Finally!

My quest to grow concord grapes like my Grandma Mary had has taken several years to complete. 

Four or five years ago, I bought and planted my first grape vines, then we got hit with a heat spell that cooked them within days.

In 2023, I decided to try again. Mom and I found some old tires on the side of the road to use as planters. I stacked 'em up on top of some cardboard to use as weed barrier, filled 'em with dirt, and planted two new grape vines. I built a trellis out of an old hog panel and t-posts I found in L.E.'s cat barn. I named them Grandma and Grandpa Grape, in honor of my grandparent's grape vines. I managed to keep them alive all summer and was optimistic going into winter. I knew they'd go dormant, and I knew my grandparents did absolutely nothing to them over the winter months, so I believed that if I could get them nice and healthy through the summer, they'd be fine over the winter.

Spring of 2024 came along and I didn't see too much in the way of signs of life. I panicked and bought two more vines to plant as replacements. I didn't pull the other vines, thinking that if they'd die, at least their roots would be good fertilizer. Within weeks, Grandma Grape started sprouting leaves, and I had two healthy grape vines in her tire. Grandpa Grape didn't look like he was going to wake up after the winter, but when I planted his companion vine, I hoped that by digging around next to his roots I'd stimulate them and they'd wake up. Weeks went by, and I was certain Grandpa Grape was well and truly dead, but then, a little sprout popped up and within days another sprout popped up. Grandpa's original vine was dead, but he was sending up new sprouts! By the end of the summer, all of my grape vines were doing really well. 

This spring came along, and I was confident that the first winter was the hardest on the grapes, so I fully expected that they'd wake up - and I was right! I also knew that, at the earliest, three summers is what it would take to get fruit. I was cautiously hopeful that I'd get some grapes this year. June came along, and baby grapes started appearing. I couldn't believe my eyes! I was going to get grapes this year, from both (okay, all four, but they've grown together in each of their respective tires - you can't differentiate between them now) sets of vines!

I've been waiting, and waiting, until the time was just right. I've been picking a grape here and there, popping it into my mouth, just waiting for the time to be right to pick a couple of small bunches. On Friday, the 23rd, I picked my first three little bunches. One went to L.E., who has been waiting right alongside me, and the other two went into a couple of very small bottles of kombucha.

First grapes!

My goal, since I started making my own kombucha has been to use things I've grown to flavor it. It was hard to give up my first few grapes to a batch of kombucha instead of popping them right into my mouth, but I did.

When I was looking for a climbing vine to help fill in the space on the trellis between my grapes and my kiwiberries, Jay suggested honeysuckle. Honeysuckle evokes childhood memories for him, so I was happy to oblige. I mean, my grape vines are 100% based on childhood memories, so I couldn't complain. Then, I realized that I could use honeysuckle to flavor my kombucha as well. Do I know what honeysuckle tastes like? Not at all. I've never drank the nectar, but Jay has when he was a kid and the memory makes him smile. While I was making my small bottles of grape kombucha, I decided that I'd make him a couple of small bottles of honeysuckle as well. I waited until sunset, then ran out and plucked some flowers from the vine.

I had no idea how many of the grapes or honeysuckle flowers to put in the bottles, so I faked it. I squeezed the grapes between my fingers to release the juice, then dropped the whole thing into the bottle. I think I had about eight grapes for each eight ounce bottle. With the honeysuckle, I was even more at a loss. I don't know what it tastes like, how potent the flowers are, anything. So I dropped about a dozen flowers into each eight ounce bottle and hoped for the best.

They've been sitting on my counter for two days now for their second fermentation, and will go into the fridge tonight. I'm excited to try them tomorrow.

While I was on a high from using things I grew in my kombucha, I thought, "why not try cucumber"? I'm not a fan of straight cucumber anything, unless I'm just eating it, but cucumber and watermelon is a good combination, so I cut up half a cucumber and added it to my watermelon kombucha. I had better like that combination, because I made a whole half gallon of the stuff! I guess I'll find out when I bottle it this evening before putting it in the fridge. 

Wish me luck that my kombucha, made from stuff I grew, turns out okay.

Spring: Full of (Garden) Hopes

Now that spring is well underway, I've managed to complete the majority of my planting. I did sort-of follow the "no planting until after Mother's Day" rule for Colorado. Now it's a waiting (and watering) game.

Sadly, the seeds we attempted to start in Maggie the Magical Potting Shed didn't take. L.E. and I are still trying to figure out what we're doing wrong, since we haven't gotten a seed to germinate in two years.

