Category: Gardening

October 24, 2024 – Another Grape Juice Method

October 24, 2024 /

This is another thing that I have been procrastinating this year. I cannot believe the yield of grapes this year. Now, I am almost at the end of the season. I should have done something with the grapes a month ago. The same malaise that is effecting my writing is also afflicting my chores around the house.

It gets to be after dinner time and I have lost motivation to do anything. Part of it is I know that I should be training but it is dark or cold or raining and so I sit on the bed and scroll through the news while my wife watches TV. It is ‘just a break’ that turns into ‘too late to start anything’. I know some of it is seasonal, I also take it as a sign that I need some rest. But really, I can’t afford to check out after dinner.

This is the forth different iteration of juicing hat I have tried. Year one I used inexpensive crank juicer. It worked well but it plugged up the screen something fierce. I would take hours of trying to get all of the fibers out the screen. The next year I tried the cider press. That worked pretty well but it required hours of machinery cleanup. The third year, I tried steaming. This was OK, but I really didn’t want to cook the grapes. This year, I thought I would try the juicer.

I know that wineries just crush the grapes, stems, good and bad ones. The fermentation process is a preservative method. I don’t like the thought of raw bird poop in my juice. I pick out the bad ones and wash the clusters. Then I destem all of the good ones to put in the juicer. Washing the grapes is a step that I do for all of my juicing by the way. In fact, this is the amount of prep I would do for the old juicer too but not for pressing or steaming. Get settled in for a long evening.

I found the Breville juicer to be the easiest to clean up of the methods that I have tried. Nothing got plugged. It was like washing a food processor, lots of plastic parts and some sharp ones. My observation of the leftover pulp was that it wasn’t very effective. It is amazing that two sticks of celery can yield half a cup of juice but a gallon of grapes was about 16oz.

The juice itself was probably the lightest I have tasted. I suspect that has to do with the overall yield plus the amount of air that is whipped into the process as the liquid is centrifuged from the solids. There was a fair amount of striation of the resultant liquid. This indicates that for pure juice, you would want to let things separate and skim the lighter level off.

Based on the four methods I have tried, the one that has the least amount of prep as well as best yield is the steam method. You cannot underestimate how much effort is required to prep and clean. The product was so-so by comparison, but it beats going to waste because you don’t want to deal with it. I would use the Breville if I was dealing with a small amount of grapes, like making a daily juice due to easiest cleanup. Ultimately, it is too much work and too much loss to make this a primary method.

End Your Programming Routine: Experimenting is in my nature. It is why I studied science in the first place. It is a real shame that I am going to let so much of a bounteous crop go to waste. But, we have plenty of grape jelly and it doesn’t make good wine even though I have made plenty of it. I guess that is why our modern food system is kind of marvelous. It takes hours of work and distills the result down to a couple of dollars. It doesn’t pay for my efforts, only as a labor of love.

April 3, 2024 – Always Say Yes

April 3, 2024 /

We had a wonderful weekend a couple of weeks ago. Since spring is here, so does the yard work. Since I pay someone to do most of it, when it comes to extras they check if we are OK with spending more money. They came with two propositions. One is to treat the grass and the other is to treat the pavers.

I am not big on chemical usage. I don’t care so much about weeds in the lawn but I really don’t want moss in it because it will eventually take over and kill the grass. I said yes to that. But, my wife and I differ about moss on the driveway. On one hand, it does cause degradation of the block setting, but I don’t feel like it hurts much. So, I said that I will do that.

This is probably only the second time I have used the sprayer in the picture. I remember getting it from my grandparents when we got into our first house in the late 1990s. I didn’t know if it worked even since it has been sitting for so long. Once I figured that out, I also learned that there was a lot of pumping involved.

This particular model has a port for a hose. The act of filling up the water pressurizes the vessel. Very nice until all the air leaks out. That happens when some of the powder (moss killer) gets into the threads or the rubber seals are dried out because they have never been lubricated. By the time I really figured all of those problems out, I was on the last tank.

The whole process took me about two and a half hours. My out of shape body was wondering if this was really worth the effort. But, it was one of the very first 70 degree days in spring and it felt really good to be outside with pleasant weather. As the moss killer works, I also notice that there is some grass also springing up . That actually requires a different treatment. So, now I have to go with a second application. I am less enamored with spraying something like Round-up than a zinc based moss killer.

