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Straw Bales - Swiss Chard and Squash

7/8/2016

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I am having wonderful luck growing Swiss Chard in the straw bales. We are cutting every other day and the centers continue to grow. Chard tastes like spinach. It can be eaten raw when the leaves are two to three inches. I like to harvest it like my grandmother did - cut off outer leaves once they reach six-to-eight inches. Put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Dice the stems and set aside. Chop the leaves into one-inch strips. Boil the stems for two minutes, then add the leaves and boil just until wilted, about one minute more. Drain and serve with a splash of olive oil and vinegar of your choice. MMM! Now that takes me back to Grandma's house!

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The squash plants begin flowering with the male flowers and I am blessed with an abundance of pollinators, eliminating the need to hand pollinate. The female flowers opened a week later and so far all the fruits have set. I can't wait to taste my homegrown squash!

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Straw Bales Tomato Wilt

7/8/2016

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Three of my tomato plants have wilted. The first one, Sungold, I though perhaps it needed more water due to a string of 90 degree days. After two days of  watering, the plant was completely limp. After some research on the internet, I decided to take the plant out. I cut the stems and looked for telltale signs of bacterial wilt but did not find any. I kept the tomatoes that were beginning to ripen and tossed the rest. More research brought me to the conclusion my bales were waterlogged. This week, two more plants show wilt. They perk up in the morning and night, but once the sun hits them they look like the following picture. Of course on the second day of not watering we had two inches of rain. Today I am hoping the breeze will help dry out the bales. 
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Straw Bales - Supports

6/19/2016

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We have had a lot of rain and a couple of the straw bales are bowing out in the middle. I know the best practice is to have all bales faced the long way going down my slight incline, but I wanted easy access to the bales. I shored them up with some boards and all is well. 
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The tomatoes are growing nicely and all the plants are setting fruit. 
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Straw Bale Garden Growing Nicely!

6/18/2016

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I am pleasantly surprised how easy it is to keep the straw bales watered.  The plants are growing very well. This first shot was taken on May 25. 
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The photo below was taken June 3.  The tomatoes are really taking off and beginning to flower. 
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I can almost hear the plants growing as I admire my garden. This shot was taken June 13. 
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The chard is very happy growing in the straw bales.  Weeding is super easy, any small seeds that blew in pull right out. 
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The zucchini  is setting flower buds. This is the first year I have grown zucchini and yellow summer squash. 
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Straw Bale Garden - Mushrooms!

6/18/2016

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Mushrooms sprout in the straw bales every time it rains.  This means the bales are composting and sending nutrients into my plants. By evening the mushrooms have wilted and disappear by the next day. 
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Straw Bale Gardening: Trellises and Drip Irrigation

5/26/2016

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Look at the fabulous fun trellises I found at Lowes! I like the tomato towers I have from Gardener's Supply and added these for additional support. The debate about pinching or not for the best tomato harvest goes round and round. After two years of pinching, I have decided to not pinch this year and let the suckers grow, thus introducing the need for more support. Supposedly, pinching leads to taller tomato plants with larger fruit and not pinching leads to wider plants with smaller fruits, but with my short growing season here in Minneapolis more tomatoes seems like the better idea. We all know you can not trust everything you read on the internet and I now believe the idea of pinching is for other growing zones and bad advice for me.
I added a Miracle Grow Soaker System, purchased locally for about $30.00. The reviews had some complaints about leaks due to too strong of water pressure, but mine is attached to a hose fitting with a flow control and a timer. I have the pressure on super low and can soak the bales in about 20 minutes. 
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I planted Swiss Chard and covered it with bird netting to keep out the bunnies!
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Straw Bale Garden

5/26/2016

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After several years of mushy, tasteless tomatoes and watching my neighbor have success with straw bale gardening, I sold my grow boxes and bought some straw. I learned that my tomatoes probably suffered from too much water as the grow boxes kept the soil soggy. Joel Karsten, a fellow gardener right here in a suburb of Minneapolis, wrote a popular book explaining the process of straw bale gardening. I bought the bales in October of 2015.  The old farmer dude who loaded them into my vehicle asked what I was going to do with the bales. He laughed when I explained my plan and commented that "yes, all the best weeds grow in the straw piles." 
I set up the bales, following the instructions of the cut side up, not the folded end, and put stakes on the ends to secure them in place. I put paper bags under the bales to provide a biodegradable barrier from soil pathogens. There they sat all winter long.
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Starting in late April, I followed the instructions in the book to condition the bales and jump-start the composting process. I bought regular lawn fertilizer and watered daily according to Joel's instructions. I have to say, my bales never got hot, but I also wasn't using warm water as recommended. I sprinkled about 1 inch of potting soil on the bales to prep for my planting.  

