So, the goats get a main course of plants followed by a 2nd course of potatoes and onions. What are they having for dessert?
What's Growing in the Garden
- Thread starter trc65
- Start date
Well, I am hoping the nanny has a kid this winter so you have to feed them up right, you know.
I've had so much more success growing inside under the grow lights, I'm intending to keep going right through the winter. Just put 8 more lettuce, 4 spinach, 4 heirloom mustard greens and some German winter Thyme seeds into the mini soilblocks yesterday. Planning to have fresh greens all winter long.
Moved several pepper plants that have been in pots, inside out of the cold and they are doing better there than they were outside.
Bunch of medicinal plants doing great down there as well.
There are some old fashioned methods of making the ACV without first pressing cider. Essentially just chopping up the apples, even using the peels & cores fom apples that went to pie and such, fermenting them in water first then continuing on to vinegar. I've been itching to give it a try myself but time... space... always sumthin.
2feathers idea with the blender sounds like an improvement on just chopping it up.
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #1,065
Good deal, be sure to update us with your progress. Your mentioning thyme reminds me I've got to get thyme and rosemary pulled tomorrow and on the drying racks.
My seed garlic order from Filaree Farm was delivered the other day, so this morning I planted garlic. Ordered 1/2lb each of Killarney Red and Chesnok Red. In addition to planting those, we had received a bulb of each Bagatyr and Pehoski Purple from a local seed library at their annual fall seed giveaway. Each year they give away older seeds as well as some seed garlic and walking onion sets. Also planted some of the garlic we harvested this year, but do not know what the variety is - we had received some from a friend to plant last year (which is the garlic that we didn't get to plant until spring this year) and they didn't know the variety either. Planted 136 individual cloves within a 4' x 5' area of one of our raised beds. I figure there should be time left to plant something in there for a fall harvest, especially if we get seeds started indoors and then transplant once the garlic has been harvested.
With the planting of the garlic, this marks the end of our garden work for the year. The only thing that I might do yet before the ground freezes is to drive in some posts to put up another cattle panel for an arched trellis.
With the planting of the garlic, this marks the end of our garden work for the year. The only thing that I might do yet before the ground freezes is to drive in some posts to put up another cattle panel for an arched trellis.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #1,067
I've still got work to do. Haven't planted garlic yet, still need to dig potatoes and harvest Brussel sprouts.
We haven't grown potatoes, but are thinking about doing so next year. We tried Brussel sprouts, but between planting them a little too late and the animals eating at the plants, we ended up pulling them out as they weren't going to end up producing anything.
Chesnok is in my top three favorites. Was only able to get a small amount of it at the farmer's markets this summer. All the biggest heirloom garlic growers in this area had a bad year with the weather the way it was.
I've done a lot of learning this year about things to grow in short seasons and cold weather harvest. It's surprising the number of things people plant in cold northern areas that they start in late summer/early fall and harvest well into the winter, sometimes out from under a couple feet of snow in January.
Fruition Seeds in the Finger Lakes region of New York has seeds that are specifically bred for the cold north and has a lot of specialty heirlooms developed for cold weather.
My Tatsoi/Asian Spinach is doing great now since weave had a couple mild frosts. Couple breeds of lettuce that really like the cold too. Mustard Greens, Collards...
The fall winter, inside garden is going strong along with things still going outside both in pots and in the ground. Inside, I'm up to three grow lights now and looking to add a couple more soon but I'm already beyond maxed out for space. Once I decided that inside, under the lights is what works best for me here, and having developed a pretty good system using those soil block makers I bought, I planted 16 Romaine lettuce of various kinds, another 16 spinach, a mess of Mustard Greens and some other medicinal plants with a plan to continue succession planting through the winter.
Between the soil blocks and the lights, most of the seeds are germinating within just a couple days and progress rapidly. Found certain seeds to be duds and I'm struggling with space and having enough pots but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Put these lettuce seeds in the 3/4 mini blocks just four days prior on Sept 28th.
Oct 2nd
Having just received my third light, relegating the short one to seed starting and being pressed for space..., a gear driven bandsaw I've had on the someday list for a rebuild for way too many years, was pressed into service in what I think was a burst of creative genius.
Oct 7th. Spinach coming up in front of the lettuce.
That was enough root growth in these mini blocks to move them up into the 2x2 blocks and they looked like this on the 12th.
Oct 20th, the spinach were potted up and some more lettuce and mustard greens that were seeded on the 4th joined the others in the 2x2 blocks.
Oct 27th. - Don't ask me what I'm using for a table here, I'm not telling, the bandsaw thing is bad enough.
