Spoiler Thanks. For someone completely uneducated on bees, this a great explanation. I actually noticed that the queen in the first picture looked different than the rest, but didnt really know if it was the queen or not.
After seeing your pics I think you did the only thing you could do. You look to have a ton of shade which hurts growth but tilling it up like you did should help.
I started composting last year and was surprised how easy it was. Plus I was able to keep it neat by composting in garbage cans. Basically I take a can and : 1- drill holes on the bottom and lower 12inches on the sides 2- throw in some dirt and then start adding anything (non-meat) organic (grass clippings, greens, old fruit, rinsed egg shells, coffee grounds (only 1-2 times per can), corn husk, rinds, etc). I don't put chicken manure in mine but would if I had access to some. 3- leave it uncovered for 4-5 months while adding to it and turn it over with a shovel every couple months 4- throw in any worms leftover from a fishing trip 5- cover it when its almost full and most of the larger organics have broken down and wait until 1 year has passed from the start date 6- lastly, I go through it with a shovel to remove any grubs or pupae I have two cans at different stages right now. If you are interested I can post some pics.
Got my first harvest today- a big 32 oz cup full of blue berries. So I did the adult thing and had my wife make blue berry pancakes for dinner.
Just standard big metal trash cans? i always thought you needed more ventilation than a few holea provide
Thanks for the offer, but there's no way I have time to get started any time soon. You might as well sell it and make some money. I've got around 20 lbs of brass sitting around (5.56, 9mm, and .303 british) just taking up space. Hell, I rarely even make it to the range anymore. On a happy note, I tilled and planted my lettuce last night.
it's been a cold spring so far, almost nothing is growing yet other then the radish that is just starting. Flowers fully in bloom though
also a blessed moment and one I have waited for a long time coming.... never again shall I push a mower..
You graffiti'd the fuck outta that garbage can. Well done. Also, lol at the blue def sticker. You got a trucker in the family?
Anyone follow the square foot gardening method? I picked up the book from lowes this weekend and read the entire thing. Not sure if I want to fully commit to it, but thought there were some good points, especially on how to make good soil. The author goes with equal parts vermiculite, peat moss and compost. No fertilizer needed. I was going just get a load of pasture dirt, but am thinking differently now. Also, the guy says you only need 6 inches of good soil. I'm making my boxes out of 2x12's and really feel like I should put more than 6 inches of dirt in it. He recommended a separate and deeper box for root crops. I'm leaning towards filling all with 10" of dirt. Thoughts?
I do square foot gardening, for the most part. I have four beds, two of them I used the soil mix. I did it last year and had ok results, I don't think it was a soil problem, I had 23 huge pine trees in the backyard blocking sun. The trees are gone now and while it's too early to tell everything is really happy. Only real mistake I made is went a little tard on planting my squash and have them way too close. Probably going to have to move a couple.
be careful with this depending on what you are planting. radishes carrots ect its good to have about 5 inches of sand before you put another 6 inches of topsoil or you will just have chubby little veggies.
Disassembling at least one ~45x30 greenhouse in a bit and hopefully slapping it up this week. Have a ton of poly that was also a free score. Also have a guy that will lend his skid steer for 100/day. I think I've got my spot picked out, more or less, on a south facing hill. Going to level it, see what we're working with, and then probably dig it into the ground some more.. Wind is a bitch here and a longer growing season is nice so i might just bury this thing pretty good. Also have what I thought was a ton of compost that isn't looking like that much anymore.. Should be fun
So for carrots and radishes mix sand in with the soil? I am planning on doing these in nursery containers with potting mix, would I still need to mix in sand?
Lay the sand as your base layer and then put whatever soil your using on top. If the ground is too hard your stuff will grow but only horizontally
if you guys are going to do any type of deep planting, refer back to the pics i posted on the last page. cutting the bottom out of a old rubber horse trough is ideal.
So I think the house buying thread is still gone, but this is probably better here. The house I'm about to purchase has this built in planter on the front next to the car port. It's in the shade for most of the morning and then it gets sun from about a 45 degree angle the rest of the day. You can see how the sun is currently effecting the plants in it now. Any thoughts on what I should plant in it flower wise?
