July 2004 Gardening and Homesteading Journal

[A.T.Hagan]

I thought it would be nice if we started a monthly thread the way many other gardening and homesteading forums do about our personal gardening and homesteading related events of the month. Come August we'll start a new thread for that month. This way as time passes we'll have a nice record of what's happening with who that we can easily find again when we want to.

Here at DunHagan it's a slow gardening time. I'm not growing a vegetable garden this year as I'm still concentrating on my perennial plantings. If I were though there wouldn't be a lot out there but okra, field peas, butter beans, collards, and so on. All traditional Southern summer fare that will take the heat and keep producing. A lot of people use the hot months as a rest period for their gardens after their Spring gardens have burned up but before they put in their Fall gardens.

What I have been doing is mowing. And mowing. And mowing. Tomatoes and squash may go belly up when the temperate and humidity both go over 90, but the old Bahia, Centipede, and Wire grasses just love it. It's becoming painfully clear that I've got to get a riding lawn mower or a smaller tractor. I've got a push mower and a 40 hp diesel tractor with a Bush Hog. The push mower will work you to death on anything larger than a medium yard and the tractor isn't good for dodging in and around trees without tearing up the ground, especially not on a sandy slope which is what a lot of DunHagan is. If I can just get the brushier part of the pasture tamed I'm going to sell the tractor and either get a heavy duty commercial type riding mower or a compact tractor with a finish mower.

Still planting the various fruit plants and other stuff I bought last winter. Got the three blueberries in over the weekend - one Climax, one Brightwell, and one Tifblue. These are all rabbiteye blueberries. This brings me up to nineteen plants now. I hadn't intended to have so many, I just sort of went out of my mind and bought them. All are responding well to the greatly expanded mulched area I laid down last winter and the increased fertilizer regimen. I'd been rather sparing with the nutrients since the literature states that blueberries are easily burnt that way, but it has become apparent that our porous "sandy loam" needs more than what I've been putting down. It's been about eight days since I bumped it up and I can see a noticeable difference in growth rate and leaf color.

Yesterday I rototilled again the area I'm putting the camellias in. I'd already turned it up once, but that particular spot is just thick with nutgrass so I wanted to kill as much of it as I could. Nutgrass is a type of sedge and it's one of the few weeds that will come up through even a heavy mulch bed. I'm hand weeding it from around the two camellias I planted year before last and am becoming fed up with it.

I also tilled up the row where I'll be putting in the four Chickasaw blackberries. I wanted five when I bought them, but four was all they had just then so I'll have to get one more come this winter. This will give me one row of Brazos, one row of Chickasaw, and eventually a row of the native DunHagan blackberries that I haven't transplanted yet. I'm trying all three because the Brazos over the years have proven susceptible to rosette disease and I'm half expecting them to succumb though for the moment they're still vigorous and productive. The Chickasaw are a fairly recent University of Arkansas release and initial reports are promising, but it hasn't been definitively established if they'll do well in Peninsular Florida conditions. Arkansas doesn't have to play the chill hour game and we do. The native berries have been here all along and taste great when there's enough rainfall for them to make something other than raisins. Mostly with them it's a matter of determining whether they'll make enough berries to be worth fooling with.

The last of the blueberries are ready and this year they're nicely sweet. Need to thin some of the pears more. There's no middle ground with these old sand pears. Either you get nearly nothing or you get so much it breaks the tree. Going to make gingered pear preserves this year. I liked the pear butter I made last year, but the rest of the family was ho-hum about it.

The muscadine grapes didn't make much this year, but what there is are coming along for next month's harvest. After they're picked I'm going to rework the entire arbor to see if I can get some more vigor. I've got a bunch of new vines (not yet planted) that are going in, but since these came with the place I want to try to reclaim them if I can.

The big Asian persimmon tree didn't make much this year either, but there are a few nice looking fruit. Probably be early September before they are ready. The little persimmon tree in the pasture has put on a good crop though. Last year it was the opposite. The pasture tree I think is actually just a rootstock that sprouted out when the graft died, but I left it to see what it would do. A late frost took all of its blooms last year so I wasn't able to determine if its fruit are any good.

OK, that's enough about DunHagan. What's up with the rest of you folks?

.....Alan.

 

[CanadaSue]

I think I underestimated the potential

of a balcony garden. Mine has a solid aluminum rail which means I'm pretty limited in terms of what I can do at 'ground level' Now my balcony is about 40 or more feet long - I've got a double length one & I SHOULD have filled every inch with window boxes. Lesson learned for next year & I'll be buying as many as I need late winter/early spring. I can get them & the hangers cheaply. Good soil is never a problem. It might keep the felines from trying to scratch up seeds too... Towards the south end of the balcony, I do get more ground level sun & the whole balcony gets good light - no visual obstructions whatsoever.

I'm already starting to list possibilities for next year. Yeah, sports & gardening - there's always next year, eh? I was perhaps too cautious this year - going too standard with some of the stuff I have. The verbena I have in my 3 hanging planters looks lovely & is growing well. So why did I stick with a deep rose color? Hey did you know they're lightly scented? A sweet yet lemony scent. I might try some pastel, creamy types last year.

Can't go wrong with nasturtiums for seed although I may stick with the bush types - less messy as trellises might be tough - still working on that. I'll do some geraniums, again some of the bicolours & fancier ones. They can be overwintered.

I'm not certain what I can do with veggies but I think I can manage some tomato plants if I can figure out a way to hang a bag to give the roots dpeth on the south end of the balcony. I wish I had more than 3 hooks but that's it & I don't have a drill bit nor a strong enough drill for concrete & that's what I'd be drilling into. No go.

It's as though summer was a month delayed. Here May is grass cutting month - you can darned near SEE it grow & this year, that went to May. Heck, peonies are JUST finishing. It makes planning for next year a bit difficult but if I stick to what did well this year that I really like, perhaps in different colours & try some new stuff, over the next few years I'll find the right mix.

Art on the cheap...

 

[Tadpole]

Wow, Alan, you are a REAL gardener! Kind of intimidating to this "hobby gardener" but I will enjoy reading everyone else's adventures!

Around here the wild blueberries and blackberries are so abundant that I don't plant berries. The season for wild strawberries is long past. They are much sweeter and more delicious than cultivated strawberries, but are tiny and so tedious to pick that you have to do it just because you enjoy it--not because it is worth your time!

Also we have a lot of wild persimmon trees. I keep planning to dehydrate some of them as I have heard that they are like dates when dried, but I never think of it until the animals already have most of the persimmons.

Did you know there is a tomato bred especially to withstand Florida heat and humidity? It will set fruit over 90 degrees. I think it is called Flora Dade.

Dad always grew persimmons, muscadines and scuppernongs. I haven't planted any because I feel "temporary" here. Guess I need to get over that!

Canada Sue, looks like you have a real Garden of Eden planned for your balcony. Good luck! Please take pictures and post them when you can!

 

[Deena in GA]

There's been a whole lot of mowing going on around here, too, Alan. I bet it's rained some at least 30 out of the past 31 days and the grass and weeds have responded!

Hmmm.....I'm about done picking the corn - probably got about 275 ears this year. I haven't checked the exact total lately. We've gotten lots of squash too. That and blueberries are the only things we're picking right now. The blueberry bushes are absolutely loaded. I stood in one spot yesterday and filled my basket half full. God has definitely blessed our garden this year! There's lots of wild blackberries around and we've picked some of them too.

