Our 2012 Garden Thread | Page 3 | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

So we have been going through monsoon season the last couple weeks and haven't gotten a whole heck of a lot done, well besides killing my seedlings in our cold frame. We had a real warm sunday so I took the lid off the top so that they didn't overheat, that night we got 4 inches of rain and they got drowned, we had som much rain the top of the tote filled up and that is without runoff from the roof, I still can't figure out how a 12 inch tote top was filled by 4 inches of rain, it must be the new math they are talking about these days

But it did do a good job filling my water storage

and topped off the pond, my dog is waiting patiently for the ducks to return

the potatoes were sprouting

since I am hoping to have the guys come down and build the pad for the mini barn I had to clear out some blackberry bushes

they should be able to fit through there with their small skidder

I ripped out some runners along the fence line, I am always amazed how far they will spread out

the clear plastic did a great job of growing weeds instead of killing them

I decided to double stack these beds and plant them for carrots this year

I had 10 yards of mulch delivered, we decided to go with black this year

and spent the next 2 days with a snow shovel and wheel barrow.

another reason I moved the beds is the apple tree was shading the beds to much

my peas were starting to sprout as well

my buddy stopped by and asked why we wasted all the time and energy mulching when I could just mow between the beds, didn't really have a answer besides I like the looks and it keeps the weeds down

I had some soil left over from last year so I mixed some mulch and soil together and topped off the doubled beds

I was taking a break and my buddy looked over and said what's in the tree, I think it's a cat I replied, sure enough it was and it was stuck in a notch in the limbs

option a: hope it can unstuck itself

option b: call the fire dept

option c: cut it down

Hold on Kitty!

the cat jumped out just before the tree hit and took off and didn't even say thank-you

so we spent yesterday finishing up the mulching

it's suppose to sunny and warm on sunday so I hope to finish the beds and start planting then

with all the rain the back field is a swamp

so we are moving on to plan B, we are just going to build up the end here that already has a gravel base and build on that

they are here now building up the pad, I'll post more later, peace

well this big orange round thing called the sun finally decided to come out and play the last couple of days so we could actually finish getting the garden in.

For some reason our local farmers union has been out of garlic sets the last few years so I went in the pantry and grabbed some bulbs from the strand we had made last year from our garden.

Garlic is pretty easy to plant, break apart the bulbs and stick the pointy side up, can't get any easier than that

I finally got in my horseradish root the other day

I didn't want to plant these in the beds because the roots can spread several feet in a season and can become invasive. So I decided to plant them outside the shorter box. I dug up the ground and mixed in some compost

and spaced the root out about a foot apart from each other

I covered them with soil, I will have to keep a eye on these guys this summer.

I had saved some of the dehydrated habaneros my father in law had planted last year before he passed on. I figured I would replant them this year and try and make some hot sauce for the family for x-mas and continue to propagate the plant each year

I decided to do them in planters, that way I could move them indoors or into the greenhouse late in the season if needed. When I laid out the garden I set up one bed for my plants that needed warmth. I planted my bell peppers and tomatoes in there, so I set the planters in there spaced out among the tomatoes

and covered it with some agribon to help keep the warmth in

we should have a good blueberry harvest

the radishes were starting to sprout

something was digging into my beans and cukes, so I had to replant some of them, but they are doing well

the zucchini was sprouting

as was the squash I planted in the planters along the fence

the onion sets were really taking off though, I had just planted these on sunday

the potatoes have really exploded with the brief sun we have had, if it continues like this I will putting on another layer of tires this weekend

it's good to finally have the garden in, now I can start focusing on other things

so even though the rain continues, things are growing

we should have a good blackberry crop this year

we will get some cherries this year

a couple of the apple trees are producing well

my wife harvested some strawberries the other day

so I sliced them up and threw them on the dehydrator

the next morning they were done

the blueberries are looking good

the grapes were budding, I need to secure them a little higher this year

the radish was sprouting good

the horseradish I had planted last week was breaking through already

I need to thin out the cukes

zucchini is doing real well

cauliflower not so well

Something had been digging the beans but have since left them alone

the garlic is sprouting

the onion sets took right off

I got away from the three sisters method this year and went with just straight corn in the beds

can't wait for the watermelon

the pumpkins are doing okay as well

the squash is working well in the planters

the potatoes were in need of another stack

so I threw some on

and used some of the composted mulch to dress around the plants

I need some sun