Garden 2024!

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
@joel and @Neb and anyone else working with fruit trees. I was trying to organize my books today so I can get a list of the herbal remedies/medical books and came across this one I thought some of you might like. It’s from the 1940s but is interesting- more like a thick pamphlet than a book.
Rodale press.
I wonder if it still in print.
 
@joel and @Neb and anyone else working with fruit trees. I was trying to organize my books today so I can get a list of the herbal remedies/medical books and came across this one I thought some of you might like. It’s from the 1940s but is interesting- more like a thick pamphlet than a book.
Was that one of the government info guide?

Looks familiar.

Ben
 
Spent some time yesterday in my poly- I've never had to weed in November before! The onions and garlic mostly. The strawberries are still going, and everything I cut back is shooting up again. Today is much cooler, but not frosty, with a touch of mist about.
 
Hubby finished all my new garden "beds" and have them set up. Can't wait till next year to use them.
010.JPG2.jpg
 
Hubby finished all my new garden "beds" and have them set up. Can't wait till next year to use them.
View attachment 167309
Those are really lovely, he did a great job. :)

Do you get deep freezing temperatures there in the winters? If not, and if you want to make the soil in them a lot richer for planting stuff in the spring you can put a few earthworms into each half barrel. * That is if you have earthworms in your location.* They will work at prepping, aerating, creating and improving water and air circulation tunnels and enriching the soil over the winter months in preparation for their spring breeding.

However, if you do get deep freezes in winter don't bother putting earthworms in them, they will just die from the cold.
 
Planted my garlic today....rain coming in tomorrow they say....it was a battle i tell ya....everything went wrong that could....got a flat tire right after two passes with tiller...fixing it was like fighting fire....wanted to cut some wooden stakes with chainsaw...neither one would start....one fired up and tried....pulled till my back got tight and had to stop and rest....broke up heads and planted over 100 cloves...martin,romanian red and music.

like my buddy @App says...i swear....and i did...cussed a blue streak at saws and myself....lol..glad this afternoon is done and over with to be honest....and to think i had bright idea i was going to get a bunch of my seedling apple trees moved to garden....lol..yea right..universe had other plans for me....lol

its far easier to take from the wild....lol..working on that part too....i have 4 ounces of ramps to plant in next bit. i am getting some nice patches going for sure now...it takes years to get them going though...about 7 years minimum.
 
I reviewed a bunch of video about rooting elderberry cuttings. I am guessing my previous attempts using pitting soil failed because it didn't drain well enough.

So I switched my method. I let the cutting sit in jars of water until I saw the buds starting to open. About a week. I transfered most if the cuttings to sand since many videos showed better results in sand. If it works as I hope I will be checking for roots near the end of next month.

I am going to try the above method for English walnut cuttings.

Ben
 
I reviewed a bunch of video about rooting elderberry cuttings. I am guessing my previous attempts using pitting soil failed because it didn't drain well enough.

So I switched my method. I let the cutting sit in jars of water until I saw the buds starting to open. About a week. I transfered most if the cuttings to sand since many videos showed better results in sand. If it works as I hope I will be checking for roots near the end of next month.

I am going to try the above method for English walnut cuttings.

Ben
Keep us posted!
 
I have not tried it, but everyone that I know who has, say it is easy.
Most of them use sand, what variety are you rooting?
I can't answer that question. In this house The Princess purchases the trees and am supposed to keep them alive. :rolleyes:

I look to see if the tag is still on one of the plants.

Ben
 
I tilled my soil four or five different times to keep the grass from regrowing(if that is a real word).
Today I used a bottom plow to turn it because my rotary tiller only goes six inches & the apple trees need twelve
inch of loose soil. So I turned the soil & it was rough, the plow stopped the tractor in a few spots & I had to readjust it for the new tractor. Now I will go over it with the tiller again to smooth out all the bumps, before planting the trees 25-30 feet apart. I am thinking about planting asparagus between the trees.
If I plant the asparagus 12-18 inches apart that would be 20 feet/plants X eight trees/beds=180 plants.
That is ways more asparagus than I need, so I am not sure what if anything, I going to plant in the other beds.
I am going to make the tree beds 25/30 feet X 4 feet, covered in pine bark fines, to hold down the weeds.
But for now it is just apple trees in a bed on a slope of sandy loam, which I will not add anything to the soil the first year. If all these tree live long enough to bear fruit, then I should have fresh apple from the last week in June till the Middle of November.
 
I tilled my soil four or five different times to keep the grass from regrowing(if that is a real word).
Today I used a bottom plow to turn it because my rotary tiller only goes six inches & the apple trees need twelve
inch of loose soil.

After all the harvests are done I run the gang disk over the garden as often as it takes to keep grass or weeds going to seed. Sometimes twice a month until winter.

Do you have a subsoiler aka chisel plow? They dig deeper than a bottom plow. I run a chisel plow over my pastures and fields every 3 or 4 years. It really helps when I get heavy rains, lets them soak in.

Here's a chisel plow I built decades ago in trade school. Bottom... a pasture after I ran a chisel over it. You can just make out the marks in the grass. A chisel is only about 2" wide.

