Official Gardening/Homesteading thread: Our back yards are our grocery stores

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by lhprop1, Apr 9, 2015.

  1. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Figure out what growing zone you are in and then google and you can find a guide that looks like this. This is for zone 9 (my zone). If you're worried about it being too hot you can always start it indoors and wait for it to cool down before transplanting.

    Planting-Zone-9.jpg
     
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  2. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Got some square bales for the winter

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    And found this spider web on the okra in the garden

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  3. Beachy Toast

    Beachy Toast He wants you too, Malachi.
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    So when's the TMB field trip happening?
     
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  4. Greybeard

    Greybeard Livin' the dream.

    Lol, you reminded me of a spider Mrs. Greybeard found in our cherry tomatos. She was done for the day at this point...
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  5. Emma

    Emma
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    1/3rd of my family in for an end of the outside season family photo.

    The other 2/3rd are too large to fit or up on shelves enjoying their time. These guys are scheduled for my bedroom.

     
  6. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Got around to extracting honey again this weekend. Not much honey production in the mountains this year, so I ended up with around 7 more gallons.

    My dad and 5 year old helped with extracting honey.

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    From both extractions this year.
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  7. Greybeard

    Greybeard Livin' the dream.

    Does anyone here have experience with mason or leafcutter bees? I'm seriously considering renting them next year to help with pollination.
     
  8. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Got some sweet potatoes, including this massive one. Others were mush and the carrots didn't do so hot either.

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  9. Hail Southern

    Hail Southern GATA Eagles!
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    carrots look like the soil was compacted. Did you till before planting?
     
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  10. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Yeah, about 6 times. But we had a lot of rain at the start after we planted and it turned the garden rock hard in some places. Still have clay in the garden some and we went a little heavy on dumping the sheep manure into the garden. We'll do better next year.
     
  11. Why?Pokes

    Why?Pokes Take me back to the kine
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    The owner in our chain of title who laid out the landscaping had a preternatural green thumb but a complete lack of spatial awareness and total disregard for climate zones.

    Combine that groundwork with a LadyPokes who refuses to consider cut/replacing anything and I’m constantly trying to keep dueling plants alive and resuscitate plants that aren’t suppose to live here.

    Cue my newest project, a bird of paradise that’s growing gangbusters by eating its neighbor’s sunlight while benefiting from their shade on its roots.

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    I hated to do it but I culled all of its children except for a few and in the process of doing so I realized I could use the healthy leaves to insulate the flowerbeds from our skin-searing UV rays.

    Hey Sunlight! Hey you motherfucker!

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  12. Why?Pokes

    Why?Pokes Take me back to the kine
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    Looks like a banana spider, IMO, we’ve got tons of them in our yard. Scared the crap out of me too. If so they’re completely harmless.
     
    #2212 Why?Pokes, Sep 14, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2020
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  13. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    I have a couple of jalapeño plants on my deck that are starting to fruit for a second round. It looks like it’s gonna be a better harvest than the first round of peppers. A little worried about it getting too cold before they’re ready. How cold is too cold? Dropped into the 40s this weekend but will be warm again this week.

    TIA
     
  14. Hail Southern

    Hail Southern GATA Eagles!
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    I usually just let mine keep producing til they die in the late fall / winter. I am in the same boat with my production as well.
     
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  15. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Peppers don't like cold. You say "on your deck." Does that mean they are in pots, and you can bring them inside maybe when it gets cold? If so could bring them inside at night and leave out when its warm and maybe you can keep em going a bit longer.
     
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  16. Truman

    Truman Well-Known Member
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    Yeah they're in pots. I guess I could bring them in at night
     
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  17. PJP3

    PJP3 Well-Known Member
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    Furthermore if you have a grow light, wouldn't hurt to give it extra light. If you don't have one, get one that can do blue and red light indepedently. Red light is what helps promote flowering/fruiting while blue is more for getting seeds established and growing. You can get them pretty cheap on amazon. I have one that's like this and use it to start my seeds when conditions aren't right outside yet.

     
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  18. thunderstruck

    thunderstruck I'm a Boss

    I was cleaning up a section of the garden and took the mower over my peppers... if you want to clear your sinuses, that’s a great way to do it.
     
    #2218 thunderstruck, Sep 25, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2020
  19. Emma

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    Has anyone been able to rid of indoor fungus gnats? I've tried mosquito bits. I am about to repot (67 indoor plants) everything at this point.
     
  20. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    67 INDOOR plants?

    :yousoricky:
     
  21. Emma

    Emma
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    Houseplants come in all shapes and sizes! No kink shaming.
     
  22. texasraider

    texasraider thanks
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    My wife (borat voice) has about 50 indoor plants
     
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  23. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    Postfu
     
  24. Emma

    Emma
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    Wisconsinite

    My crimson sky climbing rose really took off this year after planting it mid season

    Someone check me if I'm wrong, but to winterize it successfully (in a place where it will snow and be sub 32 degrees nearly every day) , I should wait for first frost, cut it down 12-18 inches above nodes, mound up a pile of dirt around the base, and cover it with something. Does a burlap cover work?

