Baymule's 2018 Garden

[baymule]

That might have my second year garden.....August happened. In September, the giant ragweed was, well, GIANT and I turned the sheep in. I pull them up by the thousands and they still keep coming back. I would love to have such an abundance of forage in the pastures, but NOOOOOOO.......it wants to grow in the GARDEN!!!

 

[CrealCritter]

You all are doing a bang up job on the homestead!

Everything is so green there. t can't wait for spring to finally settle in, in my neck of the woods.

One question though - what is the burried cardboard for?

 

[baymule]

One question though - what is the burried cardboard for?

It smothers out weeds. I used to save paper feed sacks for the garden, still do, but now we have 2 bales of cardboard. Our soil is pure sand, think beach without the ocean. The wood chip mulch is building soil, but weeds still poke through. Hence, the cardboard. In some areas, I plant seeds, so no cardboard. But where I plant plants, I cut a hole in the cardboard, insert plant, and no weeds.

Oh, the GREEN won't last. The clovers will burn up as will the winter rye grass. Then we'll be left with struggling Bahia and Bermuda grass that we are trying to encourage to grow. I swear, maybe I should be out there at dark, reading the grass a story, tucking it in bed and waking up the grass in the mornings with coffee and whateverthehell it wants for breakfast.

 

[tortoise]

 

[baymule]

I have finally got started planting. I have planted Cherokee Purple and Mortgage Lifter tomatoes. I laid down cardboard, cut holes in it and planted the plants. Then I uses Marigold and my wagon to mulch over The cardboard.

I found a teensy-tiny baby rabbit. I stomped it, picked it up and called Parker. I commanded him, Alligator! And tossed it in the air. Snap! His big teeth snapped shut, gulp and it was gone. The Rabbit War has commenced.

I pulled a lot of weeds, cleaning up more areas to plant.

This morning I pulled turnips and rutabagas to roast for our supper tonight. I am simmering the mixed greens now. I also picked the last of the mustard greens and put a bag in the freezer.

It’s raining now.

 

[sumi]

Looking good I've got cardboard on "standby" for now only. I want to see what the weed situation is first, before I put any down.

 

[baymule]

Today our friend brought his 10 year old son over to "work" for us. He and I stripped tape off boxes until 2:00 when his Dad came back for him. I can really go to town on some weeds now! That little boy loves to come over here.

 

[CrealCritter]

Today our friend brought his 10 year old son over to "work" for us. He and I stripped tape off boxes until 2:00 when his Dad came back for him. I can really go to town on some weeds now! That little boy loves to come over here.

Kids are awesome

 

[Britesea]

I covered another path in my garden with cardboard today; it's about half-covered with pine needles so far. Cardboard has been the only way I can keep the bunch grass from taking over.

 

[baymule]

I have very little growing in the garden. I over loaded myself with building a Pig Palace, growing out and butchering 44 Cornish Cross meat chickens, been babysitting a LOT to help our DD out. And various other things that have popped up and kept me running at full speed.

The tomatoes I planted are blooming and most are doing well. The squash is about done. I got a wash pan of onions and I canned 4 pints of beets. I have 2 flats of Silver Queen corn ready to plant.

We have worked hard in the garden, pulling weeds that were already 4 feet high. Wednesday and yesterday we cleaned out the horse barn and scraped up manure around the barn. I have a 31 year old Tennessee Walker mare that has breathing issues, I guess the horse version of COPD. Because of the sand, when it's dry it is clouds of dust and she coughs, hacks and struggles to breathe. Over a year ago, we got over 100 loads of wood chips from power line contractors and we covered up the barn area to keep the dust down for her. We place the round bales of hay and they eat and poop. So we had all this nice, rich, black soil.........

It has been so dry, the manure is pulverized powder. That sure makes it lighter to shovel! We used the mule and the tractor. DH scooped poop and got 4-5 scoops piled on the mule, then I drove it to the garden and raked it out. Our 10 year old helper came half a day Wednesday and until 3:00 yesterday. he was a huge help. We got a 30'x50' plot about 6 inches to a foot deep in composted hay and horse manure. I am running the water sprinkler on it all day. After 3 hours I checked it and only the top inch or 2 was wet. All that rotted hay and manure sure soaks up the water. We will cover it with cardboard and wood chip mulch tomorrow. Then I will plant purple hull peas.

I have another section where I dumped 2 loads, have another load on the mule to spread on it too. We'll work on it tomorrow. Today we are taking a well deserved rest! That plot is where I'm going to plant the Silver Queen corn.

So while we haven't set any records growing vegetables this season, the work we are doing will sure pay dividends later. Smothering out the weeds, layering the cardboard and manure from the horses, sheep and chickens ought to make next years garden grow like crazy.