Onions

Here are the type onion seed I am using.

Patterson Hybrid Onion This yellow early onion keeps for a long time. Medium-large bulbs have straw-colored skin and small necks that dry quickly. Much less sulfur than other varieties, resulting in that coveted sweet-onion flavor. Excellent raw on burgers and in salsa, and makes a wonderful French onion soup. A long-day onion that matures in 105 days

Ailsa Craig Exhibition Sweet Onion
This popular heirloom onion is renowned for producing exhibition size 2 pound globe shaped onions even in areas with shorter, cooler growing seasons. The huge bulbs have straw-colored yellow skin and sweet, firm white flesh. . Not recommended for long storage. A long-day onion that matures in 95 days

I did not know this but you get bigger and better onions from seeds than you do by using onion sets. I just thought I could save some money by growing them from seed. Here is what I found out.
Onions grow the first year to make big onion bulbs. The second year they grow to make seeds. When you use onion sets you are using onions in their second year. Yes, the onion sets will grow bulbs but then use a lot of the energy to grow seeds. In the center of the onion it will grow a scape to flower and make seeds. This scape in the onion can be hard to dry down and stay a bit green. This can shorten the storage time you can keep them for.

Now you know why it is better to grow them from seed.

Sugar cake for bees

That is when we need to add a sugar cake to the hive. A sugar cake is added right on top of the frames in the hive so the bees can get to it easily. When the weather gets back to cold temperature you cannot feed them sugar water in a feeder because it is too cold. That is why you need to use a sugar cake to feed the bees.

The last several days have had been as low as 11f and some days not getting above freezing. I want to do what I can to make the hive survive till spring.

This last week I made up a sugar cake to feed the bees. I put it on the have Tuesday when the temperature got above 55f. I hope this will give them enough food to get them in to spring. I will add the other half in about a week when it gets above 55f. A sugar cake is made by mixing sugar in water and heating it up to a temperature so it will turn hard like a big piece of hard candy.

I take a 4 pound bag of sugar and 14 ounces of water. Bring the water to a boil then slowly add the sugar until all the sugar is a mixture in the boiling pot. Using a candy thermometer keep boiling until the temperature reaches 250F. I then add 2 drops of tea tree oil and 1 drop of wintergreen oil to the mix. Then I pour it into an 11x16 inch cake pan lined with parchment paper. Let it harden then I break it in half and it is ready to add to the hive.

We will see if this keeps them going till spring.

Peppers Transplant

The Chinese Giant had 8 of the 12 seeds grow.

The Big Red Sweet peppers had 9 of the 12 seeds grow.

The seeds I saved from the pepper I bought at the store had 3 of the 9 seeds I planted grow.

The King of The North did not have any come up but remember these were old seeds. Scroll down to where I planted the seeds to see how old they were.

The peppers grew faster than I had expected to this point. I think the light I posted earlier had a lot to do with how fast they got their true leafs.

The pepper plants are now big enough to be moved into a larger container. I used the solo cups from last year. ( you can see that on page 1 ) I put some potting soil in the bottom of the solo cups carefully dug out the peppers, placed it in the cup and added potting soil around the roots. I pressed the soil around the roots lightly and gave it a little water to help settle the soil around the roots.

I placed them in the window. They will be their until I plant them outside.

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Bee Swarm Trap

I had found many places where people were talking about swarm traps and most are saying to build them at about 40 liters. I did the math and came up with about 2450 square inches. The swarm trap in the photo on the left was one I built a few years ago. I did catch one small swarm in it. It just was not doing as good of a job as I would have thought. Doing the math on the trap 9.5" X 7.5" X 18" I came up with 1282 sq in. Just a bit more than half the size they were saying for a good size.

I had a 1"x12"X4' left over and some plywood from a project and did the math on a box I could make a new trap out of it. The inside space would be 11.25" x 14"x 18" or 2835 sq in. That would make it larger than the minimum size for a swarm trap. With that info I built a new trap, the one on the right in the photo.

To help attract the bees to my new swarm trap I am going to place a bee frames with plastic and bees wax foundation in first.

Next a bee hive frames with old comb so the queen can start laying eggs. The old comb will help the place smell like home.

