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Planted these with Hopes They would Open on or by Mother's day...
 

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Garden is looking good, we've had plenty of rain. Needs to dry a little so I can use the tractor for lite plowing.

My peppers and basil are doing well. Lost 4/5 pepper plants the first week. Glad I got extra. 1st picking of turnip greens was a week ago, dad was thrilled. Looks like we'll have purple hulls and okra coming out our ears by the 4th.

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oh my...its going to frost this morning i bet..its 4a.m. and already 38f......the standard may 10th frost is hitting on 13th...its been 93f for high already and most days in 80's and dry...it changed up a few days ago with first rains and cool air...its been 39f and 41f couple of mornings now...we shall see...its already bit my trees back once from it being so warm leaves were coming out...i have lots of grafts that sure dont need this and more...

to be continued !
 
My potatoes are all looking good, the salad bar is now open and we are eating like rabbits. I now have about 4 squash showing fruit.

The weather has been much cooler, 60s in the daytime and 40s at night, I'm glad I held off planting some of my warmer weather plants.

I started assembling my new irrigation system and realized that I need to use 90 degree connectors for the connections to my 1/2" irrigation lines. The rain came through in waves yesterday so I would do a little work come in out of the rain, then go back out... The rain barrels are now 100% full and I have opened the bypass so I don't have them over flowing. I'm hoping that by next Sunday the irrigation system will be fully operational again. I still need to figure out where to install the controller, I'm thinking it should go at the basement walkout/greenhouse.

The system looks like a steam room control arrangement, the supply line from the pump comes in low about 1' off the ground, then goes up 6' where it has a syphon break and pressure gauge, then it goes down through a 1" filter, continues down to the ground and then hooks back up into the bottom of the valve manifold feeding the 12 automatic valves. After each valve there is a small filter before the 1/2 black irrigation line. I did use unions so I can easily open up the system to avoid breakage due to freezing.
 
May122024 007.jpg Rain off and on overnight and sprinkles Now... Just went out to retrieve Me Garbage/Trash CONtainer and noticed the Lilies Still haven't Opened...!!! :mad:
☃️

👻👻
 
oh my...its going to frost this morning i bet..its 4a.m. and already 38f......the standard may 10th frost is hitting on 13th...its been 93f for high already and most days in 80's and dry...it changed up a few days ago with first rains and cool air...its been 39f and 41f couple of mornings now...we shall see...its already bit my trees back once from it being so warm leaves were coming out...i have lots of grafts that sure dont need this and more...

to be continued !
35f for low and frost...not sure of damage..i might have got lucky....but i am not liking weather next few nights/morning either. i seen it frost/freeze here in the mtns on 3rd week of june and smoke every garden down to the dirt....soooo...we shall see as always
 
35f for low and frost...not sure of damage..i might have got lucky....but i am not liking weather next few nights/morning either. i seen it frost/freeze here in the mtns on 3rd week of june and smoke every garden down to the dirt....soooo...we shall see as always

Ever considered getting/making a couple smudge pots? I researched them for my peach orchard years ago. Wasn't a workable solution in my case. My peaches were laid out on terrace rows instead of a close grid pattern. The rows were too far apart. But for a garden laid out in 36" rows?
 
Ever considered getting/making a couple smudge pots? I researched them for my peach orchard years ago. Wasn't a workable solution in my case. My peaches were laid out on terrace rows instead of a close grid pattern. The rows were too far apart. But for a garden laid out in 36" rows?
not sure how and if they work here...never seen anyone use them here before..i know south of me they do.

the other night...2 weeks or so ago...it was 28f all night and it took leaves off trees as they were just coming out then.
 
Another approach i've seen is using logs. A guy i know keeps a few tree length logs on 2 sides of his garden. When needed he keeps them burning through the night, low and slow.

The reason it works is 3 sides of the garden is surrounded by thick brush/trees, forming a container of sorts with vertical sides.

I know of another guy who tried it... garden was surrounded by pasture. All the smoldering logs did was form a chimney, pulling in cold air from every direction. Made matters worse...
 
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I have question my own sanity about what I must have been thinking last year. It was a dry year and I didn't like how the spuds had developed. Didn't think the harvest would be good and elected to keep the potatoes in the ground to over winter. Wanted to preserve the varied genetics. Purple Viking and fingerlings. It worked.

I discovered I had 3 4x4 raised beds of potatoes that are well developed with one variety almost 18" tall. So I may have 10 varieties of spuds. Potato variety is the lesson of the Irish potato blight. Pleasantly pleased. Feel blessed.

I have clipped the first florets from the broccoli.

I had a wild black raspberries plant in a 4x4 box last year. Used layering to clone the bush. I used them to fill out gaps in my raspberry plot.

I am excited about this year's garden.

Ben
 
I have question my own sanity about what I must have been thinking last year. It was a dry year and I didn't like how the spuds had developed. Didn't think the harvest would be good and elected to keep the potatoes in the ground to over winter. Wanted to preserve the varied genetics. Purple Viking and fingerlings. It worked.

I discovered I had 3 4x4 raised beds of potatoes that are well developed with one variety almost 18" tall. So I may have 10 varieties of spuds. Potato variety is the lesson of the Irish potato blight. Pleasantly pleased. Feel blessed.

