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sweetiepie
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Sweetiepie's Garden 2015

This is all the farther I got yesterday before more wind and the rain started. Well, ok I had tons of chores, and a chicken coop to clean so this all the farther I got.

I got my compost tilled in, after the first set of weeds started to sprout. I usually wait until the weeds sprout, it is less weeding later and then I also know the ground is warm enough. Though I didn't have many weeds yet so maybe it's not warm yet. Hard for the ground to be warm with 40's for the highs and freezing temps for the lows.

When it quits raining, hope to start planting onions and potatoes. The long range forecast is still saying temps around memorial day in the 30's for the low. So I don't want to get to carried away and have it come up and freeze off.
Farm 2015 017.JPG

puzzlejunky
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Looks like you're off to a good start.

We planted peppers, tomatoes etc. And now our area is under a frost advisory for tonight. Our last frost is usually may 5th. Screwy weather....

imafan26
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You still got more done than I did today. I potted up one pepper and watered, then I went shopping.

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applestar
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LOL ^^@imafan^^

I love the unlimited possibilities of the blank canvas @sweetiepie :D

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digitS'
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I checked those "heating degree days," Sweetiepie. I'm ahead of Devils Lake but behind Fargo.

Right now, it doesn't much matter. It's Pacific NW spring so it's not likely to be severe even if we can't quite get to pleasant. The rain falling here this week is very much needed. I hope you have a good gardening year and we both get to Pleasantville, together.

Steve

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vaporizer
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wow. looks great to me. I would love to have that much room to garden. I cant wait for updates

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sweetiepie
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Logan's Graduation 019.JPG
Thank you all for your wonderful comments! I too love a blank slate and there is never enough room.

I have everything planted now except I need to put in my tomatoes, tomorrow.

I stuck 109 peppers plants in today. I couldn't fit anymore. Even though I have given away and had to start a farm stand at the end of the drive to try and sell the other 300 plants, I will still have left overs. Ugh, I got way to excited and carried away in my seed planting. Good news is the farm stand idea is doing great but I still am going to have to find homes for more. Thinking about using tires and filling them with dirt and packing as many plants as possible into a tire. I would have to put it in the orchard with the sweet potato plants. Maybe I could sell the extra product the same way with the farm stand idea. Farm stands are uncommon here.

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sweetiepie
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I just noticed in the two pictures that our trees are finally getting leaves. After the snow storm, last week and the snow finally all melted on Friday, we are having very nice temps. High's in the 70's and low's in the 50's. My strawberries made it through the snow and my grapes were just budding out and lost all those buds but are getting new ones.

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sweetiepie
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Well I really hadn't planned on doing this until fall. Low of 29 tonight and a good chance of frost. Of course today my cucumbers, and vine stuff decided to come up and some of my herbs. I did not cover the potatoes, onions or lettuce.

imafan26
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Honey, you have so much energy taking care of the farm animals, the kids and the garden too. I wish I had half your energy. Thank you for the posts.

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digitS'
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Sweetie', how is everything ..

. under and not under ..

. those coverings, this morning?

Steve

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sweetiepie
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Everything under a blanket and the bucket used for height did well. I had bought herbs like Rosemary etc and covered them with metal buckets. They were fine. The stuff I covered with folgers cans were fine. The cucumbers, vine stuff that just came up was fine with just a sheet. The onions, potatoes and lettuce I didn't cover was fine.

The hot peppers that are the closest to you in the picture got froze any where the sheet touched them on the top and the east side got frozen. But I think almost all will rebond except one plant got completely uncovered and it is done. I have replacement peppers in the house that I have been trying to harden off that I can use to replace if I need too. That's why the hot peppers just got what I had left to cover with.

So now I know. The low was 33 and I didn't see any frost at 6:30 this morning but it must of got cold enough. My strawberries still look good. So I am glad I covered even if it is a lot of work.

