They are hanging out on and under the laundry platform right now, which is next to the rain barrel. They weren’t too happy with my going back and forth to refill watering cans, but they didn’t leave the laundry platform.
I replaced the coupling on one of the broken hoses and was able to do some watering further away. I’m not sure if it was necessary, as I was hearing thunder by the time I was heading inside. From the looks of the weather radar, we should get a bit of rain, but nothing substantial. Enough that I should probably bring the transplants inside, I suppose. I don’t want the pots to get all blown around and knocked over.
I didn’t make it back to the garden bed, unfortunately.
Okay, that was one heck of an interruption.
I decided to look up old posts to see how far along we were at this time, last year. As I was doing that, the trees outside my window suddenly started swaying like crazy. So I ran to the sun room to bring the transplants in.
We were in a downpour!
There are only 6 trays left to bring in, so it didn’t take me long, but I got completely soaked!
Now that I’m dried off and changed, I look out my window, and the trees are barely moving. The rain has already moved on!
Because I used the rain barrel earlier, I left the diverter off so it could refill. It was about half full. I’ll have to check it and see if it needs to be put back. There was a LOT of water pouring into the barrel as I brought in the trays!
Wow.
Now… where was I?
Ah, yes…
Looking at posts made in June last year, we didn’t get the last of our transplants – the melons – in until June 24th. On the one hand, that’s a bit encouraging. On the other hand, around the same time, we already had tomatoes and Sweet Chocolate peppers formed. We were already harvesting spinach by now, and about to pull them to be replaced with the last of our onion transplants, but this year, the spinach just isn’t doing well at all, and most are still just tiny little things. A couple of them are bigger, but nothing that can be harvested from.
So we’re not “behind” when it comes to getting everything into the garden, compared to last year, but we were further along in the things that did get into the ground by now. Even our shelling peas, last year, were blooming and starting to develop pods. This year, I just got the shelling peas planted a few days ago!
However, our focus was very different this year. We didn’t do as many tomatoes – we will have lots in the freezer from last year – but instead went with a lot of winter squash and melons. We aren’t doing a lot of peppers, but do have at least as many varieties. Much of our attention has been directed towards getting the existing low raised beds shifted to their permanent positions before planting in them. That’s been slow going, but not shifting them would not have been any faster, since they got so thoroughly invaded with weeds, despite our best efforts.
Well, we’ll see how things work out.
As much as all the rain we’ve been having this spring has slowed things down, What we do have planted is certainly the better for it!
Though, after this downpour, I’m going to have to check the squash and melons, in particular, to see if they were damaged.
Okay, so yesterday was a bit of a blowout, and I got very little done on the bed that needed to be shifted to its permanent position, before it can be planted in.
This morning, the goal was to get out there by 6am, and I almost got it! We discovered some cat destruction and cleaning that up delayed things a bit. My older daughter, sweetheart that she is, made me a hearty breakfast. She has fully switched over to sleeping days and working nights, so this time of the morning is when she and her sister usually share a meal before she heads to bed for the day. I’m usually not up this early! At least, not on purpose.
So it was about 6:30 before I finally got started on the bed and, my goodness, what a difference it made! The morning was still wonderfully cool, making the work so much easier. Especially since this part of the main garden area is already in full sun at this time.
The first thing to do was finish breaking new soil inside the area the bed will be shifted to. The only think I could really do at this point was turn the sod over, root side up. I was able to pull out the largest of the tap roots, and some clumps of sod just got tossed towards the trees. If this were just a lawn, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but this is all crab grass, dandelions and creeping Charlie. Simply flipping the sod wasn’t going to be enough.
Once the new ground was broken, I have to figure out what to do with the soil in the raised bed. Most of it is in what will be a new path. It still had some mulch left on it for the winter, so I took as much of that off as I could. It won’t be useable as a mulch anymore, though. Too much creeping Charlie mixed in with it. I ended up spreading it near the end of the bed that was most recently planted in, where it will eventually be covered with cardboard or landscaping cloth, if I can get some, and wood chips.
I decided to just clear the soil from marker to marker, moving it aside to make room for the boards that will be laid down where the log frames will eventually go. The sod was just piled on top of the rest of the bed for now. The soil on this side of the bed is clear of creeping Charlie enough that I will actually sift it, later on, and salvage as much as I can. We’ve spent years amending this soil. It’ good stuff!
At this point, I finally had a 4′ x 18′ rectangle of turned soil, full of weed roots.
I had been collecting cardboard intended to be used for the paths, but this bed needed it more. I used every scrap I could, and just managed to cover the area, though not to the edges. The cardboard got a good soaking, tromped on, then soaked some more.
Once that was down, I used boards to mark the boarder of the bed, where the log frame will go.
Then I soaked it all again.
I had a bit of clean straw left from something else available. “Clean” being a relative term. Everything as those elm seeds all over. I scattered it on the carboard, then got some grass clippings to cover the cardboard completely.
Then I soaked it all again.
By this point, about 2, 2 1/2 hours had passed, and it was time for a break.
We are looking at a high of 25C/77F this afternoon. I’ve decided I’m going to let that soil piled on the side bake in the sun for a while, then sift it and start moving as much of get bed’s soil over the grass clippings as I can. Hopefully, I won’t need to get more soil from the pile to top it up.
I’ve decided to take advantage of the time and make a trip to get more cat food, and possibly a few other things. My daughters need to replace their box fan upstairs. It’s unfortunate there was no way to set up the air conditioner my brother gave us up there. It’s needed up there way more than anywhere else in the house! The heat is why my daughter has to work nights; otherwise, her computer and drawing tablet overheat and start randomly shutting down or glitching out. During the day, they set up the box fan in the south window to blow the hot air out. They have other fans, but that one in the window makes the biggest difference.
So that’s the next thing on my to-do list.
Time to get changed and head out.
The Re-Farmer
ps: I almost forgot to mention. The kittens are gone! I saw them in the sun room in the morning, but by the afternoon, they were gone. They are still gone. The mama has moved them somewhere pretty far afield. It’s a shame. The kittens were really liking the run room!
As for Broccoli and her babies, I don’t see them when I bring kibble to the shed, but yesterday evening, I saw Broccoli chilling on one of the old benches, while her kittens played nearby. This morning, the kibble inside the door was gone. They may not be inside the shed anymore, but they might be under it.
