6/8/2023

Tenley Nelson - Featured Columnist

I have not spent much time in the main garden this month. It was covered with snow until the end of the second week of May and then it has been soggy. It still is drying out in some places, a side effect of all the rain last fall and all the melting snow this spring. Even the road at the very top of my sloped garden is still squishy enough to rut up when running a truck across it.

I have spent a fair amount of my time in the greenhouse making soil blocks, starting plants, thinning plants, and keeping the fire going once the starts moved in full time at the end of April. It is a cheery place even when the wind is blowing, and the sky is gray. The greenhouse has progressively filled up so that now at the end of May even with a table outside with the hardening off brassicas, it is packed to overflowing. It is getting closed to time to start planting out in the garden.

I put 50 feet of lettuce starts in a low tunnel the second week of May, but they have been pummeled with wind and frosts, and while alive, they are not looking spectacular. This was not the year for trying for an early harvest. I was gone for 5 days attending a graduation in southeast AK, and while I was gone, the bulk of the remaining snow melted and rhubarb, chives, and the garlic had all emerged looking a bit blanched from having pushed up underneath the snow. My starts got a little stressed out from lack of water while I was gone but hopefully, they will continue to bounce back.

The lake ice on Sculpin Lake went out on the 17th and 18th. We put the kayaks in on the 17th and paddled around with all the wild ducks. The tinkly sound of waves breaking up the remaining patches of floating candle ice is one of my favorite noises and the open water a balm to the soul. I love the waterfowl, beavers and muskrats, and the mountain reflections as well as the much warmer breeze that comes across the open water.

I have a farm intern, Elisia, here for two weeks and it has been so wonderful to have the help. Last year I started taking apart parts of the chicken coop that were not working to rehab it but never finished and it was not chick ready this spring. We fixed up it up by plugging holes, installing new boards and OSB and got the five-week-old turkey poults (3) and baby chickens (16) moved outside. Phew, the dust and smells were getting intense in the house!

They are much happier in the bigger space, and I am working on making them a little run so that they can get outside on nice days. It was too cold to paint the inside and I do not currently have time to put the siding on the outside or metal roofing on. Those projects, along with a more permanent run, will have to wait till the garden is in. We have 20 meat chicks coming in early June, so we get to have chicks in the house again. They grow faster and the weather should be warmer so hopefully they will not be inside for as long as the last batch.

On the 24th, Elisia and I mixed up potting soil out of peat, compost, soil, and last year’s potting mix in my trusty old cement mixer. It took us a full day to finish the project but at least now we have been able to plant the peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I thought I was running late last year when I had the plants in by May 4th but with all the materials frozen this year, it was impossible to get the pots filled till much, much later. I am not the biggest fan of growing in pots and have only been doing so while the greenhouse was in a temporary location so I could relevel the yard (melting permafrost is a giant yard bummer!). I have 51 of them and all but thirteen are 15 gallons or bigger. It is a ton of work to mix the soil and I never have the time to do it in the fall. It is a frustrating project on a late spring like this one. Go- ing back to greenhouse beds sure sounds nice!

The past few days I have spent on the water system. The pump and pressure tank fired up right away, but the underground line was frozen at the old garden spot. After waiting for it to thaw for a few days with pressure on it, I finally decided to start digging and expose the pipe. It did not take long for me to decide to switch to the backhoe and I had it out shortly. (And I only had to repair one section I snagged with the teeth. Oops!) While I had the hoe going, I leveled and smoothed out most of the soil that had been dumped on the edge of the pad last fall for more yard leveling. This is the last time I am going to mess with this area. If it keeps sinking, then so be it.

After reconnecting a few sections that had popped apart over the winter on the way to the main garden, I was ready to test the system. I had running water to the greenhouse Sunday morning (watering all the trays was so easy!) and a few hours later, I was able to flush all the lines out at the main garden. The irrigation system needs a few tweaks before it is done for the season and drip line still needs to be laid out, but I can plant starts now as I have a way to water them. Progress, finally.

The upcoming week’s weather does not appear to have anything significant but a very gradual increase in temperature, maybe even a day in the 60s. Oh well, cloudy days are good for transplanting. I am hoping that planting will not be too challenging with all the cover crop residue from my trials last year. It will be an interesting week try- ing some new techniques to manage the mulch.

From my garden to yours, I hope your gardens are drying up, spring planting is going well, and the sunshine and summer warmth shows up soon!

More from Tenley Nelson:

April in the Garden

March in the Garden

Off-Grid Seed Starting

September in the Garden