Garden 2022 Whats ur plans?

[Broncosfan]

So its time to start those seeds. Just wondering if anyone is planning to go bigger just because of where the world stand today? Higher prices everywhere, shortages etc. Do you plan to can even more?

[hawgrider]

Garlic is in the ground already. Might do a few mators. Maybe a pepper or 2

I've got a neighbor who hooks us up with corn strawberries squash and grapes for canning.

We hook him up with eggs.

[Broncosfan]

Garlic is in the ground already. Might do a few mators. Maybe a pepper or 2

I've got a neighbor who hooks us up with corn strawberries squash and grapes for canning.

We hook him up with eggs.
Its good yo uhave some great neighbors to trade with.
Our garlic looks good this year. I'm a little surprised I just sort of planted it in a hurry. We need to can green beans and tomatoes as we're out of tomatoes. Not out of salsa but I need to restock. I think once the garlic comes out carrots are doing in. I'm also thinking of some fall cabbage. I need to build a cold cellar for vegetable storage some day some how. I already stocked up canning jar lids and I have a bunch of the reusable ones. I really to to amend the soil before planting this year. This clay soil I have just seems to suck up everything you add to it. Going to be one busy year!

[hawgrider]

Its good yo uhave some great neighbors to trade with.
Our garlic looks good this year. I'm a little surprised I just sort of planted it in a hurry. We need to can green beans and tomatoes as we're out of tomatoes. Not out of salsa but I need to restock. I think once the garlic comes out carrots are doing in. I'm also thinking of some fall cabbage. I need to build a cold cellar for vegetable storage some day some how. I already stocked up canning jar lids and I have a bunch of the reusable ones. I really to to amend the soil before planting this year. This clay soil I have just seems to suck up everything you add to it. Going to be one busy year!

Mostly clay here its a pain to work with.

Added a another strain of hardneck garlic. This strain is about 30 some years old. Got it from a local distiller and brewer down the road a piece.

[Broncosfan]

Mostly clay here its a pain to work with.

Added a another strain of hardneck garlic. This strain is about 30 some years old. Got it from a local distiller and brewer down the road a piece.

Thats great! I had some of yours but sadly it was 2 years old and it doesn't look to be sprouting. Maybe a couple will sprout and give me seed for next year. I'm working on bring in a load of mushroom compost. Its expensive but I believe it will be worth it.

[Mad Trapper]

PS Im drunk.......

It's way early here.

I inventorrd seeds, pretty good on most. Annual or stuff I need some. Start maters and peps soon....and some early some crucfieros too.

I've two apple, a plum, and two pears humped over since last year, ten mature blue berries to transplant (the bed I started 3 years a go)

I'm sue about bigger? Last year sucked with rain and lots rotted, I put out ~ 50-60 maters, and about same peps.

Some A$$#@!E t-boned me last summer (owch) , so besides rain, garden sucked.


I'm up more this year as FJB make the fan closers.........got a root cellar, got canning stuff, got freezers.....


Ps If im drunk......figurge it out..........

[bigwheel]

Mostly clay here its a pain to work with.

Added a another strain of hardneck garlic. This strain is about 30 some years old. Got it from a local distiller and brewer down the road a piece.

Not sure how anybody could survive without some good garlic in the beer and whiskey. Thanks. lol.

[Inor]

I have my fingers crossed that this year will be the year all the hard work and expense that I put into the gardens and fruit trees will finally start paying off.

Last year, we did well on most of what we planted in the new gardens. We got more maters than we needed and still have a buttload of them left from last fall. Still, I think we will plant a few more this year, but not nearly as many as last year. The HUGE victory this spring was getting seed taters. They just did not exist at any price around here last year. We bought 3 big bags of them a couple weeks ago. So that will hopefully be a win because we eat a lot of taters. Our corn last year grew like crazy but then got taken over by worms. I think we have a solution for that now as well. I'm sure Mrs Inor has designs on a bunch of other plants but she has not yet informed me what they are.

The first batch of fruit trees and almonds we planted are now 4 years old. So I am hopeful they will also start producing more than just the random apricot or pomegranate. The almonds and apples are already in full bloom. If we can avoid a late frost we should be getting a decent haul of both. The other trees have not quite woken up yet.

So that, along with now starting meat chickens and the steer from last year, I am hopeful we will finally reach our goal of producing 75% of all of our food at home this year.

We still have close to 700 pounds of beef in the freezer so we will not start another steer until after fall roundup this year.

[Slippy]

Pea seeds go in the ground this weekend, everything else in a few weeks.

We plan on reducing our tomato crop this year and increasing squash, zucchini, cucumbers, radishes and peppers.

Also, we will add more leafy green stuff and perennial herbs to supplement the chicken feed as the 3 beds near the coop are ready to plant.

We have plenty if seeds but as always, we supplement with some seedlings of various veggies from the feed store or HD.

PS Our lemon tree gave us a good yield of lemons this winter. The tree is maybe 15 years old and every other year or so, we get a bunch of lemons. I keep it trimmed back to a dwarf sized lemon tree and its in a very large pot that we move in the basement in th winter. I'm surprised the sumbitch is still alive and producing after all these years! Pics tomorrow!!

[Michael_Js]

Just finished prepping the 12 raised beds: fertilized, turned the soil, added more organic soil.

Garlic is doing great for planned July harvest (planted last Sept)
Carrots survived over winter - still small
Asparagus bed hasn't started sprouting yet and neither has the strawberry bed - too early.

Planted snap peas, more carrots and spinach in the garden yesterday

Window shelf has: Artichoke, Basil, Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Eggplants, Kale, Oregano, Rosemary & tomato starts on a heat mat and overhead sun lights.
Just planted Watermelon & Swiss Chard - indoors

Next weekend: cantaloupes & cucumbers indoors

Got my list for the next indoor planting set as well as the garden laid out.
Bought 3 more 16' x 34" hog fences that we use as trellis' for beans, peas, cucumbers, Delicata squash.

Also cleaned and fertilized the 4 - 25' corn rows...No planting yet as I start them in the greenhouse soon.

So, we pray it will be another good year like last. We are still eating: tomatoes (frozen), marinated eggplants, homemade sun dried tomatoes, frozen zucchini slices, and frozen corn from the garage freezer. Oh, we thaw them before eating! :)

Peace out...

[Sasquatch]

I started work on the new fence which pushes my garden area out another 3 feet so yeah I'm going bigger. Next weekend the garden boxes are going in and then I'm planting. Only thing I have in the ground right now, besides the avocado and fruit trees, is sunflowers.

[Prepared One]

I may plop a few pepper plants in the ground this year. I can get those to grow pretty well. Won't do much this year as I have a lot to do in getting the East Texas place up and running. There are a couple of fruit trees there so I may plant a few more when things are settled. I do not have a green thumb so my gardening capabilities are limited. I am the guy who kills fake plants. :biglaugh:

[Chiefster23]

I’m not going bigger. That said, I always harvest way more than I preserve so I always give a bunch away to neighbors. This year I plan on canning and preserving more for my own personal storage. Things are getting scary out there so my shelves will be better stocked this growing season. I already have all my seeds and fertilizer. Additional mushroom mulch will start to go into the beds this week. I’m getting a new knee at months end so all hard outside work has to be done prior to the operation.

[Slippy]

Michael_Js

Can't tell you enough how much I love seeing pics of your homestead! Awesome job to you and Mrs Michael_Js!


Just finished prepping the 12 raised beds: fertilized, turned the soil, added more organic soil.

Garlic is doing great for planned July harvest (planted last Sept)
Carrots survived over winter - still small
Asparagus bed hasn't started sprouting yet and neither has the strawberry bed - too early.

Planted snap peas, more carrots and spinach in the garden yesterday

Window shelf has: Artichoke, Basil, Bell Peppers, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Eggplants, Kale, Oregano, Rosemary & tomato starts on a heat mat and overhead sun lights.
Just planted Watermelon & Swiss Chard - indoors

Next weekend: cantaloupes & cucumbers indoors

Got my list for the next indoor planting set as well as the garden laid out.
Bought 3 more 16' x 34" hog fences that we use as trellis' for beans, peas, cucumbers, Delicata squash.

Also cleaned and fertilized the 4 - 25' corn rows...No planting yet as I start them in the greenhouse soon.

So, we pray it will be another good year like last. We are still eating: tomatoes (frozen), marinated eggplants, homemade sun dried tomatoes, frozen zucchini slices, and frozen corn from the garage freezer. Oh, we thaw them before eating! :)

Peace out...

[Slippy]

Good luck on the knee Ol Friend! Keep us posted.


I’m not going bigger. That said, I always harvest way more than I preserve so I always give a bunch away to neighbors. This year I plan on canning and preserving more for my own personal storage. Things are getting scary out there so my shelves will be better stocked this growing season. I already have all my seeds and fertilizer. Additional mushroom mulch will start to go into the beds this week. I’m getting a new knee at months end so all hard outside work has to be done prior to the operation.

[Slippy]

Speaking of gardens etc; are any of you having trouble finding fertilizer?

The media has been reporting on fertilizer shortages and high costs. I have not looked for any fertilizer this year but I'm curious if this is another media lie or if its true?

[Mad Trapper]

Speaking of gardens etc; are any of you having trouble finding fertilizer?

The media has been reporting on fertilizer shortages and high costs. I have not looked for any fertilizer this year but I'm curious if this is another media lie or if its true?

I'll look into it soon. Will be going to farm supply store. I need a bag of urea (N). I have bone meal (P) and some bloodmeal left from last year (N). I use the bloodmeal mostly as animal repellant, most varmints (voles rabbits deer chucks...) won't touch a leaf if there is bloodmeal on it. But it's a PITA as it washes off.

My cousin raises beef cattle for breeding stock , so I'll also be going down to their farm and help out for a few truck loads of shit. No shortages there

edit: One other thing I heat one house with hardwood all winter. I save all the ashes as they are excellent source of potassium (K), and have some phosphorus (P). Very basic so need to watch pH of the soil (don't use on acid loving plants like blueberries) , but good if you want to raise pH. Best of all it's free.

No veggie seed shortage but that could change with crap Biden is up to. I'd advise everyone to stock up on seed that stores well.

[Mad Trapper]

I've got a new blueberry patch about ready to go.

I didn't transplant much into it last year, only a few plants, as wanted to get pH lower using sulfur and that takes a while. I have ~10 more plants I've raised in pots and they are getting too big for the pots and already producing good berries.

I'm also going to try growing some asparagus from seed. I have an established bed, and remnants of an heirloom bed that was there before I was born. That bed puts out huge spears. I saved some seed last fall.

I was going to do this last year as had some seed stalks saved two falls ago, but never got them processed and they got left out in the garden overwinter. Lo and behold last spring a whole bunch of baby asparagus popped up on their own that I transplanted into one of the beds. We'll see what happens when I actually nurture the seeds.........I've got a shitload of seed.

[Inor]

Speaking of gardens etc; are any of you having trouble finding fertilizer?

The media has been reporting on fertilizer shortages and high costs. I have not looked for any fertilizer this year but I'm curious if this is another media lie or if its true?

I am hopeful that we will not need any fertilizer this year as our compost pile from the steers, donkeys and chickens is finally ready to go. I also have about 8 bales of hay from before last year's monsoon season that got wet and molded. So those will also get shredded and turned into the gardens as well.

I really NEED to get walking again soon as the outside work and tractor work is starting to pile up fast!

