Mexi, just enjoying the fine weather and doing gardening stuff. (Just got back from the garden center....I could spend a million dollars at that place!)
With regards to mowing, do you prefer a brush hog or a flail mower? DH is lookingto buy one to go behind the tractor. Can't mow "acres of weeds" with the normal suburban mower.....
ALSO! Is No-Till the way to go really? How can they truly compare crop yields?
Check out the info at gardenweb.com, also. I love companion planting. Seems to keep the insects at bay. If it tastes good together, then grow it together is the rule of thumb.
Tomatoes with Basil, cukes etc...
This year I "planted" potatoes on top of the ground and then covered with grass clippings, straw and leaves. As they have grown up, I have kept adding more mulch to cover all but the top 2 inches of growth. They seem to be thriving. I have fur varieties in, 2 red, 2 gold. Been keeping records of when planted, how much water and growth rate in a notebook. I will also see which does the best in my area and taste, and keeping qualities. Harvesting should be a snap by raking off the mulch and picking the potatoes up. The mulch will then be composted for next years garden.
Oops, one exception to growing things together. Keep dill seperate from other veggies. Dill does not benefit other plants, for some reason. I keep it off by itself in a flower bed. It adds vertical interest there and provides a pleasing backdrop to primary colored flowers.
We "TBoldies" like to hang and discuss things with each other.
Kat, it looks like I've got to pick up some beneficial nematodes. Cut worms and other nitetime crawlies are chomping down on my baby vegs.....
Kat, maybe we need a garden/homestead/corner store where there's a wide porch with a bunch of chairs with a table with a huge pitcher or sun tea. What say?
Yeah Diesel, sounds like a plan. You make the tea and I will get the chairs out...
Have you tried making a homemade repellent of cayenne pepper, water and a couple drops of dish liquid and spaying your veggies? The soap make it stick to the leaves and the pepper is not liked by a lot of the crunch and munchers. Give it a try.
Diesel, I make raised beds and use intensive gardening with companion planting. My garden is probably much smaller than yours, so can't give you advice about the machinery.
Kat, did you know that you can plant potatoes in the fall for the spring crop? Plant them in trenches with lots of leaves, cover with some soil and then lots of leaves, grass, etc. on top.
I put tiny twigs right next to the stem of every plant I set out that might be destroyed by cutworms. They can't penetrate the twig to cut the stem of the plant that way.
For creepy crawlies like slugs, I spread crushed eggshells around each plant. I wash them, let them dry, and then crush them roughly throughout the year just for that purpose.
For other critters like rabbits, you can spread bloodmeal, cayenne powder, black pepper, etc. Anything to make it smell bad to them. A little human urine spread around the edges of the garden will ward off some critters as well.
__________________
I didn't kiss Jor_el's ass. Â Therefore, my name is Mudd.
Mudd, I have heard of the eggshells but didn't know if they really worked. I am going to give that a try. I have a lot of slugs this year. Probably the amount of rain and lots of hiding places for them.
Didn't know about potatoes being planted in the fall. Is that for colder areas of the country , too? Zone 4 or 5?
Egg shells work really well. If you don't like the looks of white shell in your garden, you can cover them over with strong tea for a few days, then strain them... that way they blend in with soil color just a bit more.
Thanks D'Anon. I will definetly give it a try. I usually save eggshells for the compost bin so I will keep them seperate and sprinkle them around. How fine do you crush them? Do the slugs eat the shells or does it cut them?
Sure. I understand telling bullsh1t stories is verbotten around here...
I hear if you're a hardcore homesteader that wolf shed makes a great yarn if you care to spin it, etc. Which works out fine, since he sheds enough to make a poodle every friggin' day...
Thanks so much for that Brooks. Great info which I will be looking into and passing along. So many people are now having problems with Fosamax. Best to stay as natural as possible.
oh wow. I have plenty of eggshells around here, and hardly any slugs. Had been putting mine inthe compost but will now wash/dry/grind and consume ours.
I'll try the other methods as well. I will also head out with flashlight to see if I can't collect some to feed the chickens inthe morning....they just love any caterpillers that I canfind.
I don't grind my eggshells, just crush them with my hands or put them in a plastic bag and crush them with my hands. Grinding them too finely may not make them jagged enough to bother a sensitive slug's skin.
I would think that the fall method for potatoes would work in zones 4 and 5. You could experiment and see!
In the meantime, here's two links to check out regarding that subject:
You know, I used to just break up the dried eggshells and sprinkle them heavily around my flowers and veggies when I used to (!) live in Slugland. The slugs in *my* garden didn't bat an eye about the eggshells. They just slimed on by. I watched to see if I could see some flinching or anything, but nope. It never seemed to bother them.
I'm so glad I don't live there anymore. :)
ps. Mexi, your catchy title is really something. This thread has 317 views. I suppose all those visitors dropping by are really interested to see if this place is dead yet. HA!
Anyone know if Mrs. Olson has filed for divorce yet?
Hell no. The last memo I got was from KateCanada saying something about "Phone me! Call me right now! OMFG I'm so moist, call me, take me like I need to be taken!" .... Or to that effect... :LOL:
The sticky threads are days old. It might be time to make a master sticky thread, with links to all the old stickies and their titles, then unstick the old ones. That way the board isn't top heavy with very old stuff. Also imho the 'more emoticons' images need to be hot-linked, so that we can click on an image and it will load automatically, if that's possible.
The "progress" and movement (not to mention the volume of traffic) on this site is beginning to make CE seem inviting. Did I really say that? Shoot me, NOW!