Show us and tell us about your garden!

[Nate]

So if you are putting in a new garden, have an existing garden, have tried and true methods or documented failures!

Please share with us!

[Nate]

So let me start.

 2 weeks ago i rented a tractor with a box mower and a 6' pto driven tiller.  I cut down this B.S. prarie grass and i rough cut in a 44' x 27' spot for a garden.

Now, this land was a field 24 years ago before this H.O.A. was started and this half+ acre behind my house (which is ours) has never been touched/broken for roughly 30 years.

[Nate]

So after letting it dry for 2 weeks...

This 44' x 27' piece of land tried really hard to not let me win!

But in the end, after i gave my buddies 30 year old tiller a little love and maintenance....

I tightened up a few wigglely/loose nuts and bolts, cut out all of the twine and wire that was wrapped around the tines and added a little oil to the case.  It bogged down a bit in 1 or 2 places and the belt screeched at me.....so i will take a look at that and see if it can be tightened up or needs a new one.

the land lost the battle.  I will caveat that statement with...it took me 6 times going over it.

I will now give it a 2 day dry and hit it again thursday afternoon/evening to hopefully break the medium chunks on down into really small chunks and smooth dirt.

[Nate]

Hopefully Sat or Sun wendy and i can get some seeds in the ground.



Whos next?!

[stlaser]

I’d tell you about ours but it’s a very sad story.....

[Nate]

I’d tell you about ours but it’s a very sad story.....

I thought you were doing hydroponics in the basement?

[stlaser]

Not yet, need to get outside stuff finished. Back patio and raised outside beds (which are sad compared to what we used to do on acreage in Indiana)

[TexasRedNeck]

Nate I’ve had a garden off and on for about 3 years.

Since I have deer and pigs abundantly I have it completely fenced and it’s only 8x32. I’ve had to get better at plant selection and placement to maximize yield.

I have several kinds of tomatoes lots of peppers, some radishes, chard, spinach , squash, cauliflower, red cabbage and cucumber


I’ve learned to send soil samples to get tested to help with nutrients. One year I got too much mushroom compost and the phosphorus went off the chart.

I’m still researching square foot gardening and other larger scale projects for future when we are up here full time.


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[Flyin6]

We are working on our flower gardens and shrubbery at the moment

So I'll share once I get them in some decent shape.

[Nate]

Got the garden fenced in today. 

I will make a temp gate out of some 1"pvc with wire wrapped around it to keep it lite. (An example below)

I have 3.5' high steel fence all the way around, the bottom 1' is a chicken type wire (small holes), it is staked to the ground all the way around the perimeter.

This is just a temp fence for now, i will a permanent one in the fall or first thing next spring.

The soil is a bit on the clay'ier side...so depending on how things grow this year, i will probably have to till in some sand and some compost to get it to loosen a little.

[Farmer Jon]

Yesterday morning I was watching the replay of Mohamed Ali and George Foreman 1974 fight on ESPN. When I heard a racket outside. My brother was out there with a tractor and disk working my garden. I took that as a clue to get off my rear and go to work. I got most of my raised beds ready to go. Got some peas planted. Went to town and bought a bunch of sickly looking tomato plants.  Today I will be on the search for more seed potatoes.

[Bob Smith]

With all the meat packers having problems now, I think it is time to stock up better with rice, pasta, flower, and sugar. I know most of you are already doing this, but some are not. Things are a long ways from being better..

[TexasRedNeck]

Good call Bob. Pork and other meat
Will
Stay good for 6 Months easy in the freezer. Canned stuff longer. I volunteered at a food bank and they gave us a list of good to use past the expiration date list that was awesome. canned goods useful at least 12 months from
Expiration


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[Sammconn]

Shoot, I’ve got moose in the freezer from 2007.
Still tasty as the day it went there.

So don’t let them convince you that meat goes bad in a year...

[Bob Smith]

Vacuum packing defiantly adds to the life. not nearly the freezer burn 

[Farmer Jon]

My rule of thumb is any meat in the freezer longer than a year gets canned. Then it's good for another year. But it never makes it that long.

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[Bear9350]

We wrap our venison in some pretty heavy waxed paper type stuff we can get from the local paper mills.  It is a good bit heavier then the normal freezer paper you can buy.  With my folks being empty nesters now they don't go through it like they used too.  They gave me some stuff that was wrapped and froze 3 years ago.  No freezer burn and it was all perfectly fine for eating.  Every once in a while you might come across a corner or something where the paper wasn't wrapped quite right.  Just trim a bit of that edge and toss it to the dog.

