GARDENING

[Annarchy]

Thank you, Ambergris, for the info. I clipped 2 sprigs, and put them in the house to see if they will root. The leaves are beginning to uncurl a little.

 

Wow, your harvests sound great and look amazing. This time of year here, is in 'keeping it alive" mode.

 

The German camameal is being harvested and I'm collecting the seeds. Some of the seeds that hit the ground are sprouting, to my amazement.

 

Black eyed peas are producing and the zucchini is beginning to fade. We got several meals from the 3 plants.

 

Cleaning day, time to get back at it. We have company coming over shortly.

 

Hoping everyone is having a blessed day.

[Annarchy]

The sprig is growing roots!!!

[Twilight]

I will send you 2 heirloom tomato plants if you want to add to your patch?

[Annarchy]

Thank you for the offer, Twilight. IDK if they would survive our extreme heat wave. 110-120 daily.

 

The tomato sprig in water, is growing new roots every day.

[Mt_Rider]

DH harvested some rhubarb and then made a pie.

 

The original roots came from an elderly friend of ours....and they were old roots at her house. She, DH and I loved to sit down to liver&onions with tart rhubarb pie for dessert back when we were next door neighbors. Not too many folks can agree on such a meal but we all loved it. But....our dear elderly friend has passed on now. I miss her. We remember her every time we harvest the rhubarb and make pie. We received quite an heirloom inheritance from her in those old-tyme rhubarb roots!

 

DH also has planted taters/onions down in garden and has a pot of mixed greens on the porch. WOULD YOU BELIEVE that last nite our thermometer read 32 degrees at 2am. It's mid-July! It's on ONLY month that we're supposed to be free of frost/freeze damage. I went out and covered the pot of greens. I think the thermometer is registering at least a few degrees cold since the potatoes didn't even get a frost nip.....and more chance down there in the valley. Whew! Since it's reached 80 today....plants don't know if it's summer or winter around here.

 

MtRider ....rhubarb survives...

Edited July 13, 2016 by Mt_Rider

[The WE2's]

I need to cut back my Elderberry more in the Spring! It's turned into a tree this year. This is a York, but the Adams died both times from the supplier. I think the York is doing well all by itself. I need to get one of these over to Cat.

 

The strawberries were stressed this spring due to my lack of watering. I've always struggled with sandy soil even though I've added lots of mulch. The raspberries, on the other hand, have survived much better. The roots also go deeper. I was inspecting my grape arbor and was met by an angry Robin. It didn't take long to find her nest. It's a bit low to the ground with all the feral cats around here. I couldn't wait any longer so I harvested some small beets and potatoes. I remember my grandfather would dig around in the ground, looking for the first red potatoes. The kohlrabi are getting woody quickly so I'd better water them some more. Our bees enjoy the butterfly bushes near their hive. The girls start out collecting nectar close to the hive in the morning and then venture out farther during the day. Our beekeeping friend said that the girls can make up to 50 trips per day. No wonder they don't live very long. We know who does all the work, don't we. :wink (2):

 

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[The WE2's]

The cukes are arriving :-) Put up a quart of frig pickles and have two nice sized ones in frig for salads etc. MrWE2 don't like 'em...so I'll just be canning them up in relishes etc. Sure wish Idah known he didn't like pickles before I planted them :-( Oh well..good tradin' stuff? Got a fistful of green beans, a few more okra pods and a nice 'mater. The beans and okra were added to the gallon baggies in the freezer...the tomato? I et it! LOL Got one small yellow squash and one small zucchini so we'll have to really watch them so they don't take off on us. We had too much stormy weather today to even go check on the garden this evening. They were teeney day before yesterday though. Bell peppers are beginning to bloom and pulled some little carrots. I love them when they're "baby" sized :-) Still under weather advisories and watches. So far we've just gotten lots of rain. That should keep the rain barrels "cycled" with fresh rain water. MrWE2 still needs to drill a drain hole in the 4th one and hook up a drain hose into the garden areas. Oh well...ya can only do so much :-)

[The WE2's]

Picked some cucumbers, some Roma's, some beans, clipped some turnip greens, clipped some kale and a few more blackberries and raspberries.

