by JarHeadTed
March 23, 2012 12:33
I took a chance. We've experienced a pretty mild winter this year and it looks like it might not freeze anymore. I took a gamble and went ahead and planted most of my garden. I have spinich, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, peas, squash, carrots, and 3 kinds of beans planted so far.
This year I'm trying to only grow heirloom veggies again. I may break down and grow some hybrid green beans, but hopefully that won't be the case. The real question is whether I should plant bush beans or pole beans.
by JarHeadTed
February 09, 2012 11:03
This week marks a major milestone in the development of the PSP. We have several loads of lumber at the cabin site, all of it milled from out trees on the land. This week construction on the cabin will start. We hope to have a functional, but not finished cabin by Memorial Day weekend. I'll post pictures of the construction as it progresses, hopefully weekly but more likely every other week.
On the garden front, I've started a few seeds. I started the cucumbers, eggplant and 3 varieties of tomato for this year. Hopefully I'll have better luck with them this year than last. I'm still hoping to build a greenhouse but just haven't had the time yet. Between hunting, other PSP projects and chores around the house, the garden type projects have taken a back seat lately. I do have the raised beds extended this year but I still need to haul in more dirt and mix in my compost.
by JarHeadTed
December 09, 2011 14:13
Now that it's getting cold out, I decided to start prepping the garden for next spring. It's still archery deer season, gun season closed last weekend, but there's more to life than hunting. Last year (read about it in the archives) I had 2 4x8 raised beds. I went to the lumber yard and bought some 2x12s and replaced the landscape timbers.
Yesterday I finished scraping the sod off of the new garden area. The next step is to start filling in the new areas with new top soil and compost. I've been working my compost pile for 9 months now and there's some good compost in there now.
In the next few weeks I'll be constructing a PVC greenhouse over the beds and hope to have some plants started in January 2012. I'm looking forward to starting some broccoli, kale, lettuce, Swiss Chard, and even some tomatoes within a week of the last day of archery deer season (Jan. 15).
Also, my wife is starting to soften on the idea of a few backyard chickens.
by JarHeadTed
August 18, 2011 11:11
It's been a while since I've written here. Let me recap what has happened on my "homestead" since then. In June I harvested squash, a few beans, and the lettuce was plentiful. The herb garden did well. However the cucumbers never did comes in. Neither did the tomatoes.
Then July started and so did the heat wave. We had 100+ temps almost everyday in July. I blamed the heat for the tomatoes for a while. The squash died shortly after the heat hit due to the fact that I planted a variety that doesn't do well in the heat. We harvested about 15 ears of corn out of a dozen plants. About this time I finally realized I had a white fly problem. These guys were cutting off the tomato flowers before they ever got pollinated. Needless to say, I never did harvest a single tomato. By the end of July, everything but the okra was dead. I tried to plant a small fall crop but our new puppy couldn't stay out of the garden.
Now it's time to prepare for deer season.
by JarHeadTed
May 25, 2011 09:05
When will I get a few consecutive days of sun. That's what I need for me veggies to really take off. It's been not just rainy but stormy or looking stormy for several days now. I WAT SOME SUNSHINE!
Last night we had strong tornado spawning storms. None of the tornadoes were near my garden, but we did have some strong straight line winds that reached about 40mph. This was only half the predicted 80mph from the TV station. Upon hearing this, I put stakes up and did everything I could to keep my corn stalks from getting knocked over. It has been so wet so far this year that the roots are all pretty shallow, so I was worried.
The garden survived. It's no worse than any other good rainshower.
Before the storm hit, I did harvest lettuce and swiss chard to give to a couple of people who have expressed interest. We still have enough lettuce from the harvest a couple of days ago to last until we have more in the garden. I now know that I can keep 4 square fet of the SFG planted in lettuce to supply the family with all we'll eat. That's good to know so I can maximize the "storable" veggies next year.
by JarHeadTed
May 23, 2011 08:13
Looks like I'll be picking squash and peppers soon. The fruit of both are starting to come on strong. Even the potato plants are starting to reach for the sky. It's time to add more much on those bad boys.
Even the nasturium is getting into the act:
I'm still waiting for my tomato blooms to turn into little tomatoes.
