The Old Folks Home

[Bunnylady]

SCG, enjoy your break! You've earned it.

Momma, I'm envious of your melon vines, too. I don't have anything like that this year because we started the garden too late. Every previous year, right about now the vine borers would take them out, no matter what I'd do to try to stop them. I've learned that I have to go early and late with squash, and buy my melons at the produce stand up the road. Ah, well - the farmer grows some mighty tasty melons!

 

[BunnyMomma]

Hi, Thanks for your kind comments about my garden bale project. I wanted to mention that I also sprayed my vines once a week for the first 3 or 4 weeks with a very light solution of liquid Sevin, about 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons of water. I don't spray them during the blooming period, so that I don't harm the benificial insects. So far I haven't had any problems with borers, etc.
It takes about 4 weeks to get your bales conditioned for planting. If you want to plant some fall crops, now is a good time to set up your bales and get them conditioned. My new sets of bales will be ready around the first of August for planting! I have 2 beds growing now and I just added 3 more beds.
I am planning on adding about 3 or 4 more sets for next spring. It costs about 55.00 to set up 3 sections of bales. By adding welded wire around the bales I can keep using the beds year after year. I will just add a small amount of straw, leaves and dirt to the top of the beds each spring.
Initially it is a bit of a cost, but I will recover that cost in my first harvest. I plan to dehydrate some of my 'lopes. (YUMMY) I will probably sell a few melons, and feed some to the chickens too!
I swear, the price of cauliflower and broccoli at the grocery store will make an old lady faint!

It is so easy to grow! I will say, that I do spray my broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower with a very light solution of liquid Sevin. Otherwise the cabbage worms would eat everything up!
I grew some Savoy cabbage this year for the first time, and it is delicious!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THe little plot I planted in April is thriving. Mostly because I planted it close enough for hoses to reach! lol Kale, simpson lettuce, spinach, chard, radishes first tomatos today!! I love being able to look up recipes on line to use veges in dishes that are not a salad. Will pick all the peas tonight and see if anything is worth keeping or time to pull out and reseed. If I can't find my oldest boy, I just look out into the garden!!

My goal this year is to relearn growing vegies and how to put them up for the winter, or over winter for some. So much to learn-- I'm sure our grandparents knew how to do this. Wish they were here to ask.

 

[Arielle]

Why go anywhere else when you can see it from you own front porch! I had to come in, the smoke was getting to me..
Our neighbors spend moo goo $$'s on this stuff!





Happy 4th everyone!

Awesome!! Thanks for posting Cynthia-- these are gorgeous shots.

 

[Arielle]

Oh wait, oh...good...whew, I did post this on the old folks home...page.

If I ever get a tatoo. . . I know what I'm getting and where it's going!!

 

[Arielle]

SCG-- I envy your learning vaca!! Making cheese!!!

I really do need to trade in a few sheep for goats. SOmeday. YOu need piggies to eat the whey. Or so you feed it to the chickens?

Bunnymomma-- seems like produce is skyrocketing in price. I tried a few new things this year. FIgured what the heck, the worst is I still have to buy frozen. Rabe is in, and broccali is 18 inches high with a small head. Yippeee!!! Iwonder if the worms can't find them because they are shorter than the weeds and grasses that are crowding them!! Need to find the beet. I did put in popsicle sticks to mark eveything, just didn't count on the 2 foot high weeds.

 

[Bunnylady]

I love being able to look up recipes on line to use veges in dishes that are not a salad.

For some reason, this struck me as funny. We love salads here, but it's impossible to grow all of the ingredients at the same time. We can grow some cole crops in the winter; lettuce we can do in the greenhouse at that time. It is too hot to grow lettuce here in the summer - it bolts immediately, and tastes really bitter. Peppers won't set unless the nights are in the 60's (Hubby finally learned that, so he raised the nighttime temp in the greenhouse, and we've been snowed under with peppers this year). We get one good burst of tomatoes at the beginning of the summer, then as the high humidity gets here, most of the tomatoes get fungi that make them rot before they get fully ripe. Cucumbers? Let's see - bean beetles, powdery mildew, vine borers - short season on them, too. Makes me wonder what all the folks with the produce stands must be spraying!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: BT works on many things, and soapy spray. Not saying they arn't spaying, hard to have saleable produce that meets the publics demand for perfection. My lettuce is tall, and slightly bitter. I will use it not insalads but as bitter greens or in a saute if the kids won't eat it in a sandwhich or salad. My spinach bolted long ago, but I can pick tiny leaves among the seed heads. Honestly I haven't had a garden in years so maybe the bugs just haven't found me yet. Shhhhh . . ..

Oh, we use recipes to fit what is available. Initially it was only simpson lettuce and radishes. For weeks.

hmmm-- would the fungii tomatos benefit from more air movement? Fewer plants in the same space, or heavy trim of the foliage to promote air movement? Wonder if the dish soap solution would work?

 

[Arielle]

SCG-- please find out if you would, if chicken fat can be used in the soap making process. Maybe the focus will be using goats milk . . . . would love to make my own soap for basic uses and give the kids a science lesson at the same time.

 

[drumstick diva]

BunnyMomma I love your straw bale raised garden beds, I wonder tho if the seeds might work their way too deep down in the straw to germinate. Or do you only sow large seeded plants?

Do you think it would also work if you set actual plants in the straw??