Another Homestead Garden Update

With the daytime high temperatures reaching 80 degrees and above, it's time to plant heat loving plants like tomatoes, okra, squash, cucumbers, melons, and corn.

While others direct sow their seeds directly into the ground like Mel did, I find I get better results by soaking my seeds in a 10% hydrogen peroxide solution overnight, and then starting my seeds as transplants. I don't like the hit or miss of direct sowing. You end up with gaps in your planting area. This may not matter for those that have a large acreage to plant, but we have a little over 500 sq ft of gardening space to provide our needs. By using a combination of sq ft, back to Eden, and lasagna organic gardening techniques, I get the most bang for my efforts.

So while Mel does her direct sowing method, I'm going to eek out a small space to do my thing. I can't let her have  all the fun. While we actually have enough corn and pickles to last another year, I'm  going grow field corn to supplement our chicken's winter rations and popcorn. While Mel doesn't care for cucumbers or squash (didn't plant any), I love them so a few plants are in order. I'll start 6 and pick the best 4 plants. My gochugaru and bell peppers didn't get started so I'll start a half dozen of those too. They will keep the rats, and squirrels away.

I'll grow the field corn down in the orchard and the popcorn in a (3'x6') "raised" bed area. This way there is no cross pollination between the two types of corn with several hundred feet and the barn between them. It's a raised bed because I'm raising the soil about a foot to two feet from ground level with no containment boards.

On the short ends with popcorn, I'll use a variation of the three sisters method and sq ft gardening method. I'll plant my cucumber or luffa sponges at each of the corner with one corn plant in the center. I'll plant a squash (zucchini and yellow) plant in outer most edge of the corner and 4 garlic plants along the inner edge.  In between the corner squares I'll plant three corn shoots in the 1 open squares.

On the long sides for every other square, I'll plant one corn two peppers (1 gochugaru and 1 bell), and 4 scallions, or small onions with garlic planted along the the back edge. I'll have 2 squares on each side four a total of four of each type of peppers.For every missed sq ft, I'll plant three corn plants. I'll intersperse peppermint  or cosmos flowers along the the front of the rows. About five plants in each square.

In each interior square, I'll plant three corn plants. Again, I'll plant three cosmos flowers or dill with them in every other or there about. Sound nuts? Believe me, there's a method to my insanity of  planting like this.

As a small-time, organic gardener, I believe in companion planting and natural pest deterrents. My number one problem in growing corn is squirrels and rats. Onion, garlic, and hot peppers and peppermint. they even shy away other predatory animals and pests. Rabbits love mint, but not the others so the young shoots are protected.

My second problem is corn earwig worms by planting cosmos and dill around the corn shoots encourage green lace wings to come and stay. Green lace wings just love the corn earwigs and other pests that can destroy your garden. Besides, it looks pretty and you can eat them too. Be sure to plant the Cosmos Sulfureus type only if you want to eat them. The other varieties will poison you! I get my seeds from Baker Creek. They give my garden bright spots of color specially after the corn stocks dry and turn brown.

When you harvest your dried corn (popcorn and field) you can also harvest the seeds from the flowers for next year. I've done this for a couple of years now. Although they are an annual, they reseed themselves easily. this year I've got an abundance of seed of cosmos and dill so I mixed them into the orchard grass seed (I plant the corn with  it) this year. Rabbits and chickens love cosmos and dill! It's and extra treats in their hay.

See there was a method to my madness. Oh, after I transplant the shoots, I sprinkle rabbit poop over the whole area. I'll mulch it 3" deep around the plants in the raised bed and 6" deep with loosely scattered hay or straw in the orchard. I'll let Mother Nature do her thing. I don't have to do much except pull the occasional weed and water it if we have a dry spell over a week or two long. That's the beauty of raised bed gardening. It also meets my dual or three prong of use status in small area homesteading.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Cockeyed Jo

Planting Garlic Cockeyed Style

I bought heads of garlic from the store this week. The bulbs were on sale for 5/$1 so the price was right. I bought twenty heads. Twenty??!! Yes, twenty. I hear ya. That's a whole lot of garlic. You must really love it. We do but I had other plans to justify this mad purchase. First let me say that, these heads were gorgeous! Firm, plump cloves in a tight bulb, unlike garlic that has been sitting around for a while.

