As promised, pictures of the stove in mid clean. Last night Ronnie took the oven door to a neighbor who is a welder and has experience with cast iron; part of the hinge has broken off and needs to be repaired/replaced. We hope to have it back in the next few days. Last night he took cast iron stove polish and rubbed some into one of the top plates and WOW! It looked so good. He said that the heat would ‘wear’ some of it off; however, it would help to protect the surface. I cannot wait until humpty is back together again to post a pix. I hope to post more pix of this puppy soon.
Planning for the garden has started, though mostly in my head. I am thinking that the tomatoes need to be down the side of the house that gets the most sun. It is also on a slope so a soaker hose from the water barrell can lay down hill and help to keep the roots moist – mulching will help that too! And as I do more thinking, there is also the planting tomatoes in a bucket that is hung up. I think this is upside down gardening. Has anyone tried that yet? I also plan to try the three sisters planting. Victory Seeds, from whom I purchased my goodies for this year, has a great planting guide so I know when to start what (roughly). Our last frost date is around Mother’s Day, though Hot Springs does not really show on any of the frost date maps, the locals use after this time to the first of June before planting. I’ll stick with what works.
Companion planting is something else I plant to do this year. The following list was found on Toadstool Aquaponics:
I have one more barrel to use for rain water collection and will set it up close to the upper garden. *whew* long list, eh?
Hello, I came over from Two Frog Home.
Great post! I am definitely “itching” to start seeds but it’s too early for me. Our last frost date in upstate NY is usually 1 or 2 weeks after Mother’s Day. I will be trying the Three Sisters planting as well. I read about it the other day. This year I will do some more companion planting.
Hello and thank you for visiting! I cannot wait to start my little seedlings! =)
Guess I’ll try planting a radish barrier between the peas and the alliums in the “early” bed. My sister grows upside-down tomato plants, hanging from the rafters of a pergola on her deck. It’s best to plant a determinate (one that only grows so big, then stops; as opposed to an indeterminate variety) tomato plant if you’re trying that method.
Ooo, I had not thought about how big the tomato plant would get (determinate vs indeterminate). I’m guessing the packaging would tell me?
In your early bed, what are you planting this year? That is what I need work on/figure out – what can go in early, mid and late. grrs
I prep the whole 50′ x 3′ bed in the fall, plant garlic and shallot bulbs then, and scatter spinach and arugula seed to overwinter. In March or April I’ll break apart a clump or two of leeks from the permanent “allium maternity” bed and set them in really deep, and seed lettuces (a variety of cut-n-come again leaf types), three kinds of peas (English, snap, and Chinese) on trellises, and set out a bunch or two of onions. Later, in June, as the peas and greens start to fade from the heat, I’ll set out cole plants (broccoli, cabbages, kales, and chard), started inside, in amongst them – pulling the dying plants as the coles get bigger. We’ve got a short, but hot summer, so the coles grow until fall. When I harvest the garlic and shallots, in July, I try to get some fall lettuces going in their place. In the fall, next year’s early bed rotates to where this year’s vining/squash bed was – they get frost-killed early and the big leaves have shaded out most weeds. Dig in some compost and start again.
I like the allium maternity bed. How cold do your winters get? I have one side of the house that gets sun all winter long (assuming it is sunny outside) there is a stone wall about 8 ft away. It is like a corridor. I am thinking that is going to be the best place to plant my winter over veggies and herbs, like rosemary, and perhaps place cold frames there. We don’t get much snow; however, lots of freezing rain and then extremely cold temps – well for us they are extreme. Single digits and below. *shivers*
Usual winter temps are teens and twenties at night, 30’s to 50’s days. But we usually get at least a couple of periods below zero. When we do get snow, it’s usually gone in a few days, and the ground pretty much stays frozen. I’ve got some not-very-hardy things against an east-facing wall – out of the wind, but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll survive. I have two fig trees in pots that spend the winter dormant in the cellar, and a little lemon tree that struggles by inside the house. Out in the garden, I still have a couple of kale plants hanging in there, and the leeks.