We did get one thing done this morning; the Dwarf Korean Lilac is kicking into full bloom, so we finally got our group picture done. By the time we finished that, it was coming up on 9am, and that’s when I finally started on the next garden bed.
As an aside, though, it looks like the kittens in the sun room, and the old garden shed, have been moved. I saw the kittens this morning, at feeding time, but by the time I was coming in from the garden, they were gone. I’m hoping they’re just staying cool under the cat house. Unfortunately, we’ve seen both skunks and racoons going for the kibble today, and that might have been just too much for the mama. As for the garden shed babies, I left food inside the door, but saw and heard nothing from the back.
We shall see if they’re still around somewhere.
The main thing I wanted to work on today was that next garden bed.
I’ve been really dreading this one. In the end, I decided all I can really do is work on the area that was path, first, and just flip the sod. There’s no way it can be properly weeded. It’s not even worth trying to sift it.
I started at the north end of the bed, where it has been extended to 18′, but only got maybe 2 1/2-3 feet of sod turned. Around then, I got a message from my husband, asking when I was planning to go to the post office to pick up some parcels. I had originally thought to do it after I’d turned the bed, but it was already 19C/66F, and I was baking in the sun. My app said the “feels like” was also 19C/66F.
It lies.
So I stopped at that point and picked up the parcels. I now have my tips for my new impact driver! A really good range of shapes and sizes, too.
After I got back, my daughter made us lunch – cold chicken salad sandwiches, because no one wants to cook in this heat! My daughter is still recovering from arm damage, trying to mow the lawn with the push mower. Yesterday, her grip strength was so non existent, she actually had to ask me to finished changing the toilet roll for her, because she couldn’t squeeze the stretch spindle enough to fit it back into the holder. Today, she is much improved.
Which is great, because I needed her help with the riding mower, after lunch.
The last time I used it, last year, it was only the second use after my brother had fixed and upgraded all sorts of things on it and brought it back, when I stopped the mower to move something out of the way, and then it wouldn’t move. The engine was still running. There was just no go, forward or reverse. I didn’t want to bug my brother about it, so we just used the push mower for the rest of the season.
The challenge for us was how to safely look under it to see what was going on. When this happened before, there was a chain that fell off. My brother got that replaced and adjusted a number of things to ensure it would not happen again. I figured, that must have somehow fallen off again.
With the truck, however, we now have a way to get a look under the riding mower. We opened the tail gate and set up the ramps my brother gifted to us. Then we pushed the mower onto the ramps, then blocked the wheels, so we could safely look under it.
Well. Under the front of it.
After not finding the problem from there, we reversed it, so that the engine was up the ramp. That was rather more difficult to manage, because of the weight distribution. Even blocking the front tires didn’t want to work as well, since they wanted to turn and roll off, anyhow!
We got it secured, though, and my daughter ended up crawling under it to see. She found a loose belt that the pedal at the front should have been engaging. After fighting with it for a while, she asked me to fight with the pedal, to see if I could get it to lift up more, rather than push down. Which I was able to do, and that gave her the slack she needed to get the belt on. We tested it out (after charging the battery!) and it worked!
I started some mowing while my daughter put stuff away and went back inside, but not for very long. It was just too hot. So I parked the mower in the shade and took a hydration break. When I came back out to continue, I made sure to have a wet towel to drape over my shoulders to help keep cooler. It really helped a lot.
The poor riding mower was really struggling. The grass is so tall, it’s going to see, but there are some types of grass in the driveway area that is different, and more fibrous. This old mower just doesn’t have the juice to handle them. Sometimes, if I go just a couple of inches forward at a time, I can get through without it getting too overworked, or getting clogged. In a few places, I would have to go over the same patch several times, and even reverse over it, before getting it properly cut. It seems counterintuitive, but it seems to work better when I have the blades set lower, rather than higher. You’d think I could go over it at the highest setting, then lower it for another pass, then lower it again for a final pass, but nope. When it’s higher, the blades just bend the grass, without cutting anything!
Meanwhile, the grass is still pretty wet and not trying out, because it’s so tall, so things clog up, too. After my second mowing session, I parked the mower in the shade to cool down, then used the hose to try and wash off anything stuck around the blades. I’ll head out again to try and mow a bit more. There’s no way I’m getting more done on the garden bed today. We’re at 24C/75F, and the humidex puts it at 28C/82F. It’s not going to start cooling down until about 8pm – three hours from now – and won’t reach reasonable temperatures until maybe midnight. If I’m going to get progress done on the beds, I’m going to have to be out there, digging, at 6am.
Which means I’ll be doing a bit more mowing before putting the riding mower away, then heading to bed early. The problem is, even if I head to bed early, that doesn’t mean I’ll be able to sleep! I tried that last night, and had all sorts of disruptions keeping me up. 😢
Meanwhile, I am totally behind on visiting blogs, so if you’ve got a blog that I follow and you haven’t heard from me lately, I’ve just not been able to spend the time online for it! I’ll have a lot of catching up to do, when I finally get the chance.
I started getting messages from the Cat Lady while I was writing this. There’s a cheap spay day coming up, and she wanted to know if we have cats to do. Of course we do, but the ones we can catch are all male. She will contact the clinic and see if they are good with a group of males. The rescue will cover the costs completely.
Oh, and her youngest daughter has a birthday coming up. The Cat Lady asked her if she wanted cash, or a new bike, for her birthday. She wanted neither.
She wants the Wolfman!
They’ve already got so many of our cats, permanently! We were afraid this would happen!
Anyhow…
When she hears back from the vet about doing males, she’ll get back to me, and let me know how many they can cover.
If we can get Sad Face done, that would make a huge difference. Hopefully, it would reduce his aggressive behaviors! It took 5 years to be able to pet him. Getting him into a carrier right now is something else entirely.
Well, time to get back outside and to a bit more mowing, then call it a night, so I can get that bed done tomorrow. We seriously need to get those last transplants in!
The first thing to do was mark off the centre of the bed, then space out the 7 “Wild Bunch Mix” winter squash transplants I had left. As with the others, I transplanted them by first digging the holes, filling them all with water, then planting the squash slightly below grade, to keep any water from running off.
