Join us for May on the Homestead...

I am just getting back from the hospital. Please pray for my DH. His BP and sugar both went very high today. He was talking but making no sense. A CT scan showed a spot on his brain so they have scheduled an MRI for tomorrow.

(((Cajun and DH))) I hope he is better now that he's under medical care. T&P for you you both.

Podster, I don't know....tomatoes will probably do ok, peppers are questionable. I may just take my chances. Low tonite of 39 and tomrrow night 43, then back up to night time lows in the 50's.

Lizard, yep...sometimes ignorance is bliss. :)

Cajun, I hope your DH is better and our thoughts and prayers are with the both of you. Make sure he takes care of himself cause that stuff is nothing to mess with.

Woke up to 36* and heavy fog this morning.....almost afraid to look at garden. But the sun is shining and it's suppose to get up to the middle 60's and this coming week is forecast to be back to normal.

The wind was brutal yesterday, but I managed to get 11 more rows built. Today will be a good day to get the rest of the transplants out, so they can settle in a bit before the high temps come back.

What's everyone else up to? Been pretty quiet on this thread lately.

Thought and prayers for you both Cajun ~ please be careful right now. It is easy to be distracted and overdo or hurt yourself but your husband needs you in one piece. And I echo Msrobin when she said he is where he needs to be. They will take care of him, you take care of yourself!

A weekend ahead and I won't be home either day. NO rain, NO chance of rain. Man oh man am I proud of Twiggybuds water beds. Off to add water to them. Right now I have quarter sized pan squash, inch long cukes and the biggest bloom on a Mule Team tomato I have ever laid eyes on. First year with them and first bloom on them. It may be normal...

Msrobin ~ I'd bet the garden will be fine. Your ground temp is warm enough to provide protection for the plants.

Have a good day everyone!

Happy Mothers Day!

Whew! Slowly making progress! I took this picture a couple of days ago of the new garden. It doesn't look like much now, but it won't take long for the plants to start growing.

The front area that was freshly tilled is now in rows. We're down to tilling and making up 21 more rows. Al saw me out there working and realized how tough it is, so he jumped in to help and we made short work of it. I'll spend the day tomorrow planting 13 rows that have just been made this weekend.

The tomatoes and peppers seem to have come through the cold night well. Thanks Podster for reminding me about the soil temperature.

This is the perrenial garden with 4 wide rows of strawberries, close to 250 asparagus plants around the perimeter and 7 rows of various herbs.

What good looking soil you have. It will be a good garden. I am rooting for your success.

I did manage to get a bit done so far today. Potted some things up, finished and filled the fifth waterbed and planted the Brown Turkey fig ~ finally!!!

I had read on DG that eggplant leaves will be devoured by I believe it was flea beetles. One gardener said she left hers potted on the deck and nothing bothered them. I noticed my small plants were getting holey and I didn't want to spray so set the pots about 2 feet off the ground. I am astounded to see the new growth with no holes in it. Once larger, I will put them on ground level but for now it worked!

I like the layout of the perennials. Are the signs for the public? Will you have people come to patronize you at home?

Now I am getting jealous ~lol Not only practical but attractive. That is gorgeous. Next, you will be selling cut flowers...

My God.. you have FLAT ground! I'm SO jealous... Thanks for the photos; gives a better understanding of what you are accomplishing with all that hard work.

I had the same problem with eggplants for 2 years, but after reading that, I put them in pots on the deck and they even produced last year!

We were lucky with the soil. The farmer said it was good when he plowed it and our soil test results were great, too.

Yes, the signs are for the public mostly, but I was also having trouble remembering where everything was planted and figured they would help Al, too. I planted a lot of things that I haven't grown before or was unfamilar with. We're going to put a sign up down on the road and posts some ads in the towns nearby. May be able to attract some buyers until we get our CSA memebrship built up..

I am sure you are familiar with it but in case you aren't, you can post on Local Harvest for more coverage in your area. http://www.localharvest.org/search.jsp?st=19&ty=-1&nm=

Thank you, I really appreciate the compliments. It has been a lot of work and there still a few more hours of hard labor left, but after that it won't require so much hard work, but I imagine it will take a lot of time to maintain. I've done a pretty good job of pulling out weeds and grass clumps as I'm making up and planting the rows, so hopefully weeds won't be so bad.

Thanks for the suggestion, Podster, but already on there under Ms Robin's Garden. I have a blog on there too.

Keeping Steve for more tests. His BP is still up. Think it's his kidneys. Also want to do another ECG. Started him on IV fluid. Thanks for all the visits, calls, help and prayers. It means the world to us. So good to have a church family that loves us and cares for us when our own family is far away. Thankful for the Biggs Church of God.

Cajun, get some rest yourself. We'll keep praying for you both.

Ditto Cajun. Surely they'll figure it out soon.

Msrobin I'm so proud for you. You've accomplished so much and it's all beautiful. If I was in the neighborhood, I'd come buy some of your produce just so I could look around at all the pretties. Very impressive.

Now is when you need a scuffle hoe. A FEW minutes a day and you'll not have any weeds except the few that grow against your stems.

Aw, shucks....y'all can come visit, whether you buy anything or not!

Twiggy, I looked for that hoe before and haven't found it locally. Guess I better go ahead and find it online, before the weeds start getting away from me.

Darius, this side of our property is 4 1/2 acres and about 2 are reasonably flat where the gardens and house are situated, about a 1/2 acre is wooded and the other two acres between the house and highway is kind of like a bowl, with the center maybe 6' lower. Not so deep that Al has any trouble mowing it, but deep enough that it could be the nice little pond that's on my someday list. There's a really nice southern slope on the other side that would be ideal for growing, if we ever get that big and need the additional growing space.