[Mad Trapper]

I am hopeful that we will not need any fertilizer this year as our compost pile from the steers, donkeys and chickens is finally ready to go. I also have about 8 bales of hay from before last year's monsoon season that got wet and molded. So those will also get shredded and turned into the gardens as well.

I really NEED to get walking again soon as the outside work and tractor work is starting to pile up fast!

Inor, might want to use the hay as mulch to conserve water (I use leaves). If it's not well rotted, when turned under the soil bacteria will use up all the soil nitrogen breaking down the hay/organic matter. Once the bacteria have done their thing, the soil gets the nitrogen back. If you add enough rotted manure that has nitrogen when you add the hay you might avoid that.

[red442joe]

I live near Ann Arbor.
Vegans are meat. I suppose some of them are pretty big.
I can raid/plunder their stores.
If things get real bad.

Joe

[Inor]

Inor, might want to use the hay as mulch to conserve water (I use leaves). If it's not well rotted, when turned under the soil bacteria will use up all the soil nitrogen breaking down the hay/organic matter. Once the bacteria have done their thing, the soil gets the nitrogen back. If you add enough rotted manure that has nitrogen when you add the hay you might avoid that.

Thanks for the info! That is a great idea. I used sawdust last year to hold the water in, which worked well. But this year I am decidedly short of sawdust because it has been 2 months since I have been able to make any.

Just a quick question: I have been letting the manure sit for a year before using it in the gardens for the specific reason of letting the nitrogen levels come down some. When we had the first steer, we tried some of that manure right away and it was WAY too hot. Do you think, if we use the hay as mulch, we could put some fresh manure on top of it through the summer without issues?

[Dwight55]

My garden this year will be atop an 8 foot or 6 ft step ladder.

5 rooms and 2 hallways . . . touch up where the painting needs it . . . where there are breaks in the drywall tape . . .

Repaint where the roof leaked . . . a few of the rooms will get full re-paints . . . and maybe a new floor covering for one or two of them.

Really don't want to do it . . . but have a 5 ft 1 "other half" that is sort of insistent . . . and is willing to use her money for the groceries I would normally grow.

At least if I'm painting . . . I won't be pulling weeds and it 99 out.

Happy gardening you all . . .

May God bless,
Dwight

[Mad Trapper]

Thanks for the info! That is a great idea. I used sawdust last year to hold the water in, which worked well. But this year I am decidedly short of sawdust because it has been 2 months since I have been able to make any.

Just a quick question: I have been letting the manure sit for a year before using it in the gardens for the specific reason of letting the nitrogen levels come down some. When we had the first steer, we tried some of that manure right away and it was WAY too hot. Do you think, if we use the hay as mulch, we could put some fresh manure on top of it through the summer without issues?

I'd steer, pun intended, you away from manure fresh out of the pooper. I know they won't let people sell vegetables grown doing that because of what bacteria might be in the fresh poop. Probably wouldn't hurt if the crop was not going to be harvested for a couple/few months down the line, but I wouldn't top dress a lettuce or spinach crop with it.

Most of the manure I get, horse or cow, comes from barn cleanings so there is always some hay and/or sawdust mixed in it. That sort of ties up the nitrogen as mentioned, but always better to let rot. I have put down fresh manure if I'm going to plow/till the garden and wait a few weeks before planting.

One thing I do with the manure piles is to cover the piles with plastic lumber covers I get for free, after it's had a good soaking. It speeds up the breakdown of the poop, heats the pile up so kills off some of the bad microbes, and prevents the loss of nutrients either by leaching via rainwater or loss of nitrogen as ammonia. Also kills off any weeds/weed seeds.

Worst stuff I ever used that would give nitrogen burn was a load of chicken poop we got from a poultry farm. You'd take a shovel full out and nearly gag from the ammonia. But that stuff when rotted made everything green.

[Slippy]

Mad,


Can I assume that Wheat Straw acts the same way as Hay?

We have some wheat straw bales stored in the barn over the winter, usually we spread them in the chicken pen/yard area. I figure if we mix them with compost and chicken manure they would be a good additive for the gardens?




Inor, might want to use the hay as mulch to conserve water (I use leaves). If it's not well rotted, when turned under the soil bacteria will use up all the soil nitrogen breaking down the hay/organic matter. Once the bacteria have done their thing, the soil gets the nitrogen back. If you add enough rotted manure that has nitrogen when you add the hay you might avoid that.

[Mad Trapper]

Mad,


Can I assume that Wheat Straw acts the same way as Hay?

We have some wheat straw bales stored in the barn over the winter, usually we spread them in the chicken pen/yard area. I figure if we mix them with compost and chicken manure they would be a good additive for the gardens?

Chicken poop is powerful stuff. If you mix that into the compost pile with the straw should get great compost and less seed than hay.

That's one thing I forgot to mention to Inor, hay is going to have a lot of seeds. It will mulch good but eventually the seeds will start to sprout so smother those with a plastic cover or flip the mulch before they take root. I hate weeding grass.

That's another reason to compost horse/cow manure well, kills the seeds in the poop.

[Mad Trapper]

Speaking of gardens etc; are any of you having trouble finding fertilizer?

The media has been reporting on fertilizer shortages and high costs. I have not looked for any fertilizer this year but I'm curious if this is another media lie or if its true?

Hey Slippy, I called feed/farm store they have urea 50lb bags.......but FJB prices about double last spring ~$20/50lb.

I didn't check other fertilizer but maybe time to stock up before it gets worse. I need to get some good plastic 5-gal pails to transfer to as if a 50-lb bag tears or get wet it's a f-in mess.

[Inor]

Hey Slippy, I called feed/farm store they have urea 50lb bags.......but FJB prices about double last spring ~$20/50lb.

I didn't check other fertilizer but maybe time to stock up before it gets worse. I need to get some good plastic 5-gal pails to transfer to as if a 50-lb bag tears or get wet it's a f-in mess.

Another option to check out if you live in an area where they do a lot of mining is ammonium-nitrate. There is a HUGE ammonium-nitrate place in the next valley to the west of us. They make it for the mines for blasting but they do sell it to anybody. You have to fill out a form similar to the 4473 promising not to use it for making bombs but it is pretty cheap and plentiful.

Disclaimer: I have never used ammonium-nitrate as fertilizer, but a lot of the farmers here use it for corn, cotton and pistachio trees. I have used it for making ice cream and it works GREAT for that. (Ammonium-nitrate mixed with water absorbs the heat right out of the cream and cools it right down!)

[Slippy]

Yep, I went to town today and had to get some caulk so I went to the devils store (Walmarts) and checked out the fertilizer...they had cheapo off brand 13-13-13 fertilizer for $28/40lb bag!

If memory serves, they sold for around $6/bag for as long as I can remember. FJB




Hey Slippy, I called feed/farm store they have urea 50lb bags.......but FJB prices about double last spring ~$20/50lb.

I didn't check other fertilizer but maybe time to stock up before it gets worse. I need to get some good plastic 5-gal pails to transfer to as if a 50-lb bag tears or get wet it's a f-in mess.

[Broncosfan]

Yep, I went to town today and had to get some caulk so I went to the devils store (Walmarts) and checked out the fertilizer...they had cheapo off brand 13-13-13 fertilizer for $28/40lb bag!

If memory serves, they sold for around $6/bag for as long as I can remember. FJB

I seen 12-12-12 today at Rural King for $11.99/40 lbs. I belive that is $2 more a bag over last years price

[Mad Trapper]

Another option to check out if you live in an area where they do a lot of mining is ammonium-nitrate. There is a HUGE ammonium-nitrate place in the next valley to the west of us. They make it for the mines for blasting but they do sell it to anybody. You have to fill out a form similar to the 4473 promising not to use it for making bombs but it is pretty cheap and plentiful.

Disclaimer: I have never used ammonium-nitrate as fertilizer, but a lot of the farmers here use it for corn, cotton and pistachio trees. I have used it for making ice cream and it works GREAT for that. (Ammonium-nitrate mixed with water absorbs the heat right out of the cream and cools it right down!)

200+ years ago there were a few mines here. One of the first places they smelted iron as besides the ore, there is lots of limestone local. Not much coal so that was wood fired.

The AN is the best stuff for nitrogen. Been hard to get since OK city.

I remember reading an old USDA article where they talked about using that and fuel oil for farmers to remove stumps and rocks from fields/pastures. This was 1980s, I wonder if it's still shelved in the university library?

[Mad Trapper]

I inventoried all my old seeds. Lots is just going into the garden if it grows fine (4-4+ years old) , but won't count on those unless I have time for germination tests. Most of those plants I have newer seed for. One more bag I've not checked yet. I've only spent a little on new 2022 packets so far, lots of bulk from 2021 left over.

Stopped by my friends greenhouse today and we've lots of work to do. Mess inside not cleaned up last year and need to buck/split a lot of wood for heat. He's got some stacked/covered and a whole bunch of dry log lengths of hardwood. Should be starting seeds next week. Maters and peppers for putting in Jun 1st, and early frost hardy like broc cabbages......

Kind of springlike as snow's about gone, just a little ice on the lakes, had some thunderstorms this AM

[Piratesailor]

Behind our new garage extension I took a skid steer and dug out 12” of grass and clay. Brough in 25 yards of organic soil for the garden. Spread it in an area of about 600 square feet and will fence when I return from my trip. Wife already took the tiller and made rows and started to plant. She laid out a complete plan based on what she’s growing. Nice little map for a great plot. I’lll also add some irrigation when I return. We have a well like for the pastures run near the garden so I’ll tee off of it for water.

[bigwheel]

Wow..glad yall showed up. The Warden is on a special diet and I have been instructed to use my skills to grow squash...green beans and something else healthy but I forgot. Any tips? Now why dont a person make fertilizer by collecting stale urine and put a little dirt iin it. I had some good looking onions using that method. All us old hippy avid readers of Mother Earth News learned that trick several decades ago. Borrowed from the native american injun peeples most likely. They also went winky tink on their feet to kill athletes foot. Pretty smart cookies right there. Now human poo poo aint nice cause of microbes..amebas..worms etc. Even though they use the heck out of it South of the Border.
https://insteading.com/blog/human-urine-fertilizer/

[Mad Trapper]

Wow..glad yall showed up. The Warden is on a special diet and I have been instructed to use my skills to grow squash...green beans and something else healthy but I forgot. Any tips? Now why dont a person make fertilizer by collecting stale urine and put a little dirt iin it. I had some good looking onions using that method. All us old hippy avid readers of Mother Earth News learned that trick several decades ago. Borrowed from the native american injun peeples most likely. They also went winky tink on their feet to kill athletes foot. Pretty smart cookies right there. Now human poo poo aint nice cause of microbes..amebas..worms etc. Even though they use the heck out of it South of the Border.
https://insteading.com/blog/human-urine-fertilizer/

Being stuff is already going down south get the cool weather stuff in soon. Spinach broccoli lettuce kale cabbage swiss chard.......

Pizzing on the garden shouldn't hurt it. Just don't pizz on the lettuce and spinach before ya pick it........

[bigwheel]

Glad somebody brought this topic back up. I was explaining to a pal how to use human urine for fertilizer and he works in a business of where they can make fertilizer out of poo poo while killing all the germs. It takes some kinda exotic equipment and he suggests investing in that for those who have any money. He says we dont need any steenken Ruskie Fertilizer.
https://wle.cgiar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Making%20wealth%20from%20waste_WLE.pdf

[NewRiverGeorge]

Gonna start tomato seeds this weekend. Plan on planting extra of those and green beans. Hope to have a good crop to can this year of both. Got another side of beef reserved for late summer.