If I look at this analytically, I saved myself $170. That is $180 for the job minus $10 for the moss killer. Given the time I spent, the pencils out to $68/hour. I am sure that I would not pay someone that rate to do this job. But, if I have to do it twice that is going to take it down to half of that and now I am getting into the rate that I would pay for.

I am not going to say that I didn’t learn some things, like how to use my sprayer. But, you always have to do the calculus of would that time be better spent doing something else. In my case, I am very close to that line. I am not too proud to do the job, I just have limited time to do things and I am not sure this is how I want to do use it. I also know that there was a significant amount of inefficiency in my doing the job and messing with pumping and the sprayer.

My grandfather was a farmer and my dad wishes he was one. Spraying has been in my whole life. Being a chemist and a believer in whole, natural foods and environment I think chemicals has a very limited place. One place is to not destroy property and infrastructure like my driveway. If you look very carefully at the picture, you can see some patches that are loose. I have tried to repair them several times. I don’t want that to get worse.

End Your Programming Routine: So, for now I will see how it goes. I feel like I should have paid the money. The last time I did this, I had a quote to prune the apple tree for $200. I did it and it took me 16 hours, plus I had to deal with all of the clippings. It is not like I have a burn pile. So you would think that I learned, it is just hard to spend the extra money.

February 14, 2024 – Sneaking Up On Me

February 14, 2024 /

It feels like it has been forever but it seems like most years there are some nice days in February. When my second son was born, the day before there was freezing rain and snow in the forecast. After spending the night in the hospital, I went home to check on the dogs and things and people were mowing their lawns and it was 65 degrees.

The first weekend in February had some similar weather patterns. We transitioned from ice to a southwesterly jet stream and it felt downright tropical for a couple of days. Then, the sun broke free for the entire weekend before I really realized this was going to happen. It was a good thing that I procrastinated checking for a leak in the apartment until the weekend. I didn’t really want to do the task, but being outside all afternoon was glorious.

One of my persistent irritants is that my neighbors have several full-size cherry trees along the fence line. Those trees hand over the house and drop their leaves and cherries over a portion of the roof. But it also clogs up the gutters multiple times a year. While I was up looking for leaks, I took the time to trim the trees as much as I could. This brings me to my point. This is the time (for me) to start getting the yard work going.

Pruning time is here. I will cut the cherry trees any time of year because I don’t want them dropping stuff on the house. But apple trees, grapes, roses, this is the time to get it done. These are the things that need to be done at my house and a sunny, 60 degree day is a perfect time to do this.

I have a tree that I am wanting to take out. I am not sure what it is exactly and it doesn’t add a lot of value to my property. It puts shade on the other things that I want growing. This is a good time to do this for deciduous trees because you don’t have leaves to deal with, just like pruning. The truth is that any time of year is fine to remove trees so I might wait until later in the spring just for drier ground.

This is also the time to start seeds. I am currently looking at 10 weeks before last frost date. But it is getting very close to the time where seeds need to be started. It kind of just snuck up on me. I haven’t given one thought about it and now all of the sudden it is here.

There is a famous slogan in programming. ‘Days of coding saves hours of design.’ I would never say not to plan, but that ship has already set sail for me this year. I am a fair weather gardener anyway. Since I pay for yard service, I already only engage in those things that I want to do. Years of indecision about whether we are going to stay and how certain changes impact value, etc has kind of left me paralyzed with indecision.

The colloquial advice is to proceed as if we are going to stay, we just might and I am going to regret not planning a better garden for the five years of waiting to make a decision. Chances are pretty high that I will not do anything different this year and this is another year wasted. My point remains that if there is going to be any seed starting that that needs to be soon.

I know that I talk about and it may seem like I am indecisive. I am trying to delay the ultimate decision until my kids graduate from high school. That is coming in about 18 months. Since I would like to live in the country and I have documented issues where I am at, I can’t imagine that I won’t want to move in a year from now. But, I am relatively happy here and I don’t have to move so that is what makes this hard. You never know what the future holds.

