Homesteaders

[KlopKlop]

Don't plant Cedar :/ Our windbreaks were planted back in the 70s with cedar trees. They are wonderful and beneficial, but reproduce like weeds. We now spend a great amount of time and money getting rid of the volunteer cedar trees

Wouldn't that also risk introducing cedar rust to my fruit trees? I don't know much about that, just grasping at straws

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Wouldn't that also risk introducing cedar rust to my fruit trees? I don't know much about that, just grasping at straws

I don't about that, we haven't had that problem, just trees that act like weeds.

 

[duluthralphie]

Wouldn't that also risk introducing cedar rust to my fruit trees? I don't know much about that, just grasping at straws

I would not plant a Cedar either for the Cedar rust, We seem to have a lot of it here in Minnesota. I think the wild Junipers harbor much of it. I have almost lost all my fruit trees to it.

 

[Fuzzy Moto]

I would think that Cedar Trees would be a benefit for using non-rotting posts for fencing in livestock. Am I missing something besides the cedar rust?

 

[RustedOak]

I watched a YouTube video of ducks cleaning up potato bugs from a guys huge potato garden and they whole heartedly did the job but trampled most of the plants Along the way. Maybe they recovered??

They do have big clumsy feet so, yes they will smash young, tender plants. I temporarily fence my young plants with chicken wire until they get a little larger. They do nip at my greens from time to time but not enough to warrant kicking them out. I'll take a few duck nibbles over snails and squash bugs any day.

 

[duluthralphie]

I would think that Cedar Trees would be a benefit for using non-rotting posts for fencing in livestock. Am I missing something besides the cedar rust?

They would make great fence posts almost as good as Tamarack, as long as the cedar logs grow over a mile from my fruit trees.

 

[Loc20chick]

I actually do to, and I like the antics and the way they drive bugs out of the grass, they are fun to watch. And NO one sneaks into the yard with them out there.

I personally wouldn't mind the noise but our street is a quiet one with only my roosters crows.

My neighbor has been "spilling" sunflower seeds at her bird feeder - just for my guinea hens to come over and eat. They really enjoy having the birds come over and visit. Personally, I would rather not have them cross the road, but they sure like sunflower seeds and all the bugs in the farm-field. There is a stop sign at the corner, so at least the traffic is not going by that fast that vehicles won't stop for a couple of birds.
I have gotten used to the guinea noise. Eventually, you learn to ignore most of it and only react to the alarm calls.

When I get a chance, I will post my garden plan.

One of the farther neighbors used to do that for my ducks when I had them, one time DH was fencing the garden to try and keep the ducks off and a neighbor came to tell him not to fence the ducks off their property because they enjoy them and don't mind and also that the next neighbor feeds them at his bird feeder.

 

[KlopKlop]

I have a garden plan in progress i will share tomorrow, it is on my work laptop. i have it mapped out in a scale drawing in excel and that works really well

So this is my garden plant plan. The whole garden is 150' x 45' but we have found that is just too much garden for us. This year we will be doing half of it as garden, the other half will be cover cropped and have broilers on it this year. Next year we will flip flop sides. The soil will heavily benefit from this as it is pretty poor. We are also talking about planting our bare root trees from the SWCD in the chicken half in rows to start them and make it easy to water them and transplant them in a year or two. We would put a loop of fence around them if we do to protect them from the birds. this would impact our flip flop plan of course for at least one year.

 

[rancher hicks]

Klopklop, i didn't quote you but that's a nice design and a large garden. I hope you don't mind if I recommend two more compost piles. That way as one is just finishing cooking the others are cooking for the next year. I have two and empty one each year, while filling up the other. I intend to set up another. Mine are made with pallets. The chickens like to get in and glean whatever they can find.

How did you design your garden. What program did you use? I've just drawn mine out on graph paper but would like to do it on the computer. That way I could have it mapped out each year since I use raised beds.

I've done one of mine on graph paper but not the other since it's being redone to replace the rotted beds. They were the orginals and lasted about 7 years so I don't think they were that bad.

I ordered the seeds I'd mentioned from Annie's Heirloom and they are here already. That was pretty quick.

As you've seen I surrounded my garden with poultry wire and rustic fencing. Squirrels have been a problem and voles. I'll be fighting them next year again. With no cats I expect it's a problem.

We finally got snow and I'm exhausted from snowblowing. I still have more to do, though I've done it once already. I had to restaple plastic because we had some windy days and it got blown off. There is still more to put up but with the cold my fingers hurt. Even with gloves. They're frost bit from my days as a letter carrier, so when it's cold they get painful.

I've been looking at an Heirloom magazine I hung onto and it's got some tips on potato towers. I may try them this year. I haven't ordered my seeds yet though. I have to do more research.

Is there a particular place folks like to order seeds from?

I'll be setting up inside for starting my seedlings. DW is not happy about it but our front livingroom window gets the longest amount of sun.

 

[KlopKlop]

Klopklop, i didn't quote you but that's a nice design and a large garden.  I hope you don't mind if I recommend two more compost piles.  That way as one is just finishing cooking the others are cooking for the next year.  I have two and empty one each year, while filling up the other.  I intend to set up another. Mine are made with pallets. The chickens like to get in and glean whatever they can find. 

How did you design your garden. What program did you use?  I've just drawn mine out on graph paper but would like to do it on the computer. That way I could  have it mapped out each year since I use raised beds. 

I've done one of mine on graph paper but not the other since it's being redone to replace the rotted beds. They were the orginals and lasted about 7 years so I don't think they were that bad. 

I ordered the seeds I'd mentioned from Annie's Heirloom and they are here already. That was pretty quick. 

As you've seen I surrounded my garden with poultry wire and rustic fencing.  Squirrels have been a problem and voles. I'll be fighting them next year again. With no cats I expect it's a problem. 

We finally got snow and I'm exhausted from snowblowing.  I still have more to do, though I've done it once already. I had to restaple plastic because we had some windy days and it got blown off. There is still more to put up but with the cold my fingers hurt.  Even with gloves. They're frost bit from my days as a letter carrier, so when it's cold they get painful.  

I've been looking at an Heirloom magazine I hung onto and it's got some tips on potato towers. I may try them this year. I haven't ordered my seeds yet though. I have to do more research. 

Is there a particular place folks like to order seeds from?   

I'll be setting up inside for starting my seedlings. DW is not happy about it but our front livingroom window gets the longest amount of sun. 

Good point on 2 piles. Right now it is literally a pile, with no containment. And I plan on building pallet walls. I will plan to make 2 sections

The pictures I posted were both drawn in Microsoft excel. You can resize the grid to make the cells square then use it like digital graph paper. I will even print out blank sheets and use it as graph paper on occasion. It is easy to make adjustments and save multiple versions, such as each year's garden plans to go back and review.