[StratBastard]

18441

[Michael_Js]

Been planting every weekend! Our tomato starts came out great! All from my own Roma tomatoes from last year. First time for us!
The Bell peppers, well, not so good! very few sprouted so we bought those and eggplants - already planted.

Irrigation goes in soon, but so far, it's not needed...we get Plenty of rain 10 months a year - then a drought for the 2 summer months...Oh well!

Peace,

[Chiefster23]

I got off to a slow start this year. I’m way behind. But so far I have 12 each tomato and pepper plant seeds germinated, but still tiny. I still haven’t topped up the raised beds with additional mushroom mulch. Before the knee operation, the weather sucked. But now I’m just about well enough to start shoveling so new mulch will be going in soon. This week I planted 8 Yukon gold taters and pulled weeds out of all the beds. Saturday headed to nursery to buy more vegetable starts. Already harvested two meals worth of asparagus! I have cases of canning jars and plenty of lids. I’m ready!

[MountainGirl]

I'm so glad to read about y'alls garden doings, nice to know you're still at it. Especially with what's coming.
No gardens for us this year. Depending on what happens over the next 8 months or so - we might be establishing something next spring here at TenOaks... but I did pick up an InstaPotMax that can be used for pressure canning - and will take advantage of the produce available for sale this summer to get practiced up on that part of things. A neighbor (about half mile away) has 20 acres of gardens & greenhouses - and sells only to us locals. Hidden gem, that. Lots of hidden gems around here, all with the good old boy mindset, and we seem to fit in just fine. :)

[Inor]

I got off to a slow start this year. I’m way behind. But so far I have 12 each tomato and pepper plant seeds germinated, but still tiny. I still haven’t topped up the raised beds with additional mushroom mulch. Before the knee operation, the weather sucked. But now I’m just about well enough to start shoveling so new mulch will be going in soon. This week I planted 8 Yukon gold taters and pulled weeds out of all the beds. Saturday headed to nursery to buy more vegetable starts. Already harvested two meals worth of asparagus! I have cases of canning jars and plenty of lids. I’m ready!

Same boat here due to my broken ankle.

Mrs Inor finally got the last of it in yesterday. I got some shade cloth up last weekend. I just drove some T-posts into the ground and then put cattle panels between them. Mrs Inor took a bunch of old hay strings and wove them through some scrap rabbit fence we had and I stretched it over the tops of the cattle panels. for shade. Other than looking like it needs a shave, they should work well. The biggest issue last year was too much sun for some of the garden. Hopefully the shade cloth will solve that issue.

I also got ahold of a great big tire! It was for some kind of earth moving machine - maybe a digger or a dump truck? It is about 8 feet across and about 2 feet deep. So we are trying it for taters. I had a couple bales of hay that got wet last year during monsoon, so they could not be used for the animals. So we are trying some taters in between the flakes, similar to how folks grow them in straw. I don't know if it will work, but it is worth a shot since the other option is to put the bales in the compost pile.

Beyond that, we got our first big bunch of strawberries yesterday! I expect Mrs Inor will be busy in the next couple weeks making strawberry jam. The prickly pears are also coming into bloom. So we will have to get out and harvest some of those in the next few weeks. (I LOVE prickly pear jelly!)

[Mad Trapper]

I'm off to a late start too. Have lots of starts but all small now.

Still have to plow garden and plant early/cold tolerant stuff direct.

I just cleaned out my water collector yesterday (275-gal tote connected to downspouts). It had moss growing along the inside top, cleaned and bleached, that was a PITA! Tested PH at new blueberry patch, perfect 4.5-5, ready for planting, two years prepping it.

I'll post what I have going later.......

[Slippy]

Everything that was seed is already in the ground and sprouting. Other plants, except for some herbs and pepper plants, are in the ground in our front beds. We may not plant the rear beds this year with anything that we consume, only Chicken Feed Supplement plants.

On a last minute whim, we went camping at a nearby state park last night and woke up early to thunder. The radar showed some major storms a brewin' so we broke camp EARLY and headed home. We arrived to find that the thunderstorm at home gave the gardens a good drenching!

Y'all have a great weekend!

[Chiefster23]

I have tried planting in straw bales twice. Once potatoes and once Zuke squash. Both times I had terrible results. So, many folks swear by this method but I’ve given up on straw bales.

[Box of frogs]

Our blueberry bushes got zapped by a late freeze in April. It killed all the blooms so there is not one single berry on the bushes for this year

This is the second growing season we have been on this property. Last season it rained so much in April and May that we didn’t get any thing planted except a few tomato vines. The ground was just to wet to till up. It just made mud balls.

This season is better. I got a six foot tiller to run off the tractor PTO and a disc bedder for raised beds during the winter when prices were down.
With the tractor to do most of the hard work I decided to go big. The rows are 186 ft long and I set 38 of them. If you do the math that’s 1.3 miles of straight row feet.
So far everything we have planted from seed is up. ( silver queen, purple hull peas, limas, green beans, cucumber, squash, collards, cantaloupe, watermelon)
I put out 100 tomato plants and 75 peppers ( bell and jalapeño )
Maybe I can call y’all over in July to help me pick and can the harvest.

BoF

[Box of frogs]

P.S. - Mrs Frogs has two raised planters by the chicken pen that she is doing herbs in and growing treats for the chicks too
That’s her turf so I kinda forget about that spot. The only thing in her area I like is the cilantro! That shit makes the best damn salsa.
BoF m

[MountainGirl]

P.S. - Mrs Frogs has two raised planters by the chicken pen that she is doing herbs in and growing treats for the chicks too
That’s her turf so I kinda forget about that spot. The only thing in her area I like is the cilantro! That shit makes the best damn salsa.
BoF m

Wow BoF - you're really going big. Have you gardened to this scale before? I hope you (and especially Mrs Frog) have help with the harvest & processing. Soon as I'm here full time a few pots of this and that (peppers and cilantro!) are gonna happen - and it seems we have about 200' of dewberry bushes at the edge of our cleared area. Never tasted dewberry but I hear it's pretty good so lots of cobbler, wine and jams in my future lol.

[Slippy]

BoxofFrogs for the WIN!

[Slippy]

I have tried planting in straw bales twice. Once potatoes and once Zuke squash. Both times I had terrible results. So, many folks swear by this method but I’ve given up on straw bales.

We tried planting in straw bales one year and the results registered on the GSS (GARDEN SUCCESS SCALE) right between PIA (PAIN IN THE ASS) and MM (MESSY MEDIOCRITY). :(

[Box of frogs]

I have tried planting in straw bales twice. Once potatoes and once Zuke squash. Both times I had terrible results. So, many folks swear by this method but I’ve given up on straw bales.

We tried taters in garden soil in trash cans last year. It was a miserable failure. Had sprouts and greens above soil but the taters we’re about the size of marbles.

BoF

[Box of frogs]

Wow BoF - you're really going big. Have you gardened to this scale before? I hope you (and especially Mrs Frog) have help with the harvest & processing. Soon as I'm here full time a few pots of this and that (peppers and cilantro!) are gonna happen - and it seems we have about 200' of dewberry bushes at the edge of our cleared area. Never tasted dewberry but I hear it's pretty good so lots of cobbler, wine and jams in my future lol.

Hey MG
Short answer is no.
We have done a couple of what I called big gardens in the past but nothing on this scale. About 30’ x 50’ has been as big as I’ve tried. That was all with a regular garden tiller and a lot of hoe work.
I’m going to try to sell the extra vegetables at one of the local farmers markets.
The watermelon is going to be my cash crop. I will either sell them out of the Ford pick up on the side of the road or try to unload the whole harvest at one of the bigger markets in the county.
I’d like to try me some of that dewberry jam when you get it made. Let me know if you have extras for sale.
BoF.

[Box of frogs]

BoxofFrogs for the WIN!

What’s my prize? A bottle of Advil for my sore back ��

[Inor]

I have tried planting in straw bales twice. Once potatoes and once Zuke squash. Both times I had terrible results. So, many folks swear by this method but I’ve given up on straw bales.


We tried planting in straw bales one year and the results registered on the GSS (GARDEN SUCCESS SCALE) right between PIA (PAIN IN THE ASS) and MM (MESSY MEDIOCRITY). :(

I would not have even tried it but for having got caught with several bales of hay last year when the monsoon started and they got ruined. I do not expect much, but...


We tried taters in garden soil in trash cans last year. It was a miserable failure. Had sprouts and greens above soil but the taters we’re about the size of marbles.

BoF

When we were building the house we did not have time to do much gardening, so Mrs Inor bought a bunch of those garden bags they sell on Amazon. We tried taters in those with the exact same results as you.

I am becoming convinced that if you are going to grow potatoes, you have to just commit to it and do it the right way. None of these shortcuts they brag about on the interwebs seem to work worth a tinker's damn when I try them.

[Inor]

Now that we have a few years of experience doing the real homestead thing under our belts, I was doing some thinking...

Raising meat animals is insanely easy and very little work. We have about 10 minutes, twice per day to throw out some feed or a couple flakes of hay and top off the water. Beyond that, there is basically nothing else to do until it is time to process them. Even that, is not much work.

Vegetables gardens, on the other hand, are a crazy amount of work. You have several days at the beginning of the season getting everything ready to plant and doing the planting. Then you have a few hours every week just weeding them. Finally, at the end of the year, you several more days harvesting, canning (or otherwise preserving) and getting the gardens all cleaned up for winter. And after all that, you are left with a bunch of shitty vegetables you have to eat!

I suggested to Mrs Inor that it would be a much better use of our time to just grow a few onions and hot peppers this year. Then we would have the benefit of living on a diet consisting of just meat, onions and hot peppers. It seems like a great idea to me. She vetoed it...

[Slippy]

Ladies and Gentlemen

That is poetry in motion right here! Except for the "veto" part!


Now that we have a few years of experience doing the real homestead thing under our belts, I was doing some thinking...

Raising meat animals is insanely easy and very little work. We have about 10 minutes, twice per day to throw out some feed or a couple flakes of hay and top off the water. Beyond that, there is basically nothing else to do until it is time to process them. Even that, is not much work.

Vegetables gardens, on the other hand, are a crazy amount of work. You have several days at the beginning of the season getting everything ready to plant and doing the planting. Then you have a few hours every week just weeding them. Finally, at the end of the year, you several more days harvesting, canning (or otherwise preserving) and getting the gardens all cleaned up for winter. And after all that, you are left with a bunch of shitty vegetables you have to eat!

I suggested to Mrs Inor that it would be a much better use of our time to just grow a few onions and hot peppers this year. Then we would have the benefit of living on a diet consisting of just meat, onions and hot peppers. It seems like a great idea to me. She vetoed it...

[Sasquatch]

Mine's coming along but still a little messy. I put in a new fence and extended it out about 3ft. for a little more garden room. Still have a few boxes to build but we do have stuff already growing. Plus all my fruit trees that seem to produce pretty well.

New fence.
18466

18467

18468

18469

18470

[Slippy]

Sas my boy! Excellent!


Mine's coming along but still a little messy. I put in a new fence and extended it out about 3ft. for a little more garden room. Still have a few boxes to build but we do have stuff already growing. Plus all my fruit trees that seem to produce pretty well.

