Permaculture, Regrarians, etc. 2017

[freemotion]

I want some real live edible blueberries! I've had these bushes for probably 5 years and have harvested about 6 blueberries, ugh!

Do you get flowers? I had this issue with all the fruit on my property and finally figured out they weren't getting pollinated. I started hand pollinating with an artist brush and started getting fruit on my property. Now I have bee hives. Now I check the flowers for pollinators because many things bloom here when it's too cold for the bees to fly. So I check just in case and can always pull out my paint brush if I don't see any pollinating going on.

 

[Mini Horses]

Good info. I like the thread. Thanks for starting. One day I may have some input....

 

[frustratedearthmother]

@freemotion I do get blooms, and they do set fruit...it's just such a small amount. These bushes have never 'thrived'. When I planted them I built raised beds for them and filled the beds with pine mulch and peat moss. They're about 6 years old and this year they look like they're barely hanging in...

 

[baymule]

Obviously blueberries don't like you!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That's gotta be it - it's personal, lol! Stoopid berries... Now I might just feed 'em to the goats and hope for blueberry milk!

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Very interesting topic!
(We signed papers on this house almost a year ago, but really have only been implementing some of our ideas since late spring.)
I could not have told you what it was called, but we have been trying to set up our place with many of these ideas. We have chickens for meat and eggs (and bug control), and also for the poo in the compost. We use wood chips and straw for the laying boxes in the coops to be added to the compost and eventually into the garden. We're planning rabbits next so I can add to the meat, but also so the poo fertilizes the garden, which in turn will produce food for us and also the chickens and rabbits. Eventually we want to add fish, and add the fish water to the garden, eat the meat, etc, etc. We're also planning on adding bees to help pollinate the fruit trees, bushes, and garden.
Right now we have walnut and pecan trees, fruit trees (apple, pear, fig, peach, lime, and olive with cherry, more apple, and plums planned), fruit bushes (blueberry and blackberry (plan on raspberry and strawberry), grape vines (right now muscadine and scuppernong but others planned) an herb garden: oregano, basil, and mint, parsley, dill (lavender and thyme and garlic going in the garden in the spring)
I've always tilled gardens but am soooo interested in other ways of doing things especially when it means less work, fewer weeds, and better production. My DH found a place close that raises hundreds of rabbits, and found a truckload of poo is very cheap. We plan on adding at least one truckload soon.
I've been interested in companion planting for many years, but wasn't able to have a garden for the last 10 years, and haven't had a chance yet to really try it out. (I have had many years of gardening experience but it's been a while now, and DH has had almost none). I am in northern Alabama, and should be able to do both a spring and a fall garden most years here, plus a greenhouse.
We're attempting to add as many flowering plants to the property as possibly and already have white clover growing in the lawn to attract pollinators. My goal is to have the biggest variety as possible that I can get (for the least amount of money) that will come back year after year on its own. I'm already working with a neighbor who would like some of her flowers thinned. I'll do the work, and in exchange, she is giving me some 4 O'Clocks, Cana Lilies, Amaryllis, and Trumpet flowers. I'm hoping to trade labor or plants with ladies in the church and maybe some other neighbors to add to the variety.
Flowers that I know are already on the property include: a tulip bush, Camillia, azalea, canna lilies, roses, a few day and tiger lilies, some asian lilies, wisteria, magnolia, and cyprus and honeysuckle vines. There's a lot of stuff here that I still have to identify, especially the weeds. It's been over 10 years since I lived in the south, and this is a slightly different area than where I lived before, so I am constantly learning. (Oh, how I wish I could have met and learned from the people who originally set up this property!! Already I can see that they have saved me years worth of time and effort!)
We're doing our best to avoid all chemical weed or pest control (although I did use some for the wasps in the back shed. There were at least 20 nests where I wanted to put all my garden stuff).
We save rainwater for watering plants.
I'm thinking about getting a wood chipper. Does anyone know if chipped pecan wood and oak can go directly into a garden? Pecan trees love to drop branches. Right now I burn them (and put the ashes in by the chickens dust bath area) but if I could chop them and use them a different way, I'd be interested.
I just don't seem to be able to read enough, fast enough and to be able to implement things as fast as I'd like...
Oh and I am seeing a lot of mushrooms in the garden area and yard. Does anyone know which ones are beneficial and which ones would be harmful? @Britesea, I saw an old post where you were thinking of growing mushrooms. Did you eventually try that? Anyone else?
Also, does anyone have pictures of some of the beneficial weeds and plants they have in their yards?
I'm sooo looking forward to this thread continuing!!

 

[Amiga]

Hi!

I live in New England, but we have some garden aspects in common, I think.

Calycanthus floridus is a lovely, fragrant flowering shrub. In moist areas, I grow Clethra alnifolia - blooms late summer here, very fragrant, bees love it. Seeds itself nicely so once you have some you can transplant to spread them around.

A local mushroom club may exist near you - I prefer to grow Stropharia rugosoannulata, they are easy to grow outdoors and easy to identify.

For lots of quick flowers the bees love, I plant buckwheat. I got some red amaranth going a few years ago and now it volunteers in a number of spaces. I harvest it for myself and the ducks. We have lamb's quarter, Chenopodium album, too.

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I've grown ****aki mushrooms indoors before. It was fun to try.
Thanks for the flower ideas!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've grown ****aki mushrooms indoors before. It was fun to try.

I've seen the kits for the mushrooms...is that what you used? If so - did you get a good harvest?

 

[milkmansdaughter]

Yes. It was actually a client of mine. He was 90 and his son bought him a kit for Christmas two years in a row. You have to keep them quite cool for a while (and dark) so we kept them in a back tub in a bathroom that was hardly ever used. Once they started producing, we had all the mushrooms we could eat. I made tons of mushroom recipes and meatloaf, and soup and dehydrated lots more. We did this two years in a row. It was fun. (But I never priced the kit myself). The second kit was a different kind, but I don't remember which kind. (Maybe Morels).