Let's see those gardens... I have planted but given the season and family issues, I am not planting like I would have. There are seedlings just sprouting of Detroit White Beats, The herbs are going crazy but, for me; that will be about it for this year. Pics
Sorry, no pics... Asparagus has run its course this year, as have the blueberries. Red raspberries are almost ripe. Grapes are just now forming clusters. Still too early for the blackberries. Tomatoes on the vine, potatoes are to the point of blooming. Broccoli is still producing, but nearly finished. Spinach is still going strong. Onions coming along, but bell peppers seem slow this year. Spearmint and peppermint are doing ok. Chamomille coming along and the newly planted elderberry starts are doing well. A late freeze killed off the first batch of tomatoes...heavy with fruit and something decided it really loved sunflower starts. Hopefully will have benches in the greenhouse this fall.
Happy May! This spring I've had to undo the wild gardens and invasive trees that have spread. I finally decided to use a torch and it's a very satisfying form of weed torture (torcher). I'm thrilled that some of the dwarf oranges I planted seem to be hanging on, but I have seen some birds shaking the branches. I also caught a few mongoose shaking my pinepple patch to see if the fruits were ripe yet. I'll post pictures soon!
We finally got back to the ranch and are working to get things in the ground and everything else back up and running,, Were buying a few horses and cattle, and will get going on that, Wife found her "Dream Horse" so were going to purchase it in the next few days, and I found a 6 month old drafting horse ( Clydesdale ) to raise and train up and get working/riding! I got the Ghrist Mill cleaned out and am servicing everything, got the water wheel steam cleaned and lubed and working, still need to take all the grinding stones out and steam clean and treat them, and then get a set installed and adjusted just in time for the first batch of grains! Got the D-4 up and running and rigged for the garden chores, ran the root rake through a couple passes and dug out all the rocks, rolled and then tilled it all, and Wife got her starts ready to go! Got the Skidder summer prepped, and ready to start trail/fire road clearing and timber harvesting, I found I have WAY more timber on the ground I forgot about, and even more that needs to be felled and bucked, so We got a metric ton of firewood, plus enough good timber to run through a mill and then set aside to dry! Working on the Pacific P-12, got it drug out and running, hooked up the end dump and drug out the bladders to be cleaned and dried and inspected for fire season, Got the main water tank flushed and treated, and ready to go, need to run it to town and get the oil changed and a few small things fixed, and things should be ready to go, I need to order up several loads of loam and go load it up and haul it to the ranch! Also need to lay in a bunch of hay, get it into the shed and ready to go! Last, I need to lay a bunch of gravel for my runway, then roll it in and compact it so I have a good base to work with, just need to run the root rake through it and roll it out first! It never ends, and 6+ years idle didn't help things, but were getting it handled and tuned, so by fall, we should be mostly caught back up!
That's one heck of a bunch of accomplishment right there. Pics would be great if you can without giving away your location.
I thought I would have to use the chainsaw, but the $5 loppers I scored at a garage sale sufficed! There were a few nice things here like heliconias and monsteras but too many invasives like albezias, cecropias, Australian ferns (itchy and invasive here), autograph trees (take over here and like to choke things out). I wanted a clean slate. I have a feeling that some of the nice rhizomes may return. Before: Before by Alanaana posted May 11, 2023 at 9:38 After: After! by Alanaana posted May 11, 2023 at 9:40 What would you do with this space? Also, here are some Sugarloaf White Pineapples. It took about 2 years for my 1st crop to appear last spring. I took progress pictures the entire time and then the pigs harvested them and it was a bit crushing, but at least i know that it's decent bait. Since I'm keto this year, I'm a little less attached to the pineapples.
My garden is in, some of the peppers are already producing. Been harvesting strawberries and asparagus (mmm, grilled asparagus!). I finished putting most of the seeds out last week, right before it was supposed to rain. Guess what, it didn't rain Oh well, that's life right? We did finally get some rain and the zucchini and squash are coming up. Tomatoes are doing well. Lost 2 of my transplants for unknown reasons but replaced them and added a few more heirlooms to the mix. Tomatoes are primarily for making sauce for canning. I did cut back on the green beans this year, last year whatever variety that my wife found would have been great for canning. I found out too late that the beans pretty much came out all at once and it happened to be at a time when I wasn't keeping an eye on the garden because it had stopped producing, so by the time I saw that the beans were ready they were already too far gone to save. It would have been great to go out and do one, two or 3 harvests of beans back to back and can them up but I was so used to the beans producing few at a time instead of all at once. One of these days I'll remember to take a photo when I get out there!
Pics from last weekend. The hoops of cattle fencing are for the green beans and the upright cattle panel is for the peas (snow bird and sugar snap). Have 4 zucchini mounds, 3 yellow straight neck squash mounds, 2 cucumber and 2 picking cuke mounds. A number of tomato plants, mostly used for juicing and canning tomato sauce, sweet peppers a few hot peppers (jalapeño, serrano, chili) and onions. Asparagus has played out for the year and I'm letting them grow now. My biggest problem in the garden are squash bugs. My squash plants are all surrounded by Borage, used juniper tree mulch around the plants, got some lavender and marigold in there as well. Anything to "hide" the squash plants from the pests!
Thank you! Yes, it was a lot of work, but also very satisfying too. Thankfully, the black gravel is keeping things from re-emerging.
