You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha Doin' - 2016.1
Amazing, Peggy! Good luck! We used to do some veggies, specially tomatoes. Once we get 50-60 tomatoes from 4 plants. But the last two summers the bunnies the everything but squash and green pepper. Not sure if I'm doing it again this year...
And that reminds me, "tomato" is another word with so many pronunciations...
Thanks everyone! It's a very basic and simple book but I learned so many things! Really basic stuff but things I wouldn't have realized myself. Even though they make a lot of sense. The garden is now in the sunniest spot in the garden (which is not the most convenient spot) and I also read about the garden facing the south and then sow the seeds for small veggies in the front and larger ones in the back, so that the larger plants won't cast shadows all over the small ones. Sandra, sounds like you were very successful! I would be so excited if I get that much from my plants. I also have sugar snaps and will sow green beans later, but I'm a bit worried that I might end up with 5 of each and can't even make a proper meal out of it.
I hope it goes well, I doubt I will give it a go next year if nothing grows or all gets eaten by birds and snails and bugs.
I've abandoned my boxed garden. I didn't do enough research when I plopped the whole thing down. Now it's a pain to move it. It was full of weeds last year and probably will be again this year. Plus I had to battle with the deer and little critters as we never put any type of barrier up against them. I would like to grow something there so I'll start thinking about just making it a shade garden of some kind. I battle deer here like crazy. They eat everything even if it's supposed to be deer-resistant. It's annoying.
You have deer in your garden? That is so cool! I would give up my little garden if I woke up to a view of deer (obviously we don't have that here so it sounds exciting, but I'm sure I would be talking differently if I had my garden ruined by them ;-)). I'm already torn about snails! They're so cute and I like them and I would love to see them crawling around in my garden, but they will not go nicely together with my lettuce... I can imagine it's a pain to move the boxed garden to another place.. It sounds like a really nice idea to plant things there that can handle shade and are of no interest to deer and other critters :)
Now I'm thinking: is your garden so openly accessible that deer just can walk in? No fences or anything?
Nice garden, Peggy! I still haven't done mine, I also have two squared vegetable gardens, I'll do that next week. And you have flowers in it too? That is cool!I began my little garden last year and I was overwhelmed by all the vegetables I got!
Again the book told me to do so ;-) Apparently you can eat the petals of this one, and it also attracts useful insects and keeps the bad ones away. I would love to see pictures of your garden if you have them!
Gardens are their own challenge. Last year we laid landscape fabric between all the rows so weeds couldnt grow. Month later it was 6 inches of geound on top of weeds. Ripped that up laid down a kind of cardboad paper water can filter through but not sun shine so surely there would be no weeds. Then we got some ridiculous 12 inches of rain in the month of june which just disintegrated the paper. Gave up and went and bought a cultivator head for trimmer. Worked good but all the rain in june flooded and killed 2/3 of the garden anyway. Had a monster tomatoe crop but of course halfway into harvest northern blight got to them and so much for that. Zuccini the thing that always grows gave us like 3 zuccini. Again blame the rain. Sweet corn goes on end of cow corn field. Raccoons destroyed it. Told neighbor we'd have to eat theirs when it was ready. Raccoons destroyed theirs too. Between the two of us we shoukd oroduce probably 400 dozen ears of corn. I got 2 dozen they got maybe 15. 400 might even be low I don't know but it was about $200 to plant all that sweet corn
This will be an ibteresting crop year for me as I am thinking of transitioning to organic dairy. Takes 3 years to get the land certified. Well 3 years after your last use of chemicals and fertilizers so some land needs the full 3 years some 2 some 1 year. Then once your crops are certified you begin a 1 year transiion on the cows. I'm researching endlessly since I have to relearn how to farm again. Scary journey but I think we can be more orofitable in the end after all its all about the dollars and cents for me I'm trying to make a living here. At best I'd say October 2019 I could ship my first organic milk. If I haven't given up by then. I have relatives who are organic so its not like I don't know people to consult.
Travis, I love that you are doing that transition! I'm a huge organice supporter and it's growing more popular from what I can tell. I hope it works out well for you guys. I think you are on the cusp of this thing and will probably do really well once it gets going. Good luck!!
Sounds like a great idea, Travis. Finger crossed for you!
