What have you done for garden prep so far?

[Dani]

This is the first garden in you location right? Its all a learning experience right now on what will do good in you location. I know the jack o lantern pumpkins don't do well but the cershaw pumpkins have exceeded my expectations along with the butternut. They both make great pumpkin pies. So just cause you can't grow one thing doesn't mean you can't grow another variety to get the same result you are wanting. If you keep working you soil year after year will also greatly I prove the soil which means better production. Trust me when I say I am still learning!

 

[Mountain trapper]

I did the end of my middle finger once on a table saw... I learned to not work 12 hours and screw around with a table saw.

My dad's 87 and blind. The stubborn old geezer shouldn't be using power tools. I think I'm going to repo his table saw. Already took his chainsaw away when I seen him standing on top of a ladder trimming a tree.

 

[Psalm7]

Sorry about the accident Artic . Hope it turns out well as possible .

My garden is behind this year but is catching up . At work there are a half dozen of us that take turn managing the 3rd shift and this is My year . So most of My projects are behind this year .

 

[user 6493]

I am not happy with what I am seeing in this garden,it has been in the ground the better part of 2 months now,about half my potato plants look like they are dying,some have died,the red and white onions have almost all died out,the pepper plants look just about as bad as the potato's the string beans for now look ok the yellow onions at this time look good and I am getting a few tomatoes ,,,,,,first year is looking like a bust,spent more money on this than I will get in return,I'll let it run its course I may still get some potato's ,and I have not gotten one strawberry this year,and the plants look pretty good


yeah me and my 2 brown thumbs

 

[WGregMiller]

I am not happy with what I am seeing in this garden,it has been in the ground the better part of 2 months now,about half my potato plants look like they are dying,some have died,the red and white onions have almost all died out,the pepper plants look just about as bad as the potato's the string beans for now look ok the yellow onions at this time look good and I am getting a few tomatoes ,,,,,,first year is looking like a bust,spent more money on this than I will get in return,I'll let it run its course I may still get some potato's ,and I have not gotten one strawberry this year,and the plants look pretty good


yeah me and my 2 brown thumbs

Our garden is doing okay, nothing spectacular. Our onions did okay, but the potatoes are fizzling out and the squash got the bubonic chronic or something. Like the plants are dying from the stem out.

The beans and peas are fine, as are the tomatoes.

The plums and strawberries didn't do jack, but there was a sorta winter, hen warm, then everything bloomed, then one 20 degree night screwed everything up.

 

[user 6493]

Our garden is doing okay, nothing spectacular. Our onions did okay, but the potatoes are fizzling out and the squash got the bubonic chronic or something. Like the plants are dying from the stem out.

The beans and peas are fine, as are the tomatoes.

The plums and strawberries didn't do jack, but there was a sorta winter, hen warm, then everything bloomed, then one 20 degree night screwed everything up.

it doesn't take much to mess the garden up does it ,to much rain one cold night poor soil,

I had all 3 hit me,oh well,I will try again next year,to get this soil I have up to snuff may take a couple of years,I need a soil tester,maybe take out some of the guess work

 

[Brent S]

I am not happy with what I am seeing in this garden,it has been in the ground the better part of 2 months now,about half my potato plants look like they are dying,some have died,the red and white onions have almost all died out,the pepper plants look just about as bad as the potato's the string beans for now look ok the yellow onions at this time look good and I am getting a few tomatoes ,,,,,,first year is looking like a bust,spent more money on this than I will get in return,I'll let it run its course I may still get some potato's ,and I have not gotten one strawberry this year,and the plants look pretty good


yeah me and my 2 brown thumbs

Sounds like my first year! Just keep on keeping on and it will get better in time.

 

[SheilaT.]

Yep, this year has been an education for me too. I have started harvesting Broad beans and potatoes and I should be harvesting raspberries and blackcurrants this weekend. Like the rest of you, the weeds have taken off and I finally got caught up weeding. Winter squash have finally been planted out.

 

[Psalm7]

I need to get the winter squash planted . Not one of my favorite veggies but hardy and easy to grow .

 

[user 6493]

Yep, this year has been an education for me too. I have started harvesting Broad beans and potatoes and I should be harvesting raspberries and blackcurrants this weekend. Like the rest of you, the weeds have taken off and I finally got caught up weeding. Winter squash have finally been planted out.

there will be no winter garden for me,I want to get some chicken manure and another 30 bags or so of black cow,I moved my fence and will enlarge the garden by 50%.stir it all in and test the soil and go from there

 

[Brent S]

there will be no winter garden for me,I want to get some chicken manure and another 30 bags or so of black cow,I moved my fence and will enlarge the garden by 50%.stir it all in and test the soil and go from there

You'll do a lot better if you can find someone with cows and pu a truck load or trailer load of manure. It's a lot more expensive by the bag. You will have to pile it somewhere and let it compost, but it's way cheaper. I guess this is where the term a pile of S-it comes from....