Just realized that if you plant the bottom of green onions (or in my case store bought) back that they will grow again. #gardenhack
Forgot to spoiler my compost stuff below. FIXED. Let me know if you can't enlarge the pics. I don't know if I am doing it wrong unless someone tells me. Spoiler My compost bins, just ordinary plastic garbage cans: Here are the holes I drilled on the bottom and sides. Here is the one I started in January. Has some celery, palm frond, jiffy pots, and corn on top. I also chuck in some of the used soil and dried up stems/leaves from any dead potted plants I come across: Here is the one I started last summer, will use it for winter crop: It seems that grass clippings are my slowest decomposer. I have zoysia grass, which may or may not have something to do with it. The grass represents the only "clumps" left in this bin. I noticed that the black soldier fly much preferred to lay eggs in the clumps of grass. So I always made sure I had some grass clippings on the surface to one side. I ended up with a lot of helpful soldier fly larvae. Picture of one below on the right: Redworms on the left. Leftovers from fishing trips with the kids. Regarding the holes and aeration: The holes are just for drainage. I don't want any of the critters drowning or having fungus run rampant. For aeration I simply leave the lid off while it is decomposing, about 6-8 months. I have never have any off smell coming from it, no smell at all really. Likely because I don't have manure. I do keep a shovel by the bins and try to chop stuff up a bit while mixing it in whenever I add anything to the bin (or maybe a couple days after). Then after all the worms and grubs and fly larvae have worked their magic, I snap the lid on and let the soil bacteria continue to do its thing (after moving as many critters as I can find to the next bin). A few months later (and about a year in total) I have nice fluffy compost.
This is our composter. The compost in it is about a year old too and I've been using it in the garden. http://www.amazon.com/Yimby-Tumbler...UTF8&qid=1430269451&sr=8-1&keywords=composter
Might as well do a Feeny's Garden Update: Spoiler Yes, my grass is still shitty but my garden is glorious. Some datil peppers coming in: Lettuce, green beans, tomatoes, unnecessary tomato cage around determinate tomato... Carrots in front. Indeterminate tomatoes reaching good fruiting height. Tomatoes coming in: Collards, tomato, bell peppers. First bell pepper coming in: Okra in the foreground. Had a problem with my potatoes behind them. Had heavy rain for a few days and it bent down or knocked over most of the stalks. I think I should have added more clay to the mix to make the soil more firm. More tomatoes plus mystery squash and cucumber: Have already harvested 3 of these cucumbers. Seeds were given to me by a friend from Jordan, supposedly brought them over with her. Anyone know what kind these are? Here's a buncha herbs and some sunflower. Put on a new drip manifold on the left. Last one broke a spigot and was spraying everywhere but on the plants: Shitty banana plants are still shitty. You may think that's harsh criticism but there is some history there... Random mystery squash growing out of container. Feel free to identify it if you know. If it keeps getting bigger I will probably need to support it. Watermelon taking over shit. Salvia was a smart move. Always has bees in the area.
I need to get some pictures going, but I picked my first blueberries 2 days ago. First blackberries yesterday- and have some peppers and squash coming in great. I noticed last night there is a vine growing in my garden that looks a lot like my cantaloupe from last year.... I'm guessing some seeds survived the winter and the tiller. Will need to pull it out before it starts vining into my peppers.
Are you looking to put some veggies in there or are you looking for flower suggestions? If you're looking for flowers, that's a perfect spot for wave petunias and the sunlight sounds about right for them as well.
Make sure you get the wave petunias. They will flow over the side whereas normal petunias will just grow to their normal 2-3" height. It would also look good to have some height contrast in there. Try putting something that grows a little taller (but not too tall) like a salvia down the center of it. Snap dragons are another flower that will thrive in a shade/sun mix. They don't flow like the wave petunias or grow as tall as the salvias, but they're pretty damn cool to look at.
I know a couple folks mentioned PVC watering system with raised beds...anyone have an example? Assume it's a pretty novice project just connecting PVC and valves but wasnt sure if I am just drilling holes into PVC for the water to come out of or installing some sprinklers?
you can by threaded t's and install actual sprinkler heads(its more expensive but will save you money in the long run)
Not an expert, but I think you could to it either way. I'd make the PVC first then experiment with different drill sizes to get the desire amount of water moving out of it. I remember when I was a kid my grandfather just had a big PVC pip going beneath his tomatoes and he'd just throw the hose nozzle down it- and that worked fine.