We ended up with 2 inches of rain over the weekend at the house with temperatures in the mid to high 80s during the day.
by JarHeadTed
May 21, 2011 12:44
Today we hace lots of leaf and romaine lettuce as well as swiss chard, broccoli, parsley, and the very first green bean.
Guess what's for dinner tonight?
by JarHeadTed
May 20, 2011 14:17
OK, OK. It's been a while since I last posted. Here's the update. I'm now harvesting enough lettuce to supply the family with all the salad we want. I even bring a salad to work for lunch a day or 2 each week as well. The plants are all growing on a daily basis. I still have a couple of squares that were planted in beans that never sprouted. I'm going to plant those in okra when it gets a little warmer.
The pepper plants are forming their first fruits. I'll have jalapenos in about 3 weeks I think. The squash in the 3 sisters garden has blooms and baby squash on it. The tomatoes are blooming and I'm cutting dill, oregano, and parsley. I haven't taken a look at the carrots or beats but the greens are growing wildly. Same story with the swiss chard. I'm gonna cut some of that and boil it for dinner tomorrow. Even the Nasturium provided it's first flower yesterday.
I do have a small problem with the girl's cabbage. They are getting holes in their leaves. I've read that these are from small worms. One of the remedies I've read that I think I'm gonna try is to sprinkle flour on it. It sounds gruesome, but the theory is that the worms will eat the flour instead of the leaves and the flour will start to expand and cause the worm to explode. I'll give it a try.
On the weather front, we've had several days of rain and/or overcast skies lately. The rain barrels are full. I think we got about 1.5 inches of rain just today.
Here are the pictures:
by JarHeadTed
April 25, 2011 07:45
Even though the pictures don't quite show it, there is growth in the garden. Saturday I harevsted another serving of lettuce for a salad. The tomatoes are growing as well as everything else. I'm sure the growth will be exponential in a few more weeks. My Okra still hasn't sprouted yet. I think I planted it too early and thw soil isn't quite warm enough yet. That's OK though. I have some okra transplants ready to go from the garage.
The following are the pictures of the progress.
by JarHeadTed
April 22, 2011 07:59
UPDATE: As I was driving home from work today, thunder storms materialized in front of my very eyes. By the time I got home It was already pouring down rain. I checked the rain barrels and was disappointed to see that their level had hardly gone up at all. On the way back inside the gutters started overflowing on me. THEY WERE CLOGGED! In a break in the storm I climbed up on the roof and unclogged the gutters. Just the water that was standing in there alone came close to filling my barrels. Of course, now I need to clean out the #1 barrel because a lot of the crap that came down the gutters is now it there. Tomorrow there's another 60% chance of thmber-boomers.
Total rain fall from both systems showed just a hair more than an inch of rain.
We got a little rain at the 'ol homestead yesterday. I think it was about 0.15 inches. The plants ae getting bigger. I think they got kicked into overdrive since the last picture. I'll be posting another one this weekend.
I'm concerned that only one of my mayflower beans has sprouted so far. It's the only one out of nine and it kinda quit growing after it broke through the surface. I'll keep an eye on it.
by JarHeadTed
April 18, 2011 08:31
Here's a picture of the lettuce "thinning" that made it's way into the salad bowl on tonight's dinner table. Makes me smile even though it's a small bounty. It'll get bigger as the summer goes on.
by JarHeadTed
April 16, 2011 15:17
Here's a picture of the box I made for my little girl. It's half the size of the recommended Square Foot Garden. Sitting at 4ft x 2ft it should be large enough for my daughter to take care of. I transplanted her cabbage and then took a few of my seedlings from the garage and put them in. She has a Nasturtium, a Mortgage lifter tomato and a squash in the back row. Not counting the cabbage, she has 4 squares to plant on her own. I'll be interested to see if she puts in flowers or veggies.
Looking at the my main SFG bed, I put up a trellis for the tomatoes and cucumbers. I found this "trellis" in the trash pile at a construction site. Lately I've found a wealth of supplies in some of these construction sites. I believe there is no need to buy half if the new supplies at a hardware store when there is so much waste on these construction sites.Please also note the growth in my plants. Granted, it's hard to see in these pictures, but everything is growing. I'll keep putting more weekly picutres up to show the progress. This will no doubt encourage me as the summer goes on.