April 17, 2014
Bishop
Composting, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Vegetables
compost bin, newsprint compost, sheet composting, shredded leaves, Weeds
I just cleaned out my carrot bed – one that I had allowed to be infested with too many weeds. It started innocently enough….the carrots were sprouting and I had made a halfhearted attempt to both thin the carrots and keep the weeds at bay. My work took me away for several weeks while the weather was perfect for the weeds…..I returned to a green mass with carrot tops poking through.
I harvested the carrots and decided to take a low tech approach to fight my “war on weeds”! I took bunch of newspapers and covered the bed about 3 sheets deep, some place a little more….it is a low tech approach so uniformity was not a big concern. My concern was coverage! After the newspaper I added a thick layer of shredded leaves from the bottom of my compost bin. It looks very good now and at least for now, the battle is looking like a victory in the making.
The other beds have been well covered with shredded leaves and are relatively weed free. The covering of leaves help smother the weeds and those that do manage to make it through are leggy and easy to pull. I believe that extra barrier of newspaper will make it even more difficult on the evil weeds.
FYI, the Houston Chronicle uses a water based, non-toxic ink. Non-toxic to readers and the environment. Newsprint will breakdown nicely in the garden as well as in the compost bin…..I use it both places.
Spreading the newsprint…spraying with water to keep it from blowing away!
Newsprint covered with the shredded leaves.
Some of the carrots ….stubby due to my heavy soil but still very tasty!
TTFN
Bishop
February 16, 2014
Bishop
Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle
backyard bee keeping, bee keeping, environmentally friendly, honey, Round Rock Honey
I made use of the Christmas gift my daughter Lisa purchased for me. She gave me a three hour bee keeping class for two! Yesterday we took the short drive out of Kingwood to East Knox Drive about 10 minutes from my house. We were with a group of 12 or so other souls looking to learn a little bit about bees and bee keeping. The young man teaching the class under the umbrella of Round Rock Honey was top notch. He is a petroleum engineer cum bee keeper for a little over 2 years….being an engineer he has learned a lot by reading but it is backed up by his practical experience.
The best part….He lives in the Kingwood development where I live on probably a little smaller residential lot than I have…..along with more than a dozen hives in his backyard. We may be kindred spirits – he got permission from his wife for one hive….but as luck would have it his hive spun off some new queens and at the end of season “one” he had 4 more hives….My buddy John L will certainly see the connection!
The class was pretty interesting but there was a gentleman in attendance that must have been a “Geek” type engineer…. he had some close to on topic questions as well as TOO many off topic questions. We got into sugar molecule discussions, solar and electromagnetic disruptions to bee navigation and several other inane deeply trivial blather! He became fascinated with the frame base material, a thin plastic sheet imprinted with hexagonal patterns. The bees will build upon these sheets in the frames with beeswax and put to use as they see fit, pollen storage, honey storage, brood chambers of the various types. He spent a good chunk of time holding a sheet of the material up in front of sunlight and wondering out loud how he could add some LED lights for some cool light patterns! Hmmmmmm reminds me a little of my college days and altered states of consciousness…. I don’t think he emerged from those days fully intact. Our instructor is an engineer by education but seems to have his feet on the ground as a good ole Missouri boy graduating out of the University of Missouri Science and Technology in Rolla, MO! Very practical young man.
Daughter Lisa geared up and ready to play with the bees.
Honey….being added to a frame.
The Queen….her life is not as wonderful as we may have thought!
Standing in the way of the landing pattern. The returning bees were blocked and landed early on some class mates
Drone Bee – the one with the big eyes!
Pygmy goats in the feed store yard along with peacocks, pot belly pigs, miniature horses and burros….fun place to visit.
Wish me well folks as I go to the CFO for expenditure approval and the subsequent site request!
TTFN
Bishop
October 11, 2013
Bishop
California, Healthy Lifestyle, Strawberry, Vegetables
Carpenteria Farmer's Market, Cork Tree Bistro, Friends, Island Brewery, strawberries, tomatoes
Thursday Afternoon – We, my wife and visiting friends from Canada took a stroll down the 800 block of Linden Avenue in Carpenteria, California. The weather was perfect and our friends, Alan and Jan, seemed to enjoy the day.
Below are a few shots I took as we wandered down the street, puntuated with stops at the brewery a few blocks away toward the beach and at the Cork Tree Bistro on the way back. It was a great evening.
Orchids – so beautiful!