    Or I was thinking a chicken wire cylinder around it with straw of pine needles inside for insulation.
     
  25. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Had the first lambs of the fall born. Should only get a few this fall, but the girls enjoyed them and the dogs wouldn't leave their side.

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  26. Butthead

    Butthead narmas, narmas

    I've been pruning roses this week

    Why do people like these plants
     
  27. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Had our first lamb of the winter. Unfortunately it's twin was stillborn, so just the one. Should have a bunch more over the next month or two.
    [​IMG]
     
  28. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    The ewe above had a third lamb that was also stillborn. The lamb above ended up dying too. Had 2 more born this morning.

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  29. Greybeard

    Greybeard Livin' the dream.

    I hope you have more that make it! They're such cool animals... Any idea on why the mortality?
     
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  30. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    We have a few theories. We got some new barn cats and one possibility is toxoplasmosis. It can cause problems in sheep just like with pregnant women. Each lamb has its own placenta. We think they all separated on that ewe at the same time, so the last 2 died due to that. It could have just been a one off too. If we have this happen with other ewes it'll probably be the culprit.
     
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  31. Arliden

    Arliden Well-Known Member
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    Learned about something new today.
     
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  32. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    I knew about it for people because I had to always change the cat litter box when we had indoor cats while my wife was pregnant. We didn't know about it in sheep until we posted what happened and someone suggested it.

    Same thing the guy died of in Trainspotting.
     
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  33. Greybeard

    Greybeard Livin' the dream.

    +1
     
  34. Emma

    Emma
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    Anyone do terrariums?
     
  35. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Two more were born yesterday, thankfully no issues with these ones.

    [​IMG]
     
  36. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Two more sets of twins born over the last week. Up to 8 (living) lambs now. Also paid off the tractor last week. Nice to not have that payment anymore.

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  37. Funshot Residue

    Funshot Residue Mammoth Stabber
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    Clearing a sloped .75 acre spot for aesthetics and future storage building location. Felled everything and started pushing piles a month ago. Decided to move the pile into a gully rather than burn somewhere I couldn't easily get water too, with trees still around. Tractor earned its keep this morning. What a mud pit. The ground hasn't frozen enough to make this task very viable yet, and I made a helluva mess. Ideally I'd get it rough cleaned, fell a couple more trees, grade, dig footers, and remove stumps before spring, so bush hogging isn't a total PITA next year. Thinking about taking a week off and renting an excavator.
     
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  38. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    So apparently one of my chickens (or more) has been laying eggs on the wrong end of the coop
    Found 13 eggs down there today
     
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  39. thunderstruck

    thunderstruck I'm a Boss

    I don’t have much to add, never ran an excavator, but have messed around trenching with a backhoe and it was really fun.

    iirc you can rent a mini excavator from Home Depot or SunBelt relatively inexpensively.
     
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  40. Funshot Residue

    Funshot Residue Mammoth Stabber
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    I've got about 100 hours on a 12k# excavator. If I rent one, I'd be looking at one larger than that, probably 20k# class. Looking at the project on the whole, I really need a dozer too. Never run one of those before.
     
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  41. Hail Southern

    Hail Southern GATA Eagles!
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    About time to plan my spring garden
    :chatzy:
     
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  42. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    Six more born over the last week. The black one has some pretty severe issues, including walking, so we may have to put him down. Has been in and out of the house with the girls.

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  43. thunderstruck

    thunderstruck I'm a Boss

    I can’t remember, are you selling your goats or processing them and selling the meat, or just selling the milk/cheese?
     
  44. billdozer

    billdozer Well-Known Member
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    They're sheep, and for now we're just selling them live to people that come pick them up for meat. A Greek restaurant in Georgia's bought a bunch from us. We've processed 1 for ourselves, will probably do another when we process the cow.
     
  45. Greybeard

    Greybeard Livin' the dream.

    Looking for real world grow light recommendations. Leaning toward a 4 foot fixture, but not wedded to the idea. We're going to try starting tomatos, peppers, and eggplant from seed in the next week or two. Any help would be appreciated! Awesome sheep, btw...
     
  46. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    Don't do what I did wrong
    Which I have no idea what that is, but I started like 100 seed pods of pepper and tomatoes last year and zero survived to be in the ground, was my first time starting seeds
    I suck at starting seeds
     
  47. BayouMafia

    BayouMafia Thought Leader in Posting
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    interested in this as well because I'm expanding my seedling setup in my garage, and my current light doesn't have a large enough footprint.

    This is my current light. It worked fine the past couple of years but doing a bit of research last night I'm going to get one that allows you to set different spectrums of light for different growth stages
     
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  48. BigReff73

    BigReff73 Well-Known Member
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    Best places to buy seeds online.. go
     
  49. bigred77

    bigred77 Well-Known Member
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    Taques
     
  50. Hail Southern

    Hail Southern GATA Eagles!
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