Stovepipe
-
Posts
4,279 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Blogs
Forums
American Weather
Media Demo
Store
Gallery
Everything posted by Stovepipe
-
This will be the first time I've started seeds in the green house and haven't thought about a heated mat. That's probably a good idea, I'll have to look into it. As a backup I plan to put some under my usual indoor grow lights as well. Getting pumped about the warm season garden! This year we're gonna go all out, adding some new beds and new varieties of things. In addition to canning and freezing I'm going to get serious with some dehydrating. I've seen youtube videos of people dehydrating and rehydrating all sorts of things I never thought about and apparently the flavor and texture comes back decently well even years later. The chickens worked out very very well so this spring we hope to expand our coop a bit to add more roosting room and expand the pen so that we can add a few more hens. We're at 6 now, hoping for 10 or 12. I think I'm also going to try getting into rabbits. Been studying rabbit hutch designs. I don't think it'll be too difficult or expensive to get setup for breeding meat rabbits. What are you planning for the upcoming season Carvers?
-
I'm gonna get mater seeds started in the green house this weekend. The weather is perfect!
-
We may have hit 19 at one point, but so far the plants are still hanging tough! I have a small 4 shelf green house on my deck. I think I may try to keep some stuff like spinach going all winter in that. Maybe the daytime solar heat will keep the soil just warm enough to survive the brief arctic blast nights.
-
Any bets on when the cold kills off the fall/winter crops? Besides cover crops, all I have are relatively small patches of lettuce, kale, cabbage, and some free broccoli I got from Lowes. Also garlic and onions of course for the long haul. It would be nice to see that stuff grow out a bit, but winter will hit when it hits. If it gets hit too hard I guess the chickens will have a big one day frozen feast on it. Cover crop this year is a combination of rye, crimson clover, and (for the first time) bell beans. The latter is like a fava bean that grows in the winter. All of that should result in some nice fertilizer in the beds come spring.
-
Thank you for supporting your local farmers markets! Water bill is going to be higher here but the garden is looking good. Nice man, that's a beautiful harvest!
-
I would imagine the onions will handle the chilly October weather just fine. If I lived where you live I'd keep onions in the ground year round. You could put some in the ground in the fall for a mid/early summer harvest and plant some early spring for an early/mid fall harvest. I mean it's possible you get so cold in the winter that they don't survive but it's worth a try since onion sets are cheap. See if you can find a local ag extension paper on growing onions in your area and see what it says.
-
You should do it, they are fascinating to watch, can turn a compost pile wickedly fast, their poop is awesome for the garden, plus eggs! These 6 chickens have been giving us between 4 and 6 eggs per day. It is my understanding that this summer they will be at peak laying age and production will slowly decline over the years moving forward. A buddy of mine has a flock of 4 year old hens and is still getting regular eggs though so we should be set for awhile.
-
My late winter/early spring project was to get up and running with backyard chickens and it has been a success! We now have a flock of 3 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Buff Orpingtons, all around a year old and laying eggs like crazy. I put composted wood chips in their 16x8 foot run along with a huge pile of homemade compost and they are in heaven. It'll be nice to rake all of that out this fall and put it on the garden. I'll get some pictures posted soon. With all time spent building the coop and run, I've taken a very laid back approach to the garden this year. I've spaced out my plants much more and have far fewer than previous years. This will be easier to maintain which will be nice for a change. As of now I have about 20 tomatoes, 10 peppers, 30 potatoes, 4 cucumbers, some onions and herbs, and lots of garlic. I hope to put in a few swales to catch water and may put a few more plants on those berms. Last year we canned more than we could eat or give away so I think this smaller garden will be just about right. Oh yeah, I have a bunch of greens planted for the chickens as well and some crimson clover for nitrogen building in beds I'm not growing food in at the moment. I may eventually build a hoop house over the largest bed that I can let the chickens scratch up, poop in, and prepare for planting in fall. This would allow me to cover the house in plastic to get a jump start on planting in the spring. Lots of plans and not enough time to do everything! It's sounds like y'all have been busy too. Try to post some pics when you can! Ahhh I remembered one more thing we have going on; a mealworm farm! Since the chickens go nuts over mealworms I decided to order 1000 of them and start raising beetles/eggs/larvae. It's extremely cheap and easy to do and that 1000 could reach 40,000 by fall. These will be a great protein rich treat for the chickens year round plus the kids enjoy messing with them haha.
-
Since I was snowed in with my inch of snow this weekend, decided to do a little canning. We pressure canned 16 pints of chicken stock from 6 months worth of frozen bones, along with celery, onions, garlic, and a few cobs of frozen corn from the summer garden. Also worked up 14 pints of pasta sauce based on a gallon of canned tomato juice from the garden as well. Turned out pretty yummy. Hopefully this stash, along with the existing jars of tomatoes, will get us though the winter and spring.