I wish I could get my heirlooms to grow this beautifully. Jan had the green striped variety with her lunch on the pier in Malibu.
I couldn’t resist – I bought three baskets! Yum
The colors and variety are a visual treat as well as nutrional treat.
TTFN – Houston is cooling off but it will never match the weather in and around Santa Barbara!
Bishop
August 20, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Strawberry
strawberries, strawberry, strawberry towers
I think I have used that title before but being a simple guy …….. I am simple aren’t I? Don’ any of you answer that question.
I have been in withdrawals from my blogging habit……..hmmmmmm, maybe if it had indeed been a habit I would have been blogging every chance I had….isn’t that what habits create. So, I don’t quite have a blogging habit but I do derive a lot of pleasure from sharing my blog life, whether it be my gardening blog or my beer brewing blog. Rest assured that I haven’t been idle. I am still sweating through several T-shirts every time I am out working in the garden.
The heat has the tomatoes struggling so I yanked most of them and replanted with some high dollar grafted varieties from a local nursery. I am cautiously optimistic! I set my buddy John up with 3 new plants and his seem to actually be doing better than mine. His cucumbers are doing very well…..mine succumbed to the dreaded white fly attacks. I still have peppers doing well, the single eggplant has taken over a corner of the garden and my asparagus ferns look very healthy….it bodes well for next year.
Talking about next year. I had a bumper crop of strawberries and therefore a bumper canning effort for my low sugar strawberry preserves. I like the low sugar recipe, not just because of the reduced calories but primarily due to the fact that more of the berry flavor comes through! If you have followed me for a while you may remember my efforts with strawberry towers. It makes the garden grow vertically and keeps those nasty bugs that live in the beds off of the berries. I eschew using bug sprays of any type. My first attempt at strawberry towers worked ok but I shredded my hands and fingers planting the bare root plants through the small holes. My subsequent efforts were easier on the hands, created bigger but fewer pockets. I like volume when it comes to berry harvest!
So back to the drawing board. Not wanting to waste materials I sought out a way to make the first towers more user friendly. For my second generation efforts I had used an electric heat gun to soften the pockets and it gave me an idea. I took the original towers (first generation), heated the lower edge to soften the hole and stretched it like a protruding lower lip! I think it is going to work.
http://wp.me/p13JYy-5v original post
http://wp.me/p13JYy-lP this post shows an image of the second generation tower
A close look at how the hole gets stretched once heated
Modified and original views.
A look at my heat gun….a hairdryer on steroids. I call it my “Binford” hotter than Hell model!
I am nursing my Pineberry (a white strawberry with red seeds) plantings, trying to root as many runners as I can. I hope to plant one tower entirely in the white colored Pineberries.
Tuesday my oldest son and I are off on a day long fishing adventure – gardening again on Wednesday. I will highlight a path he put in for me as I get caught up on the stories floating around in my head.
TTFN
Bishop
July 28, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Berry Preserves, Canning, Composting, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, jam and jelly, mulching, Strawberry
blackberries, compost, compost bin, dewberries, grass clippings., strawberries
This growing season saw a bumper crop of strawberries. The result was lots of fresh berries for snacking and tons for jam making, lots of jam! The blackberries were starting to look really good toward the end of May. I had high hopes for a good blackberry harvest based on the number of blossoms and the large size of the developing berries – and JAM!.
The blackberry harvest started out strong. When I was home more berries made the freezer bag than we used for fresh eating. During my out of town work assignments the ratio was reversed. I still thought I had a chance to load up the freezer but the local birds discovered my luscious, juicy and organically grown berries. I would see dozens of berries that needed another day to finish ripening only to discover them gone, missing – nowhere to be found the next day. Evidence of birds sitting trellis wire was abundant. I guess next year I will have to invest in some netting.
Friday this past week I needed to clear some freezer space for my wife. I had partial freezer bags of blackberries, strawberries and some wild dewberries. I spent an hour and a half scratching the living daylights out of my arms and legs as I braved the thorny dewberry patches only to be rewarded with less than ½ gallon of berries! They have great taste but they are, oh so small. I decided to make a mixed batch of berry jam! Problem solved, room in the freezer and a 9 + jars and jam! I say 9+ because I fill a jar of the foam skimmings’ and the bottom of the pot for my wife. She makes an interesting oatmeal frittata with egg whites and tops it with the lower grade jam. Still tastes great but doesn’t look as nice in the jars.
