CC's Fruits, Veggies & Food 2023

[Crealcritter]

Well, well looks as though I will be setting out three rows of tomatoes this evening

Jesus is Lord and Christ

IF you still can, staple in hardware cloth. I Immediately thought of how 2x my chicken flocks were each killed by a weasel. My chain link dog fencing and netting kept away owls, hawks, dogs, coywolves, but a weasel can sneak in those holes. I need to amend my run before I get any more birds.
I tt a gentleman that raises pheasant. He has 5 buildings and you can see male pheasant perching on top of the inside of a 3 ft tall solid barrier when you drive by. (I suppose they are "yearning to be free.")
Still, I met him at local restaurant and he told me how a mink got in through a fist sized hole a killed about 30 of his birds.
You can always dig a trench and put the hardware cloth on the outside and bury it about 6 inches down.
I have thought about using the last of the barbed wire, bought when we were repairing 40 yr cattle fencing before we bought pipe horse fencing. If I bury hardware cloth I will lay the barbed wire at the bottom of the hole to discourage vermin.
You know, EVERYBODY LOVES CHICKEN!!

Any critter would have to get past the 2x4 welded wire, the chew through the 3/4 inch pressure treated plywood to get access to the coop, when the doors are closed. I just don't want critters living under there. Farmbabe was talking about rubber mats for the floor for eazy cleaning. IDk... I just work here

I'm going to start framing later this week. Whoever heard of a 4x8 sheet of plywood actual measurements of 4 foot and 1/8 to 1/4 inches x 8 foot and 1/8 to 1/4 inches? I have a little trimming to do on two sides first

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

Fruit tree grafting progress.

Bark grafts, leave me scratching my head... I mean how is it actually growing and thriving? But it is... Chip/bud graft below still in parafilm.

Cleft graft, smaller scion pushed over to one side to line up cambian layers. It's growing and thriving the tree is working on filling in the void.

Healed cleft graft, this is a good looking graft

Completely healed whip and tongue graft all calloused over. Very nice grafting technique and heals quickly

P.S.
I'm such a sucker... My least favorite bird is a mocking bird. Annoying things they are. If I wanted to hear horns and sirens, I would move to the city. But a baby mocking bird fell out of its nest. Guess who got the ladder, picked baby mocking bird up and gently put it back in its nest, all the while momma and daddy mocking bird were dive bombing his head? Yep, that would be me. There are 4 of those annoying babies in the nest

P.S.S. Let's hope those 4 babies nest somewhere else next year

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

I think I have enough lettuce to supply the town for a month of taco Tuesdays.

Beets are ready to be pulled and canned, I'll ferment some also because I do like fermented beets. Cattle do tricks for beet greens, it's like cattle crack.

It's been really dry here, someone turned off the sky water. I haven't weeded these rows yet this year. Probably won't either, just harvest and till under. Then plant something in It's place. Clover is a good sign, it's a nitrogen fixation plant. I usually don't weed clover.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[heirloomgal]

I think I have enough lettuce to supply the town for a month of taco Tuesdays.
View attachment 57846

Beets are ready to be pulled and canned, I'll ferment some also because I do like fermented beets. Cattle do tricks for beet greens, it's like cattle crack.
View attachment 57847

It's been really dry here, someone turned off the sky water. I haven't weeded these rows yet this year. Probably won't either, just harvest and till under. Then plant something in It's place. Clover is a good sign, it's a nitrogen fixation plant. I usually don't weed clover.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

Wow, how long ago did you put seed in for the beets? You must have a really long season.

 

[Crealcritter]

Wow, how long ago did you put seed in for the beets? You must have a really long season.

March 1st, 97 days ago is when I sowed beets, lettuce, spinach and carrots.

We sowed 8 rows of sweet corn and two rows of green beans yesterday. Set out 3 rows of tomatoes last week. I need to set out 4 rows of peppers and we should have enough room for melons and squash.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

Grafting update - growing

A few apple are approaching 6 foot tall and we ain't really hit summer to much yet it's just the beginning of june.

Potting and placing in a kiddie pool is one of my better ideas, not all my ideas are good ideas Ease of watering and water conservation is the main advantage. I add water to the bottom of the kiddie pool and it wicks up into the pots.

I probably will move them to full sun (dawn to dusk) soon, maybe fertilize them soon also. Right now they get about 1/2 the days sun. The kiddie pool on the left got less sun in the beginning and it really shows, plus some varieties are faster growers than others. But the amount of sun, definitely played a roll in the amount of growth.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

I plan to top work this newly planted air layered apple root stock come March into a fruit cocktail. It's close to the back door so I won't have to be conserned with deer munching it. I did prune it pretty hard so it would produce multiple new branches in a scaffold pattern. So I can graft many different varieties onto new growth.

I'm looking forward to grafting,while standing on a ladder. I mean why not?

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[AMKuska]

You can always dig a trench and put the hardware cloth on the outside and bury it about 6 inches down.
I have thought about using the last of the barbed wire, bought when we were repairing 40 yr cattle fencing before we bought pipe horse fencing. If I bury hardware cloth I will lay the barbed wire at the bottom of the hole to discourage vermin.
You know, EVERYBODY LOVES CHICKEN!!

I did this for Harold's coop. It goes down and then back out again. The idea is by the time a predator steps up to the wall to start digging, they're already standing on top of the fencing and don't know it. So far the only predator I've seen making an attempt was a cute little baby possum, and it was unable to.

 

[Crealcritter]

Finished up sowing 8 50' rows of sweet corn. Planted 1 foot apart so if all goes well we might get a few dozen ears.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Crealcritter]

I pruned this old pear tree back hard two years ago. My neighbor planted this tree in the mid 70's and told me it never produced much of anything. I think all it needed was some reviving encouragement from decades of no pruning. But look at it now all fruity and growing. Pears are my favorite fruit, I'm anticipating tree ripe pear harvest season .

I'm not entirely sure of the variety this pear tree. It's looking a lot like a comice or starkrimson. All I know for sure it came from stark bro and was planted in the mid 70's. I'm leaning twords starkrimson, but we'll just have to wait and see to be sure.

it is the oddest thing through, the way pears start out growing upside down or at horizonal angles. IDK... I hope they are as delicious as they look.

Pear Varieties

…

usapears.org

Jesus is Lord and Christ