Then I will add 4 more frames with a starter strip to help the bees build come in the frames and not some place where it would make it harder when moving them in to a hive.

I will add some bee propolis that I have to the bottom of the box. Then give it a spray of swarm commander (a swarm lure) in the box and at the entrance

Here where I live I have noticed that most of the swarms happen in late April or May when the temperature is above 85f. I went out last year on the first day when it was above 85f to see if I could spot any swarms. I sat down near my swarm trap and watch several bees checking it out. I thought a swarm might move in any day but none did. It must have just been too small for them.

Bees use landmarks to navigate, railroad tracks, roads, rivers and power lines. I live where all of these cross in less than one eighth of a mile making it a good place to put up a swarm trap. In less than one eighth of a mile I have 3 roads, a river, power line, and railroad tracks. I have seen as many as 6 swarms here in one year.


I will let you know how this new Swarm Trap works out. If you are thinking about keeping bees this is a way to save on buying your bees.

Basil and Eggplant

I placed 12 seeds in the container and covered them with about ¼ inch of potting soil, I water them and placed them on the heat mat with the peppers I planted last week. I will move them to a larger container when they get their first true leafs.

I also planted some Large Leaf Basil seeds.

The basil seeds are small so I just sprinkled a few in each cell. Then I just ran my finger across the seeds to settle them in to the potting soil. I then sprayed them with water and added them In the tray with the heat mat.

In the front row on the right I planted 12 seeds for Chinese Giant organic peppers.

Chinese Giant peppers are extremely large almost squared. The fruits can grow up to 6 inches tall and 4.5 inches in diameter. Medium-thick flesh that is sweet and mild. The fruits are green and can turn red when mature .

Seedlings should be planted 12 to 18 inches apart.

I am trying this pepper because most of the peppers that I have grown here in NY don’t get very big. Hoping these will do better than one in the past.

In the front row on the right I planted 12 seeds for Big Red Sweet peppers.

Big Red Sweet peppers are very sweet thick flesh. They turn from green to red and are 4 inch tall bell peppers. Excellent for fresh market or home gardens.

Seedlings should be planted 12 to 16 inches apart.

In the back row on the right I planted several King of The North. These seeds are from a package of 2017 that I tested for germination and only a few germinated. I had good luck growing them back then and hope a couple seeds will grow.

 
The King of the North is a good bell pepper for colder weather and short-season. This pepper has a thick flesh, mild and sweet.

The pepper seeds in the back row on the right. I planted 6 seeds I saved from a pepper I purchased at the store. It was a large green sweet pepper. When I tested the seeds for germination they did well so I only planted 6 seeds. I just wanted to see if I could get large peppers from the plants.

I planted the seeds in potting soil put about ¼ inch potting soil over seeds. Moisten the soil and put them on a heat mat. I will transplant them into a larger pot when they have their first true leafs.

Potting soil and Garden Supplies 

Pyrethrum Daisy

Hearing Loss

Grow lights

I was trying to grow a little romaine lettuce in my window. This year we have had nothing but very cloudy days and the lettuce was almost dead because it was not getting enough light.

That was when I knew I needed to do something because it would not be long when I will be starting seedling for this year.

I found a 4000k led shop light at a local store on sale for $29. That is more in my price range. Yea it might not be as good as a Full-Spectrum LED Grow Light but I am just doing this as a hobby.

Just 2 days after I put up the new LED light I could see a bit of new life in the plants.

Only time will tell if this light will help my seedlings not be so leggy.

Plague, war, famine.. How our ancestors conquered it all...

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Bees February 9

This gives me hope that they might make it to spring. When you get a warm day at this time in NY, the bees come out to do a cleansing flight.

Seed Germination Test

Or some old seeds you had leftover.

Fold the paper towel over and spray them with some water.

Place the paper towel in a plastic bag and put it in a warm dark place for 4 or 5 days.

Take them out to see if they started to germinate.

If your seeds did not start to germinate, you will know you need to order some more seeds.

I hope this helps you get ready for the new year of growing.

Hearing Loss

Mung Bean Sprouts

Then drain them and let sit in a dark place. Rinse the seeds off 2 or 3 times a day and drain well.
They will start germinating in about a day. After 4 or 5 days they will grow big enough to eat.

