GARDEN 2023

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looking forward to the new garden year.i am thinking about trying out some drip irrigation in small garden.
 
I plan on buying pecan & pistachio nut trees for the yard once all hard freezes are history... more melons, hot peppers, and weed as well. Those goldurned watermelons were tasty, and the hot peppers too! I'm also gonna try various squash and see how they fare, I think they'll do well here, judging by the size of the local pumpkins I saw over Halloween! Things were friggin' HUGE! I also want to try my hand with tomato plants, they should do alright here if I can keep the birds & bugs off 'em... I'm definitely going with more weed plants this time around, those did really well in this high desert sunshine! ;)
 
This past summer was the first year at the new place. We had a garden at the old place, but here we have so much more space we don’t hardly know what to do with it. The garden this coming year will be much more spread out. All the squash will be outside of the main garden. The rows have been marked out and tilled up some. The ground is not very good so it will take a few years to get it turned around. We currently have a couple of yards worth of compost that I really need to get spread out. I think her biggest issue, besides weeds, was getting water where we needed it. We just used a couple of big sprinklers for most of the garden, but really need to get a drip system put in for some of it, and a better way to just water the rose where we need to. no matter what happens, we are producing some and learning more each year. This past year was the biggest garden I have ever been a part of, and it’s only getting bigger. One of these days I will even finish the deer fence around it. 😁
 
We got so busy this year It was a struggle to weed water and harvest. Great fun planting tho. This fall I was thinking of giving it a rest this next season but now with the way things are going nationally I dunno.
The price of lumber is down so I think I will stock some more eight foot 2X10's and 2X12's to make 4X8 grow boxes as well as get a couple of dump trucks of garden soil delivered.
The front of our house faces due south and since it is a story and a half with windows on both levels it is a shame not to start making a greenhouse attached that could heat the house on cold but sunny winter days. Also we have to start many plants inside in order to give them enough growing time.
We have the seeds and fertilizers and now with our chickens we have grasshopper control.
 
We got so busy this year It was a struggle to weed water and harvest. Great fun planting tho. This fall I was thinking of giving it a rest this next season but now with the way things are going nationally I dunno.
The price of lumber is down so I think I will stock some more eight foot 2X10's and 2X12's to make 4X8 grow boxes as well as get a couple of dump trucks of garden soil delivered.
The front of our house faces due south and since it is a story and a half with windows on both levels it is a shame not to start making a greenhouse attached that could heat the house on cold but sunny winter days. Also we have to start many plants inside in order to give them enough growing time.
We have the seeds and fertilizers and now with our chickens we have grasshopper control.
A great garden year ahead!!
 
Anyone ever hear of electroculture or something like that? Seen this in a few telegram groups I am in. Supposedly if you put metal items in your garden it helps the soil??. I know I am probably explaining this wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️
I read something on this years ago. Some souls have natural metals in them. I"m going to check into this a lot more.
 
I have onions and garlic down, and potatoes ordered. Planning a bit of a clean up the first week of January, when it's drier and less muddy. The front of the polytunnel needs an overhaul, the frame around the door is giving up, but its been up for years so owes me nothing. Like Pearl, will be drawing out the plan for planting this year too
 
I have onions and garlic down, and potatoes ordered. Planning a bit of a clean up the first week of January, when it's drier and less muddy. The front of the polytunnel needs an overhaul, the frame around the door is giving up, but its been up for years so owes me nothing. Like Pearl, will be drawing out the plan for planting this year too
I've got some clean up to do too!!
 
I have a container garden problem.
The soil is washed out of my small containers, leaving a channel for more soil & most of the water to flow out of the drain holes.
I am thinking of using coffee filters to slow the water enough for some of it to be soaked up by the soil.
Also, this will stop 95% of the soil from flowing out of the containers.
Will this cause rot in my containers?
Have you tried this method, if not, what method do you use?
 
Just got my first order of seeds in the mail yesterday! I have no idea when to start my indoor seeds. The weather has been freaky this year, no idea when it will stop freezing. We haven't even had any real snow yet which is weird, especially after the super cold Christmas.
 
