DW Garden 2020

I'm using polymeric sand.
Going to be pouring the mow strip and last of the stones in the morning, planning to do some beach pebble flowers in the mow strip like these, but connected with a vine using smaller aggregate.

 

Nothing of note going on in the garden atm. Expecting 37f tonight. Time to make fried green tomatoes and put up the green peppers that won't be red before a real freeze.

I finished the patio project. Well almost, gotta spray last coat of sealer on it in 2 hours then its done.



Scored an old girls bike that ill make deep basket planters for, front and back, and then lean against the lamp post there. Next spring I'll have pots and planters on this, mix of some flowers and ornamental edibles.

 

beautiful!

 

Temp supposed to drop to 30f tonight and 28f tomorrow night with snow in the forecast for next week so pumpkins, tomatoes, and peppers were all stripped from the vines. I moved the pumpkins to the garage to harden off, minus six that fell victim to escaped hens last week. No matter, I mainly grow them for fall decoration that can be fed to the girls throughout the winter.

This is the bulk of the haul. Twelve were hardened off a few weeks ago and now adorn my front porch, while the unfortunately henpecked six are already in the chicken run being stripped bare.


The dark ones aren't green. That variety is supposed to be picked while dark, and they do cure up nicely so they'll be fine for decor and hen snacks.

Most of the peppers and tomatoes have been frozen or canned, this is just what I tossed in the bins to fix over the next week or so.

 

Looks good DW , We were also out today pulling the last of the crop in . Weather dropped from last week.
We do the same with the squash , chickens peck it , the ducks we need to chop it up and add seed in then they eat it with the water only from a small water source , if they have a pool it will all wind up in there..
Sloth

 

I read a book once that claimed you could feed a dairy cow with nothing but pumpkins if you had to, and she'd do fine. I *think* it was Five Acres and Independence but it's been a while. IDK if that's legit, but I know one year my hens were eating pumpkins every day for 4 months and while they had their layer feed available, they sure didn't eat much of it and they did great.

And somehow that reminds me I needed to get my onions for next season started. The Texas 1015Y are some of my favorites, and the name comes from the date you're supposed to start the seed. Oct 15th. I am about a week late but I don't suppose that will be a huge issue. I am also expecting a shipment of garlic from Filaree Garlic Farm and so need to get a bed set up for that as well.

Look at all the marigold and zinnia seeds I got off my plants!


Tomorrow is expected to reach 70, then drop down to 28 that evening. I am doing some driveway repair work while it's warm, and then will be pruning my habanero plant hard and transplanting it to a fabric pot to overwinter with my pitiful, stunted Serrano that continues to defy all survival odds. That poor thing got left in the trunk of the car for 2 days after purchase, nearly died in one of the wicking beds that went anaerobic, was transplanted with no special care since I thought it would die anyway, and yet still lives on, producing miniature peppers along it's spindly limbs, spicy middle fingers to my dismissive neglect. If any plant deserves a shot at next season, it's that one.


Next week has snow in the forecast but our weather is always back and forth this time of year so when I get a warm day I'll be ripping the plants out of the beds and getting them topped with chicken coop crap. Still have 4 wicking beds that need to be emptied, moved, and reconfigured as the sand base was an absolute mess. A pox on the YouTuber who said it was a brilliant idea. Then the old pumpkin vines have to be dealt with. Would dearly love to light them on fire as they are infested with squash bugs, but we're under a heavy burn ban ATM. Haul them off, then give the back garden another good tilling. Still some wretched Bermuda grass in there but I suppose you can never truly eradicate it without infuriating the EPA.

Next month I'll be seeding a few of the beds with some Sonora wheat I picked up, mostly for grins but also out of curiosity. Word from the gluten incapable crowd that Sonoran doesn't give them the same physical ailments that modern wheat products do, so I am hoping to get enough to make a loaf of bread or two and put that rumor to the test. I used to put in about 5 acres of wheat at my old farm, to bale up for the goats, but this will be the first time I've grown it for me, and without the luxury of tractors and whatnot to take most of the work out of it.

 

a hardy plant save the seeds of tha jalepeno plant!

Just curious, what is it you like about that garlic farm for you bulbs?

Never heard of Sonora wheat. So interested to see how it does

Thanks for updates DW.

 

I liked their website lol. No, actually when I emailed them with questions, they took the time to help me figure out which varieties would be best for my climate, cooking preferences, and storage needs. That coupled with their big selection sold me. I've only grown garlic from grocery store garlic before and the results were meh, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

Do you raise the 1015 onions in a cold frame?

 

Sort of. I fill a flat with starting mix then seed it. Cover it with a clear plastic dome and then put it outside by the house, out of direct sunlight but not really in the shade. Then pile dirt and straw all around the sides almost to the top so the light goes in but its insulated a bit. Mist it every so often so it doesn't dry out and then let it do its thing.