End Your Programming Routine: I really enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the house on the weekend. It wasn’t in my mind that I had other tasks to do other than try to find a leak. Fortunately, god reminded me that if I want to kill a bunch of plants later in the summer, this is the time to get started. If you have dreams of a garden bounty, it is likely time for you as well.

June 8, 2023 – I’ll Do Better This Year, I Promise

June 8, 2023 /

I really had high hopes of doing more gardening in my life. My dad probably has 2000 square feet of productive garden (most years) that we grew up hating because it seemed like our summer days were spent weeding. Later in life, after buying produce for a number of years and realizing how poor it really was, I changed my tune.

I spent half of 2010 in China, I probably averaged 50% overtime in 2011 and 2012, I spent half my time on the road. I got a really big bonus and I decided to spend a tiny bit of it building a garden. This was the yang to my yin, something manual and about the earth not about computers and technology.

The first two years, I had a pretty good yield, but then my interests started wandering. Maybe it wasn’t my interests but the pull of life and work. Left to my own devices, I think that I would do much better. But, you have to realize your limitations. The last time I put in any serious effort was in 2019 when I was home all summer because I wasn’t working. I built an irrigation system to try and do better. I found that I was more interested in building the irrigation system than growing things. For what I had planted, I did OK.

I have said this before but for me, growing things is about experimentation. I have tested a lot of boundaries over the years. For instance, I tried to start some seeds earlier this year, but I put them in a cold frame style with temperatures in the 70s. I think that they got cooked outside.

If I was ultimately concerned about yield, I would just copy what works, buy starts of the long leader plants and provide continuous care. Part of what motivated me to build an irrigation system was because I want to put in minimal effort. Unfortunately, I tore out my garden beds the next near because of my construction expansion, so all of that work went to waste.

I have waffled around on where to build the next garden because or our sell/not sell proposition. We are ultimately going to sell but it is a matter of when, probably two years. So, I am not prone to invest a lot into building soil, or anything related to something that I will not gain a return.

Hence, I bought two tomato starts for a total of $4. My plan is to nurture these to their best potential this year. I planted in this same spot last year and I got a dozen or so small tomatoes. This year is more about me proving to myself that I do not have a black thumb. Because as much as I like pushing the limits, I am a little discouraged at my near total lack of success.

I am already starting at t disadvantage. There is a concept in permaculture where you zone your property. Zone 1 is somewhere you go multiple times a day. Zone 2 is somewhere you would go once a day. Zone 3 is used but sometimes by animals or infrequently. It goes on to Zone 5. But, I would say that my garden is in Zone 2/3 and that has always been the case.

I keep the potted plants on the deck alive and prospering because I walk past them twenty times a day. I make it a point to water every night and I notice that they are wilted and even need water in the middle of the day. My garden, not so much. There have been times when I go weeks without even walking out to it because it is out of sight.

**Tip** If you are like me, get your garden as close to your zone 1 as possible so you don’t do like me and say that you will do it tomorrow. Pretty soon, several days go by and those problems compound. So, despite where I put the tomatoes, I am going to try and change my habits to make them prosper, despite my tendencies.

End Your Programming Routine: I would definitely write more about gardening if I did more of it. I want to do more of it, but time is hard. Last night, I spent several hours staining the deck and it was almost dark when I came in. My dedication to those home projects takes priority over all the other things, including gardening when it comes to this season and that is just the way it is. We all have skills and priorities, it is how we choose to spend them. Some day, I might have the time to do all the things I want to do.

February 22, 2023 – Now that President’s Day Has Come and Gone…

February 22, 2023 /

We really have crossed the bridge heading into Spring and Summer. I know, you don’t really believe it but in most parts of the the United States, time is ticking for the garden season. Let me give some examples. It is time to prune fruit trees, grapes, roses etc. It is time to plant bare root plants for optimum summer/fall establishment and survival. It is time to start annual seeds.

At my house, my kids are in high school. That means that winter sports are at the very end and spring sports are about to start. This also means that planning for the schedules of the remainder of the school year. I was looking at the Trap schedule and getting practices/scoring weeks on my calendar. The state event is June 24-25. That means that I am actively looking at my summer calendar right now.

All is not lost if you don’t start seeds, it is not the end of a chance to plant a garden. My point with this is when you start to get in the mind frame of maximum production, that involves planning and it sneaks up on you faster than you think. To be 100% honest, I am not ready. My hangover from this trip has me backed up on things that need to be done first, like taxes.