That left fairly decent sized gaps between each plant, but was it enough for the corn I had? Or did I have enough corn seeds for the space? I had only one package of Yukon Chief corn. From the Heritage Harvest website…
Introduced in 1958 by Arvo Kallio of the University of Alaska, Agricultural Experiment Station. Yukon Chief is one of the earliest Sweet Corn varieties available maturing at just 55 days! The yellow cobs average 5” in length and the plants grow about 4’ tall. Highly recommended for cool, short season areas! (55 days to maturity) (50 seeds)
(image belongs to Heritage Harvest Seed)
Fifty five days to maturity is amazing!
But 50 seeds to a package?
I took them out and counted them. I counted about 80 seeds!
I say “about” 80, because some of them were really small and probably shouldn’t be planted, but they would be, anyhow. 😄
I decided to pre-soak them for a little while, and misted the other beds while I waited. The other beds didn’t really need a watering, but a misting would be good in this heat. I’m happy to say the melons that looks so wimpy, yesterday, have already perked up. They might all actually survive! The mosquito netting over part of the row was drooping a bit, so I adjusted the hoops in the middle, then used the weights on the sides to pull the netting tighter. The netting is there to protect the transplants from heavy rain, and won’t be there for long.
I decided to mark out three small trenches between each winter squash, then used the jet setting on the hose to drive water deeply into each trench. As with the squash, I wanted to plant the corn seeds below grade. To start, I set out four of the largest corn seeds in each trench then, at the end, divided the smallest seeds wherever there seemed to be a bit more space. Yes, this is closer than is recommended for corn to be planted, but I don’t expect a 100% germination rate, and some will likely be thinned out, later. The main thing is, they are clustered together so the wind should pollinate them more easily.
Once that was figured out, I just pushed the seeds down to planting depth, then watered the entire bed, to settle the soil around the seeds and the squash roots.
Last of all, I grabbed the wheelbarrow and brought over some grass clippings to mulch the sides of the soil mound, and closer in around each squash plant. Aside from the usual benefits of a mulch, this will help keep the sides of the soil mound from eroding down.
This bed is now finished! The boards can now be removed and used to mark out the next bed I’ll be working on.
Which is going to be a huge shift. The bed is not only far to one side of where it needs to be, but it’s at an angle. The north end of the bed is completely in where the new path will be, while the south end is about 3/4 in where the path will be. Shifting this bed is pretty much building a whole new bed from the ground up.
*sigh*
It will be worth it, in the end, but my goodness, getting these beds into their permanent positions is a huge job. The rain and the heat certainly aren’t helping any!
But, we have one more bed done and planted. Progress has been made! Once everything is planted, then we can shift over to harvesting more dead trees to frame the beds.
Looking at the forecast, we aren’t expecting rain until maybe Saturday night (it’s Thursday, as I write this), which means we might even be able to get more lawn mowed!
Ugh. Our temperature is now 21C/70F, with the humidex at 26F/79F.
In other things, before heading into the house, I checked the garden shed. This time, without knocking, first. I startled Broccoli and her kittens. She and the black and white ran off to the back of the shed, but the calico didn’t. I was able to pick her up and cuddle her. They haven’t been using the cat bed, so I checked it out and found a mess in it. I was able to clean it up and set it back, though, as well as straightening out the self heating matt and the felt grow bags they are using as a nest. The calico wasn’t happy with me but, after a while, she did seem to be okay with the cuddles! I was just happy to see her. I’d seen Broccoli and the black and white kitten outside, earlier, but didn’t see the calico. With yard cats, that could mean a lot of things!
Now, if we could just convince her to bring them to the sun room, too!
I didn’t get all the stuff on my list done, but my goal was to get most of it, and I managed that!
I had intended to start earlier in the day, but ended up unable to sleep for some reason, until about 5 or 6, when I got an hour or so of actual sleep. Not very good sleep, though, as I had several cats draped over me, and I really, really needed to pee! 😄😄
By the time I got out, it was coming up on 9am and starting to get warm already. The first job I did was work on the trellis bed, which needed a serious weeding before anything more could be done in it.
We are starting these beds out at two logs high, and they will most definitely be made higher, over time. It didn’t take me long to realize I needed to use the scooter, to make the weeding less painful. This is the first time it’s been used since last year, to all the tires needed to be pumped up.
This bed has the onions transplanted out of the bed that now has winter squash in it, as well as a few I found in the other bed that was shifted over, but has not been planted in yet. These onions are doing very well! As these had over wintered, they should go to seed this year, which would be awesome.
All along one side, where a permanent trellis will be built in, I wanted to fit as many of the Summer of Melons Blend transplants as possible. This bed is a little messed up as, on what will be the trellis side, the bottom log is bowed inwards. This works out to ensure the vertical trellis supports will be even with each other, but it means that we loose several inches of planting area. With that in mind, I used a couple of stakes to mark the ends of where the row of melons would be, then used another stake to mark a line from one to the other, far enough in for the melon roots to have space.
We had some packages delivered yesterday, so I had some packing paper and cardboard that I could lay down between the markers.
The next part was the most difficult. Getting the transplants out of the large celled trays and so I could space them out between the markers.
With other things I grew in the large celled trays, I didn’t have too much trouble getting them out. Their roots held things together enough that, usually, I could loosen them by squeezing the cells a bit, then pull the whole thing out by the plant stem.
Not with these melons!
Their stems and roots are way too fragile. Plus, as I tried to push the soil and root cluster out, the soil (seed starting mix, actually) would start to break apart. With some, I had to use a narrow trowel to scoop it out. When it got to that point, there was no way that the roots could not be disturbed quite a bit!
Interruption! I ended up going into town. My husband needed something, but I also ended up getting Dairy Queen to bring home. I was too tired and sore to cook, my younger daughter is caning it and can’t stand long enough to cook, and my older daughter became ill during the night and still feels unwell! I headed out just in time; the rain hit while I was on my way home. I was just getting in the driveway when the radio started blaring an emergency alert. Parts of our province was under a tornado watch, and the weather office was tracking some. Not anywhere near us, though. We’ve got a bit of a break in the rain as I write this, then start up again at around midnight, and keep raining for about 6 hours!
Now… where was I? Ah, yes…
So getting those melons out of the tray was not a good thing for those roots! I would not be surprised if we loose some of them.
Because we will be training the melons up a trellis, I was able to space them closer to each other, getting 17 transplants laid out. That leaves another 4 transplants in this Summer of Melons Blend that still need to be transplanted.
Once I figured out where they were going, I cut through the packing paper and cardboard and found the line I’d marked out earlier, to dig the planting holes. Once the holes were all watered and the melons transplanted, I made use of the bark I’d taken off the logs for the bed the winter squash is in, to weigh down the paper and cardboard mulch, so it won’t blow away. Then everything got another thorough watering.