I broke all but two heads into cloves. The two full heads would be used for cooking in the next few weeks. Ten heads were sliced on my mandolin, and put into the dehydrator for garlic powder later. The remaining eight heads of garlic cloves went into a baggie. These were destined for planting in the orchard.

This week I loaded the pull behind cart for the yard tractor with compost. Neat trick single handed, but I accomplished it. It was time to side dress/aka fertilize the fruit trees and bushes before their long winter's dormancy. I tossed my thrift store find of an old military folding shovel on top of the pile, the baggie of garlic cloves, and headed for the orchard.

I also had all the skins peeled from the heads in a paper bag. I could have dumped it all in the new compost pile, but figured it could also compost in place over winter in the orchard too. The extra garlic smell would deter deer and several other critters away from my young trees and bushes. In this bag I also had cayenne and various other pepper seeds. There is a method to my madness just keep reading.

Down in the orchard, I shoveled and raked in the compost around the tree trunks in about three foot circumference. This is the first year for these trees on our property so three feet is good. Next year, I'll do six feet to catch the feeder roots. I use my index finger's first joint to measure down a small hole in the compost about an inch (or there about) down. I push in a garlic clove pointy side up. Moving over about a foot and plant another. I did this all the way around the tree. Then, I eyeballed six inches, the breadth of my hand from the tip of my pinky finger to the tip of my thumb is six inches out stretched, and planted a clove in between where I planted the previous row. Yes, I know garlic can be planted six inches apart. I covered up all the cloves and moved to the next tree and repeated the process. I sprinkled the whole area with the pepper seeds and garlic skins. All this will be covered with hay/straw mulch next month. We'll let Mother Nature water it all in.

By spring thaw, the bulbs and seeds should germinate giving me a jump start on harvesting. The seeds will know the optimum time to grow as the soil warms. While an abundant harvest of garlic would be sweet, I really don't expect the garlic to do much this year. I'll let most of it go to seed. My main purpose for planting this much garlic is to use it as a varmint (squirrels, rabbits,deer, etc) and organic pest (moths, flies, mosquitoes, etc) control.

I repeated this around the raspberry, blueberry, and grapes except the initial circumference was one foot around the bases of the plants. It has taken me all week to do this, but it's done. In the spring, we'll be sowing more wheat, barley and orchard grass in the orchard too.

That's it for this week.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Jo

Growing, Growing, Gone, Grrr!

Just after transplanting

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned all those Roma tomato plants I transplanted into the garden. They are taking to the straw bales in lackluster form. I've been somewhat disappointed in their growth. Coupled with the infusion of a couple days of rain and sunshine, I was preparing the fencing to stand them up because they had started to flower. With all the bees and wasps in the garden, I knew that we could have a bumper crop this year. Due to the heat and the rains I'm down to 25 of 32 plants. They were growing and growing.

The day dawned bright and sunny. I walked the garden to check the plants as I usually do each morning, weather permitting, as part of my morning prayers and meditation time. I glanced at where a Roma tomato was suppose to be. All that was left of the leafy, green plant was a chewed down stalk. Farther down the row was another one and another one, and so on.. "Lord, what could have eaten these plants overnight?!" Honestly, I knew the answer. Caterpillar! Yes, pests have made their way into our organic garden. But there was no sign of them in the light of day. I'm down to 14. So much for a bumper crop. With 14, I'll barely make do possibly.

