I just sorted through my seed jar. Looks like I have everything I need. Good to know because last year cost me at least a hundred. Yesterday I turned one compost added to another by pulling bean vines off all fencing. Seeing I'm cutting dead ash I will use that as raised frames for the compost and a deep bed for the sweet taters I'm starting slips on today. As soon as potting mixes defrost I start my flower's, a few herbs and lettuce flats. Then all brassica, spinach to go to green house. I pulled out all the insulated blankets for night temps. I am expanding the garden to cover needed protected space for the pumpkin and melons. Though some melon will be green house grown with a few jalapeños peppers and tomatoes for extended harvests. Once the chicken coop/ green house is finished I'll make a plan on how much I can grow in there. The walls are 4ft high so the chickens will have all the 10x20 floor space and the one end for their roosts. The plant end will have 4ft high shelves with a row cover screen from chickens. Part of floor space will have a raised bed covered in hard wire cloth cover nailed on top, 3 in above soil to grow wintergreens to continually grow and feed them in winer. They will also have part of the garden to roam as I rotate things. That with the area that is fenced around the other green house.
Dang greenhouse was in 90's today. Temps in low 20's I ordered a two fan solar set up. I'll see how well it works before ordering one for the coop green house. Taters planted, asparagus seed picked and planted. Lettuce and spinach in soil.
Nothing new planted yet for the spring. The blueberry and blackberry bushes from last year are starting to bud.
I Start all my plants..planting time for me. This may be a difficult timing year for my peas....forcast for march is looking pretty darn warm...of course I need a second to blink for that to change.
Been pretty busy to work garden. That said I do have 4 dozen tomatoes started 2 dozen brussels and a couple dozen cabbage. My aspargus seed from my plot are growing great and I have 24 from seed up 5". My hot and sweet peppers are planted but not up yet and I have 2 dozen broccoli planted. All of my garlic came up so I have 44 bulbs growing. I planted 3 boxes of red potato. I won't plant towers for a few weeks. Today I got a row dug, weeded, grubbed for my April 1 pea planting. I will do the same for 2-3 more trellises tomorrow weather permitting.
Everyday I start more seeds. My house is filling up with seed trays. The green house isn't heated , yet. Son told me he has a stove he'll bring over. I had set up one end wall (wood)on the east side to install stove pipe. Because it is a raised cattle panel I can easily install a fire blanket to protect the green house plastic over stove and a sheet of fire wall behind it and around triple wall pipe. Next year, this spring the sprout table is set up to insulate brassicas at night once temps reach 32. Lettuces and spinach will go out as well. That may be Monday. Kales, broccoli, dozens and dozens of tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, okra, romaines and leaf lettuce, watermelon, musk melon, summer squash, winter squash. Pumpkins ,because I had such an issue last year. Red and green cabbages. Looks like I'll have to buy my eggplants, forgot to get seed. Potatoes and hopefully sweet tators my first never sprouted. Beans and corn get direct sown, onion sets. Man I had great red and sweet onions last year that are still firm sweet and juicy. It was a good hardening off fall and all storage veggies did the best ever! Garlic, onions, pitatoes and squash still firm and good to go.
Today is my plant the peas seed day headed out now. Kids got me a very nice grow light to help out with the cold rainy /snow weather coming in.
Hope your enjoying your new bow Sota. Will you be turkey hunting to break it in before deer this year
2 twenty-five ft rows of peas planted and radishes planted between rows. Rain is due tonight, then more rain and two days of snow. Today 3 rolls of oil lamp wick arrived today for my green house heat. I'm putting in 3 crisco heatwes in the green house. One will have a wood stove heat activated fan. This will carry the brassicas and the lettuces throigh the cold nights and keep things above freezing. The day temps can actually get too warm if I don't open the wibdow and door. I have solar fans to keep air flowingduring the day and the heat fan at night
4 hour repotting broccoli, cabbages, hot peppers, brussel sprouts and tomatoes. My new grow light is GREAT!
More repotting and the brassica are in the green house Chicken fence taken down and moved to nice green plot area of rape, weeds and WR. Cut a huge dead ash that was hard as all get out. Even being wedged still hit my stand. No damage and a complete miss of apple tree
Hhmmm... I'm going to need to figure out more area for the 180x80 ft garden. Brussel sprouts alone will take up a bunch of space but I'm adding more variety. All the dead ash are giving me lots of logs to make raised beds along the rock burms that line the fencing. Growing sweet potato slips to plant in those for Scout. They also will line new fencing that I have to put up for a new corn or winter squash area. The rabbit population has exploded. Not bad for hunting but when I walk to garden and 5 huge rabbits are sitting along the fence not running from me until I'm a couple yards away, they've claimed the area. I lost a blue berry bush to their knawing this winter. Today I plant my onions. The strawberry patches need to be c,eaned up and straw put down. Corn stalks I pulled removed. They will go to a fire pit I use to make ash for the garden. I cant burn now do to us being under a burn ban untl May. Slow going this year due to my hands not working as they should. Takes twice as long to do anything becaue I can't hold anything for very long. My shoulders aren't much better, aahhhh age and a life of hard work.
Oh boy hands are swollen today! I got half of the new 3ft x 22ft raised bed lined and filled with over wintered chicken bedding straw. Just loaded with worms. It's 2 logs high but I want to add one more log layer for this years sweet potatoes. Bottom will have the rich litter but the top will be a sphagnum moss , sand, and compost mix. SP don't need a bunch of fertilizer but do need a light sandy type mix for big spuds. My slips have finally sprouted, the two potatoes should produce a whole lot of plants for me to get in the ground and maybe the green house as well. I hope due to prices jumped 35 cents a pound in one week. Got my 3rd row of peas in and my asparagus is just popping.
Couple weeks away from picking up tomato plants, spoiled by the daughters garden and with her staying at home the bounty will be large, but I raise my own tomatoes thank you.
OMG,what did I do? I've given away several dozen tomato plants, I will give away at least another dozen plus some peppers. That will leave me with 7 or 8 DOZEN! Then there is the 4 or so dozen peppers. The green house filled with brassicas,lettuces, a dozen okra and basil. Starting summer squash and melons today. Snowing again. Where the heck is the global warming when I need it? Hubby is putting forks on the tractor for me to get more logs to the garden. All rock burms lining garden fence will now have raised beds installed , no waisted space afforded now.
Oh boy a hard freeze last night. Suns up and it's 28 degrees. Checked the green house and the candles have kept the frost off so far. I had 6 going last night that was with 2 clay pot " heaters ". Cold but not freezing and no frost. The water jugs may have helped as well. Hope to get wood heat in there. Right now I have blk play ground mats on the ground but will have brick down and a big composter in it. I want aat least a 3 season green house. It has a dbl cover. The original temp cover with the weaved string through it and the new green house cover. Left the first down because its a buffer from the cattle panals.
Some pics..my poor asparagus was frozen solid. That stove fan was turning from the clay pot heat keeping air moving. Today the 3rd log gets put in place on the raised bed, pic is half the bed. BTW.. For those noticing the corn, deer feed, and sweet feed bags. That was fed to the chickens this winter. As you know I'm CHEAP. When a feed was on sale( half the price) from horse feed to deer feed I would buy it. They get whole corn to help fight the cold, sweeter feed for the same in winter. These as a side feed to their pellets. Also lots of blk oil sunflower when on sale. The one thing they do not like...scratch grains
