Garden 2020.

[snappy1]

I have little tomatoes, little jalapenos and little zucchini so far. Yay!

 

[Peanut]

I hand dropped about 30lbs of Triple 13 fertilizer on the garden today. The corn badly needed a kick start.

The temps are supposed to reach the 90's by the end of the week with nighttime temps in the 60's. My veggies will really take off with the ground getting that warm.

I found another tomato today, it's bigger, the size of a small peach. If I get some May temps and sun I'll have a tomato sandwich by the first week of june.

 

[txcatlady]

Finished mowing yard with push mower Friday. Moved tractor to house and mowed outside areas. Lopped a truckload of yaupon off of 3 trees and pruned lower branches. Company started to come in and had to stop. Heated big precooked ham from freezer, big poT of pinto beans, another of home canned green beans, peach cobbler and supervised a grand making double batch of cornbread for cast iron skillets. Fed 4/5 daughters, 4/5 son in laws, 14/19 grands, husband and self. Wonderful day. Last ones left around midnight. Sunday participated in a parade at nursing home where we drove by and waved to Granny. Left to go to visit my mom in huntsville. Got home around 3 and took 2 hour nap. Then dug 16.4 pounds of potatoes with 3 more rows to dig later, and a good sack of green beans. Cooked squash and spinach last week. Drier and wind is causing stress on garden. Went to work today and came home and unloaded 500 pounds of feed, fed bull calf, range meal in trough and animals at house. Husband having surgery Thursday. Preop in AM. Ready for bed now. Vacation in less than two weeks where I get to get away for 3 days. Can't wait!

 

[txcatlady]

Oh and one son in law knows me well. They gave me a black and decker battery operated chain saw. Played with in on yaupon and crepe myrtles. I like it. Can't have a gas chain saw as my husband will tear it up. He gave me one for birthday years ago but he messed it up and I never got to use it. He uses too small a saw for too big a job. He won't touch this! Ready for a few hours free where I can use it more. I picked more plums tonight. Not enough for jelly so cooked them down and am drinking juice. Yum

 

[WVDragonlady]

Well I managed to fill up 4 of my big containers on the back deck this morning. Having a flare up of a back injury from years back( work related). Did something wrong the other day I guess.
I used a flat cart to move the bags of garden soil
Also potted up my micro-tomatoes in their larger pots. Have 6 of them going. 3 red and 3 orange. I want to see how they do as I never grew them before.
Plan on planting this coming thursday as that when the weather seems like it will turn the corner on the cold ( read freeze/frost). 80's by this weekend and then 70's later on
Want to get a row or 2 of green beans planted tomorrow so they're out of the way and I can concentrate on the summer veggies to get planted
Did get a floating row cover over my cabbages today. Hopefully the cabbage moths didn't get to them. I didn't see any sign of them and I'm hoping the colder than normal weather kept them away

 

[Meerkat]

It doesn't matter where you get the compost. With the amount of spraying done to hay and other crops, the safest way is to test the compost before dumping it in your garden. Once in there, it is hard to get rid of it.

The quickest way to do this, is to plant beans in some samples. Beans sprout fast and show toxic poisoning just as quickly. Lots of info out there about this.

I do not sell my manure/ compost to anyone. I know it is produced from cows eating off of 35 year old organic land. It goes straight back on my own gardens and fields. I have made one exception for a nearby neighbor who has a small garden and is the area handyman and an all round decent human being. I just bring him a bucket load every spring. No charge.

This is great wish we doin't buy hay but we didn't have the energy to throw tree limbs full of leaves or just leaves on top of beds. This sand just drains away nutrents. I did put tree limbs in my raised bed and filling up composter.

 

[Bacpacker]

Plowed my small spot with a cultivator plow last night and tilled it good today. Suppose to be in low 80's here after tomorrow. Planning on planting my maters and peppers Friday or Saturday. Put out a few cantaloupes last night. Watered the new beds deeply tonight.

 

[joel]

Peanut that photo of planters looks like my father's. However his did not have the rubbers & they still covered the seeds.
Must be 50 or 60 yearsold.

 

[WVDragonlady]

Got the 2 rows of green beans planted. Also planted 4 russian mammoth sunflower seeds on each corner of the plot.
Planted a container of carrots and a container of dill
Hopefully I'll get lots more planted today but we'll see. Between my twinging back and rain coming I may not get much done. But I'll do what I can and then stop I suppose lol

 

[Peanut]

My elderberry is just starting to make tiny little blooms.

My mulbbery tree is loaded. I haven't gotten enough for a pie in several years. When dad and I still worked hay we'd be cutting hay for the first time of the year in late May. Even then the birds got all the berries on the tree. Not this year!

 

[Peanut]

Peanut that photo of planters looks like my father's. However his did not have the rubbers & they still covered the seeds.
Must be 50 or 60 yearsold.

I had to go back and look... I know the planters, just forgot which pic...