I went inside and broke out the blender. I'd slow their munching progress. Into the blender I put 4 dried cayenne pepper pods (from last season),  5 large clove of garlic. Once this was ground to a pulp, I added a 1/4 cup of milk, 3 tbs of olive oil, and 1 cup of water. I whizzed it around to combine and poured it into an old Windex bottle that I reuse just for this purpose. I then add 1/4 tsp of Dawn dishwashing detergent. Remember large pieces will clog your sprayer attachment. I give the bottle a shake to combine. Do this gently because you don't want a lot of suds. This "pesticide" is the combination of a couple of different recipes for pest control. If you have pests eating your plants like this, you probably have a couple of them. I make up this recipe a bottle at a time and discard any remaining liquid.

Armed with my Windex bottle, I again venture into the garden. I spray each leaf (top and bottom) and around the base of the plant with the mixture. After it dries, it looks like dusty mildew has attacked your plant because of the milk, but hopefully you checked your plants well before applying the spray so you know it isn't. This solution will have to be reapplied after a rain shower. It's probably  a good time to add Epsom salt, and side dress my plants with rabbit poo tea also.

No, it's not this bad,

Don't ya just love the way one thing leads to another on the homestead? Oh, and we sprung a leak in our metal roof during the last rainy period so Mel so up on the roof trying to track down the problem is. Not that I can do anything if she falls, but Whirling Dervish and I are continually yelling up at her to be careful. I only bought two small tubes of seal flex so I hope it will do the job. Then, it's on to the inside to fix the ceiling.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Cockeyed Garden Philosophy

Here in northern Georgia we have a definite winter season unlike my previous homestead in south Georgia. This is much to my dismay. I've waited this whole cockeyed winter season for something to grow. Yes, we are still in the Y'all part of the country too, but there are three distinct growing areas in Georgia, and we  ain't that big of a state. I know I said we'd start seeds around Easter, but I want it now! Yes, I know we still have several more cold snaps to go before spring. I'm not talking about planting outside yet either.

The back porch is finally wrapped in plastic wrap. Nobody really wanted to be outside replacing screens and hanging plastic when it was 40 degrees outside, but we've had a spell of really nice days of late with daytime temperatures in the 60s and 70s. Of course, this warming spell had its days (weeks) of rainy weather too. As much as I wanted the porch enclosed, I didn't want Mel out when it was raining. It was bad enough that I had to get out in it going various medical places.

Now we have a cozy spot to grow in even if the night time temperatures drop near freezing. The great part is that the plastic can be rolled up out of the way during the warmer months to allow cooling breezes in. The plastic will also keep out the blowing rain. I like doing the work once the right way and not having to do it again. Now, it's just putting up the storage racks to hold the seedlings and plants. It has become my 18'x25' greenhouse.

Do you start you plants in trays? Do you actually purchase these? My question is why are you paying for it? Have you bought tomatoes or other vegetables in the winter? What are you doing with all those baskets and cardboard or foam bins? You aren't throwing them away are you? How could you! You might as well be throwing dollar bills in the garbage.

These are excellent seed starting trays. I also use  my homemade soil block maker, and paper towel cardboard rolls. The toilet paper rolls are used exclusively for rabbit treats and toys. The cardboard is thinner on toilet paper rolls and won't hold up for 6-12 weeks for growing plants.

As the days grow warmer I find myself getting more excited about the prospect of being in the garden again. My garden time is also my one on one time with God. He shows and teaches me all His wonders in the garden. Even through the weeding, disease management, and pest control, He is constantly showing me something new. I no longer try to eradicate all the pests in my garden. There really is no need. They are happy with their 1/3 and I am happy with the 2/3rds. If a fruit of my labor is a bit bug bitten, do I really care? Nope, it will still taste good. If the plant is healthy enough and produces a good yield, isn't that good enough for a few bugs?

