Figured I'd get this started early. BNB I've been thinking of you lately.My chickens get fed a half pumpkin hollowed out and filled in with ground pumpkin and seeds twice a week. It's a natural dewormer and filled with vitamins. I do take out, wash dry and store a bunch of seed for next years plantings. How do you get your seeds for the plot you do? I have. 3 varieties due to being given uncarved Halloween pumpkins to feed the birds.. Most ppl lose production in winter I've gone from 3- 5 eggs a day to 8-10 . There will be a huge pumpkin/ butternut plot next year.
Old. I've never saved seeds. I just buy them in them little packets each spring. 2 weeks ago, I thought I'd try saving seeds from one's I grew. Went and plucked 3 pumpkins before the deer got them all. These were the smaller sugar pie ones. Was surprised how many seeds I got out of them. I put them in a large plastic container with newspaper on the bottom and spread them out. (No lid). Let them dry for 5 days and now have stored in a glass quart jar with the lid loose. They felt dry but wanted to make sure. Will do a Germ test in mid May to see if they sprout. Never done it before. I posted pics a couple months ago of my pumpkin plots. They are now bare dirt. Pumpkins are a superb food source. Best of luck trying them!
I've been saving and planting seeds for years. My very sweet bell peppers are from store bought red and yellow peppers. Now these do not come in as red and yellow , that said they are THE sweetest peppers I've ever had. They are green, light green and green yellow. I do same with hots as well. Though last year I couldnt find my seed container. What a disaster on hots that ended up being with store bought. They are also way bigger than any peppers I've grown. Most of my winter squash and all melons are saved seed. Tomatoes. I bury tomatoes and Transplant in spring. Potatoes are from store bought and allowed to grow eyes. I'm just so cheap...LOL
Putting in a plot next spring I am blessed have big boy farm implements to put a field plot in. The deer use topography rather than cover to move before dark. I need to plant a food plot that will be available after the local crops come out. Where I am hunting is ag country when the crops come out it removes 75% of the cover and food.
I I planted pumpkins up by the food plot but I also fed in the area dang deer were so conditioned to show up and eat they ate the flowers off the pumpkins.
Weird. I've been planting pumpkins for 15ish years and have never had troubles with deer eating the flowers. They have become my # foodplot.
This would have been the perfect year to do all the stuff that I wanted to get done before spring since we don’t really have any snow on the ground… unfortunately I had neck surgery a few weeks ago and it has me sidelined for at least 6 weeks. I’m starting to go nuts already, I bet when I’m cleared to go there will be a bunch of snow on the ground…..
Sorry to hear about surgery ,hope all went perfect and your up and running soon. It really is a great ti e to be out there. A.J. a d I didsome sapling drops. Lots of dead ones in the old slashings. Many many more that will need cutting. Unfortunately nearly every single ash , I'm talking timber size, is now dead.Many beech on the way out, too many maple. Waiting on a tad warmer with less wind then I'm going out to just drop as much as possible . Clean up the rest of winter. Will also section and clean up a lot of the downed saplings. Looks like Mnt Saint Helen's out there. Brush pile fencing will get a build up.
Rabbits, rabbits took out nearly every pumpkin I planted. I will be hunting them before seasons end. Even if I have to feed them to the chickens. Hubby has a parasite issue with rabbit and squirrel, won't eat either.
My case was pretty self inflicted I fed up by the food plot and had 15 or more does and fawns coming to eat so they were so preconditioned to go there and eat the orange yellow flowers looked edible.
Best of luck AF. Hope you recoup and can get after it soon. Old, fire up that chainsaw and get wild. Like REALLY WILD. I know,I know! What's that saying? It's easier to ask for.....? Lol. Hated to do it it but, last weekend I cut down a burr oak that is about 32" at the base. It's been a phenomenal Acorn producer over the years and I've soooo much enjoyed watching deer eating them but it's a HUGE shade tree and i'm trying to establish a foodplot there. Gotta admit, I was kinda hoping my chainsaw wouldn't start. Sad to see it go but justified knowing there is a good cord or so of future firewood.