 

[Proud Prepper]

You'll do a lot better if you can find someone with cows and pu a truck load or trailer load of manure. It's a lot more expensive by the bag. You will have to pile it somewhere and let it compost, but it's way cheaper. I guess this is where the term a pile of S-it comes from....

What kind of sh..! Are you posting on here, Brent? Lol

 

[user 6493]

You'll do a lot better if you can find someone with cows and pu a truck load or trailer load of manure. It's a lot more expensive by the bag. You will have to pile it somewhere and let it compost, but it's way cheaper. I guess this is where the term a pile of S-it comes from....

heck I have cows beside the house,all it would cost me is the price of a pitchfork and the time to go and load the truck,,,,

 

[Dani]

My garden is slowing down now with all the heat and humidity. I am still getting everything except just a few here and there now. My dry beans are almost done for this round so will pull up but leave them pile on some old hay with manure, sand and mulch. Leave it a couple weeks, till it all in and replant. Beans release a good amount of nitrogen back into the soil which is why I am not throwing those to the goats. My pumpkins are not giving new since I cut them back, just focusing with the ones on there getting bigger. Tomatoes that I planted back in March have slowed down considerably but the ones I planted the first part of May ( I think, whenever I got 6 packs for 25 cents a piece cause they were almost dead) have a ton of green tomatoes, just waiting for them to turn. Doing a lot of bean shelling to dry. Also have peppers, tomatoes, & squash in the dehydrator. These will be ground into a veggie powder to use as seasoning. Next to go in will be some barbeque cucumber chips and then start dicing up onions to dry.

 

[Brent S]

The cukes here are producing like crazy. I already have pickles for two years and just picked another batch. Am finally getting tomatoes but don't know if I will get enough to be able to can much over a dozen pints or so. The thing I am excited about though is the okra is finally starting to produce. Spicey pickeled okra is one of my favorites. Just finished digging the last of the potatoes out of the ground and have boxes of them all over that need sorting and storing. I'm still picking loads of huge blackberries and blueberries too. The fig trees, 4 of them, were planted about four years ago, and this is the first year that they are loaded with figs! Not sure when they ripen, but look like they have a ways to go. Grape vines are looking great, loaded with fruit. And the peanuts which I tried for the first time are looking good, especially the ones planted where I kept the hens previously. Those are the good things. The bad this year is no peaches at all. I think I am going to cut down all of them for firewood. The cherry trees produced, but the birds ate every last one just before they were ripe! The apples took a freeze during flowering, but even with a hit I'll still get loads as I have a lot of trees now. The 5 Pear trees that I planted are holding up fine. Hopefully in four years I'll make some pear wine! I think I will hold off planting anything else for a while as it's a full time side job keeping up with the stuff already. It's cool looking back now, just six yeas ago I didn't know anything about plants or care to. It has been fun and gratifying learning how to produce food here. Not always easy, but interesting and rewarding.

 

[Psalm7]

I have Fig trees 1 yeat old . Ill ne patient with them . Blue jays will strip a cherry tree .

 

[Mountain trapper]

Been getting a few strawberries. The raspberry's and blueberry's are getting close to ripening. The blackberry's are putting on some flowers now and one tomato plant has a small tomato. The pepper plants are mostly doing good, some plants have small peppers. The corn is up about 6 inches now, not sure if we'll get any corn before we get frost. Going to try and finish the fence around the garden this weekend. I'm not having any problems with the deer or elk in the garden, but the bears have been leaving big foot prints in the raised beds. Without the fence they'll destroy the berry plants and fruit trees when the fruit gets ripe. When the weather cools down later this Fall I'll shoot a couple bears. Bear rugs make great Christmas gifts.

 

[SheilaT.]

I picked about 4lbs of Broad Beans and 2lbs of Peas as well as 3lbs raspberries today. The Raspberries are not the best, so I will make jam with them. The Canes have been ignored for some years and not only haven't been pruned, but are choked with weeds, they really need digging up and moving. Once we get to autumn I'll do just that. Put them on a fresh piece of land in a couple of rows so that I can run wires to tie them to and keep the weeds down.