That left a section on the other side of the bed to plant in. I decided to put bush beans there, and planted the Royal Burgundy seeds. It’s not a large space, so there were seeds left over that we might plant somewhere else. Grass clippings were added on either side of the row for mulch.
That bed is now done!
The next thing on my list that I decided to do was to work on the bed with the winter squash. I used a stake to mark out a little trench to plant in, on either side of the winter squash and their grass mulches. Since the bed’s frame is not going to be complete for a little while, yet, I needed to make sure they weren’t too close to the edge of the soil mound. On one side, closer to the high raised bed, I planted the Dalvay shelling peas. We have quite a lot of seeds. I spaced them 4-5 inches apart, and had lots left over. After pushing the seeds into the soil, I made sure to cover them in such a way that there is a soil “wall” on the outside, and there is still a bit of a trench for the water to collect in before being absorbed.
I did the same on the other side, with the Carminat purple pole beans. I didn’t have as many of those left, so they were planted more like 6-7 inches apart. When I finished the row and still had a few seeds left, I went looking for spaces that looked a bit wider and added them there. We no longer have any Carminate pole bean seeds left!
The seeds planted and watered, I grabbed a bundle of bamboo poles and set up 5 to each side. After the beans and peas have germinated, we will add netting to the bamboo poles for the peas and beans to climb.
This bed is now done. At least, when it comes to planting!
After that, I took a hydration and sustenance break. While I was doing that, my younger daughter headed outside to try and get some lawn mowed. Even after waiting until noon, that grass was still so wet! That’s not even taking into account the low areas where standing water collects. There were whole sections she had to just go around and leave alone.
It may be making things hard to mow, but the gardens sure love it! All the stuff we planted previously is doing really well.
When I got back outside to continue working in the garden, though, the poor melons were looking pretty limp! Aside from the obvious transplant shock, we were reading our high of the day. I ended up misting them a bit to help relieve them from some of that heat!
I decided the next thing that needed to be done was to get the drum gourds and pumpkins planted. They are the largest transplants, and needed to get into the ground faster.
In the space in line with the high raised bed, we’d made a pile of grass clipping mulch. Most of it was used throughout the garden last year, but there was still some grass clippings and shredded paper mulch left. I raked what was left aside, clearing a rectangle about the same length and the high raised bed. Eventually, the high raised bed will either had a matching bed near it, with a space between them, or we’ll just add a new bed attached to the current high raised bed. I haven’t decided, yet.
With a garden bed planned for the area already, I figured it would be a good place to build squash mounds, which can be incorporated into whatever bed we end up building there.
I just had to sift some more soil from the pile in the outer yard.
I made three mounds of soil. Each of them got a gallon water bottle with its bottom cut and no caps, placed upside down in the middle. They got filled with water to slowly drain.
I had two pots with the pumpkins from the free seeds we got at the grocery store by my mother’s place. They have grown so much!
I also had two pots of drum gourds, but each pot had two very strong and healthy plants in it. What a difference from last year, when I ended up replanting them, several times, and ended up with none!
As expected, when I took them out of the pots, there was no separating them. Their roots were just too entwined. So I kept them together, but after planting them, I gently teased the stems away from each other. As they grow, I want to train them to run in opposite directions.
Once they were all in, the grass clipping mulch that had been raked aside was drawn up and around each mound.
And I was done for the day!
Well. Almost.
My daughter had done as much mowing as she could and gone inside. I sent a message asking for a hand with my next task, only to see her come hobbling along with her cane! She was in a world of hurt. 😢
With the possibility of thunderstorms tonight, I’d set up the support hoops for the row “greenhouse” I’d picked up at a dollar store to try. The set came with a plastic cover, but I wanted rain to get through. I just didn’t want the little transplants to be battered with rain!
So I brought out a roll of mosquito netting to put over the hoops. Unfortunately, the netting wasn’t long enough to cover the entire row of melons. We ended up moving the hoops a bit closer together, and set it up over the end where the transplants seemed to be needing the most protection. Once the netting was over the hoops, we used bricks, boards, branches – anything we could find, to weigh the edges down.
By the time that was done, it was just too hot to keep going. Still on my list was to plant onions or shallots in the high raised bed, around the peppers. There’s also that second shifted bed that needs to be prepped for planting.
We still have 4 Summer of Melons Blend transplants, but we also have another 15 pots with melons we actually know the names of Plus, there is still 7 winter squash to transplant, and a few tomatoes. Anything else would be direct sown.
If all goes well, tomorrow my priority is to get the shifted bed prepped for planting. I have decided to get the last winter squash transplanted. There will be more space between them compared to the other bed, which I plan to take advantage of. I have a variety of sweet corn that is only 55 days to maturity, so I will plan small groups of them in between each winter squash.
Once those are in, the next three beds need to be weeded and shifted over. We’ve got plenty of melons that will need to be transplanted, including a couple of Zucca melon. I will find a way to give them their own hills to grow on, since their fruit can reach 60 pounds in size. The rest of the melons will be need trellises to grow on – and I’m starting to run out of takes!
We also have the last, sad little San Marzano tomatoes to plant, and last of all, all the onions and shallots will get tucked away, in between other things.
Once all the transplants are in, I went to direct sow more summer squash. I also want to plant more carrots – it’s probably late for those, but I’ll try , anyhow. I’ve got yellow and green bush bean seeds, too, if there’s room for them.
I’m actually starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!
I just have to make sure not to push myself too much, though, so I don’t have to take more days “off” to recover!
I headed out nice and early this morning, while things were still nice and cool, to do some transplanting. I actually have some time to write this before I need to go to my mother’s, too!
The first priority was to get as many of the winter squash as I could fit into the bed that was prepared last night.
I brought all the transplants over, so I could pick and choose among them. The largest plants, and the ones in pots that were starting to fall apart, were the priority. I set a couple of markers to help me keep track while making the centre line.
The lower the bed, the further the reach, though. I had to use another plant stake to reach the middle and mark a line in the centre. Then I took the two biggest plants and set them at the ends, about a foot or more away from the short logs, then another bigger one in the middle. Once those were in place, it was easy to eyeball how far apart to set the others. I was able to set out 9 pots, roughly 1 1/2 feet apart.