Since they didn't take, I bought some tomato starts from our local greenhouse/nursery. For the past couple of years, I've attempted to grow my tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets, but they've really struggled. At the end of last year, I decided to build two tomato boxes - one for each side of Whimsy's doorway. I had a couple of extra pallets lying around, so I chopped them up, gathered whatever random wood I could find, and built them. They're rustic as all get-out, a mis-matched mess. Or as L.E. would call them, 'whimsical'. I planted in them a few days ago, and the tomatoes are looking pretty good. Certainly better than they ever did in the 5-gallon buckets.

The boxes will eventually be painted barn red to match Whimsy.

Jay's favorite tomato to use the the San Marzano, so for the third year in a row, I'm trying. Nebalee and L.E.'s San Marzanos grew incredibly well last year. Mine did not. I ended up with about two quart bags of tomatoes for the freezer, and that was a stretch to get.

~~~

Last year, Mom decided it was time to replace the cross-buck fence that surrounded her horse pen. Her new fence looks amazing, and initially, I was more than happy to see the cross-buck go. Honestly, it was so old that it needed repaired every summer, and was in danger of falling over at any moment. It was a right pain in the arse. I was happy to see it go until I got all sentimental and realized I couldn't let the whole fence go. I needed a piece of our horse history, so I asked her for a section. The fence had contained two generations of mustangs: Ranger and Shadow; Ranger and Jesse, then Washoe. Estes. Skeeter. Alloy. Pearl. I couldn't let it go, I needed to keep a section.

At the time, I had some vague idea of using it to plant something in. I didn't know what at the time, but I knew I needed to have a piece of that fence. By the end of last summer, I'd decided that it would make a great pea patch and erected it between Whimsy and Maggie. I layered some manure from the horse pen, then added topsoil and let it sit all winter.

The peas needed something to climb, so L.E. loaned me
one of her foldable trellis things.

I love the peas' little "grabby hands" finding
and latching onto the support.

~~~

I am a lover of pallet projects, which shouldn't come as a surprise considering Whimsy and Maggie are both made from pallets. I built my tomato boxes from broken old pallets. Jay and I have a little "pallet porch" on the east side of our house with two Adirondack chairs that my uncle made from pallets. Between them sits a side table made from pallets, which now holds my fuchsias.

So it shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone that when L.E. had her windows replaced, and her new windows arrived on a structure made of pallets that I was eye-balling it. When she offered it to me, I couldn't jump on it fast enough. It just screamed to be used for some vining plant, but what?

I initially thought about pumpkin, because Nebalee's pumpkins last year climbed her arch and looked great. But ... I'm not a huge pumpkin fan. I already had peas and cucumbers accounted for in the cross-buck pea patch, so I decided to try my hand at sugar baby watermelons. L.E. and I can train them to climb, and with any luck, we will get a melon or two.

I spent last night enclosing the bottom pallet and filling it with manure and soil. The top of the back end of the pallet is just a hair over five feet. If the plants climb up the angled front part, and down the back (with some help and training from L.E. and me), that's about ten feet of climbing they've got. If necessary, I can add a hog panel to it in an arch, like I have in front of Whimsy. (Actually, I might do that anyway, just to be on the safe side.)

I didn't want the front half of the pallet to go unused, so I looked up companion plants for watermelon. The first two listed were peas and cucumbers, but those are already planted in the pea patch. I scrolled further and found that peppers are also a good companion. Jay and I use a lot of peppers, so I bought some pepper starts from some kids at a garage sale last week.

