May 17, 2008
GX-1134 Primary Sowing
A posse of slave labor will be coming over Sunday and planting for the season shall be done. We have the Horticultural Polymers! Horticultural Polymers are what the pros use! Before any plants are put into the ground, a minimum of 2 hours of weed pulling is required. The price we pay for fresh veggies…
---LIVE URBAN GARDEN CAM, DENVER, COLORADO---
Vegetables shall be:
Edamame, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, carrots, green beans, pie pumpkins, potatoes, garlic, radishes, celebrity tomatoes, super fantastic tomatoes, leeks, okra, red peppers, green peppers, orange peppers, cayenne peppers, Serrano peppers, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, saffron and a myriad of herbs like dill and rosemary and sage and basil including the space basil. A “stew garden” will be planted consisting of peas, carrots, green beans, onions and celery.
And more sunflowers will be planted. And more flowers in general. And the Moon Pole, the sweet Moon Pole with Moon Flowers – hip hip huzzay! This garden is 4 times bigger than last year – and no massive pumpkins to hog up precious space.
It's better than the farmer's market!
PS: The Bearded Iris are in bloom.
May 10, 2008
The Moon Pole
This whiskey barrel will have a Moon Pole.
This “tree” will be placed in the whiskey barrel to create the Moon Pole.
MoonFlowers will be planted in the whiskey barrel. With 10 to 20-foot vines, the deliciously fragrant heirloom MoonFlower (Ipomoea alba) unfurls huge white blossoms at dusk. The plants have large heart-shaped leaves.
It will be glorious.
May 7, 2008
May 2, 2008
April 29, 2008
April 24, 2008
The Great Sunflower Project
I have joined The Great Sunflower Project to produce the first real map of the state of the bees. Some bees have had severe declines, such as Colony Collapse Disorder, which may be affecting food production. No one has ever measured how much pollination is happening over a region or continent, especially urban areas such as the Denver. Without pollinators, there will be no pollination, which in turn means there will be no fruits and veggies!
The Great Sunflower Project will supply me with wild, native sunflower (Helianthus annuus) seeds. Twice a month I'll collect the following data: temperature, count the number of flowers on the Sunflower plant and time how long it takes for five bees to visit. I will report the data online for their study.
Sunflowers make you happy.
Sunflowers make you smarter.
Sunflowers are wicked cool.
Sunflowers help you make friends.
Sunflowers make work go by quickly.
Sunflowers will teach you about science.
Sunflowers are pretty.
Sunflowers are a cherished gift.
Sunflowers are in my garden. (What about yours?)
Sunflowers will help.
I've joined the hunt for bees!!
April 21, 2008
April 20, 2008
planting
Planted sunflowers and ornamental corn this day.
WORM SIGN!
April 16, 2008
Moritz Embroidery Works
The Moritz Embroidery Works in Pennsylvania have been doing embroidery since 1885. They provided us with our mission patches the past 3 years.
The company was notified today of the mission patch all-weather testing done by Pumpkin Lord James. The images are being passed around the company this instant.
PLJ was asked if they were for space.
Day 291 and counting…
Mission Patch Project Alpha 1 Gallery
April 14, 2008
April 13, 2008
April 8, 2008
True Leaves
The King Arthur green bell pepper plants are 60 days old and starting to grow true leaves! I will care for it until it grows strong and tall and then I will eat it's fruit.
April 6, 2008
The Smoke
The first smoked BBQ of the season; BBQ chicken quarters with apple wood, zucchini, yellow and red peppers.
April 5, 2008
March 29, 2008
Garden Hulks
Construction of the serendipitous beds of Earth for the GX-1134 Urban Garden was done this day. COMPLETE GX-1134 GALLERY HERE
Laborious. How does one muster the troops so early when they’re weakened by the appetite and lack of sleep? They are stricken with a painful twitch that hungers for breakfast. I know breakfast. Nothing feeds the pre-manual labor body like a plate of homemade biscuits and gravy.
Then we worked...
March 27, 2008
The exotic spice
I am on vacation and exotic adventure waits. The spice of life. The spice must flow.
A rock-hunting trip perhaps? I’ve always wanted to see the K/T boundary. Loosing oneself in the old maps at the Western History Collection in the Denver Public Library? Walking tours of historic Denver? Disco Mountain concert? Or a journey to the Rockies in the west for early spring fishing? A pleasant visit to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science? My book! My book! I must finish my book! And my short Lunar story shall be edited soon.
And gardening. Work will continue on the Great eXperiment GX-1134 Urban Garden. Plans upon plans upon drawings upon blueprints upon lumber trek complete, a plot of ground will be forged this Saturday. From the depths of sterile nothingness shall come new-fangled soil to till; fresh surface for the seed plant; the nutritious Earth edged in redwood and built by the fuel of biscuits and gravy and Venti Chai tea with 7 pumps of sugar free cinnamon dolce syrup, soy milk, extra foam, misto and 7 packets of Splenda brand sweetener. Serendipity! The tools of the strange garden realm will be commanded.
