Baymule's 2016 Garden

baymule

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We moved February 2015 to 8 acres of sandy soil. Think ocean without the water. Sand. Pure sand. I tried to wrestle a garden from the briars, 6' tall weeds, brush and small trees last year and it was a dismal failure. But at least I got the area cleaned up. We fenced it last fall, 100'x70' and put 3 pigs in it. They went to slaughter a week ago and I ran the tractor around and around the garden to smooth out the craters the pigs dug. We had covered the garden with pine shavings from a horse event center nearby, about 8 inched deep. The pigs took care of that for me, it is all turned in the sand. They pooped all over the place and the garden is looking pretty good right now.

I have some plants started, but I am chomping at the bit to get out there and plant the garden! I have to wait a few more weeks to make sure I don't get a late frost-we had frost 4 days ago.

Yesterday we bought and planted fruit trees. We planted 2 peach, 1 pear, 2 plums, 1 apricot and 1 loquat. I want to get some more, I want apples but that's a risk because of cedar-apple rust. We have tons of cedar trees around here and some real big ones on our property. Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Also want to plant a fig tree, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, a cherry tree and a couple of pecan trees, and I'm sure I'll find more stuff to plant.

We sure have missed having a garden. We ate a lot of our food from the garden I used to have. The freezer is empty and the dehydrated food is gone. Got to get going again.
 

baymule

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This is a shot of the garden last fall when we got the pigs.

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This is what the garden looks like now. I need it to rain to settle the dirt so I can disc it up again.

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sumi

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It looks great! What are you planning to grow?
 

frustratedearthmother

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Maybe ya'll will get some of this rain we were supposed to get this morning? DH got it driving into Houston to work - but south of Houston we seem to have been spared anything severe - just got a little damp when I was outside feeding this morning.

The garden area looks good! You were smart to wait - we got that frost a few days ago and I lost some tomatoes... grrrrr.

Can't wait to follow your progress!
 

baymule

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It looks good!

Not all apple trees are susceptible to cedar apple rust. Here's some info for you. http://www.centuryfarmorchards.com/library/car.html

I have that website saved. Arkansas Black is on my list. The other two on the list are Honeycrisp and Pink Lady, both of which do well in our climate.

Sumi, I have a LOT of seeds! I'm going to plant until I run out of room.

@frustratedearthmother We only moved 160 miles north from where we used to live, but it does make a difference. We got a half inch of rain, I'll saddle up the tractor and go play in the dirt in a few days. I'll probably start planting in mid April.
 

ChickenMomma91

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It makes me envious. My garden is small but it's gonna pack a wallop. Hope you get those apples going. Pie sounds good right now
 

baymule

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We got 1 3/4" of rain last week, now waiting for the garden to dry enough to make a final run with the tractor. Then I'll be planting!
 

baymule

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April 8, I planted 7 double rows of Painted Mountain corn, 30 feet long. According to the 2014 Corn Thread on TEG, it tasseled at 39 days and I picked and shelled it for dry flour corn in 92 days. So this means I can get a running head start with the Painted Mountain before planting Anasazi Sweet corn, and they won't cross pollinate, for saving seed.

At the feed store April 5, was a tub of sprouting, shriveled potatoes and a sign that said How Green Is Your Thumb? FREE! So naturally I got some. I got brown skinned white potatoes and purple skinned purple potatoes. I planted two rows 30' long. Normally I plant what we call new potatoes, a red skinned white potato, in mid February, and harvest the end of May, before the summer heat. I have never tried to grow potatoes in the heat, so we'll see what happens.

The same feed store had onion sets, 79 cents, buy one, get one free. So I planted a small patch for green onions in the far corner of the garden. I have planted a lot of non GMO black oil sunflower seeds on two of the fence lines for future chicken/sheep treats.

Still a little cool at night, in the 50's with dips in the 40's.
 

Mini Horses

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Well I haven't tilled or planted. We have had some crazy weather and a few days of 28-30 morning temps....and it's APRIL!! I feel it's over for those extremes so I'm hoping to disc and plant in next 2 weeks as I have slow "work" weeks. I have seed potatoes, seeds and all that stuff just waiting on ME. I'm doing the painted Mt corn, too!

Did you use an actual disc on your tractor to work the garden in the pics above? I have a disc and plan to use but, looking at a tiller. Now THAT is expensive!! Have a pull tiller for mower but, it makes me work harder than I want and you need a lot of turn space. Tractor I can back up. BUT, I'm thinking, why can't I remove the back set of disc from the equipment and put those "spider" discs on there & it would do same as tiller...? Seems so.

The disc makes what looks like a row, not just flatter like a till......? understand that? ........and I want flatter. Guess I need to go find an old farmer and talk about it. LOL the guy behind me cut up some ground but not sure what attachment he used on tractor. I'm gong to ask and see if It was a tiller. Some things you just don't use enough to make worth the cost.
 

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