and then. Same process with chicken/rabbit manure. Neither, might I add, is a pleasant experience.

The end result, of course, is well worth it. Beautiful compost, rich and earthy smelling and free. Can't beat free. Now that I'm using my own exclusively, I'm getting what I call 'pop ups'. Plants that pop up in places where they have no business being. I discovered the first pop ups last year, they were all tomatoes. This year, more plants have gotten into the act. I still have the occasional tomato plant showing up but now there's the odd cucumber plant, a sunflower or two and the like.

This spring I had the idea to plant cosmos on either side of our driveway. I don't do much by the way of ornamental gardening and I would like to start doing a bit more and I thought this would be an easy way to start. Probably will be the only ornamental garden I'll do unless someone invents a day with 30 hours in it. Of course, when I put the plants in, I used my own compost. And so the most charming of the pop ups happened. A corn stalk grew right next to the cosmos. It even has a corncob. I think the effect is really cool and it does portray the essence of the DaM farm: Looks weird but it works.

Munch, Munch, Munch

One of my favorite chores is feeding the rabbits their daily fresh greens. When they see me coming with my bucket, everybody perks up with interest and excitement, ears get a little straighter, noses get twitchier, eyes brighten up and the heat of the day falls away from the rabbits as they anticipate their cool, moisture laden supper. I dump the greens in and see the scramble. Invariably some over-eager bunny is directly where I dump the food and gets covered in vegetation and has to munch her way out. Often two rabbits will 'share' a leaf or twig. Well, not exactly share, one will be eating it and another will decide that it looks mighty tasty and will start nibbling on it. The first rabbit will start chewing faster and the second will determinedly hang on to his end. In about 30 seconds the drama is over and both move on to other greener pastures.

There's a lot less waste in the garden because of the rabbits. They eat beet and carrot tops as well as any thinnings from those two crops. After the snow peas and beans are spent, they eat the plant. I dry the cornstalks for them after harvesting the corn. They also like sunflower, strawberry and nasturtium leaves, dill, basil, parsley, celery tops, lettuce, cilantro, parsley, mint, chard and raspberry canes. From the lawn, they'll devour dandelion, plantain and clover. And when the end result of their meal shows up, I dump it either in the worm bin or compost box and it will make its way back to the garden where the whole process will start again. Nice little 'circle of life' routine going on there.

Tomatoes and Teepees

I was out tying up the tomato plants the other day. What I want to do is get the lower branches that tend to lay on the ground up a bit so the tomatoes don't become bug infested and rot. There's a lot of bugs in my garden that wouldn't dream of climbing a tomato plant in search of food but will happily dig around in a tomato conveniently on the ground. That works well in the big scheme of things, I suppose. The tomatoes growing high are safe yet if one falls, the bugs will make short work of it. While I certainly appreciate the intricate nature of co-operation in the garden, I don't particularly want to lose part of my tomato crop to the ground bugs.

It's a tricky business, tying up the branches. First of all, they're on the ground because they are tomato laden. So the branches are heavy and they are also resistant to change. They've grown down for a while and don't see any need to reverse direction. So when I lift up a branch I do it carefully, slowly and gingerly because the last thing I want to hear is a snap-crack as the branch breaks because I lifted it a little too much. I'd rather lose tomatoes to the bugs and rot than to my own carelessness. Secondly, I don't want to tie them up too high so that it's almost impossible to get to the tomatoes on the higher, inner branches. It's much easier to harvest when I can actually see what I'm trying to pick.

In the quiet of the garden with just the rustle of leaves and the occasional chirp of a confused cricket, I get to thinking. Or may-be Nature's quiet whisper of wisdom and experience wends its way to me in the garden. Without distractions of daily life and the easy comfort of the garden's quiet growing, perhaps Nature's voice can be felt if not heard. It's easy to see how the tomato plant and teepee depend of each other. There is a co-operation going on without dialogue or intent, it's just there. The teepees themselves aren't very steady, I'm barely able to push them into the hard packed ground more than a couple of inches. The tomatoes are firmly anchored in the earth and give the teepees stability and strength. The teepees support the tomato plants giving them balance as well as supporting the branches weighted with tomatoes. I see this kind of co-operation in nature constantly and it's nice to know I have a small part in bringing it to my garden. Oh so I hope. Tomorrow the remnants of Hurricane Bill will come through and I'll see if I have learnt the art of real co-operation Nature has down pat.