Well in my case, now he can't complain on what I'm taking down...it's mostly dead anyways..bugs. NYS wood lots are in trouble and the last round of gypsy moths took a serious toll in already weakened trees. Now I just need temps above 20...ggeezzz I have zero ideas on how I'm getting 10 eggs a day out of 13 hens in these temps.
BTW every red twig dog wood I dug up off the farmers culvert ditch survived and is growing great. They should spread out some in the wetter areas. I'm also going to propagate a bunch of blueberry shrubs to plant around the place. I have new cover on the green house so should get a good early start on a few things. I found several white pine, Norway and spruce " nurseries" in last few weeks they will get divided potted and put out in the fall. I've been seed shopping for spring. I have two areas I want alfalfa in as main, with some clover. I will allow some rye to go full season for the chickens and wild turkey . I have a short sorghum I hope to grow with red clover and a cheap bean,maybe field pea? Then there is the pumpkins and squash . never did get the comfrey from son for woodland trails. Also looking into more conservation shrub.
I know what my first project will be. After the wind storm that's coming, clean up on isle.....all of them. They are either impassable by machine,foot or both. I walked another section this morning. More domino effect and top snaps some, dead down . Luckily some rotted out hundred+ yr old hollowed out maple with huge live canopy went down. Ones I wanted down but a healthy fear kept me at bay. Lots of winching work for safety on hung up tops to be done. I will worry on travels about the un known weakening of many. Especially when leaf out occurs. Green canopies are heavier than one might think
Not that good for $$$$ timber though. Also if you see the pics in the rant section.....some of those crators left are literally 4 ft deep. A.J. isn't a small dog so size comparison is wild on a few. Don't like having a section of fence taken out either. I actually do wish I'd had time to weaken a few "scary"trees before this next wind event. But too much going on between storms. That said we never run out of wind events here during the year
Well found a couple of more " pile ups" one was a huge poplar that broke at ground level but up rooted 3 big maples on it's way down. They in turn snapped off a few younger trees. Got lucky and had a maple right next to a cam maple snap off not damaging the cam. Bark blown off way more dead 2-4 " saplings than I though I had. I have my work cut out for me. It was a high of 16 today . The sun made it nice though as long as we kept moving. Wow crunchy
So as I have mentioned in the past I look at the property as zones, in a zone there are wood lots. Yesterday on our hike I decided to do a count of standing dead ash timber. These are 8-12+ inch. On a section approximately 100+ x 200+ ft I got over 130 trees with a few smaller dead maple. This lot is littered with already downed tree. I'm trying to invision what a cutting is going to going to look like. This is an old slashing from the old farm. Yah, actually planted decades ago. I'll never figure out how. This lot has ZERO under growth and is a run off from neighbors high ground. One end starts the hills gully cut, not even weeds ,save Chinese garlic grow there. Yet it has two major deer runs going through it. Today I have to get the saw ready. Burns are not allowed up here , I'll have to force son into getting in here now to chunk . Then I'll move that to where he can pick it up for his heat. He hasn't been out due to using his own bad trees this winter. May need to build a temp ""wood shed". Locust frame brown tarp side and roof, unusable logs to raise fire wood up. Go in as soon as snow melts completely to leaf blow and open up ground to light then see what happens in spring, early summer. I already have Norway and some other spruce saplings pinned to transplant. It had never supported any shrubs at all. Hoping berries come in. It's on my far ESE line . Ill take before and after pics One thing about this, man dead ash is way easier to cut than live maple or locust and safer than poplars
So sectioned off another Woodlot about same size as last, very close to the same # of standing dead timber, including a few maple and a few poplar. Car needs to go down for a inspection Wednesday morning then I need to butcher the turkey. Hoping winds are good for tomorrow and Tuesday , just to drop stuff
