The Old Folks Home

Thanks chickadoodles! What kind of herbs do you grow? My hubby is growing an orchard too. He started it year before last and has been adding fruit trees, figs, and blueberries! I will let you know when I get my website finished. I love to write and take photos. It will be fun to journal my gardening adventure.
Share some photos of your garden with us! I love to see other peoples gardens!
Chicken people are the best!
I had to downsize my garden this year! After I had my stints put in I cannot bend over without passing out. So I had my DH make me a raised bed that comes up to my waist and it is 4x8 box. I only planted half of that because I was not sure what we would have time for this year. I am growing some dill, sage, basil, sweet basil, parsley. I tried to find a pic of our big garden we had a couple of years ago. But I cannot find any. It was 50 ft. x 100 ft. and it took me alot of time to tend it. Last year I tried a small on in the gound but could not do it. So this year here is our new garden


I have my herbs and strawberries in pots on a pallet. And we have wild blackberries everywhere! I don't think I could do a website. I have trouble with face book. lol
 
I had to downsize my garden this year! After I had my stints put in I cannot bend over without passing out. So I had my DH make me a raised bed that comes up to my waist and it is 4x8 box. I only planted half of that because I was not sure what we would have time for this year. I am growing some dill, sage, basil, sweet basil, parsley. I tried to find a pic of our big garden we had a couple of years ago. But I cannot find any. It was 50 ft. x 100 ft. and it took me alot of time to tend it. Last year I tried a small on in the gound but could not do it. So this year here is our new garden


I have my herbs and strawberries in pots on a pallet. And we have wild blackberries everywhere! I don't think I could do a website. I have trouble with face book. lol
Your place looks very nice!
 
oz, that is an amazing variety of birds. I love the peafowl for their colors of course. How do you protect all the chicks from the native predators after leaving the incubator?
 
ants are my biggest killers of young chicks. their bites are ferocious and wiped out my quail except 2, hoping for a pair

i make everything rat proof

only other issue is hungry neighbors. i have free range local chickens they steal at one per week. I am building a new fence
 
I had to downsize my garden this year! After I had my stints put in I cannot bend over without passing out. So I had my DH make me a raised bed that comes up to my waist and it is 4x8 box. I only planted half of that because I was not sure what we would have time for this year. I am growing some dill, sage, basil, sweet basil, parsley. I tried to find a pic of our big garden we had a couple of years ago. But I cannot find any. It was 50 ft. x 100 ft. and it took me alot of time to tend it. Last year I tried a small on in the gound but could not do it. So this year here is our new garden


I have my herbs and strawberries in pots on a pallet. And we have wild blackberries everywhere! I don't think I could do a website. I have trouble with face book. lol

This is a great idea! Looks like it's growing well, too.

ants are my biggest killers of young chicks. their bites are ferocious and wiped out my quail except 2, hoping for a pair i make everything rat proof only other issue is hungry neighbors. i have free range local chickens they steal at one per week. I am building a new fence

They can't grow their own?
 
Thanks SCG it is. I like it! I hope next year to add a couple more!
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It is made out of pallets that my DH got from work and was left over from making the coop. lol
 
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!
Last year we had no luck on our farm with cucumbers or squash of any kind. This year they are going like gang busters. This years tomatoes were late getting in because it just was not warming up. Now with the rain we are seeing some tomato rot but the chickens love it because they get to eat those tomatoes. We do not use any chemicals on our crops because we want to sell naturally grown produce as well as we do not want to harm our flock of 70+ chickens. Sometimes it is a challenge but in the end you may have a failure in a crop one year but we will benefit in the long run. It is good to locate seed varieties that are good for your locale. Check out Southern Exposure Seeds. They specialize in the Southeast climate.
 
Sometimes it is a challenge but in the end you may have a failure in a crop one year but we will benefit in the long run. It is good to locate seed varieties that are good for your locale.

It is for this reason that I try to buy from seed companies in this area (Johnny's Seeds is about 5 miles up the road) and keep records of how things produce up here. I have a spreadsheet for each year of my garden with the type of seed I plant, when/how it was started and transplanted, how it did, when I got a harvest, and how much harvest. I know the weather changes from year to year but I will give up on something if I don't get a good harvest 3 years in a row. I'm pretty good with most of the things that I plant now, although I try something new each year (this year it's garlic - just harvested a few small heads earlier this week). I haven't, however, mastered watermelons. Or giant pumpkins. Just once I want to enter the fair with a 800+ pound pumpkin. I have plenty of fertilizer but last year my plant never set a pumpkin. They all died and fell off the vine before the flower even opened. I'm sure that means something significant, but I don't know what.
 

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