((Serious Gardening))

[feather and mountain man]

Quote:
Got to love those chickens. They only see what they want at that moment.




Well I am disabled and can no longer work at a job do to epilepsy and a rare fainting disorder. So I make a living gardening. We raise enough to eat year round and to sell at the farmers market to supplement our income. Plus what ever is left of the berries is then frozen and made into pies for the bake sales for our church. So our garden and our chicken play a very important role in our lives. We are only a few years into this venture and still learning. So we don't have a lot of fancy equipment. We have one tractor with disk, mower, and blades, one tiller, one rider lawn mower with wagon, and the rest of our tools are mostly hand and power tools. We work hard and we survive. We are a close family and know we can depend on each other.

My disabilities interfier with my work often and I have to be careful but usually if I faint working at home and don't get hurt on the way down I am ok afterwards and can continue working. If I have a seizure I will usually be tired and have problems the rest of the day. So those days my family picks up the slack. I don't have that support or that convience with any other job.

Gardening is a wonderful way to spend my time. We would like to expand and have more animals to raise for food but we need to build fences and barns for that so find time and money for it is just a matter of time. So now you know a lil about me and my garden tell me about you and yours.

 

[StupidBird]

Dear cornfed: I'm leaning in the same direction - health problems restrictive, who'll hire someone who, if getting a whiff of the wrong thing, passes out in anaphylactic shock? Or misses days at a time for fibro flares, etc, etc, etc.? So it looks like I'm doing the same, just not as advanced. Still working on growing enough to supplement our own. I'm sensitive to so many things, growing it myself is more trustworthy.

 

[StupidBird]

oh, hi everyone! It's been a very warm 85F day here in Atlanta area. Whew! The little chickies were panting today. I've relaid another section of the drip irrigation system for the season. It'll be topped by a heavy hay mulch after testing when complete. This has saved me tons of work. It's not on a timer, but hope to someday.
DH spent the day putting gravel around the new coop over the hardware cloth. Got the truck stuck. Painted the second coat on the trim, and now some chickens are sporting white smears. Had grilled chicken (from store) sweet potatoes and garlic greens (from garden) for dinner.

I am trying the "whizbang" squash planting method, using a remay tunnel, to try getting some winter squash past the bugs. I've read compainion planting nasturtiums, radish to deter squash / stink bugs. Any proofs out there?

 

[Smittenroade]

Quote:
That sounds great, it was around 90 here today. What kind of drip irrigation is it? Just connected to your hose?

 

[Junkmanme]

The radishes planted near your squash plants will serve as a decoy. The "bugs" will devour the radish tops.....hopefully leaving your squash alone....at least until the radishes are gone.

 

[galanie]

I completely gave up trying to control squash bugs. I am just resigned to the fact that they will get squash bugs so on the vining types, I bury a bit of vine here and there and they root and outgrow the squash bugs. But even on the non-vining ones, at least I get squash before they die of squash bug so I still plant them if I want some, bugs or not.

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
A lot of people do not realize that you can not grow many type of squashes in the deep south to maturity, at least not organically. There are two winter squashes that are squash bug resistant that I do grow, and that is Green Strip Cashaw, and certain strains of Butternut.

I am working on trying to breed a variety of summer squash that will survive to maturity (seed saving age) organically here in my area. last year I had one plant that actually survived. I'm going to plant those seeds this year. Hopefully I stumbled on something. It's hit or miss though. Oh well.

 

[Kassaundra]

It won't help you get squash for yourself, but if you plant a patch of squash knowing it will attract every squash bug in a 1 mile radius, then when you get the plants full of bugs turn your chickens loose on it they will have a feast and I'm wondering if you do that a few seasons if they will irradicate the problem, if they eat all the bugs before they can lay eggs? Don't know if that would work, just a thought popping into a sleep deprived head!

 

[StupidBird]

today I came home to a bull in the backyard across the street. in a subdivision. it's over 85F and i think i'm having hallucinations. DH tells me its real.

 

[feather and mountain man]

It stormed all morning Saturday and we got nothing done in the garden. Saturday night we had dinner plans at a friends. Sunday church and the lords day we don't work. We rest and only due what is necessary. So Monday kids at school Mom gets to work her butt off by herself as usually!

Oh well

Tomorrows agenda plant sunflower seeds, shovel and haul and unload wagon full of compost, plant tomatoe plants, lettuce, cabbage, mint, peas, clover grass for the compost bin. Yea Haaa

StupidBird
Dear cornfed: I'm leaning in the same direction - health problems restrictive, who'll hire someone who, if getting a whiff of the wrong thing, passes out in anaphylactic shock? Or misses days at a time for fibro flares, etc, etc, etc.? So it looks like I'm doing the same, just not as advanced. Still working on growing enough to supplement our own. I'm sensitive to so many things, growing it myself is more trustworthy.

It happens and for me it just got worse over the years. It didn't just happen over night it just got to the point I couldn't keep pretending nothing was wrong anymore. I make the best of the good days I get. Today was not a good day for me and neither was yesterday. So I am crossing my fingers for tomorrow.​