Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 8 Entries. Monday, March 24 View Page First entry of 2025! Got tons of great info at Greenbay, talk about drinking from a fire hose! Amendments so far for a 3k sq ft patch include 7 yards horse manure, 100 lbs alfalfa cubes, 100 lbs thorvin kelp, 50 lbs blood meal, 240 lbs gypsum, and 50 lbs potassium sulfate. I'll add in the micros once I get my soil test back.   Friday, March 28 View Page Bought a cheap thermal camera attachment for my phone over the winter, which came in handy for many things, including checking my heating cables before they went in the ground. I found it interesting that the cables show a distinct pattern, white( hottest) red( less hot), white, etc. I wonder if that's just how these cables work and I'm seeing the result of alternating current. Will be interesting to see what the soil looks like once I have these installed   Saturday, March 29 View Page Standard heating cable install. Probably should be deeper, but I dig until I in hit hard-pan, then stab a broad fork as deep as I can and then lay the cable. Bucket holds an empty space for the plant so I don't have to try and dig after installing the cables. Nothing I came up with, just borrowed from the rest of y'all   Sunday, March 30 View Page 24 hours after installing the cables, mainly just adding this picture to reference for the thermal pic next   Sunday, March 30 View Page 24 hours after install and a cold rain. Beginning to at a noticeable change in the thermal. Adding a cold frame should keep everything warm enough pretty soon   Monday, March 31 View Page 36 hours post install, with cables still on. Seeing a noticeable difference on the thermal, this is at 645 am, with an ambient air temp of ~40 degrees, soil temp statewide at 6 inches ~50 degrees.   Sunday, April 6 View Page First chance to get out and look at the patch since the rain stopped. Something like 6 inches of rain in the last 4 days, and since my recently tilled and amended patch runs downhill, it looks like all my best soil ran out the bottom of the patch, and I grew a new crop of rocks. Very frustrating. Wondering if it's worth redoing my soil test at this point   Monday, April 7 View Page 180 days until Pumpkin daze 2025, so time to start the seeds. Very excited for my line up this year, as long as I can get them started. Growing the 2,471 Gienger, 2,097 Kisamore and a 2416 Haist. I had great luck with the 2416 my first year with 'real' seeds, and have wanted another shot growing it ever since. Still need to get irrigation put in, and weed barrier, which is new and I'm hopeful will help this year