 

[Joe SA]

Getting the new garden cleaned up and straitened out. Busy pruning the grape vines. Wasn't pruned for about 6 or 7 years. Then it will be me and digging up the old irrigation system to find out what works and not.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Dani]

Today I pulled up old corn stocks to feed the cows and goats. Went ahead a tilled all those beds but still need to do my adding in of manure, sand, compost and mulch. We went to the feed store and picked up a bunch of bulk seeds. . . some I can do now, but the majority will be done late Aug/early Sept. Today was very pleasant working outside with the cloud coverage. Heat index only 100.

 

[Dani]

The only thing doing g good right now is beans to dry. . . garden is just sad looking otherwise.

 

[Dani]

This last pic shows my struggling zucchini . . . I am still getting, but has had to be cut back severely. Just trying to keep them nursed during the heat and humidity levels right now. Looking forward to the end of August when I can replant some spring items and also that fall garden. July and Aug are the challenging months around d here so all y'all who were jealous of my garden pics back in May still waiting for their produce to come in or the snow to thaw. . . this is my world during g the hot summer no the. . . beans, beans and more beans. Welcome to the great south.

 

[Dani]

View attachment 7300 View attachment 7301 View attachment 7302
This last pic shows my struggling zucchini . . . I am still getting, but has had to be cut back severely. Just trying to keep them nursed during the heat and humidity levels right now. Looking forward to the end of August when I can replant some spring items and also that fall garden. July and Aug are the challenging months around d here so all y'all who were jealous of my garden pics back in May still waiting for their produce to come in or the snow to thaw. . . this is my world during g the hot summer no the. . . beans, beans and more beans. Welcome to the great south.

 

[Maverick]

About the only thing I did today was make ice cream with the strawberries from the garden blended with store bought bananas. Not a productive day though the stomach says otherwise.

 

[Brent S]

About the only thing I did today was make ice cream with the strawberries from the garden blended with store bought bananas. Not a productive day though the stomach says otherwise.

It's good to have a down day once in a while. The body and mind need it more and more as I start getting older! Starting this business has really been cutting into my time for everything else now. I'm not complaining as it's a really good thing, but miss the ability to say screw it, I'm staying in bed for two more hours!

 

[Brent S]

View attachment 7300 View attachment 7301 View attachment 7302
This last pic shows my struggling zucchini . . . I am still getting, but has had to be cut back severely. Just trying to keep them nursed during the heat and humidity levels right now. Looking forward to the end of August when I can replant some spring items and also that fall garden. July and Aug are the challenging months around d here so all y'all who were jealous of my garden pics back in May still waiting for their produce to come in or the snow to thaw. . . this is my world during g the hot summer no the. . . beans, beans and more beans. Welcome to the great south.

I am going to try to can 2 more cases of pickles, a couple jars of okra and a couple jars of tomatoes today. The tomatoes are producing really well now at least so I might get enough canned up for winter now. Berries are producing every three days enough to pick. I already have enough blackberries to make 10 more gallons of wine with it! I'm going to try to pick the onions today, if I can find them in all the weeds that is! With the heat I will be glad for a little break from everything for a few weeks here.

 

[Mountain trapper]

It's good to have a down day once in a while. The body and mind need it more and more as I start getting older! Starting this business has really been cutting into my time for everything else now. I'm not complaining as it's a really good thing, but miss the ability to say screw it, I'm staying in bed for two more hours!

Agree 100%. We should all take some time off occasionally to kick back and enjoy life. It's hard though when you have animals and so much to do. I bought a jet boat a couple of months ago and have only had it in the water one time. I may take a day off this week and take the boat down to the river and go fishing. At least that's my plan. The wife comes home next week so I need to get a couple of projects finished first. There's always something to do.

 

[Dani]

With all my smack talking to hunny about tractors. . . and he had to come pull me out. Turn around is fair play. Went to pick up a load of mulch and my front tires go into one of the small ditches he has dug to drain my goat pasture. Sad thing is, i knew better than try to tackle it from that side. . . oh well, won't do that one again. Building up rows today hopefully before the rain starts. Think I better go picking first then do the row work. That way I can do some shelling during the rains. Also have some tomatoes & peppers that need to go into the dehydrator. Enough of a break, I'm going back out.

 

[Rob Painless]

This is some of what we get to deal with out here. This is a dirt storm that hit us on July 4th. Some call it a 'haboob', I call it hard on my garden & water collection.

 

[Brent S]

This is some of what we get to deal with out here. This is a dirt storm that hit us on July 4th. Some call it a 'haboob', I call it hard on my garden & water collection.

Yikes! That's a scary looking animal!