What have you done for garden prep so far?

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SallyC said:
Seems we are having a proper spring this year. Today has dawnd bright and sunny and finally warm! I transplanted the tomatoes into their final position in the greenhouse yesterday and there are seeds germinating in my experimental garden. Things are looking good here. We could do with some of your rain though, it's been dry here and I've already emptied one rain barrel watering the greenhouse and pots.
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when it comes to the rain,it would be great if I could send it your way,I am going to get another dose of rain tomorrow,,,,,,you can get to much of a good thing,for me it is causing a slow down in work and maybe a layoff and we are facing some flooding which we all know is never good
 
grayghost668 said:
the only good from to much rain and a layoff is I will have the time to clean up the yard and prep a new garden area
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Brent S said:
It's always good to see the bright side of things!
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You're right there! I'm a glass half full type, makes life a lot easier to see a positive instead of moaning about things. Hope you're not off too long, though!:)
 
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Ok, this really dosent have anything to do with prepping, or this thread, except maybe you could relate it to fertilizer.....
I built this house about ten years ago. I put linoleum in the bathroom floors as a temporary floor while I finished other projects. Anyways, ten years later I'm finally getting around to installing the floors. I got the 18inch square porcelain tiles for 1 dollar each on clearance, and got a display toilet from lowes for 10 dollars. Last night I pulled the old toilet and installed the tile under it. I just installed the new toilet and have a functioning bathroom again, and will finish the floor over the next few days. I love remodeling things, and espechially with clearance or salvaged things. I have enough of the tiles to do two bathrooms and countertops, and some to spare! Sorry for the diversion here, I was just thrilled at seeing my discounted progress.
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Brent S said:
View attachment 6852 Ok, this really dosent have anything to do with prepping, or this thread, except maybe you could relate it to fertilizer.....
I built this house about ten years ago. I put linoleum in the bathroom floors as a temporary floor while I finished other projects. Anyways, ten years later I'm finally getting around to installing the floors. I got the 18inch square porcelain tiles for 1 dollar each on clearance, and got a display toilet from lowes for 10 dollars. Last night I pulled the old toilet and installed the tile under it. I just installed the new toilet and have a functioning bathroom again, and will finish the floor over the next few days. I love remodeling things, and espechially with clearance or salvaged things. I have enough of the tiles to do two bathrooms and countertops, and some to spare! Sorry for the diversion here, I was just thrilled at seeing my discounted progress.View attachment 6852
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We've always had old houses. First one was built in 1905, and when we bought it, last worked on for all intents in the 1930's. This one is a few blocks away and built in 1939.

Anyway, having old houses means a serious lack of closet space. At some point, somebody got drunk and enclosed the 2 car carport on the back of the house. Made it a play room, I suppose - it had AstroTurf for carpet.....

I gutted that space and we turned it into a master bedroom suite. Huge bath. My wife found marble tile for the floor at Lowes on close out. So, we wound up with white and black mosaic tile on the floor for $1 a foot (regularly $12 a foot). Damn near killed me putting that stuff in, lol. Looks great. I hate tile. Grouted it with epoxy grout too. That sucks as well. If I ever have to do tile again, it'll be 18 x 18s. At least it isn't so much grout....

Looks good, Brent!
 
WGregMiller said:
We've always had old houses. First one was built in 1905, and when we bought it, last worked on for all intents in the 1930's. This one is a few blocks away and built in 1939.

Anyway, having old houses means a serious lack of closet space. At some point, somebody got drunk and enclosed the 2 car carport on the back of the house. Made it a play room, I suppose - it had AstroTurf for carpet.....

I gutted that space and we turned it into a master bedroom suite. Huge bath. My wife found marble tile for the floor at Lowes on close out. So, we wound up with white and black mosaic tile on the floor for $1 a foot (regularly $12 a foot). Damn near killed me putting that stuff in, lol. Looks great. I hate tile. Grouted it with epoxy grout too. That sucks as well. If I ever have to do tile again, it'll be 18 x 18s. At least it isn't so much grout....

Looks good, Brent!
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I'm with you on tile work being tougher than it used to be. Somehow standing back up after being on your knees for a while just isn't as easy as it used to be. Also, a few years ago and this project would have been two days, now a week or so. Oh well, at least we're still going at least! I can't say I dislike doing this stuff though. I've always liked the sense of accomplishment that comes from taking something plain or old and making it look really good. One good thing about an old house is at least you have a place to live while you work on it. Although you do eat a lot of dust during the project. The new place were building for the kids has been a big long project and lots of work and is still a ways away from livable. At least it's heading in the right direction though. Just about to start trim, then on to building cabinets.
 
