Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[Searsmom]

His bales have been sitting for several years, should be fine.

Reminds me though of my Grandpa, died back in '93 at 100 yrs old. He used to get yelled at by his kids for patching roofing when he was 98. Mowed twice a week, riding mower, did all upkeep on acre of land in Tampa, picked oranges and grapefruit, even kept the lakeshore clear of water plants for easy access for the grandkids. Oh, and raked his oyster shell driveway at least every other day. Man was a machine! I know I couldn't keep up even at 50.

 

[k9grammy]

These hay bales were for feeding livestock and NO spray on them. We used them for a dog game called Barn Hunt. Last October was our last trial of that, so now we have all the hay bales left over.
There will still be other dog activities going on out in the barn, but they don't need the bales for any of that.

 

[sharron]

Just found this thread and wanted to add my bit. I'm a bit long in the tooth (78) and the old knees and back complain about bending down or crawling around, so this year a garden buddy (wh0's 84) and I are experimenting with Straw Bale gardening, except we are using hay bales. These are OLD bales that have been sitting in the barn for several years. I have some containers I have used in the past and have already planted some things in them because I am impatient about getting started. Fortunatly (I guess) my gardening buddy is VERY methodical. He carefully read the books on the straw bale method and insists we follow it step by step. I'm assuming we'll get to actually plant something out there someday. This fall I plan on turning the chickens out to do clean up and fertilizing for next year when we'll try the deep mulch thing.
Can't figure out how to put in a picture of our bale rows.

welcome, glad you can join us
i've read about the straw gardening but i'm still lucky enough to be able to plant things in the garden with my husbands help, i start some things in the small green house we have and then direct sow the rest, then i rest for a couple of days until the hurting goes away and then plant more, husband does alot of the hoeing
you'll have to keep us posted with pictures on your straw gardening(or hay)

 

[Searsmom]

Does anyone else have their old people crank come out when people talk about planting stuff to overwinter in zone 7? I'm in zone 7, can't plant any of the stuff they say I can because we get weeks of solid below freezing temps and it's not uncommon to dip into the 4's (farenheit) periodically. What act of congress does it take to let us enter the zone we want to plant stuff in, instead of the zone they think we should be.

Ok, rant over

 

[R2elk]

Does anyone else have their old people crank come out when people talk about planting stuff to overwinter in zone 7? I'm in zone 7, can't plant any of the stuff they say I can because we get weeks of solid below freezing temps and it's not uncommon to dip into the 4's (farenheit) periodically. What act of congress does it take to let us enter the zone we want to plant stuff in, instead of the zone they think we should be.

Ok, rant over

The current posted zone system is wrong. I had an email conversation with Arbor Day and even had them admit they were wrong but no one has corrected the zone maps. They list my area as zone 5 but my area is closer to zone 3 and at the best is a very cold zone 4. It is not even close to being a zone 5.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Plant survival in any particular zone can be affected by all kinds of things. Where you plant, how your yard is set up, whether there are buildings to shelter plants, or concrete to heat up, are just a few things.

I generally don't plant stuff here in zone 4 unless it's more hardy than zone 4. Other stuff I can successfully keep in pots and put those pots in a shed to winter over or even my house for things like geraniums and hibiscus.

I am planning on trying to keep some zone 5 strawberry plants again because I really like the berries. I'm okay treating them like an annual as well if necessary. Some will go in pots, and the rest will be munched heavily and we will see.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

What does frustrate me is when zones aren't properly displayed, or trees are grafted. Most of my grafted fruit trees die after a few season. I have given up planting them. It's easier to just buy the fruit these days.

 

[R2elk]

Plant survival in any particular zone can be affected by all kinds of things. Where you plant, how your yard is set up, whether there are buildings to shelter plants, or concrete to heat up, are just a few things.

I generally don't plant stuff here in zone 4 unless it's more hardy than zone 4. Other stuff I can successfully keep in pots and put those pots in a shed to winter over or even my house for things like geraniums and hibiscus.

I am planning on trying to keep some zone 5 strawberry plants again because I really like the berries. I'm okay treating them like an annual as well if necessary. Some will go in pots, and the rest will be munched heavily and we will see.

There are a lot of zone 3 trees and plants that won't grow here because they can't tolerate the alkaline soil and water.

 

[henless]

I'm in zone 8b. Our last freeze is around March 15. Last year we had a freeze on April 15. Monday, April 1st our temps will be down to at least 35. I haven't planted any of my warm season crops yet, but I do have potatoes & asparagus that are up.

Put in brussel sprouts, dino kale, swiss chard and pulled off some curly kale from last years plant to try and get those to grow. Mostly just waiting for the weather to make up it's mind what it wants to do.

 

[microchick]

Our zone shows we are in the 5b-6a region but I've learned that I darn well better think about 5b propagation when it comes to planting because we can have late springs and freezes till late April in spite of what the maps say. Winters can also dip down to the -15 range in temps like it did last winter. It's hard on the perennials that we have planted like our Triple Crown Blackberries. We lost about 3/4s of this years producing canes again due to the brutal winter we had. Third year in a row. DH is going to hook up the brush mower and mow them to the ground and let them regenerate from the roots. We may get enough blackberries for our own use but the vineyard that is nearby that has offered to buy my berry crop is SOL again and so are we.

Not much a body can do about it. Like trying to control the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. You just can't control the weather.