I used to be almost anal about pest control in my garden. God showed me that the best plants will have the most pests. It stands to reason, right? Who honestly wants to eat substandard food? I'll spray my plants with a cayenne, garlic, oil, and soap water solution to hold the insect population to a dull roar. I'll do this a couple times a season. That's it for my organic bug spraying. The rest of the  time, I'm picking off caterpillars and larva for the chickens. I won't get every single one. That would almost be impossible, but I don't sweat it either. So long as the bugs don't take over their 1/3 share, I'm content to live with nature.

2 cups of poo to 1 gal rain water

By starting my plants indoors and then transplanting them into the garden, they have a chance to get a head start on growth. I look at it this way. Who is more susceptible to harm a newborn baby or an adult? The baby, right? Well my plant babies are protected from that which will harm them. Temperature variations and pest/diseases being the major threats. They receive abundant nutrients via the compost in their growing medium  and a couple waterings with rabbit poo tea during their first 6-12 weeks of life. While the temperatures may vary, it never falls below 50 degrees in my make shift growing area. The plants will also be watered in with rabbit poo tea when transplanted to prevent shock. By transplant time, they will have grown into teenagers and less susceptible to damage by temperature and pests.

To me, I think of plants like children growing up. I did raise five children.

I consider this babyhood- anytime before flowering

When the flowers start budding= teenage/puberty

It takes a lot of energy to grow a teenager to adulthood. Ask any mother of a teenager what their grocery bills are like. If you don't have children compare it to double the normal cost and amount.

Adulthood= produces fruit

I'll usually top/side dress the plants with additional rabbit poo when they start to flower and again after the first flush of harvesting. Your plants need food to keep producing great fruit. It takes hard work and energy to keep producing offspring (fruit). You consume a lot of calories when pregnant to grow healthy babies. If you garden like me, I grow several different plantings of seedlings a couple of weeks a part to have a continual harvest over the growing season. It seems like I'm always feeding my plants.

An entire growing/harvesting season for us starts in May and lasts until September most years.  Gone are the days of waiting for November to plant greens and other cooler weather crops. It will freeze before harvesting. I've had to rethink and reorganize my planting/harvesting charts for these more northern climates. It's been a heck of a learning curve. But with the addition of plastic on the porch, I can eek out a few more months of planting/harvesting. I'll also be able to grow citrus fruits that Mel and I love. An almost year around harvest of ginger, horseradish, and turmeric too. Three medicinal/culinary roots that I can't do without. I may even try propagating pineapples too. Mel loves her some pineapple.

I thought I'd update you on some of my general garden philosophies that I hold dear to my heart as we travel this homesteading path. Hopefully, I can implement it all this coming year.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Fall Garden Cleanup and Beyond

I have been so disgusted by the DB Chickens in my garden, I practically gave up on it except to cut a few fresh herbs, salvage some tomatoes, and watch for whatever insect that's eating the leaves of a fairly new potato plant starts. I usually will squish the head of the offending insect and throw them in a bucket to feed to the chickens later. But they have had free range of the garden since the dog fight between our Nnyus and Sheba two months ago. That's pretty bad. I haven't even watered it. I haven't weeded. I haven't side dressed or pruned. Nothing, nada, zilch.

It broke my heart to see the damage the chickens and dogs had done to my once flourishing vegetable patch. Granted this being the first year, I'd only planned to test the area for what would grow and fresh eating. Actually before the chickens and dogs, the garden was doing quite well so I have hope for next Spring, But I'm not waiting until Spring. I'm starting now.

I've decided to fix Mel's hoop greenhouse and make it work for us instead of being an eyesore. You might remember, it was destroyed by Mel's first foray into goat ownership a year and a half ago. It will first have to be moved out to the area where the chicken coop was. This is no mean feat because not only did she build the hoop house but she raised it by placing it on pallets. It might be easier to dismantle it and then move it. I bought 2 of the 100' rolls of new plastic already. I forgot the pipe insulation, but we have a few weeks before it really cools down.