[Dawg25385]

So after letting it dry for 2 weeks...

This 44' x 27' piece of land tried really hard to not let me win!

But in the end, after i gave my buddies 30 year old tiller a little love and maintenance....

I tightened up a few wigglely/loose nuts and bolts, cut out all of the twine and wire that was wrapped around the tines and added a little oil to the case.  It bogged down a bit in 1 or 2 places and the belt screeched at me.....so i will take a look at that and see if it can be tightened up or needs a new one.

the land lost the battle.  I will caveat that statement with...it took me 6 times going over it.

I will now give it a 2 day dry and hit it again thursday afternoon/evening to hopefully break the medium chunks on down into really small chunks and smooth dirt.

Dad and I bought a tiller like that a few years ago, the TroyBilt “Horse”.... aptly named I would say, thing was a beast. Looks pretty much exactly like the machine you used. Way too much for dad to handle, or want to handle, so we flipped it for what we paid for it. Great machine though, I had fun running it.

Ended up getting a smaller craftsman front tine tiller for the tight spots which is much easier to handle, and then a 5’ frontier unit for the tractor which was probably a foolish purchase as we rarely use it.


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[dave945]

Finally got around to building g our garden boxes, mixed up a bunch of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite to make good garden soil. Should get all the plants put in tomorrow or Monday.




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[TexasRedNeck]

Garden status. Day 42


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[Flyin6]

Dave, Tex, both gardens are looking good!

[Nate]

So wendy and i spent the last 2 days finishing the garden.

Friday we shoveled in 2 cu yards of compost...which was actually pretty easy.

I was up at 0500 to go and return the trailer and pick up a BEAST of a tiller to break the clay apart and to mix in the compost.  I will now have to save up my money to acquire one of these for myself....(it is all hydro xmsn, all hydro fwd and rev tine and this thing is HEAVY so it keeps a line really good and easy).

Then spent the early afternoon getting seeds and little sprouts in the ground and finding the perfect spot for the sprinkler.

[Nate]

Now comes the waiting game to see how it goes

[Flyin6]

Now comes the waiting game to see how it goes

So the veggies are in the ground?

[Bob Smith]

Which will grow faster, the veggies or the darn weeds?

[Bigdave_185]

Reminds me of the show second hand lions.  The two ol guys get sold a bunch of veggies for their garden.   All corn seeds lol


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[Flyin6]

Reminds me of the show second hand lions.  The two ol guys get sold a bunch of veggies for their garden.   All corn seeds lol


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I love that movie!

[Dawg25385]

Reminds me of the show second hand lions.  The two ol guys get sold a bunch of veggies for their garden.   All corn seeds lol


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I love that movie!

Great movie! Just watched it a couple weeks ago


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[Nate]

Now comes the waiting game to see how it goes

So the veggies are in the ground?

yep, asparagus rhubarb, several different types of onions, green beans, carrots, 2 rows of peas, some yellow squish, zucchini. tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, I think there is an egg plant in there some where and there are all kinds of herbs (dill, rosemary, cilantro, chives, basil, etc)

Which will grow faster, the veggies or the darn weeds?

veggies......hopefully!

[wyorunner]

Now comes the waiting game to see how it goes

So the veggies are in the ground?

yep, asparagus rhubarb, several different types of onions, green beans, carrots, 2 rows of peas, some yellow squish, zucchini. tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, I think there is an egg plant in there some where and there are all kinds of herbs (dill, rosemary, cilantro, chives, basil, etc)

Which will grow faster, the veggies or the darn weeds?

veggies......hopefully!

Rhubarb!!    Pie?

[Nate]

Now comes the waiting game to see how it goes

So the veggies are in the ground?

yep, asparagus rhubarb, several different types of onions, green beans, carrots, 2 rows of peas, some yellow squish, zucchini. tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapenos, I think there is an egg plant in there some where and there are all kinds of herbs (dill, rosemary, cilantro, chives, basil, etc)

Which will grow faster, the veggies or the darn weeds?

veggies......hopefully!

Rhubarb!!    Pie?

That would be strawberry rhubarb pie!!!!

[Flyin6]

That's my fav yogurt flavor

[TexasRedNeck]

I’ve been harvesting chard spinach and cauliflower. Wife said cauliflower would not grow here.





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[Flyin6]

She was wrong!

Lookin' good!

[TexasRedNeck]

Don. I have to say I’ve never had organically grown cauliflower right out of the ground. The flavor was unreal.


