Dilli's Dang Gardens

[dilligaf]

To begin the year of gardening, i will throw up pictures of all our garden beds. We have tiered off a large portion of hillside behind the green house, added another bed in front of the goat pen, built a large salad bar bed on one side of the greenhouse and turned the hot tub into a large container bed. We have made a place to grow a small plot of tobacco this year. We also have a large plot down in the holler that i dont have a current picture of. The bed in the holler is the largest of all the beds and is 130( or so) x30. WE have another up top here that is also not pictured that is about 35-20 or so.

All total we have about doubled our gardening area for this season. I am sure we are not done building beds either, as the economy worsens we build more beds. Many days i feel like growing food will be our saving grace in the near future.

[dilligaf]

more of the beds ...

[dilligaf]

hhb is out working on another bed as i type.. AS we go along we are having to be more and more creative in where and how we will build them..

[dilligaf]

I have all our cold crops started. I used egg cartons to sprout them all and then transferred them into cups. I started them all on he table in the shack and we jury rigged some lighting for them. The large dome thing is actually our family sized tin foil hat that a friend made ushttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/redface.gif (ok, he really just works in a metal shop and it was lying around n he knew we could figger something out and use it).

The early spring plants were broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, kohlrabi and cabbage. We have about 300 plants of those veggies. Onions and leeks are also started in flats. Yesterday i planted beets, turnips,collards and mustard in beds outside that can be covered if need be. I also moved all the babies into the greenhouse where they should be fairly safe so long as the temps dont dip too low. We do have a wood stove in there to heat it with if need be,but the lazy hippie part of me takes over with having to climb outta bed at 2 am, walk 200 yards n stoke a fire...:D

[dilligaf]

The greenhouse has been modified a tad for this year as well. I am trying a small raised bed within the greenhouse for an experiment to see how much earlier i can plant in the spring season with out using a source for heat and to see what i can grow. For the very early lettuce planting in the raised bed, i am using old fish tanks to keep them warmer at night. The remainder of the raised bed is planted, with kale, spinach, peas, collards, mustard , radishes and a mint plant that has migrated under the greenhouse frame.

I have had carrots growing all winter in a table type bed as well as some different varieties of lettuce for the chickens n bunnies . Once the carrots are harvested , i will be turning the table bed into a simple hydroponic setup . Hopefully at some point we can get a small aquaponic system up and going in there.

[dilligaf]

I got my strawberries all transplanted n split apart the other day(til i ran out of beds for them) and will be planting my "from our own seed" asparagus out doors in the next week or so too . (they have been growing for a year and a half in the greenhouse to transplantable size)
In the next couple weeks we will be getting the rest of the early plantings in the ground. Got loads of taters growing eyes in the root cellar and waiting to go in the first or second week of march and all the rest of the greens ,lettuces, celery (if can coax it to grow)etc etc etc as weather allows...


The carrots in the pic were harvested from out doors after being mulched for the winter months. The tops has gone away(rotted) but new growth was starting when i dug them out. I used a hoe and carefully dug them out. A few were soft n squishy and a few had popped out of the ground from frost heaving, but i would say 90% of them were completely edible. These were a mix of dante half longs and tonda di parigi (small round). They were planted mid to late september of last year. Oddly enough i still have green onions growing too from last fall.No mulch or anything! We also have two out of control tomato plants that i rescued out of our junk/ garbage/ farm truck in november that have been inside under artificial lighting.They both have tomatoes forming and i will use them to get clones for some of our tomatoes this spring rather than growing all of them from seed.

[Hilder]

That is so cool. I wanna have a garden when I move to the forest. I wanna grow potatoes, carrots, onions, broccoli, beans, peas, peppers, tomatoes and lettuce.
Maybe Jer will wanna grow tobacco. I dont smoke it. now wacky tabaccy.. ;)

[mariecstasy]

dang you guys are a busy bunch.

Dilli....do you have a job outside the farm? I know you did at some point but didn't know if you still did or not?

[WanderingturnupII]

Too bad the Dreadded Philadelphian has no garden.....

[dilligaf]

dang you guys are a busy bunch.

Dilli....do you have a job outside the farm? I know you did at some point but didn't know if you still did or not?


Nope marie i dont!
We are a stay at home family now:rolleyes:
i havent worked in going on two years:eek:
longest i have ever gone without working in my life.. n i dont mind it

[dilligaf]

Too bad the Dreadded Philadelphian has no garden.....:D:D n thats all i dare say on that subject... wouldnt wanna be threatened with banishment :p

[bluesafire]

Dilly, your garden rocks! Thank you so much for sharing the pics and all with us. I'm working on planning ours right now and we'll be tilling the ground soon. Of course it's tiny compared to yours... probably 20' x 30', and we might put in a separate space for herbs.

Oh.. and that avatar is too cute! :D

[dilligaf]

it looks just like me :p

[earthmother]

Your growing season is just a tad sooner than ours. I'm starting pepper plants in a day or two. Our greenhouse is soon to be the favorite hangout in just a couple weeks. We went from one garden to 2 last year and this year we are doubling again to grow for those extra folks we have taken on due to their home being foreclosed... NICE having a couple extra hands around here! We are growing all our own FIELD corn now (bloody butcher variety) for feeding the livestock AND making cornbread. And cut all our hay for this winter with the RIDING LAWNMOWER and put it all up by hand. (The actual hay equipment is sitting in the ding-weeds, unused!)If I don't find that milk cow soon, we will be swimming in extra hay... At 4 to 5 bucks a bale, we made out like bandits...

It SURE FEELS GOOD to know that we can take care of ourselves and it simply seems EASIER than doing the 9 to 5 thing. I will admit, I've been working on this "survival" thing ever since I was about 10...

I've spent years making plantings of things considered WILD edibles around close by too, so I don't have to go searching for those lambs quarters, poke shoots, milk weed, jerusalem artichokes, water cress....

The pond is full of catfish and the woods are full of deer, (we have no gun at the moment ((friggin' cops stole 'em), but a really nice crossbow...) and we are, for the first time in 20 years, tapping maple trees for the syrup. Set up an outside kitchen for the boiling part (and summer cooking too) I got sorghum molasses seeds too, but wonder how to squeeze the stalks without the proper grinder/squeezer. Any ideas? I even sort of wondered if the cider press would help somehow. I'm looking/advertising for the grinder and boiling pan, but so far no luck. Also finding it EXTREMELY hard to locate a MILK COW. May need to go to Ohio to look...