We have picked a couple of tomatoes, but most are still green. Think I'll go get a couple of those and make fried green tomatoes tonight. The rest of the stuff is coming right along. Think I've said before the kidney beans did wonderfully. They were a test this year, but I think I'm going to plant some more. See if I can get a second crop since I didn't plant very many the first time.

The deer got into the apples and pears so we won't get as many of those as I'd like.

Has anyone else this far south ever done potatoes in the fall? I'm thinking of trying that, but most people around here say not to even try. Of course, I'm not good at listening to people much.

We were raising a couple of guineas, but something got them last week. Don't know whether to try them again or not. We were really liking them. The bad part is we only have a little over two acres and around here everyone has dogs and everyone lets them roam. We think that's what happened to the guineas. We had them in a chicken wire fence, but whatever it was tore down one end and got in.

I wish I could post a picture on here of my husband's wood stash, but we don't have the equipment to do that. He is outlining our yard with the split wood. I bet he's got at least three years worth. The shed is full top to bottom, and he's a good way around the yard now.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Gingergirl]

Deena,

Seems I recently read something about a low carb potato that had been bred to grow in Florida. Don't know the name or when availlable. I'll look around.


That was easy. No name but it was produced by a European Seed Company. Seems to be available only commercially.

However, they grow potatoes commercially in Forida. This might be worth looking at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_CV131

 

[Dinghy]

Hi,
Right now I have wild strawberries and black raspberries ripe. I don't have enough of either to do anything with though. I pick the raspberries every day or so and put them in the freezer to see what I end up with. Me and my grandaughter just eat the strawberries whenever we are out in the back yard. My tame strawberries have been a huge disappointment. Every ripe one has been hollowed out. I couldn't figure out what was doing it until today. There were little slug type things in every one I looked at. I had put Sevin dust down when I first noticed them being eaten, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I don't know what else to try. Maybe beer! If the weather cooperates I will have a lot of wild blackberries. Last year some of them were an inch long! They keep growing up around our fire ring, and they must like the ashes, because that's where the nicest berries were last year. Unfortunately my son transplanted all of them so he could have a fire and they probably won't be as nice now. I have them in 4 different spots in the back yard and it's always interesting to see which do better each year.
We went camping for the weekend and I was pleasantly surprised when we got home last night. My tomato plants finally have tomatoes on them!!! I really need to get a fence to keep the neighbor kids out now. They picked all my green blueberries, I won't get a single one this year, and I'm sure they'll hit the tomatoes too. My acorn squash plant is doing beautiful. It came up wild in my compost pile and I transplanted it to the garden. And my corn is doing great so far. My potato plants look good too. Last year I got one huge potato, three medium, and a bunch of small ones! I got them planted earlier this year, so I'm hoping they do better. I bought some seed potatoes this year instead of just using sprouted potatoes that I had left over to see if that makes any difference.
My peppers aren't doing as well as everything else. Something chewed at them and they haven't come back as good as I had hoped. There are some blossoms, but no peppers yet. The kids squashed my garlic plants when they were painting the house and now I don't know if they'll amount to anything. They're starting to turn brown and I'll have to dig them up soon. I have never had much luck growing it, so I tried it in a different spot this year. Now I still won't be able to tell if it was better than the old spot!
It's fun watching everything each year, but it's frustrating too. Our first garden did beautiful, but the last two years haven't been near as nice. The weather was lousy and there have been tons of slugs. I put cages around all the tomatoes this year so hopefully that will help a lot. I did the Ruth Stout deep mulch method this year and have been thrilled with it. I have hardly had to do any weeding or watering and I don't even have as thick a layer as she recommends. The few weeds that I did have to pull came out without any effort at all. I hope I can get straw from the farmer that sold it to me last fall again this year. I looked at a farm stand a few weeks ago, and they wanted $4 a bale! The farmer sold them to us for $2.
This will be a fun thread to see how everybody makes out. It's interesting to see what people in different growing zones are doing now.

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Wow, Alan, you are a REAL gardener! Kind of intimidating to this "hobby gardener" but I will enjoy reading everyone else's adventures!

Not really, I'm just a nut who had to wait way too long to finally get his own place so I have a LOT of back pressure to get out!

Like everyone else I'm having to scale the learning curve. Veggies and other such annual plantings I'm OK with, but perennial plantings I'm way behind the curve on since I've only rented property until three years ago when we finally bought DunHagan.

Now I've got a lot of irons in the fire - too many seems to be my normal state - and trying to keep up.

Not too much left for the perennial stuff though. I'm getting down to either the hard to find things like a couple of new varieties of pecans that Auburn university developed that I cannot find anywhere or stuff that comes to fruition fairly quick like peaches.

Maybe I'll finally get back to building fence again and get the house painted!

Did you know there is a tomato bred especially to withstand Florida heat and humidity? It will set fruit over 90 degrees. I think it is called Flora Dade.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Even if it's a hybrid it'll still be worthwhile to investigate.

Keep 'em coming folks! I know we've got a lot of gardeners here in TB2K. Tell us what you're doing this month.

.....Alan.

 

[TerriHaute]

Growing Zone 5

Here in Central Indiana at the TerriHaute homeplace, the greenhouse project and the garden are going gangbusters! Though the rain has been heavy this past month and caused some foliar disease, overall the veggies are doing well. The garden has been heavily mulched with black plastic and grass clippings to minimize the need for watering and weeding.

I got hooked on heirloom tomatoes a few years ago, and this year am up to about a dozen or so different varieties. This week, most of the tomatoes are approaching the tops of their cages, which are made from 5 ft. concrete reinforcment wire. They are loaded with fruit and I estimate they are about 10 days to two weeks from ripening. Tomatoes growing this year are: Goliath, Roma, Mountain Spring, Amish Oxheart, Cherokee Purple, Super Sioux, Abraham Lincoln, Large Dark Purple, Livingston's Beauty, Livingston's Stone, Sweet Millions, Bull's Heart, Box Car Willie, and Mule Team.

Last summer, I ordered a bean seed sampler from Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, and was inspired to expand to heirloom beans as well. This year, I am growing beans saved from the Monticello collection: aparagus beans (prolific - Jefferson gave these away to friends by the gobs), akira soup beans (brought back to Jefferson by Lewis&Clark), caseknife string bean, red calico lima pole bean, and refugee bush bean. Additionally, I have planted pole beans: Kentucky Wonder, Rattlesnake, Amish Heirloom, Christmas lima, Italian flat, Snowcap, and Malibu. Bush beans planted are: Royal Burgundy (purple until cooked when it turns green), Orca, Black Turtle, Jacob's Cattle, limas, and, as an experiment, mung beans for sprouting.

The sweet corn was stagger-planted. The first batch, Early Sunglow, is about 6 feet tall and the ears are starting to fill out. The second planting, is a different variety ( I forget what), and is now as tall as the first batch but has yet to tassle, so it is going to be tall!

Right now, from the garden we are harvesting: green peppers, hot banana peppers, cucumbers, beans, red rasperries, and zucchini. The squash vine borers have hit some of the squash plants already. I have never been able to keep a squash plant for an entire season and would love to have winter squash some day! I've tried many things to kill or prevent the borers, but nothing seems to work for me.