Keiran and Colleen

Mel also built shelves inside to plant vegetable starts on. Once dismantled, I've got some reconfiguring to do. My plan is to put Keiran and Colleen, my buck and doe American Chinchilla meat rabbits in the greenhouse over winter on straw bales. Why? The rabbits will throw off their heat to warm the greenhouse for my plants, but be saved from snow or freezing rain.Their manure will soak into the straw bales so when I mulch my Spring garden with it there is a slow release fertilizer effect. The straw from the new chicken coop has to compost at least six months to a year.

I'll also be breeding Colleen this month and again in four months (October and February). So the babies will be in there also. When the second set of kits are born, it will be slaughtering day for the first batch.  If the litter is extremely small, a third breeding is necessary before the summer heat hits. By working in breeding cycles this way, we are overwhelmed by having to slaughter a huge amount at one time.

These are big rabbits weighing in at 12 lbs a piece. They'll be a year old in October and never been bred before. Am I worried about inbreeding brother and sister? Nope. Their offspring are destined for the deep freezer. Any bad traits will be history in 12-16 weeks. Their hearts, livers, kidneys, and brains will become dog food. The meat will feed us. Their pelts will eventually clothe us or bring us cash. That's Colleen and Kieran's purpose on this homestead. You may remember Colleen is our escape artist rabbit too. I usually wait until my rabbits are a year old to breed them. Even though everything I've read says 5-6 months old is fine. I just like to see them as grown ups. I mean the average lifespan of rabbits is 16 years. I figure at least ten of those are reproductive years before retiring. I also don't look at my meat rabbits as just baby making machines either. I figure breeding them twice to three times a year is fine. I mean take a look at the numbers with me...

Litter size                       6-12 kits
Pre-Butchering weight  7-10 lbs each
Actual meat for us         4-7 lbs each for total of 24 - 120 lbs per breeding cycle
                                                      (2-3X a year) and yes, I've done this before.
Dog food                         6-12 lbs total
Pelt for us or sale          6-12
Other unusable bits for maggot farm for chickens
Bones used for bone broth for drinking and/or canning.

Waste- Zero


 I don't know about you, but how many times can you eat rabbit in a year? At the maximum count, that's 360 lbs of rabbit meat alone. That's almost a pound of rabbit meat every day and there is only two of us. A pound of meat covers both of us a meal unless it's prime rib. Don't forget, we'll also be raising some meat chickens too for some variety. Any dish that uses chicken or pork can be cooked with rabbit including sausage with some added fat including chicken fat although it is harder to grind unless partially frozen.

Jennifer and David (my daughter and son outlaw) love to fish and crab. I've taught all my girls the same thing my Daddy taught me... you catch it; you clean it. So they've done it since they were old enough to yield a knife. We can trade with them if they don't do everything I did on my property. Oysters, clams, shrimp, squid, or even octopus make tasty eating and with very little effort in getting them. It means a 10-hour round trip drive to pick them up but heck, I still have family there too so it won't be just a grab and go situation. I will miss the year around growing season down south though.

But as usual, I digress. In the greenhouse over the winter, I'll be growing tomatoes rooted from the organic tomatoes in my garden now. It's a perpetual thing. Take the suckers or clipped top of an existing plant and you get a new plant. Fresh greens for salads and rabbits. Strawberries in hanging baskets. Carrots and herbs planted in flats. The greenhouse will full of life so when the winter seems to be dragging on, all we'll have to do is step inside. We will be adding a heat lamp leftover from Mel's chicken hatching experiment for those nights well below freezing. Also the plants need light so we can put a grow bulb in it at other times too. It can't hurt the meat rabbits either. 

I'll leave room to start my vegetables in the Spring. Our official outside planting date is May 1st, but this year we had a late freeze so the plants I started Easter weekend didn't fair well without the greenhouse being in tact.  Wish us luck and a powerful green thumb.

Y'all have a blessed day!