Howdy all!

Newer to the site, and haven't posted at all here, but its time to shake things up. Steve Pokines here from a micro town called Wheelock in the northeast section of Vermont. Zone 4 they say , but I don't believe it for one second. I have to work my tail off to garden here, but I like a challenge. I have 7 acres and it is all open, ex farm land, and have had it four seven years. Unbeleivable wife of 23 years and four children that have keep me young, I am a tile setter, have questions ask away! Many years ago I was a landscaper, and thats how I fell in love with gardening and landscaping.

I have two trout ponds, that I was blessed with when I drilled a well that gushes 85 gallons a minute with no pump, I am in the process of putting in an apple orchard of 100 trees, Honey crisp mostly, with a few others mixed in, This spring I am putting in 100 Patriot blueberries, already have ten that are doing extremley well. Over the seven years we have spent so much on plants and landscaping, it has turned into an obsession to say the least, Last fall we put in 300 tulips and 40 oriental lillies and several more peonies, This spring I am shooting for 50 exotic daylillies, 35 of which I have already purchased, and will be shipped in spring. Have 200 daylily babies started and they are doing well. Plan to build my own greenhouse this spring, which I will be glad to share here of the process. I also am shopping for Dahlias and want to do 100 this year, I am a work aholic as you can see, and when we get up and running this spring I will share photos of this chaos in action. For now I look out at 3 feet of snow and wonder if spring will ever get here. Hope to meet everyone here, and share my experinces with you all, It looks like I have wrote a book, so I will close for now.......Steve Pokines INVERMONTDIRT

Welcome Steve! Yes, you certainly have the gardening bug! I just had my entryway tiled recently. came out nice. How are your knees holding up?? Sounds like great plans you have. I envy your space but not your climate! Please post often, participate, post photos and share with all of us. It's truly a group effort here and I think you will enjoy it.

Regards,
Victor

Hi invermontdirt, welcome! ☺

Thanks , Victor, knees are not great, and so many injuries over the years....15 years doing it, all knee and back related. I would change, but Its the old story, can't teach an old dog new tricks, put two kids so far through college, I guess I should be very thankful.

Having both back and knee problems (going to therapy now for my knee), I can really sympathize. My knees were hurting just watching those guys work! I look forward to photos of your place.

Hi Steve! Welcome to DG!

amy
*

Hi Steve!! Welcome to the Northeast Forum. Gosh, you're ambitious - I got exhausted just reading your post!!!!! LOL (that means Laugh Out Loud)!! Oh, I'm grammyphoeb or for Victor's sake, Eleanor (Victor can't keep the grandmothers straight so we use our names - just teasing Victor) I should get going and quit fooling around cause the reason I'm a grammy will be here soon to spend the day with me! Eleanor

Welcome Invermontdirt. You must be loaded with energy to do all that you do. Looking forward to hearing and seeing some of your rewards for all that labor.

Welcome, Steve! It's good to have another man on board. Hope you have a good sense of humor - we do!

Hello Steve from Vermont.

Your across the CT River from me and a little north. Yes share the GH (green house) project as I have not 1, but 2. Its a tiny world, as the second GH I got was in Lyndonville VT. It was a nursery that went out of business and auctioned off last year.

Welcome aboard. Sherrie

HI Steve,
Welcome to DG. I live in the far western part of the NE ;)

Do you grow your trout for fishing or selling?

Al

Hi Steve, Welcome to the N.E. forum...we talk plants and nonsense, and more plants and more nonsense. LOL
Sounds like you have lots of energy and looking forward to see photo's of your labor of love!

Welcome Steve!... can't wait to see some photos!
Allison

Thanks all, yes sense of humor I have, Glad to see some other diehards killing themselves gardening in this frozen tundra.LOL


Schickenlady you bought your greenhouse from the old elliots greenhouse I would bet, I know the owner well, you got a good deal on one huh? I hear they were extremley reasonable. I live 6 miles from that location.

Big City, I originally put the brookies in to study them, I am a carver and a wildlife nut, Theres something special about going out and throwing them worms and see how they react, I have learned a lot from them,, I have three diffrent broods in my pond, all hatched in the pond. I have 12" 6" 1" in pond number 1 now. My second pond has rainbows, these fish will get 10 to 15lbs very quick, I have a dock and when I throw catfood to them they come up from the darkness and act like koi, its so cool and mind relaxing.

The plan is to overwhelm all with pics as the year goes on, if it gets to much, tell me to stop......

Sounds great, Steve! I'd like to see your carving work as well. Must be great having natural ponds on the property. I'd love that.

15# Rainbow you say......

