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Post by richardw on Oct 11, 2017 0:11:05 GMT -5
We get enough heat being inland, so hopefully we get a standard summer.
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Post by steev on Oct 11, 2017 1:16:42 GMT -5
Good luck with melons then; if you can get some paper-thin prosciutto wrapped around slices of those melons, you'll be hooked.
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Post by richardw on Oct 11, 2017 15:47:43 GMT -5
Interesting concept, i'll have to give that a try, thanks.
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Post by diane on Oct 13, 2017 16:46:22 GMT -5
There were also a couple that didn't look like regular leeks, but formed somewhat garlic-like bulbs. Overall, I wonder if what we have is a throwback to some wild leek-like genes. Elephant garlic, which is a leek, produces hard angular small bulblets on its bulb. I strip them off and plant them if I have dug the main plant. If I have pulled it up instead, they usually get stripped off in the pulling. I've had a little patch keep going for about 30 years. Maybe your leeks produced bulblets. |
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Post by richardw on Oct 15, 2017 13:36:39 GMT -5
No i dont think they do produce bulblets diane , even though i never need to dig the leeks out as pulling them out is easy ive never seen any of those corms (is that the right name for them?) regrowing. |
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Post by richardw on Oct 15, 2017 13:41:48 GMT -5
The wide beds in the middle of the photo alternate between corn one year and pumpkins the next, these beds have not been dug over for about 10 years and all crop residue remains on these beds to break down, ive found its best to not walk on these beds as least often as i can to stop any compacting of the soil. At the end of this winter just gone these beds had the remains of last summers corn storks and a fair amount of weed growth covered using silage plastic black side up over it to kill the weeds. yesterday's job was to sow the pumpkin seed in pots and remove this plastic, then rack up the residue into mounds and one wheelbarrow of compost per mound added. The timber framing in the center is a Myoya ginger bed, it likes 50/50 shade so i'm grow a grape vine over this frame.  |
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Post by steev on Oct 15, 2017 20:00:10 GMT -5
Very nice. Your gardening/construction/landscaping projects are an inspiration.
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Post by richardw on Oct 16, 2017 2:54:22 GMT -5
Thank you very much steev, for me it shows what can be achieved with limited fossil fuel input using only a few hand tools.. oh and some dirty old plastic sheeting.
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Post by reed on Oct 16, 2017 3:30:06 GMT -5
I love how you do your gardens. Trying to move to something similar myself. I'm finding its actually easier much more enjoyable to eliminate the roar and stink of a stupid tiller.
Was the plastic on all winter or just for a while before spring?
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Post by richardw on Oct 16, 2017 14:00:09 GMT -5
The some of the plastic was over from the end of winter till two weeks ago,( talking about the closest beds in the photo), the far end was put over Sep and taken off during the weekend. That lot had clover growing in it from seed out of a round bale of hay that i biffed over just before winter. Two weeks after the plastic was put over it every time i would walk past it smelled like silage as the clover was being cooked. I use thin strips of silage cover plastic (metre wide) on the pathways between the beds in winter when i cant hoe, also means i can walk around the garden in my slippers picking salad stuff during the winter. The large covers are now over two of the four potato areas, next summers area is in wheat now, one more sowing of wheat will be done before spuds go in that area this time next year. reed i'm sure it wont be long before all petrol driven machines will be battery run, including the tillers, saw one of the new battery chainsaws out the other day, man they've got a fair amount of grunt horsepower to them in the larger professional model range, thats what i'll be replacing my old 20 year old Husqvarna with when it finally passes away. The no dig style of gardening is used only with my large beds, i dig under the compost in my metre wide beds though only because the blackbirds flick the compost around everywhere if i were to surface lay the compost, so there is a wee bit digging evolved. The large beds still has soil that is quite soft and friable, but having the right soil type helps a lot too, and remembering too the whole garden area had the subsoil - topsoil reversed 18 years old by using a shovel and two wheelbarrows, 30cmX30cm at a time. I'm sure this style of no dig wouldn't be as easy with a heavy clay soil...dont know??? would need a fair amount of amendment. |
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Post by walt on Oct 16, 2017 15:28:36 GMT -5
I have a battery-powered chain saw. Just a little one, but it does the tree pruning I need.
Last weekend my son and I went to Kansas City to visit my daughter. She had a branch down, and asked me to help look over the corded electric chain saws. She ended up buying a 14" chain saw. She said that buying it and using it once was cheaper than hiring someone to cut up the branch. Not that she won't have it and have it in good shape 50 years from now. She will.
When I was younger, the chain saw engines were a bitch to start. Now the bugs are worked out, but electric are better, from my point of view. Or a well maintained arm-powered saw.
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Post by richardw on Oct 16, 2017 23:31:03 GMT -5
Not having to worry about mixing the two stroke fuel i find really attractive, no smoke, no having to pull start them etc. I see now there's even electric wheelbarrows, alright if you garden on a hill side.
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Post by richardw on Oct 16, 2017 23:49:50 GMT -5
Started preparing the corn beds today, going for a mixed sowing of mini black, strawberry and a pop corn from the Southern seed exchange that i'm not sure the name, not that i care. Its a hands and knees job pulling the wheat and a few weeds and laying it with roots off the ground sitting on the leaf stem of other wheat plants, whats left of the soil on the roots should dry out and i'll plant the young corn plants direct into it in about two-three weeks.  |
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Post by richardw on Oct 16, 2017 23:51:11 GMT -5
gees, just noticed in that photo yellow flowers in the Black Spanish radish bed
... a sneaky kale that was quickly pulled.
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Post by philagardener on Oct 17, 2017 5:12:42 GMT -5
As NH fades into winter, your gardens look so fabulous!
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