The Japanese beetles arrived about a week ago and are out in full force. They seem to prefer the roses, the grapevine leaves, and Kentucky Wonder pole beans. They are on some of the raspberry bushes too, but not too bad.

The dill and cilantro reseed themselves heavily from year to year and so there are cilantro and dill all over the garden. The dill is especially thick and I pull it out like a weed. Other herbs that have either been planted or volunteered from last year are chamomile, basil (purple and regular), and parsley. They are all flowering and are ready to harvest and dry for use this winter.

This past weekend, I dug up some of the horseradish roots, which were spreading and starting to encroach on the strawberry bed, and ground them up for later use. Other veggies still growing are: lettuce, onions, peppers (hot and sweet), acorn squash, and sugar snap peas. Most of the peas have been picked and are laid out in the greenhouse to dry and will become next year's seeds.

Except for the fungal disease on some of the tomato and pepper plants, the garden is doing exceptionally well so far this year. Although there has been a lot of rain, it has been very beneficial to the garden.

Terri in Indiana

 

[closet squirrel]

well, first my garden is being attacked by minature rabbits. It is fenced with regular fencing and then the bottom 2 feet is covered in fine mesh that is folded flat to the ground and staked it. There is no spot where the mesh has seemed to be moved or dug under, yet I have seen the suckers running out of the garden.
They have eaten all the lettuce and all the leaves on the green beans. They started to eat some beans. I went out last night to pick and got a gallon bucket full before I even finished 1 row so I guess all is not lost

The lima beans were planted about 2 weeks after the green beans and they have flowers now, the bunnys are not interested. Onions doing fine, corn is about 6 feet tall, has grown 2 feet in a week, no silk yet. I picked the first zuchinni and cucumbers last night. watermellon is getting flowers now. green peppers have peppers the size of quarters.

the potatos are starting to die and lay down. I can grow some potatos here, that is what I have the best luck with. However, I believe there is a mutation going on. A couple of the potato plants have little bunches of small green grape sized tomato looking things on the top of the plants. I cut one open and it looks exactly like a tiny green tomato inside. The only thing I can think of is these particular plants are in the spot where there were tomatos growing last year. Im drying to see what is going on under the dirt but dont want to pull them up yet

So other than the mini green bean eating bunnies and the mutant tomato-potatos all is well.

 

[Freeholdfarm]

Zone 6, Elev. 4,000', avg. precip. 17"

Closet squirrel, those little round green things on your potato plants are potato fruits! If you let them ripen and plant the seeds you can experiment with developing new varieties! (I don't think I'd recommend it, though -- if that was a good way to get potatoes, the seed catalogs would all sell potato seeds rather than tubers, which are harder to store and take up a lot more space.)


I still haven't got all my garden planted -- have left some space for fall/winter crops, but also have just plain been busy trying to get things in shape on this brand new place. Peas are in bloom, radishes need to be pulled out of the carrot rows. Corn is starting to come up. I want to get some seed for an early dry corn, and will probably go to just buying what little sweet corn we eat. Potatoes are starting to come up, same with beans and squash. I have to keep an eye out, as we can have frost in any month of the year, and I don't want to lose the sensitive stuff. Tomatoes are still in pots, waiting to go in the ground where the greenhouse will be later.

We got a couple of apple trees and a couple of plums planted this spring; surrounded them with wire, but the deer (long-legged rats) have been pruning them. I don't think they can kill them, but I need to get wider wire circles around them.

I'm looking for material to mulch the area where we'll plant berries next year. I think berries will be more reliable fruiters here than the tree fruits. We were told when we were house hunting that the tree fruits will have good crops maybe one year out of three, because of late frosts.

The chickens are growing -- and outgrowing the chicken tractor I still have all of them in. I have the materials for two more tractors, just have been busy with other things and haven't got them built yet. The chickens are over three months old now, so I'll start butchering roosters as soon as we run out of frozen chicken! The pullets should start laying eggs in a couple more months.

Am waiting for 18" wire to come in at the feed store so I can build rabbit cages. I have everything else for them.

I brought my goats (Kinder goats, a cross between pigmys and Nubians) home a week ago Monday, and we are getting a little milk. I made a batch of yogurt already, and am ordering cheese cultures. I'm hoping it will be easier to make hard cheeses here than it was in New Hampshire. Humidity is lower here, and we have an old refrigerator I can use for aging hard cheeses. I've already had a couple of people ask me if I'll be selling milk, but the one milker is only giving barely enough for us right now. Maybe when the two doe kids freshen -- but that won't be for at least another year. We are limited by law on the number of animals we are allowed to keep on a one-acre lot, so I can't expand too much!

We hired a neighbor boy to mow the lawn once in a while, though as we get things planted the lawn is going to shrink. I do have a push mower (non-powered) but I don't want to do a whole acre with that! I've got the materials to fence the yard, and as soon as I finish the buck pen will start on that. Grandma wants flower beds, and I need to start on those soon, too.

Next year, in addition to the berries, I want to add bees and muscovy ducks. Also an herb bed and more perennial flowers. And I want to plant Siberian Pea shrub around the animal shelters for a windbreak -- it also makes good fodder. Need a comfrey patch, too.

Lots to do and never enough time!

Kathleen

 

[Tadpole]

This is such an intersting thread. I am fascinated by everyone else's garden projects.

Terri, I toured Monticello years ago and was amazed at how inventive and innovative Thomas Jefferson was. What an incredible idea to do a theme garden based on the varieties he grew.

I would dearly love to see pictures of your garden.

The Japanese beetles are almost through here now. They wreaked havoc on my plum trees. Some were lured into the traps, but most of them ate the leaves to the skeletons. I finally resorted to sevin and fertilized them to help them recover from the damage.

I didn't grow corn this year, but usually the Japanese beetles ravage it, too. I started hanging traps on the supports for my pole beans and it helped a bit.

I belatedly bought a Rotenone-Pyrethrins concentrate to kill Japanese beetles and flea beetles. It says it is safe to use on apples, plums, peas, squash, cabbage, and lists several other trees and flowers. Does anyone know why it isn't recommended for for other vegetables? I always have a major battle with flea beetles on eggplant.

Closet Squirrel, don't be discouraged with the problems you are having. Most first gardens surprise you with the strange problems you encounter. I don't know what to tell you about your phantom bunnies, though!

Freeholdfarm, I enjoyed hearing about your chickens. I had bantam araucaunas and Rhode Island Reds for a couple of years. But then I got the bright idea of letting them free range to eat bugs. Then a neighbor moved in with several dogs and my entire chicken flock disappeared in a couple of days.

I very seriously considered getting chickens or quail again this year. But DH is retiring at the end of this week.... YIKES--two more days!!!! And I have not decided if I want to be tied down to caring for them in case we want to go camping or visiting on the spur of the moment.

I read on the Murray McMurray site a couple of years ago about a seed they sold to grow your own chicken feed. Apparently it provides most of the chickens' nutritional needs. I can't remember what it is called right now, but it would be really nice if you could grow your own chicken feed.

Years ago I lived in a condo on a lake that had a lot of muscovy ducks. Some of the recent immigrants would head down to the lake with burlap bags and help themselves to dinner. Will yours be for eating? I have read that they are unbelievably prolific.

