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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 20, 2020 7:23:03 GMT -6
Once more, thank you, Bon, for the uplifting words of encouragement. Use those Austrian Winter Pea vines to amend your compost once they are at their peak. Their lush green leaves provide a greatly needed boost to the decomposition process and can make the difference between a just so, so, compost and really great compost. The bees really enjoy those blossoms as well, so it's like a two for one! Not to mention they are just plain purdy to look at.
Keep up the good work!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 25, 2020 19:27:26 GMT -6
I just placed an order for some Muscadine grapevines, and a few more thornless blackberry plants, from Ison's Nursery. They were sold out of just about everything in their Spring Catalog.
Due to Covid-19, people are hoarding plants, seeds, and anything they can get their hands on garden-wise. In a normal year, one could look forward to buying surplus plants at discount prices, right about mid-May. This year, everything sold out by mid-April. Ison's sent a note, saying delivery times might be delayed, due to an abnormal influx of orders, so my plants may not ship for another two weeks.
These are crazy times we are a livin' in.
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Post by macmex on Apr 28, 2020 11:57:14 GMT -6
Those were the freshest seed. Hopefully Tarahumara Purple Ojos still has an acceptable germination rate. I didn't take time to test.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Apr 28, 2020 20:29:47 GMT -6
Worst case scenario; almost any dried beans that you buy in the grocery store will sprout and grow a garden for you.
I've planted raw peanuts (the kind you buy to make peanut brittle) and had almost 100% germination.
I've planted popcorn several times and had great results.
I've planted dried black-eyed peas and had great results.
I've planted store-bought pinto beans, kidney beans, and Navy beans, with great results.
I've also planted store-bought sweet potatoes (after I washed them) and had great results. Sometimes, sweet potatoes may have have been treated with anti-sprouting hormones, so it's best to wash them before trying to set slips.
Sometimes, we overlook the obvious things (like grocery store dried goods) when looking for seeds. I don't know that I would have tried all those things if I hadn't taught school for so many years? I was always buying things for several kids to plant as Science projects, so I gave those resources a try to see what would happen, and it always came out well for me.
I'm gonna guess it would be best to buy from a large distributor, because of a high rate of turnover in restocked items. Some of the little country stores around here probably have the same stock of dried goods for so many years, they may be past their prime?
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Post by macmex on May 5, 2020 8:49:11 GMT -6
Bon, I have a packet I can send you.
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Post by macmex on May 6, 2020 8:49:18 GMT -6
You're going to LOVE Frank Barnett. That's a fabulous bean.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 10, 2020 19:52:39 GMT -6
I was out in the garden this morning, stacking tomato cages and trying to clean up the last bit of last summer's mess when something oddly symmetrical caught my eye. This is the 3rd arrowhead I've found within about a 30' foot radius, though the last time I found one there was probably two or three years ago. Every time I find an arrowhead out there, it makes me wonder what that spot was used for? My garden spot was heavily wooded when I first moved here, but none of the trees were much more than a couple of decades old. It was second growth timber, or else prairie land that had just recently become wooded. There are no old growth trees within a couple hundred yards in any direction. In any case, I'm pretty sure these guys somehow survived with no electricity and probably rarely visited the supermarket.
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Post by macmex on May 11, 2020 12:27:32 GMT -6
Probably will. If there are no other c. annuum type peppers nearby you can even save seed and grow more next year!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 17, 2020 17:49:02 GMT -6
Time for Victory Gardens Again? The USDA has posted a new website on the subject of the Old Victory Gardens of WWII, beekeeping, growing rice, romaine lettuce, logging, and a few other things. For once, their website has some interesting stuff on it.
mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwHNMgGLpxjmqPnLMbnkwMbrMJJ
They also posted a page, specifically on WWII era Victory Gardens, with old pamphlets and goals.
www.nal.usda.gov/exhibits/ipd/small/exhibits/show/victory-gardens/victory-goals
It's worth your time, just for the old photos. Not to mention the articles are pretty good this time as well. The USDA stuff is normally kind of dry reading, but someone put quite a bit of effort into these new posts.
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Post by macmex on May 22, 2020 6:19:04 GMT -6
Looking great! When able, take a close up picture of your bean trellis arrangement.
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Post by macmex on May 22, 2020 13:06:29 GMT -6
With or without assistance, the beans will do well on that support. Somebody really knows how to work with metal!
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Post by macmex on May 23, 2020 5:01:27 GMT -6
That's how it works. Jerreth and I also compliment one another, though the "mix" is different, as it is with most all couples. One of the secrets of marriage is to discover how the Lord has blessed us by complimenting us with the spouse we have and then learning to work with it. Though I do some mechanics, and am the main "auto mechanic" in our home, Jerreth is the real mechanic in the household. She takes after her dad, who has run a small engine repair shop for years and whose primary "sport" is fixing things. She started learning about welding last year
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 24, 2020 20:10:38 GMT -6
Awesome!
The garden project you've got going really looks good, Bon. It makes me want to go pick beans in the shade of that new trellis. Way better looking than my extension ladder laid across two sawhorses!
That's just the way my Uncles grew pole beans when I was a kid, so my brains never went past that point on engineering any other type of system. Yours is taller and therefore less stress on the old back. You guys done good!
A mig welder would be fantastic! Congratulations on that. My Son and I are building a smoker out of a 24" inch air tank we traded for about 6-months ago. We finally spent half a day this weekend, cutting out a 3' foot door and stripping motor mounts, etc., just doing prep work with a die grinder, saws-all, and cutting torch. We'll have to load all that in the back of the truck and haul it to the shop tomorrow, because we don't have a mig welder at home. That would be really handy for a number of projects around here.
I also enjoyed the positive comments about spouses. That's so rare these days. Very refreshing!
Margaret and I are nearly night and day different, but we complement one another to create a more whole approach to things in general. I think that was God's plan for humanity all along. Too bad more people don't see that and realize there's a bigger picture.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 24, 2020 20:18:57 GMT -6
Bon, there's a big storm system moving up from Texas right now, stretching from Mexico, all the way North to Nebraska. Maybe, you'll finally get some much-needed rain.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on May 26, 2020 17:27:45 GMT -6
Is there room in your rabbit shed to set some seed trays to help acclimate them to the outdoors? Even indirect sunlight is better than fluorescent lights alone.
We've got rain and cloudy days in our forecast for the next 3 days. A small tornado touched down about 5 miles Northwest of us yesterday evening at dusk. High winds and too much rain is making it tough to get any seedlings out around here. I feel your pain!
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