|
Post by macmex on Feb 1, 2020 9:59:59 GMT -6
Tuesday I decided to let two ducks set on nests. Here's hoping we don't go into severe weather in about 35 days, when the ducklings hatch. Last year I didn't let them set early, the earliest nests I allowed were disturbed (and destroyed) and then on account of an accident, we lost our drakes. I considered us fortunate to raise up two more drakes for this year. So, ... I want ducklings as soon as possible!
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 1, 2020 17:57:22 GMT -6
Maybe, we'll have new farm babies at about the same time ... Congratulations on the baby goats this morning. That photo you guys sent me would look really good on the Domestic Critters page.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 1, 2020 18:00:30 GMT -6
I finally got all 3 1/2 rows of my okra stalks pulled out and stacked up. Whew! I am bushed!
Now, it's time to pull up 7 rows of Plasticulture, stack out 100 tomato cages, and spread another ton of chicken litter before plowing time.
My rows are on eleven foot centers, so I can drive a tractor between them. Each row is 30" inches wide. The next thing I will be doing is pulling up this plastic and dragging a trailer through here, loaded with a ton or so of chicken litter. As you can see to the far right of this photo, I still have 100 tomato cages left to pull out and stack. I have 7 rows of Plasticulture in total, to clean-off and remove. I'm about half-way through with the garden clean-up, before I spread the chicken litter. Then, if it ever dries up enough, I'll plow all this under and start laying off rows for Spring planting. (For reference, you can barely make out the 7' foot tall stack of okra stalks, way off, near the far end of this row.)
All those bumps on the ground are frozen turnips. Talk about ankle twisters! I got three rows of Plasticulture pulled out and stacked away today, so I stepped on a lot of turnips. This pile of winter-killed okra stalks ended up being about 7' feet tall and about 15' feet long. In a day or two, I'll come back in here and push these stalks over to my compost pile.
|
|
|
Post by Sunbird on Feb 1, 2020 20:30:15 GMT -6
I received my seeds yesterday. Can't believe how fast they came. I am so excited for warm enough weather to plant to get here. It'll be here before we know it.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 2, 2020 4:40:16 GMT -6
Welcome to the forum, Sunbird.
Spring is right around the corner. Every February, I start tearing out the old garden, usually, just in time to replant it.
It will take me several more days to remove my 100 concrete reinforcement wire tomato cages, pull up all the steel Tee-Posts, and roll up a thousand feet of 1/8" inch aircraft cable support wires. It took me almost two weeks to set it all up and it will take me nearly that long to tear it all down.
If I start tearing things out in February, I ought to finish just a little ahead of potato planting time in March. Spring planting season will be here before we know it!You can barely see the skeletons of my 100 remaining tomato plants in this photo. I have 6' foot tall, Tee Posts, driven as cross braces at both ends of each row of tomato cages, with another 6' foot tall supporting Tee Post driven every 20 feet; the full length of each row.
I have aircraft cable stretched tightly across the top of each cage to keep them from blowing over during summer thunderstorms when the plants are all loaded with fruit. I harvested over a thousand pounds of tomatoes last summer, so that's a huge amount of weight to support along these 150' foot rows. On average, there are 11 Tee Posts supporting the cable that's stretched down each row.
Now, I have to tear all of this back out, so I can plow it up and till in my amendments for the next growing season. I irrigate my garden with water that I pump from my drinking well, 500' feet North of this location. I dug the trench for my 1"inch PVC irrigation line with a team of mules, back in 2008 and covered it by hand, with the help of my two oldest granddaughters. After a day's work, we'd all ride in Bill's wagon as we returned the team of mules to his farm about a mile from our house.
Compared to those days, I have it made, now that I have a tractor to pull the plow.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 5, 2020 8:32:31 GMT -6
Ron's Almanac (for what it's worth) I'm just gonna throw this out there ... Being how the Groundhog most definitely saw his shadow 3 days ago, coupled with the very large storm system I've seen on satellite, stretching from Hawaii to Seattle; I'm going to say around Valentine's Day, expect that temperatures will not rise much above freezing for about a week. Snow may be in the forecast to accompany those colder temperatures.
February 13th - 14th The Moon will be in the 4th & 5th day of waning gibbous, so good time to start seedbeds. Get those herb seeds ready.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 12, 2020 18:12:35 GMT -6
Well, it looks like my Valentine's Day weather prediction will be coming one day earlier than I predicted. The low tonight is forecast to be 19 degrees and Thursday's high will only be around 34, but Hopefully, it won't stick around for as long as I feared it might.
I'm getting kind of tired of this dreary, drizzly, 'Seattle weather' here in the heart of Green Country.
Our farm is a muddy mess! Sometime this winter, I still need to spread another ton of chicken litter, but only if I can actually get into my garden to get to work with a shovel and a wheelbarrow.
Today still marks the first day of the best sign for planting seed trays though, so all bets are still on for getting those starter pots ready to go!
Happy gardening, Ron
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 14, 2020 17:58:45 GMT -6
It was 14 degrees, on the 14th of February, this morning at 4:14 am. I'm sure happy to see this evening, that the brunt of the cold has now passed us by!While I was fiddling around, pushing buttons in the wee hours, before dawn, I realized that typing, heavyhitterokra.com into a Google search will get you to the same page as typing in,
www.drycreekfarmstore.com/That means: Folks can purchase Heavy Hitter Okra Seeds either way they choose to get there; at least until the day I run out of inventory, which at the rate I've been going, won't be much longer. I've had 99 new seed orders arrive within the past 19 days!
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Feb 24, 2020 15:36:50 GMT -6
Wow! These dreary, cloudy, rainy days sure make it tough to keep my tomato seedlings from going 'leggy'. I'm way ready for some sunnier days. My heart wants to get out there in that garden and tear up some dirt, but my brain is telling me it would just be a waste of time ...
Oh well, I suppose that's why God gave me all these rocks to pick up, so I could never say, "I'm getting so bored, because there's nothing to do around here all Winter." There's plenty around here to keep a guy busy until Spring, that's for sure! Thank you, God. I wouldn't have it any other way.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Mar 23, 2020 9:38:55 GMT -6
I broke my garden on Friday, the 13th, two weeks ago.
It has rained steadily ever since ...
It was my intention to come back on Saturday to clear out this old fence row, and expand my garden another 30' feet, but that has been postponed indefinitely, due to extremely muddy conditions.
Oh well, at least I made it this far. Things could be a lot worse.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2020 14:41:51 GMT -6
Ron, how's the garden looking? I'm calculating my space for the okra: Is 2 foot off center too crowded for the root zones?
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 22, 2020 13:18:04 GMT -6
Two feet ought to work just fine. They might not branch out as much but they'll still produce.
I plant mine in double rows, in a zig-zag pattern, so no two plants are side by side. That lets sunlight in better than if I planted a single row, plus it saves a little space. My rows are about two feet wide, with drip tape irrigation down the middle.I haven't planted yet. It's still to wet and cold here. This is a photo from last June.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2020 14:59:07 GMT -6
Thanks Ron. I think I've asked this before, so I apologize. Didn't matter much before, but now I'm pressed for space while determined on production more than ever. Heavy Hitter Okra is the one item that resolves my food insecurities. Looking forward to adding Glen's variety this year, too.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 22, 2020 19:38:26 GMT -6
Asking questions is what it's all about. That's a big part of what keeps this website going. We are all here for one another.
|
|
|
Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 28, 2020 20:12:48 GMT -6
April 28th, 2020
Plowed my garden again ... It poured down rain again ...
|
|