I have clipped the first florets from the broccoli.

I had a wild black raspberries plant in a 4x4 box last year. Used layering to clone the bush. I used them to fill out gaps in my raspberry plot.

I am excited about this year's garden.

Ben

Way to go Ben!!! I'd like to take a tour of your diggins'. Drought got me a decades ago. I'd gotten a variety of field peas from a lady up the road. A very old variety and she wanted me to grow some. She'd gotten them from out of state family. That spring was the beginning of a severe 2yr drought. Seems pestilence always tags along.

The third year wasn't much better, I lost the seed stock. In the mean time the lady had lost her seed too, then got very ill, passed away actually. Very sad...

Mother nature can kick your butt no how well you plan and work. My dad was born on this farm, family has been here since the 1800's. Even with this wealth of generational knowledge about this specific piece of land, there's been years this farm wouldn't feed 6 people. The point being... nature can be devastating. For modern preppers who plan to grow food, their plans better include leaving! It happens more often that folks think.

Back to... drought and insects/disease. My decades of growing crops reminds me of the nature shows, like the Serengeti, prey animals and prey. I think of a garden or crop the same way. Bugs and disease are the lions, crocs...

When plants get stressed by weather it weakens them. It's easier for predators/bugs to eat them. More of the bugs survive and reproduce, plenty of food. Now even more bugs attack... Same for diseases. It's easier for them to live and spread on weak plants.

Pestilence always follows weather extremes. Extremes tend to be multiyear.
 
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35f for low and frost...not sure of damage..i might have got lucky....but i am not liking weather next few nights/morning either. i seen it frost/freeze here in the mtns on 3rd week of june and smoke every garden down to the dirt....soooo...we shall see as always
and now its 12.30am next night and its 58f...welcome to the mtns of barsoom !

93f and drought and eating dust and then rain 2 days and fighting frost and snow flurries at higher elevations...2 fridays ago i was at high elevation and hardly a leaf out..seen some red elderberry blooming though.
 
It's been raining here since Sunday night, which is great for the potatoes. I replanted a small pear tree, one of the ones thats meant to be in a pot. It wasn't looking great, I was thinking of cutting it back.
I'm holding off putting out my squash plants because I need to gather egg shells etc to put around them; the place is full of slugs or snails.
I'm starting to prepare some winter beds in the poly, using some pallet ties. Need to up the potato growing this year. I've also decided to put in another bed of late onions, if I can get some.
 
Just got back inside from visiting the Yard and it's Goodies...!!!
 

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Some More, Red Raspberries, Black Raspberries, Blueberries and Black Grapes...
 

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New Rose Buds...

and a Cluster of Glads in the North East Corner...
 

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We've had rain 2 of the 4 days since I planted the latest tomatos, Looks like they have already put down roots and taking off. We've got small maters forming on the older plants already. Sweet taters are doing well. Should have a good crop from them this year. Yukon Golds are starting to bloom. Squash and melons are not doing much yet. Maybe too much rain??
Some of my Blueberries are loaded, others nearly bare. But we should have plenty since we got past freeze issues. Mulberries and blackberries are doing well, as are the Muscadine grapes
 
Pics taken of Me Wooden Project...

Those White Rails in Pics # 040 n 041 will 🐝 a Fence around BushieBooBoo's Resting Place... Her Picture in Her Favorite Spot along with that Circle Plaque will 🐝 Attached to the "WishingBushieWell"...!!! There are Red, White and Blue Glads planted at the Base of the well and Ground Cover next to them as when She was a Kitten She used to hide under the Ground Cover Bushes along a chain-link fence back in So. Fl. hence Her name of BushieBooBoo...! All that could 🐝 seen of Her was Her Bushy Tail... :heart:
 

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New this Am, One has Finally Opened, Could this 🐝 the Start of something big as there are 16 little clumps/bunches of them...?!?
 

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and some are hiding...
 

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some cousins showing off...
and something New(005 n 013)...
 

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praise the lord my extra root stock finally shipped today....note to self...never order late season stuff from fedco....ALWAYS order early before march whatever deadline...i hope my scion is still good in refrigerator.

Great dog you have there Elkhound! Got a kick out of “Barsoom”! Enjoyed the movie.
 
I don't recognize the name of those gorgeous flowers; are they tobacco plants?

Emptying my compost barrels and bins. Absolutely delighted with the amount of soil. Have decided to put one of my barrels on a bed, so next year I just have to know it over and spread it about. I'm going to have to rest three raised beds this year, unless I buy homemade compost from somewhere. Strawberries are starting to form, and I'm harvesting rhubarb and freezing. Putting down seeds each day. The only thing that hasn't appeared are the peppers I planted a month ago. It was a cheap pack of seeds, maybe that's why.
Once again though, I have no slips on my sweet potato. Its my THIRD year trying. I might ask my sister to start them in future, she has more luck.

Have to share a photo that I took from our place. A lot like the one you have posted!

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Great dog you have there Elkhound! Got a kick out of “Barsoom”! Enjoyed the movie.
iffinya wanna visit just say the word

Ock ohem ocktei wies...Barsoom.
 

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