Homesteaders

[RichnSteph]

Oregano as a ground cover over six acres. Wow! I'll bet mowing produces some stout aroma.

 

[trsturself]

Any kind of mint is the same way. Takes over everything!

We have a wild sage in our pasture and mowing or even walking on produces the yummiest smells!

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Oregano as a ground cover over six acres. Wow! I'll bet mowing produces some stout aroma.

As I said, it's about 25% of the vegetation, so it *could* be worse! I do try to avoid mowing on hot, dry days - it's not as pungent when it's cool, so I always plan to jump on the mower as soon as the dew has evaporated, but usually end up going out at dusk instead - stronger but at least there's usually a breeze. Yay for headlights

There are actually places where it's used for erosion control, because it's so sturdy & prolific. I've tried to talk a few people into coming out & harvesting some of it to thin it out, but so far nobody's willing to do the work. (they'd be happy to buy transplants or harvested & processed oregano, but I have WAY too much work to do to even consider that)

Mmmm... I like sage a LOT more than oregano!

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

Any kind of mint is the same way. Takes over everything!

We have a wild sage in our pasture and mowing or even walking on produces the yummiest smells!

Mint here is limited to Catnip - got that in spades and a drunkard tomcat that spreads it. I harvested over 40# (fresh weight) of it last year. This year, I invested in a distillation set-up, because... well, catnip essential oil is about $65 an ounce. Much more profitable than dried catnip. Wish there was some pepperint around, but haven't found any yet.

 

[trsturself]

Mint here is limited to Catnip - got that in spades and a drunkard tomcat that spreads it. I harvested over 40# (fresh weight) of it last year. This year, I invested in a distillation set-up, because... well, catnip essential oil is about $65 an ounce. Much more profitable than dried catnip. Wish there was some pepperint around, but haven't found any yet.

The previous owners at our house planted mint in one of the flower beds. It's now spreading to all of the neighboring flower beds.

 

[Raech]

My Grandpa has mint in the creek bottom that had to have come from up the creek, it is now about 4 feet across, chocolate mint that the horses haven't touched in 15 years! I now have 2 spots of oregano in my garden, I had a tiny start I didn't think was going to survive, but it is happy now. My basil and oregano are in 2 pots planted together, I think I might bring both herb boxes inside to see if I can get them to keep growing over the winter with minimum loss from my cats eating them.

 

[trsturself]

My Grandpa has mint in the creek bottom that had to have come from up the creek, it is now about 4 feet across, chocolate mint that the horses haven't touched in 15 years! I now have 2 spots of oregano in my garden, I had a tiny start I didn't think was going to survive, but it is happy now. My basil and oregano are in 2 pots planted together, I think I might bring both herb boxes inside to see if I can get them to keep growing over the winter with minimum loss from my cats eating them.

It's too bad the horses won't eat it, it's a natural worm preventative.

 

[Raech]

It's too bad the horses won't eat it, it's a natural worm preventative.

I am pretty sure they don't eat it, it is right next to where they walk to cross the creek. But they are pretty picky on what they eat, "the grass is always greener" fits my horses to a T. They opened a gate from the super green pasture to go into the gravel and dry grass in the machine lot. They are really weird, I want to get a couple of goats or sheep one of these days to help with the weeds and the grass on the banks since they won't eat it, and they only eat in a path up the hill, but they will strip the walnut, willow, cherry and apple trees with no produce on any of them. Our horses are so low maintenance that it is ridiculous, I am pretty sure we don't worm them, they only see the vet is they are injured, almost put "crazy sunny" down because we thought she twisted a gut and she is over 20 years old. Our horses are yard ornaments, they only look pretty, people think our gelding is dead half the time because he sleeps forever laying in the field, always in the same spot too.

Tonight the youngest grandbabies were throwing rotten apples in the pasture and the gelding was eating them like candy and they screamed and jumped all over the place, he only got his nose wacked twice by my nephew and he learned to stay a little bit farther away from them after that.

 

[Raech]

So I need some ideas, found this nifty pallet box behind a store and brought it home. It isn't super big but it is deep, about knee height. I was thinking about turning it into another garden bed, but I am unsure whether to leave the cardboard bottom in it, or put the black plastic I used in my other raised bed? It doesn't really have solid sides, so I would need something to help keep the dirt in. I plan on adding some of the chicken coop wood as the sides but I don't want it to rot the wood. Any help would be appreciated, I don't know if the wood is heat treated or not either.

 

[GerbilsOnToast]

So I need some ideas, found this nifty pallet box behind a store and brought it home. It isn't super big but it is deep, about knee height. I was thinking about turning it into another garden bed, but I am unsure whether to leave the cardboard bottom in it, or put the black plastic I used in my other raised bed? It doesn't really have solid sides, so I would need something to help keep the dirt in. I plan on adding some of the chicken coop wood as the sides but I don't want it to rot the wood. Any help would be appreciated, I don't know if the wood is heat treated or not either.

I'd line the entire thing with plastic - esp.if you don't know what the wood may have been treated with. If the box is poplar or pine (as many pallet forms are) it will rot pretty quickly from the moisture. Alternately, you could seal the wood with melted beeswax to waterproof it & reduce the chance of anything leaching into your soil.