I collaborated with my neighbor/daughter and she will plant her garden with those heirlooms I still don't have room for so that we can save ALL seeds and not have things cross from being too close together.

Happy gardening.

[dilligaf]

wow earthmama yall sound like yer rockin it on out!!! :) Sounds like your new family members are working out with yuns. That is great.. We have pretty much given up on anyone or small family coming here. If it happens it happens if it dont it just aint meant to be..

We have been foraging all the goats hay/ foliage here for about a year now and bunnies n chickens too. No real hay here but too expensive to be buying for damn sure. On the cow hunt, i would maybe suggest looking for a springin heifer. Its another mouth to feed for a while but if yer meat eaters, it may be worth it for you... They tend to be cheaper and more readily available than a single milk cow. I would also look at beefers or cross beef dairy rather than simply dairy... They produce milk, just not quite in the quantity of a dairy breed. We have decided to pretty much stay with the goats,,, cow would be just too much feed on the land we have available to us...

We tapped our two maples this year. Will wander about for next year and see if we can find more near our property to tap for next year. After we boiled down we got a whoppin 1/2 cup :D, but it was good and oh the memories of ny it brought to the youngun n me... Gave the manthing something new too. You may need to actually find a metal shop to make you a proper pan. Store bought or company bought are expensive and even used stuff is $$$ and rare. Just come up with a rough print n take it to a shop, i think being where you are many would know exactly what you need. Down here they would just look at me funny n say maple syrup in GA..:cool:

For the sorghum i have seen plans for simple homemade presses for it. Just aint sure where, but i can tell you it is online some where .. If i can dig it up i will post it for you.. We are trying a few different grains for us n critters this year. I really need a grinder, this flintstone age stuff is alotttttta work. The grinders are friggin expensive though.. I have some soy i am going to give a whirl too and see if i can make milk with for when the goats are not milking. I dont like tofu or anything from it but for milk i think i could hack it if needed. Waiting on some sugar canes to come too so i can try them. We are really trying to be able to feed us and our critters with as little store bought feed as possible. They are our biggest expense right now.. Wish i could figure out a good dog food that was economical for BIG dogs I must say the home grown corn n corn meal is SOOOO MUCH BETTER than store bought shit. Once my last couple stash bags are used i will never buy store meal again..

I saw you mentioned jerusalum artichokes in your wilding... You wouldnt be willing to swap seeds n such for a couple tubers would you??? I have looked all over for them tried advertising for them and all i ever hear back is wtf is a j choke ... To buy they are 13 bucks a pound and thats just too pricey ... Yall ever grow tobacco up there? We are going to try that this year too.. and some dagga , i think pleasantly numb may be something we will need soon..:p

I am so very glad as well that we are where we are in our self survival thing.. I never really dreamed i would see happening in my life time what i am seeing happening.. I always sorta had the hopes of it happening in the back of my head but never thought it was going to be my reality... Wouldnt change it for the world though right now.. I know that if tomorrow i couldnt go to town for the next 6 months that we would be ok and certainly wouldnt starve to death.. Happy gardening this season mama

[KozmicBlue]

Wow, that is so awesome :D Loved the pics, thanks for sharing! Must be so nice to grow all your own stuff.. are you pretty much self-sufficient now? Ahh I wanna come visit you :D

[dilligaf]

YES it is nice kozmic blue... We are at around 90% sustainable now. Dont ever really plan on 100% cuz its near impossible . We only buy flours and oils, coffee and sugar from the stores these days and could eliminate teas oils and sugars fairly easily and give up coffee :eek: It is so nice to be able to go n spend 100 bux a month for all our needs. Its the critter feed that gets us and that will be our major goal this year to Cut it back dramatically ..

Come n visit any time, the doors are always open...

hope your manthings eyeball heals well n that you dont have too many bruises from yer fainting:D

[KozmicBlue]

YES it is nice kozmic blue... We are at around 90% sustainable now. Dont ever really plan on 100% cuz its near impossible . We only buy flours and oils, coffee and sugar from the stores these days and could eliminate teas oils and sugars fairly easily and give up coffee It is so nice to be able to go n spend 100 bux a month for all our needs. Its the critter feed that gets us and that will be our major goal this year to Cut it back dramatically ..

Come n visit any time, the doors are always open...

hope your manthings eyeball heals well n that you dont have too many bruises from yer fainting:D


That's pretty damn impressive, you guys have accomplished so much. And it's great to see you enjoying it so much too :D

Do you get a lot of visitors knocking on your door?

Haha, thanks dilli :D I'm sure he'll be fine and I'm thinking it's my ego that suffered the most. :p

[dilligaf]

:p ,, no actually we dont get many visitors anymore.. Since we instituted new policies in behavior we rarely get any in fact. Its ok though :)

thanks :)

[earthmother]

,, no actually we dont get many visitors anymore.. Since we instituted new policies in behavior we rarely get any in fact. Its ok though

thanks

Since ya instituted new policies of behavior, we'll
be sure ta stop in next time we're AWOL from the farm and in the neighborhood...!!!

I know all about new policies! Great fer sortin' out friends and family from "other"... Real happy to see more folks "changin'" their policies....:rolleyes:

I'll hunt down yer address and send ya some 'chokes.

Yup. Huntin' a bred heifer or anything else even resembling a milk cow. I'd do goats except we just aren't set up for them right now and cow milk is a lot more versatile. Butter, yoghurt, cottage cheese, keiffer....:p

I'm sort-a interested in growing tobacco - just haven't got around to that yet. Not on my priority list 'cause i don't smoke it... But could sure use tobacco dust for bug repellent for the chickens and the garden. H-m-m-m-m.

[hippychickmommy]

That's so exciting. I'd love to have the land to be able to have gardens like that. One day, hopefully! Need to get out of this city!

[dilligaf]

since i suck n fail at updates we will play catchup today....:p
in the last couple weeks hhb has built a couple new beds and i made one for the jerusalem artichokes. While he builds beds i have been preparing them for planting.

Most of the cold crops are now in the ground and getting watered in today by some luverly spring rains. All the seeds that i have planted are sprouting up . Still have leeks and onions yet to go in.

