It was a warm winter and quite dry,
though not as dry as the winter of 2014 is turning out to be. We
lost few plants and realized dormant plants still need water. This
winter we are watering our dormant plants as we have only had one or
two significant snowfalls. Here in Nevada we depend on snowfall for
our water. The winters of 2013 and 2014 are shaping up to be the
warmest and driest on record. So while the Midwest and East Coast
are going through record snowfalls, out West we are in the midst of a
drought and warmer than normal temperatures.
2013 was Year Two of our urban
homesteading project. We built two new raised beds, added some
decorative features for flowers. The vegetables we planted included
yellow squash, Japanese eggplant and pumpkins. Here's what we
learned about these plants. Squash bugs love yellow squash and
pumpkins. Last winter was not cold enough to kill off the squash bug
eggs, consequently, our squash and pumpkins were over-whelmed with
squash bugs this year. Since the most effective organic way to
combat squash bugs is to pluck them off and throw them in soapy
water, we were over-whelmed as well.
On the bright side, the Japanese
eggplant did well. It's purple flowers look great in our front yard
along with sunflowers and other flowers we planted. The herbs did
well, though the basil I planted this year was not as prolific as
the ones I planted in 2012. On the other hand, my pickling cucumbers
were extremely prolific producing more then I could handle.
Our tomatoes suffered from an early
heat wave while they were flowering and didn't produce as much as
last year. What they did produce was very tasty. Finally, the
strawberry bed increased in size, but it too suffered in the heat and
production was less than last year.
We covered the front yard in decorative
rock in late fall. Since then it's been too cold for any major work
in the front yard as it gets very little sun in the winter. Come
spring we will be adding some wine barrel halves to increase the
amount of plants and flowers we grow as well as adding decorative
items, such as a bird bath.
Also this fall we picked up eighteen
gallons of wine juice which has been fermenting in our basement since
then. We will bottle the Pinot Grigio in February. The Cabernet and
Old Vine Zin will be bottled this spring. While we didn't get any
cherries from our friend Griff this year, we did pick up a flat of
cherries during a visit to California and made more cherry brandy and
bourbon then we can drink.
This winter we are going to concentrate
on the back yard. The plan is to incorporate inexpensive raised beds
with a mexican style patio and fence. However, we have a lot of
cleaning up to do. Hopefully, we'll get the garage painted this year
as well.
That's the re-cap of activities at Full
Circle House for 2013. I'll try and get monthly updates out during
2014.
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