Pretty Comfrey

Five years ago a friend asked me if I wanted a clump of comfrey for my garden. I asked her what comfrey was used for. She answered, "Oh this and that. It comes in pretty handy in most circumstances." I took the comfrey, not quite knowing what to do with it. Now I can't ever see being without it, talk about a plant that can multi-task!

Way back when, comfrey was commonly known as 'knitbone' and 'woundwort' because of its healing properties when it came to broken bones, sprains and bruises. I always have a jar of dried comfrey leaves to steep in boiled water for stubbed toes, bumped knees and so forth. For broken bones, I much prefer casts and slings but when my daughter broke her collar bone and a cast couldn't be used, a comfrey poultice came in pretty handy after a bath and before she put her sling on.

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The kind of comfrey I have is commonly known as Canadian Comfrey and grows quite high, I can cut it down three times a year easy. Which is good because I use a lot of it. A couple of times through the summer I will take a big black garbage can and fill it with cut comfrey, add water, put the lid on tight and let it sit for three weeks. Occasionally, I will give it a stir with a rake or pitchfork just to keep everything aerated. After three weeks, that garbage can just reeks! I have to steady myself and steel my nerves before opening the lid, it's one of the worst smells I have ever encountered. But it's a great liquid fertilizer for my garden, it does wonders for my corn and tomatoes. I take a shower afterwards and leave my rubber boots outside until they stop smelling, that takes about a week. The garden will smell funny a few days too but the plants just love their comfrey tea.

Comfrey also comes in handy for the rabbits. Usually my rabbits will ignore comfrey if I put it in with their greens. But if a bunny is not feeling well, she will eat comfrey if her ailment is a digestive issue. So comfrey helps me diagnose the problem and helps in tummy troubles.

Comfrey is a pretty plant. Mine will grow over five feet high and it sprouts new shoots easily, making it a breeze to propagate. I now have it growing in three different spots and when it gets too big, I cut it down and pop it in the compost box to add a little boost in nutrients. I gave a clump to a neighbour to grow since he was having trouble with an old shoulder injury. He has since started using it as a decorative plant. He says it makes a nice backdrop to his garden. I'm beginning to line one part of our old wooden fence with it and it does look very pretty with it's broad green leaves and delicate purple flowers. The flowers, pale and raindrop shaped, show up in little shy groups at the top of the plants. The dark green leaves brings out the weathered grey in the fence and adds a touch of strength to the washed out color.

Some people do use comfrey internally, usually in a tea or even salads. But a few years ago, a couple of studies came out saying when consistently fed to rats comfrey caused liver problems including cancer. Well hell, anything seems to cause cancer in rats if fed in high enough quantities as far as I can tell. Don't feed it to rats! All joking aside, I just use comfrey externally and avoid the whole issue. Comfrey certainly helps around here in many different ways. I guess I could say it makes life a little more 'comfreytable'.

Drying Stuff or How My Dining Room Became a Jungle

When I was young, I remember house hunting with my parents. Mom (Eileen) always commented on the dining room. A house that had a dining room always moved to the top of the 'potential' list. I got the impression that a dining room added class, prestige and a touch of style. Not in my house, it doesn't, not anymore anyhow. Functionality has overtaken showmanship.

This is a picture of the door of my dining room that leads into the kitchen. Right now you can actually see it. In about two weeks, you won't be able to. I doubt very much if you'd be able to look out the window or the french doors. The table, a beautiful mahogany oval that can sit eight very comfortably will be covered with seeds and pods drying for next Spring's planting. (That's kind of depressing, thinking about next Spring already, so let's not.) In fact, getting through the dining room is going to be an exercise in strategic movement as we try to avoid drying racks and stray branches reaching out into doorways. When people tell you things stop growing once you pick them, don't believe them. I swear things that are hanging above doorways get longer and the next thing you know, they grab you by the hair. Or it could be I do a lousy job tying them up and the knots get loose and the string drops a bit.

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The dining room became my makeshift drying room because it's the only room the works. You need a dry, no direct sunlight room to dry stuff and the dining room is the only room that fits the bill. The only window is north facing and the french doors have the porch roof prevent direct sunlight. I suppose the living room would work but I don't even want to imagine the howls of protest if anything should come between the kids and the TV screen. The big kitchen has too much traffic and the little kitchen is too small. The basement is too damp. That leaves the dining room.

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We're used to it, and don't even give it a second thought. The kids get a little bummed because if Mom has turned the dining room into an aromatic pit they may or may not be able to navigate it means that school must be getting close at hand. Visitors still do a double take when they see raspberry canes heaped on my old greenhouse frame, beans, nasturtiums and cornstalks drying from string, herbs here, there and everywhere. Sometimes I think I should have the Guns and Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle" playing when people come over, just to prepare them a little.