Hi Steve - Welcome to DG!
I was in Mad River Valley , VT for a craft show on Labor day weekend - is that anywhere near you?
I wish I had the room you have! I'm putting in a micro-orchard this year and another 6 high bush blueberries. A neighbor gave me hardy peach trees last year. We'll see if they make it through the artic blasts we're getting at the moment.
Are you interested in Heirloom apples?
I can't wait to see pictures!
WElcome again,
Deb aka Tamberlin

Hey Al, I guess I worded my rainbows wrong ,my rainbows are 16-20" right now, They were put in spring last year,at 10" to 12". My next door neibor has a pond about the same size as mine his Rainbows are 4 years old, they average 10 lbs most of them are 30 inches plus, he has two he calls gramma and pappa that are 36" They will top 15lbs. Negative side is they only live about 5 to 7 years, so you have to keep smaller ones coming along. My dream is to have tiger trout, which are hybrids, but they are very hard to come by, I have only been able to find them at colleges that study them.

Deb, Mad river is about an hour away, not too far. I am interested in heirlooms, the reason I went Honey crisp, is they are a specialty market apple, and are awesome eating, have you ever had one? Ours in this area come into my local grocery store in Oct, they are from Washington State, and the grocery store only has them for 2 weeks and they are all sold out. You owe to yourself to try one if you can find one, they will blow your taste buds away. They store excellent as well, I am definately targeting a specialty niche market, everyone does McIntosh in these areas. Honeycrisp sell for 2.50 a pound. I have a couple Fameuse Snow apple, and a couple Macs and two cortlands. They acreage is nice but I drive myself into the ground trying to keep up, I mow about 5 acres. I am a neat freak when it comes to my yard.

I will post some carvings soon, OK Victor?

Sounds good. I love apples and wish I had space to grow them. Never had a Honey Crisp. Wow - mowing 5 acres!

Invermontdirt - 7 acres? Trout ponds? do you realize how many people envy you? :-)

Welcome to DG Steve!

I have friends in Morrisville and family in Randolph....beautiful countryside!

Boy does DH envy you with the trout ponds! We have been talking on how we want to landscape the field outback and your description must of gave him an idea as he went up stairs to his blueprints table! lol

Does he want the fruit trees or the ponds, Celeste?

The farmer's markets here have CT grown Honey Crisp and Macoun every fall. i like Cortlands - they don't turn brown. i am not a fan of crunchy apples, but people here really like the Macouns.
i used to find these early yellow apples called Mutsu that i liked, but i didn't see them or Ginger Gold last year...

The trout ponds are a blessing, and I firmly believe that, heres why.....To have trout successfully, one must have fresh, cold water, its loaded with more oxygen. I used to kid my wife about having a trout pond, about 10years ago. When we bought this place 7 years ago, it was a tru fixer upper, it had a dug well that the prvious owner said never went dry. The first year we were here......you guessed it, went dry, we hauled water from the brook, which borders my property to do our chores for 6 weeks, anyone who has ever done this knows the work involved.....not fun. We decided to have a artisian well drilled. We were quoted 6000.00. A month later they showed up to drill, and broke the bit the first day, and had to shut down the operation for the day. The next day they showed and started drilling. 3 hours later I realized we had water, it was chasing the guys off the back of the truck with pressure. The guy said we were at 150 feet and he wanted to go 20 more feet but everytime they started to drill, the pressure was too great. He had to stop there. When they removed the drill it looked like the Hillbilly show bubbling over the pipe, not oil, but water. The well driller siad he had been drilling for thirty years and never had one that good! After a couple days passed we realized we had something very special 85 Gallons a minute coming over a 8 inch pipe, no pump needed to the house, a true artisian well. We are water rich I told my wife. I asked the well guy what the heck I was going to do with all this water? He said see that depression over there, Dig a big hole and stock it with trout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7 Years later its still a gusher, I made a small brook that runs to the first pond and overflows to the second pond, and exits the property to a ditch that goes to our brook. I told my wife, be careful what you wish for.......you just might get it. Someone answered my prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh ya I almost forgot, the final bill on the well 1800.00 now thats a bargain!

Wow - lucky you! People are going to flock to you when there is a drought.

I hope this works...... 34" steelhead trout made out of urethane foam...

Beautiful!

and another

Thanks Victor I don't want to offend anyone, I know this is a garden site, sorry if I did......Steve

Ha ha - wait until you're here a while. You'll look back and laugh at that statement!

no kidding!

Your probably right, but for now I'll be the gentleman, and the rookie, and take my lashings gently...................I hope....LOL

I almost hate to post these next three, because they were work in progress pics, but these are the new pic nic pavillion I built, pond, dock, and future waterfall, and rock garden, not done of course.....

again

I gave up trying to offend!

Looks like a nice project Steve

**still thinking about that 15# trout for dinner**

wow do I wish I had more space.... looks like it's going to be nice... must have been fun setting that large rock

Looks good.

So how many guest cottages are you building for all your NE friends?

I will settle for a small hut - for summer time.