-
Nothing super impressive but I figured I'd post a few pics of the winter garden. Finally got most of the weeds out of this bed so the collards can hopefully take off, some mustard greens hanging on the side there: Here's the main mustard and turnip green patch. We've already gotten several cuttings from these but they'll die off if that arctic outbreak comes so it's getting about time for a neighborhood green cookoff. Protip: Starbucks has free spent coffee grounds for the taking (I don't frequent the place but the wife studies there from time to time and gets them for me). The grounds are wonderful for garden beds, the worms love them. It remains to be seen whether this setup will caffeinate my garlic lol. If I get wired on pasta sauce next summer I'll let you know. One nice benefit of this is the constant aroma of coffee around this bed. More garlic, these are smaller. I recently packed the raised rows with neighbors' grass/leaf debris and smothered the whole thing in composted wood chips. Hoping they are fertilized enough now for a nice early summer crop (and yes my kids were using that kiddie pool in the background a few days ago... in December!: This relatively large bed is looking pretty rough due to the lettuce being played out for the year. There is still some kale I'm using as well as some collards in the back. I believe I'm going to weedeat most of this down and smother it in woodchips until tomato time. Cover crop bed with winter rye and crimson clover. I'll weedeat this down and cover in woodchips before the crop goes to seed. Should be a nice nitrogen boost to the soil for tomatoes. Another cover crop bed with the same stuff to be used for peppers and cukes: This "L" shaped bed will be for maters, basil, and onions. It has mushroom compost covered in leaves from the yard. I may grab some free horse or rabbit poop from craigslist to give this a nitrogen boost. Finally here's a shot of a small mustard green box with some plants I got from my uncle for Christmas; blueberry, blackberries, and raspberries. This has been the best year for winter gardening I've seen since I started my first one 4 years ago. Even if most of it dies off over the next few weeks it has been a heck of a run!
-
Congrats on the new property, keep us updated on how you get setup in the new space! If you need tips on how to get that soil in shape we'll be glad to help. I've only done cool season gardening for about 4 years but this has been a very interesting winter for it so far. As of right now, lettuce is starting to play out finally. Not from hard freezing of course but just from yielding over and over again since early fall, the plants are worn out. We've gotten a ridiculous amount of cuttings from those plants. Mustard and turnip greens and kale are still going strong and collards are are not far from being ready to eat (they were choked out by the weeds, now that weeds are removed I'm hoping they really take off). Garlic, which would usually be in sort of hibernation at this point looks like what you'd expect to see in April. The 45 day cabbage came and went and the cover crop of crimson clover and winter rye is rocking. It's just amazing to see everything so vibrant and growing. Weeds like creeping charlie (or henbit, not sure which it is honestly) have been a frustrating issue with the relative warmth and abundant rain. It's particularly a pain because if you don't rip them out early the roots go deep and interfere with everything. I've finally gotten around to ripping most of that stuff out. One odd thing is a general lack of pests. I've not seen a single white fly this season. Just a few aphid type things that the lady bugs seem to be keeping in check. Haven't even had to use Carver's Dipel Dust. Knowing the warmth won't last, I'm trying to get a final covering on all of my beds. I was fortunate to get my neighbors' bagged late fall yard clippings (leaves and grass) so that has been a nice addition. Also my wood chip pile that's been sitting there since spring is very nicely composted so I'm putting that on top. There is a ton of free manure (rabbit and horse mostly) on craigslist that I'm going to take advantage of too this winter. I'm trying to get the soil in top shape for spring planting. Another project that I'm super excited about is my chicken coop. I have all the lumber ready to go, just need some rain free days to work on it. Once that's built I'll need to get the run setup then hopefully get the baby girls in March (aiming for six birds). Super pumped about having some country eggs and chicken poop for the garden! I've been toying with the idea of putting solar panels near the coop for indoor lighting, water dish warming during winter, and door automation. But first thing first I've got to get this coop built. I'll post pics of the progress once that is under way. It's also almost time to start tomato seedlings. My folks got me a small green house for Christmas that I'm going to put on the deck. Depending on arctic outbreaks I may try to start some seedlings out there; certainly it will be nice for hardening off plants later on when frost would otherwise be a threat. I may look into putting some kind of heat source in it. The bulk of my heirloom seedlings will be grown under grow lights again though. We're very much missing those fresh maters. The jars we have canned are nice but of course there is no beating fresh.
-
As of yesterday, September 13th, I have everything planted for fall/winter except for the garlic which will go in next weekend. Here's my line up: Collards Lettuce (butter crunch, red, and romaine) Spinach Cabbage (45 day variety) Kale Mustard Greens Turnip Greens Rye (Winter Magic) and Crimson Clover for cover crops I'm struggling to get spinach seeds to germinate. After reading up on it, apparently they can be finicky about temps and may not sprout if it's too hot. I planted like 3 weeks ago so I'm sure that is the problem, it's nearly a month earlier than I usually plant. I may have to replant now that things have cooled off a bit. This go around I'm trying something a little bit different with cover crops based on a buddy of mine's suggestion. Rather than just plant crimson clover to fix nitrogen over the winter then pull it up in the spring, I mixed the clover with rye (not rye grass) which should grow as high as six feet. I did this in the two main beds that I plan on having tomatoes and peppers in next summer. The idea is come spring I'll cut it all with hedge trimmers at about 1 foot, before post hole digging to plant the maters and peppers, and leave the cut clover and rye on there as a mulch. This should add root structure to the soil, nutrients from the biomass, and discourage weeds. It should also re-seed itself for the fall. We'll see how well this actually works, although my friend has had good luck with it in the past. For the other beds I'm adding shredded wheat straw, eventually shredded leaves (for minerals), and some finely chipped wood chips. All of that should decompose nicely over winter and help to keep weeds out. I lucked into getting a hand me down wood chipper from a family member and that thing has been awesome. Rather than just throwing my old warm season plants into the compost bin I've been shredding them up and that is resulting in much faster and better compost. I'll get some pictures posted soon. What is everyone else doing for fall/winter this time? Oh and Carvers, how often do you apply your Dipple Dust to your cabbage? This will be my first season using it. I'm already seeing white flies around and put an initial light coating of dust on the new plants. Just not sure how often to refresh it, thanks.
