My Chicago Garden

The bees are coming!!

tyler — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:25:13 +0000

I’m just about finished with my bee keeping class. I have my notes put together and I think I’m ready. I’ve paid my $75 for the bees and I’m anxiously awaiting their arrival sometime in mid April.

I also picked up my bee hive from Honey Trails as well as a couple extra pieces of wooden [...]

It’s a Jeep thing…you wouldn’t understand

tyler — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:49:16 +0000

Back in 2000 when Melissa and I lived in the bay area I fell into a fair bit of money from some stock options in the days of the .com boom. Instead of doing the responsible thing and saving for a down payment on a house, I went to a Jeep dealer and purchased a [...]

Beekeeping 101…Class begins

tyler — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:22:52 +0000

I started my beekeeping class last night at the Wheaton Park District. There were about 20 people in the class and the instructor said the class was full in early December. I had heard the waiting list was at least 10 deep at one point. Many of the folks were around my age and there [...]

Looking back, and forward

tyler — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 23:52:26 +0000

2009 In review

Purchased a worm bin in early March and got it going. Still going strong in the garage. Spring started on March 15th for us with a trip to Scooby’s Went to the Wheaton Native Illinois Plant sale, like we do every year. Need to get in line no later than 7:30am. Girls built a fairy garden I [...]

Tomatoes next year?

tyler — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:09:17 +0000

I have limited space in my garden and have decided to not grow garlic to save about 1/8 of the garden space. I also decided not to grow tomatoes in the raised beds since they take up so much space too. Probably another 1/8 of the garden. Both decisions recovered about 1/4 of the space [...]

2009 – Southern Wisconsin Apple Picking Trip

tyler — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:18:01 +0000

We just finished our annual U-Pick apple trip to Southern Wisconsin. My younger sister Summer came for the trip. We picked 1/2 bushel of Cortland (my favorite), 1/2 bushel of Fuji, 1/2 bushel of Jonagored and a 1/2 bushel of Liberty.

We spent our 3 days and 2 nights at the Timber Ridge Lodge and waterpark [...]

Seriously?! First frost and Snow this weekend?

tyler — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:01:24 +0000

The graphic says it all. *sigh*

First chance of frost, no scratch that…SNOW!!…will be this weekend, specifically late saturday evening/early sunday morning. Not sure why I’m surprised really. It’s right on the average first frost date of October 15 +/- a few days.

Harvest any late season crops Saturday morning or they’ll probably be toast [...]

Raspberry jam for the masses

tyler — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 01:46:10 +0000

Used about 5 pints to make 1 quart of crushed raspberries. Added 6 1/2 cups of sugar and a pouch of pectin. Looks like I’ll need to go purchase some new glass ware next year, I seem to only have odds and ends left. The rest went into the freezer. We learned a cool trick [...]

2009 Raspberry U-Pick Trip to Plow Creek Farm

tyler — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:43:52 +0000

We took our yearly Raspberry U-Pick trip to Plow Creek Farm about 2 hours SW of Chicago. We picked 10 pints worth ($2.50/p). I typically make jam/preserves out of most of it…but we save a couple frozen ziploc bags full for putting on icecream. Apple picking in a few weeks! Yeah! Fall is my favorite [...]

Trip Report for Western Michigan/Mackinac Island/Blueberry Trip

tyler — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 01:12:42 +0000

I finally got around to writing up our trip report for our 5 day trip up the Michigan west cost along Lake Michigan. Beautiful country up north. Great fun was had by all. Read about it here. [...]

Glen Prairie, possibly the best restaurant in town

tyler — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:51:44 +0000

I can’t say enough about Glen Prairie. I had been driving by the restaurant on Roosevelt in Glen Ellyn for many months and repeatedly thought to myself how horrible it must be given that it’s a “hotel restaurant”. It’s attached to the newly remodeled Crown Plaza hotel. I’ve now learned that it’s not a [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Followup

tyler — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:09:23 +0000

Some images and videos from others who were on the Valentine Beast of July 14th

http://www.warnerimages.com/gallery/090713/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCg6U87W4YQ

http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-7-13.htm

Garden Update

tyler — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:06:25 +0000

About 20 days ago I noticed the first signs of a japanese beetle damage and the little buggers crawling over some of the yard. At the end of the season last year I picked up one of those yellow bomb looking Japanese beetle traps on sale. I figured it couldn’t hurt and if it didn’t [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 9

tyler — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:08:52 +0000

After a horrible night sleep in the crappy Lubbock Inn (3 diamond in the AAA book) we had breakfast at IHOP with the intent to just head home. Then Paul throws a curveball and were going to chase after all but we must leave no later than 7pm.