[The WE2's]

Picked about 2 pounds of Okra and several tomatoes. I left the squash to grow a bit bigger this time, left some bell peppers to grow a bit bigger too. I've got two lovely speghetti squash growin'! We'll truly enjoy them. We are planning to plant a fall garden but we're still taking thins easy since we got home. So many things we need to do :-) MrWE2 needs to repair the gutter/facia on the north side of this house that collapsed and also need to mow all three properties again.

[Daelith]

I'm going to finish clearing out the tomato beds this weekend so I can put in spinach. Think I may try some turnips too and see how they do this fall.

[The WE2's]

Pulled out the cucumbers...they're done. Picked another batch of yellow crook neck squash and more Okra. Canned up the squash Thursday and put the Okra in the freezer. I've got a lot of it frozen and will do something with it later. I want to try stuffing some of the larger pods with mozzerella string cheese, dipping them in tempura-mix and deep frying them...sort of like chili relanos. The bell peppers are really slow to grow. The egg plant bush is coming along. We've decided we just don't have time for a winter garden. We'll do well to get the larger B2E section ready for next season.

[The WE2's]

We've pulled everything except the speghetti squash, the tomato plants, the bell pepper plants, the sweet yellow pepper plants and the eggplant...and Okra. We're fighting squash bugs on the speghetti squash so if we can't get rid of them, we'll pull them too. No use providing fodder for bugs :-( ps...sprayed them with Neem oil and then it rained night before last. Needed the rain, so we'll probably have to re-spray if there's anything worth spraying for.

Edited September 15, 2016 by The WE2's

[The WE2's]

The garden is done. We had a 33 degree night so it's finished. We'll have to pull the rest of the plants and get them started drying so we can run them through the chipper. Got some more leaves and a couple of straw bales that we need to get down for another bed as well as covering the existing raised beds and the new 5x30 mulched bed with plastic to prevent any weeds from growing up as well as helping the leaves to decompose quicker.

[Annarchy]

The cooler weather has made the garden flourish. The purple hull beans are producing handfuls every day. The beets have regrown their greens and are getting bigger. :happydance:

 

The potato eyes I planted are now over an inch tall and getting bigger. The Piquin peppers transplanted to the edges of one of the garden plots are doing exceptionally well too. Even the carrots I didn't harvest are getting bigger.

 

Turned most of the garden areas and mixed in a lot of straw and mulch from the mulch bin. I planted 12 square feet of wheat, but I think the birds got most of it.

 

Also planted a 4x4 square of cabbage.

 

Hoping to finish turning the last 4x4 area today and plant it with more wheat. Since the wheat hated the heat, I am assuming it is winter wheat. We shall see if it grows.

[The WE2's]

Ann...you might think about putting some plastic over your seeds (or a cold frame) until your seeds have germinated and developed their "real" leaves...may prevent the birds from sinning :-)

[Mt_Rider]

@ WE2

 

"keep birds from sinning"

[Annarchy]

@ WE2

 

"keep birds from sinning"

Lol!!!!

 

Thanks Lady. I know I can use all the help I can get. Plastic sheeting is a precious commodity here. Leave it in the sun for a week and it turns into a brittle mess like a dry leaf. Or melts. :{ Our neighbor lined his with videotape like wire, every time the wind would blow, it would hum. Freaked us out the first time we heard it.

 

The last 4x4 section is turned and planted. This time I made furrows and planted the seeds deeper. Trial and error, mostly error.

 

In one of the smaller plots, I basically planted 'green mulch'. I was given an half gallon jar full of "sprout" seeds dated 2011. It worked in the other area last year. That soil seems to be growing things much better than before, so I hope it will do the same for this other 6x3 area.

[Homesteader]

I've been working feverishly, trying to collect as much grass, leaves, pine needles, and manure for my compost piles. DH says that the hills look like Indian burial mounds (a tribe lives around us). We live on sand at the new homestead, so adding amendments is super important in the beginning. The results from the soil tests from the university confirmed my worst fears. There is about 7 acres of meadow cuttings in those mounds. I've added more mounds since this picture. They were all up to my chest by the time I was done, and I'm not a short person.