New fence.
18466

18467

18468

18469

18470

[Chiefster23]

I opted not to start all my veggies from seed this year. I only started tomato’s and peppers. All the rest I planned on buying from the local greenhouse. Went down there yesterday to get my plants. Wow! Prices are crazy this year! STICKER SHOCK AT THE GREENHOUSE! Prices for vegetable starts are easily twice what they were last year. Looks like I will be going back to starting everything from seed myself next year. But then, seed prices are crazy. Everything is crazy, and lots of stuff is not even available. I ordered a little mini-greenhouse from Jung weeks ago and it still hasn’t shipped. :wtf:

[Box of frogs]

Holy cow - that is beautifully made. Well done Sas.


Mine's coming along but still a little messy. I put in a new fence and extended it out about 3ft. for a little more garden room. Still have a few boxes to build but we do have stuff already growing. Plus all my fruit trees that seem to produce pretty well.

New fence.
18466

18467

18468

18469

18470

[Prepared One]

Now that we have a few years of experience doing the real homestead thing under our belts, I was doing some thinking...

Raising meat animals is insanely easy and very little work. We have about 10 minutes, twice per day to throw out some feed or a couple flakes of hay and top off the water. Beyond that, there is basically nothing else to do until it is time to process them. Even that, is not much work.

Vegetables gardens, on the other hand, are a crazy amount of work. You have several days at the beginning of the season getting everything ready to plant and doing the planting. Then you have a few hours every week just weeding them. Finally, at the end of the year, you several more days harvesting, canning (or otherwise preserving) and getting the gardens all cleaned up for winter. And after all that, you are left with a bunch of shitty vegetables you have to eat!

I suggested to Mrs Inor that it would be a much better use of our time to just grow a few onions and hot peppers this year. Then we would have the benefit of living on a diet consisting of just meat, onions and hot peppers. It seems like a great idea to me. She vetoed it...

Damn! I love the way you think! So, you gave Mrs Inor veto power? :bounce:

[Inor]

Damn! I love the way you think! So, you gave Mrs Inor veto power? :bounce:

You guys are all old enough to know "veto power" is not a power that is "given"...

[Prepared One]

You guys are all old enough to know "veto power" is not a power that is "given"...

Yeah, but I always try to negotiate that part. :bigboss: :biglaugh:

[MountainGirl]

... Then we would have the benefit of living on a diet consisting of just meat, onions and hot peppers. It seems like a great idea to me....

It is a great idea.
Everything the body needs and to the point.
18475

[Mad Trapper]

I'm real late.

Have lots of late starts indoor stuff Almost no outside planted in ground/seeds.

Was wet April , I plowed /harrowed May, then was late to get in when weather was right. Harrowed again Thurs, plowed 2 X 2 plow rows for taters ~ 50 of each hills red and whites, about 100 hills , got all onion starts in before rain, tended garlic.

Tilled other ~ 1/2 garden with Troy built, that's ready for transplants. Put in clover and buckwheat cover crops. Then thunder/rain.....

[Mad Trapper]

First woodchuck of the year spotted two days ago. Big SOB I spooked and he ran right into an open barn door. Rifle was handy but he must have ran right out back into the fields, as I ran back and forth to the other barn.

I got the rotary cutter on the tractor, cut all the fields close to house/barns/orchard/garden. Not spotted again and no fresh burrows either. I suspect he's a "criminal alien" rodent from, the woodchuck nation across the road.

I did reconnaissance yesterday, and the foreign woodchuck nation, is indeed sending jihadi rodents through the road culvert, in planning and preparation for rape plunder and pillage of my garden.

I will update with the results of the preemptive strike on their underground bunker complex soon............

[BucketBack]

I went out to over fertilize the weeds before dusk and spotted 3 rabbits attempting entry into my garden. I had to install a small fence along the bottom of the taller fence to keep them out.

They are a no kill at the moment as the neighbor is waiting for "Beaner" aka PITA to grow up and run them this fall.

He's lost a bit of his garden to them also. A bear and bobcat were on the prowl before the storm the other night. I've been warned that the bear waits until the veggies are ripe before it robs them.

[Mad Trapper]

I went out to over fertilize the weeds before dusk and spotted 3 rabbits attempting entry into my garden. I had to install a small fence along the bottom of the taller fence to keep them out.

They are a no kill at the moment as the neighbor is waiting for "Beaner" aka PITA to grow up and run them this fall.

He's lost a bit of his garden to them also. A bear and bobcat were on the prowl before the storm the other night. I've been warned that the bear waits until the veggies are ripe before it robs them.

The bobcat is your friend for the rodent battle. I have grey and red fox too that patrol property.

For bunnies you need poultry fencing to keep out, the big wire mesh stuff they squeeze through. They will dig under, but not like a chuck will. I have a friend that loves to eat bunnies, any I shoot goes to him for dinner.

The bears have not FDed with my garden per se, yet. But horrible on orchard and berry crops. One broke into a barn this spring for stored seed (metal trash can), I called DFW and they are OK with using lead poisoning if he comes back.

Then there are the deer........

One other thing but a PITA. Dried blood keeps just about everything off if you can't get a fence up in time. Even works with voles. But every good rain you need to sprinkle more on. Deer have browsed my blueberries in spring, if I douse the foliage in blood, they seem to learn not tasty and leave them alone, even if washed off a while.

[BucketBack]

I donated blood while trimming down the bramble bush to avoid damage while overfertilizing

There is a wetland behind us, and cornfields and apples everywhere else.

[Michael_Js]

We're still collecting asparagus. Now cilantro and strawberries. Everything is growing, slowly - almost...spinach and Delicata not so much. Been collecting mushrooms from past kits that I moved into the greenhouse.

It's SO wet here and not very warm that many of the plants are turning yellow and dying! Crappy Freattle weather - only getting worse...Oh well...

Last week finished planting all the corn starts. Got about 100 stalks going now. Started more Delicata in the greenhouse and should be ready to transplant in a week or 2.

Peace...

[Box of frogs]

Big storm here Wednesday night.
Hail and high winds. It blew some of the corn over but I was not able to tell if it broke the stalks.
I’ll be out in the field today to check the damage, hopefully it is not a problem

BoF

[Box of frogs]

Big storm here Wednesday night.
Hail and high winds. It blew some of the corn over but I was not able to tell if it broke the stalks.
Checked the field again this morning and corn looks good
I’m struggling with weed control everywhere else but at least the corn is good

BoF

18868

[Mad Trapper]

Big storm here Wednesday night.
Hail and high winds. It blew some of the corn over but I was not able to tell if it broke the stalks.
Checked the field again this morning and corn looks good
I’m struggling with weed control everywhere else but at least the corn is good

BoF

18868

fing coons be in heaven there

[BucketBack]

the corn hasn't come up yet across the road

[Box of frogs]

the corn hasn't come up yet across the road

This is my second planting. It was done about first week of May.
The first planting was mid April and it failed to germinate, so after two weeks I tilled that under and sowed the rows again.
If the first planting had been successfully I probably would have been tempted to try another run of corn for a fall harvest but that is not a option this year.

BoF

[Mad Trapper]

This is my second planting. It was done about first week of May.
The first planting was mid April and it failed to germinate, so after two weeks I tilled that under and sowed the rows again.
If the first planting had been successfully I probably would have been tempted to try another run of corn for a fall harvest but that is not a option this year.

BoF

BOF,

What state location You in ? I'm W Ma/S Vt.

[Box of frogs]

BOF,

What state location You in ? I'm W Ma/S Vt.

I’m in West Georgia near the mid state line.
I can walk to Alabama if I was so inclined. Lol

BoF

[Chiefster23]

As everyone knows, seed companies have been steady increasing their prices, some to insane levels. Burpees is a prime example. I have usually bought seeds from Jung with excellent results. 2 years ago I tried some cheaper suppliers. For 2 years now I have had very poor germination rates with carrots and beets. (Several varieties of each). So from now on back to Jung. More $ but much better results. This year my yellow bush beans all sprouted, but many have a brown splotch disease on the leaves.

[Chiefster23]

Did a web search and best I can tell is that my beans are suffering from a blight. No known treatments for these bean blights. So I ripped out all the plants and replanted with a different variety. Not sure if this will help or cure the situation. If my bean crop fails, I will buy a case of green beans instead of canning my own this year. I may have to also buy case lots of beets and carrots too.

[Mad Trapper]

Did a web search and best I can tell is that my beans are suffering from a blight. No known treatments for these bean blights. So I ripped out all the plants and replanted with a different variety. Not sure if this will help or cure the situation. If my bean crop fails, I will buy a case of green beans instead of canning my own this year. I may have to also buy case lots of beets and carrots too.

If you'd not already pulled them, I'd say post some pictures. I'll have a look in my Rohdales book and see if there is any info on bean blights.

some bean links to Cornell

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/disease-resistant-vegetable-varieties/disease-resistant-bean-varieties/

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scenef57c.html

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene8f63.html

[Chiefster23]

Thanks for that info. I’ve already removed them. I replanted with ‘royal burgundy’ which is disease resistant according to your articles. I’ve planted royal burgundy before with good success. Hopefully that solves my problem.

[Mad Trapper]

Thanks for that info. I’ve already removed them. I replanted with ‘royal burgundy’ which is disease resistant according to your articles. I’ve planted royal burgundy before with good success. Hopefully that solves my problem.

I've been doing blue lake bush beans but am moving to mostly pole beans. Damm animals like eating the beans and I can fence off the pole beans easier. I do kentucky wonder, scarlet runner, and blue lake pole. The scarlet runners are real big and make good dried beans if you leave them in until frost.

[Piratesailor]

Well, the wife decided she wanted all organic including the soil. So she went to a place and bought 25 yards of ‘organic” crap. Turns out it’s bad soil and I’ve been axing to amend it with copious amounts of compost. Since we have horses and chickens we have a lot of good, aged, compost. And to add to that issue, we are in a serious drought. Our 9’ deep pond is down 4’. Some in the area have gone dry. So I water daily in the morning. Thankfully we have two wells. However, due to the soil and drought, the garden isn’t doing too well.

We don’t have any critters getting into the garden but to add insult to injury, wife left a gate open and 4 horse enjoyed the garden. And left a few deposits.

[Mad Trapper]

Well, the wife decided she wanted all organic including the soil. So she went to a place and bought 25 yards of ‘organic” crap. Turns out it’s bad soil and I’ve been axing to amend it with copious amounts of compost. Since we have horses and chickens we have a lot of good, aged, compost. And to add to that issue, we are in a serious drought. Our 9’ deep pond is down 4’. Some in the area have gone dry. So I water daily in the morning. Thankfully we have two wells. However, due to the soil and drought, the garden isn’t doing too well.

We don’t have any critters getting into the garden but to add insult to injury, wife left a gate open and 4 horse enjoyed the garden. And left a few deposits.

Keep that horse and bird poop. Better than anything they sell you. Mix the bird poop with bedding/compost . Get a lumber cover and cover the pile, prevents nitrogen loss, water it well before covering. A few weeks you'll have black gold.

[Chiefster23]

I've been doing blue lake bush beans but am moving to mostly pole beans. Damm animals like eating the beans and I can fence off the pole beans easier. I do kentucky wonder, scarlet runner, and blue lake pole. The scarlet runners are real big and make good dried beans if you leave them in until frost.

Funny! I’m doing just the opposite. I’ve been growing mostly blue lake pole beans and switched to bush beans this year. Just trying something different to change it up a bit.

[Box of frogs]

God bless you both !
Leaf blight sucks.

