The homemade mix kinda worked but there was too much rain. I'm actually thinking of trying some kind of chemical spray next year. (Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. Chemicals suck.)
I tried some kind of a mix from a nursery, but the precautions made me very nervous so I stopped. It really didn't do any good. Best thing I found was to give them lots of room. Pick off and dispose of all infected plant leaves. Sometimes that was half the plant, but I found they came back really fast and productive. Spacing out the he plants so the don't touch each other also really helps.
Charles Ingalls bought a small homestead which he thought was underutilized. The previous owner had only used a small portion of the land to grow wheat. Charles expanded and planted most of his fields with wheat. That summer a horde of grasshoppers came through and wiped out the crop. He lost a lot of money but got things together and planted a second season of wheat. Again, grasshoppers came through and wiped him out. He sold the farm.
I meant the book not the TV series. Didn't think the TV series was very true to the book series which was much better.
A bio I read about the family a while back. Don't remember the author but it wasn't a family member. The book was rather enjoyable because it was more matter of fact about the family dynamics and not all glossed over with romantic visions of frontier farm life. The story stuck with me because basic farming doesn't change over the decades or centuries. That is what I got out of it. Babbling to myself. Considering giving up trying to grow squash here. Ignore me. Chick moment. Lmao.
I think there is the opportunity for Chick moments at times. Farming is hard no matter who you are - a 1900s farmer or a 2014s farmer, a backyard farmer or a commercial scale farmer trying to make a living.
Admitted defeat this year.. No peppers, literally 1/10 lb of broccoli (deer ate the rest) and pulled probably 2 dozen small tomatoes off of the vines... This year's garden was small and right behind the house giving it only 2-3 hours of sunlight per day. Getting ready for next year in a spot with more sun and will have better soil prep as well as a 6 foot boundary to keep our hoofed friends out!!
I spent my teen years on a farm and can appreciate just the amount of effort , and work that is needed , but also the satisfaction at harvest time ! Well done!
Has anybody every grown New Zealand spinach? A client gave me a few plants about 5 years ago and we stuck them in the garden, didn't really get much that year, but we let it go to seed and the next year we had it springing up all over the garden very early in the spring, before it was warm enough to plant most of the other crops. This did two things, it gave us an early crop that we could harvest which really required no effort to plant or care for on our part, and it also crowds out most of the other early weeds that would have normally come up. Now every year we let some of this New Zealand spinach go to seed and enjoy an abundance of fresh spinach early in the year. We could eat it most of the rest of the year too, but by the time the other crops start rolling in we have had our fill of it and just let them grow in selected areas as welcome weeds. Although it's not a "true" spinach the tender early spring shoots are great in salads, and it can be used just like regular spinach in other recipes. http://www.seedsavers.org/onlinestore/spinach/Spinach-New-Zealand.html
I grew it once in the 70's, we liked the taste and the fact that it did not seem to bolt or get bitter with summer heat. I was not fond of stripping all those tiny leaves off along with the little bud/balls, but it certainly tasted just like spinach. Don't remember any big problems with bugs, either.
End of the season is coming quick. Picked all but one honeydew melon. I've never grown melons this big. It was a bit over-ripe and wasn't terribly flavorful. Still calling it a success though. now that it has stopped raining I've got winter squash to get to before the deer do and some beans to pick and shell. Maybe the late planting of string beans to pick.
Looking to move the garden and make it larger in the process. I have always (all 2 years of gardening!) removed the grass by slicing with a shovel by hand. Is this necessary or can I just till now and till again a few times in the spring before laying down some mulch? I'm thinking 20'x30' or so should make me happy for a few years, so its a decent amount of shovel work I am hoping to avoid!
You might want to just cover the area with tarps or paper (cardboard would work) now, then in the spring till it all under. That would save you some work.
You'll end up with a lot of grass growing back. Spray the area with a bleach solution and then cover with a tarp let the sun hit it for a day/two- it works wonders for killing grass
Planted broccoli two weeks ago and a rabbit found all but one of them. I made some round cages out of 1x1 wire the other night - hopefully they make it or I'm replanting in a couple days
The last time I dug up sod (this was forty years old/thick sod) for some more garden space I shoveled the clumps of sod onto a horizontal chain link fence gate and beat the dirt out of them with three or so slaps of the shovel. I had the gate up on milk crates at the corners and worked down a row the width of the gate. With nice dry dirt during a dry spell it was rather quick work. No decomposing clumps robbing nitrogen and no clumps trying to grow back. I had a hole to fill to put the dirt-free sod in and some went in the compost. I only went as deep as the shovel as a rototiller can't till that deep and that's about the depth where I reach gravel and it is very rocky gravel. Although that particular row in the pic was very deep dirt and uncharacteristically rock free for some odd reason.
I have a decent fall garden going even if I did get it in late. Greens are jumping. Also have some radishes, lettuce, and spinach.