Once I knew where they were going to go, I dug holes large enough for the pots, then filled each one with water. The one thing I did NOT do was amend the soil with sulfur granules. If I’d remembered, a good time to do it would have been last night, when I was using the garden fork and the rake. I was working by hand this morning, and just didn’t have the reach to work anything into the top 6 inches in the middle.
These winter squash are all in the biodegradable pots, which don’t really degrade very well unless they get – and stay – really wet. So when I planted the squash, I broke off the bottom of the pots, then worked a split up a side, before putting them into the ground. Once in the ground, I set them a bit lower, then made a sort of dam around them. This way, when they are being watered, the water will pool in the lower area and get absorbed into the ground there, rather than run off to the side somewhere.
Later, a mulch will be added around each transplant. I’m still planning to put beans and peas on the sides, and more mulch will be added after that. All while still making sure to stay clear of the sides, since the logs will be adjusted as they are permanently set in place and attached to each other.
That done, it was time to move to the high raised bed.
It had a light grass clipping mulch on it, and some weeds that needed to be cleared away. I am SO loving that cheap little hand cultivator I got at Walmart. It really makes loosening the soil and getting those weeds out much easier. I can even use it with my wonky left arm. Not for long, mind you, but enough to give my right arm a bit of a break.
What a difference with a high raised bed, though! I worked around both sides but, if I wanted to, I could actually reach all the way across the bed, without too much difficulty!
Once the soil was loosened and weeded, I used the back of the thatching rake (which I think is actually called a landscape rake, these days), to level and move the soil. For this bed, I built some of the soil up against the edges and packed it down a bit. Again, this is to control the flow of water. I want the water to flow towards the middle of the bed, not down the side walls. That done, I loosened the soil in the middle some more. This time, I did work sulfur granules into the soil.
Then I rigged the hose up to spray over the bed and give it a super deep watering while I put the remaining winter squash transplants back with the others (there’s 7 left, plus one that doesn’t look like it’ll make it) and go through the peppers.
I brought over a tray with the three early varieties of peppers that we have. There turned out to be three of two varieties, and four of another. I set them out in groups apart from each other, but there was so much room in between them, I decided to get the other bin of peppers. There were only pots with Purple Beauty in them. One had two seedlings, and I pulled the weaker one. The other three pots had Sweet Chocolate peppers in them. Two had pairs of seedlings and, again, I pulled the weaker ones.
So the high raised bed now has all peppers in them. Later on, I plan to plant onion transplanted around them. For now, however, they are protected by one of the raised bed covers. It won’t stop the cats from getting in, but it will deter the deer!
Then, because I can’t just toss away seedlings, even if they were thinned out, I found space in the wattle weave garden to transplant the two Sweet Chocolate and one Purple Beauty seedlings.
So that is done for now!
Hopefully, we’ll get more in this evening, when I’m back from my mother’s, and after things cool down again. It’s 17C/63F as I write this, with the humidex putting it at 21C/70F. Our high of the day is supposed to be 21C/70F
At the very least, I want to get mulch around the new transplants. We’re supposed to get rain starting around 10-11pm until 7am, so I’d like to protect them as much as possible, since we don’t have the protective plastic rings around these ones.
Well, I was able to get the frame of the low raised bed in place – it’s as done as it’s going to be, at this point. Tomorrow, transplanting needs to happen in there.
I got that second 18′ log debarked, but that got done after I found a way to move the first one into place.
The smaller logs that will be used as vertical trellis supports came in very handy! I used them as rollers, to drag the log across. The 4′ log at one end also made it easier to drag the side log into place, though it kept wanting to roll up the hill of soil!
These beds will be 4′ wide on the outside, so I had to make sure the log was positioned on the inside of the markers. The side I lay this log down on used to be part of the path, so it was still pretty compacted.
After debarking the second 18′ log, it was easier to drag into place, since I just needed to get it in the path next to the high raised bed, then roll it into place. This side is where part of the newly widened path was garden bed. Not only was the soil under there softer, but I hadn’t shifted the weeded soil over quite far enough. I had to spend some time pulling soil away from that side until I could finally roll the log into place, and have it inside the markers.
The 4′ end logs were butted up against the side logs, and that’s as far as they’re going to be done at this point.
Eventually, notches will be cut into the ends of the 4′ logs that the 18′ logs will fit into. Then I’ll use an auger bit to drill through the notched ends and drive a metal rod through, to hold them together.
But first, more work needs to be done.
The soil under the logs needs to be leveled out a bit, and there are gaps in places that need to be filled in. I’m also hoping to get a hold of more cardboard. Lots more. Landscape cloth would be better, but I can get cardboard for free. I want to cover the paths with cardboard, then layer wood chips on top, and I’d like part of the carboard to be under the logs. That will require rolling the logs aside, or lifting them, to get the cardboard under. So final assembly will have to wait.
Meanwhile, I weeded, loosened and leveled the soil hill inside the bed, making sure to NOT pull the soil all the way to the logs. There’s just enough space to work in.
I’m shooting to get up earlier in the morning and start transplanting squash, while it’s still cooler. We’re supposed to reach a high of 20C/68F tomorrow. As the forecast reads right now, we will start getting rain at 11pm tomorrow, and it will continue to rain until 7am on Tuesday. So I should be able to get more progress in transplanting during the day on Tuesday. Wednesday is now supposed to be rain free, with a couple of hours of possible showers late Thursday afternoon. Hopefully, that will give lots of time to get more progress.
As for the stuff that has already been transplanted, everything is looking just fine. Hopefully, that means little to no transplant shock!
I’m really feeling time flying through my fingers right now, so I just made a point of seeing where we were at in the garden, at this time last year.
We also had brought Decimus in with her babies at this time. Which means that Clarence, Shadow in the Dark, Mitsy and Tin Whistle are officially a year old now. Ghosty is a touch older.
Wow. We were sure hoping to have found forever homes for them all, long ago! 😢
Ah, well.
Anyhow…
So it looks like we’re at almost the exact same stage in the garden as we were last year! We used a lot of grow bags last year, but they are currently being used as beds by Broccoli’s kittens!
There’s one very good thing about rain we’ve been having.
Last year at this time, the air was full of smoke from wildfires burning all over. There are currently 5 fires burning in our province right now, all way up north, and all listed as under control.
A most welcome bonus with all that rain!
Okay, time for me to start getting ready for an early bed time, and an early rise tomorrow!
