My Garden 2012

[matt walker]

Oh Guy, this one still has me laughing. i apologize, I'm not really laughing at you, but I just love your attitude. I need a little laughter right now, I'm in the middle of a hellish project I started kinda without really planning yesterday.

I've been meaning to gut my basement, which is HUGE, like 1200 sq ft, with a lot of rooms. It was finished with paneling in like 1972 or something. It gets wet down there, always has, and I have always meant to take everything out, but it's a huge job so I've procrastinated. Well, yesterday, I thought I'd take off one panel and see what it looked like. Uh oh. 8 hours, and like 100 trips up the stairs and out, and I'm about 1/4 of the way done completely demolishing it. There's mold around the lowest sections where the drywall met the floor behind the paneling, but thankfully it didn't climb beyond the lowest seam on the drywall, as all moisture was on the floor. Still, it's nasty, hard work, wearing a full face respirator and white tyvek suit. Sweaty, nasty, back breaking. I'm off to the dump with the first load here shortly, then back at it.

Why is this in my garden thread? Well, it's nice and springy outside, and I'm dying to be in the garden, but this was the big task at the top of my list for this year, and if I can get it all out, it can dry all summer and I can play in the garden feeling like I'm not neglecting the inside projects. Ugh. I wish I just messed up a row. What a HUGE mistake it was not gutting this when I bought the place almost 10 years ago.

[Lollykoko]

Hindsight is always 20/20 isn't it. Is it time for using that Sahara product on your walls, Matt?

[matt walker]

Ugh. This is awful.

Yeah Lolly, hindsight. Man oh man, I wish I had done this a long time ago. As for the Sahara, well, it's not coming through the foundation walls I don't think, I'm pretty sure it comes over in a spot or two.

I bought the place as an estate, so there was no one to ask about the history, but I'm pretty sure it was seeing moisture for it's whole life. I dug curtain drains when I moved in, rented the machine, put in the perforated pipe and drain rock, the whole nine. It dried the basement out for a few years, and I figured that was good enough. Fast forward to now, and I think the sediment from uphill has finally overloaded my drain system, and the water is once again able to get over the foundation a couple times a year. I still didn't think much of it, as the floor is slab and there is a drain, and the water just runs down one exposed concrete wall into the drain. No big deal, right? Wrong, the moisture in the drywall never left, since it was covered with paneling. Ugh, yucky!!

Anyway, once I get the bad stuff out, I won't care that there's moisture down there a few times a year. As long as I can see everywhere it is and dry it out, and it's not in contact with any wood. So, while this is awful work, the upside is that in a few more days, I'll be out of the woods and can take my time figuring out the next step. Currently my thought process is that trying to keep the water out for good is going to be futile. I think I'll rent a concrete saw and cut a channel in the slab all around the basement and install a sump. Maybe, I'm going to have to see how it all behaves once I can see the whole foundation.

Well, back in the respirator for me.

[pa_friendly_guy]

Glad you are wearing protection Matt. A friend of mine teaches classes about, Lead, Aspestos. mold etc, it can be nasty stuff depending on what type it is. Washing the walls etc down with a diluted bleach water will kill any mold spores that maybe left. I personally would not worry too much, I have dampness in the back basement and run a dehumidifyer to correct it, but there is still some mold from time to time. It never hurt me none, cough, cough, sniff, sniff,

[matt walker]

Thanks Guy, I'm pretty tough (read "stupid") when it comes to this kinda stuff, but I have the protective gear, so I'm wearing it. I've got the lowest 3 feet or so of all the walls torn out now, I'm pretty sure that's the extent of the mold. I will tear out the rest, but my priority was getting the moldy/wet bits out. I can see the foundation all the way around now, and I think it's gonna be just fine. There won't be anywhere for mold to grow, so a little moisture now and then won't hurt. I think if I just abandon the idea of the basement being "finished" it's going to be just fine. It was lunacy to try to finish it with drywall and hidden voids back there between the drywall and concrete in the first place. Nothing in this climate is ever truly dry.