 

[Freeholdfarm]

Tadpole, the Muscovies will be for fly control first and eating second. The chickens are for eggs first and meat second (feathers third), the rabbits for furs first and meat second, and the goats are for milk first and meat second (hides third)! We can't eat honeybees, they will be for honey, pollination, and wax. Oh, and all the above except the bees will also provide fertilizer for the garden, and the chickens also provide some weed control as I move their tractor around. You have to think multiple purpose for everything! If we had room I'd have a few sheep (wool, meat, manure, and possibly milk) and a couple of pigs (land clearing, rototilling, meat, lard, and manure).

Kathleen

 

[Tadpole]

Kathleen, that sounds like an incredibly well thought-out plan. I admire (and envy) your self-sufficiency.

 

[booger]

We've been having one of those months. You know... The ones when you have so much to do that you cannot seem to get any of it done.

The house building is stalled until it dries out. Will it ever quit raining??

Our meat chickens still need butchered. We only got about half of them done and haven't had time to get the rest yet.

Need to butcher 2 hogs as well. The timing on these really suck. It's in the 90s most days. I'd like to try my hand at rendering the fat on these oinkers. They're wild hogs (a friend hunted them, wrestled them down alive, and gave them to us--we've kept them penned, one had piglets since then) so they won't have much fat. 'Tis a good thing, though, as I don't want to experiment with my first fat-rendering time on a much-fatted hog. These two will be my guinea pigs. *snicker* Four more wild hogs that should be ready in the fall and then we'll probably be going with domesticated from now on (other than the occasional freebie wild one given to us).

The goats. I'm not even going to go into that subject.

We did get several pounds of catfish in the freezer. That counts as homestead-related, right? It's putting fresh, free food on the table.

We have gobs and gobs of wild blackberry bushes on our land. We went picking a few times but, with four kids, only ended up with maybe a quart in the freezer.

My newly-planted-this-year raspberries were flowering the last time I saw them. They are now completely engulfed by chest-high weeds. I keep meaning to get out there and clear them out but something else always takes priority.

My newly-acquired aloe vera plant has adjusted well is is starting to thrive. I have it in a planter on the porch with plenty of drainage holes and full sun. I can't wait for bunches of baby aloes!

The garden. Oy, the garden. I've started drawing up plans for a garden ark. Whatever happened to the summer drought?? The potatoes are all flowered so it won't be much longer until they're harvested. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, anyway. The peppermint, spearmint, lemon balm, and basils were all way, way, way out of control. I cut them all very far back and have the harvest rubber-banded and drying on the clothesline. I've read that lemon balm doesn't keep lemony when dried but I figured I'd try it anyway. I can't remember if the mints do well dried but I *think* they do. We love using mints in teas and lemonades so I'm giving it a try. The basils, I know will do well. A few other herbs are still coming along. I've just started in on broadening my herb horizon this year and hope to have a huge herb garden next year!

I suck at onions. Always have and probably always will. However, this year, I'm pretty impressed with myself. Over half of them are worth saving (very good for me) and the largest is at least 4" across (unheard of for me). I have them drying out on the picnic table right now. Did I mention I suck at onions?

Tomatoes are nuts. I've planted all heirlooms this year other than a couple of Sweet 100s. 80-something tomato plants altogether. Minus the couple that DH murdered with the weed whacker. :sb: Minus one that's dying from something or another that I know but can't remember right now. The others are all doing great and over 6-8' tall except for a few that I planted very, very late. The cherry tomatoes just keep going and going and going.... My 3-year-old son eats about a gallon of the Peacevine Cherry tomatoes each day. That kid is nuts. The bigger tomatoes have been giving us ripe ones for a while now. (Pruden's Purple kicks major butt!!)

The luffa gourds are all over the fence and blooming now. The butternut and buttercup squashes (free hybrid seeds from Johnny's--anyone else doing these?), I planted late like everything else, and are now blooming and growing baby squashes.

My hot peppers are doing okay. I planted them in buckets to give it a try. They're not very big but seem to be doing quite well. I have maybe 10 varieties of chiles going. Have been harvesting and freezing Anaheims, Cayennes, and Jalapenos so far. The Habaneros have bunches of peppers on each plant!!

The strawberries are through producing for now. They're first-year plants and they're supposed to be everbearing but I think they're on vacation for now. We're hoping for some more berries after a while.

The grapes are doing their thing. I guess. I know nothing about grapes but these were growing when we got here so I'm just standing back and observing for this year while I learn. Lots and lots of grapes on the vines. When are they ready for picking? I need to read up on grapes.

I had great plans for this year's garden. *sigh* We just bought this place last year and didn't do any garden prep until this spring. I've come to the realization that we're just not going to get around to planting most of the seeds. I will still get some zukes and cukes planted, though, if it's the last thing I do. And a couple more herbs. All of the other seeds will go into storage for next year. We have more than enough going on right now.

We need to buy a chainsaw so we can get some wood put up for the new house. It should dry by winter if we start on it soon, right? I think I saw a decent-looking Husqy at the farm store for around $200 or so. Yet another thing I need to re-research.

I've also just started researching bee keeping. I think I may be interested but need to know more before I know if it'll will be worth my time.

I read on the Murray McMurray site a couple of years ago about a seed they sold to grow your own chicken feed. Apparently it provides most of the chickens' nutritional needs. I can't remember what it is called right now, but it would be really nice if you could grow your own chicken feed.

Cool! I searched MM's site but didn't see any mention of it. Anyone know anything more about this?

 

[nutkin]

Such a great thread you guys! Neat!

Well, this is the second season gardening here at our house. We don't have acreage unfortunately, but a decent sized rural in-city lot. First year was spent rippin up all the overgrown gunk that had been left untended for Gawd only knows how long. Last year we put in a small veggie garden and some perrenial beds.

THIS year, I went nutso with the beds. I'm aiming for cottage gardens (another way of saying: more gardens than lawn...preferably no lawn, with beds crammed with as many plants as they'll hold) around this decrepit old Victorian . Am making a bit of headway finally.

This month we've been inundated with rain. My neighbor told me the other day that out of the last 30 days, we've had 29 with precip. In many ways this was VERY good for most of my plants...others are drowning and I'm seriously considering making little life preservers for them.

All this dampness has caused some problems with some of my roses, tomatoes, hollyhocks ....and the lavender is fainting away in a few of my low spots (didn't get some of the new beds as level and graded for drainage as I thought I did! ack!) Everything else is jungle-like! We've got some kind of annoying vine that can grow feet (literally) overnight. We've become so totally obsessed with it's removal (we pull it up, dig it up...you name it...it justs pops up there the ground elsewhere!!!!!!! ) even the hubby is on the lookout for it. We'll be walking along one of the paths and I'll hear a "Aha! You thought you were hiding didn't you?!" and attack it with gusto. hehe

It takes me nearly a week to go through and weed all the beds. I start in the front and wrap around to the back. Then it's time to do it all over again! yeehaw (she sez dryly) I have noticed with this last weeding though, I'm finally getting ahead of them. Not nearly as much to pull. Yippeee!!! We've mulched in many areas.....but, not thick enough we've learned. It's a pain pulling weeds in thinly layered mulch.

This month I've learned how to take cuttings of some of my herbs (and other things) and successfully rooted them. Have had a blast harvesting & hanging them (yes, the lemon balm smell does diminish in the drying...but, not completely. I still do it too....I say go for it. Makes a good addiditive to chamomile tea, IMO.) Am on the second & third cuttings for some varieties.