Between the soil blocks and the lights, most of the seeds are germinating within just a couple days and progress rapidly. Found certain seeds to be duds and I'm struggling with space and having enough pots but I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Put these lettuce seeds in the 3/4 mini blocks just four days prior on Sept 28th.
Oct 2nd
Having just received my third light, relegating the short one to seed starting and being pressed for space..., a gear driven bandsaw I've had on the someday list for a rebuild for way too many years, was pressed into service in what I think was a burst of creative genius.
Oct 7th. Spinach coming up in front of the lettuce.
That was enough root growth in these mini blocks to move them up into the 2x2 blocks and they looked like this on the 12th.
Oct 20th, the spinach were potted up and some more lettuce and mustard greens that were seeded on the 4th joined the others in the 2x2 blocks.
Oct 27th. - Don't ask me what I'm using for a table here, I'm not telling, the bandsaw thing is bad enough.
I had a few things that I was going to let grow a bit longer, into the cold. Unfortunately the animals have been eating on them. For example, I had planted some lettuce for a fall harvest. Every time the leaves got to be about 2", eaten right down to the ground... I think a hoop house might be in order for some things next year. Leeks would've stayed in the ground longer, and would have been advantageous to wait and harvest when we were less busy, but my wife harvested them, not realizing I wanted to leave them in longer - same with the bok choy.
Looks a lot like my stuff. My outdoor work table is a 5 foot stainless restaurant prep table. My tool storage is a single door dis used commercial freezer, My outdoor chick brooder is an out of service chiller/sales display. My small plywood storage is a double door commercial freezer. And I have a 2 door prep table out back waiting for refurbishment into a drying kiln. Not a lot of work to it just finding the time...
We all have our eccentricities. My sweet heart happens to have a 10 gallon crock that has been her trashcan ever since I brought it home. Her planters tend to veer toward Fenton and murano bowls pressed into service much against my will.
That being said...
Nice patch of greens. I just planted my potatoes and onions and this past weekend, added about 250 gallons of water to the interior of the greenhouse in a first attempt at passive temperature equalizing. Now for the thermometer to find out how it is doing...
Fast and furious hoop house is cattle panels for me. I have used pvc before but didn't install my cross braces so the longevity suffered...
If I were to work a semi permanent hoop house, I would look at a snap together storage unit that was designed with tarp covers in mind. Then, I (being 'frugal') would likely replicate in schedule 80 pvc to withstand the moisture better.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #1,074
If you've got the space, consider doing something like my seed starting rack out of PVC. Shelves don't move but lights on chains go up and down depending on need. With the design I used, I can keep plants until ~10-12” under lights. It was cheap to make and nothing is glued together so it can be changed as needs changed. Mine was made for four ft florescent/led lights, but could be adapted for any light size.
I have been thinking of exactly that lately. If I only had several square feet of floor space to put the shelves. I could potentially do a second tier over my current space but my mental state is in constant prep to bugout to the north any minute and trying to avoid doing anything more in this place. Kinda stuck in not know wether I'm coming or going... getting near time to throw some TNT on this log jam.
Any kind of construction that keeps the critters out appears to be a major step up to me. A very cheap electric fence has been a real blessing for me this summer, put up very impromptu when a groundhog started chompin my broccoli one day this spring.
Just a few weeks ago a momma bear with her three cubs had been coming and going through the yard, got attracted to the garden area over a batch of Kefir (liquid yogurt) that got dumped in the compost pile. I ran out to yell and scare them off, before I could say a word I hear what sounds like someone up there yell out loud and realized one of the bears backed up into the electric fence... Two of them went up a tree like a shot and the other two split in separate directions into the woods. It was like a scene from The Three Stooges.
Yah, if nothing else life is never boring for us.
Potatoes in the ground now to come up in spring? I was wondering if I could do that or not.
I just stumbled on a series of videos promoting this high end geodesic dome greenhouse. Pricey as @#$@ but it used a big water tank on the back wall to store heat, all designed for use in extreme cold climates. Had some reflectors on the back/north wall to reflect heat to the tank.
That would've been funny to watch!
State of the greens as of yesterday.
And a question. Anybody have any idea what's doing this to my pepper plant?
It's getting the same nutrients and everything else as other pepper plants that have no sign of this and are doing really well.
And a question. Anybody have any idea what's doing this to my pepper plant?
It's getting the same nutrients and everything else as other pepper plants that have no sign of this and are doing really well.
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Told my wife I'm glad the momma bear didn't charge me, I was laughing so hard I'd have been helpless.