Garden 2021

[elkhound]

pretty much finished up giving the old garden a face lift of its fence. i needed to brace the corners but didnt want o buy anything but use stuff i had on hand and plenty of. i used some short posts to make brace by driving down to wedge section on them then bending it over marking contact point of corner post then used hand grinder to put a upward notch in it thereby locking it in place.worked out pretty nice i think. wire is looking pretty good now.all i need is a bit more ribbon to mark the top wire with since i ran out.

 

[Peanut]

Something that works for deer, I used this trick for years... and I'm pretty sure it works for coyotes. Buy the cheapest peanut butter at the store. Get a plastic knife. Smear a tiny amount or the peanut butter on the electric wire about every 12 to 15ft. Do this every week or so.

Deer can't resist peanut butter, they have to lick it. Once shocked they won't come back for a month or so. I'm pretty sure it works on coyotes. The ground was so torn up by coyote tracks I was unsure they licked the peanut butter. Coyotes will raid a garden for melons, cantaloupes etc.

 

[Alaskajohn]

My garden is still under about 6 feet of snow! But it won’t be long now.

My grand plans of building a big new greenhouse this spring will need to be delayed until fall due to a big project I have going as soon as the snow melts, but my small, makeshift greenhouse will have to do. But we won’t have enough room for tomatoes and some of the other items we have hoped to plant, but that’s ok.

Our experiment with seeing how we like dehydrated products was successful, so this year we will be dehydrating about 1/3 of our potatoes and carrots and stashing away for lean times. We will be doing the same with blueberries and raspberries with a dehydrator. We’ve also figured out which veggies freeze well, such as kale and we will be growing enough to stash away veggies so that we can have them year round. With this, our carrots, potatoes and veggies will be in full production. With the long growing days in Alaska, we can probably get 4 or more cycles from some of the faster growing veggies and we will be taking full advantage of this now that we know what we like to eat of the frozen products.

I ordered a variety pack of heirloom seeds for our zone, zone 3. Some of the veggies are stuff we‘ve not attempted to grow before, so we will be experimenting with them to see what grows, and what we can freeze or dehydrate out of them. The idea is to have everything down to a science so we can really start adding to our long term and winter use storage with the goal of being as self sufficient as possible.

All in all, the wife and I are really excited for this summer as the 5 year investment in improving our rocky soil has paid off so that we can take advantage of our almost unlimited growing capacity from our 18 plus hours of daylight.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today I was able to start working out in the garden in earnest. I was able to process several buckets of tainted (weedy) soil and I noticed that it comes out almost pitch black, I realized that I can put almost anything organic (not wood, plastic, metal or stone)in the mix and it will come out almost broken down completely, some root balls are still stringy but the soil will just shake off them. This really changes the way I look at my weed piles..... they now look more like soil to me.

It was freezing this morning and it should get down to the high 20s tonight, but for the 2 weeks after that it looks like the lows are going to be very close to 40, which makes moving plants outside soon a real possibility.

 

[Meerkat]

We are waiting till tomorrow to plant the store bought transplants,we already sowed seeds in the raised bed and hugul.
I liked the greenhouse growing but we haven't opened it in a few years now.

 

[Bacpacker]

Finally got my first new raised bed finished to day. Loaded it with wood and compost and planted 27 asparagus roots, then covered them. Once the roots produce a stalk and get up some, I'll add more dirt to fill the bed. While moving my trailer load of compost this morning, I backed it into the garden spot and one tire promptly sunk up to the axle. I tried digging, using a log and 2 pry bars with wife trying to drive it out. But wasn't giving at all. Ended up hooking the Duetz to the Kubota and yanking the trailer out of the hole. Wasted an hour and half fooling with that. Here are a few pics.

 

[Bacpacker]

Also got a couple pics of last years beds I built. Enchinesia has came back nicely, new onions are doing well. And I pulled 4 more parsnips that over wintered. Gotta figure out why the whole root didn't fill out. But the one had a root that was 15" long.

