Musing on cargo hauling...

[Eden]

So I've been putting my trailer to a lot of use the past week. I decided I wanted to put new raised beds in my front yard (I had one that was falling apart) and being that I've been participating in a trip reduction promotion put on by the city I challenged myself to pick the raised bed kits with my bike and trailer.

This blossomed into doing the whole project by bike/foot - compost, fertilizer, a 3rd raised bed kit and all.. and in doing this I've realized a few things.

I may have been towing with the wrong bike.. I probably should have been using the cross bike with its much smaller gearing - 100+ lbs even up a relatively minor 3-4% feels like 20%....

I enjoy eating far more than putting gas in the car.... haul around a hundred extra pounds, even for a short trip and you feel like eating :)

being limited to around 100 lbs per load, while causing me to perhaps take a few more trips to the store, also makes me do/plan my project in much more manageable bites..... I think I may have actually accomplished more for the time because it was broken down into smaller parts that felt easier to finish. And the hardware store is mercifully a fairly short trip - about 15 min down unloaded and 30 back (and even if you drive... how many times do you forget something or find you need something else and have to go back anyway....)

You can make people smile just by saying bike and chicken poo in the same sentence (and yes I brought home 3 bags of that)

Well... time to go plant my beans

[shootingstar]

What a workhorse you are, Eden.

How many lbs. are you yourself in weight?

My partner tells me he's going to haul over a tv monitor size box of stuff to the bus station. A few years ago he carefully cycled 4 (light) wood dining rm. chairs (unassembled) plus a table from furniture store to home...about 5 km. one way. He had to do through regular road traffic in downtown Vancouver for over half of the route. But it was possible.

[Eden]

I weigh about 105 - the load limitation is the weight limit of the trailer. Note - my route from the hardware store to my house has almost no descending (but it's not a bad thing!!).... That much weight would make for a scary downhill

[rebeccaC]

You’re an inspiration!!! Gardening, even with just the many pots I have on my outside patios, helps to get me into a meditative awareness state, adding your bike approach makes it even better!!! Does my using the front basket and rear porteur rack on my old Motobecane mixte to get geraniums and succulents from the garden center count? :)

May I ask what your cities trip reduction promotion consists of?

[Eden]

Here's the Trip Reduction Challenge https://www.luum.com/challenges/25/2013-walk-bike-ride-challenge/details

In a nutshell you log any trip that you walk, bike, bus or carpool. There are raffle prizes, but nothing other than accolades for simply participating.

I got all but one (of 6) squares of my planters planted/seeded - I put in brussels sprouts, bush beans, red peppers (I'm not holding out for these... it's a bit cool here for them, but hubby requested) and lacatino kale as starts. I put in broccoli, bright lights chard, lettuce (bolt resistant) and radicchio as seed. Not sure what I'm going to put in the last square.... we're going to an Asian fair on Saturday, I think I'll stop in at Uwajimaya and see if they have anything interesting that I can plant at this time of the year.

[rebeccaC]

Good on the Seattle DoT for putting that together!! I'm going to be in your city this weekend for the StP. Please make it low 70's and tailwinds to Portland :)

[OakLeaf]

Dang! Nice work!

[smilingcat]

Other cold tolerant plants to consider, parsnips, spinach, carrots, winter squash is cutting it close...
Parsnips, spinach and carrots will get sweeter with the cold. Spinach can actually tolerate snow on the leaves. Napa is also better with the cold. It's considered more as a winter crop.

If you have near 80F at the end of September, you'll be able to get Delicata, acorn/queen, kabocha, squash. One of the best summer squash is Trombocino lot of meat and very little "core" with the seeds.

And don't forget to plant plants that will attract bees!! You need bees!!

Whew!! reading how you are hauling all the garden stuff makes me tired!!

[OakLeaf]

SeedSaversExchange just posted a chart of planting dates for fall crops. http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/#fallplanting

I got started so late this year I'm only just starting to harvest what I planted in "spring." I've had some nice kale, chard is ready, green beans are half an inch long, lima beans are only just budding, the first couple of tomatoes are getting a bare orange color, haven't even had a viable female squash blossom to pollinate yet. I'm not ready to think about my fall crops yet! (but I need to ...)

[Eden]

I have lavender in a flower bed in front of the house - I get plenty of bees :) - I've been thinking of something like Nappa. I thought I had some seed for baby bok choi, but I couldn't find it. We have such cool summers it's hard to grow stuff like squash - we don't have temps consistently in the 80's at all during the summer... I tried zucchini when I first moved out here (stuff grows like mad right...) - hah - we had such a wet cool spring/early summer that all the blossoms rotted off. I think I got one squash about the size of my little finger from the plant. Tomatoes are hard too- you have to get cherry or early versions and baby them - put them near a building on the south side and cover them so they heat up. OTOH, peas do wonderfully. I grew snow peas on a tiny patch when we first moved here. I had 3 maybe 4 plants that gave me enough for a stir fry every week until it got too hot for them.