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Post by azlonerider on Mar 11, 2012 9:06:21 GMT -4
Out here in the high desert we are ready to start gardening. The weather is no longer consistently dropping to the 20's and 30's which means the soil is warming up. We had a winter garden all through the winter, but we're both ready to start getting the summer plants in.
Yesterday we got together with a bunch of gardeners in town to see how they did things. We visited 5 gardens and learned a lot. Especially about no till gardening, we're going to try not tilling this year and see how it works.
I also got some red worms from the compost pile of one of the gardeners for my compost pile. We turned our compost pile yesterday evening and I'm hoping that the red wigglers will help speed up the composting process.
Some of the things we will be planting:
Arkansas Traveler Tomato Roma Tomato Yellow pear tomato Big Bell pepper Yellow Stuffing pepper Jalapeno Anaheim Pepper Green beans Cucumbers
zucchini Artichoke (maybe) we're going to plant onions under the shade of the peppers and tomatos
I'm sure I missed stuff but you get the picture...
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Post by leatherneckpa on Mar 11, 2012 9:33:23 GMT -4
It's still a little too cool to be in the garden here in PA, but the urge is there. In fact, I had just been surfing a Purdue University pdf about home strawberry production. I'm putting a 4'x16' raised bed in the front yard for strawberries this spring. From what I'm reading though, no berries this year. Bummer.
I'm sort of hoping to convert the "mowing-lawn" up front to an "edible-yard". Last summer I built 7 cedar potato boxes (2'x2') that I want to actually USE this summer. I'll be moving them out to the front edge of the yard this week. According to Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening I can plant four plants in each box. I'll do one box of reds, one of Yukon Gold, one of Blues (just for fun), 2 boxes of Russets, and 2 boxes of sweet potatoes.
I am hoping to rebuild all of the beds in the garden the chickens wiped out last year, but first I am doing two thing. I'm going to clip the chickens' wings, and I'm going to install a new fence. I am hoping the combination of the two will prevent "raiding".
Somewhere in the dim recesses of my memory, I seem to recall that my grandfather's rule for the garden was that he planted peas on Easter weekend. So I need to get one bed ready to go before April 1st. That will give it a week to warm up.
Cindy and I are doing seed orders and garden mapping today. I'd like to start some plants inside as early as next weekend. I'll let you know later what the list looks like for us.
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Post by rAcErRicK on Mar 13, 2012 12:41:02 GMT -4
My winter veggies are about done. Most have bolted, so I've pulled up and chopped in most of it. Almanac says today and tomorrow is good for seeds, so I've got a large starter tray full planted now (72). And a horde of 'mater and pepper plants already in small pots, ready to transfer. My first real garden is nearly done. I lost some due to a freeze that snuck in on me, but I have learned much also. I've heard so many express the difference in taste between home grown and the junk from the wannabe food stores, but after one experiences it first hand, it defies description. I'm hooked ! I should again thank those here who offered expert advice, tanks guys. Round two, bring it on !
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Post by leatherneckpa on Mar 13, 2012 12:51:56 GMT -4
Rick, for right now I am jealous. But come July and August, no way dude! I love to be able to garden through winter, but not at the expense of what I've experienced in Tampa during the summer.
Perhaps this year I will add some hoop houses come fall and see how long I can grow greens and such.
Brainstorm!! As I was typing that I was thinking about whether the beds would freeze despite the hoops. And then I remembered one house I grew up in over by Niagara Falls. No basement, just an uninsulated crawl space under the house. Each winter my dad would surround the crawl space with pales of hay; two on the bottom and one on top against the bottom of the first floor. I was only 8-10 so I don't know what impact it had, but it makes sense to me. I've seen hot boxes and cold frames made of bales of hay.
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Post by rAcErRicK on Mar 13, 2012 16:01:49 GMT -4
The hay bales sound like it might work Mike. Especially with a raised bed. I bent 1/2" PVC hoops over my beds, tied them together perminately, and added 3 mister heads over each bed. Are you familliar with the "micro-jet" systems they use for commercial uses ? ALL the orange groves and nursuries use them now since they cannot use the "smudge pots" anymore for heat. The two freezes we had, I covered my beds with some old blue plastic tarps and left the misters on all nite and you would not believe how much heat I felt the next morn. when I lifted up one side of the tarp. The air came gushing out and really shocked me how warm it was. The micro misters use a very minimum of water too. Just a mist, or a better word is "fog". The heads I use are actually called foggers. Fairly INexpensive too, uses 1/4" tubing to feed the nozzles, and 1/2" main header tubing. I'd about bet it would work for at least some things, greens 'n such. Let me know if they don't sell it up there and I'll send you enough to rig up a demonstration rig. I can email you some pics of it in opperation too if you like.
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Post by leatherneckpa on Mar 18, 2012 15:15:43 GMT -4
Well, the seed orders are in. I would expect we'll start receiving seeds before next weekend. And we can start planting then. Totally Tomatoes:- Amish Paste saucing tomato
- Amish Salad cherry tomato
- Abe Lincoln Original slicing tomato
Bakers Creek Rare Seeds- Old Homestead pole beans
- Trail of Tears black beans
- Rattlesnake pole beans
- Marketmore cucumbers
- Blue Curly Scotch kale
- Blue Blauwschokker garden peas
- Straightneck Yellow summer squash
- Black Beauty zucchini
Johny's Selected Seeds- Kenearly Yellow Eyed beans
- Laguna carrots
- Jackson Classic pickling cuke (came "that close" to trying Littleleaf, Martin)
- Sugar Snap peas
- Bright Lights Swiss Chard
Burpees- Detroit Dark Red beet
- Leaf Lettuce Mix
- California Sweet Wonder bell pepper
- Cherry Stuffer pepper
- Gigante Jalapeno pepper
- Peanuts (Cindy's idea, not mine)
- German Giant radish
- Vardaman sweet potato
That should keep us busy.