Peggy wrote: "Sandra, sounds like you were very successful!"That was a huge success, but we are not usually that lucky. We had many failures too. Carrots, for example. We got like 3 or 4, and they were like pencils. :)
And the butternut squash was a totally unexpected surprise. I cut a squash when cooking soup and the seeds inside already had little roots, so I made 7 plants in pots with them. 5 plants survived so I planted them in the soil. By that time all the space was took by other veggies, so I plant them in corners, and other not really appropriate places. The thing is that they grew immensely, and we got 14 squash, and really tasty ones. That was enough for all our winter soups. (They can be conserved for a long, long time)
We don't do it in boxes. We have a corner in the backyard, around 2x3 meters, that we use for veggies. It's a lot of work, but I do it mostly for the kids since I think it is a great experience. When they grow up it's ok if they want to do it by themselves, but I'm off. If none of them is interested, then I'm gonna do a tulip garden there. Well, I'll have my tulip garden at some point anyways, because at some moment all of them will move away (hopefully).
Thanks. Its a lot of work. Even harder living where I live. If I drove 4 hours south to Pennsylvania even it is so much easier. On the crop side you can do almost a full no till program letting the cover crops give your fertikizer and suppress weeds. We can here but not to the same level as our growing season is too short. I'm trying to learn about cover crop no till with single cultivation. The alternative is work the fields 2-3 times, plant, use a light tillage twice after planting then 2 cultivations after emergence. Thats 8 times over evwry corn field. Like I say in Pennsylvania they can plant a thick cover crop then mount a roller/crimper to tractor and roll and plant at same time, do no cultivation then harvest. Once over the field. Using a variety of cover crops the roller crimps the stalk breaking it and killing it leaving a thick mass of straw that weeds cannot grow though. In my area we just don't have the season so trial and error will learn us what we have to do on our land. My cousin just takes the 8 passes a year. I guess I don't want to soend that many hours driving over the same ground I orefer to focus on the cows. Right now for this year the big project is building fence. I only have fence for my heifers currently. I also have to find a cultivator which you can really only find in abundance in Kansas and Missouri.Of course its more work though since organic pay pruce right now is a little over double conventional and organic grain costs so much to buy you really have to work hard on your crop program to buy as little grain as possible. Its like comparing apples and oranges. Yeah milk is milk just like they are both fruits but after that there are plenty of differences
Travis, exciting, inspiring, good luck. I hope you have time to keep posting about it, YLTO will enhoy hearing or do you have a separate blog somewhere?
Not a blogger. But that is why I have been disaopearing from ylto and why my reading is a bit low this year. Just trying to learn stuff.
Actually I've only been around so much lately because my dad is in Hawaii on vacation so all the work load is on me and I have to take a break here and there through the day. I ate lunch lije 4 times yesterday lol
That's so cool! The octopus is lucky that the drain pipe ended in the ocean, and not some other place..
Peggy wrote: "The octopus is lucky that the drain pipe ended in the ocean, and not some other place.."I know! I was thinking the same thing!
Peggy wrote: "You have deer in your garden? That is so cool! I would give up my little garden if I woke up to a view of deer (obviously we don't have that here so it sounds exciting, but I'm sure I would be talk..."We have a herd that walks through my yard almost everyday. Sometimes it feels like I live on a safari. ;) I'll get a picture of them one of these days and let you see them.
Good luck to all of you gardeners! My parents plant a big garden every year, mostly tomatoes and yellow squash, then some purple hulled peas, corn, peppers, cucumbers, etc. My mother can grow anything. I, on the otherhand, do not have that trait. I tend to kill plants, so anytime I ever think of putting in a small garden, I quickly remind myself it is futile. I did try planting some loose leaf lettuce in a raised flower bed last year, but the snails and slugs ate it all. There is a long flowerbed along the front of my house, and with the exception of one shrub I planted a couple of years ago, everything I've ever put in it has died. My mom brought me some giant blooming hibiscus shrubs from her flower garden yesterday. I really hope I can keep them alive through the summer because they are so beautiful. Once they are established, you don't have to do much for them, and that is the kind of plants I need! LOL
So it just happens the individuals i speak of are huge Trump supporters. They make no less than 5 facebook posts daily regarding Trump. They also believe themselves to be the best Christians. Still its always kick out the Mexicans and make them pay for the wall we are gonna build. Don't let Muslims in they are all terrorists. And so on. Every day. So today first post is about building the wall and kivking out Mexicans because theu commit x amount of crimes oer year. You have heard the argument. I'm sure you have also noticed Trump never gives the crime rate of blacks or whites just mexicans which at 800,000+ is probably a tiny percentage in a high crime country like the US. Anyway after this post they post how its wrong for the church to discriminate about gay people. I had a stfu moment and bit my tongue. Discrimination is discrimination you can't hate muslims and mexicans and exoect anyone to care that youre ok with gays. Hate is hate. Its only too bad these individuals are so blind to their own ignorance and bigotry
All thesr political games I got fed up and exactly switched to the libertarian party about 3 weeks ago the rep and dem can have their childish antics I'm done
I may be young... But it is pretty bad that I realize this stuff also!!! Im done with it all <_>
Travis and Kristen, I sympathize but be sure you stay informed and VOTE, otherwise the ignorant and the hate-filled and the corrupt win. Your congressional reps are particularly important.Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.… (W. Churchill quoting an unnamed professor, 11/11/1947 House of Commons)
Churchill By Himself
I was going to use ignoramus but I don't know how to make it plural, so I rewrote the sentence.
