Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

well i set up the little greenhouse. SOOO *happy dance*
its about 4 1/2 ft square and has 3 levels to use (wire shelving at floor and the 2 more levels above.
theres MORE than enough room to get me started for this years little garden...though i m still planning on building a hoop style before fall i can now save up a little money and make it a 10x20 instead of a 10x10...
and then in the fall i can build more.
(ive decide i want a few so i can start more than just veggies AND grow hardier crops even through the winter )

id like to have enough room to dedicate at least one good sized greenhouse to starting ome harder to find fruits from cuttings...
things like Currents, european elderberries, ect...
stuff ive personally been looking to buy for my own garden but can only find online...

i cant tell you how excited i am...
over the past year i saved every pot big and small i got...and just for kick i figured id see how many at a squeeze i could get in there...3 crates and 200 planting spaces of various sizes LOL!
obviously if i tried to strt that many id loose my mind and there wouldnt be neough light get in to keep things growing BUT i COULD if i needed to LOL!.

right now im hoping to seed up some of the crates with some early greens, ill direct seed outside for those too once the time is right but i could get fresh baby greens alot earlier now
theres also room on the bottom shef with the crates for 3 5gallon tubs, im thinking o using those for a couple fo dwarf tomatoe verieties that can stay in the 5 gallon pots.
the top shelf will be for seeding, lots of little pots on the top shelf, and then the second shelf will probably be my intermediate shelf, transfer things into larger pots that need a little more time in the warmth before being evicted...
ive never grown in a greenhouse before so this will be interesting. but im SOOO excited. even 5 ins after putting the plastic cover on the thing i could already feel a tremendous temperature difference.

now i just ned to buy stock in potting mix LOL!.

think im going to spend some time to night going through my seed sand figuring out what i NEED to have, what i want to have and what can wait, as well as put dates together for when to start everything...
id love to get some of the dwaf tomatoe veieties stated early since they can stay a little longer in the greenhouse, but how early is too early ?!
im also hoping if i can move the darf verieteis into the greenhouse at the end of the season i might be able to get them proucing even longer...mabe have some fresh tomatoes into winter!??!

can we tell that im currenlty boucning off the walls about all this.

got to go to savannah tomorrow so ill probably head to lowes while there and topp by the flea market too...weather is supposed to be quite nice all weekend

 

[pinkfox]

found a chart that gave me the math to figure out when to start thigns based on my average last frost date. seems ive got to get my tuckus in gear, need to plant: Cabbage, cauli, kale and lettuce the last week of jan, and chives, garlic, bunching onions, peas, tomatoes and turnips the end of the first week of feb.
I may try starting a few tomatoes the last week of january to see if that week or so makes any real difference or not too..its not like im short on mater seeds to try LOL!.

this all means that at some point next week im going to have to go dirt shopping! LOL!

think im going to start the carrots, garlic and turnips in the crates...
Ill also be direct seeding for carrots and turnips but the ones in the crates can stay in the crates and just be carried out when there ready to get some outside time..they will be my "early" batches.
garlic can also stay crated, didnt have much luck last year with garlic but i think i started too late so not going overboard on garlic this year and if want to i cal lso direct "seed" a small patch too.
Bunchers i think im going to do in some of the smaller round pots so i cdnt have to distrub them much when i transpoant, and everything else can be started in seed trays/smaller pots

im SOOO excited

 

[Wannabefree]

The few weeks doesn't make a HUGE difference as long as the seed starting pots are large enough to accomodate the few extra weeks growth before setting them out I know, I experimented Sounds like you got it down what you're gonna do too

 

[pinkfox]

i hope so, now i just need to decide what and how may im going to be setting out LOL!
ive got 6 hanging baskets on the back deck that i think would work perfect for a couple of the dwarf verieties i have...
i think most of the other mater types are going to go in 5 gal pots/buckets
peppers ill probably also pot/bucket them too...
wont be doing too many root crops this year, just a few in crates, and then greens peas and squashes wil all be grown in bales.
i figure i can probably get 4 winter squash and some peas/beans into each bale fairly easily...
and i cant see growing lettuce in bales as being too problematic either.

todays plan...put on clothing, go to savannah, stop at the flea market o the way down.
stop at the park on the way home...
then home and a quick tidy round and do some dishes as a frien i comming over to hang out this evening...we may even light the fire pit

 

[Denim Deb]

todays plan...put on clothing

I could so do something w/this, but I will be good.

 

[pinkfox]

LOL!
there are days though when i wernt so selfconsious that id LOVE to be a nudist! lol.

it is a BEAUTIFUL day!
took dozer with me down to savannah, stopped at the flea market where he did EXCEPTIONALLY well. people ignore him and hes amazing!!!
then stopped at the co-op in savannah to find out what and how much theyd suggest for grass seed for the front acre. he suggest a base of fescue with some kentucky, perenial rye and other stuff...lol. about $75 to cover the fronnt acre.
while in there dozer did fine after the initial onslaught of friendly co-op workers wanting his love...they get excited so HE gets excited, so we have to work on his "i want to greet you nicely" manners
form there a quick stop for a good boy" burger from sonic for him nd then to the park in selmer.
met up with A and her foster pup, did the 1/2 mile track then hi and puppy had a good 45 mins of rwrestle around playtime, they left and we did the 1/2 mile loop a 2nd time.

now were home, the sun is out and im sat on the back deck...while the dogs run around like idiots about the backyard for a while...im going to clean up the patio a little bit and the hopefully he'll spend some time this afternoon napping! lol.

