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 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 13:04
It rained all weekend long. I drove home from work on Friday and got a little hail. The rain held off on Saturday morning long enough for me to get a few pictures and do a little bit of stuff on the garden. My daughter and I got some transplants for the last few squares of her little plot. Then it rained Saturday night and all day Easter Sunday.
The rain barrells are all full and have been since Saturday afternoon. I was wondering why they weren't filling up very fast when I got home Friday during the storm. Then I noticed all the water coming over the side of the gutters in the back yard. The gutters were full of leaves and those helicopter like oak seeds. Between downpours, I climbed up on the roof and cleaned out the gutters. If the barrells hadn't been there, I probably would have found a reason to put it off until the weather was better, but I wanted my rainwater.
So far my house has received 3.4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and another 1.7 inches on Friday night and Saturday.
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 15, 2011 07:57
Well, it rained last night. Kind of. we had tornado warnings all over the place. They were just to the north and just to the south of me. The airport just about 4 miles from me as the crow flies received 1.27 inches of rain. My rain guage received about 0.1 inches. That's right it wasn't even enough rain to wash the dust off my car.
On the garden itself, I've had a couple of set backs. The dog walked through the garden and damaged one lettuce seedling and one beet. The big lug didn't even say he was sorry. Also, I'm having difficulty with a few bean seeds that never sprouted. I dug a couple of them up and to the best of my knowledge, they never sprouted and I think it was because I kept the garden too wet. That's right wet instead of just damp. I replanted the seeds that never came up so we'll see how they do. I may have had the same thing happen to my cucumbers. I planted 4 seeds and only one came up.
Dill apparently needs sunlight before those seeds will germinate. I may have planted them too deep.
This weekend I have several projects planned. First of all I want to correct the problems I just mentions above. Then I need to haul off another load of railroad ties to the dump and pick up another load of mulch. Build and start my daughter's 2 ft x 4 ft SFG. Mow (I hate grass. I wish I could just plant every inch of the yard), and enjoy the weather.