I just can't vote in primaries niw. I can vote in general elections. We actually have some local representatives that understand agriculture which is inportant to me obviously . for president though I'll be checking Gary Johnson
This was made by my 5 years old son today. I'm still laughing at how he found "exit". :)
Haha Sandra! It's great how kids think outside the box :)
Exactly! When do we loose that?
Lol, Sandra! You have got to admire his logic!
Love the planters Peggy. And the competition you have going. I'm rooting (no pun intended) for you!
Lisa wrote: "Cherie wrote: "I'm going home. I am getting a headache reading and trying to figure out what is going back and forth. Rain, rain, and more rain, here. I got my front yard 1/2 mowed on Sunday but th..."Thanks, Lisa. I felt much better after I went home and took a nap. I think the headache was from eye strain, although it had been a long day maybe it was brain strain too. I think my right eye has changed a lot and my left one is trying to make up for the differences. I am at a computer reading email and working on bill of materials all day. I have my laptop monitor with a 2nd monitor set-up and I am moving back and forth between them. I really need to go have a check up and get a new pair of glasses.
I have been putting it off because I have to find a new eye care provider. My company changed the vision plans two years ago and dropped the coverage from the provider that I have been going to for the last 30 years.
Very nice Peggy. Your beds look lovely! I loved Mel Bartholomew's books. I think I have read them all. This is the newest, I think.All New Square Foot Gardening. I used his methods off and on for years. Over time, I think I have tried everything. I am looking into hay bale gardening, but just reading about it. My back yard is a big weed bed right now but I have raised beds out there - somewhere. Don't be surprised to see the soil level in your beds settle over time, but you will not have to worry about the weeds growing up through them, since they are on the brick patio. (My beds are on the soil - that was once weed free. Your pictures are great!
Cherie you will want to use straw not hay. Basically the idea is the same as I was talking earlier about rolling cover crops to get a thick straw mat that weeds can't get through because you are blocking sunlight on the earth theough a thick biomass buffer. It's mulching plain and sinple and the idea is the same if you mulch around a tree and use 1 inch of mulch it looks good for a week then the weeds break through. If you put 12 inches thick of mulch around the tree you wont get weeds. So with the straw bale garden rather than spread the straw out over a large area and then scratch your head wondering if you used enough. Someone said screw that lets look at a straw bale as a pot or container. And it works. It will retain moisture and unless there are weeds in the straw bale you aren't getting weeds which straw shoukd be quite clean because combines don't like weeds and plug up so any one growing a grain and baling the straw they are going to try to keep those weeds out. Weeds will devalue the straw and can take away nutrients from the grain olant reducing yield and possibly even reducing test weight which all loses money so most small grain farmers are gonna have a quite clean field which is why you shouldn't get weeds from the bale. On my winter wheat as soon as the snow melts we spray 70 lbs of Nitrogen about 30 days later we go in and put another 30 lbs Nitrogen on. Oncw the wheat gets to about ready to head we go in with a herbicide and a fungicide. The fungicide is super inportant because a mycotoxin in the plant can have your grain rejected and sent back home. Some people wait about 2 more weeks and spray a second fungicide. I haven't done that method but even after all our spraying last year weeds still started in after all the june rain so once the wheat was fully headed and grain moisture was about 10% higher than target for harvest we sprayed it all with roundup killing the whole field which makes the weeds now wither to ground and causes no harm to the wheat since the wheat is akready dieing off in dry down. This is of course how to grow conventional non organic wheat. We got a good grain yield and the wheat straw is beautiful and dust free
And I admit Especially after that last long post I feel a bit guilty we have done so much garden talk today without using Stephanies specific gardening thread she set up
I had no idea there was a gardening thread! Sorry!Thanks for the advice Cherie :) I never heard of Mel Bartholomew until recently, I'm using the Dutch version of it, but it's based on his ideas and he has given permission for it.