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[Nate]

I love me some cauliflower.  that other stuff not so much.

[Nate]

everything we planted so far has come to life, sprouted, and is doing great.  the yellow squash is the only thing that I haven't seen anything from yet, but then again maybe 3 year old seeds might have something to do with it?

[Flyin6]

Nate, for a plain old garden, you have that thing looking good! Neat rows, carefully marked, mounded, irrigation. You got it going on!

[Nate]

Nate, for a plain old garden, you have that thing looking good! Neat rows, carefully marked, mounded, irrigation. You got it going on!

thanks, I guess that's just a by product of watching/helping my grandfather for many years with his garden and probably a little of my Senior NCO OCD'ness?

[Farmer Jon]

We got taters up and peas are doing well.  Hope to get sweet corn in this week. It's too muddy and more rain forecast this weekend.

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[Farmer Jon]

It was cool and rainy but we got the sweet corn in. 3 plots. We will have way more than we can use but gotta plant some extra for the coons.

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[Sammconn]

I planted some seeds in the greenhouse on the 10th of May.
Beets, turnips, carrots, and something else that grows in the dirt.
  memory is hurting some days. Lol. Getting old I suppose.

It’s now been eight days since my last crossing. Ice is failing but a bit to go still.
Greenhouse has been venting since beginning of May and beneath was warm and no sign of frost.

I’m expecting great things next week if I can get across.

[wyorunner]

I planted some seeds in the greenhouse on the 10th of May.
Beets, turnips, carrots, and something else that grows in the dirt.
  memory is hurting some days. Lol. Getting old I suppose.

It’s now been eight days since my last crossing. Ice is failing but a bit to go still.
Greenhouse has been venting since beginning of May and beneath was warm and no sign of frost.

I’m expecting great things next week if I can get across.

Sam, you need one of them flat bottom air boat things... then you can cruise across the mess that is the lake your second house resides in....

Seems the guys in the south run them over some ground, lots of weeds and water. I’d like to think you could line the bottom with some high density poly that could withstand the ice that is left. Maybe it’s just in my mind, but could fill the gap between sled and boat, as well as normal boat running in the summer days, all ten of them.

[Sammconn]

One of the older guys that retired had a fan boat or whatever they’re called.
I’d said if you’re ever getting rid of it...
I guess he forgot. Or had a previous commitment, as I did not get the offer.

Yes that would solve that problem.

However, he couple weekends at each end get stuff done st the house that otherwise would not.

[Nate]

So either the land that we put the garden on or wendy and i have been blessed with some really green thumbs!

In a matter of 7 days, we have been blessed with enough zucchini to share with our neighbors on 3 sides and enough for me to make 4 loaves of zucchini bread.  Then enough cucumbers in 3 days time for me to make 19qts of dill pickles as well as give away 12 massive cucumbers to neighbors on 3 sides again.

[Nate]

So the 1st year of our garden is in the books, and i must say that it was bountiful to the point that i was able to share much of it with less fortunate folks at work, neighbors, and gave me a good base for rebuilding my canned foods selection/stock.

I have pulled and chopped what remained of the dead plants and all of the green tomaotes that didnt make the first hard frost...

I got 2cu yds of good clean compost, spread that around and got after it all with the hydralic tiller.  Now its time to let things breakdown over winter and give it a good once over in the spring the day wendy and i start planting.

The only thing better than that hydralic tiller would be a tractor with a pto driven tiller.

[Nate]

Dave, how did your raised beds do this year?

Shawn, how did all the hydroponics work for you?

[stlaser]

Nate, they haven’t so far. New sub panel is in that wall I framed up on Thanksgiving, currently waiting on my electrician to wire it up. I believe he’s waiting on me to take a photo of main panels so he can acquire rest of the parts to finish install.

So we’re still planning on it, just been a very busy year.

[Nate]

Had to make some modifications to wendys plant stand to get it ready to start tomatoes, bell peppers and hot peppers from seed in about 1.5 months.

Also, the sad state of the meyer lemon tree gave motivation for the conversion.

[Nate]

I got the garden cleaned up, layed a little weed mat and some mulch to keep feet out of the mud, got the rows layed out and marked.  The rhubarb is coing in really nicely and the asparagus is starting to come up as well and the onions are in.

Now we just have to wait till the last week in april (suspected last frost) to plant everything we have in the last picture.

I have a bunch of schedule 40 pvc that i am going to make a row soaker system with and a timer.  Pics of that still to come.