 

[Meerkat]

Finally got my first new raised bed finished to day. Loaded it with wood and compost and planted 27 asparagus roots, then covered them. Once the roots produce a stalk and get up some, I'll add more dirt to fill the bed. While moving my trailer load of compost this morning, I backed it into the garden spot and one tire promptly sunk up to the axle. I tried digging, using a log and 2 pry bars with wife trying to drive it out. But wasn't giving at all. Ended up hooking the Duetz to the Kubota and yanking the trailer out of the hole. Wasted an hour and half fooling with that. Here are a few pics.
View attachment 61448View attachment 61449View attachment 61450

looks good too bad about the geting stuck part though.

 

[Bacpacker]

That was a challenge. But finally got it out and had a good day

 

[Neb]

That was a challenge. But finally got it out and had a good day

Challenge?

Tipping the wheelbarrow over the edge was not trivial.

I hope you had fun. I get high on accompaniment.

Ben

 

[Bacpacker]

Guess I should have realized 2" of rain could create some red clay soup. LOL Even after I unloaded what i did what was left was still causing some pretty good rutting. Last year the ground was muddy but never had any deep ruts or sinking like that, not in the garden spots anyway.
Yeah I had fun. Wasn't at work listening to 18 people trying to decide what was the most important to do next. Today, just go at my own pace and get some stuff done I've been planning. Still got lots to do, but first one is usually the hardest. At least for me.

 

[txcatlady]

Finished planting all seeds today. Potatoes, asparagus, onions, pintos and green beans in ground j3 weeks ago. Will wait till after Easter for tomatoes and peppers. Okra goes in May. Repotted several pot plants after dividing. Rested often. Two hours driving nearly to Houston and two hours back yesterday for brother in law funeral wore me out.

 

[Patchouli]

Finished planting all seeds today. Potatoes, asparagus, onions, pintos and green beans in ground j3 weeks ago. Will wait till after Easter for tomatoes and peppers. Okra goes in May. Repotted several pot plants after dividing. Rested often. Two hours driving nearly to Houston and two hours back yesterday for brother in law funeral wore me out.

Sorry about your brother-in-law's passing, @txcatlady
@Bacpacker those beds look great.

 

[joel]

I have onions,garlic & greens out.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today ended up being a split day with meeting for the west coast in the evening so.... I took 2 hours off and moved out part of 1 growing station I also watered the raised beds and opened them up for a while.

I was surprised and pleased to see a bee and a small yellow hornet at the plants within 1 hour of putting them out, yes those guys have my number!

I did not realize that hornets eat aphids.... until I watched one doing just that. I will let them stay around for a while.

Well break's over time to go back to the real world.

 

[Meerkat]

All yalls plaants and beds looking productive ,thats always good to see.
Our seedlings are just coming up good transplants put in yesterday ok too. BacP sorry about the mud.but your beds look great.

 

[Neb]

Today ended up being a split day with meeting for the west coast in the evening so.... I took 2 hours off and moved out part of 1 growing station I also watered the raised beds and opened them up for a while.
View attachment 61644
View attachment 61645
View attachment 61646

View attachment 61648
View attachment 61649
I was surprised and pleased to see a bee and a small yellow hornet at the plants within 1 hour of putting them out, yes those guys have my number!

I did not realize that hornets eat aphids.... until I watched one doing just that. I will let them stay around for a while.

Well break's over time to go back to the real world.

Yes hornets are preditors meat eaters. I watched a YouTube video on a hornet trap that used cat food as bait.

See also the documentary video "Revenge of the Electric Weenie".



I always let them be(e) unless they are attacking my girls or are in the way of my projects. Then I don a beekeeper veil arm myself with the miracle of modern chemistry and chant " Die die die" as I watch them bounce off the veil.

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

I was just shocked at how fast the bees and other flying things found my plants after I sat them out. I have the only house in the area with flowering plants out side so I guess for a while we will be the only game in town.