I need 16 cubic feet of soil: garden soil, organic soil, enriched planting mushroom compost, steer manure, peat and sheep and those horticultural polymers. Those magnificent horticultural polymers. I lord-master the nature. My thumbs have a green stain.
The mission patch … what will it be? What could it be? What grandeur can be made to compare to those images of times past?
Life aplenty to be had. So much to do. How does one sleep when there is so much to experience?
March 21, 2008
Tulips, Reggie the Robin and Seeds
Seed Stash
Reggie the Robin guards the garlic and potato
Tulips
Spring
Now that spring has come, sun tea, radish and wildflower planting are the call of the times.
Icicle Radish, white, long radish.
Pink Beauty Radish, pastel pink, round radish.
Cherriette Radish, smooth, bright red radish.
Multicolor mix Easter Egg Radish, mix of red, purple and white round radishes.
A custom STS-13L Wildflower Gauge was installed in a pot.
by RAD
O’ Spring,
rebirth and renewal
a cog in the hoop of all things
replace the splendor of the winter
bringing color and warmth
thy dirt is mine friend
Das Ende
March 18, 2008
Radish Festival in a Months Time
I am planting a gaggle of radishes Thursday, the first day of Spring. I will plant them in waves to provide a steady crop of radishy goodness.
Here is the rundown of what I will plant:
Pink Beauty Radish: a pastel pink, round radish with delicious uniform roots and medium tops. These pink beauties have a nice, tender, crisp texture and taste. There are whispers that this is an eye-catching, top-quality radish. I cannot wait to taste these in salads or straight from the Earth.
Cherriette Radish: smooth with bright red roots; dense and crisp with a sweet/hot taste.
Easter Egg Mix Radish: a multicolor mix making beautiful bunches with a mix of red, purple and white round radishes. They stay crisp and mild even when large.
Some of last year’s STS-13L radishes:
Also, in other gardening news, well woes really, my jalapeno pepper sproutlings, all five of them, were eaten by a wormy looking caterpillar insect which I dispatched in anger by flushing the bastard down the toilet into the sewer systems beyond my realm.
March 15, 2008
March 11, 2008
Farming
Farming runs in the family. It’s in my blood.
My 4th great grandfather William Colwill was a farmer in England. His daughter married my 3rd great grandfather John Rutledge Bailey and moved the family to America from Devonshire (Devon) England after 1842. They settled in Jefferson Township, Knox County, Ohio.
Another 3rd great grandfather, Ebeneezer Jennings Whitney, was a farmer and a mechanic near Hartford, Vermont until October 1837 when he and his family moved to Knox County, Ohio.
Ebenezer Jennings Whitney and Sarah Amanda Boardman
Eben’s ancestor Eustace De Whitney, born in 1080, dates the Whitney family back 22 generations in England. The Whitney family emigrated from London to America aboard the "Elizabeth and Ann" in April 1635, settling in Watertown, Massachusetts.
My 2nd great grandfather Elias Dale was a farmer and a preacher who couldn’t read or write in Kansas. The family used the "Diehl" spelling until the late 1700's. Then they used the "Deal" spelling until about 1850. The "Dale" spelling is currently in use.
Elias Dale
Another 2nd great grandfather’s family came from County Tyrone, Ireland. Charles Matthew Culbertson, a twin who had 2 sets of twins himself, was a farmer who in 1891, having grown moderately prosperous raising strawberries in Indiana, looked for greener pastures and moved to Pratt County Kansas. He was known as “The Strawberry King.” Even when he became almost blind he continued to farm strawberries, sweet potatoes and onion sets.
My great grandfather Whitney John Bailey was a wheat farmer in Pratt, Kansas where his family lived in the early 1900s.
Whitney John Bailey and Dora Emma Culbertson
Both my grandfathers escaped the Kansas farming life. Grandpa Louis Leroy Bailey always had a nice garden in Pueblo, Colorado.
My father Richard Charles Dale had a grand urban garden in Aurora, Colorado.
Hundreds of years of farmers reside in my family. I am no different.
there will be ... ...
There will be peppers:
There will be tomatoes:
There will be goodness:
And more. So much more.
March 9, 2008
STS-666 STS13L Weather tests
Mission Patch all-weather testing day 252 side by side comparison. Scan by Pumpkin Lord James.
March 8, 2008
March 4, 2008
Possible Config
A possible configuration for the Urban Garden this year. There will be more room for vegetables of the consuming kind.
February 24, 2008
Day 15 Pepper Experiments
Day 15 Gourmet Pepper (Orange)
Capsicum annuum
An experiment in sowing.
Planted on 09 Feb 08
Day 15 King Arthur Pepper
Capsicum annuum
A sowing experiment.
