Duck's New Ragtag garden, Version 2020

[ninnymary]

I had to go back and chop down growth on the saplings by the street fence and repoison. I wounded them all and soaked them good!
Had to prune more--raising the crown More--on the pine trees in the south yard so that DH can mow with the tractor there. I went back and chopped them into firepit digestible pieces. All have been moved back by the firepit.
I moved all of the wood on top of the tarp after hand weeding any grasses, etc., growing on the perimeter, poisoned under the tarp, including 4 first year burdock that had grown through some holes, laid down a torn piece of clear heavy plastic over the holey areas, put the tarp back neatly and stacked my pile. Sunday I bought three 7 x 9' tarps, $2.99/each at Harbor Freight, so I pulled the old one off of the grill and laid it down to extend my space for more logs and smaller pieces. The biggest pieces are from DD's tree that my friend (who also took down the massive maple tree in my South Pasture 2 years ago), took down this summer. The first tarp is held down by the wood, the 2nd tarp is held down with a brick on each corner, but the two tarps look like a reclining "L".
Still, @ninnymary would be Proud of how neat and tidy it looks!
I burned some of the pine pieces, along with a lot of the stuff that I cleaned out of my garden area.
Planted beets 2 weeks ago, and turnips. Some of the beets are up, I think ALL of the turnips are up. I took old straw from a horse stall, lightly covered after soaking both areas, then soaked them again.
I have old king sized sheets given to me that I will NEVER use--microfiber, I think--ready to cover for the first frost.
I understand that after the first frost it doesn't usually frost again for several days.
The Webinar talked about extending the growing season, and that less light makes everything grow slower.
We HAD a couple of 40 degree F mornings last week. I dug up my two calla lillies, but I think I killed that small one.
The larger one seriously needs dividing and is now residing on the porch.
It should make several pots of nice indoor plants this winter.
Sweet potatoes were a bust this year. A few weeks ago I replanted the 100 gallon black water tank that I tried to grow them in, and emptied a handful of 20 cents/piece seed packages of bib lettuce and danvers short carrots. They look like They have all sprouted.
I also threw in some old zucchini seeds and 3 of them are up.
We will see if I get anything from my plantings.

Yes! Very proud of you. You have to admit it looks so much better and more soothing. Lol

Mary

 

[ducks4you]

Three days in the trenches in the 2020 Burdock War!!!
SOUTH PASTURE IS NOW CLEAR!!!!!

 

[ducks4you]

I have burned SO MUCH, including bindweed and bindweed pods, which have ALL turned into white ash, that this morning I had to remove 3 inches (4' x 4') from my fire pit.
Now I can deburr the horses' manes and tails and let them back out on the South Pasture again.
Got company coming on Saturday, gotta now clean house, so the mowing/poisoning of the first year burdock will have to wait until next week.

 

[ducks4you]

Funny, teasing frost for Saturday morning, 39 degrees F at 6 am, but on Monday morning, 6 am it is supposed to be 34 degrees, with a 5-10 mph wind, No frost predicted.
STILL, I am going to put out 2 box fans on the east and west side of my pepper bed to keep the air moving.
Tomatoes are next to cement and should be ok, also heavily mulched.
Forgot to add...my 14.5 cu ft chest freezer, order Mid MAY, finally arrived.

 

[Zeedman]

Three days in the trenches in the 2020 Burdock War!!!
SOUTH PASTURE IS NOW CLEAR!!!!!

Looks like you are stomping on them just in case.

 

[ducks4you]

I call my thread "Ragtag" bc NONE of my early plans really ends up being my garden by the end of the season. I go with the flow, the plants TELL me where they want to go, some things grow that were never planned--tomato sprouts from ones I buried 6 weeks ago bc they were rotten, stuff like that.
PLUS upkeep for the 5 acres AND the mowing interfere with planting, I ooo and ahh and buy stuff I hadn't planned on, like the two roses I got this year, a canna lily got moved bc I bought a mum for a school fund raiser and it was really big, which surprised me, so THAT took it's place in in the front sidewalk flower bed to give it a chance to grow roots and be a 3 year perennial.
Oh, on Mid American Gardener this week, one of the plant experts said it's ok if the amaryllis you put in a bed gets a frost. Just dig it out after the frost and prep it for winter indoor flowering. The leaves will die, they are gonna die and dry Anyway, so don't worry about it.

 

[ducks4you]

Regarding canning lid shortage, I just ordered 50 regular mouth lids for $14.25 (incl. S & H and tax.)
Regarding ammo shortage...the jury is still out.

 

[flowerbug]

...
Oh, on Mid American Gardener this week, one of the plant experts said it's ok if the amaryllis you put in a bed gets a frost. Just dig it out after the frost and prep it for winter indoor flowering. The leaves will die, they are gonna die and dry Anyway, so don't worry about it.

yes, as long as the bulb isn't damaged it should be ok.

however, it really is better to grow the plant in a pot so that when you lift it up to move it indoors before the frosts get it then you're not disturbing the roots. you really do want all the energy that is left in the leaves to get sucked back into the plant as they die back and a frost that kills off the leaves back quickly will prevent that energy exchange from happening. sure it won't kill the plant, but it may mean smaller flowers or less flowering or no flowers at all (depending upon conditions).

i keep mine on the table here by the window so that protects it from getting too cold too quickly and i have to watch it slowly die back through the fall as it dries out. it takes a while when you have a big plant in a big pot. if i were to hide it in a cool dark place the dying back would go quicker. some people remove them from the pots but i don't bother with that here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I found canning lids at Walmart and got three dozen. I didn't even look at the price but I think you got a real deal. That was going to be my next step, order online. I just canned 18 pints of dried beans. It's really convenient to open up a pint of cooked dried beans and just rinse them off instead of cooking them all day.

That ammo shortage is political but I'll address it anyway. It's been a few years since I visited the NRA website but that's where I got this information. It used to be that whenever there was a highly-publicized mass shooting or school shooting or an election there would be an ammo shortage. People would be so scared that the feds were going to restrict ammo sales that they'd stockpile it. There may be legitimate concerns about military style ammo but even when the Democrats were in control of the presidency and both houses it has never happened with regular ammo. If you are talking about armor piercing ammo useless for hunting anything other than people wearing body armor you might have a concern. But hunting ammo for a 30.06? Nope, has not and will not be restricted by the Feds.

This is back to my thoughts, not the NRA. Where this aggravated me was when I tried to buy a box of '22's several years back. I wanted shorts but after a few months I finally found a box of longs. That shortage was caused by people stockpiling a 25 or 50 years supply of .22's and then thinking they needed more. Are these the type of people you want stockpiling a lifetime supply of .22 ammo? But it is perfectly legal and they can if they want to. It is not a government caused shortage. It is a people caused shortage.

 

[Zeedman]

last batch for today being processed now. 24 quarts today. Mom helped so we got it done in time to mow. yehaw...

Regarding canning lid shortage, I just ordered 50 regular mouth lids for $14.25 (incl. S & H and tax.)
Regarding ammo shortage...the jury is still out.

Same shortages here. Lids may be back in stock when frost begins ending the season. I don't see the ammo situation changing until after the election madness is over, if then. What you can find will cost you dearly.