[matt walker]

Well, it's been awhile since I updated this. Haven't had any really big days in the garden but I have slowly been ramping up, getting ready for our real spring. It seems it's finally here, temps in the mid fifties today. Still a chance of frost, according to my journal we had a good one on 4-19 last year. Anyway, here's the updates:

4-2:Sowed Serpentine garlic and Becky's Garlic from A Fragrant Path seeds.

4-3: Dug a bit more raised/sloped bed space. Started woodchip inoculation with H.U.G. mushroom patch from FungiPerfecti.

4-6: Transplanted two types of tomatoes into low tunnel from in the house. I think it's early, but they are extras, so sacrificial to test the nighttime temps and suitability of the tunnel this early for tomatoes. Update 4-10: All seem to be thriving so I think the rest are gonna go out in the next day or two.
4-6 continued: Transplanted Baby Chinese Cabbage out of low tunnel. Planted Wasabi plants by the spring. Fenced in lower rotational grazing area, around 350' new fencing.

4-9: Planted Goji Berry plants out. Transplanted more Baby Chinese Cabbage and Joi Choi out from tunnel.

Two calves born this week, 6 chicks born so far this week.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I finally finished the dirt sifting for this season. I layed out the garden and put in sticks for my spacing. I planted a 1 ft wide row of carrots. The same size row of beets. Planted 1 hill of zuccini and 1 row of green beens. My thoughts are that I can loose that much seed. My lettus and spinich are all up. as well as the poatos and onions, It is to be down to 32 tonight and tommorrow night. The 3rd week of April is the normal last date for frost here, so we are right on schedual. The seeds will not be up yet, the potatos and onions and garlic can take the cold. The lettus and spinich maybe a problem. I am debating about covering them but I will be in WVa at a birthday party for my one year old Grandson. Two Dallors worth of seed, oh well, if it lives it lives.

[matt walker]

Sounds about the same as here Guy. We're right on the cusp of the growing season, but I've moved a few "canary in the coalmine" seedlings out from under the tunnels in the last week to test the waters, and they just sit there and look pissed off at me. Little beet starts, and some chinese cabbage and joi choi, all three just stopped growing and look mad, while their counter parts under cover are growing in leaps and bounds. Oh well, soon enough.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I got home from the Birthday party around 8:30 pm, dark here and getting cold. I dragged some old blankets up to the garden and covered the lettus and spinich. I did not worry about the taters or the onions. They are calling for up to 6 inches of snow here tonight. It will be cold here tommorrow night as well. 6 Inches of snow,,,,,,,,,in April,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh poop,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,how the heck did this happen? What happened to that Global warming stuff? I have tried to push the season a bit every year since I retired. I have had to cover plants befor for a night or 2, that is normally all the cold snap we get in April. 6 inches of snow is a totally different animal, that is awful. That much snow is like winter has re-stated here, going to set us back quite a bit. I had given up on the fruit trees anyway, but 6" of snow on the trees will leave no doubt about the fruit out come for the year. Even the cane fruit and the blue berrys could be effected. All of the trees have started to leaf out now, I do not think it will effect them at all. The butterfly bushes could be a different matter. They had started to leaf out earlier when it was so warm and got nipped by the cold. Now they have started again and will again get nipped. They could cause alot of problems with the flowers and might even kill the plants. I had mulched them very heavy last fall, so I maybe alright . Only time will tell. This is the kind of crap that sends Farmers into a tizzy, and I understand why. I need to let things go and realize that I have no control over this situation, the stress is not worth it, lol, and since I am NOT in Charge I guess I have no worries, what ever happens Happens.

[matt walker]

I had a great weekend in the garden. Got a new bed dug and prepped, and got all the onion seedlings out of the low tunnel and into beds. That was a big job, but feels great to have 'em in.