 

@ Ms @ditch witch
Please post a picture
Sloth

 

Three days of ice and snow, 24 hours without power, water tower power still out but no biggie i got 300 gallons in reserve atm. Garden is officially dead. That's my internet cable there under the half busted tree. Got that cut free and removed now.


Basically same pic but you can see my ice encased tomato cages, haha.


My apricot tree lost a big honkin limb. In the center there was a young peach tree. Everything but the trunk snapped.


Downed powerlines across the TX and OK panhandles.

 

I wasn't ignoring you, it just took me this long to get around to getting the onions planted. I'm a few weeks late but oh well. We're back up to 70F again so I'm getting some stuff done.

There's around 350 seeds per packet I think. I put about half of each packet in here, reds on the left, 1015Y on the right.


Had these flats for years, this one has some drainage holes in the bottom. Plastic dome has seen better days so I dont care if the sun fries it. Fill half full with seed starting mix. I use a random blend of coir, peat, and dirt out of one of the other beds. There's no science to it, I'm just dumping whatever I have on hand in a bowl and mixing it up. Happens to be I'm out of perlite or I'd put some in there. Soak it well, then scatter onions seeds on top. Cover with more starting mix, don't water that just let it pull excess from below. Put dome on.


Set outside somewhere kinda shady and half in the dirt. You don't want it in full sun because it will get way hot inside. It's ok if the dome has air gaps, that will keep it from cooking if you get too much sun on it. Main thing is to keep the bottom a little insulated and the dome from blowing off. You could actually toss some dirt across the top to block the sun, I don't because it's just gonna blow off by tomorrow.


During the winter months just make sure it doesn't dry completely out and the dome doesn't blow away. When the days begin to lengthen again, the seed will sprout. When they've got decent tops on them come late winter/early spring you can pull them and plant them in your regular bed. I have this in one of the wicking beds for the winter.

Yesterday I thought I'd further ruin my back by digging out the pepper tub, lifting it up onto railroad ties, and turning it into a wicking bed. Used a 1 1/4" uniseal in the drain and 1 1/4" pipe to form the drain pipe. This is how we did the other tub for the strawberries.


I got it this far. Have water in it now to see if the seal leaks. Didn't on the other. I'll get it finished later this week, when I can bend over again without swearing. The drain pipe will get cut down after I figure where I want the water reservoir to come up to.

 

Started a smaller tray of the 1015Y onions indoors, they just now peeking up.


My habanero in a wicking bucket now, trying to start blooming. Tossed some green onion ends in there.


Forgot to update the bathtub overhaul. Had this tub just full of random dirt for years, adding chicken litter and rabbit poo as time passed. It did pretty well, always had peppers in it, but drainage was a problem (it was ALWAYS drying out) and it needed some love. Decided to completely dig it out and make a wicking bed out of it like we did to the tub with the strawberries.

Using drainage pipe in the bottom more for supporting the false bottom than holding water. I got the discarded top off an IBC tote, drilled holes in it, and added a plastic pot under the lid hole. The weight rests on the drainage pipe. Towards the faucet end you can see the PVC cap that sits on the overflow pipe. The overflow keeps the water level about 1/2" below the false bottom. That clear hose you see snaking under there on the right side is an airline that's attached to a solar powered air pump. Wasn't using it, thought I'd see if aerating the water had any effect.


Then laid landscape fabric over that, tucking it down on the one end and also down into the pot in the center. Sand over that to form the wicking layers, and sand rising up above the fabric about an inch, which will compress as it gets wet. That little hollowed out spot is on top of where the overflow cap is. I don't remember why I thought that pic was relevant but there it is. I didn't leave the sand like that.


On top of the sand I laid down some really thin sheets of cardboardish paper that came in an Amazon box. They act as a bit of a barrier to keep the soil from muddling down into the sand. Ignore the trash can, it was windy and I needed it to hold the paper down for the pic.


Then chicken litter out of the coop, and a half bucket of kitchen scraps I'd been saving up.


More chicken litter, followed by some coir/peat/compost.... oh and can you tell what my dumbass forgot to put in back when it would have been easy to put in?


The fill tube. That's the second time I've done that, and it's a BEAR to get it slipped down to the bottom when there's landscape fabric and sand and crap all pressed up against the sides. Took a while but I got it in... and it's jammed on the fabric so it's not filling right. I'll deal with it later.

Finished it off with about half the dirt that was in there previously.