I bought my tomato plants on May 9, but kept them in my porch due to frosts through the week. When the weather finally warmed on May 16, I put the tomatoes outside during the day and brought them into the garage at night. The overnight temperatures were consistently around 60 degrees by May 20th and the tomatoes were ready to plant! 
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Betterboy Tomato 5-22-16
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Chocolate Sprinkles Tomato 5-22-16
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Sungold Tomato 5-22-16
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Patio Tomato 5-22-16
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Kitchen Remodel - Project Complete!

9/2/2012

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 Our plumber arrived on Monday, week 11 of our kitchen remodel, to install the sink, stove and dishwasher. We are finally finished and are moved back in! My kitchen looks and feels so different, I think I am in a new house. Was it worth it? You bet! The project cost a few thousand dollars more than when we began, but there was no question we needed replace the floor and our city required that a certified plumber bring the water and gas lines up to code. Total cost was around $21,000.00 (2012.) The cabinets including install cost about $18,000.00, the floor and trim $2000.00, and the plumber $1000.00.  The design team at Home Depot spent over 10 hours providing expert advice and guidance. They were our face-of-the-company go-to for questions and went above and beyond to ensure our satisfaction from beginning to end. (Thanks Anne and team!) We did the demolition, electric work, painting, bought the hardware, arranged for the dumpster and hired our own plumber. We did not replace any appliances, lighting or the window blinds. Home Depot and Crew 2 installed the floor, trim-work and InnerMost cabinets. 
Ready for the pictures?  Click on the images for a larger view.
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1961 Kitchen before remodel
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1961 Kitchen before remodel. There is a soffit, 50 year-old pull-out cutting boards and blind cabinets in each corner.
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1961 kitchen before remodel. We removed all the wainscoating and chair rail and painted a single color over the sponge painting.
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kitchen counter clutter before remodel
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kitchen remodel before
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InnerMost Cabinets Cherry Wood with Pecan Finish, Allure Ultra Floor and Giallo Fiortito granite counter top. Purchased and installed through Home Depot.
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InnerMost cabinets by Home Depot. Note the soffit is gone, the dishwasher moved next to the sink and cabinets go to the ceiling.
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InnerMost cabinets vanity base and office center. A four gang outlet was added here for charging phones and electronic devices.
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Office center eliminates the clutter!
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kitchen remodel after. Way more work space!
I was able to move my entire pantry, which consisted of eight Rubbermaid and Sterilite bins stored in the basement, into the upper shelves and extra space in the new office center. I love the deep drawers and full extension of the silverware drawers!
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InnerMost Cabinets with adjustable shelves
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12 inch turn tables make the most of the InnerMost easy access corner cabinets.
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InnerMost frameless construction adds inches of additional space.
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Lots of storage in the InnerMost deep drawer base cabinets.
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InnerMost extra shelf kit allows for additional storage.
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InnerMost office center removes clutter from the kitchen work space.
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Full access drawers from InnerMost Cabinets
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Loads of easy access storage in the Innermost Drawer Cabinet Base.
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InnerMost Cabinets and Allure Ultra Resilient Plank Flooring.
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Kitchen Remodel - Granite Counter Tops

8/13/2012

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  The counter tops arrived on Wednesday, week 10 of our kitchen remodel. They look stunning! The crew did a great job inching these heavy sheets into place. The back-splash is 4 inches tall and fits right up to the window. Now we can start filling up our drawers and move the fridge and counter top appliances back to the kitchen. On Friday the carpenters came back for the final installation of the cabinet towers and shelf. We notice that the granite is way harder than the old counter - I will have to remember to set china or glass down carefully or they may chip. We also notice the new counter is a bit taller than the old one from 1961 and there is about one inch more room between the uppers and lowers. This is all standard to todays kitchen designs. It looks grand!
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Giallo Fiorito granite from Home Depot
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Granite Counter-top installation
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Giallo Fiorito granite counter tops, Innermost Cabinets from Home Depot
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Giallo Flovita granite from Home Depot
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Innermost Cabinet Towers and Office Center
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Kitchen Remodel - Replacement Cabinet and Trim

8/4/2012

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The carpenters arrived and installed the replacement InnerMost cabinet for the one that was dropped. They did a nice job leveling and the drawers look great. They also installed factory trim around the base cabinets and brought me the shelf pins that were missing.
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Here is the nifty tilt-out tray installed into the sink base. 
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InnerMost sink base tilt out tray
The trim turned out nicely. We used oak with cherry stain for both the window trim and the baseboard. Now I can put the coat closet back together! The kids back-packs are buried in those storage boxes and we will need them soon.
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Allure Ultra resilient plank floor (red cherry) with oak baseboard
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Oak trim with cherry stain
They added counter cleats to support the granite counter top. We are scheduled for install next Wednesday, week 10 of our kitchen remodel. We will then move the fridge back and I hope to schedule the plumber to connect the sink, dishwasher and stove by the end of the week. Our kitchen is almost done!
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kitchen counter cleats for the dead corner space
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    Kittycooks

    Enjoys life as a dog walker/petsitter,  professional naturalist, author, landscape designer, teacher, and artist. 

    Contact me at 
    kittycooks@gmail.com

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