 

[Denim Deb]

Be careful if you go w/fescue-especially if you're wanting to raise goats. It can be toxic to them!

 

[pinkfox]

thats a VERY good point..
and one i asked about when i he sai fescue. he says the creeping red is endophyte free and for tall fescue they use "kentucky 32" which is an endophyte-free tall. he also suggested a mix using rye and blue and even adding an overseeidng of clover which aparently also help prevent the fungus from developing in lready "free" fescue types.

im going toeep reading though...grass was so muhc easier in the UK...heck even in ct, but this area of tn is a "transitional zone" nither warm of cool season grasses do well year round so ya gotta balance them all out lol.
what id REALY like is bermuda, creeping red fescue, orchard grass alfalfa and clover,
from what im reading orchard grass works REALY well when mixed with clover and alfalfa for a good pasture mix, the bermuda does well during the hottest part of the year and the clover should stay green too. and the red fescue grows a little lower and faster to keep a good moisture barrier with the clover while everything else grows in...

right now im thinking orchard, red fescue and clover which can all be planted in february...
then come in in May and overseed everything with bermuda
then in september reseed any lean spots with the orchard and alfalfa (alfalfa likes to be seeded only in late summer/early fall aprently)

i plan to ut a couple of raised beds with wire tops in the rabbit pens which ill seedwith clover and orchard grass too (the wire top will be about 6" above the dirt level so the buns can grave as it grows through without destroying the roots)

then ill probably do fescue, bermuda and clover for my back yard lawn...
ill be overseeding the orchard with clover once i get that area sorted (the geese will live in there so ill have to reseed each year, but the clover will encorage polinators too

clover is seeded at 10lbs an acre,
orchard grass is aprox 20lbs per acre as is creeping red fescue. and bermuda is generaly 10lbs per acre. for pasture...(though that seems low to me)
so im thinking 25lbs of orchard, 25lbs fescue, 25lbs clover for febs goal and 25lbs bermuda in may with 10lbs alfalfa in the fall...now just gotta call and price tha tup compared to the price he gave me for 50lbs of the pre-mix.
i definatly need to gt something in over there its just mud right now.

A an her hubby are also talking about getting a load of gravel delivered, they only need about 10ton, and i need about 10 ton, the guy wil only deliver 25tons at a time so they sid theyd take the extra 5ton and we ca work out a payment plan for my 10 ton an just bring it over in multiple trips (i cant imagine hauling 10 tons of chert but if they are willing lol)
ive got to go find out at the local gravel place what they will charge for the same delivery nd see whos cheapest.
im also going to see how much it would be for the local place to haul just the 10ton chert to me and 15ton to them too to see what kind of savings wed have by hauling it ourself...

so...we'll see what happens there.
being abel to make payments is a huge help and they will exchange kitty sitting for my share too...so

otherwise nothign going on. my frined is comming tomorrow instead, so it should be a nice afternoon...

 

[Denim Deb]

Do you have a TSC in your area? I know the TSC in this area carries pasture grass seed in the spring. It's a mixture blended for this area and I know what I got last year has no fescue in it. I'll be getting another bag come this spring so I can seed the last area as well as any bare spots. I'm looking forward to having grass instead of mud in my field and I know the horses are as well!

 

[pinkfox]

their is but TSC is always at least 5 more than co-op and the area i need to seed is part shade, fescue of any ind being one of the few choices for this zone for part shade.
but i will be using red or the 32 (e-free) if mixing in fescue.
this zone is a pain in the tuckus for figuring out what grass works best being the transitional zone. the usual pasture go tos of the north wont work year round, the usual pasture go tos of the south wont work year rond soe most folks seem to settle for reseading every dang season lol.

I know goats at least will only eat fescue if they absolutly HAVE to either way, same with alpaca and llama, i doube id be running any cattle and while id love a horse its not happeing on my property any time in the forseeable future.
but i have plenty of brows for them...all the privet that got bulldozed over WILL start groing back in spring (unless you get all the underground runners itll just keep popping up untill the goats overborws it (which takes about 3-5 years aparently)

that being sid theres no reaon i have to put the creeping fescue in the pasture area, the orhard grass and clover should provide a nice (a little ower growing but once filled in) pasture, mixed with the bermuda for summer and add some alfalfa in the fall and we should be good...
im thinking i will however probably use fescue and mermuda for the lawn in the back yard as it stands up well to crazy dog traffic (and with dozer he does more runnign round like a lunatic damage than pigs do rooting! lol)big dopey lump of a dog! lol.

no matter what i end up going with im REALY hoping for green, lol, right now its just a big brown spoldge and while its nice to see the dirt and not piles of junk...id prefer for the dirt to be covered in something a little les brown