Dreaming of Spring Gardening in the Middle of a Wisconsin winter part 2

[wyoDreamer]

I tried to root mulberry twigs that way but none of them rooted. They did bud out and are starting to grow leaves, but no roots. I am going to trim the ends off and dip them in rooting compound to see if that helps them to root.

 

[jvls1942]

Wyo, I air grafter two branches of my mulberry tree. they both took.
when you prepare your cuttings, take a knife and gently expose about an inch of cambium about 1/8" wide at the bottom of the cuttings. I just did about a dozen apples. I don't expect any success. They were not very good samples.
I am going to try some cherry cuttings.
I bought two nice zone 3 to 5 pear trees from F&F. In pots.
Unfortunately my tree planting has been halted. Yesterday the valve stem broke off of one of the rear tractor tires. I have no idea how that happened. I didn't drive through any brush or anything..
I am waiting for 8AM to roll around so I can call the fixit guy.
......jiminwisc.......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Valve stems do corrode, so maybe it was old and just had enough? I hope it a cheap fix.

We may attempt to plant our sweet corn today. It depends if the rain holds off. I don't think we got much but a spit and dribble for rain so far.

 

[jvls1942]

so, how did the corn planting go ? I haven't even plowed the garden yet.
Tomorrow the fixit guy is supposed to come and fix the flat tire on the tractor.
I hope he shows up,, and then shows up early..
today DD gave me sixteen nice strawberry plants.. she also gave me ten very tiny assorted tomato plants.. I think I might go to a nursery and buy some larger plants. I will stick these small ones in pots and see what becomes of them.
.......jiminwisc......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

We got our sweet corn and pumpkins planted. We put up snow fence around the plot to keep the chickens out. We than planted some wildlife corn, as well as some other things like oats, sunflower seeds and some field mix on the backside of the plot so the critters have something to eat besides my corn. Maybe I will remember to get a picture tomorrow.

We bought one of those big tillers that goes on the back of a tractor last year. It breaks up the soil better after we plow and disc it. We were able to use our little push corn planter easier this year.

I regret not starting a few flowers this spring. I thought buying them would be easier, but I'm finding it annoying to have to find what I need. Next year I will start a flat or two again.

 

[jvls1942]

I don't have a plow, I just drag the garden with the 3point spring tooth drag a couple of times. that works very well since the garden has no sod. then I like to rototill it . I agree, it makes pushing the corn seeder much easier.
.........jiminwisc.......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

This was a new area we started last year. We didn't usually grow corn, but decided to try it last year. My husband like to do a bit of field work. We used to be dairy farmers, and apparently he misses parts of it. We have a little 2 bottom plow, so it's nothing impressive.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I bet your little 2 bottom plow is bigger than my tiny single plow, lol.

You can take the man off the farm, but you can't take the farm out of the man.

We have a friend that grew up on a pig farm and now lives in the city. He finally bought a 5 acre plot of land about 1 1/2 hours from his house to "play" on. He plants corn for the deer, all the tomatoes that he has no room for on his city lot and miscellaneous other crops for wildlife and home use.

 

[jvls1942]

Your one bottom plow is bigger than my no plow .
there is a small town called Spencer, Wisc
Just a root beer stand and a feed mill. I estimate that half the people there are retired farmers. When I worked for the phone company I drove all the alleys . there was a tractor at about every other house.. Nobody needs a 55HP tractor on a 60x120 ft lot.
today the fixit guy didn't show up to fix my tire. I waited until 2PM and called. He asked me if it was real important ? welll
YEAH ! I told him I waited all winter so I could use the tractor now. He said he would come first thing in the morning.
I am not holding my breath.
Today I transplanted all the tiny tiny tomatoes into one gallon pots. the two beef steaks do not have true leaves yet.
can we say, "tiny" boys and girls ?
......jiminwisc......

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Spencer used to have an ice cream place attached to the grocery store. I remember getting giant cones from there before giant cones were a thing.