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applestar
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What a bummer though. It's tough when the weather won't cooperate and throw those surprises at you. :(

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sweetiepie
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I ended up replacing 25 pepper plants, too many leaves were affected and I had the replacements. So much is coming up now. Though I am a little worried about my peas, no sign of them yet and it has been two weeks.

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applestar
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If you have been having frosts and near freezes (soil temp under 50°F) dry-sown peas can take 3 weeks to sprout. Did you plant potatoes? Are they up yet?

Breanna.link
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I soaked my peas for 12 hours used hot water drained it off when it cooled took them three days to sprout.

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sweetiepie
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The potatoes are up. But everything is slow, so I am not to worried yet. It's just usually they beat my pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, etc.

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sweetiepie
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This is how the sweet potato plants came in the mail. I planted them and it's been about a week and half of them are dead. I planted them in the orchard because I didn't realize they spread out and were vining. Didn't have room for that in the garden and thought I would try them in tires. I planted the rest of the tomatoes and peppers that didn't fit in the garden in pallets. I have pictures but for some reason, it says the picture is to big.

imafan26
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we had that problem before and the webmaster fixed it. Your file size is probably bigger. You can upload to photo bucket or a site like that and download the link.

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sweetiepie
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Photobucket is so slow. But here is the orchard.
Image
Here is the tires with sweet potatoes, that I looked at today and decided to plant corn in the ones that are dead so that I can make into corn meal and hope it is far enough away that it will not cross pollinate with my garden corn or the neighbor's field corn.
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Here are the pallets. They are not very straight but squeezed in between the raspberries and fence.
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sweetiepie
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So most of the garden is up. I re-planted peas after soaking them overnight and they were starting to sprout, when I put them in the garden on Sunday. But no peas yet. I did the same with the corn that I planted in the tires where the sweet potatoes died and they are up today. :| So maybe no peas this year. I might try again and leave them sprout longer before I put them in the ground. :roll:

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lakngulf
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Looking good. Good moisture and it will take off.

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sweetiepie
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Closest to the gate or fence is beans. Yes I have PETC. (Plant Everything To Close). Then it is a row of different Hot Peppers. Then half of a row of flowers, which are sproratic and peas that are still not coming up well. I replanted some flower seed earlier this week and threw my pea seed away. The third sprout test I did was terribly poor.

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The row closest to the fence in this picture is cucumbers then potatoes. The next row has pumpkins, squash etc. and more potatoes, green peppers and then herbs. Then it is mostly tomatoes with paprika peppers and more herbs. The middle two rows have corn and herbs and onions. The poor germination on the one spot of corn is seed I got from a company two years ago. It was great last year and I saved seed from it and this year, when I used up the company seed I filled in the ends with my seed. Apparently it lost lots of germination and I should have planted more but it will work. I still have lots of corn canned from last year.

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Looking south, At the end of the onions is where the horseradish and I are fighting it out. I havent' knocked it out yet but I am ahead so far. :-()

I got the electric fence going because about 50 ft from the garden, we have been catching raccoons in the live trap. At night the dog has been chasing around a skunk. He doesn't get spray but the yard does.

I know the placing may seen a little crazy, I am trying to rotate crops and deal with the shade from the white garage in the morning and the shade in the afternoon from the red gardening shed and the trees.

imafan26
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Wow, that's great. Are there three of you? How do you take care of all of that?

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sweetiepie
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:clap: HaHa. No just me. To tell the truth I haven't been in there to weed for a week. I planted a little more. But the week before I took two hours a day and got it weeded and tilled. It should stay ok until I need to start hilling stuff up. I might get the tiller in one more time before my rows become to crowded. If we stay dry, the weeds should not be to bad in the walkways. With the soaker hoses I don't spend any time watering. Except now I have to hand water in the orchard where I planted all my extras. I don't really like that and hope I have learned my lesson on being crazy with transplants. :> Well I keep putting off going out and mowing the lawn which was put on hold while I was tending garden. I extremely dislike mowing around trees. Hoping my dear husband finds a moment this weekend to trim some branches that not only poke me in the eye but try to take me off the mower. :eek:

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sweetiepie
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:x So I found out that my peas were probably germinating but being eaten as they came up. Because the last few days each night we were getting about .10 of rain, so I wasn't going to the garden except to do a glance over. Today I find the 15 peas that had sprouted and came out were eaten to a stub. :evil: So I am going to get more seed. My cats and dogs can't get in because I have it fenced to well so I guess I will have to trap or as a last resort poison :twisted: which I don't like because of the cats and dog. :roll: But not sure how one can trap mice in a garden. :? I do have a live trap box for mice but usually I put that along a wall. I thought bugs had eaten the mustard greens but know I think that too was mice.


I need more cats and my mamas are a working on it but ugh!!

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applestar
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One year I planted peas as dry seeds and they were dug up and eaten in matter of hours along with corn -- neatly dug up from EACH INDIVIDUAL HOLES. In my case, the culprit was chipmunk.

I've sown them pregerminated with success since then, and have taken one step further to grow them into little seedlings to transplant -- corn since two years ago and peas this year as well.

..but in your case, they are eating germinated seeds? Ugh! :evil:

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digitS'
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I used to blame magpies for eating freshly planted seeds: peas, corn, beans. The worst, oddly enough, sunflowers.

I think I was wrong.

Rabbits are the most common pests in my garden. Digging up a seed, I don't think that would be too difficult for them. They have their preferences when plants are above ground, broccoli and beans are highly rated on their menu.

Perhaps, your fencing is tighter but I have seen cottontails climb right through chain link fencing.

Steve

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sweetiepie
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Funny thing is, since I moved here I have not seen a rabbit of any kind. Not saying they are not around but my dog would find them too fun. We also have many foxes and coyotes that keep picking off my poor cats. I tend to see them, as I am driving down the road and almost home and of course with out a gun. Some of the neighbors have had there calves taken. Anyway back on topic, I don't think it is a rabbit.

But could be mice, striped gophers, birds of any kind. We live next to a lake that is a refuge so lots of birds. Would garter snakes eat plants, I found skins in the garden? Would squirrels chew the pea down to the ground? Squirrels tend to be more messy, usually, tearing stuff up out of the ground, etc. Right?

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sweetiepie
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:evil: I went to the garden this morning, right after milking but before the 2 to 3 hours of other chores, to check on the ladybugs I delivered last night to the garden, which is another story and found a morning dove eating what was left of the pea stems. :x

I can not put netting over my entire garden or even try to get rid of the birds. How disappointing! Why couldn't it be a gopher? Whey just the peas? They have fields of crops to eat. Go away. So now I will be looking up some, do it myself scarecrow thing to try and scare them away. Maybe put some netting over the peas.

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applestar
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I posted pics of our birdscares elsewhere, too. They are protecting the berries -- first strawberries, then raspberries, currants, and now blueberries. -- so far so good:
image.jpg
I have also heard that thin string or wire -- thinner than they can perch on, strung in random pattern above what is being protected is effective. As thin as mono filament fishing line. Doesn't have to be so close as to exclude them -- NOT netting, just obscure barricade that can snag their wings and damage them.

I have heard and seen this method is used above open air restaurants and food courtyards.

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sweetiepie
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Very neat idea, what are they hanging from? A tree or do you have posts? I love the faces. I can't wait for next year now to try again with a better company to get my raspberries. I will give the fishing line thing a thought, maybe I can use stakes to tie it to.

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applestar
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I go cheap -- most are tied to sticks and branches, sometimes stuck in/out/in through wire fencing holes to raise them to suitable level. Ones with curve or side branch to hang the birdscare free works well.

It helps if the aluminum pan bangs on the stick sometimes. Blueberry ones are hanging from the arch trellises and nylon cord tied between front and back trellises which are used to support bird netting if I use it.