11:25am – Back up into the same area [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 8

tyler — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:08:13 +0000

10:45am – Target is Dalhart, TX for lunch. Storms should fire in the North West panhandle later in the day. This will be our last day if chasing.

12:00pm – Woohooo!! SPC update with TOR probs for our area. 2 or 3clock initiation probably.

1:45pm – Hanging out in Dalhart after lunch. Probably heading to Guymon but [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 7

tyler — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 03:07:51 +0000

10:20am – On the road from Overland Park, KS to Newton, KS playing along nice well-defined outflow boundary

1:30pm – Stopped in Wichita, KS at Hog Wold BBQ for lunch.

2:10pm – Heading to Pratt, KS. MCS is screwing up the storm setup.

3:30pm – Gas stop in Pratt. Paul us totally confused as are Supper Dave and [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 6

tyler — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:07:24 +0000

Down day…nothing to report in the way of storms. Later in the evening we eat at Jess’n'Jim’s steak house and closed the bar down with the two owners. Good stories!

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 5

tyler — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:07:00 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around all excited about today. [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 4

tyler — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 03:06:30 +0000

[ morning update delayed because AT&T lies about their coverage in Lusk, WY]

9:00am – Gilbert and I are looking at data issues at CoD.

9:30am – Gilbert reports CoD has rebooted their firewalls (what they should have done 2 days ago) and now everything is working again.

10:00am – Paul is dancing around all excited about today. [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 3

tyler — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:05:59 +0000

We left CoD around 10am and headed south west towards Davenport, Iowa. At one point Paul decided to head south on I-39 and make a play for southern Illinois but then 30 minutes later called it off and we did a Uturn and ran back to I-80. During a gas stop we picked [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 2

tyler — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 03:05:27 +0000

8:00am – Wake up to find CoD has had a major data outage and there’s no weather data to review. Made a call out to Gil for help since I can’t find anything wrong with weather or climate servers. Gil can’t find anything either so calls are made to CoD IT.

9:30am – In the vans [...]

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 1

tyler — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:04:18 +0000

Storm Chase Vacation 2009 – Day 0

tyler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:03:36 +0000

Every year, at least I try to make it every year, I go out on a storm chase vacation. This year I’m going with the College of DuPage group for 10 days starting tomorrow/friday. I’ve gone with them once before and had a blast. I’ll be posting updates as often as I remember and [...]

Scottish Highland Games 2009 – Chicago

tyler — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:13:58 +0000

This was the first year for Mel and I to go to the Scottish Highland Games in Oakbrook, IL (chicago area). We have been to others before, just not in Chicago.

The folks at the Illinois St. Andrews Society put on the games and in general I think they did a fine job. Especially given the [...]

Garden Tour – June 8

tyler — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:35:16 +0000

A quick garden tour…

The blueberry bushes from last year. We are still picking off the flowers to encourage growth of the bushes instead of berry production. In the back row are peas and my new zig-zag trellis system. In the front are some beans and in the bottom left corner is a butternut squash. This is [...]

Scottish Highland Games this weekend

tyler — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 03:57:04 +0000

Quick post…

If you have nothing to do this weekend come visit the Scottish Highland Games this weekend at the Polo Grounds in Oak Brook.

Visit the Illinois Saint Andrew Society website for more info. See you there!

Life is good

tyler — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:47:39 +0000

Here’s what Sierra (my oldest girl) and I did this morning. What could be better than sitting in the garden reading a magazine with your dad?

So much for push mowers

tyler — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:40:53 +0000

When my lawn mower died last fall I decided I was going to switch to something more “green” and use a push mower. Our front yard is rather small and a little work would do me good so I’m the perfect candidate for a push mower. I did research online and from all the [...]

mychicagofairygarden?

tyler — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:38:09 +0000

Sierra created a little fairy garden for her part of the garden. I have to say it’s pretty cute. I’ve spent the last 2 days trying to convince her that fairies are real. No luck.

