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.
Last edited by sonny; 01/26/202101:43 PM.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
Last edited by sonny; 02/09/202110:29 AM.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
Last edited by JIM; 03/15/202108:18 PM. Reason: Added picture
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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!
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."
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.
I know a lot about a lot of things BUT I still have a lot to learn. Life is what you make of it. So, why not make a working machine to make it easier.
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.
"A machine you build yourself is a vote for a different way of life. There are things you have to earn with your hands."