latest posts – Page 4 – Planet B Gardens

2017 garden started

Forecast is for a warm and mostly sunny week, so moved some of the more hardy plant starts outside. Started these summer squash seeds a month ago. Mammoth Red cabbage got started mid-March. Also planted Waltham 29 broccoli, Chioggia beets, Kabocha winter squash, Graffiti Purple cauliflower, tomatillos, and sugar snap pea starts. I’ll direct seed carrots, lettuce varieties, Swiss chard, spinach, and sunflowers later today. It’s still a little risky here in the northwest to plant chili and tomato starts outside — that will be a mid-June project. The garden looks so empty this early in the season. It’ll be a jungle by July, though, assuming all grows well. Garlic planted last fall is

May 22, 2017

robins nesting

Went to get my 12′ ladder, and thought I saw a corner of a nest peeking over the edge. Got a step ladder, and found a robin’s nest with a clutch of four eggs. Momma robin and her mate were none too happy about me being near their nest. They nervously chirped and buzzed my head until I got down. Ah well, looks like that ladder will have to stay put for a while.

new cherry blossoms

First cherry blossoms on the first cherry trees I’ve planted. Happy to see they made it through this exceptionally cold, snowy winter!

sunflower greens harvest

Wow — these sunflower greens came up fast. Usually ~12 days start to harvest, this batch was ready for harvest in 7 days. Fingers crossed the batch started yesterday will be ready for this Saturday’s Kalispell Farmers’ Market!

beehive dead-out

Planet B Gardens’ bees, sadly, did not make it through this winter. After the bear attacks in the fall that took out half the hives, I had one large, strong hive left and one small, weak one. The remaining hives went into winter with plenty of fresh capped honey. When I opened the large hive, 75% of the honey remained, undisturbed. The smaller hive had 50% left. There was no sign of moisture build-up, no mold, no varroa mites, no other visible disturbance in either of the hives. A ball of dead bees huddled together in the center of the hive, while the remaining dead ones littered the bottom board. This

April 25, 2017

shed antlers

Found a nicely matched pair of whitetail deer antlers on our walk around the property. Male deer naturally shed their antlers in late fall or winter after rutting season. Often squirrels and other rodents around here will chew on the antlers after they drop, so nice to see a pair in such good condition. These will no doubt be turned into antler art the next time I’m inspired.

spring traffic jam

Wild turkey hen attracting a lot of attention….

first garlic

First sprouts of Siberian Purple garlic emerging this spring from the few spots in the garden where snow has melted this season. Much of the garden remains covered in snow, though, and the ground temp is still less than 40F. Planting cover crops will have to wait a while longer. Crimson Clover going in once the ground warms up a bit more.

yeast from scratch

Cultivating wild yeast to leaven bread is something I’ve been wanting to try since I learned it was possible. I should have done it much sooner. My bread game is changed. The process creates a sourdough starter that will last as long as I keep feeding it. Creating the initial starter takes around 14 days before it’s ready to use for baking bread. I started with local hard red wheat berries that I ground into a course flour. I mixed equal parts of the whole wheat flour with pineapple juice — 60 grams each by weight. I kept it in my proofer set to 70F, and followed the remaining sourdough starter-making videos here. After a

March 26, 2017

flower skull mosaic

My latest creation… Bison skull mosaic — inspired by Norwegian rosemaling.