I put them in a plastic bowel in the refrigerator and they will last several days

I like them just eat them as a healthy snack just as they are.
Mung Bean Sprouts are also good to add to your salad.
You can find several recipes for Mung Bean stir-fry on the internet.
Sprouting is fun and easy. Give it a try.

Plague, war, famine.. How our ancestors conquered it all...

Honey Bees

This is an update on how the Honey Bees were doing as they went into winter.

The bee swarm I got last summer was a little bit late. I feed them some sugar water to help give them a good start.

I checked the bees out about 2 weeks after I got them and it looked like they had a good queen. They had several frames of brood. ( new bees in the growing stage from eggs to bees ready to come out as workers.)

A few weeks later the hive was just over full with bees. Being late in the year I added a shallow box to the hive. I checked them for mites and all was good.

Just 2 weeks later when the goldenrod was about done for the year. I did a check to see how much honey they had. The brood area was just full of honey. It looked like they were honey bound. Honey bound is where the bees fill the brood area with honey a fast as the new bees emerge from the come. This leaves no place for the queen to lay eggs.

I took out one of the frames that didn’t have much honey in it. I put in a frame of comb that was drawn out in the middle of the have to give the queen a place to lay eggs. The queen slows down in laying eggs in the late fall. She still needs to lay a few eggs for winter bees to make it through the winter.

The bees stay in a tight cluster to keep warm and eat the honey in the hive to stay alive. If they get damp they will be unable to keep warm. They need to keep dry, keep warm, have enough new bees, and enough honey to make it through the winter.

In early spring when the bees start flying I will need to check and see If they need to be feed sugar water to get them through till the flowers start coming out.

Strawberries

Egg Shells

What do you do with your egg shells?
Did you know they are high in calcium carbonate?

I just put them in an old coffee can. When it gets full a use a 1 inch wood dowel rod to crush them down. I keep adding to the can until it gets almost full.

I then spread them on my garden and work them into the soil. Egg Shell takes a lot of time to break down to release the calcium carbonate. To speed this up you can add vinegar to the shells. It will foam up and help break down the shells. Adding shells to your garden can help stop blossom end rot on tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

I also use them to add grit to my worm bed. This helps the worms digest their food. It also helps with the PH of the worm castings. I take the crushed shells and place them in the oven to kill off any bad bacteria. Then grind them in an old coffee grinder and grind them up so the worms can use them.

I add this to the food scraps when I feed the worms.

I am sure you have some other uses for egg shells.

Filling my raised bed garden.

The next thing I did was get some of the tree limbs I had and place them in to take up some space.

The town has a place where they take the leaves they pickup in the fall. The leaves are sucked up and run through a shredder. They dump them in a pile and they are packed down. If you are a village taxpayer, you can go there and get them for free. Maybe your town has a place like that. I got 6 garbage bags of these leaves and put them in the raised bed. I found that if I had about that many more leaves it would help me take up more space. The next day I went there and got 6 more bags of leaves. I leveled them out and let them settle in for a couple weeks.

A friend brought me some dirt to top things off. I will leave it till spring to settle in.

Sweet Potato Slips

In mid June when it would be time to plant the sweet potato slips I didn’t have any yet. By midsummer the sweet potato I placed in dirt still did not show any signs of anything happening. In August I was about to throw it out I noticed a small shot coming out of the sweet potato. So I decided to give it a little more time and a couple weeks later I had some nice vines growing.

I cut some of the vines in several pieces.

Placed them in to water to see if they would root.

A few weeks later I checked and the cutting did root just fine.

What I did find out was organic sweet potatoes will grow vines in 6 to 8 weeks. The ones you buy in the store that are not organic are often sprayed with a root inhibitor. That may be the reason it took so long. If you want to give it a try from ones you buy at the store. You may want to start in at Christmas time. Better yet get an organic sweet potato.

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Big Bat Box
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Mosquitoes and bugs.

Mosquitoes can carry viruses, bacteria, and parasites in their saliva. They can transmit those pathogens into your body, causing severe and even life-threatening illness.
Mosquitoes are known to be carriers of Malaria, West Nile virus, Dengue fever, Yellow fever, and several viruses that cause encephalitis.