Cajun, how is your husband doing this morning?

Podster. is your eggplant still safely out of reach of the flea beetles at 2'? I bought 4 big planters to plant the second bunch of eggplants in when they are ready. Just haven't figured out where to put them. I have 2 big pots on the deck already and will probably put a 3rd one there, but the rest will have to go elsewhere.

Yes, the eggplants are on an inverted cattle feed tub right now but when the plants get a few more leaves on them, they will go in the waterbeds. Didn't that thread say they will do o.k. once the plant gets more growth?

Cajun ~ we have been in your shoes and it was the kidneys but technology is ever changing and your husband is in good hands right now. Keeping you both on our minds...

I tried to find the thread on a google search. I don't recall about whether the flea beetles are only a problem early on or all summer. Didn't find the thread I was looking for, but found this and thought it was interesting. Steve812 posted this link on the SW Gardening Forum about eggplant actually being a perrenial. I haven't read it yet, though.

I would think that once your plants get a little size to them, that they would be fine in the waterbed. Maybe the leaves toughen up and aren't so tasty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant

Found the thread...this is what greenhouse_gal wrote

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1092634/?hl=flea+beetles+eggplant I think it was here that I read it. The DG search is up and working better. It also highlights the search words so you can quickly scan a thread. Pretty handy. Off to read your link.

I was hoping for a good crop of plums this year but this is ridicules. All the limbs are bowed down and now they are starting to break under the weight of the fruit. Guess you can’t have it all your way.

Sorry to hear about the limbs bending and breaking. However, I now know which 2 trees are plums and which 2 are pears in my tiny orchard of 7 fruit trees. The 2 I think are plums had limbs bending like that, just from the wet leaves from the last rains.

Me thinks you are getting your wish.... what a good crop of plums. Any idea which one? The wind today should probably have a hand in snapping some of those limbs. So sorry!

My mother always had to prop up the limbs on her plum and pear trees in the backyard, at least in heavy fruiting years. I'm still looking for an Aycock plum; only have several kinds of berry fruits now.

I thought about propping them up some way but the wind is blowing too hard to try anything right now.

The one in the picture is a Santa Rose. There’s a Methley next to it out of the shot. It is loaded also and bending. I think that cold snap we had must have reset all the trees clocks or something. Now if at least half of them will just get ripe I will be happy. LOL

Darius,

I found these at my local Lowe's - an “edible shrub“.

Blueberry (Vaccinium) - Select varieties that are highbush (5 to 6 feet tall) or half-high (1 to 4 feet tall) depending on your location. Southern and rabbiteye blueberries are highbush types adapted to the South. Blueberries need a well-drained, acidic soil with the pH below 5. Add sulfur to lower the pH. They can be planted near other acid-loving shrubs, such as holly. They are hardy in zones 3 to 9.

GD

Thanks, GD. I have several varieties of blueberries, and the pH is a constant struggle. I also have currants (black and red), gooseberries (white and pink), red raspberries (3 var.), thornless blackberries, beach plum, Nanking cherries, elderberries, chokecherries, and rhubarb. A few everbearing strawberries and some Alpines. I'm pretty well set for berries, except I want a sea buckthorn ot two.

I found this link to be helpful:

http://foragingpictures.com/#ME

Nice site! I dare not list all the edible plants just in my yard, LOL.

I too could easily "live off the land" from my front lawn.

Not that far yet ... but working on it.

Just popping in to say hi....

Down to the last 2 blocks of 7 rows each. WhooHoo! Al has been re-tilling and raking the soil up into the rows. I go behind him and tweak the rows and plant. Then the weeding begins (which aren't too bad), followed by doing some succession planting.

You are definitely putting in your time on that garden/farm of yours. Once I retire I can do a lot more with mine. These store-bought veggies are getting worse by the week.

Not to make you feel bad but I just dug the first of the Irish potatoes a little while ago. DW gonna fix um up real nice for supper tonight. LOL. Can’t wait.

The hot and bell peppers are blooming, the maters got matters on them, corn is just starting to show some tassels and I just had to go and dig up some bunching onions for DW to put in the potatoes. That and all the broken limbs on the loaded plum trees has got to be a sure sign of summer.

You and Al don’t work too hard.

Too late....we're still working too hard. LOL Planted all the beans today, plus turnips and turnip greens. Potatoes are cut and curing, will plant those tomorrow and the corn. Then all that's left is the squash and salad mix transplants from the greenhouse. Glad we can see the end of this.

Flea beetles are attacking one set of bell peppers and one of the rows of potatoes that was planted several weeks ago. Al sprayed those today with an organic spray.

I'm really happy for you that you're picking stuff already! The first round of potatoes may be close. A few are starting to flower.

Our time will come eventually. I don't know why everything that was planted quite awhile ago isn't closer to being ready, unless it was all those alternating weeks of hot weather and cool weather, plus all the days of being totally overcast probably didn't help either. I've got a dozen swiss chard plants left after the bunnies had a feast before I covered them with netting. One is a foot tall, the rest are only 5-6" tall, except one, which is only a couple of inches.

Speaking of books, this is a wonderful one - especially for young people.

http://clcd.odyssi.com/cgi-bin/sirsi/search/r?dbs+child:@term+@isbn+0684187248

Darius, can you get us a free DL of this?

GD

I think not, sorry. Everything I have seen on there is out of print and the copyright expired.