While she was building the fairy garden I was around on the side of the house building the grape trellis. Next [...]

Uploaded – 4\259-2

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:42:11 +0000

score!

Uploaded – 4\259-1

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 13:25:11 +0000

10min to go and the line is now 4x longer and occasional traffic backup!

Uploaded – 4\259

shozu — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:56:54 +0000

7:45am at the Native Plant Sale. 45min to go and the line is already 50 deep and growing by 10 every few minutes. light rain for at least 20 min.

Get out and garden!

tyler — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Wow! Wonderful weather today. In the low 70s for the first time in a long time (on a weekend anyway) and the soil is warming up nicely. With potential for a frost rapidly dropping and about 3 weeks from May 1st (traditional last frost day in Chicago area), I’ll be pushing th is weekend to get [...]

Spring Poem

tyler — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:14:17 +0000

I heard this poem on a Celtic music CD my wife picked up at the Wheaton Public Library. My kids love it. Sierra (the oldest) goes around humming/doo-dooing the famous Scottish pipe and drum marching song “Scotland the Brave“. That song gives me chills. I’ve told my wife that when I die I want her [...]

2009 – Wheaton Native Illinois Plant Sale

tyler — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:35:39 +0000

Wheaton has announced their Native Plant Sale.

Mark your calendar for the Native Illinois Plant Sale from 8:30 a.m. to noon April 25. The sale – which is sponsored by the Environmental Improvement Commission, the City of Wheaton and the Wheaton Park District – will be at the Wheaton Public Works Building, 821 W. Liberty Drive [...]

Spring is here!

tyler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:49:05 +0000

We had our traditional first day of spring on March 15. At our house we start spring on the first Sunday we can eat out at Scooby’s.

One week earlier the girls and I got our worm compost bin built and started. Now we are just waiting for the worms to arrive! Hopefully [...]

First Storm Chase of 2009

tyler — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Last wednesday (5/13) I took a day off from work and went storm chasing in south western Illinois just over the border into Missouri. That’s me near the driver side in the picture to the left. Drove nearly 1000 miles in 16 hours but we were able to get our eyeballs on what is [...]

Non-edibles?

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:52:02 +0000

Yes yes..I broke one of my own rules and I’m once again attempting to start flowers from seeds. But at least these are considered companion plants to my vegetables. I never had much luck with flowers in the past, but I figured since I had some extra squares available in my APS system I might [...]

Best seed starting ever!

tyler — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:54:47 +0000

WOW!!! I’m overwhelmed with joy at the seed starting going on right now. My new APS system I posted about a few weeks back is working like gang busters and it couldn’t have been easier. I plan on starting another set tomorrow. I did not have much luck with the oregano, but the seeds are [...]

Are bees coming to the garden?

tyler — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:01:14 +0000

Native/Wild bees come to the garden all the time. But what I’m talking about are the managed honey bees. Back in April 2008 I contacted the Illinois Bee Keepers Association expressing interest in adopting a colony and allowing someone to place an apiary in or near my garden. I traded emails with the President [...]

Researching Garden Sheds

tyler — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:59:51 +0000

Our house doesn’t have a basement and the people who built the 2 car garage made sure it was exactly 2 cars. So needless to say we do not have enough storage space. The garden shed out back is about to fall down so I’ve not felt comfortable storing more than large garden items (mower, wheel [...]

Seeds are started

tyler — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:38:03 +0000

If you’ve followed along for the past few years, you know that I’ve not had much luck with starting my own seeds indoors. After some careful thinking, I’m almost positive the reason I have not done a good job is that I spend so much time away from home (work, vacation, etc) that watering is [...]

Does it really take all the fun out of composting?

tyler — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:46:38 +0000

Over on Rosemarie’s Garden blog she has a post about the ‘new’ electric composter intended to be used in/under/around the kitchen. She outlined several reasons why she dislikes the idea. Given that I have one of those on my ‘gift list‘ I thought I’d respond with the reasons why I like the idea of an [...]