We are now eating, spinach,, greens and salad fixins from the greenhouse. Turnips and such outside are nearing edible size. The j chokes are in the ground and the first of the buckwheat is in the ground...

We are working on gathering up our seeds for the seed ball experiment. So far we have several squashes n legumes of different sorts, a few grains, grasses, wild flowers, sunflowers, greens, herbs and ground covers.

[dilligaf]

.

[dilligaf]

..the tater patch is about an 1/8 acre. There are over 200 of cold crop plants in (broc, cabbage and brussel sprouts) celery is still not in but is in grow cups,

[dilligaf]

.

[smokeybear2]

im comin to yall

[goldilocs]

killer gardens you got goin there dilligaf! the soil looks really good after its prepared, what does it consist of? do you amend the red clay or not use any of it in the beds?

[hippiehillbilly]

shes busy transplanting tobacco seedlings..

we amend,amend and amend some more..

we have goats,rabbits and chickens that we use their manure from combined with kitchen scraps,leaves,used bedding and whatever else will break down into compost. thats what we use.

[goldilocs]

well it certainly looks good. we've got about the same variety of amendments. only into our second year, but its gradually looking better. how long you been building up your soil? do you use any machinery or horse-drawn? im also wondering how deep you mix it in? ive just been turning it over with a spade 6-8", think hteres anything wrong with that?
sorry for all the questions, but you guys seem to know what your doing.

[hippiehillbilly]

most of these beds are new this year. we have about a acre garden spot that we had been using but are now devoting to grains for animal feed etc.

i built everyone of them by hand. nothing but a pick axe,root rake and shovel. the dirts been double dug to about 18 inches. its actually a mix of a sandy soil as well as the red dirt. its not as clay like as you would think.then of course we turn the compost in..

the deeper you can loosen the soil the better but 8 inches is deep enough to grow healthy veggies in..we will continue to top dress with compost as needed throughout the growing season this year to make sure they get all the nutrients they need and will just continue to repeat the process year after year..

we dont mind questions at all. the reason dilli started this thread is to encourage others. :)
if there is anything we can help you with dont hesitate to ask..

[dilligaf]

transplanted a couple hundred onion starts today. What a stoopid job :xeye:... the sets are much easier than starting from seed then transplanting from there.

Everything in the ground but taters n parsnips are sprouting through the soil. My garlic i planted just not long ago is about 8 inches tall already:)

I am not happy with my tomato or pepper starts at all. Either it aint been warm enough or the seeds i used( new order, not saved) are bunk. I will give them a bit more time and start some new ones in the house and see what they do, if they still dont grow the seed company is going to get a big earful of hillbilly spittle .

Transplanted some of the tobacco out the starter trays today. The rusticais up to five leaves. The other two varieties are much slower growing and are still in the egg trays. Started a couple more mater starts inside too..

Manthing roped off the tiers today. Dang dogs are walking thru them on occasion and we learned that a simple string about knee height is good enough to keep them out.Not that the fools could not simply walk directly over top of the string with no issues but if they are too stupid to figure it out then a simple string is a great and simple fix.

Hopefully this week we will get the holler garden worked up and ready to plant the grains. Then we only have one more large bed and a couple smaller ones to amend before everything that is built is either planted or ready to plant. We are trying to find more suitable spots for a couple more beds. Aint no way we have enough... the evil angels bf is coming down in a couple weeks and we are plottin n scheming to keep him busy :D:

We reseeded the goat pasture during the week as well. What a bunch of work that was. Glad it isnt something that has to be done more than once . Raking it , leveling it, seeding it, then spreading mulch hay over the top all by hand was not pleasant and i found muscles i forgot i had. Lets just say we had estimated it at a couple hour job... It was a five hour job and we had n extra person helping out....

i have more pics but will get them up when i have some extra time.. This working thing was a surprise kind of , so it has me a bit discombooberated yet.

[earthmother]

What grains you growing? I am putting in two small fields of bloody butcher corn this year (a strain that's been grown in these parts for generations). Should be enough to feed the chickens and keep us in fresh corn meal all winter. Still eating cornbread from last summers crop! Did you order your seeds from Baker Creek? I too am having trouble getting peppers to sprout. I started them about 3 weeks ago and still not up... Happily, I been saving seeds from tomatoes for years and I KNOW they are good.

I love how in these "warmer" climates there are a lot of things you only have to plant once and they just keep on giving. I've even made lettuce work like that if I do all the right things. Kale and mustard greens, potatoes, parsnips..... All keep coming back. The garlic that comes up no matter how well I harvest it the fall before, is becoming a nuisance in places. And I really wonder why I bother to start the tomato plants early, because the volunteers always catch up to the ones I start indoors. Last year's garden had half the tomatoes started in pots in the greenhouse, and the other half just came up on their own and I transplanted some of them. No difference...

[hippiehillbilly]

interestin earthmama... and yes baker creek is where i got them... i am going to write to them tomorrow n complain a wee bit ... this is the first time i have had trouble but now i dunno what i will do for my paprika and jalapenos.. Luckily i have two large tomato plants i am going to get cuttings off of and have another small batch of seed started in the house... I was so lookin forward to having grown our own paprika and chile powder this year. :(

we are growing two types of corn, both old native american breeds. I cant think what sort other than white dent and hopi, pink i believe( may not be right , i am tired ). We are growin buckwheat , wheat, amaranth quinoa as a critter keeper outter(i hope) and some soy beans . Then i am going to grow some legumes just for critter hay as well.

and yes there are many things that will just keep coming back year after year... tis what we are hoping for with the seed ball things this year and trying to go with more permaculture type things. Takes alot of work out of it as well as making it a healthier habitat for all..

[dilligaf]

here are some more pics of stuff here..
celery
lettuce
the raised bed in the greenhouse (all salad fixins)
turnips
and quince

[dilligaf]

here is part of the pasture where we reseeded last week and some pictures of the terraces take from up in the goat pasture...

[dilligaf]

the taters are finally starting to poke on through the soil... took them long enough!! I guess they needed 7 inches of rain to kick start them.. Everything that is in the ground is now up...