Before I get into how things went, I want to share some adorable news. While checking in the old garden shed while Broccoli was eating at the other side of the hose, I found both kittens, curled up together on a grow bag next to their cat bed. I was able to pick both of them up and cuddle them! The black and white male hissed at me a bit. The calico mostly just started at me. Neither tried to run away. The calico’s eyes are changing colour! The black and white still has very blue eyes.
I straightened out the cat bed and set them in it, before leaving some kibble for Broccoli just inside the door. I’d already left some in a sheltered spot outside the shed, and when I closed the door, I found her there, munching away. Happily, she is tolerating my visits to her babies, and not hiding them.
One of my goals for the day was to plant some summer squash in the pots we’ve got outside the main doors into the house. I got some seeds scarified and presoaking while I did my morning rounds, then planted them after I had breakfast. While checking the garden beds, I noticed the one available chimney block planter at the chain link fence and decided to plant in there, too.
In the pots, I decided on white patty pans (a new one for us), green Endeavor zucchini, and yes, I found a package of Magda seeds! I’d ordered a variety pack of summer squash years ago, and accidentally ordered three instead of one – and those extra seeds are coming in handy! The chimney block planter got Goldy zucchini. Hopefully, we’ll have space to plant out more summer squash in other places, but for now, we at least have these in. I had to add sticks around where the seeds were planted, to make sure no cats lay on them!
Then I found cats lying on my onions that were transplanted! I remembered I had a packages of disposable plastic utensils in the old kitchen, so I stuck those in among the onions. I don’t know that they’ll all survive being squashed flat by cat butts, but at least now they have a chance!
One of my other goals for today was to start transplanting into one of the shifted beds in the main garden area, with or without a frame. My daughter, however, figured we should be able to drag that second log out of the spruce grove today. So that’s what we started on.
Since she debranched it and cut it to length, all the space she cleared around it has grown back! The mosquitoes in there were brutal, too.
Dragging it out was a pain. We used a rope to heave it forward a few feet, then I’d go to the other and and swing it around a foot or so, we’d drag it forward some more, then back to swinging the other end around, until we finally cleared some trees and had a straight line out of the spruce grove. Even then, we had to make our way between a narrow space between trees at the edge of the grove. It was a bit easier to drag once we were clear of the spruce grove, but an 18′ log is pretty heavy!
Oh, wow. I just used a log weight calculator. I don’t know the exact dimensions for the calculator, but at the lowest estimate, it would be 210 pounds/95kg. At the largest estimate, 337 pounds/152kg. I would guess it’s actually closer to about 250 pounds/113kg.
I don’t feel so bad, now.
Earlier in the morning, I’d taken out the weed trimmer and trimmed where I would be working around the beds, as close to the ground as I could. I also trimmed around the logs that were already by the raised beds – the grass and dandelions were so tall, you could barely see them!
After the log was dragged out, my daughter wanted to start mowing part of the lawn. It’s still damp, but it really needs to be done! She started on a section in front of the house that did not get mowed at all this year, around where the kibble and cat shelters are. It’s one of the densest sections of lawn we’ve got. She started off with the mower set high, then tried to go over the densest spot with it set lower, but the grass is so wet, the lawnmower kept clogging! She was collecting the grass clippings, which means she was stopping and starting often, to empty the bag. After a while, the lawnmower just wouldn’t start anymore. She switched to using the weed trimmer around the edges for a while, as we left the mower in the shade. After maybe half an hour, it started again. When it happened again, my daughter just stopped for the day. She was so hot and tired by then, she couldn’t even grip the pull cord anymore!
While she did that, I worked on the logs.
One of the first things to do was go over all of them with the baby chainsaw (cordless pruner) to cut away all the sticky-outy bits. Stubs of branches, lumps in the wood, etc. I did the 18′ lengths first, then the 4′ lengths. Being able to set the 4′ lengths across the long logs made it a lot easier! Once the bits were trimmed off, I broke out the draw knife and debarked the 4′ lengths. When we built our first high raised bed out of logs, I didn’t bother debarking them, as it was an experiment. What I’ve since found is that ants just LOVE to build nests in the logs, between the bark and the wood! Insects, in general, like to get in there, and of course, moisture collects between the layers, too. These logs have been out in the elements long enough that things were already getting in between the layers. After everything is set up, I’ll be making sure to use the jet setting on the hose to pressure wash the logs!
Once the bark was clear, it was back to removing sticky-outy bits again, that had been hidden in the bark.
Once the 4′ end pieces were done, I moved the marking posts with the twine on them over, then brought the short logs close to where they will be assembled. Then I worked on one of the 18′ logs. That was made easier by setting the ends on other logs, including a pile of them still mostly buried in the grass. These smaller logs will be the upright supports for the trellises, once the trellis beds are assembled. For now, though, they provide a surface I can use to roll a big log around, while debarking it!
By the time I got the first 18′ length debarked, I was totally hooped. We were at 17C/63F, with a humidex of 20/68F, and I was working in full sun. It felt a lot hotter than that, to me! It was time to stop for sustenance and hydration. I think I might still make it out this evening, but I’m not sure, yet, if I’ll get back to the logs. I might do some other transplanting, first. For now, though, even if we just get the 18′ lengths in position, the soil inside can be spread out, and some of the winter squash can be transplanted. The 4′ ends can be permanently attached, later. So finishing the second 18′ log is a priority, but I’ll see how I feel physically, first. I don’t need to go to my mother’s tomorrow until the afternoon, so I can hopefully do some transplanting in the morning, but I definitely won’t be working with the logs in the morning, when I have to leave for my mother’s!
I did get a bit of an update about her. I haven’t talked to her since she hung up on me yesterday, when she was trying to convince me her pills are all wrong. My brother spoke to her, and he mentioned he’d heard she hung up on me. She started going on about how her pills are all mixed up, and he basically repeated the same things I did, adding that the pharmacist knows which is which, and makes sure they are in the right places in her bubble packs. She ended up changing the subject. She told him she hadn’t gone to church today, because she wasn’t feeling good (no idea why) then asked if he went to church today. He reminded her, they go to their church on Saturdays (she’s said to me a few times that she doesn’t think they go to church anymore. I remind her that they go on Saturdays, but she doesn’t believe me!). Then he mentioned this Saturday was particularly special, as they attended the funeral of a dear friend’s mother. My SIL sang during the service, while my brother played the guitar.