New Web Cam

tyler — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:32:23 +0000

Just a heads up that I’ve added a web cam to the website. It points at the garden and updates every minute.

Nifty!

What I’ve learned so far

tyler — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:17:05 +0000

In the last 35+ years I’ve learned several things about the world. Some of them I’ve seen described by others and by experience I find them to be true. Thus, these are not all my original ideas or wording…but they are soo true. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness” You should not [...]

Seeds of Change Garden

tyler — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:24:53 +0000

It just so happens that the Seeds of Change catalog came today and it had every seed item I wanted. So this year I’m going with a 100% Seeds of Change garden. Which also means all the seeds are 100% Organic stock. $72 dollars later. On the pricey side but the seed [...]

Christmas in the Garden

tyler — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 16:57:15 +0000

First Catalog of the 2009 Season

tyler — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 20:26:29 +0000

The first seed catalog of the 2009 growing season has arrived! Fedco get’s the honors this year. 137 pages of gardening pornography. Time to grab my pen and start circling possible choices for next year. I already have a list of seeds to buy over on my planting diary.

Snow and ice brings power

tyler — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:01:17 +0000

With the forecast in Chicago of up to a foot of snow and 1/2 inch of ice, I decided to bite the bullet and get a small generator. For some reason our neighborhood has about 5 or 6 power outages a year, and we’re always the last ones to get power in Wheaton. No I’m [...]

2008 Potatoe Harvest Video

tyler — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 02:48:57 +0000

Back in late September we harvested our potatoes. I created a movie and sent it to Erik over at GardenFork.tv. After making it, I realized it wasn’t very educational so I doubt Erik will use it. Here’s the video from that effort. My wife (Melissa) is behind the camera, the crazy kid in the [...]

Last week + First frost is here!

tyler — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:25:02 +0000

Time to break out the frost protection and/or take your last harvest. If it doesn’t frost tonight, it will tomorrow. And there’s a possibility of a hard freeze and snow at that!

I took the opportunity between 40mph wind gusts to run out and do my last harvest of beans and green tomatoes. Wind chill was down to [...]

Where is our first frost?

tyler — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:46:41 +0000

Much like the past 5 months, the weather in the Chicago area has been…shall we say…abnormal. More rain than normal and below average temperatures made for a fabulous growing season for the home gardener. But all good things must come to an end. This growing season has been holding on for much longer than I [...]

Pack a lunch and save $600 a year?

tyler — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:30:20 +0000

For the past 2 years I’ve been spending roughly $8-$10 a day on lunch. Sometimes less, sometimes more..but that’s about the average. I should know…I was on a budget

In conjunction with taking the train (see last post) I’ve started taking my lunch to work instead of buying. I did some notepad calculations this [...]

The switch to public transportation

tyler — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:23:52 +0000

For the past 2 years I’ve been commuting from Wheaton to the northern edge of Chicago proper in my 2001 Subaru Outback wagon. My day job recently moved their facilities to downtown Chicago, about 4 blocks from Ogilvie Station. I had been waiting for this move for some time, as it allows me to take [...]

2008 U-Pick Apple Trip

tyler — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:29:38 +0000

We spent the last 3 days up in the Lake Geneva area of Wisconsin, just over the border from Illinois. It’s a beautiful 1 1/2 hour drive from Wheaton, IL through some of the best farm country in the nation. (though not the most beautiful, that’s reserved to south west Wisconsin/north west Illinois/north east [...]

Official start of fall

tyler — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:50:34 +0000

Sorry for the delays in posting. Here’s a rundown of September.

Four weekends ago we harvested the red clouds potatoes

Two weekends ago I made my order for garlic from Seeds of Change. My notes from last year say they should arrive in November sometime. I’ll be growing a soft-neck variety next year called ‘Chilean Silver‘.

Last weekend [...]

2008 U-Pick Raspberry Trip

tyler — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:47:20 +0000

On labor day, our family took our second annual U-Pick Raspberry trip down to Plow Creek Farm, about 2 hours south west of Chicago. Prior to leaving I had researched on their website to make sure the season was up and running and how the crop was doing. I noticed that blackberry season was still [...]