A Rare Sight

It's been a rainy summer, for the most part. Certainly there's been enough sunshine for my gardens to flourish but I need to keep a weather eye out for the dreaded blight that can hit tomatoes and potatoes in damp weather. While there has been reports of blight outbreaks on the island, especially with potatoes, everything here at the DaM farm is doing OK.

Because of all the extra rain, the dam has been flowing constantly. Usually it has dried up by this time and will only offer a trickle after a rain. But this year the waters constantly splash merrily over the dull grey embankment and the dour dam wears diamonds in the sun. The river is higher than usual and more inviting to geese that usually shun my part of the woods except to honk overhead announcing their arrival or departure, depending on the season.

Last week, I discovered a Mama Goose and her five youngsters enjoying an early morning paddle-about on the river from my computer room window. I went out to get a couple of pictures. My camera is not very good and the geese were shy. No matter, it was a rare event and while the pictures are fuzzy and out of focus, the memory of standing in the rain watching the birds is not.

Mid-Summer Garden

I like mid-summer in the garden. Everything that is going to grow is established and thriving, anything that isn't going to do well hasn't and is now reposing in the compost pile waiting to be re-incarnated in the garden next season. Who knows, may-be the ailing basil plant this year will help the next crop of tomatoes thrive.

Mid-summer gives me an inkling of what the harvest might be like, barring an unforeseen circumstance such as a tail end of a hurricane, a brutal windstorm or the end of the world. The tomatoes look good, the corn is beginning to get tassels, lots of little green pumpkins showing up between the broad green leaves and yellow flowers. This season, the inkling is good.

By mid-summer, the weeding has given way to early pickings. Oh sure, there'll always be weeding but by this time, if I've been vigilant with the weeding so far, the weeds and I will reach an understanding. They won't take over the garden and I will only pull what I see, the weeds under the zucs and intertwined with the snow peas are safe. So going into the garden now has a new purpose, instead of coming out with a bucketful of weeds, I come out with lettuce, little zucchini, dill, basil, chard and assorted 'thinnings' for the rabbits. It's a good deal.

Mid-summer is the time I put the tomato 'teepees' up. The system worked well last year so I'm continuing the tradition. But I dunno about the effect, it seems different this year. Last year it just looked sweetly quaint and old-fashioned, this year it has a eerie feel to it. Actually it reminds me of an old horror movie called 'The Blair Witch Project'. Not exactly the look I want for my garden. May-be it's the scarecrow adding a bit of the uncanny especially since it looks like it has a face. The head is just an old soccer ball Angel destroyed, I figured it could hold up a hat. Yet in the pictures, the dents, gouges and rips in the ball kind of look like a face. I made the tepees bigger this year and that might be causing the effect. Unlike the scarecrow face, I made the tepees bigger on purpose. I'm thinking I might be able to dodge an early frost bullet or two by putting heavy plastic around the tepees when a frost warning comes in the fall. It might give the tomatoes a couple of extra days or so to ripen.

The best thing about mid-summer, It's still a long way to fall yet I'm reaping the benefits of the garden already. I have a little time to walk the shores or may-be read a bit of a book. It's a comfortable time. It's not time yet to start planning the Autumn doings, just a time to enjoy every minute Mid-summer graciously gives. Well, I made one plan for the Autumn, I'm definitely getting rid of that DaM scarecrow at the end of the season!

Freezing Raspberries

Unlike my strawberries which were a huge disappointment this year, the raspberries are wonderful. Raspberry canes just grow, produce for a couple of years and then die off but by then, they've replaced themselves twice over so there's always canes loaded with fruit. Raspberries are not a high-needs fruit. I like that.

I'm trying a different way to freeze them. I usually just pop 'em in bags and freeze. I found this method which says to freeze them on a cookie tray lined with wax paper then put them in bags for the long term. I'm hoping it will be easier to just get a scoop of berries in the dead of winter when I am longing for the long, hot berry days of summer. Heck when January rolls around, I'm even beginning to miss the mosquitoes. But back to freezing raspberries. Berries frozen in bags tend to stick together, I am hoping that if they're frozen individually they won't be so chummy with each other and will tumble merrily into my bowl reminding me of summer's carefree ways.