About Blue Lakes. Those damn plants will work your ass to death!
They never stop producing until a frost. Nothing kills them and they are prolific as hell.

We plant pink eye purple hull peas, Kentucky wonders, Henderson limas, and Dixie white butter peas
The butter peas and limas are my favorites.

BoF

[Slippy]

Hope our Son#1 and DIL are watering the garden while we spend money on gas driving around the country...

[Inor]

Hope our Son#1 and DIL are watering the garden while we spend money on gas driving around the country...

This is the "good" DIL right? Sorry, I'm sure the other one is "good" too.

But you do not want "the Karen" to rub off on the food you are going to eat and stuff... If you let that happen, next thing you know you will start planting soy and arugula and start watching Dancing. With the Stars. And that's just no good!

Your friend

-I-

[Mad Trapper]

Hope our Son#1 and DIL are watering the garden while we spend money on gas driving around the country...

Son #1 is drinking all Slippy beer and "watering" the garden, when needed. Stay away from lettuce for a while......

[Box of frogs]

Purple hull peas are ready to start picking.
I put the rows in about a week apart so that it didn’t work the hell out of me over a weeks time.
The early rows are giving up their first run of peas, should be a lot more to collect next weekend
I’m going to give the vacuum sealer a try…. Wish me luck �� BoF
18925

[Mad Trapper]

First woodchuck of the year spotted two days ago. Big SOB I spooked and he ran right into an open barn door. Rifle was handy but he must have ran right out back into the fields, as I ran back and forth to the other barn.

I got the rotary cutter on the tractor, cut all the fields close to house/barns/orchard/garden. Not spotted again and no fresh burrows either. I suspect he's a "criminal alien" rodent from, the woodchuck nation across the road.

I did reconnaissance yesterday, and the foreign woodchuck nation, is indeed sending jihadi rodents through the road culvert, in planning and preparation for rape plunder and pillage of my garden.

I will update with the results of the preemptive strike on their underground bunker complex soon............

Update. I did find 1 old hole dug out under an old vehicle in one of my fields. Filled it in put camera on it, no pictures. No sign or sightings of "chucky".

Took out camera to check across the road. Series of holes right across the road in a bittersweet thicket/jungle. Took me an hour with loppers to cut away the vines to locate all the holes in the nearest complex (5), plugged all except the largest one. Put the camera on it.

Note: first time I had to clear out woodchucks across the road, there were so many chuck holes, it looked like prairie dog complex, ~35 holes.

Pretty good mugshot and I'm sure it's not one of the red/grey foxes using the hole(s) now.

18942

18943

Will deploy the bunker busters later on today. Will try to take some pictures.......

18944

18945

[Sparkyprep]

Update. I did find 1 old hole dug out under an old vehicle in one of my fields. Filled it in put camera on it, no pictures. No sign or sightings of "chucky".

Took out camera to check across the road. Series of holes right across the road in a bittersweet thicket/jungle. Took me an hour with loppers to cut away the vines to locate all the holes in the nearest complex (5), plugged all except the largest one. Put the camera on it.

Note: first time I had to clear out woodchucks across the road, there were so many chuck holes, it looked like prairie dog complex, ~35 holes.

Pretty good mugshot and I'm sure it's not one of the red/grey foxes using the hole(s) now.

18942

18943

Will deploy the bunker busters later on today. Will try to take some pictures.......

18944

18945
Does that stuff actually work? I have got moles something awful. I keep trying to train my dog to kill them, but he has been trained not to dig. I don't want to confuse him.

[Mad Trapper]

Does that stuff actually work? I have got moles something awful. I keep trying to train my dog to kill them, but he has been trained not to dig. I don't want to confuse him.

It works great but it's overkill for a mole hole. Stuff is nasty. Woodchucks or other things in a good sized burrow I highly recommend.

First block off/seal any connected holes. I get the hole for the bomb ready with a big pile of loose dirt shovel handy, tape the gas bomb onto the end of a long stick, light it and insert the stick as deep as possible. Get the hole covered with dirt. If you just try to toss it down the hole sometimes it doesn't go deep enough and it's hard to seal the hole without smothering the bomb, and/or getting a wiff of the gas.

The other thing I do is use a longer length of cannon fuse instead of the provided short fuses. Gives you time to seal up the hole and not get a wiff of the stuff. The fuse is waterproof like that found on good fireworks (M-80s).

I've also got problems with voles, might be similar to your mole problem. Little basturds eat up all my plants in the garden, flowers around the house, girdle fruit trees and berry bushes under the snow in winter............I incinerated two holes today with gasoline. They must have had quite a nest as one of them burned for ~ 20 minutes. Got to be real careful touching off the gas.

If I remember there was a guy that had a youtube video where he blew up tunnels with propane


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O619tnrxyU

[Sasquatch]

Reminds me of this guy I heard of on a golf course who used TNT.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Hx5ka1FiA

[Mad Trapper]

Reminds me of this guy I heard of on a golf course who used TNT.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Hx5ka1FiA

Wasn't it animal replicas made out of C4? Back before Hollyweird was totally disgusting..........


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR0sWU1HzTE

[KnuteFartne]

Wasn't it animal replicas made out of C4? Back before Hollyweird was totally disgusting..........


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR0sWU1HzTEThat is correct.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[White Shadow]

For voles I find the battery powered sonic spike work pretty well and convincing them to go be somewhere else.

[White Shadow]

18955

[White Shadow]

18956

Dang, no dancing action.

[Mad Trapper]

For voles I find the battery powered sonic spike work pretty well and convincing them to go be somewhere else.

That gets expensive for acres of plants: garden, orchard, berries, flower garden/ornamentals,..........

I enjoyed burning out some vole holes/dens near my vegetable garden yesterday. But cheap gas is $5/gal......FJB!

[White Shadow]

That gets expensive for acres of plants: garden, orchard, berries, flower garden/ornamentals,..........

I enjoyed burning out some vole holes/dens near my vegetable garden yesterday. But cheap gas is $5/gal......FJB!

Oh yeah that would. I have 4-5 spikes to keep them off my postage stamp of a lot because my neighbor let them go wild for a few years. He seems to take more interest now after he had to have his back yard scraped off and sod put in.

[White Shadow]

18957

[White Shadow]

18958

[White Shadow]

18959

[White Shadow]

18962


I'll be here all week folks.

[hawgrider]

18962


I'll be here all week folks.

Hahaha glad to have ya. On Vacation this week?

[White Shadow]

No. Just decided that photo was funny and had lots of potential.

[Mad Trapper]

18962


I'll be here all week folks.

Varmint Team 1 has neutralized the threat

18963

[hawgrider]

Varmint Team 1 has neutralized the threat

18963

Nice work with the air rifle!

[Mad Trapper]

Nice work with the air rifle!

Archive picture , but fit in the thread/exchange well.

That one was in the garden, ~ 30 yds from my driveway, got him just behind the ear (red spot). Tough to do with the .177. I've had them make it to their hole with CF rifles.

There is more rodent garden Jihadi allies, of Chucksama Bin Varmint still present.

I'm calling in the garden alliance allies: fox, yotes, bobbys......Will update.......

18964

18965

[White Shadow]

18966

[White Shadow]

18967

[Mad Trapper]

Nice work with the air rifle!

Archive picture , but fit in the thread/exchange well.

That one was in the garden, ~ 30 yds from my driveway, got him just behind the ear (red spot). Tough to do with the .177. I've had them make it to their hole with CF rifles.

There is more rodent garden Jihadis, of Chucksama Bin Varmint still present.

I'm calling in the allies: fox, yotes, bobbys......Will update.......

18964

18965

[Mad Trapper]

No rodent damage last night, instead a bear. He stepped on some stuff, but worst was he decided to have rest/seat, and crushed one of my best pepper plants that had fruit on it. Garden was on his way to the barn door where he raided my seed storage barrel last month. MFer! He didn't breach the door last night.

No pictures .

A few weeks blueberries will be ripe and I'm going to ventilate him with the 50 cal ML.

385gr conical ~1500 fps . Might bring the 54 and/or the 58 to the stand too, just in case .......Fish and Wildlife said OK if doing damage

5 shots opens

18973

18974

[White Shadow]

18976

[Chiefster23]

So far my garden results are……..meh! My initial crop of yellow bush beans all got leaf blight at about 6 to 8 inches high. I pulled all the diseased plants and replanted with a blight resistant variety. So far, so good.

My entire beet crop had about a 5% germination rate. Very poor. Yesterday I harvested and ate the few that did grow. They had no taste. Zero! Down the garbage disposal and I’m just going to write off beets for this year.

Pretty much the same dismal germination for my carrots. Some are still struggling to emerge so I will hold off declaring these a failure, but I’m not holding out much hope.

Everything else seems to be doing OK. The dreaded annual tomato blight hasn’t arrived yet. YET!

Looks like I will be buying canned beets and carrots to stock up on items that I would ordinarily can myself. Stacking the pantry deep since everyone is screaming recession, inflation, and shortages. I saw this morning that Smithfield is shutting down a whole pork processing plant. Time to stock up on Smithfield marinated pork tenderloins.

[Broncosfan]

So far my garden results are……..meh! My initial crop of yellow bush beans all got leaf blight at about 6 to 8 inches high. I pulled all the diseased plants and replanted with a blight resistant variety. So far, so good.

My entire beet crop had about a 5% germination rate. Very poor. Yesterday I harvested and ate the few that did grow. They had no taste. Zero! Down the garbage disposal and I’m just going to write off beets for this year.

Pretty much the same dismal germination for my carrots. Some are still struggling to emerge so I will hold off declaring these a failure, but I’m not holding out much hope.

Everything else seems to be doing OK. The dreaded annual tomato blight hasn’t arrived yet. YET!

Looks like I will be buying canned beets and carrots to stock up on items that I would ordinarily can myself. Stacking the pantry deep since everyone is screaming recession, inflation, and shortages. I saw this morning that Smithfield is shutting down a whole pork processing plant. Time to stock up on Smithfield marinated pork tenderloins.

I have really bad seed germination rates the past 2 years even when starting seed inside. I'm starting to think vendors are selling old seed. My old germination rate was 85-95%. I plan to solarize a large section of the garden that is not in use this year. Hopefully that will help with weeds and soil diseases.

[Chiefster23]

I have really bad seed germination rates the past 2 years even when starting seed inside. I'm starting to think vendors are selling old seed. My old germination rate was 85-95%. I plan to solarize a large section of the garden that is not in use this year. Hopefully that will help with weeds and soil diseases.

For years I used Jung seeds with very good results. Last 2 years I switched to try to save a few bucks. Most of this years seeds came from Sow True. I’m going back to Jung.

I wish my garden was big enough to take sections out for a year. But it’s not big enough and I can’t easily expand. Deer here are a big problem so everything must be fenced$$$

[Mad Trapper]

So far my garden results are……..meh! My initial crop of yellow bush beans all got leaf blight at about 6 to 8 inches high. I pulled all the diseased plants and replanted with a blight resistant variety. So far, so good.

My entire beet crop had about a 5% germination rate. Very poor. Yesterday I harvested and ate the few that did grow. They had no taste. Zero! Down the garbage disposal and I’m just going to write off beets for this year.

Pretty much the same dismal germination for my carrots. Some are still struggling to emerge so I will hold off declaring these a failure, but I’m not holding out much hope.

Everything else seems to be doing OK. The dreaded annual tomato blight hasn’t arrived yet. YET!