 

It's the last day of 2020, by all accounts the worst year many people have ever experienced, and yet despite all the election crazy and batflu hysteria, the lockdowns and mandates, food rationing at the stores and the total absence of toilet paper anywhere, it's not been my worst year. I've had a roof over my head, food on my table, and someone in my life that I can turn to while pointing at something on my screen, and say, "Can you believe this shit???"

However it has pushed me to take my Haphazard Prepper garden into a more serious direction for 2021, and as this year comes to a close I thought I'd take some pics of it as it goes to sleep for the winter.

The original garden was a plowed plot off the side of the garage and we grew yellow squash, zucchini, patty pan squash, roma tomatoes and jalapenos for hot sauce, and a couple rows of okra. There was also a row of corn that the Mr insisted on planting, tho I tried to tell him a single row wasn't going to pollenate and nature proved me right in the end. It was a good spot, but then we got a storm shelter put in and guess where it went? Yeah. I couldn't put a garden in where the dogs were, so I gave up for a few years, until I came across an Aussie who posted videos of these wicking beds, and I was hooked.

The long raised bed and closest wicking tub were the beginning, then came 2 more tubs. I had assorted beds out in the main yard but they never did well thanks to the dogs. And wow... I shoulda waited until I emptied the trash barrel there and gotten that PVC frame broke down and tucked away. This looks a hot mess.


The pepper tub has wheat seeded in it but the sparrows keep ripping it up the second the green emerges so that isn't going to work. The little trays there are wheat I sprout to cut for the bunnies, and then plant in the back. I put the air pump in that pipe to protect it from the weather and the grating is to keep the damn dog from jumping in there and digging.


This is what we tilled and tilled and tilled and TILLED again for next season. I've added a ton of sand to what was just dried out clay, plus twice that in food waste, dead dove that my neighbor's stupid cat kills and leaves in the yard (I just bury them back there), chicken coop litter, decomposing shredded paper, and now rabbit turds. Those little green patches are the wheat plugs from my fodder trays. Figure I'll just till them under when they get a little bigger.


Trio of Tamuk buns. JUST THREE! Not eighty like I had when I sold them off the last time. God I hate rabbits but the poop is gold. I'm still fiddling with the crap pans. The original idea was to get them tilted to one corner, put a hole in it there that would drain the pee into a jug so I could separate it from the poop. However those pans are slightly smaller than the cages and no matter how I position them, at least one bun manages to spray through the gap and get it on the wall or deck so I gotta go to plan B.


New flock just now starting to lay. I finally got rid of the geriatrics I had and raised up a new group. Blue Andalusians, Buff Orpingtons, Americaunas, Barred Rocks, Silver Laced Wyandottes, and one hen I kept back from the old group since she was only a year old, she's a mix of Giant Cochin, Americauna, and Black Copper Maran, lays dark green eggs. Two Americauna roos in there too, need to put one in the pot. Those feed sacks at the end are wind breaks, one goes around the automatic waterer.


Next series of wicking beds. Plan is to use the two taller ones along the back fence for blueberries. Yes I could just till that patch up... and then fight with the foxtail and bermuda wiregrass all summer long, water until I'm blue in the face and still watch it all dry up, and have to fence it off so the dogs can't ruin it. Beds are easier, and more productive, for me anyway. I have a LOT more of these tossed off to the side, to be brought into place as soon as I get these completed. Lot of 5 gallon wicking buckets to make too, as well as 20 gallon ones from cattle mineral tubs.


And that leaves me with this. Packets and bags of seeds for 2021. Squashes and okra, pumpkins and corn, basil and thyme and lemongrass and chives, onions, eggplant, cucumbers, cabbage, celery, lettuces, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, and so many peppers and tomatoes. Herbs for flavor and herbs for medicinal. Sweet corn for fresh and dent corn for storing (and yes I'll stagger the pollination to keep them from crossing). Sunflowers and sorghum for chickens and bunnies, a zillion zinnias and marigolds and morning glories and mints for the pollinators, too much to keep track of. No doubt you think, DW you are never gonna get all that planted in that little space.

Wanna put some money on that?

 

You're a freakin plant ninja ,,, you're an inspiration for sure , the way you use the space you have. Kind of makes me think ,,, I ain't thinking right ,,,

 

Ditch Witch I haven't had chickens in many many years whats a good breed for eggs. Had ducks for a while -duck eggs were great -- a fox or bob cat got in the pen and that was the end of the ducks. You got so much going on in a small space looks great.

 

I have bantam chickens,they roost in tall trees at night. I have not lost one in the last year. I feed them a little corn chops every morning and they are good until the next day. I also have twenty guinas that roost with them. I had a chicken hawk flying around yesterday that I will be on the lookout for. You need to make a place for the bantam to lay and pick up their eggs everyday

 

DW Looking good !!!
If you lived down here I'd let you farm at least 8 acres !!!