Garden chores out of the way for today consisted of removing 5 tomato plants that gave their all against this brutal summer that Houston has been suffering through. I replaced them with some grafted varieties and hope to get them well established during the tail end of summer. I hope to have tomatoes through Thanksgiving again this year!
My son and his friend kept the garden well watered including all of those pesky weeds. I should have provided some more detailed instructions on weeding while watering – an alliterative activity that aids the garden. That said….I have been pulling weeds like crazy! They have made a nice layer in the compost bin. I added about 6 inches of leaf mulch and 10-12 inches of grass clippings on top of them. The pile should really heat up now!
I pulled the leaf mulch out of my second bin. I am nearing the bottom of that bin and found some nice finished compost. I spread about 8 – 5 gallon bucket loads of the compost into the bed holding most of the tomatoes and cucumbers. Today being a three t-shirt day in Houston I will postpone spreading the remaining compost for another day…..none of the upcoming days look to promising in the next week so I guess I will just have to suck it up through a few more days and shirts until the job is done.
Thorny, scratchy and very tasty wild dewberries.
Kathy’s Frittata – Her first bite was followed by these words, “Ewww seeds, but tasty!”
TTFN
Bishop
June 9, 2013
Bishop
Composting, Family, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle
compost, compost bin, environmentally friendly
My daughter Ashleigh is an organizing fool. She rode herd on my sons, Ben and Joe in order to clean out the two car portion of the garage. Over a year ago she scored a very nice wine barrel with the intent that I would make a compost barrel out of it. I did some research and also considered making a unique smoker…..I do live in Texas and the south, so, smoking meats of many types is the norm.
As the garage clean out progressed Ashleigh and Ben figured that the ” round tuit” in needed to finish the barrel and get it out of the garage was missing. As a surprise to me they tackled the job.
The barrel intact and ready for modification.
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They decided that they would support it in a horizontal fashion on a large wooden dowel. They used one of my Forstner bits and hopefully, centered the holes so it will tumble smoothly. Ashleigh vacuuming up the cutting….she is such a neat freak….
Doing the clean up
The work crew is shown below with the handiwork in the background. I can’t wait to get the hinged door installed and tumbling compost in the backyard!!!!
Come on Ash….smile
Ah that is better!
I promise some working photos and an update soon.
TTFN
Bishop
May 31, 2013
Bishop
Beans, berrries, Berry Preserves, Composting, Garden Gate, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Organic, Potato Growing, Strawberry, Tomato Growing, Vegetables, Vermicoposting
asparagus, blackberries, foliar feeding, Worm tea
That is a bunch of technical gobble-di-goop that means I made a liquid feed sprayed on the leaves of my plants using the liquid that comes off the bottom of my new composting bins. I am now using “Worm Factory Tray Worm Composter”. It has a spigot on the bottom that allows me to collect the liquid leachate or as some call it “Worm Tea” off of the bottom. Many of the gardening forums are kind of split on the value of collecting the leachate and some say it is an indication a system that is too damp. The design of the “Worm Factory” lets the liquid to drop to the bottom and out of harms way and I am good with that.
My recipe, not exact science, about a pint or so of leachate(liquid off the bottom), a couple of tablespoons of agri molasses and two gallons of water. I ran an aerator for 24 hours before filling the sprayer and applying the mixture as a foliar spray. An online reference says – “Foliar feeding is a technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves. It has been known for many years that plants are able to absorb essential elements through their leaves. The absorption takes place through the stomata of the leaves and also through the epidermis. Movement of elements is usually faster through the stomata, but the total absorption may be as great through the epidermis. Plants are also able to absorb nutrients through their bark.”
I used an old beer fermenter that had some deep gouges on the inside…good place for bad critters to hide that can give your beer off flavors …. or worse! A small aerator with a small air stone I have used in my bait buckets provided the tiny bubbles. The molasses provides some food for bacteria to grow….the web has lots of don’t use molasses and some say use molasses and I just do what I want….sprayed the plants two days ago and none of them appear to be complaining today. In Houston….avoid spraying your tomato plants….it could increase the chance of disease. I just poured a litle on the soil beneath the plants.
Mixing bucket and my litle sprayer.
Gate to may Garden
Gate to my garden with the pole bean arches seen behind the gate.