I was able to move out part of 1 growing station, but I have 2 more that are waiting. I can't believe that things are going so fast, I'm just not ready and need to finish my barrel rack to I can re-connect my rain water collection system. It never seems to end.

I still have all the warm weather crops waiting and growing in the house.

 

[Bacpacker]

Spent another day working on bed #3. Got it assembled, put in place, chicken wire down, cardboard on top of that. I had ran out of wood, so I cut a couple big limbs out of a maple tree. I let it split and grow into 5 different trunks years ago. I knew it wouldn't last too long. But I got enough wood out of it to get enough in bed 3. Now I need to get another load of compost to finish filling bed 2 and totally fill bed 3.
Spent all weekend on the beds, I am beat.

 

[Neb]

I was just shocked at how fast the bees and other flying things found my plants after I sat them out. I have the only house in the area with flowering plants out side so I guess for a while we will be the only game in town.

I was able to move out part of 1 growing station, but I have 2 more that are waiting. I can't believe that things are going so fast, I'm just not ready and need to finish my barrel rack to I can re-connect my rain water collection system. It never seems to end.

I still have all the warm weather crops waiting and growing in the house.

Dont be hasty.

I still have a month before the frost threat is behind me.

Ben

 

[elkhound]

planted 106 hills of taters yesterday afternoon...35 makah ozettes,20 red french fingerling,27 purple fingerling and 24 dakota pearl. hit the woods sunday and found first of ramps coming up.

 

[Meerkat]

planted 106 hills of taters yesterday afternoon...35 makah ozettes,20 red french fingerling,27 purple fingerling and 24 dakota pearl. hit the woods sunday and found first of ramps coming up.

View attachment 61775

View attachment 61773

View attachment 61774

View attachment 61772

Looks I love daffadils.

 

[joel]

I alway plant my taters on 2/14.

 

[Meerkat]

I alway plant my taters on 2/14.

We should too but this year didn't happen.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The Taters I ordered in November arrived! Wife was not happy because the sprouted store potatoes have been growing well over the winter and she does not approve the "wasted money" spent on seed potatoes...

This morning I picked up the stuff to transplant my Canadian Maple tree, it has been growing in a container for 5 years and it is time to move it into the yard.

 

[Amish Heart]

I've never planted potatoes, but my cousin says don't waste your time on the store bought potatoes because they don't grow right. I guess most of them are sprayed with an anti sprouting spray. So, yep...buy seed potatoes.

 

[lilmissy]

I planted my potatoes last week. A friend told me to plant on or near St Patricks Day. I only have ever heard of planting onions and peas on that day. So this year I gave it a try with the potatoes.
i left some in from last year. Dug them up the other day and they over wintered. I thought potatoes would rot. But they were perfect. Does anyone else over winter potatoes?

 

[UrbanHunter]

I would also like to know the answer to @lilmissy question about over wintering potatoes. I got my sets yesterday but I already have potatoes growing in all the containers I had planned for spring potatoes, I am thinking about keeping the new sets in the fridge until I am ready to plant them in early summer... Trying to figure out how to do staggered crops.

 

[Erin]

I've never planted potatoes, but my cousin says don't waste your time on the store bought potatoes because they don't grow right. I guess most of them are sprayed with an anti sprouting spray. So, yep...buy seed potatoes.

Last year I tried growing some store-bought potatoes. They weren't amazing but I was able to harvest some, gonna try again this year and see how it works. Later on I'd like to get seed potatoes but I'm going only a small amount right now so store-bought works fine.

 

[joel]

Organic Garden Magazine had an article 40 something years ago. Living in the South, we had 10 days that we could not dig the ground with a shovel. I was stocked to learn that up North the farmer/gardeners would set a bales of hay over rows to keep the ground from freezing, so they could dig the crop as needed all winter. This was not to save the crop, only to make digging the crop easier. Good soil will freeze like concrete.
https://www.hobbyfarms.com/overwintering-root-vegetables-3-methods-success/