Draw the giant eyes on both sides -- most of these were made by my DDs. :D

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sweetiepie
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So the morning dove was back this morning and was now munching on a pepper plant. Odd, I think with so much else to eat. Of course I didn't expect to see it, for some reason. :shock: So I didn't have a gun with me.

But my husband saw a striped gopher hanging out my the netting where my peas were this evening, twice and each time he didn't have a gun with him. So it could be anything eating my peas. But he set some traps for him by the grape arbor where he ran to. I don't have to worry about cats or dogs getting in there so it should be ok. :wink:

Igotworms
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I have a morning dove that has a nest on my front porch. It's on it's second batch of baby birds. luckily they don't bother my garden.

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sweetiepie
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Image

I have given up on having peas this year due to the critters. Good news though I caught the morning dove and 5 baby gophers so hopefully my garden will be a little safer. So I like to try new things and I got some seeds from someone that said they were Indian Amaranth and of course I planted it. As it's been growing I am thinking this sure looks like pigsweed and wouldn't you know it is a version of pigsweed. Haha, I pull that weed out of my garden all the time. Oh well, I will try to cut it as a flower before it dumps it's seeds. The hot peppers need some sun and heat, kind of going slow. Our temps have been down and the sun has been hidden for over a week. We are getting the smoke haze from the Canadian fires and it's like looking through dirty windows all day. Yuck! Hoping they get the fires out soon.

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The corn is chest high and already started to tassel, sort of surprised. Usually it gets taller but our weather has been weird for ND. The pumpkins have gone crazy the last two days, we finally got in the 80's and they loved it.

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We got some wind and rain and my dill sort of layed over but it should bounce back. Potatoes are blooming. You can sort of see the smoke haze in this picture when you look towards the stock trailer.

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applestar
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Looking good! :D

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digitS'
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My garden was under an ugly brown cloud of smoke yesterday afternoon, sweetie'. There is a forest fire of 2,000 acres about 15 miles away and another of 800 acres about 30 miles. The larger fire has destroyed 6 homes and the news describes it as "0% contained." Today, the air is hazy but not too bad.

My pea season was abysmal. One bed was already cleared and some more cucumber plants went there and I pulled out the other pea bed this morning and bean seed will go in. I even took out the sweet peas. The heat had just blasted them. There was not enough recovery for them to even bloom. The edible peas did give us several servings to enjoy. I was just a little late sowing seed but anticipating "normal" was the most serious mistake.

Began harvesting ripe tomatoes earlier than ever and had a first-of-the-season cucumber with lunch :).

Steve

lexusnexus
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Wow sweetiepie! Where to begin. Beautiful garden. I'm green with envy. Here in the DC area that amount of property for a garden of that size is a fantasy (unless you're independently wealthy). We didn't have frost as late as you but, for our area, we had a very cold winter. We lost several plants to the extreme cold for long periods of time. Hey, I moved from Michigan so I didn't miss that! And your soil. People here would sell their souls for that soil. I've broken many garden implements working in our clay. WOW! What a huge number of plants. Where did you start your seeds? Do you use open pollinated or hybrids? Crowded planting? Never heard of it! :lol: About the only thing I won't crowd are my tomatoes. I tried that a few times and was always disappointed with the results. So this year each has 3 feet in all directions to the next one. And the results so far have been incredible. Just wish they'd start ripening. It seems like they get large in June but don't ripen until October. Except for the grape tomatoes, which have been ripening for the past week.

I hope you post regularly as I love looking at that garden... :D

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sweetiepie
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We had a severe thunderstorm last night. Quarter size hail, 60 mph winds, 1.2 inches rain in 45 minutes. Very glad my garden fared as well as it did. The corn is leaning but I expected it to be layed over.
Image
Here is a little better picture of the leaning corn.
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So we were in a tornado warning and where are we? In the attic, emptying buckets. We knew the roof had a little leak, and we have the stuff bought to roof it, but they keep forecasting rain on every weekend. We lost some more shingles, so now husband is going to have to just take a week off work, which we can't really afford and just get it done.

Loving the garden, though.



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