A look back toward my compost bins and strawberry towers
The second round of the strawberry harvest is under way now. They tend to be a little smaller bur I think sweeter. The blackberries are ready to start picking. I should have enough blackberries to make some jam if the the birds and my wife don’t eat too may fresh of the vine! Tomatoes, yes, homegrown and vine ripe tomatoes are finding their way into the kitchen now. Life would so empty without “real” tomatoes, not the gassed store bought varieies! My peppers, Serrano, Poblano and Bell type are all doing well. I had higher hopes for my asparagus this year!!!! Not sure what is up with that harvest. Last year was outstanding. The pole beans are climbing and producing very well. I still have Swiss Chard that looks good even in the Houston heat.
Yesterday was a light day in the garden in terms of labor. I only soaked through two T-shirts! I am always pulling weeds, that is a given. I added some soil to a couple of the potato bins, i.e., grown above ground in containers. I will get a harvest in another 20-30 days it appears. I added some grass cuttings to my compost bin and then layered in some brown material from the other bin. I will check temperatures of the pile today. The addition of grass clippings really heats the pile up.
Heading out in a few minutes to pick before it gets “way too hot”.
TTFN
Bishop
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May 11, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Composting, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, Potato Growing, Rubbermaid, Vegetables, Vermicoposting
chard, compost, gardening, potatoes, swiss chard, tomatoes, worms
I seem to celebrate the tomato as if it the crown jewel of the backyard farmer as many gardeners do. Tomatoes do seem to be a central theme with many garden bloggers, “how to” sites, mail order companies and farmer’s markets. That said, I would like to share my growing fascination with potato growing. I have tried barrel or basket growing in the past. This year I have a mix of conventional trenched and hilled in ground method, a barrel and two tubs.
I planted some Yukon Gold taters in the ground and the barrel at the same time. They are doing very well. I had a few leftover and a couple of weeks later I planted them in the Rubbermaid tub I had been using to house my vermicomposting worms. I need to add lots of soil to it tomorrow!!!! I planted another tub a week ago and the shoots have yet to break the surface.
The barrel planted potato eyes were placed in the barrel with about six inches of soil. They took off. I think they benefitted from the warming effect of the barrel. The soil level is up to about 40 inches now and I won’t add any more. The in ground potatoes are also doing very well. The plants are 30+ inches above the hilled up mounds. I have high hopes for a good harvest.
An old garbage barrel with holes in the bottom. Potato eyes at the bottom, 30 + inches below support the lush green growth.
The newest tub was planted with supermarket spuds that sprouted in the pantry. Supermarket spids are not the best choice as they are sometimes treated to inhibit sprouting. The Yukon Gold are actual seed potatoes purchased at Kingwood Garden Center. Helpful folks, lots of knowledge and support organic gardeners!
The tub as it appears when the potatoes are planted. About 6 inches in the bottom,
Soil in this one is up about 10 inches and needs quite a bit more this weekend.
I am looking forward to filching a few “new” potatoes down a foot or so a little later in early summer. I will be watching closely….once they flower and the tops die back I will harvest. The nice thing about using the tubs and barrels is the no digging to harvest. Just dump the container and sort through bounty!
PS – lunch was tomatoes picked today used in a wilted spinach and fresh Chard salad with grilled chicken breast. Dressing was simply EVOO and a blackberry flavored aged Balsamic vinegar. A little fresh ground pepper and sea salt! Just perfect!
TTFN
Bishop
May 10, 2013
Bishop
Buzz Polination, Healthy Lifestyle, pollination, Tomato Growing, Vegetables
asparagus, beans, cucumbers, gardening, Pineberry, strawberries, tomatoes
May 10th 2013 I picked the season’s first red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – tomatoes – yes plural form of the word tomato, more than one – Yee Haw cowboy! The Sweet Million variety is the first to deliver the goods. My Celebrity plant will not be too far behind. My mouth will just have to wait a little longer to savor a BLT with one of MY red, ripe and redolent of traditional flavor – real tomatoes. I will have to admit that I am not so optimistic with my Mortgage Lifter tomatoes – at least so far this season. I have had blossoms, I put my bumblebee suit on and buzzed the flowers with the electric toothbrush but the blossoms close up and drop off! Another update – I have my wife to thank for having tomatoes to pick today….she was tempted yesterday…thank goodness they weren’t apples or margaritas!
(see- https://bishopsbackyardfarm.com/2012/10/02/a-vibrating-garden-visitor/ ) I also planted some grafted heirloom varieties purchased from Burpee so maybe I will have some better luck!
The May 10th tomatoes picked in the dark. Dark at 10:30 AM. Yes AM – today’s storm is very dark. 4 inches per hour of rain heading our way!