Speaking of lemon-balm .....it's taking over!!!! I pictured smallish dainty...heavenly scented plants.....NOT! The scent is awesome but I swear these things are on steroids. The husband hates them....sez they look like weeds (he only likes things that flower boldly). SO! I keep them neatly trimmed so he doesn't have an excuse to weed whack them. I swear he'll be fertilizer for that which he hates if he even THINKS about touching my babies!!

My sweet williams bloomed this year. They're a biennial variety....gorgeous! Amazing what came out of 10 cent seed packets....and it's impossible to kill them. This month I spent much time harvesting heads to finish drying for seed collection. I ended up with ENVELOPES full of seeds. Replanted them so we can have more flowers next year. These have been a GREAT conversation starter with others in our town. Have made a few friends with folks that stop just to ask what they were. Cool! I now keep spare seed packs made up for anyone who stops. It's fun sending folks home with goodies.

Right now, all the planting is done except for my last lavender cuttings. I've got about another week before the root systems on those will be sturdy enough to plop in the ground. Yay! I get to remove more lawn! Woo-hoo!

Peppers are doing well.....bananas esp. Cukes are a cukin', watermelons and canteloupes are plugging along.....carrot tops are about 2 feet high. Bush beans are on the third harvest.

Am getting ready to harvest more basil to make basil jelly....and the cukes for pickles.
--------------

Ok, better stop here.....I could ramble on and on about gardening. I'm completely addicted....I even dream about plants.

I've loved reading about everyone else's projects....hope others will keep it coming.

 

[Sarrah]

Don't have much to report as the going is slow. We've been here two years. We're fairly proud of what we have done but if you look at what we haven't done it gets a person into apologetic mode. Therefore I list off to DH on a regular basis our accomplishments. A daily count your blessings if you will.
We started here with bare ground and an old motorhome. I won't list the building we've done but that took priority.
Planting the most improved area has to be DH's NZ clover planting. We now have a sizeable area that is green and spreading. A lovely cool ground cover that is mowed by the chickens. Last year it was desicrated by the deer. Darn things tore it up by the roots while eating it. This year we have a new dog. She is a gem and keeps them out of there. DH installed a doggie door for her day before yesterday and she is on the job. 24/7. She keeps them off the property and stays home. She just turned a year old and we are so glad to have her. She is absolutely the best thing we did for the garden.
I had a big problem with rabbits as well. Between the rabbits and the deer it is almost impossible to get anything to grow. This year we have two small raised beds at the bottom of a large cut just behind the house. We had a great crop of NZ spinach. I just let the last of the plants go to seed and I'm waiting for them to ripen before I pull the plants. I'll replant the seed along about Sept and see how early we can eat from it again. Swiss chard is doing well and we are still eating from it. I have the last cutting of lettuce in the fridge so that is finished. Radishes are done and seeding up. I use the pods from some I don't keep from seed. I keep a couple for insect control. My small tomatoes are forming and green. Still be weeks yet to eating stage. The larger tomatoes are blooming and We'll be looking for fruit in August. The squashes are all doing great. I'm hoping for a big crop to see us through the winter. The only other fruits forming are on the egg plant. Should start to eat it next week. Go figure that one, I don't recall ever having egg plant first. But I'll take whatever I can get. They are the Japanese egg plant I like those best.
I have one potato plant, we don't eat them but it grew from some peelings I put out last year. So I left it to see what we get. The shallots are excellent and I put in some Egyptian walking onions I was given and they are going stronge. Very nice onion. DH surrounded the beds sides bottoms and top so no stinkin' deer and rabbit has gotten in.... yet....
I have a big lavendar I started out there two years ago and it is full of blooms. The bees love it. At what stage do you cut it for sachets? Do I cut it in full bloom? or finish the bloom first. My herbs are all doing well. I am pleased with them. The dill is ready for harvesting and I'll do that tomorrow morning.
It maynot be the greatest garden in the world but we are eating it not just the animals this year.
We want to plant fruit trees and vines so bad. But until we have enough money for fencing it is out of the question. I'm thinking a hoop house type of structure around the berries and grapes, with that black netting completely over it or the birds squirrels deer rabbits etc will have it and we'll get nothing.
I have a few large pots of flowers. Not a lot but they are growing and once again the animals didn't get to eat them... Life is good this season.

 

[nutkin]

Sarrah..... You've done alot of work! AND, it sounds heavenly! I truly do wish we had more room here.

Quote:

"I have a big lavendar I started out there two years ago and it is full of blooms. The bees love it. At what stage do you cut it for sachets? Do I cut it in full bloom? or finish the bloom first."

Actually, for best results (for me anyway)...harvest before they bloom, when the flower stalks are still at the bud stage or still are mostly covered with those fat little purple buds. I've just recently read that if you trim off the bud-stalks & flower stalks, that you can get a second harvest later in the same season.....but, I'm not sure (no experience). I am trying it though in hopes I can get some more.

I've also seen people selling dried stems of lavender, and not the flowering parts...just the stems themselves. They said that the whole plant carries the scent to some degree or other....and it was selling for a premium for just a few stems bundled together. Don't know on this either ....again, am going to try it.

I'm fairly certain I'll be one that sticks with buds. My daughter loves lavender satchets....she puts them under her pillow at night....sez they help her sleep. She's impatiently waiting for me to get more to make her another sleep pillow.

 

[WalknTrot]

Cool Thread!

Gardening is REALLY slow here. My last frost was June 23...that's late even for N. Minnesota!

The raspberries look great (both wild and tame) as long as they get enough water in the next week. Broccoli is starting to head and the tomato plants are looking good...lots of blossoms, sturdy and that lovely blue-green color. I tried another heirloom variety this year (Brandywine) along with the very successful variety I got from a gal at the farmers market last year. She called them "Polish" and said they came over on the boat with her great grandma. The family has grown them ever since. The tomato is lobed and pinkish like the Brandywine, large and very sweet. The plants grow extremely fast, set early and are unusually sturdy. So far the Polish look superior to Brandywine. Will wait to sample the final product, though! My biggest concern right now is my Basil bed. Arghhhh! I rebuilt the raised bed this year and I'm worried that my precious Basil doesn't like the new dirt. (The basil garden is holy ground at my house....I LOVE homemade pesto! Froze 16 pints last year and that was NOT enough!)

Last weekend was taken up with MOWING! My back hayfield has been turned to pasture for the horses, but needs mowing once a year to keep the willow at bay. That was ten acres out of the way...this weekend we will start with haying about 15 additional acres. The hay crop is very good this year....the clover loves the cool wet weather and smells like heaven right now!

Otherwise, the hens are laying well, and we go fishing when we can. Big projects like the new shed and brush clearing around the trout stream will have to wait 'til the hay is up.

That's about it from here. I love reading everyone else's journal!

 

[A.T.Hagan]

In the poultry business again.

Well, I've got an unexpected entry for this month's journal.

My mom e-mailed the day before yesterday to say <i>Hey, are you ready for some chickens? Donnie has about 17 or 18 hatched out and about 2 weeks old.</i>

Aack! He was SUPPOSED to tell me before he incubated the eggs! I'm not anywhere close to being ready to take them yet and we've got an out of state family event to go to next weekend!