National Cow Day

Driving in the car today I heard the morning guys announce that today was National Cow Day. Now these two DJs are basically throw-backs to the WKRP in Cincinnati show. In fact, they were probably rejects from the show so I'm not too sure if what they were saying was actually fact or not. But according to them, today is Cow Day and they had some interesting facts about cows. Cows graze north to south or south to north, I can't remember which. Now I have seen a lot of cows here on PEI and I can't ever recall them all pointing in one direction as they ate. It's something you'd think I'd notice. But may-be not, usually when I see cows, I'm driving so I'm not paying a whole lot of attention to their compass points. Another little known fact (according to the DJs) is cows like to solve puzzles like opening a doorknob and such. Apparently, their heart rate increases as well as their brain activity. I wouldn't be surprised if that is true, animals are often a lot more than what we dumb humans realize.

So in honour of National Cow day, I am posting the closest thing the DaM Farm has to a cow. That's Dusk, at 130 lbs, he could pass as a small cow, especially with that white streak down his face, lots of cows have those. Dusk doesn't eat pointing a certain direction, he eats where the food falls. He also wouldn't solve a puzzle if his life depended on it. But Dusk can dance. If you look at the picture, you will see his hind feet are 4 - 5 inches higher than his front feet and his hips are higher than they should be, too. Well, you kinda have to squint to see that on account of the branches. Anyhow, he looks that way because he's dancing. He loves to go under the lowest branches of his favorite tree and, standing in place, jump up and down using only his hind feet. I've never known a dog to do that before. But I've never seen a cow open a door by using a doorknob either. So if one is possible, I'm sure the other is too.

The Potato Project

I've grown potatoes before but had given it up because the potato bugs had a field day and ate the plants all up. My neighbour grows potatoes and I asked him what he did about the bugs, he said he picked them off one by one. I tried that. It didn't work for me at all because A) The bugs make the most disgusting crunchy sound when picked and squashed and B) I really don't have 3 hours plus a day to be picking off bugs because as sure as the sun shines, I can pick 'em off in the morning and by lunch time a whole new crew has moved in and started another munch-in. I decided that my neighbour most likely just sent all his bugs over to my garden.

I was disappointed that I didn't have potatoes because the first year was so great. I never really considered growing potatoes; I live on Prince Edward Island and potatoes are plentiful and cheap (until lately). But I was visiting a friend and she asked me if I would like some russet potato sets for my garden. I love red potatoes! As she blithely cut sets for me, I started asking questions. How deep do I plant them? How far apart? Do I plant them skin side up or down? How high should the rows be? Should they be watered daily until I see sprouts? Do they need a lot of water or are they a little drought resistant? She handed me a paper bag full of potato cuttings and said, "Would you please stop micro-managing? Dig a trench, throw them in, cover 'em up, get on with your life." So I did and I got beautiful potatoes. That was the first and last time I ever had any success with taters. The next year the bugs found my potatoes.

I'm hoping my luck will change this year. Another friend of my told me about the tire method of growing potatoes. So I'm going to try that. The theory is great, makes a lot a sense so naturally I'm suspicious of it. If there's one thing I've learnt in my gardening adventures it's everything is fine in theory, it's the nuts and bolts of the operation that messes everything up. And I always seem to have extra nuts hanging around. The process is simple, you get an old tire fill it with earth/compost/worm castings, stick a few potatoes in it and there you go. As the stalks get high enough, you put another tire on top of the first one and fill it again until only a little bit of the stalks are showing. The theory is the stalk you covered up with earth will start sending out roots and make more potatoes. That makes sense to me. Whenever I start new indoor plants from cuttings, I take off a few bottom leaves and roots will start growing where the leaves used to be. If I leave the leaves on, roots sprout around them. Apparently you can stack the tires 4 deep, and each tire supposedly gives 25 pounds of potatoes.

So I tried it this year and after a couple of teeny tiny little errors (ya notice theory never takes into account the intelligence of the person implementing the theory?), things seem to be coming up roses, or in this case, potatoes. I bought organic red potatoes from the grocery store, cut up a couple and put 8 pieces in the tire and covered them up. I found out, 3 pieces is usually the amount planted in a tire. Ooops. Two week later, I don't have one sprout. No little leafy taters starting up at all. So my neighbour gave me a few of his extras. He said the potatoes I used were probably sprayed with something to stop them from sprouting. Ew. So I planted 4 more and sure enough, the next day the first potatoes I planted make an unexpected appearance. Methinks I planted 'em to deep. Oh well, never mind, I have them growing and they seem to be doing well. The best thing is no bugs so far. I doubt if I will get to 4 tires high because I was late in planting them but I'm interested in seeing if this actually works. I do have some extra tires waiting just in case I need them.