Looks like I will be buying canned beets and carrots to stock up on items that I would ordinarily can myself. Stacking the pantry deep since everyone is screaming recession, inflation, and shortages. I saw this morning that Smithfield is shutting down a whole pork processing plant. Time to stock up on Smithfield marinated pork tenderloins.

I've had strange germination in directly seeded stuff this spring, it's been dry but I did water. I reseeded my winter squashes and poles beans as none were sprouting. I had soaked the seeds overnight prior. I later reseeded, only to finally see some of the first seedlings emerging; too much is better than none. I've had almost no germination on my saved lettuce seeds. Been growing the same oakleaf for years. Seed usually lasts 4-5 years. I just reseeded with some from last years crop and some heirloom black simpson.

You still have time to put in beets, carrots, chard, spinach, they are not too long season and take frosts well. I just put in more cabbage and broccoli for fall crops, 2 varieties of each (different maturation times) in flats last week.

Big bear has been seen scoping out my blueberries, early ones are just starting to turn blue. I hate processing meat summer time.........

[Broncosfan]

For years I used Jung seeds with very good results. Last 2 years I switched to try to save a few bucks. Most of this years seeds came from Sow True. I’m going back to Jung.

I wish my garden was big enough to take sections out for a year. But it’s not big enough and I can’t easily expand. Deer here are a big problem so everything must be fenced$$$

I also have deer, coon and opossum problems. Garden is permanently fenced. I have to put electric chicken fence around the sweet corn to keep the coons out. I haven't changed seed companies and also used some I saved. My banana peppers were a bust from saved seed and from some bought. I did change my starting soil this year but that doesn't explain last year results. Not sure who else it effected but if it happens worldwide it could cause some major food shortages.

[Michael_Js]

Small harvesting every few days...Asparagus, kale, snow peas, wild & farmed purslane (look it up if you don't know what it is - very healthy!), broccoli and cauliflower...
19136

Pick your asparagus often! Oh my!
19137

[Mad Trapper]

CL "free" score.

Pickup truck load, of contractor bagged chicken manure. Bags are clean on outside, but It's powerful stuff, need to get it out of truck ASAP.

That's going to have to go out in the field away from the house for a while. Not sure if better to leave in bags to compost? Or empty bags and cover with a lumber cover over it to prevent nitrogen loss? It's way too "hot" now for garden.

edit: I need to check bags for how much bedding/poop ratio. If needed I've got a ton of wood chips for carbon.

Lost a bunch of early blue berries , not to bears, but Turkeys. I've got a 12ga full choke drop in barrel for one of my MLers, need to fill that one up with #6s......

Worried about the bears getting into bags if left in bags....

[Box of frogs]

Small harvesting every few days...Asparagus, kale, snow peas, wild & farmed purslane (look it up if you don't know what it is - very healthy!), broccoli and cauliflower...
19136

Pick your asparagus often! Oh my!
19137

That is one “leggy” asparagus spear !!!

BoF

[Michael_Js]

That is one “leggy” asparagus spear !!!

BoF

Oh yes, we miss a couple of days and bam! a 2' tall spear! Oops! :) We have to harvest a couple times a week - then we put them in a glass of water in the fridge and build up a good batch to cook with dinner ;)

[Mad Trapper]

I've got a 2nd planting of boccollis, cabbages lettuces about ready to transplant. My maters got in late only a couple early ones making fruit, so lettuce will be ready for BLTs.

[Chiefster23]

I have a second batch of cauliflower soon coming ripe. Broccoli is almost all done, just a few side shoots now. Tomato’s are starting to get ripe. I have green peppers but I like to let them get red and sweeter. Beets failed and carrots mostly failed. Green beans are a few weeks away yet.

[Michael_Js]

Been picking zucchini, straight neck squash, asparagus, strawberries, cilantro, snap peas, string beans, Dragon beans, purslane, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage...
cured most of the onions and all the garlic ( a little over 300 bulbs).

did a 2nd planting of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Carrots aren't doing great, but we've had some. Beets are doing poorly. Artichokes are starting to come up. We'll have dozens of sweet pie pumpkins. Butternut squash is growing well as are the Delicata and spaghetti squash. Corn is also Sloooowly getting there - but very late. We've been picking and eating blueberries and the wild blackberries are starting to ripen.

I do a small harvest every other day to keep up...

19469

19470

[Mad Trapper]

Drought conditions here, I'm almost out of saved rainwater.

I'm getting overrun with Zuc/summer squash. Zucs have some squash vine borer damage, will deal with that today. I have a way to save the plants using BT injections, I'll try to get some pictures of how I do that.

Lost at lot of my tomatoes to deer. They came in and chewed the tops off after a rain and I forgot to hit them with some dried blood. Nothing bothers the vegetables sprinkled with dried blood. They are mostly indeterminate so will grow back but will have to wait for new blossoms/fruit.

They trimmed my peppers and potatoes too. I'll have revenge in a couple months, got a doe tag for my zone.

[hawgrider]

Drought conditions here, I'm almost out of saved rainwater.

I'm getting overrun with Zuc/summer squash. Zucs have some squash vine borer damage, will deal with that today. I have a way to save the plants using BT injections, I'll try to get some pictures of how I do that.

Lost at lot of my tomatoes to deer. They came in and chewed the tops off after a rain and I forgot to hit them with some dried blood. Nothing bothers the vegetables sprinkled with dried blood. They are mostly indeterminate so will grow back but will have to wait for new blossoms/fruit.

They trimmed my peppers and potatoes too. I'll have revenge in a couple months, got a doe tag for my zone.

Blood meal works.

[Mad Trapper]

Blood meal works.

Same stuff. I buy 50 lb bags. Mostly to keep animals off garden but also in my potting soil mix for nitrogen. I use bone meal for phosphorus and wood ash for potassium.

How are you doing for rain? Only 3" here since July 1st, 6" since June 1st

[Box of frogs]

Same stuff. I buy 50 lb bags. Mostly to keep animals off garden but also in my potting soil mix for nitrogen. I use bone meal for phosphorus and wood ash for potassium.

How are you doing for rain? Only 3" here since July 1st, 6" since June 1st

Could I get more details on blood meal as a deer deterrent.
Deer have absolutely ruined the garden this year !!!
BoF

[Slippy]

Could I get more details on blood meal as a deer deterrent.
Deer have absolutely ruined the garden this year !!!
BoF

Saturday am, I was literally cleaning my Savage 93R17 in .17 HMR when a deer walked within 20 feet of my front yard fence. My dog was barking and I walked outside and the damn deer just stood there.

Dog was still raising hell inside, I walked back inside, grabbed the rifle and zero'd in on the deer's eyeball. Still, the dumbass deer just stood there. I made some noise, chambered a round and thought about squeezing one off!

I'm pretty sure the high speed 17 HMR would have exploded her brain immediately but in the end I unchambered the round and shoo'd the deer away finally. They ain't afraid of me! HA

[Mad Trapper]

Could I get more details on blood meal as a deer deterrent.
Deer have absolutely ruined the garden this year !!!
BoF

BoF

I've found it keeps off/repels mice/voles, chipmunks/squirrels, rabbits, chucks, deer....most POS mammal animals that raid your fruits/vegetables. I don't think it works on crows, turkeys, birds,.....

Buy the 50 lb bags at an AG supply store, the little bags they sell at other places are WAY EXPENSIVE and you'll go broke. Last year a 50 ib bag was ~$70, with FJB who knows now? I have enough left this year from last years 50 lb bag. You can also use it for nitrogen fertilizer, it's ~ 12-0-0.

It used to be cheap as they used cow blood, but since mad cow disease they can't use cow blood, so it's pig blood now, might repel Muslims too?

The dried blood is a fine powder like flour, it stinks especially when wet. I get a dedicated wide mouth funnel, soup can for a scoop and an empty 1-gal milk jug w/screw cap. I nearly fill the milk jug and use that to sprinkle the powder.

Take the jug and just sprinkle a fine dusting on whatever the critters are eating. If there is a little dew, like early in the morning it will stick better, or you could mist the foliage. Avoid windy days as you'll dust yourself and you will stink. You need to reapply whenever it rains as it washes off. But then the plants are getting some nice nitrogen fertilizer.

For stuff you want to eat soon that you can't wash off easy, like broccoli crowns/cabbage heads, just dust the leaves/inedible parts.

[Mad Trapper]

Saturday am, I was literally cleaning my Savage 93R17 in .17 HMR when a deer walked within 20 feet of my front yard fence. My dog was barking and I walked outside and the damn deer just stood there.

Dog was still raising hell inside, I walked back inside, grabbed the rifle and zero'd in on the deer's eyeball. Still, the dumbass deer just stood there. I made some noise, chambered a round and thought about squeezing one off!

I'm pretty sure the high speed 17 HMR would have exploded her brain immediately but in the end I unchambered the round and shoo'd the deer away finally. They ain't afraid of me! HA

Slippy, one summer I was weeding my large veggie garden and a doe came out of the woods, across the field, into the other side of my garden. I didn't seem to bother her. When she commenced to eating beans, I picked up an egg sized stone and peened her in the side. WHOOAAA!!! She jumped up and spun around thinking something had attacked/bit her.

When she didn't notice anything close, she trotted back into the field curious as to what had just happened? Soon to return for another stoning, this time with a baseball sized rock, that sent her away back into the woods.

She ended up in the freezer later on that fall, and I can say garden fed deer are tasty and tender.

[Box of frogs]

BoF

I've found it keeps off/repels mice/voles, chipmunks/squirrels, rabbits, chucks, deer....most POS mammal animals that raid your fruits/vegetables. I don't think it works on crows, turkeys, birds,.....

Buy the 50 lb bags at an AG supply store, the little bags they sell at other places are WAY EXPENSIVE and you'll go broke. Last year a 50 ib bag was ~$70, with FJB who knows now? I have enough left this year from last years 50 lb bag. You can also use it for nitrogen fertilizer, it's ~ 12-0-0.

It used to be cheap as they used cow blood, but since mad cow disease they can't use cow blood, so it's pig blood now, might repel Muslims too?

The dried blood is a fine powder like flour, it stinks especially when wet. I get a dedicated wide mouth funnel, soup can for a scoop and an empty 1-gal milk jug w/screw cap. I nearly fill the milk jug and use that to sprinkle the powder.

Take the jug and just sprinkle a fine dusting on whatever the critters are eating. If there is a little dew, like early in the morning it will stick better, or you could mist the foliage. Avoid windy days as you'll dust yourself and you will stink. You need to reapply whenever it rains as it washes off. But then the plants are getting some nice nitrogen fertilizer.

For stuff you want to eat soon that you can't wash off easy, like broccoli crowns/cabbage heads, just dust the leaves/inedible parts.

Thank you !
I will add blood meal to my list of must haves !

BoF

[hawgrider]

Same stuff. I buy 50 lb bags. Mostly to keep animals off garden but also in my potting soil mix for nitrogen. I use bone meal for phosphorus and wood ash for potassium.

How are you doing for rain? Only 3" here since July 1st, 6" since June 1st

Yup its good fertilizer but its hot so not too close to plants.
I spread it moderately in between rows.

Big rain just recently here.

[Michael_Js]

We're in drought conditions here too! Had about 10 minutes of rain since late June :(

The zucchini and straight neck squash don't see it that way!
19656

[Inor]

Saturday am, I was literally cleaning my Savage 93R17 in .17 HMR when a deer walked within 20 feet of my front yard fence. My dog was barking and I walked outside and the damn deer just stood there.