Dad got these used about 1970, give or take. They were great JD planters in that they were modular. You can see in the pic the planters are independent of each other. The wheel powered the planter (plates etc) via a chain drive. I joined a old tractor forum last year. The best guess of the experts were that these planters were manufactured between 1958 and 1964.

Dad built the 3 point hitch attachment for them to mount on the rear of our small tractors. JD tractors in the 70hp to 120hp range could use the same planters but they mounted on each side of the tractor in front of the rear wheels. The big tractors would have two planters on each side for a total of 4 or 8 or even 16 planters. If one planter had a problem it could easily be replaced without affecting all the other planters a tractor might have.

I have only two sets of plates for these planters, for corn and cotton (peas work just fine). I've wished for years I could take the planters and our cultivators, have them sand blasted and repainted.

I've seen the kind of rear wheels you're talking about. Over at the old barn I have a single planter made to be pulled by a horse or a mule. It has the iron wheel. I even have the single tree and trace chains that went with it.

Here are a set of 2 row pull behind planters with iron wheels I found on the net.

 

[joel]

"My mulbbery tree is loaded." So are mine, but mine are still green.

 

[WVDragonlady]

I managed to get the watermelons (2)( have one more to do in another bed), cucumbers, all the sweet peppers, all the tomatoes ( except the cherries which I'll do tomorrow) and the zucchini ( have one more to plant in a large container).
Now I have some herbs to get potted up and I have to mulch all the plants and get the stakes in for them.
Last week of the month I can do another 2 rows of green beans and another container of carrots and more radishes
Glad I knocked out most of them today but man was it hot when the sun came out and humid as florida this morning lol

 

[Support Gunner]

Well we got the potatoes (that I posted about earlier) planted in 18 gallon tubs. Did 3 in one and 4 in another.

We will see what happens. This is more of a experiment run this year with these.

 

[Peanut]

I got 6 rows of crimson sweet watermelons planted and 4 long rows of sweet corn. I have sweet corn seed left, think I'll saved it for next year since I still have mosby open pollinated corn to plant.

I didn't have that many squash seeds so I double planted the first row of melons with the squash.

Tomorrow I'll get a few more bags of triple 13 and hand drop some on the corn and melons. I want to get 2 rows of cantaloupes planted also.

It's a shame I can't get triple 8 anymore. Old folks around here swore by using only triple 8 on melons, twice, once in the furrow as you plant and again the first time they were hoed. I'll just go a little lite on the triple 13. They always said to NEVER put ammonia on melons... 34-0-0, said you could taste it in the melons or cantaloupes.

 

[viking]

Any more I strive to just get heirloom tomatoes, it seems that other than cherry tomatoes we don't have very good results with non heirloom types, with the cool nights we have around here the bottom end rot is very common. With the help from our dear friends, our garden is just about filled, once things really get growing I'll post pics.

 

[Support Gunner]

I got 6 rows of crimson sweet watermelons planted and 4 long rows of sweet corn. I have sweet corn seed left, think I'll saved it for next year since I still have mosby open pollinated corn to plant.

I didn't have that many squash seeds so I double planted the first row of melons with the squash.

Tomorrow I'll get a few more bags of triple 13 and hand drop some on the corn and melons. I want to get 2 rows of cantaloupes planted also.

It's a shame I can't get triple 8 anymore. Old folks around here swore by using only triple 8 on melons, twice, once in the furrow as you plant and again the first time they were hoed. I'll just go a little lite on the triple 13. They always said to NEVER put ammonia on melons... 34-0-0, said you could taste it in the melons or cantaloupes.

We grow crimson sweet watermelon also. Very very good tasting.

 

[Peanut]

We grow crimson sweet watermelon also. Very very good tasting.

They have a great flavor but a few other advantages. 1) they aren't ginormous... Their smaller size means I can cut one in the evening, eat half, the other half doesn't take up all the space in the fridge. I usually eat the other half for breakfast and lunch... Then repeat that evening. During the season I'll eat a melon everyday, they are dessert and snacks. Crimson sweets are a great size for that.

Also, really large melons tend to suffer more during dry weather than smaller ones.

There is nothing like a cool melon in hot weather. As kids we'd be hoeing cotton, corn or working hay in July. Dad or grandpa would always pull a melon that morning and lay it in a creek. About 2pm, during the hottest part of the day, we'd take a break and eat that melon. It'd be nice and cool.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Cherry tomato plants are loaded with blossoms.
Nary a one on the others
Pepper plants are in .
Green beans are up got about 12 plants in one raised bed.
Will thin these in a bit, get them potted in flowerpots.
I think grand daughter's carrots, radishes,lettuce, maybe okra are up.
But so is the wildflowers she dumped into her garden from my flower pot.
Anything that grows in grand daughter's whiskey barrel garden will be wild and wooly.
Not really sure what other flowerpots of mine she dumped in her garden.

