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Our 2025 Garden: “greenhouse” set ups done!

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I’m quite pleased with how things went today.

My main goal was to get the raised bed cover in the old kitchen garden covered with plastic to create a cat proof space and greenhouse conditions over the rectangular bed. Not only we were able to get that done, but my daughter and I got the portable greenhouse I got on clearance a while back, set up too.

Of course, things didn’t go as expected, but nothing too extremely off.

With the raised bed cover, I had to bring over a couple of cinder blocks to support the small log I was using to weigh down the plastic at one end. That required chopping the end of the sump pump hose free of the ice, so it could be moved and not be under a cinder block. I’m actually glad that it needed to be done. So far, there hasn’t been enough seepage for the sump pump to be triggered, but the water level in the reservoir is slowly increasing. With the end of the hose completely encased in ice, if it did get triggered, it would not have been able to drain. The end of the hose is still filled with ice but, now that the black plastic hose it out and exposed to the sunlight, that will melt away rather quickly.

For now, the sides of the cover are weighted down with various things but eventually, I’d like to try something different to secure the plastic over the cover. I’ll have to think on that, first, and see what materials we have that I can use.

Then there was the little portable greenhouse.

The spot I wanted to set it up, as it was the most sheltered from the wind, while still getting lots of sun, had a pile of snow from clearing a path in the way. The eavestrough extension hose was also partially buried under there, which means the snow that melted off our entry roof drained under the pile of snow.

Once the snow was cleared off, my daughter and I took turns with an ax, chopping the ice away and shoveling it clear.

In the end, though, we couldn’t use the spot. Once the frame was assembled, we tried to find a good space to set it, but everything was just too uneven. The most level ground we could find was behind the kibble house, and even there, we had to set some scrap pieces of rigid insulation under one side to level it out.

Once we worked that out, we put the cover on. It gets tied to the frame on the inside, which my daughter did while I was on the outside, holding the cover in place. For the bottom ties, we had to tilt the entire thing so my daughter could reach the corners.

As careful as we were, we did end up with a couple of tears in the cover. One, I was able to use clear duct tape to secure together again. The other was right along a zipper in the doorway, so the tape isn’t going to work there. Ah, well. I don’t expect this to last more than a couple of years. The cover, I mean. I expect the frame to last longer.

Once the cover was tied down and the frame back in position, we used the ties and tent pegs that came with the package to secure it to the ground. The metal tent pegs were pretty wimpy, but three of them did the job. At the fourth corner, the frozen ground was simply too solid. After digging around in my garden supplies in the sun room, I found a single tent peg that was a lot strong, and was able to hammer that into the ground. Still not all the way, but enough to secure the line to the greenhouse.

This may have been the most level location, but it is very much in the way. Especially those tie downs! I knew the black cord would be a problem, and could just see myself tripping over them because they are both dark and very thin. So I got some bright orange paracord and wrapped that around the lines for visibility.

In the end, I decided to take some video of both projects and put it together, rather than post a whole bunch of photos on Instagram to embed here. So, here is a short little video of the set up we got done today.

I’m glad we were able to get both done today, before the temperatures drop over the next couple of days. It will make quite a difference for the winter sown bed. As for the portable greenhouse, I will be monitoring the temperature inside, but it will be a while before we have anything to put in there.

I want to get other seeds started over the next week or so. The replacement bulbs I ordered should be arriving on Monday, so I’ll have enough light for more seed starts, plus what we’ve already got going.

While I’m happy we got these done today, I’m afraid I may have over done it. I’ve been stiffening up and starting to hurt after just a few minutes of sitting down, and my left thigh is still feeling a mess from the cramping. Enough to make me very nervous about going to bed.

Well, while I was working on the video, it ended up being my right thigh that started to give me trouble, starting to cramp up on me! I was able to move around and stretch it out, so I’m hoping I’ve managed to avoid another bout, but now both my legs are feeling unstable. I’ve been working on staying hydrated, etc., but it just doesn’t seem to be making a difference. Even when I tried to nap this morning, I was in so much pain I finally broke down and took more painkillers – one of the ones from my previous prescription. As much as I was still hurting after taking those, it turns out it still worked better than the new ones. I think I’ll see about getting a phone appointment with my doctor to talk about that.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so that will be my day of rest. Hopefully, that will give me some recovery time. It also happens to be our anniversary – my husband and I will be celebrating 37 years of marriage. We’ll be doing a lunch date on Monday, though. We will both be going to the lab in the morning for fasting blood work, so we’ll be having a lunch date afterwards. With his mobility issues and pain levels, we certainly aren’t going to make multiple trips. Not even for an anniversary! Just going out once is going to be difficult for him.

