In previous years, when I prepared and tilled the NE Garden Plot 1, I would get a green blanket of weeds before it was time to plant. Meant I would have to either hoe or re-till the garden! After a bit of research I learned about solarization. This involves putting a layer of plastic down for a few weeks to both heat the soil and kill the weed seeds. Often clear plastic is used but I ended up with black plastic and am just going with it. From my reading you can actually get soil temperatures up to 120 degrees with clear plastic after four to eight weeks.

I have not had great luck with getting peas growing in bales. A big part of the problem is that by the time the bales are conditioned we are also getting hotter temperatures. Peas are a plant that thrive better when its colder, especially during the early growing stages. So going to move back to growing them in soil. In the category of horizontal gardening I am going to plant them next to the bales, that have cattle panels. The peas will grow up them and the cucumbers, to be planted later in the bales, will also grow on them.

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!

Always a good idea to start seed planting early! Otherwise you may not get the seeds you want due to limited quantities. This list will likely grow over the next couple months but wanted to do an inventory!

Seeds Kept from Last Year

As time goes on I plan to keep more and more of the previous years seeds for the next growing season. Starting out small and slowly will scale up!

Last fall I collected, dried, and stored purple beans to use for planting in 2021. Even though I purchased heirloom seeds I wanted to be certain they would actually germinate. What better way than to simply grow them in our indoor garden aka plant lab! The good news is the seeds have germinated and the better news is in a couple months we will have fresh beans to eat!

Here is something that amazed me. Compost piles or in this case a wood chip pile can remain active during the winter. Just three weeks ago we had -25 F temps here but part of the pile is 110 F today! I am sure deeper inside this pile there are even hotter temps!

We tapped the trees on Tuesday, March 2, 2021 and there are at total of four trees tapped. First two days produced just a gallon of sap each day but today there was four gallons! Should boil down to 2.4 cups but plenty of time left to collect more sap!

In spring 2020 I wanted to figure out how to be as safe as possible when camping. For the most part social distancing, while camping, is really easy with one notable exception and that is using the public bathrooms and showers! My small pop-up camper does not have a shower nor is there much room for a portable toilet, not to mention I would prefer not to have something like that inside the camper. I also avoid having too much water in the camper as to avoid water damage.

The "trees" are showing signs of life! Far too early to celebrate yet but signs of life are required for roots to form! Today I also use a foliar plant spray, which is just spraying the plants with liquid fertilizer. Plants can absorb fertilizer via their leaves and stems and this is a good way to give the plants some additional nutrients until they are able to grow roots!

The experiment is well underway!

We gathered branches from the following plants.