Dog was still raising hell inside, I walked back inside, grabbed the rifle and zero'd in on the deer's eyeball. Still, the dumbass deer just stood there. I made some noise, chambered a round and thought about squeezing one off!

I'm pretty sure the high speed 17 HMR would have exploded her brain immediately but in the end I unchambered the round and shoo'd the deer away finally. They ain't afraid of me! HA

We had absolutely zero deer issues since the first year we were building M.T. Acres. The first year, they came inside the fence line twice. The dogs chased them out and they have stayed away since... until this year. About 2 weeks ago a doe and a fawn jumped the fence into the pasture. The donkeys were NOT happy to say the least! The deer, for whatever reason had no fear of the donkeys and did not leave the pasture. The donkeys chased them around for 2-3 minutes inside the fence and the deer did not leave. Finally, both donkeys got them cornered in the corner of the pasture closest to our house and proceeded to kick the shit out of them! Both donkeys were letting loose with both hind legs at the same time! I am surprised the deer lived. They eventually got over the fence and got away but not before leaving a big pile of hair and blood on the barbed wire. It was a sight to behold.

I have to admit. I was pretty skeptical when I came home on a weekend back when I was traveling every week and found Mrs Inor has adopted two "guard donkeys"... But they have turned out to be great guard animals. Last year they killed a coyote and every year they get a couple snakes. For being a couple of really dopey looking animals, they are vicious when they want to be.

[Sasquatch]

So far squash and peppers have been off the hook. Also a lot of cherry tomatoes. Other than that nothing is staying alive. I guess when it's 109 everyday the veggies commit suicide. Luckily my fruit trees are doing well. Got a crap load of nectarines and donut peaches. My avocado tree is bursting with almost ripe fruit. I just planted my first grapes so we'll see how they do when they mature.

[Michael_Js]

We've gotten ONE apple from our entire orchard! The other apple is dying, the plum is dying, one of the 3 chestnut trees are dead...the rest...nada...A sad year with this weather! Oh well...The garden is doing well though...except for the corn...not so good :( Still eating corn from last year in the freezer...

Peace

[Chiefster23]

I guess due to late spring frost and cold weather. I got zero peaches on 3 trees, 6 apples total on 4 trees, and zero plums. I do have some pears!

[Chiefster23]

Been trying new things to combat tomato blight and having some success this year. I trimmed all foliage off the lower 12 to 16 inches of each plant. Switched from Agway “fung-oil’ to “serenade” anti fungus spray. And this year I strarted trimming out about 25% of all branches to allow better air flow and more light into the interior portions if the plants. So far, so good. My tomato cages are about 50 inches high. Many of my plants grow out the tops of the cages, but this year I am cutting everything back to 50 inches. Also switched from miracle grow to tomato-tone plant food.

[Mad Trapper]

Been trying new things to combat tomato blight and having some success this year. I trimmed all foliage off the lower 12 to 16 inches of each plant. Switched from Agway “fung-oil’ to “serenade” anti fungus spray. And this year I strarted trimming out about 25% of all branches to allow better air flow and more light into the interior portions if the plants. So far, so good. My tomato cages are about 50 inches high. Many of my plants grow out the tops of the cages, but this year I am cutting everything back to 50 inches. Also switched from miracle grow to tomato-tone plant food.

All my tomatoes got trimmed back by deer. I missed putting out dried blood after a rain. I'm hoping the new blossoms will mature before frost.

The blights overwinter in the soil so keeping them off the ground and trimming them like you are is going to help. Also getting more sunlight at the same time.

If you can keep rain from splashing soil on the foliage that will help too. I always have a surplus of leaves from fall cleanup. I pile these and save for mulch around the garden. Leaf mulch keeps the rain splash off, has anti-fungal properties, also helps conserve water.

Bad thing is we've had a vole infestation problem for a couple years now and they hide under the mulch. I've been playing wack a vole with whatever garden tool I have handy at the time.

Good luck on the maters! I'm hoping to can sauce.

[Michael_Js]

Doing well...

A quick haul: asparagus, Lots of cucumbers, Dragon beans, carrots, artichokes, squash, and an onion...
19694

Lots of stuff growing: Delicata, Spaghetti squash, broccoli, pumpkins, that stuff, watermelons, kale, artichokes...the tomatoes are getting plump!
19695
19696
19697
19698
19699
19700
19701

[Michael_Js]

And this guy which I don't recall planting:
19702

[hawgrider]

And this guy which I don't recall planting:
19702

A bird planted it for you?

[Sasquatch]

Doing well...

A quick haul: asparagus, Lots of cucumbers, Dragon beans, carrots, artichokes, squash, and an onion...
19694

Lots of stuff growing: Delicata, Spaghetti squash, broccoli, pumpkins, that stuff, watermelons, kale, artichokes...the tomatoes are getting plump!
19695
19696
19697
19698
19699
19700
19701

You're going to catch Reefer madness!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbjHOBJzhb0

[Mad Trapper]

And this guy which I don't recall planting:
19702

It was the squirrel. He planted the one between the pumpkin and the kale too! :bigthumbup:

[Michael_Js]

Harvesting like crazy! The Roma tomatoes are finally starting to turn red! I will roast then can them, in oil - making "sun"dried tomatoes...they come out Great!

Today's small harvest (and this is done 3-4 times a week!)

19858

Not sure what kind of squash this is, and I don't recall planting another squash in-between the straight neck squash:
19859

Spaghetti squash are coming along as are the Delicata's:
19860

19861
19862

Lots of artichokes!
19863

This One Cherry tomato plant will produce over 100 tomatoes! Yum!
19864

The jalapeno's are starting to turn red! I can a delicious relish with them!
19865

More...

[Michael_Js]

Roma's finally turning!
19866

Sugar Pie's turning orange!
19867
19868

Love planting Borage - then it re-plants itself (Everywhere!) each year - it attracts SO many bees!
19869

The pot leaves are turning beautiful fall colors - and the smell by these plants is intoxicating! :)
19870

[hawgrider]

Roma's finally turning!
19866

Sugar Pie's turning orange!
19867
19868

Love planting Borage - then it re-plants itself (Everywhere!) each year - it attracts SO many bees!
19869

The pot leaves are turning beautiful fall colors - and the smell by these plants is intoxicating! :)
19870

Gonna sit around the shanty and put a good buzz on ! ;)

[MountainGirl]

Excellent buds, dude!
Shouldn't take much cleaning. :thumb:

[BucketBack]

Well my eye doc/surgeon ( Mums) corrected me to 20/20 vision with a cataract growing, so my hindsight is in it's twilight stage.

1) Don't plant 8 zucchini

2) Don't plant too close

3) Don't buy blighted plants

4) Start weeding before it's out of control.

5) Don't overwater in clay, even when it's dry, since you may get 3 5/8" of rain right after

[Chiefster23]

I canned 8 jars of salsa today. Still lots of tomatoes left, but I gave em away to a neighbor. I have enough. I still have sweet peppers to deal with when they turn red. The garden us coming to an end. Just in time too cause late blight is hitting hard now.

[StratBastard]

19954

[MountainGirl]

Geezus Strat - you come up with the best stuff. I'm so glad you're here. :biglaugh:

[BucketBack]

3 pints, 1 smaller pint, 2 - 10 oz apple slice jars of chili sauce last night

[Mad Trapper]

Have not updated my garden much, so here goes.....

We had drought conditions all August, finally got rain, ~3" Mon PM-Wed. Might seed in some lettuce spinach and chard for late fall crop today/tomorrow, till in the weeds and put out some cover crop. Have ~ 15 broccoli and a couple cabbage starts ~1' tall, not sure if they'll produce before killing frosts?

Tomatoes were not good this summer, before drought deer ate off most of tops, some are coming back now. Lots of summer squash and zucs, winter squash and pumpkins struggled with drought, with rain I might get a few bushels for root cellar. Pole beans (kentucky wonder/scarlet runner) are just getting happy after the rain, need to keep the deer off them. Whole garden, plants the critters eat got sprinkled with fresh dried blood Thursday after the rains.

Potato tops died off early due to drought, I need to check some hills to see if they produced much and watch out for vole holes/infestation. They will stay in ground until cool weather and go into root cellar

Put up dried basil and cayenne peppers before the rain (in canning jars), more coming after rains. Will dry dill this weekend. Lots of red bell peppers to freeze, jalepeno and hot cherry peppers will get pickled/canning soon. Peppers did good this dry hot summer. Might bring some inside to overwinter, I've done that before.....pic from fall past

19966

Elderberries put out some fruit, some full clusters but some spotty due to drought. Need to pick those this week before the birds get them, make some jam. Horse radish needs thinning, it's taking over rhubarb, will dig some roots later in fall.

[Mad Trapper]

Anybody get a frost yet?

Weather bimbos and such have cried wolf twice the last two weeks. Calling for frost again tonight/tomorrow night. Dew point is 42 oF right now and temp 52 oF. Despite what they predict, I find the dew point and cloud cover the most accurate predictors, along with any wind right around when sun goes down.

I covered up stuff last two times, didn't get below 35-38 oF those nights, but I slept better knowing the peppers, maters and such would be OK. I use big lumber covers I get for free.

[BucketBack]

out of 3 thermo meters temp goes from 30 - 45 degrees

Weather lady said 32 -38 last week at night for my area.

[Michael_Js]

We still have high 70's plus - and not a drop of rain. The gooberment is still messing with the weather and this drought in Western WA is going to last a while longer...

Cleaned up all the sugar pie pumpkins
prepped the new garlic bed and planted hundreds of cloves for next year's harvest
Gathered, cleaned, and stored all the spaghetti squash (even roasted one for dinner on Friday).

Then, another 4 quarts of dehydrated tomatoes to store...The Roma's are still producing:
20221

Asparagus are basically done. Gathered, prepped, and froze the minimal amount of corn last weekend :( Poor harvest thanks to the heat and poor watering...
Next weekend will be gathering, prepping, and storing all the Delicata squash.

Still have the Black Beauty eggplants to cut & marinate/store...
Finished all the beans - roasted up a huge amount also Friday for dinner - string beans. Still have some broad beans left for drying...

Still have carrots, strawberries, squash, and zucchini growing...and the damn Butternut squash are taking forever!
Just finished a Beautiful large watermelon yesterday - well, me, the dog, and the chickens - yum!!

I'm tired as I'm still not 100% recovered from covid - and the tests keep showing positive - damn chinese!!

Peace out...

[Slippy]

Get well soon Michael_Js, the Chicom flu must've hit you pretty hard. The only things we have still growing and producing are Tabasco Pepper plants. Sumbitches are so hot even the Cajun's will say; "Slippy's Tabasco Peppers are so hot hot that J’ai gros couer!

(I feel like crying! Cajun's also use adjectives twice to make the point! example; hot hot!)


We still have high 70's plus - and not a drop of rain. The gooberment is still messing with the weather and this drought in Western WA is going to last a while longer...

Cleaned up all the sugar pie pumpkins
prepped the new garlic bed and planted hundreds of cloves for next year's harvest
Gathered, cleaned, and stored all the spaghetti squash (even roasted one for dinner on Friday).

Then, another 4 quarts of dehydrated tomatoes to store...The Roma's are still producing:
20221

Asparagus are basically done. Gathered, prepped, and froze the minimal amount of corn last weekend :( Poor harvest thanks to the heat and poor watering...
Next weekend will be gathering, prepping, and storing all the Delicata squash.