*sigh*

It’s past 10pm now. I suppose I should try going to bed.

Maybe after doing a few more leg stretches…

The Re-Farmer

Our 2025 Garden: potting up pre-germinated squash

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Well, I went and did it. I potted up the very enthusiastically growing winter squash. I even did the luffa. Of all the seeds I started only 1 luffa hasn’t germinated yet, and it still might.

I’ve decided I will go the Costco shopping tomorrow and, while in the city, try and find a second heat mat to put under the winter squash tray. If they’re out of stock… well… we’ll see how it goes!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2025 Garden: Vesey’s seeds are in, and starting sweet peppers

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I was happy to see an envelop from Vesey’s today. These were the part of a larger order I made that could be sent right away. It was just two packets of seeds, and one of them was flowers, but I did want to get the peppers started right away.

With a days-to-maturity of only 70-75 days from transplant, starting the Sweeties Snack Mix this late should be okay. This mix of small sized bell peppers are something I actually see regularly in the grocery store, sold in packages with red, orange and yellow peppers, just like what is supposed to be in this seed mix. I’ve even bought them a time or two, so I know the family enjoys eating them. Which is good, since these are the only peppers we’re growing this year. We still have both dried and frozen peppers from last year!

While I was handling the moistened seed starter mix, I could tell it was way too cold for the seeds. The thermometer I have set up on the work table reads a consistent 10C/50F – which may have felt warm while I was outside, felt cold while in the basement! The container I use to hold the pre-moistened seed starter mix, however, is enameled steel, and it was sitting on the concrete floor.

Oops.

I now have a different set up and it no longer rests on the concrete floor. Hopefully, that will make a difference for the next time I have to start seeds!

I brought down a little heater and set it up to warm things on my work table. Since I had to wait a while, I did some clean up in the root cellar. We didn’t get to the last of the winter squash in time, and a bunch had to be cleared away. I decided not to put them in the compost ring, though. Instead, I spread them out in different areas to see if they would seed themselves. It’s more likely that they will be eaten by critters, but if a few seeds survive, we might have “wild” squash plants growing.

Once those were out, I took the time to clean and sanitize the shelves before getting back to the seeds. The only things we have left in the root cellar right now are onions and garlic. We keep forgetting that they are there!

As for the peppers, because these are a mix, there’s no way to know how many of each colour of pepper we’ll get. Depending on the germination rate, I might thin by transplanting. They should be fine on the heat mat for now, but once things start germinating, I’ll have to find some way to keep things warmer in there, since I’m not about to leave a heater running unattended in the basement.

Ah, well. We’ll figure it out!

Meanwhile, we’ve started our earliest seeds for now. The net ones I start should be the tomatoes, and those won’t need to be started for at least a week. The seeds set to pre-germinate should be potted up, by then. Hopefully, the bulbs for the other light fixture will have arrived. Not only does that fixture have a built in timer, but it also puts off a bit of warmth. The one that’s down there now doesn’t seem to get very warm at all.

It should be interesting to see how things work out, in this year’s seed starting dungeon!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2025 Garden: MI Gardener seed order in (video), and decisions to make

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I didn’t expect to be recording another seed haul video quite so soon! Our MI Gardener order came in today, though, so here we are.

I actually ordered these a full 10 days before the seed order that came in yesterday. It does take a while when things have to cross the border!

After this, I have just one more seed order to come in, with just two seed packets (the rest of the order are trees and bushes that will be shipped later; probably in May). One of those seed packets are a mix of mini bell peppers that I want to try, and I plan to start those indoors, even though they are short season peppers.

So, from among the seeds that came in today, I plan to start the eggplant, honeydew melon and possibly the luffa. If I’m going to do the luffa, I need to start those right away. For direct sowing, I will have the red noodle beans and sugar snap peas, with the carrots and spinach as back up seeds if our winter sowing experiment fails, while the sugar beets will be for next year.

From the seeds that came in yesterday, the Cream of Saskatchewan watermelon will be started indoors. I’m still debating whether to try the Arikara squash this year or next year. I’m leaning towards next year, since we will have three varieties of winter squash to try this year. For direct sowing, we have the super sugar snap peas, plus the white scallop squash as back up seeds, if the winter sowing fails, and the Yukon Chief corn is for next year.

When the Veseys seed order comes in, we will have the mini bell peppers to start indoors.

Aside from that, I will be starting my last Spoon tomato seeds indoors, a cherry or grape tomato, plus a slicing tomato. I will let the family choose which they would like. No paste tomatoes this year, since we still have so many buried in the freezer. I will also make some decisions on what herbs will be started indoors. There’s the other variety of watermelon I plan to start, and possibly one cantaloupe type melon.