 

[joel]

Peanut, we had a thread about people coming to your house after TSHTF, I am not waiting, I will be over as soon as the melons are ripe.

 

[Meerkat]

My elderberry is just starting to make tiny little blooms.

View attachment 42116View attachment 42117


My mulbbery tree is loaded. I haven't gotten enough for a pie in several years. When dad and I still worked hay we'd be cutting hay for the first time of the year in late May. Even then the birds got all the berries on the tree. Not this year!

View attachment 42118View attachment 42119View attachment 42120

That looks liek what we been calling a mulberry tree.Is the trunk cream colored and likes to spread out?

 

[Meerkat]

Just getting soil ready for fall, no summer garening here and too late for spring.

 

[Peanut]

That looks liek what we been calling a mulberry tree.Is the trunk cream colored and likes to spread out?

Mulberry aka Morus ruba has Simple Leaves as seen in this pic below.

Elderberry aka Sambucas, has Pinnately Compound Leaves, below

The leaves of the mulberry and elderberry do not resemble each other in any manner. Neither elderberry or mulberry has cream colored bark. What kind of leaves does your tree have?

I’m happy to help you figure out what you have. Please post clear photos of the leaves, the bark, the fruit, the size or any identifier you can find.

Also, as a tree ages it's bark can change color and texture many times. The color of the bark is not a good way to describe any tree. The leaves are most important followed by it's fruit or nuts.

 

[Meerkat]

Mulberry aka Morus ruba has Simple Leaves as seen in this pic below.
View attachment 42254


Elderberry aka Sambucas, has Pinnately Compound Leaves, below
View attachment 42255


The leaves of the mulberry and elderberry do not resemble each other in any manner. Neither elderberry or mulberry has cream colored bark. What kind of leaves does your tree have?

I’m happy to help you figure out what you have. Please post clear photos of the leaves, the bark, the fruit, the size or any identifier you can find.

Also, as a tree ages it's bark can change color and texture many times. The color of the bark is not a good way to describe any tree. The leaves are most important followed by it's fruit or nuts.

I'll take a picture tomorrow of leaves and bark. Thanks Peanut.

 

[Bacpacker]

I usually grow some Sugar Baby watermelons. They taste great and are small enough to keep leftovers in the fridge. I'll usually butcher one when I cut it and either put it in a bowl or ziplock for the fridge. Takes up less room that way. I also like Moon and Stars and Charleston Gray melons.

Gonna plant my tomatos and peppers tomorrow.. Replanted what cucumbers that didn't come up and will replant a row of okra that was scattered.

My mulberry is loaded as well, still green berries, but probably won't be much longer before they start turning

 

[Meerkat]

Mulberry aka Morus ruba has Simple Leaves as seen in this pic below.
View attachment 42254


Elderberry aka Sambucas, has Pinnately Compound Leaves, below
View attachment 42255


The leaves of the mulberry and elderberry do not resemble each other in any manner. Neither elderberry or mulberry has cream colored bark. What kind of leaves does your tree have?

I’m happy to help you figure out what you have. Please post clear photos of the leaves, the bark, the fruit, the size or any identifier you can find.

Also, as a tree ages it's bark can change color and texture many times. The color of the bark is not a good way to describe any tree. The leaves are most important followed by it's fruit or nuts.

Took this this morning, the tree is in the chicken yard so it gets way too much nitrogen and too little P and K.Plus forget evrr getting a bery off it the squireels have that covered.

 

[Meerkat]

 

[Peanut]

The leaves in the photo you took are simple, alternate, toothed and heartshaped. All 4 of these descriptors fit the red mulberry aka Morus rubra and the white mulberry aka Morus alba. The white mulberry is from china. The red mulberry is native to the US.

The fruit of the white mulberry is white to pink. The fruit of the red mulberry is red to black. The fruit of the paper mulberry looks like little balls that turn red, it's also from china aka Broussonetia papyrifera.

You have a mulberry, which one only you will be able to decide by the fruit it bears. Mulberry trees are male and female, only females have fruit.

 

[Meerkat]

The leaves in the photo you took are simple, alternate, toothed and heartshaped. All 4 of these descriptors fit the red mulberry aka Morus rubra and the white mulberry aka Morus alba. The white mulberry is from china. The red mulberry is native to the US.

The fruit of the white mulberry is white to pink. The fruit of the red mulberry is red to black. The fruit of the paper mulberry looks like little balls that turn red, it's also from china aka Broussonetia papyrifera.

You have a mulberry, which one only you will be able to decide by the fruit it bears. Mulberry trees are male and female, only females have fruit.

Our fruit is red and black what few times we seen it since the squirrels claimed it.

This tree is 20 yrs old.

 

[Mr.Meer]

Yea Peanut , our Sicilian donkey Rosie pulled this tree up and ran around the yard with it, every time we planted it, at least 10 or more times.
I didn't think that tree would have made it, you just never know.

We bought it at Lowe's and it was a little over a ft. tall.