fairfarmhand Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 (us southerners are wimps when it comes to snow ice and winter weather) I am dreaming of spring. My plans are to rehabilitate my landscaping (2 dogs have dug craters everywhere) put in an herb garden and do some square foot gardening. Anyone else have big plans? (I already have some seeds sprouting in trays) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melissel Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I can't think about gardening because it bums me out (no gardening here, not enough sun *sigh*), but I've started decluttering because when I can finally open the dadgum windows in the spring, I'm going to scrub down every square inch of this icky house!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Our garden plot had real problems last year when we got organic compost from an organic farmer that wasn't properly composted and some weeds were tossed into that pile that shouldn't have been there. So, guess what we got? WEED SEEDS and we struggled all season with a nasty variety. So, this year we are going to only grow two things both of which are very hearty and tend to choke out this kind of weed. Oats and peas and the peas can use the oats to climb on. I don't know if we'll eat the oats or give them to the piggies that will be going into our freezer at harvest time. But, I'm definitely going to harvest some of the peas. This means we have to grow our vegetables elsewhere. My dad is going to double the size of his garden and we will provide him with the seeds, planting and harvesting labor, and a once a week weed pulling/hoeing labor pool of three strong boys. In exchange, I'll have my freezing, canning, dehydrating produce. We will also be planting another apple tree in a different location. I think I'm through babying my two trees that have been in the ground nearly three years and haven't grown at all. Never, ever has there been a couple of fruit trees more spoiled by a human being and I'm done. Live or die, it's up to them. I'm going to start fresh and hope that I get lucky with a fruit tree that has a lot less attitude! The strawberry patch needs some work and I've got to find out how much we are supposed to prune our asparagus patch. It is now in it's third year. The first year we planted the tiny little asparagus plants, the second year we weren't supposed to cut it back or harvest it, just let the plants establish themselves. Well, they were about three feet high by the end of the season and so skinny that they looked like pencils. So, I think this is the year we get to harvest them though they will still be small. My goal is to get a few raspberry canes planted somewhere that they can not take over the world and destroy the world, as raspberry canes are prone to do. I tried to tell my dad NOT to plant his raspberry canes near his garden. He didn't listen and struggled all last year trying to prune along the chain link fence to keep them from invading the garden. By harvest time, it looked like the tentacles of some science fiction alien race! He will never keep them out of that garden unless he does something drastic. Dad, not to be defeated by a plant, is planning on building an eight foot tall wall and bury it three feet into the ground in a grand effort to BLOCK the canes. I predict that in two years, they'll come up underneath it and into the squash patch. It should be interesting to watch...this man seriously HATES to be thwarted and so do raspberries. It will be a Man vs. Nature docu-drama. Ds (12) is also going to pick a five gallon bucket of blueberries at a local blueberry farm, package them by the quart, and try to sell them at a local farmer's market. We'll see how he does. I told him I'd buy the berry baskets (cheaply purchased in bulk at the farm supply store) and the blueberries if he wanted to do the work. If he makes any money, he has to pay me back for the blueberries but not the berry baskets - my contribution to the industrious dreams of a hard working boy. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 We will also be planting another apple tree in a different location. I think I'm through babying my two trees that have been in the ground nearly three years and haven't grown at all. Never, ever has there been a couple of fruit trees more spoiled by a human being and I'm done. Live or die, it's up to them. I'm going to start fresh and hope that I get lucky with a fruit tree that has a lot less attitude! Faith oh do you think you can hold on one more year for your apple trees? The reason I ask is that it took 4 years for our trees to really be ok. Yes we spoiled them shamelessly and yes I was so sick of watering trees that did NOTHING, but they are finally beginning to look like trees. If we could keep the deer off them we may even get fruit this year. Seriously though we have very crummy dirt. It bakes into bricks in the summer so we put in waterline out to our orchard which makes it a bit easier to water them during dry spells. (never buy an old tobacco farm and hope to grow anything in the dirt) Our orchard is finally coming along. We have about 2 dozen trees, apples, peaches, pears and cherries and they are finally beginning to produce. And I feel your pain about the compost. My dh dumped copious loads of manure from the barnyard into our garden spot; I've finally brought him around to raised beds and a compost heap!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Just started getting some serious snow here in the past hour. DH was up on post, and they were hit hard much earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roxanne23 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 (edited) . Edited January 4, 2023 by roxanne23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 I had lunch (at the college library/learning center) today and noticed two ladies next to me had snowshoes sitting next to them at their table. Winter's far from over here. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleni Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 It is going down to 4 degrees here tonight. Im graphing out my garden, repeatedly till I find a way I like it. Reading seed catalogs over and over. Counting down the days till Chick Days start at the feed store and I can go get 4 cute fuzzy chicks to add to our chickens. Looking at my photos from last spring of our flowers, and the apple tree blossoms. Dreaming of sun dried sheets. Remembering that day where the grass was deep green and the pink and white petals blew off of the apple tree creating a beautiful carpet. sigh...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarlaS Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 It is going down to 4 degrees here tonight. Im graphing out my garden, repeatedly till I find a way I like it. I bet you could use SketchUp for that. (But I'm a bit addicted to Sketchup lately.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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