-
Well, my tomato yield is down to about a third of what it was in June as the plants are starting to look a bit rough. I'm sitting on 45 quarts of whole tomatoes. There is still enough coming in every 3 or 4 days to can or give a bunch away. I think I'm going to switch to canning juice now in half gallon jars. It's nice to bust out a jar of that in winter and make pasta sauce in a crock pot. It has been a busy and fairly productive summer. I'm going to miss having the fresh produce around but am also excited about the fall/winter plantings. It's about to be collard season, yay! This fall I'm going for the following: - Garlic and Onions (for early summer harvest) - Potatoes in ground now for fall harvest - Lots of spinach - Lots of collards - Maybe some lettuce I will probably start the collards and spinach within the next two weeks.
-
My wife and I went to see the Dead play their final shows in Chicago over the weekend (best concerts I've ever seen in my life hands down btw) and came home to this: A bushel basket plus another small bucket or two of maters. There were probably 30 fallen soldiers in addition that over ripened or got pecked by birds etc. Canned 14 quarts the first night back and need to do twice that. We're blowing up over here with the pattern shift that brought more rain. This is the earliest and biggest yield of tomatoes we've seen since we started gardening. Getting more than we can eat, can, or give away. Nuts dude!
-
Ah ok, I recall my mom using that in her garden many years ago. Good for you not harming the bees. Well said my friend! I just placed an order, thanks Carvers!
-
This is a new variety of paste tomato I tried this year, the Goldman's Italian: I harvested the German Red garlic this weekend and planted red potatoes in it's place.
-
I'm very happy with my system overall. The hose in the second kit that I bought does have some "sprayers" that keep the bottom leaves of some plants wet and yellow. The original kit doesn't spray at all. Not a big deal, the system has done a great job at keeping my soil nice and wet. It saturates a nice large area. We'll see how the hose holds up over time. Thanks for sharing photos of your stuff, it all looks great! Love that purple cabbage. John, how do you deal with the white fly worms on your cabbage? I've given up on brussels, cabbage, and broccoli due to them. Last year I tried some organic spray but it didn't really help.
-
Getting one or two of these bad boys each day. The flavor.... is ridiculous.
-
Oh no! Was it the bear that was running around town? lol
-
Picked my first two tomatoes of the season today, big ol' Pink Brandywines. Two or three days in the windowsill and they'll be perfect. The surge is coming. I expect to be canning by early July.
-
I got my soaker hose system setup this weekend and it seems to work perfectly. I was so impressed with it that I went and bought another 100 foot kit to expand it further. This is the product I got at Lowes for $25: http://www.swanhose.com/product-p/celslk38100cc.htm What I like about this kit is you can customize it to your needs and it is super easy to work with. You just measure and cut the lengths of hose you need and hook it up with the various fittings. So far I've not covered the hose with soil and I'm not seeing much reason to do so. I've just got it anchored in spots with landscaping pins. There has been zero spraying, just a constant dribble which is perfect. After an afternoon, the soil was visibly wet at least a foot on both sides of the hose. I've got a few more expansions I want to do to get it up into a couple raised boxes but at this point 80% of my garden is covered. I highly recommend it.
-
-
Kettle River Giant garlic is in. Not as big as I'd hoped for but bigger than last year's grocery store variety. Still waiting on the German Red to fall over. Green bell peppers rolling in. Cajun Bells coming in early, time for a summer chili!
-
I still haven't had time to fool with it yet but I'm thinking I'll cover it loosely with soil. The main thing is to ensure the kids won't trip over it. It won't be a permanent installation though. This fall I'd like to run it down to the plot where I plan to build a hoop house.
-
All the talk about blight and rot got me paranoid about running the sprinkler so I figured I'd go for the soaker hose. Got something that looks like this from Lowes for about $24, it's 100 feet long and I plan to run four 25 foot sections: I may add an additional 50-100 feet to cover another set of raised rows depending on how dry we get. I have no love for hoes! I covered my garlic in wheat straw last fall and the wheat seeds germinated. It's been a pain pulling all of that out of the beds. That and all of the little tomato seedlings that come up from the home made compost. I need to go back to burying my plants in woodchips. I've never tried pumpkins, keep us updated on how these turn out for you this year.