My new tomato starts in the house are all up and ready to transplant in to the grower cups and the third batch of paprika and jalapenos are sprouting. I put them in moist paper towels in a baggie . They still took almost a week to start even in them and even then do not have a good germination rate.. I did write to the company i bought them from and complained but have heard nothing back :(

Transferred the second set of tobacco int there growing cups and am still waiting on the third type to get a lil bit bigger.. For such tiny plants they certainly have a heck of a root system in a hurry.

The raised bed in the GH is now being harvested a couple times a week for salads and with a bit of wandering around foraging the lawn we get some perdy salads. My winter tomato plants have some 3-4 inch tomatoes on them now and i cant wait to pick a few for some fried green maters... The celeries are getting huge and look just like mini bunches of celery.. I dunno what i expected them to look like but they sure are cute... Been plucking some asparagus this last week unfortunately i eat most of the stalks before they make it to the house and into anything. I dont care for asparagus cooked but raw it is pretty darn good tasting.

Will fetch a couple pictures later and throw them in here..

[earthmother]

My pepper seeds did finally start coming up 3 1/2 weeks after planting them. Still not germinating like they should, but maybe I just gotta wait longer. I know one thing, it doesn't seem to matter WHEN you plant seeds, because they tend to want to come up whenever THEY feel it's time. I planted lettuce 3 weeks ago and again a week ago. The durned stuff is all coming up at the same time...

[dilligaf]

got 55 tomato plants transplanted this afternoon ( mostly bonnie's best and a couple evergreen and homestead), 6 paprika, 6 sweet pepper and 4 of the jalapenos. Took all the maters to the GH and am keeping the peppers in the house for a few days til i know they are actually going to grow..

Then like a mad woman i decided i needed more stuff planted so went n put in more lettuce, parsley, kale, green onions, spinach, cilantro and radishes..... now i really am done with cool weather plantings or manthing will have my hide since i keep fillin all the beds and the real spring crops aint in the ground yet... :D:

He went out n started another bed n has decided he cant wait for the young buck to arrive next week,,, he is plum sick of swingin a pick..

[Bella Désordre]

Very cool!
Do you use your goats for milk? What kinds of things do you make out of the milk?
I really want goats and am hoping we can buy a house in a zone where they are allowed.

[ChronicTom]

On the matter of tobacco. We grew some when I was a kid, even up here it did well, though it had to be started inside.

The problem we had with it then was drying it, it was a farily humid year and we had hung them under the tin roof of a shed. Although they did dry, they formed a white mold on the leaves as they did.

[dilligaf]

Very cool!
Do you use your goats for milk? What kinds of things do you make out of the milk?
I really want goats and am hoping we can buy a house in a zone where they are allowed.


yes , i milk the goats once the kids are old enough to pull off the mama some. Right now i am just milking one once a day but soon will be milking four 2x a day.

We use the milk for milk in cooking, making cheese,cottage cheese, ice cream and in soaps... Butter isnt as easy with goats milk as it is cows so i dont make that with it and one these days i am going to try some yogurt in the crock pot, but my crockpot shit the bed so will be a while..

[dilligaf]

Nice to see ya back around some tom,we figger we can dry most everything else, we will figure out a way to dry tobacco too... I dont care if i have to hang it in the living room of the shack to get it dry... :D

[ChronicTom]

Well at the time, I had no use for tobacco, being like 10 or something.

I think these days if I were to try it, I'd just build solar box dryer for it.

and yeah, I'll be around for a bit til my mind snaps again ;)

[hippiehillbilly]

went out n got the leeks in the ground this evening n another 36 tomatoes in to there grow cups.

the pics from yesterday

[hippiehillbilly]

.

[dilligaf]

got the rest of the tobacco plants transferred into grow cups last night. Only have about 24 more plants to get moved now for the spring planting..!!! Then in a month or two get started on fall stuff... I need a plantling nursery wing in the shack...http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/smile.gif


Yucky weather system coming through today n tonite, so glad nothing but cold stuff is in the ground.. Will probably get our biggest snow of the winter tonite :eek:

[ChronicTom]

You guys are just rocking along aren't you?

You have a full growing season down there that we don't have.

Here is our current crop....

Friday http://lh5.ggpht.com/_U2rWe53wuAk/SdaTuSUhydI/AAAAAAAACT4/uqYNEKoW6Q8/s144/2009-04-03-82226.jpg Saturday http://lh4.ggpht.com/_U2rWe53wuAk/SdfEehiGN2I/AAAAAAAACUg/q8MBY5l21ic/s144/2009-04-04-74031.jpg Sunday http://lh3.ggpht.com/_U2rWe53wuAk/SdlCuBAtnAI/AAAAAAAACUw/uLSvGlKcGpM/s144/2009-04-05-85297.jpg

See how it grows?!

[hippiehillbilly]

oh we more than likely will have snow pictures in the morning (at least a dusting).. thankfully as dilli said we are smart enough to have not planted anything but the cold crops yet..

[ChronicTom]

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but if your plants do get hit by a frost, watering them before the sun comes up in the morning will save them.

Just let the water spray over the actual plants and leaves for a bit.

[Monkey Boy]

Wow. Nice garden. I hope to have one that big some day. I just planted peas and spinach this week and got fertilizer today. Have you heard about biochar? I'm starting to use it this year. It's been shown to increase crop yields by up to 40%. I've been making it out of my left over sawdust. Thanks for sharing your photos and good luck.:D

[hippiehillbilly]

are you sure your making bio char and not just some grade of ash?

ive seen the bio char and the tests but i know that ash will suck the life out of a garden over time so i would wanna be sure i was doing the process correctly if i was to do it. have you sent a sample of what your making to be tested or are you just assuming your doing it right?

i would never risk making something like that and putting it in our gardens without having it tested first.

good luck on your garden as well.

[Monkey Boy]

I haven't had the bio char tested, but I'm pretty sure it's not ash. A friend of mine in charge of a local community garden taught me how to make it and he used it in some beds there last year. This is the first year that I've used it and I'm leaving some beds without it to see if I can notice any difference. I'm mixing it with organic fertilizer before I put it in the beds so it can absorb the nutrients. It's pretty simple to make. You could experiment with just a few plants if you wanted.

Are you off the grid? I think I saw a solar panel in one of the photos.

