Garden pics

[rebel]

They LOOK straighter because of the lines, lol.
We left them up for a few reasons.......

1) I'm lazy and it makes it easy to weed the foot paths, like having to stay inside the lines in a coloring book. Also when sprouts are coming up, it makes you take greater care when weeding "inside" the lines.

2) It prevents people from walking willy-nilly across the rows. The ends of the rows have a string across and the foot paths don't.

3) In some rows I have string beans, cucumbers and other plants that like to climb, and I can run additional strings for them to climb on.



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But mainly, I'm just lazy.

You're supposed to say that your method of doing things utilizes labor saving techniques.

LOL
I sometimes like to point out that by inherent design, the best way is often the easiest, quickest way to do something.
For instance, I did very little of ground work by hand. I can make a trailer hitch plow and drive a straight line. and now I have the tools to plow evry year after this one,

 

[freedhardwoods]

I don't have very good luck planting stuff early. I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Other people in the area can get things up and growing a lot sooner than I can.

Here is an early wide row of green beans and a wide row that I planted a couple weeks later. They should look about the same, but the early beans are pretty scraggly (and very crooked, I was in a hurry that day).

I plant the beans and corn with a push planter I got for $5 at a yard sale. I had to plant the lima beans by hand because I didn't have seed plates big enough. The first corn I planted just didn't come up.


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[Road Dust]

I don't have very good luck planting stuff early. I'm doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Other people in the area can get things up and growing a lot sooner than I can.

Here is an early wide row of green beans and a wide row that I planted a couple weeks later. They should look about the same, but the early beans are pretty scraggly (and very crooked, I was in a hurry that day).

I plant the beans and corn with a push planter I got for $5 at a yard sale. I had to plant the lima beans by hand because I didn't have seed plates big enough. The first corn I planted just didn't come up.


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Beans do best in warmer temperatures, so if you planted your first ones before the soil warmed up really well, they might not do as well at first as the ones planted later.

I do all my gardening with just a hoe - no tiller or plow.

 

[freedhardwoods]

Beans do best in warmer temperatures, so if you planted your first ones before the soil warmed up really well, they might not do as well at first as the ones planted later.

I have heard that before but I keep trying.

I do all my gardening with just a hoe - no tiller or plow.

That sounds too much like work.

 

[Road Dust]

I have heard that before but I keep trying.

That sounds too much like work.

I know what you mean. I never have any luck with cool season veggies. I either end up waiting to late or the weather gets too hot too soon. I still try though.

Yeah, it's a lot of work gardening with just a hoe. Didn't take long for me to figure out my little garden is much bigger than it looks, lol.

 

[Road Dust]

Besides what you see in the photo, there are two more tomato plants farther to the left, watermelon to the right, and more okra over this way. I wish I hadn't crammed cucumbers in so close between the tomatoes and the beans. Kinda hard to keep them separated.
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[Road Dust]

Front yard garden.
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[Road Dust]

Another view of front yard garden.
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[Road Dust]

Bee house hanging in the garden that I recently made from some scrap wood.
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[Road Dust]

One of my little pollinators. I'm planning to build a bumble bee house for the garden real soon.
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[Tim]

One of my little pollinators. I'm planning to build a bumble bee house for the garden real soon.
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You'll wish you hadn't. They will eat a wood shed down and/or find some old lumber or a pile of grass clipping and nest in the ground.
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[Road Dust]

You'll wish you hadn't. They will eat a wood shed down and/or find some old lumber or a pile of grass clipping and nest in the ground.

You might be thinking about carpenter bees, Tim. I'm pretty sure bumble bees don't eat or tunnel through wood, but carpenter bees do.

 

[Tim]

Carpenter bees Bumble bee? Kill'em all but the honey bee's.

Your right about the Carpenter bee, it bores into wood, but both wall, under the right condition's nest in the ground. And if stepped on its go time baby. LOL
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[Road Dust]

Carpenter bees Bumble bee? Kill'em all but the honey bee's.

Your right about the Carpenter bee, it bores into wood, but both wall, under the right condition's nest in the ground. And if stepped on its go time baby. LOL

Yeah, bumble bees will nest in the ground, and like mason bees, will also nest in man-made holes. I made the little bee house for mason bees. The can be as small as an eighth of an inch and resemble a fly. They like to find holes and crevices for the queen to lay her eggs and then pack it with mud to close the hole. Bumble bees would never fit in such small holes, so I'm going to build them a bigger house. Bumble bees also have different living requirements. These kinds of bees, like the honeybees, are good pollinators.

Many insects, we would ordinarily destroy, are actually good pollinators. Some garden helpers include wasps, ants, butterflies, birds, flies, bats, and beetles. I read an article the other day that said ants are actually better at pollinating cucumbers than bees because the tiny flowers are easier for the ants to access.

 

[Road Dust]

We spend about 10 hrs a week, spread out over maybe 3 days. Not too bad once ya make the commitment to do it.

Do y'all sell at farmer's markets or preserve it for later use?

 

[rebel]

Do y'all sell at farmer's markets or preserve it for later use?

It's likely that we'll preserve what we get since this is a 50/50 deal with our neighbors and when my mom gets here for her little summer vacation, she's been told she can pick what she wants to eat while she's here, since it's her land. She doesn't can anything but loves fresh veggies - her old man won't eat anything that's green or good for him, lol.

If there IS any overage, we know some locals who run roadside stands, and of course some friends, doctor's offices, etc. that have a basket or two coming.

Right now, we're just trying to get away from buying food at the grocery stores, but if we can make a few dollars on the side, that's even better. I think when we get some chickens, the egg money will be Becka's stash.

 

[Cerberus]

Thats really nice of you to share it with the community like that. And since your sharing, my address is..............................

 

[Road Dust]

I have already given away two bags of zucchini and starting to fill my freezer with it as well as peppers and basil. Still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. If this rain don't let up all I will be growing is mold.

I have two regular customers who buy eggs and hopefully picked up a third one yesterday. She asked if she could by one of my girls. She wanted to eat her. No Way! Lol.

 

[rebel]

Thats really nice of you to share it with the community like that. And since your sharing, my address is..............................

Be careful what you ask for..........
We'll be coming thru Jax on the way to Orlando in about 10 days from now.

 

[Tim]

Posting a few garden pics.
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And the other garden... mostly taters and watermelons and more tomatoes.
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And a pile of tater plants that were dug up today.
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