Ah well, that's homesteading for you. Looks like in addition to mowing and planting this weekend I'll be dragging the small hen house to the shop and refurbishing it as well as cleaning up the old feeders and waterers.

I had chickens up until last Fall so it's not like I don't have the stuff, it's just not ready to be used. Don't have the yard ready either and this time around I'm going to yard them. The pastured model worked badly for me last year mostly because I need a livestock guardian dog or a really good electric fence set up due to the predator pressure. This time around I'll let them out only when I'm at home and run a hot wire around the pop door of the coop and around the top of the yard fence. Hopefully, this should keep old Brer Coon out of my hair and my hen house!

These birds are partially descended from some that he hatched from eggs that I gave him from my birds so I'm looking forward to having them again. They'll be mutts, nothing spectacular but for house eggs they'll do. It'll be nice to have them again as it's too quiet without a rooster crowing and hens clucking. Nice to have something to throw the scraps to again as well.

Of course, this is going to throw my plans off yet again. The way things are going I'm an <i>never</i> going to get the house painted.

.....Alan.

 

[TerriHaute]

Am getting ready to harvest more basil to make basil jelly....and the cukes for pickles.

You don't mention dill, but in case you have it here's a favorite recipe I've been making as a continuous batch the past couple of weeks. I planted dill one year and it now reseeds itself like crazy and I pull it out like a weed.

Refrigerator Pickles

3 or 4 cucumbers, sliced
1 medium onion sliced, rings separated
3 T. fresh dill weed, chopped or 1 T. dried dill weed
1/2 C. vinegar
1/2 C. water
1 C. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Mix together vinegar, sugar, salt, and water. Add cucumbers, dill, and onion.
Refrigerate at least two hours before serving.


Terri in Indiana

 

[nutkin]

A. T. ......

"Of course, this is going to throw my plans off yet again. The way things are going I'm an never going to get the house painted."

You too? My goal round here this year was to get the outside repainted. It's always something aint it?

Terri......Cool! Thank you!

 

[Tadpole]

Booger, sorry I missed your question earlier:

I read on the Murray McMurray site a couple of years ago about a seed they sold to grow your own chicken feed. Apparently it provides most of the chickens' nutritional needs. I can't remember what it is called right now, but it would be really nice if you could grow your own chicken feed.


Cool! I searched MM's site but didn't see any mention of it. Anyone know anything more about this?

You could probably email Murray MacMurray and ask them what it was.

Alan, I built a cage out of hardware cloth to temporarily house chicks while I was finishing the chicken house three years ago. I kept it on the deck and covered it with plastic with a light bulb underneath the plastic at night. I didn't lose a single chick and it bought me time.

 

[nchomemaker]

I have been picking and eating green beans for about 3 weeks. The 4 rows that a mouse or mole ate half the plants are coming back and the rest of the rows are still in production though they have slowed down.

We started eating sweet corn, Early Sunglow, small ears about 4 inches but yummy. Later planting of Golden Queen is starting to get silks and stalks are tall and healthy. Winds and rain knocked some over last week but they are a commin back up!

Winter squash plants have done really well and quite a few squashes are already big. I planted these early (didn't know I was suppose to wait longer) but they are in an area of my garden that does not get sun until 12:00. The plants were set out in holes cut in heavy plastic and they seem to be really healthy.

Started picking and eating Beefsteak tomatoes that are about 1 and 1/2 pounds to 2 pounds and delicious. Romas are ripening too but the unstaked ones keep getting eaten when just ripening by rabbits and slugs.

Zucchini and summer straightneck squash have been slowly keeping us supplied, have breaded and fried these, cooled and put into the freezer then taken out and popped into the oven till crispy. These are yummy but fattening.

Trying mung beans for sprouting like someone else posted. Had the beans for sprouting and I'm experimenting with growing in the garden. 2 rows look great so far.
Sweet banana peppers and doing great. I'm pickling these.
Strawberries in a bed 2ft.x10ft. are everbearing only getting enough at one time to put on cereal or for a snack. They are 2 years old and will take the runners to plant in another bed.

Cucumbers got hit with cucumber beetles that spread a wilting disease but I got a few off of them to make some pickles. Claussen and sweet. Have replanted cukes and they are starting to climb the trellis. Hoping to get more cukes this time around.

I have a bed of herbs dill; basil; sage; rosemary; thyme; parsley; lavander;lemon balm;oregano; and I have a mexican oregano in a pot, Beebalm, and peppermint outside the garden area that are doing nicely and taking cuttings and divisions to plant in other areas of the garden.

My raised beds are sided with old cedar rail fencing that the neighbors let me have. My garden has a rustic feel to it. I've got the herbs interplanted with veggies and a few flowers Marigolds and cosmos.
I put an old iron chair and footstool in the shade at the far side of the garden where I can sit and take a break. It's lovely to sit and put my feet up and drink my iced tea for a few minutes before going back to work.

It's been too hot here again to do much outside, I get sick, so have to be careful.
But there is the pleasure of harvesting and starting seeds of new herbs in the house.

I'm glad for the opportunity to share my garden with folks who care, fellow gardeners I salute you and your efforts. Never give up. This is the first year since we have been here ( 5 years ) that I have a nice garden.

I've had rabbits, put their manure in the garden, and chickens 20 of them now. All their composted manure goes into the garden. Plus I started composting everything I can get my hands on this year. All that addition to the soil has made a big difference from when we fist moved here.

I live on less than an acre at the backside of a subdivision. Can have rabbits and chickens but no other farm animals darnit. Would really like to have a milking goat.

Going to read up on keeping bees, think I might be able to do that here next to the woods but not sure.

I have plans to grow more herbs next year and plant some fruit trees and bushes.

 

[delta lady]

A.T. Hagen...

Flora Dade..interesting site..

http://plantsdatabase.com/go/64021/

 

[mamabird]

Well, birds got my chokecherries and most of my strawberries, need to get some of that netting. My dog tore down my baby apple tree and deer ate my sunflowers down to nothing. Got one sunflower left that may bloom. But I just pulled a few pounds of turnips, have a head or two of cabbage, potatoes look okay but my broccoli and cauliflower don't seem to be doing too much yet. My peppers and tomatoes have disappeared under the pumpkin and winter squash, guess I planted them too close. Corn is moving along too. Also picked some blackberries, but they're not in my garden, just out in a field behind the house. This is my second year gardening, and I love it! Learning as I go.

 

[Lenore]

Hey this is a great thread!
Looks like we have some real pros, which is a good thing as I have some questions.
My Daughter and I were just out harvesting some blueberries and had to rescue a bird from the netting. Is there a better way to protect the berry bushes from the birds? This is the second bird to get entangled in the netting.

Our gardens aren't huge but we have a nice size vegetable garden, an herb garden and several perrenial flower beds. I'm trying potatoes for the first time this year so with any luck I'll be harvesting them in October. Everything we grow is organic and we make all our own compost. We do add some really great composted manure for the vegetable garden though.

You folks gardening out in the country make me wish I had some farm land.
I'd love to have some livestock but alas we're stuck here in suburbia.

Can we post some pics on this thread? I'd love to see what everyone is talking about. I have a few pics of our little garden if anyone is interested.
Just thought I'd ask before posting them.

Alan, thanks for the heads up about this thread.

 

[TerriHaute]

More than you wanted to know about my garden!

I'll start by posting a few pics of my garden.