 

I've watered the mounds several times and have watched them shrink. I'm too busy this year to spend time turning them. I'll just spread what is cooked come planting time. We were able to bring home a trailer of fresh horse manure last week. It's hard to sift through screening and add, but I'm thankful for the FREE nitrogen.

 

The main garden has eight 4x50' rows. The rows will have to be divided up so I don't have to walk 50' to get to the other side of a row. They are a modified 'raised bed' without the boards. I don't walk in the rows, so I only have to till them once. If I want to add more amendments next year, I can still get the tiller in there and turn everything over. I did add about 8" of leaves and grass several times and tilled them in. They will have all winter to break down. Since I didn't find many worms, they should start multiplying now that they have some food to eat.

 

I've heard that the less disturbance of the soil, the more the micro-organisms and worms can work undisturbed. Every year brings new ideas. I guess the testing and journaling is part of the fun of growing our own food.

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by Homesteader

[The WE2's]

We can vouch for the vcr tape thing...it works! When they swing and reflect sunlight, the birds won't land. They say the birds think it's water ??? Anyway, we enjoyed our blackberries this year for the first time! Cut down the okra stalks this afternoon while MrWE2 tried to locate the punctures "somebody" made in our travel trailer tires (2 of them on one side). Picked off all the okra heads and will see if any are ready for me to dry for re-seed next year. Abby-girl got into my little wire produce bucket when I wasn't looking and "nursed" the end of one of the okra pods...guess she didn't like it much since she left it alone and didn't go for another I still need to grab some of my mint and get it re-planted in my little pots so I can take some indoors for next year..just in case. I had to buy new plants this year because mine died off. Guess it happened to lost of people. Couldn't hardly find any to buy, and then paid for them. Also want to start some herbs. The upstairs apt. kitchen counter will work great for growing stuff like that inside.

[Homesteader]

I spent the day at the VA hospital, getting all signed in, blood draws, physical, and prescriptions refilled. The nice part was when I took my property plot, printouts from the State and County tree sales for 2017, and designed some landscaping layouts (between appointments). I should be able to order about 400 trees and bushes in the spring. We'll be giving some of them to our doctor friend at church. I may be designing some gardens for his family before the plant sale though.

 

Most of the 2-3 year old seedlings are from .45 to $1.00 each. If I run out of room or energy, I can toss the rest into the compost bins. Considering one arborvitae at the store is about $25 and the State forestry ones are .50 each, I can afford to purchase the minimum of 100 per species.

 

Many of the trees/bushes are for food, screening, our bees, and wildlife during the winter (gotta fatten up those deer and turkeys).

[Mt_Rider]

Wow, what a great resource!!!

 

MtRider

[Homesteader]

I stopped by the local Starbucks and asked them about spent coffee grounds. The lady walked me over to a small barrel with five large bags of used grounds. I thought I was in heaven.

 

She said to stop by and pick up whatever I needed for my garden. She doesn't realize that my garden is measured in acres. I did purchase a hot chocolate to make up for her time and helping her with some ideas for her own garden.

 

[Mt_Rider]

I wouldn't have thot of getting coffee grounds...but it's perfect!

 

MtRider ...one person's trash; another person's treasure!

[The WE2's]

Picked up 25 bags of leaves Monday evening and 10 more tonight. Thanks for the coffee ground tip. I save mine but we have a Starbucks here also...I'll give it a try :-)

[sassenach]

Studying seed potatoes. I want to grow some blue ones. I also saw some onions of a red variety ( all non gmo seed/bulb/tubers) that I would like to try.

I am wondering if one can successfully re-hydrate seeded Anaheim peppers, slit and seeded first before dehydration. I do have half pint jars though that I could can them in if I grow enough. I love anaheim peppers for mild spicy quesadillas.

I also saw lots of mini container, non gmo fruit trees and even blueberries and other berries.... it is interesting to see the newer plants being offered now. I might do a small container garden area and well, if its in a container I can take it with me when I move again some day, It is portable that way.