Still have the Black Beauty eggplants to cut & marinate/store...
Finished all the beans - roasted up a huge amount also Friday for dinner - string beans. Still have some broad beans left for drying...

Still have carrots, strawberries, squash, and zucchini growing...and the damn Butternut squash are taking forever!
Just finished a Beautiful large watermelon yesterday - well, me, the dog, and the chickens - yum!!

I'm tired as I'm still not 100% recovered from covid - and the tests keep showing positive - damn chinese!!

Peace out...

[Broncosfan]

Picked a few pears today. 20222 Looks to be around 300 lbs. for us and 50 lbs. for the deer. I would say we picked 2/3 of the tree today.

[Mad Trapper]

Quarter to 6.

I'm out to cover the garden...........

Update:8:30 PM clear with waxing moon, clouds out of NW, wind NE 8 mph, temp 45 oF dewpoint 36 oF..........looks like a frost.

[Mad Trapper]

Quarter to 6.

I'm out to cover the garden...........

Update:8:30 PM clear with waxing moon, clouds out of NW, wind NE 8 mph, temp 45 oF dewpoint 36 oF..........looks like a frost.

Missed the frost 10/2 (clouds from Ian), got one tonight. Lawn was not white/frosted, but dew on truck window, lawn table, and some other surfaces frozen. Will see how garden fared after coffee/breakfast. I covered the peppers, but not the now scragley tomatoes , beans, squashes........NOAA weather station is ~ 2 miles from my place.

20263

[hawgrider]

Garlic is planted. We done for the year.

[BucketBack]

So I need to find some real garlic to plant.

We are going to actually buy tomatoes to can more chili sauce, since it's the bomb for stuffed cabbage.

We've been done for a week and a half here . Feed corn is still up across the road.
EE
Deer in backyard at 75 yards, a bit far for the X-Bow with 100 gr Rage EBH

2023 will be mostly a raised bed garden, so I don't have to do all the work.

[Michael_Js]

Pulled all the Delicata, cleaned and stored them and the pumpkins in the garage. Still collecting zucchini and squash. Waiting on the eggplants and butternut squash. Pulled all the rest of the red onions and harvested hundreds of seeds.

Getting ready to close most down. Still have lots more Roma's to process/can. Still have the jalapeño's to gather and process/can into relish. Also still gathering cherry tomatoes. I don't mind the extended summer, but wish we had some rain...I'll chane my mind when it starts and doesn't stop until mid-June next year though!! :)

We're still in drought season with mild weather - upper 70's, lots of smoke, mostly sunny, and no rain in sight...

[Slippy]

*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****

I just did a quick walkaround the barn, garage, shop and garden supply area and realized that we never bought any fertilizer for our garden this year!

Yields were pretty dang good and taste and quality was on par with other years. I've always been a heavy fertilizer person. Mrs Slippy, not so much.

So I guess it begs the question;

Do we really need to fertilize every year or does a good quality soil/compost over-ride the need for commercial fertilizer?

[Inor]

*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****

I just did a quick walkaround the barn, garage, shop and garden supply area and realized that we never bought any fertilizer for our garden this year!

Yields were pretty dang good and taste and quality was on par with other years. I've always been a heavy fertilizer person. Mrs Slippy, not so much.

So I guess it begs the question;

Do we really need to fertilize every year or does a good quality soil/compost over-ride the need for commercial fertilizer?

Excellent point!

For the last 2 years we have used no commercial fertilizer at all, only manure from our steers and chickens and the compost we have made. Some plants have gone nuts: cucumbers, 'maters, watermelons, cantelope, strawberries, etc. We get FAR more 'maters and cukes than two people can use. I think, even the chickens were getting sick of cukes by the end of the summer.

'Taters have been a train wreck. We are going to have to do something to amend the soil if we are going to grow 'taters. They just don't grow. The corn has grown great and created lots of ears, but they get eaten by bugs as fast as they grow. So next year, we are going to have to do something to control bugs and worms.

I planted two batches of blueberries and raspberry bushes and both times, coming home with us has proven nothing but a death sentence for them. I am thinking those just might not be possible here, but I am going to try one more time.

But your larger point about folks using too much commercial fertilizer or using it when it is really not necessary is 100% accurate I think.

[Slippy]

Switch to Sweet Potatoes! White or Yellow Potatoes have never been good to us!




Excellent point!

For the last 2 years we have used no commercial fertilizer at all, only manure from our steers and chickens and the compost we have made. Some plants have gone nuts: cucumbers, 'maters, watermelons, cantelope, strawberries, etc. We get FAR more 'maters and cukes than two people can use. I think, even the chickens were getting sick of cukes by the end of the summer.

'Taters have been a train wreck. We are going to have to do something to amend the soil if we are going to grow 'taters. They just don't grow. The corn has grown great and created lots of ears, but they get eaten by bugs as fast as they grow. So next year, we are going to have to do something to control bugs and worms.

I planted two batches of blueberries and raspberry bushes and both times, coming home with us has proven nothing but a death sentence for them. I am thinking those just might not be possible here, but I am going to try one more time.

But your larger point about folks using too much commercial fertilizer or using it when it is really not necessary is 100% accurate I think.

[Michael_Js]

*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****FERTILIZER ALERT*****

I just did a quick walkaround the barn, garage, shop and garden supply area and realized that we never bought any fertilizer for our garden this year!

Yields were pretty dang good and taste and quality was on par with other years. I've always been a heavy fertilizer person. Mrs Slippy, not so much.

So I guess it begs the question;

Do we really need to fertilize every year or does a good quality soil/compost over-ride the need for commercial fertilizer?

Get an inexpensive soil test and it will tell you what you need. I plant cover crops each year, except for a few beds, to enrich the soil for the next planting. We also do a fairly good job of plant rotations...

[Slippy]

20329

(Slippy slaps his head! Give me "Crop Rotation" for $1000, Alex!)




Get an inexpensive soil test and it will tell you what you need. I plant cover crops each year, except for a few beds, to enrich the soil for the next planting. We also do a fairly good job of plant rotations...

[Mad Trapper]

Hard frost last night. Put lumber covers on the peppers, only worth saving now. We''ll see what is dead............

[Chiefster23]

We’ve been getting frosts almost every night. I pulled all my green peppers and gave 3 bags full for distribution among the church ladies. Garden is all done, cleaned out, and ready for winter. Going to mow the grass one more time then clean, paint, and winterize the mowers. Trimmed all the bushes, shrubs, and pulled out the flowers. I have a pile of yard waste about half the size of a car in my driveway waiting to be hauled away. My buddy is bringing his dump trailer to haul it all away. Just waiting till everything is dormant and then we will start trimming and topping a few trees. The work never ends.

[Michael_Js]

We're finally hitting fall - high 30's this morning, clouds and rain finally in the forecast for this weekend - and all next week...Still harvesting...this weekend will be making jalapeño relish and canning it, and also marinated and canned eggplants...Got some final watermelons that aren't too bad - my dog, the chickens and I like it! I'm using some of it in my kombucha this week - we'll see how it turns out. More to cleanup and harvest! A lot more eggplants out there and tomatoes, but not sure they'll make it. We'll see...

20351

[Mad Trapper]

We’ve been getting frosts almost every night. I pulled all my green peppers and gave 3 bags full for distribution among the church ladies. Garden is all done, cleaned out, and ready for winter. Going to mow the grass one more time then clean, paint, and winterize the mowers. Trimmed all the bushes, shrubs, and pulled out the flowers. I have a pile of yard waste about half the size of a car in my driveway waiting to be hauled away. My buddy is bringing his dump trailer to haul it all away. Just waiting till everything is dormant and then we will start trimming and topping a few trees. The work never ends.

I still have most root crops in. I dug up a few potatoes checking for vole damage. M-frs got a few hills but I didn't get to "wack a vole".

[Chiefster23]

We’ve been having nightly frosts, but last nite was a hard freeze. So everything is done-done now. This weekend is supposed to be nice and sunny with temps in the 60s. Perfect weather for a final grass mowing and fall mower maintenance. Cut back and mulch the asparagus patch. Tidy up loose ends. Give the car a good fall checkup. Prepare for the coming cold and the post election madness.
I’ve been fighting a crappy chimney for years. Next Monday getting bids to finally fix the damned thing. I’m getting too old to be constantly tinkering with the thing. Gonna spend whatever is necessary to make it right. I anticipate having to burn coal all winter.

[Mad Trapper]

We’ve been having nightly frosts, but last nite was a hard freeze. So everything is done-done now. This weekend is supposed to be nice and sunny with temps in the 60s. Perfect weather for a final grass mowing and fall mower maintenance. Cut back and mulch the asparagus patch. Tidy up loose ends. Give the car a good fall checkup. Prepare for the coming cold and the post election madness.
I’ve been fighting a crappy chimney for years. Next Monday getting bids to finally fix the damned thing. I’m getting too old to be constantly tinkering with the thing. Gonna spend whatever is necessary to make it right. I anticipate having to burn coal all winter.

I just do not understand now......covered peppers fine un covered too....pole beans wilted ,,,,water froze all over in pots......

[Michael_Js]

Cleaned out all the zucchini plants - got about 5-6 more smaller ones. Cleaned out all the squash and the watermelon: got 2 more. Then picked all the Black Beauty eggplants that were ready - still about a dozen that probably won't make it. Picked a lot of Roma's, and many left that might need to be picked and set on the counter. Also picked all the jalapeño peppers - still some left, but they're too small.

Then, my wife and I spent most of the day on canning the Roma's & eggplants:
20372

Tomorrow's task is making jalapeño relish! Yum! Still have a tiny left from the last canning in Sept of 2019...

[Slippy]

Nice haul!

Care to share Jalapeño Relish Recipe? :beerchug:



Cleaned out all the zucchini plants - got about 5-6 more smaller ones. Cleaned out all the squash and the watermelon: got 2 more. Then picked all the Black Beauty eggplants that were ready - still about a dozen that probably won't make it. Picked a lot of Roma's, and many left that might need to be picked and set on the counter. Also picked all the jalapeño peppers - still some left, but they're too small.

Then, my wife and I spent most of the day on canning the Roma's & eggplants:
20372

Tomorrow's task is making jalapeño relish! Yum! Still have a tiny left from the last canning in Sept of 2019...

[Michael_Js]

Sure...

Got er done today:
20392

20394

I make the one for canning: https://www.theorganicprepper.com/holy-jalapeno-relish

Enjoy!

[1skrewsloose]

Looks good, pretty close to the recipe I use for pico de gallo.

[hawgrider]

Between the 3 familys we planted 750 cloves of garlic the first weekend of October.

[1skrewsloose]

^^^I dunno, I like garlic as much as the next guy, never grew it, but how long does it take to use that quanity?

[hawgrider]

^^^I dunno, I like garlic as much as the next guy, never grew it, but how long does it take to use that quanity?

Only makes it until about June/July just in time for the next harvest.

We made our own garlic powder and garlic salt so we use tons of it. It goes quick.

[1skrewsloose]

Thanks hawg, one thing I like to have on hand is spices, I have no problem eating the same food, just not the same flavor all the time.

[hawgrider]

Thanks hawg, one thing I like to have on hand is spices, I have no problem eating the same food, just not the same flavor all the time.

Spices are the name of the game.

[White Shadow]

20420

[White Shadow]

That trail cam picture is the gift that keeps on giving

[hawgrider]

That trail cam picture is the gift that keeps on giving

Cracks me up every time. Reminds me of caddy shack