The Blue Beach House

 We moved up to the Long Beach, WA Peninsula 

This post is a little out of order. We actually move in the fall of 2022, but I did not get around to posting anything about it. Were some rough years proceeding the move. We were in the Milwaukie neighborhood of Portland, OR. Very nice house and good neighbors. So why did we leave to live in a "Territory" way up the coast. Well, years of driving the city bus for Trimet going through the hell of the riots and Covid-19 was terrible. Very dangerous, I was in some serious situations. Rose feared for me every time I drove. The bums were moving up closer to our house as well. I was rushed by one in my driveway one day. On top of that the housing market took off and our house really climbed. Back living in VA we made a big mistake of not selling at the top of the market, so we didn't want to make that mistake again. So off to the beach..

The Blue House it is called. Just one block from the beach. Wow what a beach it is. Not anything like FL or the Caribbean's white / pink sands. This is a serious big beach with sneaker waves. Yep, you can drive your can on it - actually it is listed as a State Road. 

Here is are wonderful patio. I think this picture is the best it ever was. Grew some flowers, fruit, and vegetables. When it was not raining, nice place to sit and blow bubbles for Pepper to chase.

Rose and Pepper walking the beach.

 

Razor Clams a block from your house. Man these taste great, a lot like conch. Very easy to clean. Took me a while to get the hang of when and how to dig them, but once you do you really see the "Tells" or little dime size holes in the sand. Rose got good at spotting them and I at digging them up with a "Clam Gun".

We really thought the fire pit in the garden was going to be great. Think off all those nights having a drink around the fire. NOT - it is either raining, or blowing like hell out here, with smoke swirling around with no way to get away from it. Turned out to be more of a romantic idea than practical, I'm afraid. 

Cold and windy Christmas walk on the beach. The black blob is Pepper.

We knew when we bought the house it needed a new roof. Finally we got one put on. Prices are here are high, but I was pleased they thought it was $15k. But, after they got to tearing the rood off there was so much rotten wood it ended up costing $20,000. Some 18 sheets of plywood and over 90ft of wood was rotten. 

Funny what you find on the beach. Sort of a makeshift Christmas Tree. People just added little ornaments that found on their walks. Stayed there a day or two as I remember, before the storms washed it away. Until the next year little tree....

Last of the 2019 Potatos

The last haul of potatoes. Was not a great year and we don't know why. Was it the variety of potatoes, root pouch containers (probably not; and we really linked them), our short summer...?

We noticed both locally and in the Agriculture News that crop failures were bad this year because of the late spring, higher rainfall, and cooler than normal temperatures in the west and mid-west this summer.

But we did have potatoes, and they were tasty. Nice to be able to go out and dump a container of potatoes on a tarp and dig through them for dinner.

The highlight of our Potatoes this year was when sister Susan visited. We made a vegetarian lunch for her mainly from out of our garden. She got to pick her own beans and potatoes. She thought it was great. Funny, we were standing by the bean plants, and I picked one off, snapped it in half and gave it to her and said, "Eat it, most people don't even think you can just eat this right off the plant". She was amazed and reported they were great, "Ya know, one just does not think of eating a raw bean off the plant and they are great".

Next year 2020, we think we are going to plant the potatoes in the ground. We have a bed that I have already worked, so it is very loose and has lots of organic material in it. Probably go back to the fingerling varieties we grew in Virginia, which really worked well. Back in VA, we grew our potatoes both in a 4' x 16' raised bed and in used tires. Both did well.

Old Boat Raised Bed

We had a big storm last night and this old boat washed up in our back yard. Looks like our old Optimums Pram from Clearwater. 
Could it really be it followed Christopher and I all these years and miles to Portland, on the Pacific? 
Also, strange that we live 80 miles from the coast up on a ridge. Is the universe messing with me? 
Hmm... I think we will fill it up with soil and compost and grow some nice fall greens.

Raised bed made out of the tops of the old fence boards I replaced. Old boat shape sort of fit the spot. Going to grow vegetables in it.  

