Beginning the Gardens

[Slippy]

Very nice indeed!

This is what I made for Mrs frogs
It’s metal roofing and p.t. 2x4 framed
Attachment 20665

Attachment 20666

Not too much bending once they were filled to the top.
BoF

[Chiefster23]

My raised beds are only 12 inches high, and I also have bad knees and the back isn’t so good either. LEEVALLEY.COM has wheeled garden seats that work great. Mine is several years old and still holding up just fine.

[Box of frogs]

Those look great FroggyBox... especially since I've priced some stock tanks.
When did you make those? My real question is - how are they holding up?

I made those in April this year.
So far they have held up well. All connections are with 2 or 2.5 inch lag screws and no nails.
The sheet metal roofing is attached with wood screws.

Since the metal roofing is inside the frame it keeps the water and garden soils off the wood frame. Should last a long time.

BoF

[MountainGirl]

My raised beds are only 12 inches high, and I also have bad knees and the back isn’t so good either. LEEVALLEY.COM has wheeled garden seats that work great. Mine is several years old and still holding up just fine.

Hey - that's a neat site!
I could tether behind PO's toy and wheeee!

[Prepared One]

Hey - that's a neat site!
I could tether behind PO's toy and wheeee!

Hang on baby, I'll get you there!

[Mad Trapper]

MG, if your soil is sandy you'll want to add lots of organic matter/compost.

Any farms in the area? The horse stalls are a constant source of manure, as are chicken coops and cow barns. A few truck loads of shit mixed with bedding will go a long way to improving the soil once it rots.

I had a friend who had a horse farm and he would dump truckloads of manure at the edge of our garden for free. I had so much I could take the tractor in the spring and put 4-6" down over the whole garden in the spring then plow it under. He sold his farm so I lost that source of fertilizer. Before that there was a place that raised buffalo and they would put the manure roadside for free pickup. I shoveled up a lot of that.

Check CL adds, often you'll find manure for free if you transport it. Sometimes the farmer can load your truck with a loader/tractor.

I got 50 contractor bags of chicken coop poop this summer for free, from a CL "free" ad. It was so powerful I had to put the bags back out in the field away from the barns/house. Ammonia smell and attracted lots of flies. It has calmed down now and rotted inside the bags. The bags will go on the garden in the spring.

Here is a current CL ad:

[MountainGirl]

Ya know what they say about best laid plans... (Man plans, God laughs )

We only did two things this year, one permanent (my blackberry bushes), one not so much (PO's 3 pepper plants in a little square on the ground).

After an honest conversation, about what we'll actually eat, there are only a few things we're willing to plant/tend.

Onions. Garlic. Peppers.

So. I need to learn how to do this down here in the deep, hot, humid south.
In a raised bed <-That I'll figure out.

What I need to learn is how (and when!) to start (fall?), and how to propagate? for the next year.
Guessing: save pepper seeds for planting; plant garlic cloves from one year to the next; and onions I have no idea. All I recall about onions is seeing 'sets' for sale up north for planting.

I'll be hitting YouTube - but if there's anything you wise folk would like to share it would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Edit: Found this vid re growing in hot climates. Yay Vernalization!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBGsH3_Kww0

[BucketBack]

My garden is smoking hot at Grimey's place she rents. The Romas are over 3' tall grown from seed.

Alas, she gave the 1 month notice on the 1st, with a 2nd month for the garden only, but that was nixed. So whatever fruit I get by the end of July is mine. The fence comes down then, and the critters get a free meal

Fucket-Back at him

[Mad Trapper]

Try state Coop extensions. Texas is WAY different than here in Northeast USA

UMass UConn and Cornell are great websites. Texas must have many.

If you are saving seeds a good get book. Some plants like squash are insect pollinated and will screw with any other . Others not much so. Peppers keep different kinds apart and you will be OK. Also some seeds store many years, some only 1-2 (corns).

I've been doing the same garden my parents started 10 years before I was born, when JFK was still alive. Same with the orchards/berries.

I can't locate all my files/downloads.

If I can find I'll send them if You and @PerparedOne want

PITA attaching them/posting here. I have a wealth of information, for all.

https://ag.umass.edu/vegetable/newsletters

https://nevegetable.org/

https://nevegetable.org/crops

PS the the Sites listed have ignored the heirloom crops which I feel are better than new hybird shit.

i grow heirloom/open polilntedplants. I save seeds which are easy, fr0m the best piants each yeqr

[Chiefster23]

Maybe 5 years ago I started growing all heirlooms (with good success). This year I tried some hybrids just for a change-up. Well the hybrid seeds are more expensive and frankly I don’t think they did any better than my old fashioned heirlooms. So next year, back to the old traditional stuff. Specifically I’m talking tomatoes and sweet peppers.

If you’re thinking of planting sweet peppers, give the “toro” or “bulls horn “ peppers a try. “Corno de toro” is the variety. Heirloom and pretty good production. Very sweet if you let them ripen to red color. Heavy producer so you will probably have to cage them to prevent limbs breaking off. I harvest when red, stuff with loose breakfast or hot sausage, then vacuum seal and freeze. Defrost and bake and you have a quick and tasty meal. I usually freeze a couple dozen of them every year. If you don’t want to fuss with loose sausage, just stuff one UNCLE CHARLIES sausage in each pepper and you’re good to go.
Since I went with a Burpees hybrid “Carmen” this year I’ll be lucky to get 12 frozen this year. Grrrrrr!