Back in the swing..sorta

tyler — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 03:26:05 +0000

Sorry for the delay in posts. It has taken several weeks to get back to normal..sorta.

I was able to harvest 12+ cucumbers but was only able to use a handful for my refrigerator pickles. I ended up using one to make an absolutely wonderful cold salad using the lemon infused olive oil from Pasolivo. I’ve [...]

Paso Robles, CA

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:04 +0000

Wine country in Paso Robles. The most interesting part of the day so far has actually been visiting an olive oil farm (Pasolivo) and doing a tasting and tour. I didnt realize just how bad the olive oil I have been buying from the local grociery stores realy is. Doesn’t even taste like olives when [...]

Ristorante da Gaetano

shozu — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:50:12 +0000

Sorry for the horrible picture, the camera on my phone sucks in low light conditions (actually any condition). We had a wonderful dinner at Ristorante de Gaetano in Paso Robles, CA. Our B&B hosts told us most of the good restaurants in town are closed sunday night, but my wife found this little italian place [...]

Elephant Seals

shozu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:42:42 +0000

Elephant Seals at Point Piedras Blancas off highway one on our way down to Paso Robles.

Monterey, CA

shozu — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:11:12 +0000

What an anniversary should be like, if you fail to climb a peak. We are heading to Paso Robles tomorrow for a quiet stay in a B&B.

If you dont try, you are never disappointed

shozu — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:02:18 +0000

We called off the trip early. In short, I was over ambitious planning for 8 days. The pack weight of nearly 40lbs (necessary for 8 days) was way too heavy. We think we could have done Mt. Lyell if we had planned for only 3 nights not 7 and the pack weight was down [...]

Trail Start

shozu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:07:14 +0000

A little late start, but we are on our way. See you in 8 days.

Tuolumne Meadows Lodge

shozu — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 02:18:23 +0000

Base camp. Had dinner looking south into the ridge line over the meadow in the direction of our trip. Proving a good plan to acclimatize for a day as I have a headache. Very nice tent cabin to start the trip. Excellent cell coverage in the meadow area but Im sceptical in the back country. [...]

Permit Station

shozu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:39:08 +0000

At the permit station to pick up our wilderness permit. Then off to the lodge and dinner.

Ready to Go

shozu — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:13:22 +0000

Gear is packed and ready to go. Ill be trying to update the blog with at least one picture each day off my cell phone, if we have cell service in the back country. I doubt it…but you never know.

Garden Tour (7/9/08)

tyler — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:53:26 +0000

I needed to start planning to put the garden to bed for a few weeks while we go on vacation. So today was as good a day as any to walk around and do a tour and start cleaning up before we leave on friday.

The north side of the driveway we planted last year is [...]

Art Institute of Chicago

tyler — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 02:15:19 +0000

Last weekend the family took the Metra to downtown Chicago so I could have lunch with an ex-colleague of mine who just became a US citizen. Afterwards, we took the opportunity to take the girls to the Art Institute of Chicago. They did pretty good for 4 and 3, considering. Of course the [...]

Cabbage Pest damage

tyler — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:30:27 +0000

The Illinois extension has this to say about Cabbage Worms.

"It is almost impossible to raise cole crops in Illinois without controlling these pests."

Well I can tell you I agree with that statement. My cabbage plants were decimated last year (my [...]

Storm Chasing — Morning Start

tyler — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:27:20 +0000

I’m heading out storm chasing today with Paul Sirvatka (meteorology department of CoD) and David Mayhew (professional photographer) . Paul is having a heck of a time deciding where to go while David is pushing him to send us further west. I’m just along for the ride and bring my geek toys. We should be [...]

In defense of big box stores — a response

tyler — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:24:58 +0000

Over on the My Skinny Garden blog, Gina brought up the topic of big box stores, and in particular their return policy on live plants. Here was my response…..

Im a non-selective shopper [except under rare occasions where a particular store has made me particularly mad] , however I always give the local guy a [...]

First Harvest – 2008

tyler — Tue, 27 May 2008 01:42:24 +0000

First thing to be harvested this year is something new for me. Lettuce was on the menu for dinner tonight! Our family doesn’t eat much salad at home, yet we like eating salad when going out for dinner. Doesn’t make much sense, but we do. I took some cuttings from the various [...]

