BTE, hugelkulture, hydroponics and other unconventional gardening

[milkmansdaughter]

My son did a job for a man and came home one day with a wood chipper!

I have tried for the last 2 years to find a source of wood chips (for little or no cost) with no success. I'm super excited to have our own chipper. I'm always picking up branches around here, and we've had a lot of big branches out of the pecan trees (these go on the HK mound.) God provides what we need over and over in amazing ways!

 

[Lazy Gardener]

That is so exciting! While I'd love to have a chipper, I'm not willing to spend the money to BUY one. But, a branch here and there, tossed into a chipper... over time adds up!

Yes, God does provide... in amazing ways... that often leave me speechless. I find myself fretting over finances. I now have a car payment. Then, when my mind starts to churn over the details of that, I stop and remind myself that God is in control of everything I have. He will continue to take care of the big and little details, as He has all my life.

I also can not get chips unless I go and load them into the truck myself. That's a LOT of heavy lifting. I have a total of 6000 s.f. that needs chips, between garden and orchard. If I could get chips dumped here, I would easily cover an acre with them.

At the moment, I am blessed by the lovely clarity of song provided by a Robin. He's singing his heart out in my front yard. Just now, he's being joined by an other voice. Oh how I love this time of year!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Mine was past a foot tall, until the chickens got to it!

My neighbor has several avocado trees that are about 3 feet tall that she grew from seed. @Hinotori you'd really like my neighbor. She's got stuff growing all the time from seed. She seems to be able to grow anything in pots, old coolers, kiddie swimming pools, old wooden crates...

Now that we have ducks for fertilizer, I bet her stuff grows even better.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

I seeded some winter rye and red clover in my sheet composting area about a month ago. I plan to save the rest of the seed for a new area that yet needs to be raked out. That will also get some winter rye and red clover in the spring. I intend to scythe that area repeatedly to create some biomass for garden and chicken run. 2 days ago, the ground was not frozen. Today, the frost is now at least 2" deep. So, there will not be any winter seeding going on here! My garden is well mulched.

 

[thistlebloom]

one huge mouse caught in the HT last night, but not before he did a LOT of damage. 4 traps set again. Maggie thought that mouse was a lot of fun, even though the squeaker was broken.

Oh mylanta! I read you caught a huge MOOSE in your trap and I was so interested in how you managed that!
I may need a new glasses prescription.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

How to successfully manage cover crops in a no till garden? This has been my long term search this year. Finally, I found an article that provides practical information for the back yard gardener:

no till cover cropping, DIY crimper

 

[Lazy Gardener]

This is my vision for improving pest management in the garden this year:

 

[Hinotori]

I have this vision of you trying to use tweezers on your tongue in front of the mirror

 

[Hinotori]

I've thought about hugelkulture. Lately in fact. I was wondering how well it would work for grape vines. I need them higher than ground level so they don't drown here during certain times of winter. Currently the things live in pots but would produce more fruit with more root room.

I have deep litter in my large fowl coop. It has a dirt floor underneath and plenty of earthworms. Never any smell in there. All runs I've worked on soil building to keep them dryer.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

My HK is not a standard mound. It is built into the bank, so it is somewhat raised, looking like a raised bed when viewed from the area of the yard that is "finished". Looking at it from the "wild side" it varies from 3.5' tall at the finished end, to approximately 1.5 tall at the yet to be finished end.