[dilligaf]

after getting loads of rain recently, finally been able to get out in the gardens a bit the last couple days. Got all the celery planted today and all the tomatoes are finally in grow pots. Would like to get more in but i dont want to push my limits too much on frosts.

I cant wait to be able to get everything in the ground. Another week or two n we will start the majority of our planting... I am sick of not having tables to use in the house.and every little nook and cranny i have has plants in it.

The jerusalem artichokes are coming up nicely and the potatoes are coming up nicely again. They got bit last week when we had some winter weather... nothing else was bit but taters were.

Manthing n daughters bf have been working on two new beds out in the front lawn.

Will be getting our seed balls made in the next few days. We have lots of different, herbs, veggies, flowers and grains mixed together . I would say there are about 40- 50 different types of seed total. I cant wait to toss them and see what grows where and how well or not they work. If it works it would well over double our plantable area and cut our work wayyyyy down on property care and garden chores while improving our environment.

[dilligaf]

i have been working more days a week than i was hired to so my days off have been few. Needless to say time to plant is here for us and because of gardens expansions, i have been super busy when i am home..

Yesterday the kids n I worked on getting compost put on the rest of the new bed and getting it worked in. We also got the cold crops weeded and put a good thick layer of mulch over the beds. This is something we have never done before except for over wintering beds. We decided we better get some new habits goin round here because our water supply in a dry year will become an issue with all the new beds we have. So mulch is becoming a routine before we need it to be routine..

I also spent yesterday filling in between the cold crops where moles had killed the plants. Left me several nice gaps for small plots of companion herbs and flowers . Also got a few small plots of a couple types of beans and lentils. I transplanted my little zucchinis outside and moved the potted tomatoes out into the garden areas. I finished stringing the frame over a bed of peas so they could climb a bit easier. I moved a bunch of herbs around that grow really well here and planted them in strategic locations where i can eliminate weed eating or mowing by naturalizing areas.

Today we spent planting all the tobacco into the beds. I needed one more bed than the 3 I planned on, so now I am already a bed short.... We ran string round the outside of all the planted beds to try n keep the dang dogs out of them a bit. Poor ol "willhe" is getting pretty senile n still just plows through them, but he is so old he almost has a passhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif...

Planted a few tomato plants to finish out the bed that was planted with celery. We got the strawberry beds all covered with the netting so the critters dont thieve them. Spent a bit of time seeing how many of each started plant we have left to plant and then how much other seeding we have yet to do... All i know is we either got too much of one or not enough of the otherhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/eek.gif We have about a dozen, sweet peppers and a dozen jalapenos, only one paprika plant n 71 tomato plants to go in yet and 8 cuttings from tomatoes.

Back to work tomorrow but i got the kiddies er adultieshttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gifweeding taters tomorrow n gonna sucker manthing into planting 18 more tomatoes for me though http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif I can plant a lil bit when i get home on time in the evenings

Pics were taken yesterday of the veggies. The two new beds have been done in the last couple weeks. As ya can see, the numbers of beds is getting up near 40 beds half of which average about 80 sf with 3 larger garden areas... Now you can start to understand why we are really trying to watch water

[dilligaf]

a few more

[dilligaf]

some pics from around the place since spring has finally sprung

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

manthing has been planting away over the last couple days. He got all the grains planted yesterday down in the holler. We put in some wheat, three types of amaranth, quinoa,and a buckwheat/lentil mix( for critter fodder) . He also planted the small beds up by the house with tomatoes. Today he will plant more tomatoes, several types of drying beans, jicama, some of our sweet corn some summer type squashes and a few melons, a few herbs and companion flowers.

The cabbage, broccoli, b sprouts, and cauli are all starting to do there thing and the first round of greens are about ready for the final harvest and replant. potatoes are coming in good now and garlic is goin nuts.

[dilligaf]

another couple days and we will have round one licked of summer veg... well not we but manthing will have it all inhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

He is getting a bit flustered n weary with this whole planting stuff n not getting instant gratification from it. Hopefully this coming week we will get a bit of rain n things will start growing so hopefully he will feel better about all his labor.

Today some more corn was planted along with a few more melons and the mung beans and some flowers and herbs.Alos tossed in a few more strategically placed castor beans.....

Tomorrow we (yup me too, i got a day off)will plant the tomatillos, some of the peppers and a bit more tobacco that i am simply going to plant out side. I am a bit disappointed in the transplants we planted so will try a few plants from seed n see what happens. I will then need to stop and see if we will have enough space with the amount of beds we have or if we need a couple more to finish out the first round of planting. I am really hoping that what we have is enough for now. Manthing needs a break from making beds so he can get to other needed choreshttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Pulled out the mustard greens and the last of the radishes in the GH raised bed and harvested the last of the first outdoor bed of turnips. Peas will be ready soon. They are beginning to flower now. Also have started harvesting the outside spinach and second round of greens from outside for the year. The GH lettuces and remaining collards n spinach are all still producing, the mustard was starting to go to seed.

I am figuring the gh raised bed let us eat greens n salads a good month to a month and a half earlier than what we would have if we had waited to plant outside without any protective coverings. The raised beds in the Gh needed no heat source what so ever from the time i planted it making it a good option for us to use them rather than having to worry about covering crops outside on cold night.Makes much less work on us that way and we still had room for all the seedlings to get started out there too with only 5 nights of us needing a heat source for the seedlings.

Tomorrow we will prepare our seed balls and them hopefully get them out thursday or friday.

I cant wait til things start growing all around here. Should be quite a pretty landscape when it does ... and to know it will all be edible is an awesome feeling.

[dilligaf]

went on a walk about the land this morning to check out damage from the heavy rainshttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif.. there is less than we expected but we do have a few runoff issues to work on before the next rounds come in tomorrow...

Most everything is sprouting that has been planted. The first rounds of beans planted are up about 4 inches, tomatoes are 16 inches or so now, peas are 3-4 feet,corn is up with its first true leaves, and the grains have all begun to come in. The j chokes are now a couple foot tall and all our seed balls have started as well.The herbs and flowers i planted are also up a few inches. We lost several tobacco plants in the heavy down pours but i still have a few plants to go in and hopefully the broadcast seeds will grow..

