Garden on Corliss Homestead Journal

Some wins and some losses.

We got a mixed bundle of long day onions in the ground today from Dixondale Farms. The price was fair and all the reviews I have read indicated they are the go-to place for everything onions.

While outside, my brain told me that peas fix nitrogen and that onions like nitrogen. Once I did all the work I did a quick google search and it seems that peas do NOT like to hang out with alliums. I guess I might have to pull the trellis out and put peas elsewhere.

I need to pick up some more onions to finish off the bed but I'm pleased with what I received. I might focus on getting some more sweet style ones.

Another weekend, another significant amount of wood chips have been relocated to various parts of the property.

The cypress mulch had developed quite a lot of activity inside the pile as I dug into it. The chips got moved significantly quicker after I got my hands on a manure/mulch fork instead of using a flat shovel. I have a little bit more pine also to move but it is getting to the point where I need to rake up the chips to better get ahold of them. I'm going to take a break from getting chips delivered as I have scheduled around ten yards of topsoil/compost to be delivered from a local composting business in a few weeks.

Get a pitch fork.

Somehow we also ended up planting roughly three hundred onions in our garden beds in total. We got another batch of onions in because we wanted to try ALL the varieties that are recommended for our zone and see what we prefer. The gameplan will be to share the harvest with family if we do all right. This is our first time growing onions so... We will give it a shot.

I did it!

I moved the mulch!

Man, that pitchfork was definitely a good purchase. I'm very pleased with how fast I got this distributed. I still need more but it is time to change up materials.

I have a local farm that has an excess of composted manure, it is a small holding farm with a young family. I have worked out a deal to receive about ten yards this weekend. I took a look at it and it is probably at least two year old. It had a bit of rock in it from turning with machinery but I can work with that. I have another ten yards of top soil that should be coming here anytime now as well so I have to stay on top of all of my projects to prevent a bunch of material hills sitting in my back yard.

My excess compost is going onto my hillside project to be laid on top of the wood chips to help speed up its decomposition. I'm going to sift some of it to use in my garden beds but I'm planning on being safe and doing a few test tomatoes before distributing it in my growie beds.

This year is shaping to be a really positive garden project year.

Even with the rain, it was a fun day.

Delivered eggs to family members in the morning, washed them up and packed them the night prior. Planted two Jostaberry plants and a rose about midday. On and off rain showers kind of put a damper making a whole lot of progress on anything but I'll take what we got. My partner cleaned up some garden beds in preparation for a load of compost to show up tomorrow. We will hopefully top each bed with about two wheelbarrow loads a piece and incorporate it once I judge the quality.

I managed to get this indoor hydroponic system set up and will be trialing it with a cherry tomato and a hot pepper plant. I'm collecting pictures and video clips to hopefully get a halfway decent review set up. It is nice to have a few irons in the fire!

Social media marketplaces are a crapshoot. You could find literal treasure for pennies or something of little value marketed at an astronomical rates. I have not done much business on these markets but I decided to take a chance. A gentleman about my age has a small beef farm/homestead and had a large amount of manure-based compost. I checked out his farmstead and came to an agreement for a bulk delivery.

It took a few hours but after about four relays he had dropped off approximately ten yards. There are some large rocks included but those will be added to my ever growing rock wall. There is no manure smell and it has a great degree of tilth to it. It is holding a lot of moisture from all the rain we have been having but it isn't squishy. I'm really really pleased.

It is now my duty to start moving wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow and start getting growies in the ground over the next few weeks.

Planted Today
25 - Strawberry plants
5 - PawPaw bareroot seedlings
6 - American plum bareroot seedlings
2 - Highbush Cranberry Bush Bareroot seedlings
5 - Containers of potatoes.

I sifted around six wheelbarrow loads of compost and moved the rock to locations it is needed.

I also got some amendments in the garden beds for the year.  Biochar, worm castings, compost, and some alfalfa pellets that went bad over the winter. I was given a bag of Espoma Garden Tone that is organic labeled that I'm going to give a try. Ingredients look promising.

This has already been a lovely Saturday.

This is a whining post, if you'd rather not have to have that energy hit you I won't blame you not continuing.

I'm so freaking fortunate to have the family that I have. While we might not have a lot, we have enough. I think something even more is that they help each other out and don't ask for anything back. Out of college I managed to take over my family home as my mother took care of her parents (up the road) and I had to start establishing myself into a career. I got a safe home for a price that couldn't be beat and allowed to just focus on getting settled.

Another thing my family provided was my first car. I have had this Mercery Grand Marquis sense high school. My great uncle was selling this car and I approached him about it because I needed a vehicle to get to college and back. I didn't have really any money, but I was praying that he would accept a payment plan. I didn't even get far into the conversation before he already was getting everything signed over. I didn't even get to broach the subject of money and he wouldn't hear it. He expected me to go to college and see it through, get myself an education. I have had this thing for thirteen years and she just keeps chugging along. She might leak a little and have an ABS sensor out but she is reliable. I've learned how to change brakes, axles, crack open differentials as well as a number of other things on the car.

Yesterday in the morning, the car started up just fine and got to work without an issue. When I got into it to leave work, something was funky. I had no turn signals, a bunch of lights on the dash, and a radio that was turning on and off on its own. My car essentially was possessed. I limped it home and parked it for the night. I got up this morning, hopped into the car to start it up and it was completely dead. I had to call into work and I put the battery on a trickle charger to charge this morning so I can diagnose in a few hours. My partner and I had a discussion about alternate plans if I can't figure out what's going on and the subject of a new vehicle came up. We are getting married this year and I have money saved up that I could hypothetically use but it would be the least ideal. I think the more important thing is that I don't want a new car. I'm hoping it just comes down to a couple fuses or something. I had replaced the alternator once but perhaps the voltage regulator in this one went on the fritz. That would be simple enough of a fix.

I'm frustrated this morning. This is a setback, not sure how big of one currently, and I'm a bit bummed. I'm missing out on a days pay but that just means I have twice the amount of work to get to tomorrow. I'm hoping to salvage some time at home putting effort into something besides getting my car back up to snuff.

Lost out on two days of work, but I think I have it figured out... sorta.

Went to start up the car the other morning and it was dead. Figured out it was a draw somewhere. Battery cables were a little loose, I removed them and cleaned them up. Attached semi-permanent cord to the battery to I can plug in the trickle charger through the grill and not have to pop the hood anymore and monkey around with clips.

Battery took a charge and held it after being unplugged form car. Reattached everything, opened and closed all the doors/trunk/hood. I took the opportunity to fix any sticking doors with a little bit of lubricant.

I took the car for a drive to pick up fuses in case I have to start pulling and plugging. Everything ran well and there are no unusual lights on.

I'm taking a few hour break and going to revaluate if the battery is being drawn on still or not.

Just in case you can't find a trickle drain, here is a simple fix. It only adds one minute to leaving home.

from here

Tim, when I have a car that has the situation you're describing, I've found that the simplest thing to do is just remove the negative battery cable when you're done using the car.
And just hook it up again when you're ready to go.
Just make sure that nothing is on when you hook the cable back up or you'll get a big spark, in other words keep the doors shut and the hood lowered somewhat so that none of the lights come on when the battery is hooked up.
I have a 1990 Lincoln Town car that will go dead after about a week of sitting so I just unhook the battery cable when it's sitting.
Also take note that some cars don't appreciate their battery cables being removed often, while others will tolerate it without issue.
Not a true fix but it works.