Snails - get a tupperware container and fill it with beer. Snails love beer, they get in it to drink it and drown. But do so full of beer! Then I give the marinated snails to the chickens ;)
Thanks Rus! I feel a bit sad killing them though, especially with no higher purpose like feeding them to chickens. My colleague is getting chickens though, maybe I can save them up for her ;-) I also read about this garlic spray you can make and spray over your plants, and that should keep them away too. I'll try picking them up and putting them outside my garden first, and then the spray, and if that doesn't work I'll resort to the beer.
Good luck with the switch to organic Travis. There has been a lot of discussion over here about it, and it sounds like it's a lot of work to switch, but once you're there not as much. Also, as you say, it's about what money you can make in the end, and as you have mentioned the traditional dairy market isn't as profitable for you any more. Really hope it works.I actually thought of you a bit while on holidays. We were on a wine tour in Sonoma, and the other group with us was a Mum, daughter and daughter in law from Georgia. Daughter in Law was a principal, but they obviously have some sort of land and farm, as her first question to every winemaker she met was "So, what sort of tractor do you have?". The first winemaker stopped talking to her after he said some flash model and she then called him "fancy-boy" for the rest of our time there. We were in hysterics.
I'm with Joan. Be as disillusioned as you like, but make sure you vote. If you don't vote, you can't complain ;)Seriously though, engaging in the political process is the only way to change it. I would be so interested in what your election outcomes would be if you were like us and you had to vote, it was on a weekend, if you were working you had to be allowed to get to a polling booth, etc.
Also, think of us poor people who have to live with your country's decisions and can't vote!
I prefer the beer option to chemicals. And really, being killed by beer isn't a terrible way to go.Not sure what your snail and slug situation is like over there, but good luck with picking them off ;) I'd have to sit full time in my garden and not sleep to win that game.
Good luck with it all though. Gardening is fun, and challenging, and a good work out, and tastes delicious. This is what I was pulling out of the garden each night in the couple of weeks before we left:
My next garden challenge (besides revamping the whole veggie patch as the housesitters didn't water anything, and the fence fell down while I was away and the girls think they have found utopia) is set up the beehive and start learning about bees and honey!!
That looks delicious! And so colourful! You had a lot of tomatoes for breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacking I guess ;-)I'm also going to avoid chemicals. The spray is just water, garlic, cayenne pepper, onion, and green soap. I haven't seen any snail in our garden yet, but there isn't much to eat at the moment anyway. I would be so suprised if there are dozens in it within a few weeks!
How do snails detect that there's food somewhere anyway? I can imagine them wandering across it and staying, but they don't have such a good smell or sight to discover it from far away, do they?
When I grew vegetables I struggled with pigeons eating the tops of the shoots off, particularly on beetroot and radishes so we ended up putting a net over the top. Those tomatoes look lush!
I've had a crazy week. So busy. I've had plenty of work on which is good although I ended up being off sick on Tuesday with a migraine. I've been to 2 boaters' action groups to discuss various different things, followed by a boater's sing along at the pub which was great fun. I've had some late nights and early mornings and because we stayed out late one night we were caught out by the temperature (and we didn't make a fire before we went out) so the boat was only 10C. That was a chilly night! I had last night home which was amazing. Tonight is yoga, tomorrow I'm off to my parents then we're down to London for the demonstration. Sunday I am going to do nothing. Perhaps I might be able to get a book read for the toppler?! I say I'm going to do nothing but I bet I will end up doing something.
I admit I've never thought about how snails are moved to food.Politically Rusalka I velieve the battle is to get a third party which is why I joined a third party. And the high profile candidates are putting on such a show that third party nominees are actually making huge strides. Not enough to win but enough where continued support really could eventually bring a third main party in the future.
Trump campaign riling up supporters about the GOP delegates amd now they are receiving death threats with Trump campaign saying if he gets denied the nomination they will release names and addresses of the delegates knowing violence will result. Its scary
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Change How You See, See How You Change (other topics)Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free (other topics)
Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors (other topics)
The Zahir (other topics)
The Zahir (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Daniel O'Malley (other topics)Daniel O'Malley (other topics)
Tara Moss (other topics)
Jasper Fforde (other topics)
William Faulkner (other topics)
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Sarah, I did forget to say how amazed I am at how you guys are able to pick up and move every couple of weeks. Exactly what Cherie said, all that stuff that goes along with moving and finding new ways to do everything (going to work, stores, etc) every 2 weeks. It sounds like an exciting lifestyle though! I am such a creature of habit, although I'd love to be a bit more spontaneous, so it's hard for me to imagine. It would feel more like a vacation...at least at first. I think if you homeschool the kids it's a really fun way to live but I can't imagine having to find a new way for the kids to get to school all the time. I guess it's like anything else though, you get used to it.
I hope all this publicity helps you guys out! Good luck! :)