To which my mother lamented that my SIL cares more about taking care of her friends, than taking care of my mother…
My poor brother. He told me, he was absolutely speechless when she said that. He couldn’t think of what to say at all, so he told her he had to get back to working on their sump pump, and said goodbye.
When he told me about this, I remembered telling my mother about this upcoming funeral, and that my SIL was asked to sing, and her response then was the same. My SIL takes better care of her friends that of my mother.
Oh, I think I know why. My mother has been obsessed about her own funeral, and giving us instructions on what she wants us to do. She had brought up my SIL singing at her funeral. My SIL almost never talks to my mother anymore, and doesn’t come out when my brother does. Too many years of being told she wasn’t “real” family, just my brother’s wife, and my mother being horribly cruel to her, when my SIL has never been anything but kind to my mother.
My brother and his wife are such amazing people. They deserve so much better than how my mother treats them!
Ah, well.
Tomorrow, she has her home care panel. One more step in the process for her to go into long term care. I’m just really thankful that this is something she actually wants, and not something we have to figure out how to do around her!
After I finished my post earlier today, my daughter and I headed out for a dump run, then errands. We ended up going to the smaller city for her shopping, so that I could pick up some cat food at a better price at Walmart. By the time we got home, it was well past 3 and, I’m happy to say, starting to get a bit cooler!
After having a late lunch, I headed outside to finish at the new low raised bed.
Before I got started, I prepared a 4L size water bottle by removing the top and punching holes in the bottom, then brought over protective rings and support posts. The support posts were long enough to reach from corner to corner on the bed, so I used them to find the centre. That is where I partially buried the water bottle. This way, we can add water into it, and it will drain out the bottom and water the roots of the plants nearby. We’ve done similar in the past, including the first time we tried to grow Crespo squash, and it has worked well.
The pot with the single Crespo squash was the one where the stem had broken when the cats knocked the bin holding the pots off the table. I had it supported with a pair of bamboo skewers. Unfortunately, as soon as the skewers were removed, it immediately bent over at the break, almost snapping off. I had intended to plant it deep enough to cover the break, as the squash will develop adventitious roots, but I had to be so careful not to break it completely! I planted it in a protective ring and ended up filling the ring to the top with soil to support the stem. It still ended up lying on the soil. I just made sure it was running towards the side I wanted to train it towards, as it gets bigger – if it survives!
The other pot had two squash in it. I was planning to separate them, but the roots were too entwined, so they were planted together. They, too, ended up with their protective ring filled almost to the top with soil. They both got well watered, and I added water to the reservoir in the middle – which drained much faster than I expected! I ended up filling it again, a couple of times. before I was done.
With how the light hits this area, I decided to plant a row of beans along the east and west sides of the bed. I chose Seychelles pole bean seeds left over from a couple of years ago, that did so well for us when so many other things did not! These are a very straight green bean, and they were quite prolific.
Once the beans were planted and well watered, I set up supports to create an A frame, then added 4″ square netting. This will be enough to keep the deer from getting at the squash, while still being open enough to reach through to weed or pick beans. The beans themselves are planted about 8 or 10 inches from the side, so they will also be protected by the netting until they get tall enough to start climbing it. Hopefully, we’ll have a decent germination rate. The germination rate was excellent when we grew them before, but after a couple of years, I would expect it to be far less.
Though it was starting to get late, the days are so long right now, I decided to do more transplanting. The San Marzano tomatoes needed to be transplanted, and I decided to see if the retaining wall blocks could be used for that.
Aside from the chives in the corner, I planted mint in alternating blocks. Unfortunately, there’s some sort of plant in this garden that is more invasive that even crab grass or creeping Charlie! The mint is struggling to come back this year, and this plant is choking them out! I pulled as much as I could around the mint, but they’re so mixed together, there really isn’t much I can do.
In the other blocks, there was a lot of this plant to clean out as well. A couple of blocks still had some onions growing in them. There had been more, but they were choked out by this invasive plant.
I was able to clean up 10 blocks for the tomatoes, including two of blocks with a pair of onions in them that still had room for a transplant. I used my pH meter and was surprised the soil was just as alkaline as everything else. These blocks have been amended with peat in the past, and the cement itself can increase the acidity of soil. That meter’s needle was a hard 8. So I worked some sulfur granules into the prepared blocks, too. I wonder, at times, what the reading would be if I had a meter that went higher than 8! Even the solution in my soil test kit maxed out at 7.5. Ah, well.
In the tray that had the biggest, healthiest tomatoes, there should have been 9, but there were only 7 surviving. One of them was even starting to bloom! The last three blocks were planted with the smaller tomatoes that almost didn’t survive being moved to the sun room. This was the tray that had tipped and spilled after I’d topped up the soil in the cells, so they’ve had just a rough time, over all! After transplanting the three strongest looking ones, there’s maybe 5 or 6 left. There’s one, I’m not sure is going to last much longer. I don’t know where I’d transplant these right now, but being as small as they are, they can stay in the tray longer.
Each of the transplants got a bamboo stake that will be used to support them as they grow. They will likely need more as they get bigger, but that can be added later. Last of all, they got a very thorough watering. Hopefully, they will do okay here. The ornamental apple trees cast quite a bit of shade, even with the pruning we’ve done over the years, but we’ve grown tomatoes in these blocks before, and they did okay.
Once everything was put away, I did one last prep. There are three pots on the landing outside the main doors. Last year we grew herbs in them. I have decided to grow summer squash in them this year. This way, even if we don’t end up having the space to direct sow in the main garden beds, we’ll at least have some summer squash in the pots to enjoy!
One of the pots had spearmint in it, but it did not survive the winter. Another had a mix of thyme and oregano. The one oregano that survived to be transplanted had bloomed and gone to seed, and I was going to see if any of the self-sown seeds germinated, but decided having summer squash was a priority. The biggest pot had lemon grass in it and, wow, were those roots every hard to clean out!
One of the new seeds we got for this year were are a white patty pan, so I’ll plant some of those, for sure. We have both green and yellow zucchini, and I haven’t decided which of those I will plant, yet. If we still have some Magda seeds left, I want to plant some of those. We really like them, but they are the ones that have been the hardest to grow! With some of the seeds being a few years old, I’ll plant at least three per pot, and see how many germinate.
The pots are prepped, but the planting will be done tomorrow.
