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Cynthia what great fireworks photos - you must have quite a camera to catch that so clearly. I am very impressed, and must admit I love fireworks better this way - no ^%^*% noise all night long.
 
Cynthia what great fireworks photos - you must have quite a camera to catch that so clearly. I am very impressed, and must admit I love fireworks better this way - no ^%^*% noise all night long.
I'm with you!! I hate the endless noise. FOrtunately the horses have gotten used to the BOOOMs. Every town around use has fireworks. Our econmomy can't be that bad if there is money for fireworks!!

Will go to a small display Sat night if the info I have is correct.
 
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!
Hi Bunnylady! I agree totally that it is impossible to grow everything at the same time. You are in Wilmington and I am west of you in the middle of the state. I have been trying to grow things that are really easy and that are heat tolerant. Here are some ideas for planning your beds that you might like to try. First I have to say that straw bales are the way to go! You won't have to deal with weeds and other problems that are associated with growing things in the ground. I have a small garden plot about 20 x 20 that used to be one of my chicken lots years ago. The soil in that garden is really rich and I put a few inches of my oak leaves in there in the fall and let the earthworms do all of the tilling. I plant my tomatoes in there and my cabbage and broccoli. I have to spray the cabbage family veggies with a very light solution of Sevin, or the cabbage maggots would just wreck my broccoli. I have tried soap and other natural methods without success. I figure my uncles and todays farmers use similar or worse thing and I don't spray anything for 2 to 3 weeks before I harvest. I only use it very sparingly!

I plant my tomatoes, melons, and potatoes in the early spring "as soon as the oak leaves are as big as a squirrels ear"! (I learned that from an old timer)
I plant my spinach, onions, garlic, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. in late Feb. here.
Then I plant more of the cold weather crops, like lettuce and spinach in August for a short winter crop.
I wish we could grow lettuce in the summer, but you are so right! It just bolts and gets nasty.
I'm going to dehydrate some of my cantaloupes in the dehydrator for this winter. If you have never tried it you should! It is delicious!
 
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??
Hi, thanks! I planted the watermelons and 'lopes from seeds. The seeds don't work there way down, because I crammed lots of dirt between the cracks from the top and the soil was tamped in tightly. They germinated perfectly in the soil. I have only used seeds at this point, but I plan to use some plants next year. It works really great to plant anything on. I took an extra bale and put it in front of my potato cages. I shoved some holes in the top of the bale and added about 3 inches of dirt to the top and planted 4 packages of Zinnias. I got the Zinnia seeds at Dollar General, 4 for a $1.00! Then I covered them lightly with more soil, about 3/4 inch of soil, and watered them. That's about it! I grew my potatoes in cages made from 2 foot wide 2 x 4 welded wire. I made big round cages and piled them with layers of straw, soil and 'Taters! I planted red, yellow and white "Taters in those cages.

I'll try to explain how I set up the bales so you can get a better idea of how to set yours up. I will try to get some photos of how to put the dirt on so you can see what it looks like. It is hard to explain without seeing it. Stay in touch with me and I'll try to send you some photos as I set up some more bales for this fall!
If you look at the photo of the bales, you see that I set 4 bales up as tight as they will go together.
It will give you approximately a 4ft. square of garden space to plant in.
Be sure to set them with the "cut" ends up and the baling twine horizontal. Leave the twine!
Then sprinkle about a quart of your 10-10-10 fertilizer on top of the bales and water them every day for 3 or 4 weeks.
Then, I take potting soil and in the "cracks" between the bales where each bale meets, I shove potting soil down into the cracks until they are pretty tight.
There is not much room to shove the dirt, and it doesn't take a whole lot. Then I add about 2 inches deep of soil over the crack and mound it up. It will make about an 8 inch dark stripe across the "crack" or planting site. This will give you 3 rows, about 4 feet long on each garden square.
Then I put about 9 seeds in each row about a foot apart in groups of 3. I planted them about 2 inches deep. Then I just water them in and let them sprout. Each garden square has about 27 plants growing in it! So you have to feed the bales fairly heavy with fertilizer. I use Miracle Grow, but you could use rabbit manure or composted manure of some type. That is really all there is to it! Right now I'm not having to water them, because we are getting lots and lots of rain. But most years it is dry here and I would have to water them often. I also used Miracle Grow potting mix with moisture control for my bales.
I can't wait to hear how your bales work for you!

 
BunnyMomma, I have never had garden envy before, but I do now!

Everybody else has better gardens than mine; obviously folks know what they're doing. But your hay bale system is so remarkable. You're a genius!
Thanks! No need to have garden envy, but don't use hay, use straw. Hay is full of weeds and you will have problems if you use hay. You have to try this! It is the best garden I've ever grown! I am not a genius! I am too busy to be breaking my back with a tiller, and hoeing weeds, etc.
I normally have from 150 to 300 chickens that I am raising all the time, and I needed something EASY
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~Here in NC the weeds are a plague. It makes gardening the old way nearly impossible. I can't wait to see how many watermelons I can grow from one section of my bales. I have 27 melon plants in each section!
I might even make some Watermelon wine.
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The bales of straw make a lovely base to get this garden going. Having seen a few bales of hay mulch down, I bet the straw provides an even source of moisture and temperature for the roots. Great medium.




OK, momentary interuption! How funny is it to hear an 11 year old quote the movieTremors 3: Back to Perfection. "Assblaster sounds like a porno film" in perfect mimic tHen argue with his 9 yr old brother, it is porno or forno??? Neither know what they are talking about.
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THey are so naive yet they live on a farm ! They make me laugh!
 
BunnyMomma I love your hay bale garden! I think I will try one next year for my tomatoes!

Thanks chickadoodles! I was just thinking about building a website for my strawbale gardens! gryeyes, gave me an idea to use for a site title,
"Carolina Garden Envy"
What do you think? I love building websites and it would be a fun way to document my gardens every season and share the fun!
I planted my tomatoes in my other garden this year, but I am thinking about planting them in straw next year.
I planted vine type plants this year, and upright plants will require some support. I'm thinking I will get an 16 ft. section of cattle panel and set it between a row of bales. I might cut the panel into 8 ft. sections so that it won't be too long. The cattle panel would require additional support so I can get my hubby to drive a couple of T- Posts on the ends to hook the panel to. I think that would work great for cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes. I believe cukes and tomatoes grow well as companion plants too.
 
BunnyMomma, I have never had garden envy before, but I do now!

Everybody else has better gardens than mine; obviously folks know what they're doing. But your hay bale system is so remarkable. You're a genius!

Hey! I think I may build a website to share this information and you gave me an idea for the name of the website!
Carolina Garden Envy! Thanks!
 

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