The asparagus bed gets better each year…I think it is on year 5 for the oldest root crowns. Sometimes the spears never make the kitchen……they are so good freshly cut! Last night I snacked on a few after my return from McAllen Texas, down in the Rio Grande River valley. I also savored a few Alpine strawberries and a few full sized berries off of my strawberry towers. The white Pineberries seem to be busy sending out runners…..I may have to snip that behavior and try to force it until later this summer.
Finger sized asparagus spear….flash photograph at 10:30 AM!!!!!
My friend John and I have cucumber seeds in the ground ready to start up the trellis. He is a bit more limited with space so he is only growing a slicing variety. Me, on the other hand have slicers, Armenian long style and “picklers” planted in my beds. I will promise my family….no more attempts at making dill pickle. I can’t compete with your favorites! So, sweet or bread and butter types will be my focus. Several years ago I made a spicy, mildly hot bread and butter recipe….I liked it! If I remember I will share that recipe later on this summer.
I am pleasantly surprised, my quiet strawberry beds, resting after an early spring burst of activity, are showing lots of blossoms….again, Yee Haw cowboy! I really don’t think a person can have too may strawberries! The arches over the garden entry I built with Crepe Myrtle pruning’s are supporting several varieties of pole beans. The blossoms are heavy on some of the supports indicating a potentially bountiful harvest. Once the vines are filled in a little better I will share a photo. I have a mix of red, purple and white pole bean blossoms showing. Fingers crossed that the vision in my head is reflected in the end result of the planting.
The pole bean arches with some red blossoms.
Chard, Brussels Sprouts and some tomatoes
My Dwarf Meyer Lemon tree has set a good number of lemons, some are approaching egg size right now. What is interesting though is that there is evidence of many new blossom forming on the tree now. Not sure if this is in the realm of normal behavior but I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth….I will certainly take and enjoy any extra efforts by my little lemon tree!
Weather update….nearly 2000 lightning strike per hour in some areas just east of Houston. Flooding, hail and dark, dark skies! we are bracing for some very wet weather.
TTFN
Bishop
May 1, 2013
Bishop
berrries, Canning, Gardening, Healthy Lifestyle, jam and jelly, Making Jam, Strawberry
kale, smoothie
My pantry shelves a pretty well loaded with jams, jellies but, unfortunately the lemon curd has vanished. The last jar of the Meyer Lemon curd went to my daughter in California and shared with my grandkids. My granddaughter sent me a text message this morning after the gift package arrived – “Please send more liquid gold….AKA lemon curd… It is amazing and I want to eat the whole jar but am required to share”. I shared with her a comment from one of my readers, Claire, a blogger from the UK. Claire’s favorite way to use and enjoy lemon curd is by the spoonful directly from the jar! I second that advice! See what Claire has to say and share. http://promenadeplantings.com/
On my shelf I do have some jars of rose petal jelly, beautiful in color but short on “rose” flavor. I made two batches of Pomegranate jelly, one from store bought juice and the other by extracting the juice myself….both were good but the home extracted juice gave the jelly a little more of a robust flavor. One jar remains of my Serrano Pepper jelly and one small jar of the Port Wine jelly with Rosemary. The Mother Lode is this year’s strawberry harvest. It is so good!
The last batch I chose to make in a chunky style. Chunky meaning I did not fully, completely, energetically mash and destroy the body of the berries. I like the results! My son does not appear to like it as well as the abused berry crushing approach! Why do I like it? It is more like enjoying the fruit as well as the jam. I always make the low sugar recipe version, i.e., 4 cups of sugar vs. the 6 or 7 called for in the full sugar recipes. I think the low sugar recipe allows more of the base fruit flavor to come through in the process. I can’t wait until the blackberries kick in.
Gently mashing the berries for the “chunky” jam.
The results. In the bowl is the foam scraped off before canning. My wife adds it to her oatmeal & egg white breakfast frittata.
My biggest berry of the season – a double butterfly strawberry.
Strawberries are still showing up in the garden, none of them make it into the house! I love to putter in the garden and snack on the fresh stuff. The sugar snaps, small asparagus, a carrot that escaped the clean-up of the beds. I had a couple of the miniscule Alpine berries this morning, two Pineberries and a few sugar snap pea pods. I also chopped up a cup of kale and added it to the blender with 6 oz. of orange juice, 1 cup of frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup of plain Greek Yogurt, a tbsp. of ground flax and a dash of nutmeg. Very tasty for such a healthy smoothie. PS, I used 50% less calorie orange juice….still had a great taste.
TTFN
Bishop
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