With so many winter squash that need to be transplanted, they are a priority for the low raised beds that are already shifted, with or without frames. Tomorrow, my daughter and I will finally drag the second 18′ log out of the spruce grove – between the rain and the high winds, we haven’t gone into the spruce grove since she got this last one cut to size! We have enough logs to frame one bed, so that will make things a bit easier.
Things may change, but I’m thinking of planting the winter squash in the middle of the bed, in a long row, then planting more pole beans on either side. We won’t be able to do an A frame support structure, like over the Crespo squash, but we should still be able to rig up a quick trellis for them, later on.
With how many winter squash we have, and how far apart they need to be planted, the two shifted beds might not be enough for them all. The drum gourds and the pumpkins will probably need their own hills. I’ll figure that out, later. We’ll be transplanting melons into the first of the trellis beds, all along one side, where the trellis supports will be added, later, but again, we probably won’t be able to fit them all in. Since they will have a trellis to climb, they can be planted closer together, but I don’t expect to fit them all in that bed. Something else we’ll need to figure out!
Still, today was a productive day, and it feels rather good to have fewer trays to return to the sun room for the night!
I’m taking a hydration break, then we’ll be doing a dump run and an errand run into town, so I figured I should make a progress post before we head out.
Yesterday’s fast passing thunderstorm didn’t give us enough rain to saturate the cardboard on the bed I worked on, yesterday. I used a hose on the cardboard, but I’m not too concerned about getting it really saturated before adding the soil. That spot doesn’t have standing water right now, but it is very wet. Once the weight of the soil is on the cardboard, and it is compressed against the wet soil below, it will get saturated quite quickly on its own.
The first thing I needed to do was push my way through the jungle to get to the pile of garden soil. This is the first time it’s been uncovered this year. It’s amazing how much can grow under that … landscape cloth? I salvaged from around the old wood pile, years ago.
The soil was so full of crab grass rhizomes, I actually had to sort of pre-sift the soil with my hands and pull out as many roots as I could, just so I could shovel it onto the sifter over the wheelbarrow! I didn’t fill the wheelbarrow as much as I normally would, as I wanted room to mix in the sulfur granules. I broke open the second package for the first time, so we’ll be able to compare with the other beds, if there’s any difference in how well they help acidify our alkaline soil.
With the smaller loads, it meant more trips. I think was five or six loads? I lost track I made the bed deeper in the middle than the sides, since it’s going to have large squash plants in it.
Then I stopped for a cool down and hydration break. According to my weather app, it’s 17C/63F out there, with a “feels like” of 16C/61F
It felt way hotter than that, to me!
Before I get back to it, my daughter and I will be doing a dump run, then a trip into town. She and her sister have some of their own shopping to do.
Once I get back at it. I’ll be transplanting the three Crespo squash into the new bed. I’ve decided that, since I have to put something around them to protect them from deer, I will take advantage of that. I will plant pole or climbing seed beans along two sides and the barrier will be their trellis. The deer do eat bean plants as well, but if I put the netting on right, that won’t happen until the plants are much larger and better able to survive such an onslaught.
In theory, I could do a “three sisters” type thing, but the idea of planting just a few corn in the middle of the squash seems useless to me. If we’re going to plant corn, it’s going to be a much larger amount!
Anyhow, I’ll take a look at the bean seeds I have and decide if I want to do pole beans for fresh eating, or seed beans that will be left alone until fall to harvest. I’m leaning more towards fresh eating, since we’ve got so little of that started right now!
The first week of June is already done, and I’ve done none of the “after last frost date” direct sowing, yet! Okay, okay. It’s only 6 days since our last frost date, and we’ve been known to have frost even later, but it just feels like time is slipping through my fingers, with all the delays and interruptions.
Ah, well. We’ll get in what we can, and make do with what we have!
Then, just to make things even more frustrating, I got a phone call from my mother while I was writing this. When I asked how she was doing, she started going on about her pills, and my first thought was that she was going to ask me to take her to the hospital for some reason. As she kept talking in circles, I had to stop her and tell her to get to her point (I was just too hot and too tired to follow her when she gets like this). She didn’t aske me to take her to the hospital. Instead, she started talking about how she took all her pills – it sounded like she was saying she took all her pills at once! – and then about the one she was not supposed to take anymore…
I eventually was able to get her to explain to me that she had been going through her pills yesterday evening, and comparing them to her old, leftover pills that she never throws away, and comparing them to each other, and she has decided that white round pills in the morning (her water pills) and the round white pills in the evening (blood thinners, if I remember correctly) were the same pills, because they also both have the number 20 on them. I explained to her that the number is for the pharmacist to know what the dose is, not what kind of pill it is. She said, they’re mixed up. I said no, that’s why they’re in the bubble packs. So they don’t get mixed up. Don’t take them out of the bubble packs, so they don’t get mixed up!
She hung up on me.
So my mother has decided her pills are “wrong”. The one I identified for her as the water pills are not really her water pills.
She is absolutely determined to mess herself up, and convinced that others are deliberately giving her the wrong medications or telling her the wrong things, because they are hiding things from her.
This is not the first time we’ve had these issues. It’s just getting worse, as she gets older.
I ended up sending an email to my siblings to update her. Then I called the guy at home care and left a message about what’s going on, and what she’s doing to herself, because there’s no way we’d be able to talk about this during his meeting with her. That would really set her paranoia off!
Hopefully, between my siblings and I, we’ll be able to convince her to take her medications as directed.
Now that I think about it, my mother probably took her pills out of their bubble packs so she can see them more closely, and now can’t tell the white round pills apart. If she only did that for one day, that wouldn’t be too bad, but who knows, at this point.
*sigh*
I wish I could say this is a new thing showing up with her cognitive decline but, to be honest, she’s always done this. It’s just getting worse as she gets older.
I admit, I was shorter with her than usual. I was hot and tired and just didn’t have the ability to follow her along when she starts talking in circles like that. I really think a big part of it is, she wants us to be paying attention to her, and to jump when she says jump. There is very much a control element involved. Again, not a new thing, but at this stage, it’s far more disruptive, and far more potentially harmful to herself.
I’m glad that she actually wants to go into a nursing home, and asked for the process to be started. Her reasons why may be about her physical limitations, but I really think it’s her cognitive issues that are the more urgent safety concerns right now.
Well, we’ll see how things go when the home care panel is done on Monday. Hopefully, she’ll get in for that required brain MRI soon – or that it is not something that would delay any decisions to get her into long term care.
The Re-Farmer 