I’ll have to be careful of how many things I start indoors, since we will have limited space – if the winter sowing experiment works – and I have other direct sowing things I want to grow. Last year, we had such high germination rates on the winter squash, melons and tomatoes that, by the time they were all transplanted, there wasn’t much room left to direct sow anything! So I will need to keep that in mind when I decide how many seeds to start from each. Plus, we need to keep space open for potatoes, and I’d like to plant more this year than we did last year. Seed potatoes are starting to show up in the stores, so I will likely pick them up sooner rather than later, and store them in the root cellar until it’s time to plant.

A lot of the direct sowing decisions will depend on just how well the winter sowing experiment did, and we won’t know that until probably mid May, or even early June!

We shall see, when the time comes.

The Re-Farmer

Our 2025 Garden: March garden tour video

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Last year, I did my first “garden tour” video on the first day of spring. I knew I wouldn’t have time to do it today, so I did the tour on the last day of winter, instead.

There isn’t a lot to see, just yet! 😄

Well… except for a whole lot of cats!

The Re-Farmer

Our 2025 Garden: planning video

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Today, started bringing seed starting supplies to the basement, and went through some of my seed inventory for potential seed starts.

In past years, I would have had all sorts of seeds already started. Things have changed a lot with our winter sowing experiment. We have quite a variety of seeds already planted, taking up quite a few beds, which I need to plan around. I’m not going to assume we will have any new beds ready to plant in for this year, and will just focus on what we have ready right now.

With that in mind, here is a video I took while going through my bin of seeds that would be started indoors.

I won’t actually start seeds indoors until at least a week from right now, with some things to be started in April. That should give enough time for my seed orders to come in. Aside from a few varieties of winter squash, herbs and tomatoes I want to start, we will have the new varieties of eggplant, mini bell peppers and a honeydew melon I want to try this year. This time, I will not start as many seeds of each for transplanting this year! Last year, I had not expected to have 100% or near 100% germination rates on so many seeds. We had so many things to transplant, there wasn’t much space left for direct sowing.

I have decided I will go to a Walmart tomorrow to pick up a few things, and will pick up some seed starting mix while I am at it.

I forgot that the aquarium light with the timer on it has a bulb that needs to be replaced; this fixture holds two bulbs. For now, I have brought down the fixture with one larger bulb that came with our big tank. Meanwhile, I’ve placed an order from Veseys for a pair of 4 foot T5 bulbs. I’d had a hard time finding the right bulbs elsewhere and, when I did find them, they were shockingly expensive. Veseys had the best price I’d found, even taking into account the extra shipping cost for bulbs, but by the time I was ready to order them, the size I needed was sold out, and then I simply forgot about it. So those are now ordered and should be on their way soon.

The first day of spring is coming soon. I was planning to do our first “garden tour” video on that day, but I will be going to my mother’s. I might just do it tomorrow, before I head out, instead. We are supposed to have a steep temperature drop, from an expected high of 6C/43F on the first day of spring, to -10C/14F the day after. Things are going to be really slippery around the yard after all the melt! It’s already pretty treacherous in places, while I do my morning rounds.

Anyhow. I hope you enjoy the video. I used a new chest harness my husband got for me to hold the phone I was using to record video. While editing, I did find my voice was a LOT louder than typical when I record video, and had to adjust the audio volume down. When I had to sit down to continue recording, I was concerned things were too close to the camera, but I think it worked out okay, in the end. Please feel free to let me know what you think.

The Re-Farmer

New Critter Cam unboxing and testing

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I finally got around to editing and uploading a short unboxing video for the camera we now have in the sun room.

A few extra bits of feedback, since I recorded these clips.

Near the end of the video, you can see the camera moving around with the motion detection tracking. One of the major benefits of this camera is that I can set my phone up on a stand beside my keyboard, have the app open and keep continuous eye on the sun room. The old camera would only do that for a few minutes before I’d get a “continue?” request and, if I didn’t tap fast enough, it would discontinue the life feed. To have continuous live feed running, we would have to buy a subscription. That one difference makes the purchase well worth while.

The problem is, with so many cats moving around, the tracking would be all over the place, sometimes even sending the camera to do a complete rotation. Since the camera is mounted against a wall like it is, that meant getting views of the ceiling! It would move around so much that, even just in my peripheral vision, I was feeling almost motion sickness. The movement was just non stop!

So… the motion tracking got shut off.

I can move it around manually on my phone, though, to look at different parts of the room. Syndol noticed it moving and climbed up onto the shelf under the old kitchen window, standing as tall as he could, trying to get closer to the moving camera! He can’t reach it, but it was quite funny to adjust the camera so I could look directly at him while he was looking direction at the camera!

