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[The Mama Chicken]

Oh, now that's Texas style gardening. Our family when I was a kid had some friends from Texas. He was the one who taught me to rototill that way, used to say, not done yet to me. He used to grow Okra. I remember him saying things about the okra plants that grew from the seeds he got in california. he said things like I guess these'll do, but I sure miss my cowhorn okra.

The beds in my garden that are not yet framed to the end are rowed up that way I learned from the Texan neighbor. I'll finish framing them next year. Wow! 80 by 80!

The really funny part? I'm originally from Cali, San Diego born and raised. We just moved here 5 years ago.
We had to till so much because we have clay soil full of perennial grasses and weeds. The first pass barely scraped the grass off. Even when we were done we had only managed to break up the top 4 inches. Our beds aren't framed in yet either, we'll add frames as we get the materials. The raised beds are great though because we get so much rain here (in a good year, at least) and drainage is always a problem. As for the size, I'm trying to grow enough veggies for all 6 of us, plus preserve enough to last through the winter.

 

[ducks4you]

what in the world is a tree of paradise???

Here is what it looks like:
http://susanleachsnyder.com/Conserv...nservGarden/PlantPhotographs/ParadiseTree.gif
Illinois has labeled the Tree of Paradise as an invasive weed. They love humus soil, which I have on my farmette, and will grow 5 ft or more in one year. There are not toxic, or impossible to get rid of, but you build a lot of muscle keeping them under control. AND, when you burn them, your neighbors think you're smoking pot!!

 

[Detlor Poultry]

Well, if your sure you really want the list
1 - Rearrange all garden plants
2 - Cuss the Scobies for eating my entire just-finally full grown Clematis and wondering why they didn't die from the poison
3 - Keep the danged bannies out!
4 - I said OUT!
5 - Mourn the tragic loss of my forget-me-nots, clematis, cannas, chrysanthemums, cranebill, leopard's bane and all the other plants the bannies so thouroughly enjoyed.
6 - Hang a picture of a garden in every room of the house. That should help.
7 - Go see the florist quite often to smell the flowers to remember what it was like.
8 - Plant some Rafflesias around the garden to apprehend the bannies.

Okay, so the last 4 were a joke.

 

[ducks4you]

I have a friend who owns a flower shop and she said that "forget-me-nots" require a constantly moist, boggy type of area to stay alive--hope that helps. Mine died, too.
No pictures, YET, but I've spent about 15 hours prepping the ~25 ft long bed just south of my garage, which gets full sun. I have flanked it with a blackberry bush on both sides, as I mentioned above, and I discovered that there were EIGHT stumps that needed removal. I am down to 2 stumps to get out. I got 2 out last night and one out early this morning. I'll get my camera out to show you the progress.
No mowing bc all 3 mowers and my tiller are in the shop. TOTAL AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
HOWEVER, it's forced me to really clean up this bed. If my tiller was here I would have just tilled it and probably missed a lot of roots that might regrow. I've been digging out ALL weeds and roots, including the runners for the wild morning glories that have moved in. I've thrown them onto the lawn where I'll mow the living...roots...out of them. I'm not sure I'll ever plant domesticated morning glories, ever, bc the wild ones are as invasive as spanish moss in the south.
Just a tip that I've read about--when you're cleaning up a bed, either leave clover as a vegetable ground cover, or till it under. Clover has lots of nitrogen and can be used as a winter cover for your beds. I prefer it to fescue or any other grass or weeds that tries to live in my beds.
Good news--found 2 potatoes with roots, so I moved them to my Spring, 2012 potato bed.
Mowers, etc. will be back by Saturday. The horses have been mowing FOR me.

 

[lesa]

What a lovely scene, Ducks! Such beautiful animals....

 

[nachoqtpie]

Lets see... The other day we built 3 more 4x8 beds, lugged 14 bags of compost onto the cart at Lowes, into the truck, out of the truck, and to the beds (my husband didn't help either... punk!), today seen 10 more bags, to which an old man told me that I would "get really skinny working like that." I wasn't sure to be offended that he called me fat, or laugh because he was right.

Then I had to weed, weed, weed, weed! I broke down 6 hills from last year, which is where they new beds went. I hoed up the area for the corn and mixed compost in (as well with all the rest of the beds as well!) I've still got 4 beds to go and I will be done with the weeding and the compost mixing! Then I've got to make sure that all the trees and such are clear of the stupid grass that likes to grow over everything! Somehow I've got to con my husband into trimming the hedges so I don't have to, and finally I have to finish planting some of the flowers that my neighbor gave me.

I'm ready for a nap just thinking about all the stuff I still have to do today! Not to mention my best friend is having a baby so I've got to make up a weeks worth of meals for her and her husband so she doesn't have to worry about him trying to cook!

NEXT month (or sooner) we have to build the enclosure for the ducks, and then soon after that for the chickens! I think what we're going to do is build the duck enclosure, and then extend it so we have an 8x24 run for them.

 

[897tgigvib]

Ducks, those wild morning glories are called Bindweed. They are in the same Genus as Morning Glories, but are a different species. Don't let them discourage you from domesticated Morning Glories. The domesticated ones are definitely not invasive, and if you get a few too many volunteers for you, they pull up easily and die.

About what you did with those Bindweed roots. I wouldn't've done that. Those puppies just may all grow even after all that chopping. I hear tell they are going to take some to Mars to see how well they do there! Kidding, but they could try it. Burn all parts of Bindweed.

 

[The Mama Chicken]

My goats love bindweed. Okay, they love most vegetation, but bindweed is near the top of the list. They like the poison oak too, but I'd need an ARMY of goats to get rid of it all.

 

[897tgigvib]

I got a visual of an army of goats, 40,000 strong, legions of them, squads, platoons, companies, batallions, brigades, corps, all deployed to areas of poison oak infestations! Gotta have some marching music!

 

[nachoqtpie]

As long as its the Marines Hymn!

From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea!