better late than never

since having lent the cable I use to connect my phone to my computer, I've had to deprive you all of the grainy blurry images that pass for photography around here.

Payback.



mmmm delicious.



I discovered I am capable of working with electricity and neither zapping myself nor burning down the house...go figure.



Anticip...




ation.

re-use re-use re-use

Well we finally replaced the windows with a nice sliding glass door so I can get into the sunroom without gymnastics. I started the fiasco around 8:00, my dad showed up at about 11: and we finished at 8:00 pm. Needless to say it was a challenging affair. In fact, hanging the door was the easy part. The frame where the two windows used to sit was a mere two inches too narrow, so we had to widen the opening, which meant a new header, into a load bearing wall. A load bearing wall that now also supports the roof of the sunroom. So bracing and replacing was a long tedious affair. I have a tendency to overbuild, but I'd just assume be on the safe side. But its done. Its not insulated around the edges yet and wouldn't you know we are expecting -15F weather tonight, so guess what I will be doing when I get home.

Dad took some great photos with his nikon d-200 but I haven't got any to share yet.

Anywho, we managed to get the old windows out without breaking any glass, which is astonishing if you have seen our past deconstruction efforts. So now I have 4 24"x24" double glazed window sections that I need to make use of. Shortly after setting them gently on the floor my Dad remarked "ya know you could make a nice cold frame out of those." I smirked, my wife rolled her eyes. "Don't encourage him."

Encourage? heck I already had a plan before they even came out.

And they're off!

I suppose this officially commences the 2009 growing season. I started six things on thursday evening in the aerogarden. Most are perennials (self-heal, skullcap, garden sorrel, soapwort, and roman chamomile..or was it german, I don't remember honestly, I grow both, but this was the perennial.) I did start Holy Basil and Czech Black hot pepper which will eventually get moved to pots in the sunroom when they get too big for the aerogarden.

So far the only sprout is the chamomile, not surprising, but this is the the part I hate...waiting.

In other news I opted to use linoleum tile for the sunroom floor. Why? because we had some left over. Ultimately I figure the most sustainable solution is to use what I already have. I'm still waiting on that door. This going in and out of the sunroom through a window is getting ridiculous.

Does anyone have recommendations on pot size for growing salad crops indoors? (mache, spinach, lettuce)

A productive weekend

As promised, the process pictures of the mostly finished sunroom...mostly.

Step one, tear out the bushes.





done.

Next they dug the holes for the footings (which was photographically uninteresting) then put in concrete footers and built the deck portion (which has an insulated floor).


then they pretty much did the rest in two days. I didn't get a picture of just the walls in place, (and I wasn't about to stand outside yesterday morning and take pictures of them working.)

Here is the finished product.


Note I have the blinds pulled down on the side windows (which are an enormous 57" wide). We got cellular blinds for the windows, and between that and the low-e glass, it was pretty warm yesterday despite being isolated still from the rest of the house. Note that I still have to put a door where the windows are, so entering the room does not involve gymnastics.

And that very same day, I put three dwarf citrus trees on order from Growquest.

I did a lot more this weekend. Starting with the window to the kitchen door (on the north side of the house.) We were contemplating making our own shades for the sunroom from "Warm window" fabric available at jo-ann fabrics. By the yard it is quite pricey, but one of the employees wholeheartedly endorsed the results. So we decided on a test. Make one for the kitchen, and if we like the results, do the whole sunroom. All in all it took about 3 hours to make a 24"x40" shade and hang it. I would rate the results as "not bad." A the part of me that thinks things like "I see where the errors are, and I know I can do the next one better," kicked into gear. Unfortunately the lobbying efforts did not pay off, and I can understand. The materials alone were helaciously expensive. Granted, some things you had to buy in bulk, like cordage, the brass rings, the eyelet screws, and a branded weight rod (instead of just using some 3/8" round bar stock and cutting it to length.) but at $140 it is hefty. And professional looking it ain't. So we compromised and got some rather nice cellular shades which do a decent job of insulating.



I really should have followed the optional step of spraying some kind of light adhesive between the insulation layer and the inside facing fabric to give it a more crisp look. In all fairness we used a rather heavy upholstery fabric as well. I'd love to give it another try on some other windows. Maybe the bedroom windows of the kids rooms which face north and west. It would mean saving up a bit first, as I said, quite expensive, but you can definitely feel the difference if you put your hand behind the shade at night.

And on a different note, I made my first loaf of "no-knead" bread. It looked and smelled amazing. Fresh warm bread made a nice complement to Chicken Marsala and wild mushroom risotto for valentines day. (In my case it was "chicken" made with Quorn cutlets.)


I did notice that I should let the stone warm up a little longer, as the bottom wasn't quite as crisp as the top...which as you can see from the picture, was perfect. It was extremely well recieved. In fact, it was gone before the evening was out. I have plenty of dough and I will make another tonight with a little longer warm up time.

I also put cabinet doors on the area below the counter where our garbage/recycling bins sit, but for some reason they weren't on the card.

One last thing, last night my wife inquired now that the sunroom is "done" why I don't have anything growing out there yet. Simple answer: After everything that went on, I'm tired. Of course that was yesterday, today I'm rested.

In other news...

I took a fistfull of pictures of the vacant space left by the bushes, which my wife accurately characterized as "sad and empty." Not for long though, the holes for footers have been dug and the siding pulled away where the sunroom will fit to the outside wall. I'll take more pics tonight and hopefully remember the memory card tomorrow morning.

Groovy Green found an article on what in my opinion is the perfect stimulus package. Being vegetarian I don't normally espouse metaphors that encourage bird killing, no matter how many times the stone gets reused, but it fits.

Sharon Astyk rounds up 25 crops no one should be without. And if the above stimulus plan gets picked up on, I might actually have room to grow them all.

And lastly, sometimes the things that are the hardest to pick up on are the ones right under your nose. Apparently there is a fairly well established greenie group in Syracuse. I might just leave my shell yet.

by the way, holy February heat wave batman, it hit the 50's here in Syracuse!?

Its GO time

At long last, the sunroom will start... monday to be precise. I have to borrow a chainsaw to get the bushes out of the way, but that shouldn't be a problem. We have had arctic like weather and the ground is as hard as a rock right now, lucky I'm not the one who will be digging the footers.

Before, after and in process pictures to follow.

I hate resolutions

because nobody (nobody I know at least) ends up keeping them.

so rather than resolve to do anything,

I'll lay out my to do list for the year

1.) sunroom Nary a hole has been dug nor post been laid, but I'm exhausted already. After going back and forth with the zoning board, we are shaving a foot off the front and pressing forward. No date yet from the builder, but they expect all their ducks will be in a row by the end of the month. Should leave plenty of time to get the seedlings going.

2.) trees, a veritably orchard will overtake the front lawn, but first, the old emaciated monster needs to come down. I've been begrudgingly picking up its dropping branches for 3 years now, I just needed a reason.

3.) third bed, I need to expand the garden, and I've no where else to dig but a spot in the perennial area, where the sunflowers sat last year. I'm planning out the layout and rotation schedule, and will post that soon.

4.) And even if I don't actually build the house portion of it, I'll be redoing the wooden boarder of the two main garden beds to fit the floorplan of a hoophouse I would like to put there eventually.


So far the seed catalog count is up to six. I've got my tomato order back (I'll be growing a different strain of brandywine than last year, a Cherokee purple, an a fistful of Amish paste in the hopes of making my own sauce. We're planning our trip to the nursery in early May for the trees. But I've still got a lot of ordering to do for this year.

minor developments

In the sunroom project, apparently we either lose 1'2" off the front or wait till february for an opportunity to obtain a variance. The Company has offered to cut a substantial deal if we shrink a tad and proceed now, so we took it. Onward, and more waiting.

It would appear there has been some consolidation of the change.org recommendations. Victory Garden on the whitehouse lawn has now become "Green the Whitehouse" I must confess I both love and hate the green moniker. On the one hand it makes the concept of conservation and such more accessable to the public at large. On the other hand it makes it trendy and thus doomed to be over with, and is a faaar to big a tent, including in the idea of green the ludicrous notion of things like "clean" (lie) coal" and other feel good greenwashing tokenism. Its fine if the heading Green includes specific actions like gardening, modern appliances, conservation practices, and the restoration of solar panels on the roof that were originally implemented by Carter, then torn down by Bonzo.

Its fine to make this a big tent idea, but lets keep the specifics clear.

Monsanto is at it again, and made seed saving a priority this year.

What comes in pots and makes delicious fruit?

Trees of course...or at least the ones I am looking at. As the sunroom project moves forward with permits and more paperwork my thoughts increasingly turn to, or rather obsess upon the trees I want to fill it with.

I'm rather surprised at how close our overall result is beginning to resemble the plan. Usually things change drastically between the theory and the practice.



But back to the matter at hand, I would like to put 3 across the front (south wall) and one in the east, (left window in the picture).

So that makes a total of 4, but 4 what and from where. Well my search for a local citrus source (or at least in the Northeast) has been fruitless(sorry I couldn't resist). Four Winds Nursery seems like a good shop, anyone have experience to share with them? I tried a couple of the other suggestions that I got, but variety was not what I was looking for.

Still growing

Well I have largely neglected the garden in my recent weeks but I am happy to say that while things have slowed, they have not stopped. Falling leaves have largely laid a mulch that keeps everything but the plants that had a head start down. Despite a couple mild freezes, the peas are doing well, and 2 of the four broccoli appear to be thriving. I've even got a couple beets going.

I threw a couple wheelbarrow loads of compost on the north bed (that held the early crops, squash and failed corn.) and when I pulled up the stubby corn stalks I realized that they had in fact produced ears, pathetic (an unpollinated) as they were.



In other news, we are officially signing with the contractor to do the Greenhouse...er I mean sunroom...really I mean sunroom, why would I say greenhouse...tonight. We discussed potential furniture and layout for it. From the looks of things We will be putting 3-4 trees (depending on the length of whatever wicker loveseat goes in). a 6 foot and 5 foot shelf at window level for seed trays, and given that they sit at 30 inches, enough room to hang 1 or two shelves below that assuming I put lights on them. Not to mention that the wall which is the current outside wall of the house will be wide open for things like hanging baskets.

Really I meant to say sunroom...

Oh by the way, I got my shipment of wild ginger and ginseng roots from Garden Medicinals (3 each) And put them in the ground by the pawpaw trees. All three species require shade (the pawpaw during its early years) and behind the bench was a perfect spot. All three have the same native range of areas which touch the Appalachian mtns. IF these take off next spring (and I'm sure they will) they will be joined by black cohosh. I had a great deal of trouble getting cohosh seed to germinate, so I'm going with rhizomes. While not technically a guild I suppose, I am very optimistic that the area will do well. The soil in that area seems quite like a forest floor, and the combination of sun and shade angles provided by the fence and bench appear to be the perfect environment to allow just a trickle of light to the shade lovers and give full sun exposure to the sunbathers. Flanking this group to the west side in full sun in a rather large stand of purple coneflower (echinacea). While I know little of the use of the plants I have put down in this spot (other than eating ginger and pawpaw outright) It would be nice to know that should I have the time to learn how, its there if I want it. I'll be watching this area in coming years for different bugs and birds, I'm hoping that as the diversity of plants goes up in the area, animal diversity will follow. Like I said, I've been feeling optimistic as of late for some reason.

Looks like its a go

The sunroom, that is.

Two nights ago we had a visit from a representative of a local installer. Previously I had thought I could tackle this one on my own. I am thankful now I will not be doing that. There are a lot of factors involved in the construction both from a technical side to the administrative (incl. permits codes etc.) It appears the materials used would be far superior from what I thought I could get away with. Steel upright posts that don't require the glass sections to function as structural elements. In other words, the frame wont require the skin to stand firm. Having seen pictures in the portfolio of hailstorms and fallen trees that have wrecked the house but left the sunroom intact I am confident in the quality. We are also getting a guarantee on the whole thing that I could never provide. The glazing is superior to what I could obtain and should provide excellent thermal insulation given the large areas of glass. I was pleased to hear the "surveyor" was well versed in many of the factors I am concerned with given its intended role. He agreed that the location for it on the house was perfect, providing maxim southern exposure, a position far enough forward to avoid shadowing from our neighbor to the east, and garage to the west. And exposed east and west ends to allow ample cross ventilation. In short, he was speaking my language and it was a relief to find that maybe what I am after isn't so way out in left field afterall. In fact the surveyor had a fistfull of lime trees in his own sunroom (and apparently a fan of martinis.)

There will be some elements that my brother in law and I will be doing ourselves to save some money, like pulling up the hedges, cutting and installing the doorway and electrical connections, but it will be nice to let someone else have to do the worrisome parts for a change. And this is a local company so its nice to know the money stays here.

So while my wife is thinking about furniture to go in the 8x11 space, I am back to thinking about trees.
Meyer Lemon, Kaffir Lime, and Blood oranges. The question is from where. None of the nurseries around here have any citrus. Suggestions?