My biggest problem is that I am already running behind. The things that I wanted to have done, like my sofa table are still not completed. I have to make the decision to either stop where I am at or not. At this point, I know myself and I know that if I stop focusing on my project the next time I think about it will be years later. This is why it took me years to build my fly tying bench.

In years past, I stopped on my winter projects and ultimately failed at finishing my projects and growing a garden. This year, I am going to try and do both, but I am also going to focus on finishing what I started first. At least, if things go well growing, I will be pleasantly surprised and not disappointed on two fronts.

I sound a bit defeatist by expecting that I won’t have a nice garden. The truth is, I believe that I can do almost anything that I want. I guess for me, I have relegated it to a lower priority. Would I delay writing here daily to keep a garden? Probably not. Would I skip going to the range monthly to work in the garden? Again, probably not. And so, knowing myself and my interests, I am likely going to deprioritize it.

In 2019, when I had all the time possible, I spent a lot of time building irrigation systems and planning to bigger and better. As fortune would have it, 2020 saw my entire summer consumed with remodeling and my beds destroyed. I have been on a downward spiral every since. Questions of long term inhabitation, location and best place have left me paralyzed with analysis paralysis.

With all that said, I think that it makes sense to focus on the things that I am certain I can perform well, like building my table. Ultimately, I also shouldn’t run my life on what might be. There is no guarantee that we will move just as there is no guarantee that a front yard garden is a detriment. But as long as there are other things to focus on, I suppose all these things will remain in the background as convenient excuses.

End Your Programming Routine: I want to say that if you are hoping to do something in the garden, this is the time that things get rolling. That being said, we all have to make choices in life. Just make sure that you understand that we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. So, understand where your limitations and priorities are and march ahead.

December 1, 2022 – My Seed Saving Experiment

December 1, 2022 /

I am very disappointed. I have been anticipating saving seeds from one tomato plant that survived under the lights from my seed starting. I have been waiting for months (since March when I had this idea). I waited for the plant to fruit and mature. I resisted eating the couple ripe ones that made it so that I could do this experiment.

I left the tomato on the vine until it froze. Then I picked it and set it on the counter till I got around to it. It really didn’t look bad when I picked it, but after it sat around for a week, I figured I better get on this project before it is too late.

After reading the article in Self-Reliance Magazine, I was supposed to scoop out the seeds and place them in a vessel containing water. This container would stay in the refrigerator until the gelatinous coating around the seeds decomposed or separated. Viable seeds were supposed to sink to the bottom. All the gunk would be decanted off the top and the seeds could be dried with a paper towel. The dry seeds would be put in a cool and dry location, like in an envelope.

This technique is supposed to work with open pollenated varieties (also known as heirloom). I thought this was, but I could not find any seeds to remove. It is possible that I waited too long and the seeds were buried in the rotting flesh? I don’t know but I searched through this mess. This was the primary reason that I failed.

Back to the drawing board. My gardening success is directly proportional to how much effort I have put in. In the last couple years it has been very little to almost none. But, that is OK because my experiments are really an attempt to align how I want to garden with actual results. So, I will continue low effort type attempts in hopes that I will learn something valuable.

End Your Programming Routine: It has never been intent my to only show successes. In fact, I want to be real with what I do. Of course it wounds my pride to fail at this endeavor. I believe in my heart that I should be able to do anything that I set my mind to. That being said, I am a strong believer of failure as a teacher and the only way to learn is to fail. To be honest, I only selected this tomato because it was the one that ripened. Maybe, if I pay more attention to variety, growing and harvest, I can accomplish this experiment next year.

October 4, 2022 – Here Comes the Rain Again

October 4, 2022 /

It seems like I have settled into a bit of a format. That makes Tuesday and Wednesday kind of grab bags. It wasn’t that long ago that when someone said the phrase ‘Here Comes the Rain Again’ that people would think of this song. I knew that it was from the 1980’s but I guess I didn’t realize that it was from 1984. Wow, that seems like a long time ago now.

But, of course I don’t mean a now obscure 1980s reference. I am talking about the change of seasons. A couple of days ago we had several successive days of rainfall for the first time in months. I cant help that I enjoy it because I am a native Oregonian.