My garden is only 50' x 150'. . . would I like a bigger space? Oh yeah, but I also know I could not physically keep up with a bigger one by myself, which includes all the weeding and preserving. We get plenty and have enough stored up of canned goods to pull us through if we have a bad year on a certain crop. For those of you debating on a walk behind tiller verses a tractor tiller, they are both great in my book. My garden is fenced because of all the critters running around. You even have to be careful with dogs. . . they don't seem to mind plowing over fresh seedlings coming thru the ground. When we first did the garden expansion, hunny broke up the ground using the tractor then tilled it deep. Since I do raised beds, I built all my beds up, pilling all the loose soil on top of my rows making them into 4' x about 23'. When my crop in one row is done, I add in compost then till it in with a walk behind. Since the fences are back up, there just isn't room for the big tractor. For my walkways, I layer down old feed bags & threw mulch on top. I hate weeds & grass growing in them so this cut them down a lot. I did learn that the grass will grow thru the tight mesh type bags that we get rice bran in, but not the slick bags that we get the sweet feed and all stock in. Point is, it cuts my weeding down tremendously. Since my walkways are lower than my beds it makes it easier to apply weedkiller if need be without worrying about it blowing over to the plants. . . . just things to consider when wanting to make it bigger.
This has been a very good season so far. My sweet peas are almost done, so I will be pulling those and thinking about putting in Kentucky Poles to replace, but that will be in the next week or two. Its already raining and looks like it will be all day so I will be having a canning day. Plan is for pickled eggs, candied pickles, green beans, sweet peas, and then I have 14 lbs of hamburger that I will cook up to can. Guess I need to get busy cause it will be a long day.
 
I got 6 frontend loads of mulch. Three fits on the 24'ft trailor at a time. While hunny went back for the second loafs, I stayed home to work on three different raised bed. A couple days ago I had spread hay on top & this morning each row got 2-3 wheelbarrow loafs of sand spread and then 3-4 loafs of mulch. Tilled all that in and planted one row with okra, another with Miss Pinkeye and the last row was still a little too wet so will till again tomorrow with some more sand mixed in before planting. My peas are basically done and I am getting tired of looking at them. Think I will go ahead and pull them and replant the trellis with brown crowders instead of going to the feed store to pick up some Kentucky's. I have some seeds but not enough for both rows. Picked a bunch of green beans and cucumbers so will need to get those processed in the morning. Had kids along with grand baby stop by for a visit. She is not quite old enough to help with the picking but she sure did enjoy the washing up of veggies using the outdoor sink. That and she thought every critter should come to her calling them by her dogs name. . . she'll be a year and a half in just a few more days. Time sure does pass by. Son three stopped by to clean his fish up after his off shore trip. He left us some Long. This I will be caramelizing it for dinner tomorrow.
 
I'm hoping the potatoes and peanuts will be ok here. We've had so much rain, and these are more susceptible to overwatering issues than a lot of plants. Everything is looking good though for now. Still waiting for the first cukes and ripe tomatoes!
 
I borrowed my dad's brush cutter a couple days ago and started clearing the new garden area. Next week I'm going to pick up some apple, plum and cherry trees, raspberry, grape and black berry plants. It's still too early to plant most things but I think the trees and berries will be fine. Going to add 6 new raised beds too. Maybe in a few more weeks we can plant the rest of the garden.
 
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Maverick said:
Kids got the garden planted along with the wild flowers all around the garden. Woke up this morning and it was in the upper 34deg though no frost, suppose to be nice all the way through next Thursday. The kids are growing all the spices in the greenhouse this year.
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I need a green house so we can get an earlier start on growing things. The greenhouse will be on my next year's building project list. Just not sure what size to build yet.
 
Arcticdude said:
I need a green house so we can get an earlier start on growing things. The greenhouse will be on my next year's building project list. Just not sure what size to build yet.
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With the cold weather you have there I would say the bigger the better. Mine is about 20x20 and I with it was a third bigger. It produces well, but having more area would be nice. Take a look at the biltmore greenhouse in Asheville N.C. It is amazing. That goes back to it's good to be rich thing.
 
I started off with a 10x10 made out of 3/4" pvc piping and covered with 30mil clear plastic, it was a lot cheaper than wood and quicker to set up. We use the same set up but on a smaller scale to cover some of the plants in the garden to keep excess rain off the plants and protect from frost.
 
grayghost668 said:
I have a old front tine tiller,,and I swear I will not be using that SOB next year,,,it beats me to death and does a half ass job,,I have to go ahead of the tiller with a shovel and break the ground
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I have a husquavarna front time too, and it beats the hell out of me too. By spring I will have a tiller for the tractor, but am in no rush now since I've allready tilled this season.
 
Brent S said:
I have a husquavarna front time too, and it beats the hell out of me too. By spring I will have a tiller for the tractor, but am in no rush now since I've allready tilled this season.
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yeah like you the worst is over for this year,,,,maybe after I prep the garden for fall I will sell it this year,,,come say October I might be able to get a deal on a good used one
 
WGregMiller said:
That's when I bought mine. Bought it new for $150 off....
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Some idiot bought my tiller from lowes, took it home and put gas in it and ran it till it siezed up from having no oil in it! Lowes took it back when he thru a fit about it. Anyways, one of the employees got it, put new bearings in it and sold it to me for 125.00. It runs great and fires right up every time. Still beats the crap out of you though. I can say that it's better than a hoe, but only marginally!
 
Brent S said:
Some idiot bought my tiller from lowes, took it home and put gas in it and ran it till it siezed up from having no oil in it! Lowes took it back when he thru a fit about it. Anyways, one of the employees got it, put new bearings in it and sold it to me for 125.00. It runs great and fires right up every time. Still beats the crap out of you though. I can say that it's better than a hoe, but only marginally!
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The butt kicking is why I got the Troy-Built. Much improvement, but not as much as you'll get with a pto tiller!
 
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