This one was taken in May, standing at the south edge of the garden and facing north. To the left is our home-made pea fence with sugar snap peas in blossom and some rhubarb. South of the peas but out of the photo is a strawberry bed. In front of the peas are horseradish, sweet corn, hot peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini. You can see the 16 mostly-heirloom tomato plants in front of the asparagus and the greenhouse at the north edge.

This photo shows the garden on the north side of the asparagus patch. Front to back in the photo is planted onions, lettuce, green peppers, tomatoes (can't have too many tomatoes), herbs, and bush beans. At the edge of the garden is a grape arbor where I also like to plant morning glories. It is also home to a pair of wrens. Along the right are the supports for the pole beans. There are a couple of garter snakes that like to hang out in the garden, and especially like crawling under the black plastic. The kitty in the picture (who has no claws) likes to pounce on the snakes as they slither along under the plastic.

This year's project was a greenhouse. We needed to replace the old shed and decided to make a larger building that is half storage shed and half greenhouse. This photo shows DH putting on the gutter. He is working on a rain cachement system that will channel water from the gutters into a buried tank. The tank will be connected to a pitcher pump inside the greenhouse. This will also serve as a backup water supply in an emergency. Along the greenhouse are squash plants (zucchini, acorn, delicata) and the next row over is a planting of flowers, mostly zinnia and marigolds, to attract the butterflies.

Here's a peek inside the greenhouse. You can see the hand-pump on the left side of the potting bench. There's not much growing inside at the moment except for some house plants and there are sugar snap peas laid out to dry. They'll be next year's pea seeds.

Here's the backside of the greenhouse where the cistern will be buried. Once that is all done, I'd like to put some raised beds back there. The vining plant growing on the trellis is a hops vine (for yeast and beer). The compost tumbler is there too and as this is a recent photo, you can see how the pole beans have covered the poles. The sign posted in front of the sunflower says, " Mine field. All baseballs landing in my yard are mine. Stay out of the garden." You may have noticed in the gutter photo above how close we are to a baseball field. This year the school decided to turn the meadow behind our house into the freshman ballfield.

Now it's your turn to post garden pics!
Terri in Indiana

 

[Jazzdad]

We moved into our farm last year and spent our time renovating the house. This year is devoted to gardens and orchard. In April, I planted 40 fruit trees. A mix of apple, pear, plum, peach and nectarine. Our trees were purchased from Stark and Adams County Nursery and I can highly recommend ACN. Out of all 40 trees, only one failed to grow. Here is a picture of the apple orchard:

<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.savagerecords.com/images/tb_north%20orchard%20-%20apples.jpg"</img>
</div>

Apple varieties are HoneyCrisp, Autumn Gala, Northern Spy, Macoun, Baldwin and Ginger Gold. Most of these are on BUD-9 or M-9 rootstocks.

Here is a picture of the upper section of the orchard:

<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.savagerecords.com/images/tb_north%20orchard%20-%20pears%20plums%20nectarine.JPG"</img>
</div>

We have Shinseiki Pear (OHXF 97), Hosui Pear (OHXF 97), Buerre D’Anjou Pear (DOM Bartlett), Red Haven Peach (Lovell), Reliant Peach, Hardired Nectarine, Ozark Premier Plum and Madison Peach (Bailey). The rest of the trees are scattered around the property near other pollinators, if necessary.

The pasture in which the orchard is located is protected by an electric fence. I bait it with molasses to entice the deer to take a taste so they will learn to fear the fence. Until I did this, I lost a pear to a randy buck who was sharpening his antlers on one of the saplings.

After getting the orchard in, I began work on the garden fence. The previous owners had a garden area but no fence. Around here what the woodchucks don't eat, the deer will. The garden fence is 75 feet by 50 feet. The corners are 10 foot pressure treated 4x4's set three feet deep and braced in two directions. The lower part of the fence is a garden-type wire fence 25"" high with small holes on the bottom and larger holes on the top. This keeps out the wood chucks and the rabbits. Above the woven wire are three courses of 14 ga. aluminum fence wire with the middle course hooked up to the electric pasture fence. I bait this with molasses. The total height of the fence is 6 feet but I can go to seven feet, if necessary to keep out the deer. So far, it's working. We have had no predation from any animals.

Here is a picture of the garden with fence.

<div style="text-align: center;">
<img src="http://www.savagerecords.com/images/tb_garden.jpg" </img>
</div>

In the garden, we have nine tomato varieties with twelve plants each. They are Yellow Pear, Pruden’s Purple, Gardener’s Delight, Beefmaster, Brandywine, Burbank Red Slicing, Yellow Perfection, Arkansas Traveler and Zapotec Pleated. All are indeterminate except for Burbank Red Slicing and Gardener’s Delight. All are thriving with small fruits visible.

We started seven pepper varieties with twelve plants each: Cayenne Long, Super Thai (hybrid), Early Jalepeno, Orange Sun, New Ace (hybrid), Anaheim and Purple Beauty. All the peppers are showing fruits except the Anaheim.

The rest of the garden is has fifteen blueberry plants, four elderberry, an asparagus patch rescued from the old garden, four bush beans, two dry beans, one pole bean, some lettuce, two sunflowers, one watermelon, one melon, one pumpkin, two Swiss chard and two collards.

Peas we started did not come up. Out of at least two hundred seeds, we got four plants. Same with the carrots and lettuce. Broccoli and cauliflower were direct seeded in the garden and germinated poorly. Next year I'll start the lettuce and cabbage family indoors and transplant.

I think the poor germination of some of these was due to a top dressing of purchased compost I put on just prior to planting. I think it was too hot (not fully composted) and stunted the seeds. So, in the vacant beds, I just planted more carrots and peas hoping for a fall crop. We'll see. I'm also starting more lettuce, spinach and radishes indoors for late season transplanting.

I have a place for an herb bed near the kitchen where germination was also poor. Here, I think the compost was also a problem. The soil is poor as well so I will use a lasagna garden approach and improve the soil for next year's herb garden.

 

[booger]

Jazz, your pics aren't showing up.

Terri, what a gorgeous garden!! Wow!

 

[Tadpole]

Terri, the pictures are GORGEOUS! I love your greenhouse.

I have a black kitty, too!

Jazzdad, hope you can get the pictures posted. I'd love to see them.

 

[TerriHaute]

Thanks Tadpole and Booger. The garden is a labor of love. My dad had a big garden for as long as I can remember, so I learned the love of gardening from him. I have tried, over the past five years, to learn about and practice "self-sufficient" gardening as much as possible: growing heirlooms and open pollinated varieties, saving seeds, starting tomatoes, peppers, etc. from seeds, learning to raise many different kinds of vegetables, etc. just in case TSHTF for real. The greenhouse is an extension of that as I hope to use it to extend the growing season as much as possible.

JazzDad, love your pictures of your orchard. Are your fruit trees dwarf or full-sized? I am especially interested in how your rigged up your electric fence too. So far the worst pests I have to contend with are raccoons in the corn and rabbits in the beans and lettuce but I always like to know how others cope for future reference.

Terri in Indiana

 

[Tadpole]

JazzDad, thanks for posting the pictures.

When I see young fruit trees planted, it gives me such a feeling of security. It's an investment in hope and faith in the future.

I hope that you and your family have many good years to enjoy abundant harvests!

