Christopher Weeks

master gardener

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since Jun 24, 2018

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Biography

I steward 20 acres of Cromwell Sandy Loam in the north woods of Minnesota. I clear birch and aspen as needed to plant food sources.

I always have more projects going than I can keep up with which isn't really awesome but I don't know what to change.

I vote for Libertarians and Socialists because they know what it means to have principles and that matters more to me than the exact details of what they believe in. I'm a gun-toting vegetarian. I write code for cash and grow food because no amount of cash will buy real food these days.

I have a wife, two kids, two grandkids, and three cats. I've never had a dog, but I'm thinking about changing that. I hike, garden, read, play games, code, cook, spin and knit, putter, and play at arting.

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Carlton County, Minnesota, USA: 3b; Dfb; sandy loam; in the woods

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Recent posts by Christopher Weeks

The Village Green, Northside, Cincinnati Ohio

If I saw that volunteer in my garden, my first thought would be Solanum nigrum. (which excites me more than tomatoes, but I'd keep it either way. And I don't know if that even grows where you are.)

2 weeks ago

urban gardening

Perennial bean breeding progress at Oikos!

I just listened to that while planting corn! I could listen to Aaron and Kenny talk every two weeks for a year and I bet they'd still have more topics.

2 weeks ago

perennial vegetables

Best cookware for perpetual stews?

I've done it in steel, enameled cast iron, and earthenware, but it's on the stovetop and we don't leave it hot all the time, I just bring it back to a simmer each day to prevent microbial colonization.

2 weeks ago

cooking

Planting stick

I've been experimenting with PVC and steel tubes for this purpose but the end keeps stuffing with soil and then the seeds don't go into the hole. The first time I only realized after there were a couple of dozen seeds down there and I had to assume nothing got planted. It seems like in Joseph's description, kicking the tube forward should take care of that but it isn't for me. I wonder if I'm jamming it too deep or something. (Certainly much deeper than the diagonal cut.)

2 weeks ago

plants

Replacing broken tool handles

Carla Burke wrote:Word to the wise on this particular tool: I bought one. I used it once, and the tip bent at a 90° angle, with one extra turn of my (normally wimpy) wrist😬. If using it, I would advise using it only on softer wires, not something that is hardened.

Thanks! I just ordered one. :)

2 weeks ago

gear

slugging - a carpool/hitchhike combo

As gas prices continue to rise, interest in practices like slugging may too.

2 weeks ago

frugality

Brooding 4 week old chicks

I wonder about whether the chicks ever start pecking at the mylar/bubble stuff -- I wouldn't want bits of that in the birds or the deep-litter. Otherwise, it seems like a great upcycling use for those mailers (we accumulate stuff like that in storage and hardly ever use them again).

2 weeks ago

chickens

Lay your garlic growing knowledge on me

Here in northern Minnesota, I plant in October, harvest scapes when they curl and pull the bulbs when the foliage starts drying down. I bundle and hang them to cure under the eaves of the house and repeat the whole thing again.

I can grow in raised beds with rich compost topdressing for best results, but it also grows fine in my sandy loam as long as I occult the ground with cardboard or wood chips or spoiled hay to kill the invasive grasses.

Where I live, I think garlic is my easiest and most reliable crop.

2 weeks ago

alliums

Is there a simple way to divide the rain from a gutter into two equal directions

You can connect multiple vessels with a siphon like that, but Mike wants to distribute water to the planters where it will leave the system and make sure both of them get about the same amount of water rather than all of it going to one. A siphon-equalizing system like that would work on a small scale if they were bottom-watering planters at close to the same elevation.

Oh, or maybe you mean something like this: put a bucket above each planter at exactly the same height, fill them with water, connect them with a siphon, and then you can downspout the water into either bucket and it should pour out of both of them at the same rate (if the siphon allows travel at the same speed as the downspout).

2 weeks ago

rainwater catchment