The Mad Gardener of Bowlus

The Mad Gardener is buying peas. He plans to plant four rows each 27 feet long. Peas are planted one inch apart and in bands 1.5 inches apart. Essentially each row is two rows. How many peas does he need to buy?

Our mornings have have been on the cold side lately but that has not stopped the microbes from getting to work! Will be at least a month before I start planting but this way there will be plenty of time for them to heat up and then cool back down!

Even though we are in the middle of You Thought I was Done Winter it has not stopped me from getting the gardens ready!

The second batch produced just under three gallons of Maple Syrup, 2 gallons 3.5 quarts to be exact, quite the harvest for just five days of sap! Minnesota's constantly changing spring weather has its advantages with snow, ice, freezing temps one day and warm sunny weather the next! I started the boil down late Wednesday night (03/17/2021) and finished Sunday night (03/21/2021).

The 68 gallons of maple sap boiled down to just over two gallons of syrup!

I am tracking the daily collection, of sap, here!

Sugar content was near perfect, as tested with a maple syrup hydrometer! Now its on to the next batch of sap!

The clones continue to grow, not roots yet but that takes several weeks! The apple trees are starting to show signs of life too! Based, on what I have read, apple trees are the most difficult to clone and take the longest to get roots.

While the crazy weather changes, this week, felt a bit like a mad roller coaster it did cause the maple sap to flow! From March 2, 2021 to March 9, 2019 we collected 24 gallons of sap and then on March 10-March 11 we collected just over 12 gallons! March 10th it was cold, raining, and sleeting and having more than enough room in the pails I skipped harvesting.

Sap flows when day time temps are above freezing and night time temps fall below freezing!

If you think Minnesota only has four seasons, think again!