Jalapeno, serrano, serrano, habanero.
Hopefully, they'll survive.

~~~

On FB the other day, a friend of mine was saying that she's always wanted a big, beautiful garden, but the soil in her area is mostly clay and rocks. She lives less than 20 miles away, so I understand what she's talking about with regard to soil quality. The thing is, yes, our soil isn't the easiest to grow in, but there are work-arounds. For me, it's repurposing pretty much anything that will hold soil.

Potatoes in a tire stack

Garden freckles in old enamelware.
Concord grapes in the tires behind the pot.

Rusted out charcoal BBQ grill? Flowers.

Onions in the pallet collars.

I will never have the big, beautiful garden that my great-grandparents had, but the little bit that I do have is plenty. I must be getting old and sentimental, because I feel closer to my Great Grandma Wheeler when I garden (and when I can, but that's an end of the season thing).

The Potting Shed, Part 2

It took me a while to get my poop in a group and get started, but I managed to hire movers to move the potting bench out of LE's basement and coordinate with Ashinator's best Marine friend, Chief. In September, 2023 we broke ground.

My non-negotiables for the potting shed included:

1. The stained glass window from the lodge,
2. "Vintage" windows from Mom's cabin,
3. The "potting bench" from LE's basement,
4. An old door that had been living in one of the barns that I fell in love with.

We literally built the shed around the potting bench.

I 'rescued' some pallets from work to use.

Chief worked fast. This was all the first day.

I was astounded by how much someone who knows what they're doing can do in just one day. It would have taken Mom and I at least two days to get this far. Building a frame instead of just putting it together like a puzzle is genius, not to mention the correct way to do it.

Ashinator mentioned that the potting shed was looking "quirky", which became its working name. It fit.

Bright and early the next Saturday, Chief was back at it, putting the windows in. Some of the windows were missing panes, broken from being removed from the cabin, but I wasn't worried about it, considering Mom and I had become glass cutting "experts" with Whimsy.

Non-negotiables numbers 1 - 3 complete.

She looks like a real building with walls.

The requisite "I helped" picture.

I might not know a thing about framing walls,
but I can use a square and saw.

Again, I was amazed at how much Chief could accomplish in just a day, and I'm so thankful he volunteered to do this. All I had to do was feed him! I definitely got the better end of the deal.

By the end of the day, "Quirky" fit as a name. 

However, the minute we started putting the OSB up, she no longer looked quirky. I was floundering for a name, until LE walked out and said, "oh, she looks magical". Ashinator and I agreed that she did, indeed, look magical and immediately "The Magical Potting Shed" stuck. I love how LE just casually comes up with the perfect names. Ash immediately shortened "Magical" to "Maggie", which I embraced. Maggie was named within a day or so of Dame Maggie Smith's death, so it seemed even more fitting.

Welcome to the family, Maggie.

The Potting Shed, Part 1

 Following my failure with getting seeds to start in Whimsy, I decided we needed a potting shed. And, it just so happened that the Bionic Cowgirl was getting the windows replaced in her cabin, which meant more free windows! I seriously can't let an old window go to waste.

Plus, there was this amazing stained glass window that she'd brought down for Whimsy that we never got incorporated, so I had to build something to hold the window, right?

This window stood sentry outside of Whimsy,
just waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.

Plus, LE had offered me a cabinet a few years ago. The catch was that I'd have to get it up from her basement without ruining her beautiful floors. It was a heavy piece of furniture, with bins for flour and sugar, but, more importantly for me, a pull-out bread board for rolling dough. That piece of furniture was never far from my mind, and last spring I had a eureka moment in which I realized that would be the perfect potting bench. There were drawers for supplies, and two tilt-out bins that we could put potting soil in. It needs some love, but not a lot. I'll strip the paint from the top, sand it and the pull-out board, and seal the surfaces with polyurethane, then she'll be ready to go.

It needs some love, but not a lot.

Old windows from Mom's cabin, a stained glass window that she and Beel found in the lodge attic, and a potting bench from LE. All signs pointed to being required to build a potting shed. My mind made up, I hired movers to get the potting bench up from LE's basement and chose a spot near Whimsy that would be easy-ish to reach with a hose.

I gathered some pallets from work and contacted a friend of Ashinator's to help with the build. I knew that I had to make it less air-flow-y than Whimsy, so I had to call in someone who know what the heck he was doing.

Our Own Garden!

I swear, I blinked and it's June.  How does that happen?  It's frustrating the heck out of me, that's for sure.

Jay and I haven't been idle, though.  As soon as the depressing rain let up (seriously, something like 6" of rain in May), we got started on our outdoor projects.

I was chomping at the bit to get our very own garden in.  The last two years, we've shared a garden with his parents, but having to drive 40 minutes to harvest anything out of it wasn't ideal.  Deejo has been amazing with supplying all of the wood I need for my "projects".  We were going to build boxes for the garden and were talking to him about it, and he said, "just use some pallet collars".  I had no idea what a pallet collar was, but agreed that if he could get me some, I'd use them.  Let me tell you, they are the bestest things in the world!  We didn't have to do any construction, really.  We just unfolded them and stuck them down into the ground (after Jay leveled a bit and laid out some weed barrier).

The folded up things are the pallet collars

We planted mosquito-repellant plants

A couple of weeks after it went in; there's some baby lettuce peeking up on the right.

To make it a little prettier, we laid some sand and gravel down between the boxes.  We also moved the round planters off of the table and put them "temporarily" between the boxes, but liked them so much they're going to live there.

I got so excited about the lettuce and the possibility of not having to buy my salad mix from the store, that I cut some to use on a five-layer dip.  The next day, I went back out to the garden and the rabbits (I didn't even know we had rabbits!) had eaten it down.  I stomped around for a bit and then headed to Home Depot to remedy the situation.

No more critters eating my lettuce!

The garden is doing okay, with the exception of my carrots.  I bought fancy carrots because they made me giggle, and planted two rows of them, but only three have come up.  I'm really sad about that, not because I love to eat carrots, but because I wanted to see if they really grew the colors the package said they would.  But now I'll probably never know because only three damn seeds sprouted, and I think it's too late to plant more, but I might just because.

Wouldn't these be cool?