Finally got my raised bed done. Took two weeks, but I feel pretty accomplished. Started with this Had to create a rock retaining wall to raise the area to grade which ended up being about three feet. That took a few days of picking through the plethora of rocks covering the property and in the dirt from blasting. Took about 6 yards of dirt just to get it level. Got the bed built. 16x8 foot using stacked 2x8x8's. Stopped by the local nursery and picked up some blueberry bushes, perennials, and annuals. Front row are Laguna compacts. Second row orange symphony. Two pink icing blueberry bushes and one patriot. Creeping flox around the sides and back.
Update on my garden area. The corn's growing well and and a bunch of the green beans have sprouted. Half of the zucchini has come up and the cantaloupe and watermelon have popped up. I need to figure out the best way to control all the weeds, don't know that I have time to get it there and pull it all. Also, most of the blueberry bushes are loaded down, the strawberries are growing fruit and the peaches are getting bigger. The blackberries are still blooming. Will be planting the rest of the garden not including the sweet potatoes this weekend. Will also post a bee update after I look at the hives.
If it is a small amount like a frying pan, I say do it. Although I might filter out large bits of chicken and whatnot first. If you are talking turkey fryer quantities of oil you may want to save it and gradually add it in over time. In either case you should probably mix it in really well so you are not restricting aeration and moisture to the soil bacteria (as it would if it was concentrated in a small area.)
Looks great. All that land makes me jealous. I really need to move out to the country and mix it up with you good ole salt o' the earth types.
Our local university has continuing education classes- learn to do this or that kind of stuff, this summer they are offering into to bee keeping... Think I need to take it even though my bee dream is years away at best
If you are interested in learning and have the spare time, sure. Otherwise you can do it around when you think you will start and join a local club to ask questons of experienced people.
It's like $25 for 4 hours or so, if I'm in town I think it'd be very interesting just to learn more about it
Every small time bee keepers is doing a great service in addition to having a cool hobby. I held off starting hives at my new 40ac playground this year as the timing was bad and I'm not entirely convinced the flora is around to support them..yet. I'm trying to get my stuff together and planting a large rock garden that will require very minimal, and ideally, no watering from me in my dry climate.. As well as being a source of food for bees. Looking like a lot of Bernlandiera lyrata so far in terms of perennials, need to keep reading.. I'm picturing the huge rock garden on the south side of two greenhouses, transitioning into some lightly watered plants moving northwards up the hill, finally into berry bushes/pollinating/composting shrubs on the north side of the greenhouses. Not sure how I'd treat the 20' or so between the two houses in terms of sun, so I'll just have to watch it once they are up. Maybe a border fence to protect the berries/shrubs from grazers/wind with some sort of vining plant hanging off of it. Finally a bunch of fruit trees and wind break trees on the northern most portion. A little apiary and some worm casting production and I'll have a stew going by next summer. Pics of the free greenhouses I scored last week in spoiler Spoiler 42x30 that I want to raise at least 24" off the ground and dig into a hill 36x20 both loaded up, concrete posts and all. Started trying to break the concrete off the posts with a sledge when a cool as shit Mexican dude working on the commercial greenhouse in the back of the first pic suggested just burying the concrete in tact and saving my back. I wanted to give him a hug lol
Unless there's a desert around you I wouldn't worry too much about it. Bees normally fly up to 3 miles away to forage and are known to go up to 6 miles away. But I've been doing the same thing. We've probably got 6-7 acres of clover in the pastures and I've planted sourwood and tupelo trees to help out. The stuff I plant in the food plot for the deer and turkeys is good for the bees too.
nice. Ya it was moreso timing that made he decision for me, but I am in a semi-desert - 15" is a great year. It would have probably been okay as you're saying, but it would've been dicey on whether any would survive the harsh winter here. I broadcasted a good bit of clover last fall - still waiting to see any pop up :/
It looks like you're doing it in spots, but mabye a layer of mulch would help..? Straw is cheap, suffocates all but the most persistent of weeds, helps retain moisture, and protects microorganisms in the top layer of dirt from getting baked by the sun. By the time the plants you want to take hold are mature the straw will have been watered enough that it's already on its way to breaking down into the soil.. If it hasn't it can be pushed aside when ready to plant again. They're obviously not around at the moment, but fallen leaves are free and do the same..
Yeah. I tried the straw where I had already planted. Stuff's just growing through it. The carburetor on my tiller is messing up, so I can't use it until I fix it. I guess it's just going to have to be the hoe and keep trying straw for now.