Anybody thinking about the gardens for this year yet? Are you going bigger with the garden area? smaller? crops you are planting? I know different areas have different methods and crops and I am always interested in what grows where!
Looks like we will try to plant more than last year ---- gonna be hard for me to keep it weeded but will do my best to keep things going.
Want to start a few plants early in the house, then later more in the hotbed by the house. also going to double the size of the hotbeds.
We will start a few sweet potato plants ourselves since they want over a dollar a plant for them from mail order. We have a lot left in the basement for "seed crop" and will plant some of them.

This year our club ( Central States Thresherman's Reunion ) asked me to plant a long row of potatoes for them so a member can demonstrate his antique IH potato digger so its going to be a challenge to keep up with all of it. Neighbor is the club vice-pres. and will help a lot.
He also wants me to help in early spring to load/haul/spread millings on the roads in the show grounds. I get to drive his old F700 diesel dump truck,--he loads with his bobcat and another member operated the latches on the spreader box we have!
We need to get this all done before planting time and get the seed potatoes bought and cut at the right time just before planting----probably have 1 or 2 hundred pounds this year then more next year if things go as planned.
We will plant them with my old homemade potato planter. Virginia is good at spacing the pieces the right distance, so she might go up there with us to plant. Will pull planter with either neighbors 235-hydro. or 1 of my sunstar 20's. Hydro works slick on the planter.

Made mine bigger last year. Hope to make it more productive this year. I need to figure out some drainage. Damn Clay holds water BAD...Been dumping coffee grounds, leaves, sweetgum balls, chipper mulch,Peat anything organic in there to help break that crap up. Had snow today for the first time in 2 years.

FRANKENMATO



Kinda scary isn't it? This is why I like to grow my own.

Ya! we kinda like our own grown veggies---- at least you what went into them.
we got another 3 loads of horse manure yesterday. neighbors daughter owns a boarding barn 10 miles from here and we starting getting manure from there. She has 14 horses at present time and usually runs from 10 to 16, so that makes for a lot of chit to get rid of ! lol! --- looks like a big dump truck load a week has been the norm this winter. she has an area to stockpile it in bad weather so that is another plus. We also have 3 other small jobs that make 4 to 6 loads per year so we grab them too.

Anything you can mix in the ground will help! --- chopped up paper, cardboard, etc., will work too ----I did a lot of that at the other place before we moved here.

planted the franken tomato. getting some sprouts. weren't sure we would, they all looked kinda rough when we took it apart & burried the sprouting seeds.

once seeds sprout and get in some dirt they usually grow. ----Looks like you have quite a few plants so far! --- I always hate to waste plants or seeds and sometimes get some weird stuff out of what I planted! lol! --- never know til you try!
Plan on starting seed flats indoors the end of this month here and later do the hotbed outside. still need to double the size of it, we have another glass door to use on it just like the one we have.
Wanted to do some sweet potatoes in one of them. Might stick a couple of the smaller ones in jars and start a few indoors too , have done that before and it works for a few early plants.----cant plant them too early outside as they dont do well during cool weather!
This year sweet potatoes are like $30. a dozen plants and that's totally out for us, so will plant some of the stored tatoes and make our own plants. We grew several hundred plants last year from 2-year storage potatoes that sis had in a back room and forgot about!
Still getting horse manure,----well was til snow came!--- she has plenty of room to stockpile now til better weather comes, then we can haul it in here and make a big pile during the summer and spread in the fall and plow it under.

put 3 sweet potatoes in jars of water to sprout --- had some last year that did. as soon as the ground gets a bit dryer here by the house, I will dig in the other log for the hotbed extension. Plan on doubling the size of the hotbed this year. Time here now to start seed flats indoors.

Gotta figure out what the hell I'm going to do with my mess. I really need to figure out a way get it all to drain.

At the other place we had one side that stayed kinda wet and didnt have a way out with a tile, so I drilled some holes as deep as a power post hole digger would go. I only used the 4" auger on it, ---- didnt take long to do the area and did drain after that.
Told another guy on another forum way back in time about it and he said it worked for him too.----just an idea, no promise it would but if all else fails, might be worth a try!