Fist Cabbage of the Season and Home Garden Dinner

Rose's cabbage from her seeds brought back from England.
These have the conical heads to them.
They are beautiful and yummy!

Nice group of veggies from our garden for dinner.

Citrus Trees Replanted

We got the citrus trees fixed up and in their new home.

The orange tree in the middle size pot was swimming in water, as the pot's hole got plugged up. I cleared it and took a bamboo stick and pocked up in the roots to break them up a bit and provide some more drainage. We need to take it out of its pot and some point at clean it up and change the soil and compost.

The large lemon tree, now in the largest pot on the left, was root-bound in that smallest pot - poor thing. We got it replanted into the large pot with lots of homemade compost. It should be much happier now.

The smallest pot on the right is now home to our new lime tree. Loads of nice soil and compost. It looks happy.

These trees are on the west side of the house and get partial sun. You can see the nice blue containers from the street. Makes a nice backdrop to the garden.

First Apples - Yellow Transparent

Here are the fist apples on our new espaliered fruit trees. There are apples and pears on some of our other tress as well. Not bad for their first season.

Side Fence Replaced

Finally got the west side fence replaced. All cedar so it should last a few years.
We are recycling the old boards to make raised beds for the vegetables where the soil is not very good. The idea is to make the shape of it like an old Caribbean wood boat that has washed up on the shore. Stay tuned for pictures of that after I build the thing. But I have built a lot of real boats in my life, so should be easy. Heck, I'll even fill this up with water. 

Back Yard Garden Update - Mulching

Section by section the back yard is taking shape. Rose has this area planted and mulched.
I moved the gutter garden to the top of the fence and it works well there.
The paths are all boarders with strawberries and producing nice fruit.
Blackberry plants along the fence are just starting to product.
Two rhubarb plants now getting going.

English Peas

Backer Creek Trial Growers - Breans Update

The beans finally took off and we have been eating them up.

Deer - Apple Stealers

I don't get the deer hunting crowd making such a big deal of it all. When we lived in Virginia we just opened the door and there they were. Now living in Portland Oregon, we just open the door and there they are. Could hit them with a rock.

Baker Creek Trial Growers - Wheat Upate

The wheat did well with most all of it germinating and producing seed heads.
Caused quit a conversation topic with the neighbors. I thought it looked good and we are thinking of growing corn in that spot next year. It sort of provides a little barrier between the street and the front door and backdrop to the plum tree.

Bottom picture... We are drying the seeds and plan to eat them.

What Pepper?

Front / Side Garden Fencing and Planting Update

Front Garden, Side Garden? Don't know what to call it.
Anyway, finished the fencing some time ago and added more plants, so I'll put up the pictures that I have at the moment.

Wide gate to get "Walley" the garden wagon through. When I marked out the corner post to the right (where I started building the fence from), I marked from behind the drain to the post. Well, that didn't work out in the end. You can see the post against the garage is further back from the drain pipe than I wanted. Why? One, the PVC for the drain that runs to the street was not in a straight line, it is actually bowed and caused the middle post to have to be moved further back. Second, I found a lot of concrete against the garage when I started digging in that post, so again had to move it further back. At least I didn't find the gas or power lines when digging. 

Wide gate to get "Walley" the garden wagon through. I also used Pintle Hinges so I can pick the gate up and remove it all together. 

Fruit Tree Fencing work continues - Side garden

Continuing on with the fence in the front yard for the fruit trees.
The front section mostly completed. I have the long western side and the gate section remaining to complete.

Toady measured out the four post needed and set two in the ground before the rain go too heavy to work outside. Again, they are 8 foot 4" x 4" post, sunk in 24" holes. Once they are all in they will be trimmed to 4 foot tall and caps installed - matching the front section you see in the picture.

You may notice there is a slight "dog leg" from the right hand corner post back to the new posts. I could not run the front fence all the way to the property line, as the gas line comes in from across the street in this area. I did have the "Call before you Dig" guys come out and mark all the utility lines, so I knew it was there. I did see it when I was digging that post hole. I didn't want to sacrifice any more of the interior of the yard than necessary, so I put the other post where they should go and did a little dog leg.