Planted on 09 Feb 08
Day 15 Hot Alarm Pepper Mix
Helianthus annuus
A sowing experiment. 7 kinds of heat, pepper hot alarm mix.
Planted on 09 Feb 08
February 22, 2008
February 18, 2008
You repaid his hospitality by trying to steal his ship and murder him!
PLJ's Botany Bay Seedling test Ceti Alpha V
THIS IS CETI ALPHA V!!
February 16, 2008
February 9, 2008
Docking and Gardening
After a clean launch and ascent to orbit on Thursday February 7, 2008, Space Shuttle Atlantis and her STS-122 crew will dock with the International Space Station Alpha today at 10:25 am MT/ 12:25 pm ET.
On flight day two the crewmembers completed Atlantis’ heat shield inspection, which looked damage free and showed nothing of interest.
Atlantis is hauling the European Space Agency’s Columbus research laboratory as well as European Space Agency astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who will replace Expedition 16 Flight Engineer Daniel Tani.
My life is the mission right now. And gardening. 1st gardening day of the season is today. The ground is frozen and there is snow. Pictures to come of course.
February 6, 2008
Space Seeds
Yes friends, the Droogs are powerful people. Kneel before us.
Cinnamon Basil seeds have been obtained for GX-1134, the urban garden mission for 2008. I’m not whispering of plain, regular, shabby basil seeds bought at any hole seed shack. Oh no. We run only the finest operation here in the Colorado, sparing no expense and leaving no stone unturned.
I have learned much of gardening these past two years. The battles have been harsh. Mold, mildew, mice, insect pests, squirrels, birds, wasps, hail, floods and City Fox. The very Mother Nature herself both blessed and damned the garden.
But Barnabas still stands true. It’s time to apply the knowledge gleaned to The Great eXperiment. And we will.
The seeds? The seeds! Our Cinnamon Basil seeds flew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-118 in August of 2007. They don’t take chances at NASA. They double up on everything. There are two packets.
February 5, 2008
New Season: GX-1134
The new season of the garden is drawing closer. GX-1134, the newest urban garden mission, will be here before you know it. I can feel Spring in the air. I can taste it on the wind. I see it on the horizon, beckoning me to put my hands into the ground. Dirt never sounded so unsoiled. Growing never seemed so right. Tending to things that grow is a calming peace.
March 20, 2008 is the first day of Spring. I know March and April are the snowiest months in Colorado, but that is all right. Let the snows come to dampen the Earth and prepare it for planting.
The sweet harvest will be wonderful this year. I placed the first seed order today.
So far the GX-1134 crew have discussed changes to the garden. We will grow zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, sunflowers, pie pumpkins, radishes, cannas, 3rd generation nicotiana rustica Hopi sacred Mapacho tobacco and herbs. What will be new crop? Lettuce perhaps? Spinach? Potatoes? Hops? Carrots?
The end of gardening season was marked by the beginning of National Football League season. And now that the football season is officially over, it should be time for gardening. A little over a month! I am so excited.
The first work on the urban garden begins this Sunday.
The seeds purchased in order 1:
Diva Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
Delicious 2002 All-America Selections winner!
AAS trial judges throughout North America agreed - Diva just might be the best-tasting cuke on the planet. Diva looks like a regular salad cucumber but with a much smoother, thin, no-peel skin. Distinctly tender, crisp, sweet, bitter-free, and seedless; especially flavorful harvested small, about the size of a pickle.
Easter Egg Radishes (Raphanus sativus) (2 packets)
Multicolor mix.
Make beautiful bunches with this mix of red, purple, and white round radishes. Maturing over an extended period of time, they stay crisp and mild even when large.
Raven Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo)
Very dark green for better health.
Darker green skin contains higher levels of lutein, a highly effective antioxidant. Open plants are high-yielding, producing glossy, smooth, cylindrical fruit. Concentrated fruit set, so plan for multiple plantings.
Gourmet Pepper (Capsicum annuum)
Early orange bell has thick juicy walls and fruity sweet taste.
Medium-large, very blocky fruits are bigger than Corona and easier to grow under a wider variety of conditions. Strong compact plants set plentiful fruits without crowding
King Arthur Pepper (Capsicum annuum)
Early, big, high yielding.
Remarkably large-sized bell pepper for its earliness.
Days to Maturity or Bloom: 59 days green, 79 days red ripe
Velvet Queen Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Rich, dark, and velvety.
5" blooms of burgundy, mahogany, chestnut, and bronze with dark centers. Well-branched, free-flowering plants with strong stems.
Zebulon Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Amazing geometrical pattern in the bright green center.
An attractive dwarf sunflower with an amazing center. Single stem, early flowering, and perfect for fresh bouquets
Baby Bear Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
New last year! Double, golden yellow flowers.
Dwarf, branching plants. Side stems are suitable for use in small bouquets.