$8 soaker hose system!

tyler — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:49:52 +0000

A few months ago I saw what to me was a new soaker hose system and it had been tempting me ever since late winter when I saw it on the shelves. Only problem was it was basically a very thin soaker hose and a 1/2″ distribution tube and they wanted $38 for it. I [...]

Trip Report from our first family backpacking trip

tyler — Sun, 18 May 2008 23:39:47 +0000

What can go wrong, will go wrong. But you can still have fun! Read all about it

Woodchuck?!?!

tyler — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:39:54 +0000

We knew something was living under our deck the last year but we have never seen him. Tucker (our dog), was always sniffing around the edge and practically destroyed a stacked full-cord of wood on the edge of the deck trying to get at something under it.

Well the animal popped his head up today [...]

Garden Tour (5/10/08)

tyler — Sun, 11 May 2008 01:02:52 +0000

What a wonderful day to play in the garden! The temperature was wonderful and prospects of rain tomorrow. So I took the opportunity to do a quick look around the garden to see how things were doing.

My wife and I hit the the Native Plant Sale in Wheaton a weekend or two ago and used [...]

Compost gold mine found!

tyler — Fri, 02 May 2008 02:36:48 +0000

Brian of cybology.com, and member of the Men’s Garden Club of Villa Park (not just for men!), just clued me in on a compost gold mine.

If you’ve ever looked for different kinds of compost/manure/etc at the local stores around you, you probably have noticed that all the big box stores seem to sell the same [...]

The weather gods hate me!

tyler — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:13:14 +0000

Man! I can’t win this year. Two days of below freezing have completely obliterated my poor little tomatoe plants.

You can see the row of 3 tomatoes in the first picture. Yeah…that’s them…the brown lumps of goo. Just two days ago they were busting out of their store pots begging to be let loose. You can [...]

A couple questions answered

tyler — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:17:02 +0000

1) What are you using for the seed potatoes?

I maintain a planting diary that is fairly up to date with the latest information about the garden. If you check the diary you’ll see that I planted Red Cloud potatoes and Kennebec. The Red Cloud’s I got from Moose Tubers (a Fedco company) and the Kennebec [...]

One mistake and everything dead

tyler — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:46:42 +0000

Well it happened. In preparation for this weekends garden activities, I put my seedlings out in the cold frame to harden them off with a bit of outside weather a few days ago. And with all the hustle and bustle I forgot they were there!!! They got fried when I forgot to lift the windows [...]

Seedling update and last frost of the season

tyler — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:30:19 +0000

It looks like the last frost of the season might just be in the next few days. Which means the next weekend will be the first plausible time to get the garden work finalized and get some direct sow seeds in the ground. Current forecasts show a trend upwards for temperature but be ready to [...]

It’s officially spring!

tyler — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 04:29:04 +0000

Here at our house we decide when spring is by the first sunday it is warm enough to eat hot dogs at Scooby’s outside under the umbrellas (on North Ave in West Chicago). Well yesterday was that day! Yeah!!!! The girls even spent some time down in the creek behind the [...]

Is it spring?!?!

tyler — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:10:22 +0000

Just a few weeks ago we had snow on the ground and Shorty (because of his short tail, as compared to Fatty Lumpkin who is big and fuzzy) was munching on left over popcorn.

But today was the first full day of working outside in the garden!! The first bit of manual labor was digging [...]

Warm enough for tree houses and woodpeckers

tyler — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:02:48 +0000

Sierra (my 4 year old) wanted to eat in the tree house tonight so we had an early dinner. While eating dinner we heard and saw a woodpecker making what looked to be a new home in the upper parts of a large dead limb in a tree on the edge of the creek in [...]

Hey! It’s green in here.

tyler — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 17:07:33 +0000

Sprouts are up! Sierra and I also planted a couple butternut squash. My wife noticed us doing this and informed me that I had never started squash indoors. That caught me by surprise, but she’s right. Hurm…wonder if it will make any difference. Last years squash crop was _EXTREME_.

First picture is from [...]