Lessons of Green and Red

I put a lot of extra work into my strawberry patch this spring. Mainly because after picking the berries last year I let the patch go and it became very overgrown. That's pretty much an understatement of the year, I had thistle weeds in there that you'd need a stick of dynamite to get 'em out. I was determined to get my strawberries back into shape. I spent long, mosquito ridden hours digging up stubborn weeds, grass, treelings, etc. An hour and a half's work resulted in one bed being done, I had four, not to mention at least that much more space that had stray strawberry plants in them that I needed to tend to.

About halfway through the second bed, little nagging concerns started scurrying around in my brain, tripping over my nerve endings causing random thoughts to pop into my head, "Not seeing a lot of little white flowers here." and "Geez, where are all the runners?" were two of the most frequent. Well, I figured it was weedy so may-be the plants were overwhelmed, they'd do better now they had their space back.


After I finally got all the weeding done, I topped-dressed the whole bunch with compost and worm casings. Now all I had to do was get to the others that had sprung up outside the beds. Strawberry season came and considering the bounty I got last year, I was looking forward to making jam and freezing lots of strawberries. My yield was seven. Seven berries. Yup, seven, not counting the four or five half eaten ones I didn't pick. Seven.

If all else fails, read the instructions. So I went to my books and found out something very interesting about strawberries. They generally last three years, then they give up the ghost. Not only that but the planlets on the runners need special care if you want them to be fruitful. Wish I had known that before I put in a good 10 hours plus, not to mention a lot of good compost and worm castings. I should have known that strawberries came with an expiry date. I research everything. But strawberries were one of those impulsive buys, where I just stuck 'em in the ground to see what would happen. It was working perfectly so why mess everything up by looking for facts? Obviously, I should have.


Not all is lost. I will wait till the end of strawberry season before doing anything. I'll probably get a couple more I can toss in my cereal. Then I think I'll just till the whole area, being careful not to bother the daisies. Yes, I have two big daisy plants in there that I'd like to keep going. May-be I'll look into how to keep daisies coming back ... before it's too late.

All I Have to Do Now Is The Weeding

And may-be a little comfrey tea in a few weeks...probably top dress the plants at some point, too. But the point is the garden is in. It took longer than usual because the store-bought seeds were dismal. After two weeks, I realized not much was going to come up so I re-planted carrots, snow peas and beans.

I bought a flat of cucumbers because mine from seed didn't seem to be doing much. I think the biggest problem with mine was the flat they were in was on the top shelf on my silly greenhouse when it was toppled by the wind. Many cucumbers perished that day and the remaining ones were grievously wounded, out of the whole flat only six remained. When I went out to plant the new ones, I notice that mine are going like gangbusters. Guess I'll be making lots of pickles and celery relish this year. If I have too much, I can always add a jar or two into my Christmas baskets. Homemade anything seems to be well-appreciated (except if given to a teenager, but the look of mortification and horror on their faces is a Christmas gift in itself.)

The corn is doing really well, it's about 8 - 10 inches high now. The zucchini and pumpkins have flowers and the zucchini already have little tiny baby zucs. The tomatoes I bought are budding, the ones I grew are doing well too. The ones I left in that embarrassing cold frame seem to be much bigger than the ones I transplanted.

So it is done and I'm happy about it. The war on weeds is going full blast and I'm hoping to get out today to pick the ripe strawberries. Gardening is the coolest thing :).

Cold Frame Results

Last April I concocted a pretty sad looking cold frame just to see if it would work. It actually produced a bunch of tomato plants! Which is surprising because the design left a lot to be desired. There was way too much air circulation and things would dry out and I wasn't very good at remembering to water it. On top of that, the weeds also grew like, well weeds, and I wanted to wait before pulling anything so I didn't inadvertently pull tomato plants. So I'm figuring I had a lot more success than I had any right to. I am definitely going to do this again. In fact, I'm hoping to recruit teenage son, P, a pretty decent carpenter, to build me four nice, working, practical, cold frames this summer.

The tomatoes seemed to grow in clumps. At first, I thought I'd just leave them there to grow. Then I figured there wasn't enough room really, I had about 15 - 20 plants so I decided to transplant a few. It was difficult to separate the clumpy tomatoes' intertwining roots so I'm going to have to figure out if I will be able to remedy that. I'm thinking no, if I'm throwing the tomato waste in there in the fall, I don't see how I can avoid clumping. I smoothed and evened out everything as much as possible but I guess tomatoes like to grow together. Once I separated them, I planted them in the new garden I made. They are doing quite well there.