Harvested a mess of greens to freeze this am and got a few good salads picked too. Pulled out the lettuce beds in GH and will fallow the raised beds in there from this harvest til fall. Will can or freeze up some spinach this pm The last 20 or so transplants i need to get in are almost ready to go in the ground .When it dries out a bit we will get them in. If i can find the time today will plant a few more vining plants in amongst a couple of flower beds to see what they will do. The first rhubarb is near harvest and s-berries are forming nicely.

[dilligaf]

ugh... THISRAINSUXALILBIT!!!http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Heavy heavy rains again this morning(yesterday)..I have not been out to see the measurements from this burst but i am sure it was another 3-4 inches on top of the 10 or so we have already had in the last few days on top of saturated ground. I am starting to worry a lil bit and have a bad feeling i am going to be replanting a good bit of stuff.. The trying not to complain about rain is getting difficult..

We had another four to five inches between yesterday afternoon and this morning. So since friday we have had about 15 inches of rain

Anywho, heres a few pics from the other day when the rains had been just enough,,, before the 12 inches or so we just got..

[dilligaf]

...

[hippiehillbilly]

this is dilli and i am being lazy again.. ;

picked my first tiny batch of peas this evening and another couple days will have bunches. Some of the broccoli is near ready to start harvesting. Cabbage n cauli are heading nicely too. Kohlrabi will be ready in the next week or so and the second outdoor bed of lettuce and salad fixins is now being harvested from. My first tomato is finally starting to turn red.

All the other beds and plots are growing now . Corn is a few inches tall and all the melons,squash, beans and grains are coming along nicely. I have found a few rogue plants as usual. Amaranth where we stored it for goats, squash near my kitchen compost/ grey water barrel and stray squash or melons in odd random locations. Of course sunflowers are coming up everywherehttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif... Tobacco is really starting to look like a tobacco plant and the j chokes are a good two foot tall. My first tomato plantings are growing like crazy and the peppers are starting to take off too

The rains are still coming every afternoon but things all in all are doing much better than i thought they would be . I am almost amazed anything is coming up in a couple of the newer beds. The soil is pretty awful and i figured the amendments would wash out in the downpours..

This next week we will be getting the last few peppers in the ground and start planting the corn for meal n such. Will also be getting in a few more melon plants and okra and figuring out how to stagger things for the remainder of the season once we start harvesting the early spring beds.

[hippiehillbilly]

dilli again... :D

spent today getting the last few straggler plants out of the gh and into the ground,planting where things didnt germinate or died from the rains and replanting beds that i harvested collards , mustard greens and turnips from this morning..

Also got corn planted in amongst most of the bean plots...If they grow well we should have loads of corn this season.. Meal corn still hasnt been planted but will get that in in a couple weeks..

Chucked in the okra and put sunflowers around the entire outside of the big bed out front and made a couple experimental plots of mixed seeds in a few no till undug areas.. Planted a bunch more herbs and a few edible flowers around as well.

Harvested a cute lil pile of peas today, some radishes, 6 meals of mixed greens and a whole bunch of lettuce greens that were fixin to bolt. Cut down the savory, sage, oregano,thyme and mint to manageable size and have the dehydrator doing its thing.. Potatoes are coming long nicely although hilling them up is a bit of trouble cuz the ground is still so wet . Broccoli is just a couple days away from picking and cabbage is heading. Beets will be ready in the next week or so as will the last round of turnips. The first cuttings of rhubarb were also made today and our first strawberry was ripe but a slug beat me to it. :(

The gh is now empty, ready for a cleaning and then it will soon be time to start fall seedlings... my how time flies

I took a few pics but i dropped the camera n sorta kinda need to fix it before i can get the pics off..

[stinkfoot]

It's remarkable you have time to post here at all... that's some hard work reflected in all that. "Impressed" doesn't begin to scratch the surface.

[dilligaf]

thankies stinkyfeets:)...

been getting good amounts of rainfall still. GREAT other than the weeds are going crazy along with plants.. Has to dry up some before weeding beds so... all the pics have uber weeds in them..


We are getting loads of peas, broccoli, kohlrabi, beets, carrots and salad fixins ... Beans ,taters, tomatoes, zuchinni, summer squash n tomatillos are all flowering. My baby zuchinnis are a couple inches long, cant wait for them to be ready. Its one of our favorites here..

here are a few weed filled pic from yesterday between showers

the bed out front with beans and loads of amaranth from last year.. hot tub with beets n parsnips , celery(thanks sweeper), some of the corn, leeks tomatoes, tomatoes(never enough tomatoes), peas n me sniffin the peas, squashes n cukes, taters, a view of the terraces from above, tobacco, tomatillos and some of the random veggies in the lawn i just planted as an experiment

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

http://www.hipgallery.com/photopost2/data/500/sniffinpeas.jpg

sniffin my peas :D




planted corn and okra again this afternoon. I will win this war with the crows... This is the fourth planting of corn this year and the second of okra

Threw a few more seeds of various beans, corn , squash , melons and cukes in places where i have harvested the last of a veg.

Pulled the rest of the beets this afternoon and harvested out another couple areas of lettuces and spinach. Left a couple spinach plants for seed.Will hopefully dry the beets and see what they are like as a sugar substitute. Picked another nice little bunch of rhubarb and tossed it into the freezer until i can make some jam or use in pies. Getting a nice little collection of berries in freezer too

[dilligaf]

aint posted in forever... http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif

but thought i would catch up a lil bit today since we are baking and i will have a few spare minutes while things are cookin

Everything is now pretty much in the ground other than a few late winter squash and some punkins n such.. Still have some beans to toss in as i get room. If n when i get an empty space each year, i choose a bean of some sort to use as filler.

GH is all cleaned up and ready for fall seedlings next week... Hard to believe it is already that time ...

We are now harvesting, zookinis and summer squash, beans, new taters, onions, various lettuces n salad fixins, carrots and in the next couple days tomatillos n very soon after tomatoes out our ears hopefullyhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Soy and most of the cuke/ melon plants are in flower as are most all the early beans of the drying sort. Cabbage and the couple cauliflowers will be ready in the next week or so.The elephant garlic was also harvested this week and dried. Herbs are coming along greatly n we had another batch of drying them in the last couple weeks

Peas, most of the lettuces, spinach, broccoli and other early greens are done harvested and a couple plants of each left for seed purposes... all other areas that they have been harvested from are replanted with beans, squash , cukes or some sort of melon.

