kevin stewart

Oops, i should have pointed out wich bald spot in my original post.
Just to the right of flagstaff.
Usually the same shape.

Oops, i should have pointed out wich bald spot in my original post.
Just to the right of flagstaff.
Usually the same shape.

I'm fortunately east of this area.
Even though it is a wet winter this bald spot is often there.
I'm sure it's the mountain thats on the north side of flagstaff .

Or is it?

I'm absent from my property and i regularly look at the weather.
At least 70% of the time there is that bare spot you see in the radar image.
Fortunately i didn't buy there.
I'm going to check on hikers going missing, big foot and chupacabra sighting in that area.

I started at 55

So far, the biggest lesson I've learned is how much time i spent digging holes for a pit greenhouse, several water holding ranks and catchment pits.

Intrx above ground pool. (10' by 30" $90.00)
And put a lot of weight on the legs of a hoop house.

I feel like after 6 years i finally have my ducks in a row, my head is straight on my objectives and I'm ready to go.

Of course I'm only there 5 days out of 40.

Two winters ago i left my wrigglers out in the open in a tall storage bin.(i unloaded them from the truck and left them out)
Some nights it was cold enough to freeze but it warmed up by day and when i dug my hand into the soil they were wriggling.

Eventually i moved them to the greenhouse where it isn't warmer but i felt better about it.

This winter i have three garbage cans of worms but I've been gone since thanksgiving. So I'll just hope for the best.

My only concern is that i leave the lids inverted to catch rainwater for them and if it freezes after a rain i will have worm ice cubes.

I have not read all three pages of this thread so here's hoping I'm not repeating.

I keep it simple. I have three 30 gallon garbage cans that i heave the worms into. I have put carboard and paper but the worms love cow plops. I mix the plops in water and make a porridge with a paint mixer.

I invert the can lids and put a hole in the top (bottom) to catch any rain.

That's it. I am gone a month at a time so it's good luck charlie, i hope you survive.
Right now the worms are dealing with some snow and freezing. Yet they live.

I had considered putting ( used) toilet paper in the can but i didn't want to be finding that later. Same with using human waste. Cow plops are fine.

The question is: can i put composting worms in with my root vegetables? I figured that i would build a long raised( bunny proof) bin , fill it with poor arizona soil, compost worms,  and fresh cow plops and let them work their magic. I might toss some buckets of juniper leaf to continue the experiment.

I have also put worms in a hole in the ground to see where they go. They have food and a plywood cover.
My area has a lot of potash. If you hear anything about "tremors" size worms in arizona i don't know anything about it.

I had potatoes and sweet potatoes growing.
Bunnies ate the potato greens to the ground but only tasted the sweet potatoe vine.
I hoped the vines were unappetizing to bunnies , maybe not. I had thought to look into eating sweet potato leaves and read that potatoe leaves aren't good.

My bunnies are so hungry that they eat prickly pear cactus pads.

This year everthing is protected by chicken wire.

More snow for you today.

Yes to the wire cages. I have been looking online and i think the prices are better than at the gallup home depot.
I also wrap my cages in shade cloth, the summer sun's a scorcher.

All of my planting is based on me not being there a month at a time....i plant trees in late november, when i planted in october it was still too warm.

I recently found that along the banks of the puerco river there are siberian olive trees. All around them are five foot tall saplings.
I need to remind myself to remember to go visit with a shovel while the trees are still dormant.

I save gallon water bottles. If i don't refill them then i cut off the top and use them like a funnel on a three foot section of pvc pipe. The pipe directs any rain to the roots rather than the surface. I use the bottom halves as pots. I call them funnel pipes and every tree i grow will have several around them. Yes folks, it's dry here on mars.
Eventually my drip irrigation will have the drips attached to a short pipe to put the water deep.

By the way i did try juniper leaves as compost. I grew beans in pure leaf matter and then transferred the whole thing to a pot of soil.
The beans grew well enough but the leaves were smaller.

It took me a while to accept that i can't expect much seed sprouting in april. Just too cold at night.

My first greenhouse was a pit greenhouse to stay out of the wind but water can't gravity flow when you are in a hole, you are too close to the critters and i broke my back hand digging that pit.

I built a 10 ×16 pvc hoop house but it was at risk in the wind. Since i have all my seedlings on plywood watering trays i simply attached the hoop legs to the trays. It's not going anywhere. Two years later it's still standing.
Each tray can hold 100 one gallon pots.

Years ago when i was in a digging mood i dug a pit to hold water. It's no end of trouble, a jackrabbit fell in and destroyed the liner. Now i have multiple covers to keep creatures out. Sometimes the 12 volt pump has lift problems. I had a ton of water available to me this year and i found the liner had slipped down one side so i could only collect so much.

This year i will use an eight foot swimming pool inside the greenhouse. (A new, bigger house) i can keep an eye on it there.

Maybe big head minnows?