Main power line runs under there some where. I like the Idea though.. it did dry up a lot sot I got the dirt rolled over.

I tilled a few passes here in the window garden the other day and it is drying fast, so a little air movement in the dirt will dry it faster. dont work it too wet tho! ---makes mudballs and they will bug all summer! lol!
I got 2 rain tanks set up by the house so far and 2 more to go. Might as well catch the water off the roof and save it for the gardens.-- Also keeps it from getting in the basement. We have 2 corners that will leak in when we get heavy rains, so the tanks will relieve the pressure and help keep things dry. cant find the leak but think its between 2 blocks somewhere up the wall then runnin over to another area and in! Outside walls were never coated as far as we can tell.
The totes are 275 gallon IBC's and when they get full, I will pump them over into some bigger tanks. I can hold around 5000 gallons at a time total.

Cleaned up the yard after work today. Spread all the shread in the garden. 10 -1 ratio on the shreader vac, so it's going to be real easy to turn under... Got a whole pile out back I need to spread yet. Garden is still pretty wet along the top half. doesn't get as much sun this time of year and that's the new part I started last year when I expanded. Still mostly clay there.

Still a bit wet here to do a lot, but next to the house, ( south side) it dries first so I can work on the window garden first.
Our onion plants are s'posed to come the week of the 23'rd of this month, so I hope the onion field dries a lot more so I can till it and get the plants in as soon as they come! MOST years we got them planted within a few days of arrival, some years the same day!

Got the shred turned in on the garden this week end. still have more to spread but wanted to get what was already there turned in before it rains. supposed to start tonight. Looks a little better.

18 bunches of onion plants in the ground today. kinda wet but needed to get them in as soon as possible.
Made 3 long rows across the South garden.
For some reason we have a strawberry plant blooming!-- shouldnt til first of May.
AND my helper, he rode behind me for 3 hours on the creeper! lol!

The onion rows are 230 feet long.
we had an inch of rain on them so now to keep the crust broke so air can get to the roots as they grow.

Got the spuds planted today--180 pounds of them. old homemade planter works great! a few pix of it and of course one of the yard inspectors showed up! lol!

steel wheels that never go flat..looks like that is a great working piece of equipment Sonny

Think I'm going to try buds in a barrel this year and see if I can get some fresh potatoes on my city lot garden.

Jim,---you can grow them in bags or barrels ----I have never tried it that way but have seen many people do it!

I watched a you tube video of a guy up in Canada looks like a fair yield at harvest....

Finally got some plants in the ground.

Planted some cabbage plants from the hotbed into the garden rows last night. Got cold here again----down to 38* for the next 3 nights here! Got a little rain, no big amount so far.

strawberries are starting to get some size ---- some of them got froze but looks like a lot of green berries in there.
As soon as it quits raining, I am going to start transplanting the tomato plants from the hotbed to the garden and get going on the rest of the seed that I have to plant.

Started to hill the potatoes and plant tomatoes. A bit more of the early planted seed is coming up finally. Cucumbers, lettuce, beets, dill, Radishes are done, turnips look good, carrots not so good, maybe 1/3 stand. Never did get parsnips to come up ---- Damn un-treated seed they sell nowdays ---- soil insects jump right on the untreated seed! Next year I gotta get my own seed treat!
Crackpot crazies are forcing seed companies into this shit, so cant really blame them I guess, still a crock!

Square foot garden doing good. one of these years I'll convince the wife we need to plant earlier. barrel taters are popping up.

the reds


the whites


you can see the beans in the cinder block are popping up too.

Tatoes hilled for the last time, cant get tiller down the rows anymore. Cabbage, cauliflower, and broc. doing good so far.
beans and sweetcorn just coming up.
Finally got the melons, pumpkins and squash planted.
Been cultivating every few days----- weeds trying to get started now.
Cucumbers have 3 leaves now, so they are starting to grow too.

Been raining 2 days now. So far the garden isn't under water yet. Must have done some thing right with the compost & stuff this year.
taters are up about two inches since I posted the pics. will have to add dirt to the barrels soon.