It has the ability to auto record. If it detects motion, it can start recording video automatically, saving it to the micro SD card. What I didn’t realize at first was that it was set to continuous record, which meant there were a series of 20 minute long video files saved to the micro SD card! With files that large, it takes forever for it to load to do a playback. It can be set for shorter times, but I’m not bothering with that. There’s simply too much movement in the sun room to have all these automatic functions running. As for files on the memory card, if the card is full, it simply discards the oldest files, while storing the newest ones. So if I had anything I wanted to keep, I’d have to make sure to download it. With the motion sensor off, however, there is nothing being recorded onto the card.

If I did see something I wanted to record, though, there are icons I can tap while the app is running, to get stills or video. There’s also the microphone icon that I can tap and hold to talk into the sun room – which rather alarmed the cats when I used it to break up a fight! All in all, there is quite a bit of functionality on there, most of which I have no reason to use, with it being a critter cam.

As for the network connect, there has been a couple of times where the network lost contact with the camera. Normally, I would have hit the reset button, but it’s too high to reach without a stool or household step ladder, so I just unplugged it and plugged it back in. That seems to have done the trick and now I seem to no longer be having that problem.

The only real downside is the tilt limit. The camera can turn 360°, but there’s only so far it can tilt. Which means that I can tilt it “down”, and get a great view of the wall and door under the camera, but I can only tilt it “up” far enough to see the very bottom of the doorway to outside. If I rotate the camera while it is at max tilt, the platform the cats use, or the bathroom window, can be seen, but they appear sideways. It cannot tilt enough to see the south facing windows, which is where the cats like to hang out. This is all because the camera is mounted sideways on the wall. If it were flat on its base, or even at an angle, it would be able to capture more in its field of view.

Oh, that reminds me; I noticed in the settings that the view can be flipped, if the camera is mounted upside down.

The field of view issue in regards to the tilt is not a camera issue, but a mounting issue for our space. If we could mount it level, it would work fine, but we don’t have a space where we could mount it in the sun room that would be work – and be out of reach of the cats! They’d be all over it, as soon as it started moving! So the few issues we’re seeing are not camera issues.

Which means that this camera passes the test. I can see getting more of these to monitor other indoor areas, such as the pumps in the basement. If we were to set one up to monitor the well pump and sump pump corner, I could see an issue with being able to plug it in; that power cable is awfully short, and there are not a lot of outlets down there! For the septic pump, I would want a type that screws into the light socket, and has a built in LED light. Which is what the first one I tried buying was, but we could never get it to connect to our Wi-Fi.

I would also want to have some outdoor ones to monitor the isolation shelter, for example, or other key areas in the inner yard – as long as we can access power! – but there is very little hurry on that. Mostly for budget reasons. Plus, I know my brother will want to set up security cameras around the outer yard, so I will probably leave most of that for him to do. He has something in mind, and I’m content to let him do it as he sees fit. My priority right now is more about being able to monitor the pumps in the old basement.

Overall, I would be okay with recommending this indoor camera.

The Re-Farmer

Feast of the Epiphany

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Today is January 6 which, in our family, is our official last day of Christmas.

Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day. When the girls were little, they would have put their shoes out last night, filled with “hay” for the three kings’ camels, which would be replaced with a few treats and small toys for them to find in the morning.

The Bible doesn’t actually say there were three kings. Rather, it speaks of the Magi – wise men – from the East, who came bearing gifts for the newborn king of the Jews, and doesn’t say how many there were. It mentions three gifts – gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Matthew 2:9-11

And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 

until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.

They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 

and on entering the house

they saw the child with Mary his mother.

They prostrated themselves and did him homage.

Then they opened their treasures 

and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

While nativity scenes often have the wise men at the stable with a newborn Jesus in the manger (the “inn” referred to in English translations would more accurately have been translated as “upper room”, and the stable would have been in the lower room of an extended family household, overcrowded by other family members come to Bethlehem for the census). By the time the magi arrived, Joseph and Mary would have been properly married and, as described in the verses above, living in their own house. By the time Herod realized the magi were not returning, enough time had passed that he ordered all males under 2 yrs old in Bethlehem slaughtered. I’ve read estimates, based on what is know of the region and likely population of Bethlehem at the time, that the number of children killed might have been about 17, though of course, no one really knows.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus were safely in Egypt by then. Egypt was also under Roman rule, so this was akin to moving to another province or state.

At this, we have a close to our Christmas season. I hope you and yours have had a blessed time, and that the new year will be one of peace and good health, and may all your needs be met.

The Re-Farmer