Before we lived in a home with a heat pump (aka Air Conditioning), the change of seasons meant a break from sweating for months. I know it is kind of weird, but I like the dusty smell when the furnace comes on for the first time in months. It brings back memories of time to nest up, heartier meals, etc.

There are so many reasons to appreciate rain. The first is hunting season has begun. Without some decent rainfall, timber companies keep their gates locked. I have never seen deer moving in nice weather either. Campfires have been banned all over the west for months. I am looking forward to some fall campfires in our back yard. The sprinkler can be turned off of the year.

With the positives, there are also some negatives. Rain signals the end of harvest. We are only about three weeks away from our annual first frost date. The blitz is on to get grapes, tomatoes, peppers and whatever is left off the vine. Many of these things can stand a little rain, but freezing is the end as well as fruit damage.

I took a picture of my paltry garden. I got a handful of tomatoes and a few cayenne peppers. It looks like there is a salad or two’s worth of tomatoes, three serranoes and a couple more cayennes. My primary interest is the tomato plant in the front that has three green tomatoes on it. This was my one surviving seed start that I wanted to harvest the seeds.

Let me remind you that out of a whole tray of plants, this was the one that survived. My hypothesis is that there is some hearty genetics here that I was going to see if I could propagate. I have no idea but I want to try.

The question of our long term prognosis in this house leads me to really question how much effort I want to put into really producing a proper garden. I have mentioned that we are within three years of an empty nest and this house is way too large for the two of us. I still am not really in favor of downsizing considering we have our office spaces, shop and guest house, but there are some things that I would be interesting in changing too. So, stay tuned.

End Your Programming Routine: Never stop learning and dreaming. While I have hinted at the disappointment of my yield, I can say that this year was better than last year. The fact that stuff survived and even produced at all points a lot of the fingers at me. I had hoped that watering when I watered the grass plus mulch would have been enough but I suspect my neglect was a large part of the spindliness.

May 11, 2022 – Genetics

May 11, 2022 /

If you think you are just going stash a survival seed bank and survive the apocalypse by starting a garden, I think that you another thing coming. I come at gardening from the aspect of food quality and the potential of what you can do the with the bounty. This means that I have less interest in the care and maintenance of the plants and garden itself.

I don’t know if my poor results in seed starting this year are the results of my skill or my interest. Particularly last year, I kept telling myself that I will water tomorrow or I will plant tomorrow. The results of that were no garden at all. I do have interested in studying the variables in making the plants grow.

All that being said, I have one tomato plant that survived and one cabbage plant that has survived. Both of them happened to be on the outside of the light bank. I have a strong suspicion that had a lot to do with it. I already observed that the light was to intense before I repotted the survivors.

Whether I am right or I am wrong, I wanted to talk about the survivors for a moment. Let’s say that I needed to start tomatoes from seed (because the world has ended). If I get tomatoes and I pick the best one, in theory those seeds would have the genetics to survive in my particular conditions the next year and provide the results that I want from a fruiting standpoint. I am really considering doing an experiment next year by saving seeds from this plant. I also want to plant seeds from the original packet and check those against my new one.

I have heard that for most vigorous results, taking the seeds from plants that you grow will do better because they are adapted to your soil, climate and personal habits. The theory of survival of the fittest is in play when adapting plants that you grow. How did we get all of these varieties anyway? It was by people performing dedicated breeding.

Cabbage is a different story. You have to wait for the plant to go to seed, not just fruit. But in theory, the genetics are the same principal. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower are all related. First they flower and then seed pods are formed. It is difficult to let it go that long because in theory, the plant is past it’s prime. I suppose that if you harvested but let the plant grow, you might get the best of both worlds. I don’t know, I haven’t tried it.

End Your Programing Routine: I know that my theory is solid, I am not sure about my practical application. I suppose this is where the rubber meets the road and time will tell. I am not ready to give up on the garden but I don’t think it will be a majority from my own started seeds. In the interest of science, I am going to protect my one surviving tomato to see if I can save some seeds and maybe get my own customized genetics.

April 20, 2022 – Seasons back to Normal

April 20, 2022 /

My kids are playing tennis and it is a sport I really know nothing about. What I have learned is that they do not play in the rain. This year, spring has roared back to the glory of being miserable. I would venture to say that a lot of the winter was nicer than it has been since spring break a month ago.