Been raining 2 days now. So far the garden isn't under water yet. Must have done some thing right with the compost & stuff this year.
taters are up about two inches since I posted the pics. will have to add dirt to the barrels soon.

Sounds good Jim! Taters and cabbage here are doing good too! Been making strawberry jam,----so far we have 38 quart jars done. --- GOTTA be getting to the end of the season for them soon! Anyway it will taste good in the winter OR whenever we want to have it!
Onions starting to bulb fairly good, Rains are far and few here now so I been hauling water to them and the tomato and cabbage.
still have more tomato plants to get in,--- they are about big enough to transplant into the garden. The first tomato plants we put out are starting to bloom so these late ones will have to hurry to make a crop.
Got started kinda late on the gardens this year due to the late freezes/cold ground and early rains we had here,---now not much rain comes, so gotta haul water to everything we plant.
Most of the seeds are in now. Will do later sweetcorn plantings every 2 weeks til early July.

End of strawberry season!---- ended up with 42 quarts of jam and 2 quarts of berries in the freezer. Found the first tater about the size of a hard ball, so they are starting to get serious! Early Norlands have always been good to us and mature early. The Pontiacs and Kennebecs are full season and great to go into winter storage later. Have a few golds that are medium season and a 10' strip of russets just to test for success or failure ----russets usually dont do well around here!

well it's starting to look like a garden finally. ONE of these years years I'll convince the wife to plant earlier. We don't have any bees around for pollinating. I swear the last few years the only bees Are wasps, Mud daubers, carpenter bees and bumble bees. Never see any in the garden. Planted flowers to help draw some in but we're still fighting hard with the squash plants.

garden looks good Jim..Ive got a few bucket 'maters, a pair of yellow peppers and cukes..found a section of clean wire mesh for my cukes to climb on..small and sweet for this year..some of Sonny's secret horseradish might get dug up and ground this year for the big farm party..

Cukes are on the pallets, potato's are in the black 1/2 drums. a few tomato's, peppers BEANS every where. Kathy has a variety of things planted in the buckets.

Picked the cherries and got over 8 gallons and had at least a gallon that I couldnt reach from the loader bucket.
Made 24 quarts of jam plus a couple pints that werent full.
The calla lilly that they said would not bloom here out in the ground is blooming! lol!
Potatoes are fist sized now and onions 3 to 5 inch diameter so far, they will be harvested the last day of July.
Cucumbers about ready to climb the arches. ----- trying something different this year to attempt at making them easier to find/pick!
Green beans are almost a foot tall, just made another planting a couple days ago.
Sweetcorn is knee high and second planting about 6" high,--will make one more planting when it dries out enough again to do so.
Cabbage, cauliflower, broc. and eggplant starting to grow fast now.
Tomatoes range in size from over knee high down to just planted so might get something from some of them. Got the cages up around the biggest plants.
Melons, pumpkins, and squash are mixed results this year as seed didnt germinate very good for some reason.
Radishes are gone, turnips are ready, carrots and beets need weeding right now but look fair, so may have a few late ones.

Made some Peach jam yesterday----28 quarts of it! Finally got the Norlands dug, and now it looks like the Nennebecs are ready!

Had the freeze-drier runnin onions but neighbors sweetcorn got ready so we are in the process of doing a couple batches before it gets too hard then back to onions!
Canned a couple batches of yellow summer squash yesterday and tomorrow after doctor appt. will do another batch of peach jam! ---Another small tree got ripe and I am watching another tree that is a couple days from pickin!

cucumbers starting to go up the arches and some of the cabbage heads about half grown.----these will get to 25 pounds when full grown.

The Gardens are productive this year. Been fighting off tree rats, mice, racoons and opossums but we're getting Tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers and some squash. fighting the damn grubs that get in the stalks with the squash. been a few years since we were able to enjoy getting fresh out the garden veggies like this. the cukes are growing along the side of my shop. Not too bad for a city garden.

Looks great Jim! --- Ya I know you have to fight to get veggies, but damn they are good!!
Dont know how many more gardens I will be able to do, but we try to keep a 5+ year supply of processed garden goodies on hand. Right now we are still freeze-drying all the onions that we can since they will keep for probably 25 years or more according to Harvest-right maker!----way longer than I will be alive.