Seed planting has begun

tyler — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:42:19 +0000

Yeah! It’s that time again in the house. Dirt is flying and seeds are being jammed down into starting pots. The garage is still too cold to put the seedlings out there so my wife gracious allowed me to bring the seed starting indoors. The girls have agreed to check them every day and let [...]

Learning the harmonica

tyler — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:40:15 +0000

So today we were at Outdoor World looking for something to blow $50 worth of gift cards on. I remember seeing a harmonica and learning DVD in the store the last time I was there so I went hunting. I found it and snatched one up for $15. I figured I could learn how to [...]

Bluegreen Resorts – Free Vacation?

tyler — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 01:35:31 +0000

The family and I were wandering around Outdoor World a few months ago and couldn’t sneak past the free vacation people that are always there. In fact, lately I’ve been upset that Outdoor World has associated themselves with them. Usually I wave them off with a grunt and move past as quickly as possible. I [...]

Quick update

tyler — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:53:37 +0000

A bunch of things are going on at the same time….I’m still putting together the seeds I need for the garden this year. I think I have everything but cauliflower, I can pick those up somewhere local. There is a new layer of 8 inches of snow in the garden, with another 10 inches forecasted [...]

Freezer Bag Cooking

tyler — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 05:50:32 +0000

My wife and I are getting excited about our backpacking trip to Yosemite and we started thinking about food options for 6 to 7 days in the high country. We had seen the REI choices and frankly I’m not exactly thrilled. I heard about "Freezer Bag Cooking" over on the practical backpacking forum and decided [...]

2008 Begins

tyler — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 04:59:52 +0000

I snapped this picture early this evening as a light snow fell. My camera, nor my photography skills do justice to the beauty of the trees covered in a light dusting of fresh snow.

A new year has started and I have at [...]

Water as a cold frame heat sink

tyler — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 23:25:37 +0000

I happened to be out taking pictures of the family making a snow man and took the opportunity to snap a couple pictures of the garden in winter. Man is it ugly.

You can see the 3×8 (roughly) cold frame still hanging in there. I’m having problems getting a steady signal from the wireless temperature gauge [...]

Seeds – It’s that time of year again

tyler — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 23:47:31 +0000

I don’t know if I’m getting anxious or what, but I have this feeling I should have received my seed catalogs by now. I thought for sure Seeds of Change would have sent them by now, but it doesn’t look like they are out yet. And my Park Seeds catalog just arrived a few days [...]

Get out in nature!

tyler — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:43:39 +0000

My wife and I have decided to take a family trip out to California to see the grandparents (my mom/dad) and the extended family. My family loves Yosemite National Park and I’ve been going there since I was a kid. I’ve only been to the "high country" or "high seirra" a couple times, one of [...]

Shadow Casting

tyler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:25:49 +0000

[warning...math makes my brain bleed so I take no responsibility if the information below is completely wrong or calculates the shadows in effect on the moon instead of my house. Use at your own risk]

So I got to thinking of how to use the southern side of my house for growing plants. I had thought [...]

Ever used “fatwood”?

tyler — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:00:28 +0000

So it’s 28 degrees outside with a very light snow fall and my wife’s family is up for the thanksgiving holiday. I enjoy making and having fires in my house and have come to love our double sided fireplace that is the center of our house. I found this interesting product at one of the [...]

Decided to plant raspberries

tyler — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 05:20:35 +0000

My wife and I have decided to plant the remainder of our driveway fence line with ‘Heritage’ raspberries. We’ve never grown raspberries so this should be interesting. From what I’ve researched the ‘Heritage’ variety is the most popular world wide and is one of the varieties recommended for Northern IL by the extension office. Also, [...]

Get that emergency kit ready

tyler — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 23:40:13 +0000

Now that we’ve had a week of near freezing temperature I’ve resigned myself to the fact that my vegetable garden is dead. But what that reminded me of was that I had not reviewed my car emergency kit lately. After moving to Chicago about a year ago it has been in the back of my [...]

Hard Freeze this morning

tyler — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 01:39:39 +0000

Well the NWS forecast was off by at least 10 degrees maybe even 20. We had what is called a hard freeze (see below) this morning, not a first frost. The remaining tomato and pea plants are showing signs of damage even though I covered them with a plastic tarp. And even the tomatoes in [...]