Farm and Garden

[PetroleumJunkie412]

My son's tractors... both still work

Wat is

 

[sgtsandman]

I cut some branches off the variegated beech in the front yard. Some of the branches were in contact with the roof and could damage the shingles if the wind got strong enough. The bigger sections got cut up into firewood and the rest thrown in a pile for future burning.

 

[Uncle Gump]

@RobbieD what do you have in there for ground cover?

I seriously thought about filling my garden back in with the last of the leaves i cleaned up. It would have to help hold moisture... choke out the weeds and even make it less muddy to walk through it when needed.

I know this fall... I'm gonna til it up... blow it full with a thick layer of leaves... just dig and plant next spring.

 

[RobbieD]

what do you have in there for ground cover?

A couple of different "things".

I have a coarse mulch that's made of pine bark, that's a mix of bark from downed pines (easy to collect after the tree's down a while- damn pine beetles) and then supplemented with bagged "pine bark nuggets" from the hardware store. This stuff is general soil covering, away from the plants. It's tough and lasts several seasons. I used it for winter cover, and this year just raked it back out of the way before tilling

Between the rows, and where we'll be walking I laid down some VERY old deck boards. They're about 30 years old so I don't worry about chemicals leaching and they hold up well. With the smaller bed I have, it helps in setting my feet getting into the inner plants and I think it helps to keep from compacting the soil (we have a lot of red clay in the soil in Georgia).

Notice that I like making hills, and work in a saucer area right around the plant or seed. The saucer gets a layer of mushroom compost.

On top of that, and and on the hill itself I put down some light mulch that I'm trying this year, "brown mulch" that I got from the hardware store.

Then to fill in around the walk boards, away from the plant hills, the pine bark is used.

Here you can sort of see the different mulches:

>>> Noticed this morning we have a lot of tiny tomatoes on the plants- YAY! And we have a couple of banana peppers almost big enough to pick.

I had to become a mulchologist from necessity; we're on a well, so I can't water as much as I like. The soil definitely stays moister under the mulch. And it's a hell of a lot easier to stay ahead of the weeds with a nice thick mulch.

Here in the squash bed and you can see the differing mulch textures:

I know this fall... I'm gonna til it up... blow it full with a thick layer of leaves... just dig and plant next spring.

I haven't done that, but have wanted to. This fall I think I'll rake the mulch back into piles for next year, and then pile up fallen leaves in the bulk of the garden bed to overwinter, and then just till them in next spring.

Our "dirt" ain't great, and I have to work on improving the soil from year to year.

How's your garden doing?

 

[Uncle Gump]

My nursery plants all seem to have taken to the new home really well. I give much of that credit to Happy Frog fertilizer I get my plants going with. My dog got into my cantaloupe and damaged it but is making a good comeback.

The potatoes are already popping up in the grow bags... so that's a good sign. I wanna like these grow bags. My limited experience says you need to water frequently... like daily or every other day (in the smallish 3 gai bags). The large surface area of the bag to growing medium really seems to pull the moisture. My herbs did really well... until I slacked up on the watering. They make trays to sit under the bag... they will pool the water and keep the bottom of the bag wet. They will also prevent your plant from rooting through bag into the ground. I ripped two bags just pulling them... they were rooted tight to the garden. They will also compact a bit... a couple light kicks or squeezes loosen it up. But I'm hoping this fall to tip these potato bags over... dump them out... pick the potatoes... refill bags. Seems simple enough...

None of my seeds have popped yet... but any minute... I suspect I will start seeing them.

 

[ericbphoto]

Did some refurbishing today. This small shrubbery bed just had a mix of stones for a ground cover. It didn't look good and ant hills had brought a lot of dirt to the surface. Mom had rooted some kind if ground cover plant for me. So, today, I removed the stones, dug up as much grass and weed root systems as I could, then filled in with some potting soil, planted the ground cover, mulched and watered. Looks a lot better...



Today.

My niece made the flower pot toad stools a few years ago.

 

[sgtsandman]

Did some refurbishing today. This small shrubbery bed just had a mix of stones for a ground cover. It didn't look good and ant hills had brought a lot of dirt to the surface. Mom had rooted some kind if ground cover plant for me. So, today, I removed the stones, dug up as much grass and weed root systems as I could, then filled in with some potting soil, planted the ground cover, mulched and watered. Looks a lot better...



Today.

My niece made the flower pot toad stools a few years ago.
View attachment 93207

 

[RobbieD]

This small shrubbery bed just had a mix of stones for a ground cover.

"It is a good shrubbery."

But, you had better beware The Knights Who Say "Ni!",

 

[ericbphoto]

These days, I'm much more afraid of the knights who say "Dilly dilly."

 

[scotts90ranger]

Decided to just do some cleanup and small projects in the shop tonight but went out the door once and saw a big brown mouse (black tail deer doe... ), kept screwing around, waved at it a few times, it wandered around chewing on stuff, went from the empty field across the street to the hazelnut orchard next to me, to my cherry trees, to by the pump house, back to the apple trees then back across the street... was within 75 yards of the shop for over an hour, looked at me a bunch of times but didn't seem to care... interesting watching it...

 

[2drxploder]

My new to me and free running, driving, and grass cutting zero turn. Needs some work, but due to cost re-sale is almost all profit. A Yazoo max2 61". And a pic of the wheel horse 520h with 26x12x12 tires i got (also free). Stock size is 23x10.5x12. Had to put spacer under seat pan/rear fender

 

[Uncle Gump]

I'm just over 4 weeks in on the garden. Between my dog and me falling asleep one night with the sprinkler going... and the following rain storm... I flooded out most of the seeds (turnips, parsnips and onion). Everything else is booming.

The potato bags are looking good... several tomato plants are 3-4 feet tall... cukes are going crazy and I'll bet I'm picking a couple zucchini next week.

 

[Roert42]

 

[2drxploder]

I know its early, but I'm thinking of over-winteting 2 to 4 of my bell peppers as an experiment. Thoughts? Tried it before? I live in south carolina, they are in containers. Im thinking prune back, refresh potting soil, and move in shop during frost/cooler temps. I have a cheap led grow light I could supplement too. I heard it works better with smaller peppers.

 

[Roert42]

I know its early, but I'm thinking of over-winteting 2 to 4 of my bell peppers as an experiment. Thoughts? Tried it before? I live in south carolina, they are in containers. Im thinking prune back, refresh potting soil, and move in shop during frost/cooler temps. I have a cheap led grow light I could supplement too. I heard it works better with smaller peppers.

I don’t know about peppers, but I’ve seen it done with Tomatoes. Grow light set on a timer so they get enough light each day. The person that did this was very successful, but they were also doing it in their living room so it was warmer.