That’s good to know, @Pearl I was worrying about your peach trees. Do you have any fig trees?
Every time my mom’s star magnolia would bud too early, a frost would strike, killing the buds.
Time to look at the extension office planting calendar!
No fig trees. My bluebonnets have been sticking their heads out since Thanksgiving, covered them with hay during the artic blast!
 
I have a container garden problem.
The soil is washed out of my small containers, leaving a channel for more soil & most of the water to flow out of the drain holes.
I am thinking of using coffee filters to slow the water enough for some of it to be soaked up by the soil.
Also, this will stop 95% of the soil from flowing out of the containers.
Will this cause rot in my containers?
Have you tried this method, if not, what method do you use?
I've used cardboard!! Poke a few holes in it!
 
I have a container garden problem.
The soil is washed out of my small containers, leaving a channel for more soil & most of the water to flow out of the drain holes.
I am thinking of using coffee filters to slow the water enough for some of it to be soaked up by the soil.
Also, this will stop 95% of the soil from flowing out of the containers.
Will this cause rot in my containers?
Have you tried this method, if not, what method do you use?
I've been using 1 layer of paper towel (I use the blue shop towels). I fit them to the container, spray with water to get it tight fit before adding soil. I bottom water my plants (my containers are sitting in starter trays).
 
I've been using 1 layer of paper towel (I use the blue shop towels). I fit them to the container, spray with water to get it tight fit before adding soil. I bottom water my plants (my containers are sitting in starter trays).
Blue shop towels are thick, that is what I can do with the three gallon containers, thanks.
For the bigger 15 gallon containers will try the cardboard.
Thanks.
 
This has been a busy end of the year and I have been a little lax at watering my indoor growing space and the greenhouse, the plants have suffered but they have proven to be resilient.

I had to move my celery out of the shelves because they were getting into the lights and burning their leaves. They are each about 18" high now and I have created a space where they can grow unrestrained with the lighting running vertical along side them.

My tomato plants look sad, but there are about 2 gallons of cherry to plum sized tomatoes that need to be harvested. (reminds me that we need to get back on having salads at least 3 times a week to eat our harvest before it goes bad)

I have a lot of plants that need to be re-potted this weekend, they are all greenhouse varieties of plants that produce fruits without pollinators.

Side Note: We had a 2 day water outage this week and it makes me think that I need to move at least 1 water barrel into the warmer greenhouse space to provide emergency water for toilets and stuff in the winter time when the rain barrels are empty...

Well that is my initial report on the start of 2023 gardening for me.
 
After a sudden AHA moment I am changing up my plans for another pond below my current one simply because in thinking about the best garden spot, that area is perfect. Will have to do some work to get it ready by digging a channel for a creek and lining it with rock and making some nice pool areas for hunting crawfish and for just a pretty area and then leveling out the entire place after digging out a good bit of muck. Thinking a very slight slope for good soil drainage as I get the place leveled. Good news is that there is a massive amount of great soil mounded up just perfect to use to level things out that was the old dam from 80 years ago. The dam failed because of the reason the soil is perfect ... it was just top soil pushed down from the upper valley and is full of old logs and roots that rotted away mostly. Should give me a solid 1 acre garden and I can do tons of interesting raised beds using cross ties around the sides where it goes uphill. Best part is the fact that there is the upper pond. Just have to use a water hose and get it started and water will just flow via gravity (siphon). Location being beside the creek and below the pond should also give a great protection against early or late frosts. AND, perfect view from my deck to pick off any critters that get into it (deer, groundhog, etc). Hate that I won't have that extra pond in that spot but it is a much better use of that area. Can do the extra pond in the other valley where there is a 15 GPM spring.
 
I decided to take a couple of pics, here is celery and parsley
PXL_20230113_152947553.jpg

Here are a few sad tomatoes
PXL_20230113_153004101.jpg

Some indoor carrots:
PXL_20230113_153013610.jpg

and a new batch of turnips:
PXL_20230113_153059681.jpg


It is January, so I am happy with where I am at this year...
 

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