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Post by Martin on Mar 19, 2012 12:04:00 GMT -4
Nice list Mike. ~Martin
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Post by leatherneckpa on Mar 20, 2012 19:32:42 GMT -4
Ok, the chickens STILL managed to get into the garden last year and totally destroy it the one weekend that Cindy and I were gone. It wasn't a "big" loss as I had only gotten around to building three beds, each one 3'x6'. The space I have available in the backyard is only 16' wide. I can pretty much make it as long as I want. It's currently 22', no idea why. The problem is, anything I add to the garden I am taking away from the girls, and I don't really want to do that. This is what I have come up with to replace it. I'm only going to stretch the space 3' as I rebuild the fence. The 2'x20' bed along the top is against a 4' chain link fence. The 2'x16' bed on the right is against a 5' solid board fence. Both can/will be trellised. Then I'm putting in four 4'x8'x12" deep beds, with 2' walkways throughout. I know I won't be able to get a wheelbarrow through there, so I'll fill beds as they are built, backwards toward the gate. Once they are built I shouldn't need a full size wheelbarrow in the garden. I am able to use 200 sq ft out of 384.
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Post by Martin on Mar 20, 2012 19:40:39 GMT -4
Looks good.
~Martin
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Post by nhlivefreeordie on Mar 20, 2012 22:19:53 GMT -4
Mike, Tell the Mrs. you need a small loader for your next toy, and it will come in handy on the homestead later. ;D
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Post by leatherneckpa on Mar 22, 2012 7:32:37 GMT -4
I have a rule that, unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to implement before I turned 45 and had completely destroyed my credit.
Rule #1 - Only ONE car/motorcycle/toy payment at a time is permitted. No new toys until the first one is paid off.
Rule #2 - In the event of a really cool, must-have-now toy, refer back to rule #1.
If I could have learned that rule back when I was 30 or so I'd already own my TN/KY homestead. And right now, there is still a payment for the Harley.
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Post by leatherneckpa on Jun 25, 2012 7:46:47 GMT -4
I’ve been waiting to take pictures of the garden until it filled in a little and I think tonight was perfect for pictures. So here we go. This is what we’ve done inside that “Fort Knox” fence I built back in April. The first bed as you walk in through the gate is all in cucumbers right now. I built a trellis frame for them to grow up instead of letting them lie on the ground. The center portion will be planted in carrots, leaf lettuce, and radishes this week because they will do well in the cooler shaded portion under the cukes. The empty portion along the front of each side is to plant a second batch of cucumbers to make pickles with. Bed #2, is to the left and uphill. It is planted with tomatillos (for putting in salsa), some curly leaf parsely, onions, and garlic. The onions and garlic have been getting hit by some rodent, so I’m building a feeder to fix their little red wagons. You mix 3 parts raw oatmeal with one part plaster of paris and put it inside a length of pvc pipe. The rodents eat the mix, the plaster hardens, and they die from constipation. (I wonder if this would work on politicians?) I am going to plant some cilantro and some basil in the open spots in the middle, also for making salsa and pesto. Bed #3 is right behind you now. And this is my most impressive bed, in my opinion. Up front is a row of beets (36) followed by swiss chard around the outside edges (16), and blue russian kale surrounds the outside of the back half of the box (12). I am going to be making my first cutting tomorrow and freezing a bunch of greens. In the center portion of each half are some flowers called calendula. They haven’t flowered yet, but they are growing real nicely. Bed #4 starts with a variety of hot peppers planted on the left edge, a yellow bottleneck squash up front, followed by a zucchini, and then 10 tomato plants. Bed # 5 & 6 are planted in four different varieties of green beans. Actually, only one is regular green beans. The other three are supposed to be for dry beans. I made the trellis for them using masonry mesh, before I found the nylon netting used for the cucumbers. It is HEAVY, and will be getting replaced with the nylon next year. We ran out of bean seeds about three feet from the end so Cindy filled that section with onions. What you can see in this picture is less than half of the bean beds. Beds 7&8 were planted in peas, a little late in the season actually. But I am getting pods on them now. Bed 8 has been devastated by the rodents so they will be getting some oatmeal too. But the peas grew nicely up the crude strings I wound for them to get vertical. Next year I will make better use of my bamboo and have a proper trellis for them to climb. As it is they are over 5 feet tall. And I pulled those weeds you can see in the front of the bed right after I took this. The hens LOVE it when someone is weeding in the garden. They all gather around for some fresh greens. Well, that’s the 2012 garden tour. Starting tomorrow I will be keeping records of the weight of each vegetable harvested so I can calculate the production and savings at the end of the season. And I have SO MANY plans for changes to improve it for next year already. For starters, I am going to order my seeds in January and get a much earlier start in the garden. We only planted peas around May 15th, and they should have gone in somewhere between St Patrick’s Day and April Fool’s Day. Oh well, live and learn.
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Post by nhlivefreeordie on Jun 25, 2012 20:26:30 GMT -4
A couple pics from my one large garden, there are several others, this is just the biggest. Potatoes, Tomatoes, Broccoli, Peppers, Garlic, Green Beans, Wax Beans, Zucchini, and Cucumber in this one.
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