It has been estimated that one bat can eat up to 8000 mosquito-sized insects each night. Mosquitoes are bats primary diet, which make them a great natural mosquito predator.

Bats do eat other variety of insects. Some of the other insects are, Moths, Beetles, Weevils, Flies, Lacewings, Dragonflies, Grasshoppers, and Crickets.
As you can see, Bats are a gardeners friend.

Why not help them out by putting up a place for them to live. A bat house would be a great gift for any gardener. Why not get one for yourself or a friend at Big Bat Box.

Butternut Squash Pie

Ingredients
2 cups Butternut Squash puree
1 8 oz cream cheese
2  Large eggs
2  tablespoons brown sugar
1  teaspoon ground cinnamon
� teaspoon ground ginger
� teaspoon ground nutmeg
� teaspoon salt
1  9” pie crust

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
Mix room temperature cream cheese, eggs and brown sugar until smooth.
Then add the spices mix them in.
Then add the Butternut Squash puree and mix until smooth.
Pour into crust. I use a 9” gram cracker pie crust I get from the store.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue backing for about 35 minutes.
Check to make sure the pie is done with a knife by inserting the knife 1 inch from crust and it come out clean.

Let cool before serving.

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Medicinal Garden Kit
Big Bat Box
Quality power stations.

Rolling Blackouts

If demand for electricity exceeds the power supply capability of the network. Rolling blackouts may be put in to effect.

Rolling blackouts may be local or may be more widespread and affect entire countries. This is where the power is shut off for a couple hours. Then back on for a few hours and off and on until demand for electricity lowers to the point the network can handle it.

What will you do for lights, a fan, your computer, or many things you need to use that takes electricity?

If the electricity is out for a longer time your refrigerator or freezer may need power so the food does not go bad.

Here in the north several people use wood pellets or coal stoves to heat with. Most of them use a small amount of electricity to run a small fan to keep them burning.

Stop and think what you would need if you had rolling blackouts.
Here is a tool that may make your life a bit better when the electric goes out. A power station or sometimes call a solar generator. They fill in that gap when you have rolling blackouts. You can charge them up when the power is on and use power out of them when the power is out. You can also use a solar panel to charge them up. This makes them a great tool for any kind of power outage. They are also a good tool for outdoor fun where there is no electric and you need some.

One of the things I like about them is they don't make much noise like a gas generator would. When camping for a long time you could charge them up with solar or a gas generator in the day time and use the power at night. This will keep the others that are camping happy because they will not hear it running.


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Beets in a bucket.

I pulled the 5 beets out and cleaned off most of the dirt.

I took them in the house and washed the rest of the dirt off. Put a pot on the stove with water and brought it to a boil. While I was doing that I cut off the tops leaving about 1 inch and put ice and water in the sink. I put the beets in the boiling water for 5 minutes took them out and right in the ice water in the sink. Then I took off the skins sliced them up and cooked them. I had a few for my supper that night.

I like the Cylindra beets because they make more even sized beet slices. They also have a good taste.

I don’t have as much luck with growing in buckets as I would like. Quite often I would find the buckets dry needing water. I think they would have done better if I had at least checked them every day even if it had rained.

Medicinal Garden Kit

Raised Bed Garden

I then stuck it through the hole in the panels and found out the panels were also magnetic.

This held the screw tight agents the panel leaving the screw in plain sight. It was almost like getting the third hand I needed to put this together.

I started putting two panels together so I would have less to do when I put them in place. I used a 10 mm socket on an extension to screw the nuts up hand tight.

I went out where I was going to place the raised bed garden and put down fabric to place it on.

I took the parts out and started putting them together. Because the screws were only hand tight and the side are longer that they would be if it was just one kit. I had to find something to hold the sides up while I was putting it together. I took 2 5 gallon buckets and filled them half way with dirt and found that would do the job.

I finished putting all the sides together. Then went around and tightened all the screws.

It took me about 2 weeks to get this far. Now I need to get it filled so it can settle over the winter.

Walmart for the Holidays

Zucchini

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