Since One Drive shows me saved pictures every day for the years previous, I am seeing the recent years weather and I can attest that the weather is worse than when I was building in 2020. Things are not all bad, I know that some years we didn’t even hit 60 degrees until June and we have already had a day near 80. Today isn’t all about weather, what I am trying to say is that this weather seems more ‘normal’ than not to me.

These next couple of days seem to get a lot of attention on the getting gardens started. I am nearing the last annual frost date. From what I see, I am likely in the clear but it was below freezing two days ago. If I was ready to get started, then I would be looking to get starts and seeds in the ground soon. I would be remised to not mention the other two 4-20 and Earth Day.

These three dates are all very close together. My friends in college really got into 4-20. That seems to go part in parcel with the Earth Day culture. This is how I associate or keep track of the last frost date. To be completely honest, I didn’t want to simply write about weather and climate and pseudo holidays but to add some filler into the fact that I transplanted my starts in an attempt to get them stronger for when I do plant them.

As I wrote about last week, I had a lot of germination and a lot of subsequent failure. Once I spent the time to actually transplant, I got a much better look at what happened. All five of my tomatoes made it and in fact thrived. Four habanero germinated, two survived, Five jalapeno germinated three survived. Three banana peppers germinated one survived. Four cabbages germinated, three survived. There were other twos and ones, but I only transplanted the possible viables.

This is my continuation of experimentation on seed starting. I know that in years past the roots outgrew the one inch pots so I am hoping that by giving more space I might save some marginal starts. I guess we will see.

End Your Programming Routine: No garden plants do well in cool, dark places. I have seen multiple times when plants get into the ground and the weather warms up that they become vigorous. I suspect it is too cold and not enough light in the basement. I should move them outside but it is really too cold for vigorous growth yet. So, I will keep monitoring and trying little tweaks to see if I can unlock the secrets.

April 13, 2022 – Lessons Under the Light

April 13, 2022 /

Every year I learn something. Given my state of having a place to plant my starts, I am more concerned about identifying the variables then the results thereof. Today, I am going to talk about how my starts are doing.

Before that, I thought that I would mention that it is currently snowing. We are 9 days away from the average annual last frost date. Granted, it is not actually freezing, it is 34 degrees but it is worth noting for those itching to get starts into the ground. By all accounts, I think this is going to be one of those later years because we have this forecast for the foreseeable future.

What did I do differently this year? Well, I changed from fluorescent to LED grow lights was the biggest thing. I don’t know if it was coincidence or not but I did have a pretty high germination rate. This year I also rotated the tray every couple of days. I was trying to get more equal light and heat distribution.

My observation is that different plats are growing at different rates. this makes it difficult to have the optimum conditions for all the items in the trays. For instance, initially, I had five of six habanero seeds germinate. Whereas last year, I think that I only had one pepper germinate. These were new seeds, so maybe it was a vitality problem but I don’t think so. Four of six jalapenos germinated and three of six bell peppers germinated and those were the same seeds from last year. So, something of those variables I changed last year worked.

Getting to my point now, even though the peppers germinated, I don think any of them are going to make it. It seems like the grow lights are too intense and are burning the dicots (the two initial leaves that come up with the start). Every day, I am watching them slowly wither from the intensity of the light.

The tomatoes on the other hand are doing better than I have ever seen. They are the reason I had to take the humidity dome of as they were touching the top within two weeks. They are clearly adapted and thriving in the environment. Ideally, with each of these plants I would have the capability to cover and move the light higher or lower to get the best results.

I have thought about the idea that maybe I should upsize the pots that they are in. This is the six week mark for the seedlings and they are probably going to stay potted for the foreseeable future. I feel like six inch is probably the optimum size, so maybe I will try to get this done this weekend. The last couple of years that I have been dragging my feet getting stuff potted, the roots were highly constrained in these little starter cells.

End Your Programming Routine: I am pretty sure that I can get the tomatoes to survive. The rest of them, I will cross my fingers. But, like I said in the beginning I had a pretty poor germination rate over the last couple of years so as much as I want to have a yield, I am focusing on getting stuff started first.