 

[Jazzdad]

Tadpole,

Thanks for the sentiment We feel the same way about fruit trees and I insisted that this be the first growing project at our place. If it's going to take three years to see some fruit then we better get started.

We have some existing trees. There's various apples, two Bartlett pears, a Montmorency tart cherry and an unidentified plum. But these trees had been neglected and although I've pruned and fertilized, it's not clear that I can revive them.

 

[Jazzdad]

TerriHaute,

The pears and apples are on dwarf rootstocks. The others are small in size naturally if kept pruned. That's why they are planted at ten foot intervals with fifteen feet between rows.

The electric fence was designed for our three pastures and consists of about three miles of fence. Some is high tensile and some low tensile. It was designed for holding sheep and has five wires at one foot intervals and is five feet in height. This is not high enough for keeping out deer, so I bait the fence.

We use a high impedance charger with an earth ground system. The animal must be in contact with the ground to receive a shock. This is a good safety feature since people with shoes aren't shocked very much. (Don't service such a fence standing in water - I know this from personal experience). Some animals can jump between wires and not be shocked as the coyotes have learned. Maybe I can post a closeup of my garden fence and show how the woven wire and electric are combined.

We were very lucky to find a farm with all this infrastructure in place. We looked for two years before we found it.

 

[Was Cath]

July is when our gardening efforts get into full swing. The rains are gone, the soil is warm, and we are working hard!

Just harvested the last of the strawberries yesterday, the best year we've had! We dug up about 20lbs of potatoes last weekend; a good selection of reds, whites, and sweet potatoes. We're still getting about 3-4 lbs of lettuce per week from the garden, but the spinach seems to have stopped growing. The tomatoes in the mini-greenhouse (kind of a cross between a greenhouse and cloche) are doing great, we've had the best luck with the cherry tomatoes and are harvesting about a pound per week of reds, yellows, and orange tomatoes.

The chickens are giving us about 7 eggs per day.

Now for the failures: our beans didn't do squat this year! The baby plants got to about 6 inches high and then all got eaten. Not sure what did that! The corn, pumpkins, and squash plants are all growing so slowly that I'm concerned they won't produce before the season is gone! The carrots are growing slowly too but will at least be able to give us baby carrots soon! And they overwinter here with protection from the rain. My basil, cantelope, and snow peas never even came up!

All this talk about gardening---I think I'll get off the computer and get some weeding done!

 

[A.T.Hagan]

It was a hot weekend here at DunHagan but I still managed to get some work done. Saturday was pretty well taken up with domestic errands and family propitiation.

Sunday was my day. Finally got the four Chickasaw blackberries planted and the two camellias - one <i>C. japonica</i> named Carter's Sunburst and one <i>C. sasanqua</i> by the name of Shishi-Gehara which may actually turn out to be a <i>japonica-sasanqua</i> cross. Info is conflicting on this one.

Finally learned an important lesson too. Planted one, then sat in the shade to cool off. Planted another, then sat down to cool off. Took a long time to get them all in that way, but I wasn't beat down at the end of the day like I usually am when I get a full day in during the summer. Thermometer on the back porch topped out at ninety-five.

Hand pulled the nutgrass from the two camellias I planted the year before last for a good radius then hoed out the rest. That done I mulched in the two established plants and the three fig trees which have been needing it for a while. Didn't get more done past that as it finally decided to rain.

Not a big day, but enough for me when it's as hot as it is.

.....Alan.

 

[Gingergirl]

Yesterday, I picked the last of the garden and snap peas and cleaned out the vines. The snap peas are much more productive and preferred for the table by my family, so I will be planting more of those, with a much higher trellis system. The garden peas do dry well, so I won't quit with those.

Time to dig the potatoes, pull the onions, and beets. Need to harvest more of the Chard and freeze. Carrots still aren't ready The tomatos look great , but it'll be at least a month before harvest. We have lots of peaches, but will be another 3 weeks for them. Oh, and the herbs, all over the place...need to get them harvested too.

Now I need to put in my last summer crops to harvest before fall weather sets in.

One joy...with the heavy mulch, there has been alot less weeding this year.

 

[Tadpole]

Finally learned an important lesson too. Planted one, then sat in the shade to cool off. Planted another, then sat down to cool off. Took a long time to get them all in that way, but I wasn't beat down at the end of the day like I usually am when I get a full day in during the summer. Thermometer on the back porch topped out at ninety-five.

Alan, I read that is why southerners gained such a reputation for being so sluggish and appearing lazy. Especially before air conditioners you had to move slowly and rest a lot or the heat would do you in. And only someone who has breathed 95 degree air with 95% humidity can understand how even your talking slows down. It is hard to breathe!

It was only after I got into gardening that I discovered how delicious the chill of sweat can feel while sitting under a shade tree when a breeze comes by!

 

[Lenore]

Love All the Pics!

I'll post some of my own gardens when I can go out and take some better pics.
I have a couple I took awhile back but they're not quite as nice as the ones here.
Its raining right now (Thankfully) my veggies were getting pretty thirsty. I'm trying something new this year and was wondering if anyone here has tried this....
Have you ever grown Winter Squash vertically?
I have a whole row of them growing straight up on wire frames and so far they are doing great. I'm going to have to figure out a way to support the squash as they get bigger though. My loopy idea was to have the squash off the ground so as to keep them clean and bug free. Has anyone tried this? Or will I be fighting a losing battle?

 

[CanadaSue]

Oh the inadequacy...

Gorgeous, gorgeous photos & I definitely am suffering a bad case of garden envy. Pity the 'forced urbanite' stuck with a stinking northeast exposure, not much light, balcony. But hey, there are still things I can grow & as the days wear on, the garden is coming good. Helps that the weather has warmed up.

One of the things I did was put every plant that's a sun lover outside - houseplants I mean. I have 3 large snake plants in large pots. I planted a trio of nasturtium seeds in each snake plant pot. The stiff leaves of the snake plants hold up the nasturtiums nicely & it's a delightful way to get some bloom from a planting not known for blooms. I also have nasturtiums & sweet peas growing around a young dracena plant.

Most house plants are in pots just the right size for them so I left them as is. I'd rescued a variegated strawberry geranium plant last fall - someone had tossed it with only 2 leaves left alive. It's thriving, has put out 5 runners in the past week & looks ready to live up to its name. With green, white & pinky red leaves it's really pretty.The asparagus fern I'd rescued at the same time has turned into one lush monster. I may need to look at Grolights this fall/winter as I get low light levels in here that time of year. I have 1 south facing window but it's small & there's only so much I can stuff in there.

This morning I saluted my first California poppy. It's the only bud I've seen on very indifferent plants so I suspect it truly DOES need a ton of sun. Next year I'll try instead some nemophila, (Baby Blue Eyes) mixed in with Poached Egg Plant, (Limnanthes douglasii). They have similar growth patterns & foliage & the flower colors will mix nicely.

I'm still more than happy with the geraniums, verbena & various violas/pansies I tried AND the lobelia. Don't know what happened to the alyssum I planted. That's usually idiot proof but this idiot seems to have managed to kill it.

I envy you folks with a bit of land to call your own. I may decide to hire myself to one of you as an indentured servant for the privilege of having my own 10 x 10 plot...

I must figure ouyt how to cram more on to the balcony next year. I'll see how many mopre old shelving units I can snatch out of garbage piles this summer/fall...