The other issue as to where the right hand corner post is, is that I didn't want to cut down the tree, or even try to remove the roots of the old Rhododendron there. So, I cut the old Rhody off as flush as I could for the chain link fencing to go over it.

Those trees will block the sun a bit for that section of garden, but they are lightly leaved and a lot of sun still filters through.

This is the section were we will have the fire pit, already ordered, and seating area. Our intention is to have a Friday night custom of hanging out here and the neighbors and stop by for a chat and drink. Maybe some home made cookies, too.

Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potatoes

• Row of 15 plants along the stones. 
• 5 different varieties. 
• They came as plants.
• What more is there to say really. 

Oh the plan you ask.. You were thinking it I know....

They were planted up by the stones because they should spread down hill towards the driveway and cover that area. You can't tell from the picture, but it is rather steep left to right. We may put some other plants there and they can grow around them.

PS: The larger plants on the right are the Snapdragons from last year that overwintered. Some didn't make it, but I cleaned these up and some already have flower buds on them. Those of you that know me know I love me some Snapdragons. Used to grow them in a small patch in our garden in Belleair as a kid. 

Backer Creek Trial Growers - Breans

Black Coat Runner Bean.

Planted 3/29/19

Hey, these look good. We planted a bunch of them by the garage where we have some tomatoes and beans last year. Partial sun, but they should be OK.

We always grow beans and are looking forward to seeing how these turn out.

There will be more vegetables growing along the garage, but I don't no what yet.

Baker Creek Trial Growers - Wheat

Wheat Red Fife - Planted Planted 3/30/2019 Lot# 15/Ja
Oh Boy... What to do with Wheat in our Urban Farm, aka small house with small yard.... We decided to use it as a backdrop to our 4 on-one plum tree we graphed. The Wheat is the dark dampened area next to the pavement.
So, from the front of the house you'll have a nice backdrop of 6' tall grass. We are thinking of completing the area with some other shorter grasses.
Talking about what we will do with the seeds. Probably eat them as wheat berries, but we have time to think about it.
PS: In our neighborhood people always stop by to see what strange stuff we are planting now. The word is out!

PS: I need to build a small wall around the area. Everything and everyone is magically drawn to walk on the wheat. I may try the old stick weave.

Red Fife Wheat - Damp area next to pavement

Composted Horse Manure

Good friends drop off 3 feed bags filled with composted horse manure for our vegetable garden and fruit trees. 

Jennifer and her husband have a ranch and Mustangs. More poo where that came from.
Thanks Jennifer. We'll give you some yummy produce in return.

Backer Creek Trial Growers - Peas

Backer Creek Trial Growers - Peas

Planted March 23, 2019

Variety - Improved Maestro.
Direct seed in improved soil bed.

Every morning we run out to see if they have popped up yet.
When we had our Urban Farm in Virginia the peas popping up was the official start to the growing season.

Peas Improved Maestro

Peas Improved Maestro

Peas Improved Maestro

Garage Sprouting and Microgreens Setup

We installed a rack on the garage wall as part of our indoor growing area.
The rack is just the normal closet hardware from Lowe's, or Home Depot.

This allows us to change the spacing of the shelves and lights as plants grow.

One thing we did different this year...
Is I had some Styrofoam laying around to be thrown away. We use heat mats and thought it may be a good idea to put the heat mats on them to help the heat loss. So, I had to check the melting point of Styrofoam, but it is very high. We think it does make a difference, as the cooler air does not circulate under the heat map stealing the heat from the mats.

This year I am growing Microgreens for us. Maybe could be a commercial thing one day, ya never know.

Rose has her seeds sprouting on the bottom racks and the top racks are for the Microgreens.
So far it has been a great success.

We have had Salad Mix, Radish, Sunflower Seeds, Pea Shoots, and Beets.
On the bottom racks are the vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, etc... that will get transplanted outside at some point.

Just in front of the rack you can see a limb of one of our fruit trees. They have their own lights. We wintered them in the garage and they did very well.

Micorgreens and Sporting Racks

Pea Shoots Microgreens

Sunflower Microgreens