Tobacco is starting to flower so we are topping and pinching them on a regular basis. This is the breed i am not caring for. I have to pull papers on it to see which variety it is. I dont care for it, its tall and lanky(lots of stem little leaf) and flowering very early.. The tall lankiness makes it keep blowing over in the winds so we have to stake it up as well.. The other two varieties are growing well and seem to be a much leafier plant..

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

...
oh n i forgot to mention... the grains down n the holler have been an EPIC FAIL! http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif

The only thing growing fairly well is the lentils and buckwheat mixture..

Everything else (wheat, several types of amaranth, and quinoa) must have drown in germination when we got the 15 inches of rain.. There are a few stalk of amaranth coming up but we will retill the majority of it and try some punkins and then a fall cover crop and next year plant the tobacco down there..
http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/peacenowar/misc/progress.gif

[dilligaf]

...

[Monkey Boy]

Your garden's looking good.

[BoomBoomBoom]

ohhh i love stuff like this!! I love collecting a whole bunch of plants too.

[dilligaf]

thanks monkey n boom

i know i said i was done planting on the last update.... but i just cant help my self... In the last week or two, i have planted countless more beans, squash , punkins and vine fruits. Decided i could not leave the whole garden empty til fall where the grains drown or died so tossed a few (30) hills of various winter squash down there. I am also going to put a small plot of fall taters down there and see how they do. i have never planted a fall crop of them before so should be interesting. I got my fall seeds started yesterday. 50 of cabbage and 40 of broccoli and 16 cauliflower. .also started a coule different peppers for pot plants and will mov them either in the house or into the greenhouse come fall. I am plotting and scheming just how much and what other stuff i am going to try other than the normal fall things. I do know i am doing more peas and chinese cabbage.

Harvest seems to be slow to start up although i checked on last years thread to see and it isnt really behind at all.maybe i am just more impatient. I harvested the first taters this morning, i had a hankering for some salt taters tonight. Canning will really begin this weekend. My tomatillos are going nuts, so will make salsa verde. All the extra zukes and summer squash are being dehydrated as are some green onions, herbs, kale, carrots and green beans. Cukes will be ready in earnest in the next week or so as well as more tomatoes. Have not had to can any of either of them as yet, but when they start it will be busy busy busy.Peppers are peppering and have babies of about an inch or so, okra is getting ready to flower and the drying beans are really producing well.. Damn dear gobbled up my soy beans, hopefully they can recover..

I got some new pics but.... i just hooked up the kiddos comp and have to download all the software and get all the pics downloaded.. I may even start working on putting all our pics thru the years in some sort of order, do some pic tutorials of things and get them on a small web site once again..

[GeeOhhN]

Very NICE! I can imagine the awesome vegetable soups that can be made with what you got going on there..

[dilligaf]

heres the pics from the other day.. got the root cellar all finished yesterday. owwww my hands hurt... it looks much better this go round lol so hopefully wont have any more issues with it. we still have a bit more dirt to throw over it and i want to paint the door so it blends in with the surroundings better. No pics of it though http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/smile.gif forgot to charge the camera..http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

.....

[dilligaf]

....and

[dilligaf]

things are still slow to ripen and therefore harvesting is slow as well. We have pretty much been eating what we harvest which isnt bad but it worries me a little bit at the same time. I am becoming quite the squash and zookini chef i tell ya... I dont want to tire of eating the same stuff so am having to be quite creative in meal planning.

I have been dehydrating some and am ready to can up a batch of carrots and some new potatoes this weekend . I am still planting even though i said i was done.. i just hate empty spaces in the gardens and i cant help myself :D.. Beans are still going in as are sme winter type squashes and some of the fall veggies are going in the ground as i empty the tater bed.

we are harvesting, cukes, zooks,summer squash , dumplin squash, onions, leeks tomatillos, carrots, taters, onions, leeks, pintos and green bean and tomatoes.

Heres a few pics of how things are looking today...

As ya can see the goat thinks he is getting away with something...http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif
the bitty dinner bunnies..11 of them! http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
the stuff hanging is tobacco leaves that are beginning to turn so they are harvested and hung to cure..

[dilligaf]

....

[dilligaf]

:toetap05:

[dilligaf]

:D

[dilligaf]

:hat:

[dilligaf]

and........

[scarlettchasingroses]

just wanted to say... you are amazing and i would love to come visit your gardens sometime.... loving you, sister, always... :)

[dilligaf]

thanks scarlet,,, n if you are ever in the area stop on by :)



here are a few updates on stuff.

Things are still slow ripening and harvesting.. Almost more than i can keep up with preparing and eating but not enough to crank up the fire and canners http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif.... needless to say we have been almost solely eating veggies n fruit for a while and i never thought i would say this but .... we had red meat this week and it made both of us sickhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

I am getting fall crops slowly started in tiny bursts. some little bugger has been eating my seedlings in the GH so i am transplanting what i can outside ASAP before they all get ett. Dunno how it will work out but its an experiment in hopes of saving some seedlings. been planting cold crops direct seed as well to see how they do. Fall taters will be goin in as well as peas, spinach, other greens n lettuce, turnips, carrots , green onions etc..
Will be heading over to till up an old friends garden plot tomorrow and plant that out as well with fall crops.

Heck what am i saying,,, i am still planting short season summer crops


I figured i would include another picture of the dinner bunnies since in a way i am gardening them too and they are our late summer crop of them the green maters had fallen off the plants so i brought them in to make relish or fry etc... n the manthing didnt realize we had a couple rogue tomatoes in with tomatillos n just thought a few tomatillos had out grown there husk... :http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
I dunno what the first flower pic is,, they were on clearance last fall n just picked them up.. The marigold are from seed and direct planted in all the garden areas for bug control and polination and they are perdy... the other flower pic is of silkleaf tobacco that i will use for seed purposes

the little yeller lookin doodads are lemon cukes and the brighter yellow ones are lemon summer squash. There is also dumplin squash, regular cukes, zooks, pintos, sweet peppers, jalapenos taters, maters , tomatillos n leeks

[dilligaf]

...

[dilligaf]

:cool:

[dilligaf]

:p

[moon_flower]

Looks like y'all had far better luck than we did this year! We had an early flood and a late frost. Killed pretty much everything my papaw and I planted. We had a few surviving tomato plants, but out of 10 gardens, that isn't really any conselation. There's always next year, I reckon.