Chisel plow in 13_v1 (2).jpg
General farm 01 (17)a.jpg
 
After all the harvests are done I run the gang disk over the garden as often as it takes to keep grass or weeds going to seed. Sometimes twice a month until winter.

Do you have a subsoiler aka chisel plow? They dig deeper than a bottom plow. I run a chisel plow over my pastures and fields every 3 or 4 years. It really helps when I get heavy rains, lets them soak in.

Here's a chisel plow I built decades ago in trade school. Bottom... a pasture after I ran a chisel over it. You can just make out the marks in the grass. A chisel is only about 2" wide.

View attachment 168290View attachment 168291
No, but we have a cultivator that is Spring loaded that my brother says will go deeper than a dish harrow, but I never used it. This field has not been plowed for twenty year, I cut the timber off it & let the trash & stumps rot for four years. Love to have a chisel plow, but my 45 horsepower Kubota may not do as well as a standard tractor.
I do have a horse drawn hay rake & mower just like the one you have.
 
No, but we have a cultivator that is Spring loaded that my brother says will go deeper than a dish harrow, but I never used it. This field has not been plowed for twenty year, I cut the timber off it & let the trash & stumps rot for four years. Love to have a chisel plow, but my 45 horsepower Kubota may not do as well as a standard tractor.
I do have a horse drawn hay rake & mower just like the one you have.

I have the chisel, above... but I also have std subsoiler. The subsoiler goes deeper than the chisel and has only two toes. My massey is 48hp and it'll pull the chisel easily. But the subsoiler gives it all it wants but it pulls it. Have to keep my right heel on the differential lock pedal (locks rear wheels together) cause it'll try to spin from time to time.

I'll take a picture tomorrow if I remember.
 
I have never used my Differential lock, because I only till, mow & some grading.
Front loader & back hoe some, but this is the first time I have cut twelve inches deep.
I may use it next time I use the bottom plow.
 
@joel Here's my subsoiler. It's laying on it's face. Sort of hard to see.

1st pic shows top link connection and both lower lift arm connects.

2nd pic shows the toes. It runs 12-15 inches deep, you can see the paint worn off.

3rd pic show 2 stand bars that don't work very well. I have 2, 3inch thick pieces of steel bolted on for extra weight near the top, helps drive the toes deep. This makes it very top heavy, it always falls over. The stand bars are positioned higher when plowing. You can see the stand bar pin holes in the 2nd pic.

Anyway, my tractor will pull it in 3rd gear. But if I hit a little bump or dip it'll try to spin sometimes. I just press the differential lock for a brief moment until traction is restored.

I like to use it in the fall so winter rains can really soak deep.

20241126_085820a.jpg
20241126_085821a.jpg
20241126_085823a.jpg
 
I thought I'd post this pic again my hayfield/pasture by the road. This was done with the subsoiler, not my chisel plow.

You can see it barely tears up the sod, an occasional chunk will come up. But it's barely noticeable.

Right after this pic I got a big rain, over 3 inches... Normally that much water will stand above the terraces you can see in the bottom pic (same field, different angle). The water will flow to the end of the terraces and out of the field.

After using the subsoiler I got no standing water. All that rain soaks deep into the soil.

After cattle walk over the same pasture for years it gets hard packed. Rain will shed off, not soak in. That's why I like having the subsoiler. I run it every 3 or 4 years. The grass grows much better. It'll tolerate a dry summer better because all of the winter rain soaks in.

Again... the two toe subsoiler is a load for my 48hp massey to pull. But it will pull it...

General farm 01 (17)a.jpg
Low 01 ( 8)s.jpg
 
Last edited:
I thought I'd post this pic again my hayfield/pasture by the road. This was done with the subsoiler, not my chisel plow.

You can see it barely tears up the sod, an occasional chunk will come up. But it's barely noticeable.

Right after this pic I got a big rain, over 3 inches... Normally that much water will stand above the terraces you can see in the bottom pic (same field, different angle). The water will flow to the end of the terraces and out of the field.

After using the subsoiler I got no standing water. All that rain soaks deep into the soil.

After cattle walk over the same pasture for years it gets hard packed. Rain will shed off, not soak in. That's why I like having the subsoiler. I run it every 3 or 4 years. The grass grows much better. It'll tolerate a dry summer better because all of the winter rain soaks in.

Again... the two toe subsoiler is a load for my 48hp massey to pull. But it will pull it...

View attachment 168329View attachment 168330
Is that Joe in the picture??
 
This is what happens when one week there is a couple of mornings with freezing temps, followed by a week of nice temps and followed by at least 4 days of freezing temps again :

20241205_113941.jpg20241205_113921.jpg
 
@Amish Heart
You asked how I organize my seeds. Nothing too crazy. I have these two wooden boxes. Inside the box on top are veggie seeds. The box on the bottom has herb seeds then flower seeds. All are in alphabetical order. For different varieties, I put it under the “main” name like lettuce for various types of lettuce or beans for all kinds of beans. (So not by the variety)
IMG_7943.jpeg
IMG_7944.jpeg
 
Back
Top