LOVE the fresh Veggies. Makes it all worth it. we've had squash tomatoes cucumbers and beans steady for a couple weeks. damn squash bugs got to our plants so hopefully the second planting will give us some in a while.

We would be lost without our veggies! A lot of work,--BUT the taste of your own home grown stuff cant be bought from anyplace! We are still trying to do onions and sweetcorn in the freeze drier . Corn started getting ready , so we had to switch to it and do a couple runs, or however many we can get before it gets too hard. Also putting some in pint jars and running the pressure canner at the same time! Everything comes in at the same time and its a bear to get a handle on the harvest.
We have people come get whatever they want and usually not much ever goes to waste from our gardens.

A few harvest pix.----AND a couple of the bosses watching the job!

nice little helper there

got around to steamin some pumpkin and Virginia made some pies from the first batch.
We are putting some of the pumpkin in the freezer and will try one batch in the freeze-drier to see if that will work,---never did it before, so it just a test.
Finally got most of the onions done. Gave 400 pounds of them to the food bank.

This first pumpkin weighed 16 pounds. the one I am holding weighs 31 pounds. Most of the rest range from 10 to 15 pound range average.

This is the best commercial pie pumpkin out there. Steams down to a non-stringy pie ready filler, just add sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and what ever you want to it, pour into the pan and bake.

The last pic is the big boy at 31 pounds.
Garden is winding down for the season with a lot of rain now making it hard to do and fall work. Hope to plow before the ground freezes.

Dont look like I will get gardens plowed this fall due to the weather. I think the ground is about ready to freeze from the looks of the forecasts for the next week or so.
Need to dig some horseradish roots up and grind them. Usually do enough to last the winter then early spring do the summer allotment so we have some to use the year round and it's always fresh that way. It keeps good in the fridge for 6 months or so,---longer in the deep freezer if you needed to.

Coaxing my Elderberry plant. Got some new roots and a little green on the stick. water from the fishpond works well but guess it's time for some dirt or good potting soil. I'll put it in the ground in the spring. It'll stay inside for the winter.

Just put dirt in there and it will be good til spring planting!
Sis has elderberry bushes growing wild at her place and they put tons of berry heads on them.
They are a very hardy plant! lol!

I'm hoping. Always had bushes growing around the house back up in NY. Found these growing in the ditch here. I actually have a bush growing out behind my shop but it's Very Scraggly and doesn't produce enough to make 1 pie. So I dug this one up out of the ditch. City property & they've been mowing it every down year so I haven't been able to collect any berries for a couple years now. Plan on starting my own patch not just 1 bush.

I did grab a bag of garden soil today. I'll get that elderberry in the dirt tomorrow.

They are a hardy plant,--you can winter them over in the bucket OR if the ground is not froze, plant them directly in now! Sis replants them all year long and they always grow for her! lol!
Ya, it takes several bushes to get many berries.
Some people south of us here have 10 acres of commercial elderberries growing and they harvest them by hand and make juice that is sent out somewhere.

Takes 4 hours for Kathy & I to hull enough berries to make 1 pie. Totally worth it to me I LOVE elderberry pie. Elderberries are a high dollar crop. I need to get some Anti Bird netting, or I won't get any with only 1 bush. My stick is looking good. as soon as I know were good with the weather hear I'll plant it. Feb is the cold month. When I can ride the Polaris again, I'll take another cruise out to the ditch & see if I can find a couple more plants before the City mows it all down again.

I use bird net here on my little cherry tree,--without it we dont get 1 cherry! Also have to put it over the strawberries. We have 3 or 4 nets. The first really old one I got is 16' x 75' and its been used for 15 years on the berries and then later it goes over the cherry tree in the years it sets fruit crop.

The people down the road from us that have the 10 acre patch claim that elderberries help fight cancer and kept their dad going for another 2 years after doc. gave him 6 months to live. --- Thats their story and I dont think the berries had anything to do with it but who knows!

Elderberries are top of the line natural good stuff. Expensive as hell if you buy them online. Got my plant in the dirt today.


and got a couple more branches to see if I can get them to root as well...