Your garden looks good.

[dilligaf]

here's pics from july 26 (oops!!) on my walk about... things are growing well just slow to produce. Other than early spring crops i would still estimate us at about 4-5 weeks behind on harvesting... It is strange, even wild plants are stunted this season...

Most of the early fall crops are now in here at the house. Planted a plot about the same as our spring planting the other day. This is a first for us in planting fall taters, hope it works out wellhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/smile.gif.. The bed that looks like it has small bodies buried is now planted out in broccoli, cauli, cabbage, gr onions, chinese cabbage, collards, mustard, spinach and lettuce as well as some late squash and bunches of beans.. The black covering(greenhouse mesh) is on new bean plantings to keep the dang crows out..

Out front where the corn is we tilled up the width of the garden and planted a big batch of alaska peas to see how they do in the fall here. The beans in the beds by the greenhouse are coming along well ..

I will continue planting fall crops off and on until about the end of august when i will begin planting winter crops in the gh to tide us over til spring...

We are now eating, summer and winter squash(few different types), taters, onions, tomatoes, cukes melons, okra, gr peppers, pintos, wax beans, tomatillos, carrots, chile peppers of various sorts and i finished harvesting spring cabbage yesterday. We are also harvesting, many herbs and medicinals both home grown and foraging. The picture on the porch has oils that i am infusing with different herbs. Made a bunch of tinctures this week too.

Canning is getting going now (up to 32 qts) but i am dehydrating veggies almost daily and my cupboards are starting to fill up with all the containers. I must say i do love looking at all the containers full of stuff and seeing nothing from a store...

[dilligaf]

:)

[dilligaf]

:p

[dilligaf]

i have been delaying this cuz i really dont wanna post my messhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/redface.gif but i dont post this thread each year just cuz of all the joy it brings me to do so.. I post it to simply show others what can be done and there is loads of good in it all but it sure has its downer moments... So here is my newest installment of mayhem n destructionhttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif


bad news first lol

had a lot of rain last week somewhere round 11 inches over 5 days or so.. About day three in to the rain in my wet garden walk about i noticesd my tomatoes are very sick and dying.Many of the cucumbers and squash were also ill.. I dont know for sure what got them but i am assuming it is a blight or mosaic . The plants were totally healthy looking up until the rains started. Course we sprayed with some home sprays but with it raining the better part of every day it was futile.. Thr fruits on the vines turned into a goo and the plants themselves just withered up yellowed and turned int oa gooet type grossness..

Like i said aint positive what it is for certain but if i had to guess it may have been carried in with the rains (i have heard from several folks in last week that the gardens just up got ill n died a horrific death). It happened that quick.. We r growing tobacco as well here... maybe we werent as careful as we should have been although we thought we were very careful. We trade loads of seed, could have come in on something somehow.. I truly dont know.. needless to say we pulled most of the tomatoes and burned them. also killed off the cukes (no biggie i have plenty of them already lol)..

We also lost all but 4 of our baby broccoli, cabbage n cauli plantlings that i had direct sowed.Losy most of the other greens i had planted to drowning and lost all of the the tiny plants i had rescued from the mouth of the plant eating critter in the GH and lost a fair bit of our corn crop.. Most of the sunflowers also tipped over and then laid in the muddy mess..

Needless to say i have had a busy week since the rains have mostly passed. lots of cleanup all around the property, lots of hoeing, tilling, reseeding , trying to play catchup dehydrating and continuing to work on fall seedings while trying to save some of the maters and keeping whatever nastiness we have away from everything else like potatoeshttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif

We also had the bonzo bear bonanzza and an earthquake.. what a week


On the good side of things..we have melons of all sorts starting to ripen, beans growing like crazy, winter squash, summer squash peppers of all sorts, tomatillos, corn, melons some maters and okra all starting to come into season and produce well, FINALLY.. The fall taters are spouting and some of the squash n punkins down in the holler are doing real well. Some of my seeds in different beds are coming in well and my new fall peas are sprouting on up. Harvested up about half of the celery this week and scored some shrooms to dry too..

Oh we also pulled up the one variety of tobacco that was causing me nitemares.. We now have that batch sundrying as an experimental project. It was not really time for it to be harvested but it was awful and i can better use the space for other things

Hopefully we can make up for the tomato loss with other veggies and by ramping up fall and winter grow season. I will now definitely use the loft as a winter garden project and see what sorta mayhem and destruction i can do inside

heres a few pics of some of the good and bad... the wicked kewl flower is popping up all over the land here in various locations.. dunno what it is but it is sure perdy... The tree with the bags on it is actually a grapevine with oodles of grapes on it.. we are trying to keep the birds off of them so have bagged the fruit bunches.. While manthing was tying the bags on the tree i noticed loads of orange off in the woods.. There wasa beautiful huge chanterelle mushroom patch.. I gathered us up about 10 pounds or so and dehydrated them. Great spirit works in mysterious ways.. The grapes and the shroomies just showed up this year, right after losing a big bit of crops.http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[dilligaf]

:D

[dilligaf]

:)

[dilligaf]

heres some pics of today harvest.. All this was picked today and there were actually 10 of the cantaloupe and two of the thai round that i had already processed and stored... The beans is a mix of all the dry, peas n beans we grow. I just harvest, throw on racks to dry and then when it riant or cool days come fall i sort thru them all. The mater s shown will ikely be the only tomatoes i will be canning this year due to our mishap http://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/xeye.gif.. Will be bringing a couple tomatoes in to the loft area greenhouse winter grow this year


my newest plantings are all up again and looking cute. The peas out front are bout 8 inches and things are finally really beginning to produce faster so will begin canning more in earnest tomorrow.

Since we will not have any blackberries or peaches of our own this year , i am going to be making some melon jams and preserves and see what they turn out like. Should be interestinghttp://www.survivalistboards.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

n the bed in the gh is mint, buckwheat and black eye peas, just seeds i have thrown in when i had a few extras this summer to see what grew..

[dilligaf]

:)

[dilligaf]

:p

[dilligaf]

:toetap05:

[pita225]

good god mother poor monkey has no room to move in her hut with all those babies