Posted on 05/18/2012 5:59:55 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. JustaDumbBlonde asked me to post the thread this morning because she and her Husband are out in the fields harvesting their wheat. Looks like they will have good weather.
I hope all of your gardens are doing well. My gardening efforts have been scaled back this year to a 6x6 raised bed planted with eight of my three favorite tomato varieties. I am also continuing to pursue my Homebrewing hobby and will be brewing up a Honey Bee Ale later this afternoon and also bottling a Cranberry Mead that I started last November with a cork popping planed for this up coming Thanksgiving.
If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.
Weekly Gardening Thread
Hope your harvest went well.
I had a good day today Brewed up a Honey Bee Ale, bottled my Cranberry Mead and just pulled a couple of the best looking loaves of bread out of the the oven I have ever made. The bread will be great buttered and served with the spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce I am making this evening! Sitting and sipping on a Homebrewed Nut Brown Ale right now. It is extremely tasty and strong at about 8.3% alcohol content. The one I am sipping on and maybe one more may do me for the rest of the evening. It is quite smooth and could sneak up on the unaware.
Hello folks,
Just wondering if any of y’all have any experience with small scale grain raising? I have Gene Logsdon’s book ‘Small Scale Grain Raising’ and I’m prepping about 1/10th of an acre for raising some different grains next season. My intent is to eventually raise a year’s worth of wheat, sorghum and, maybe, barley probably pretty much like they did 100+ years ago.
I’ve got an eye out for a good fanning mill and a grist mill, too. My soil prep got rid of most weed seeds in the soil seed bank and I’ve got a stand of oats as a nurse crop over alfalfa and sweet clover to increase tilth, nitrogen and drainage (clay soils). I broadcast seed and plan to cut with a scythe and snath and rake into windrows. I’m also insane. . .
What I’d like to know is: Has anyone has raised small grains without mechanization (i.e.; tractors, threshers, driers, etc); at what scale; and how did you clean and store your grain.
Thanks much!
WCF
Wish I could help but I have no experience with grains. I am sure there is a FReeper gardener or two who can help.
Dug the first of the Chinese early red Garlic, cleaned it and laid it out to cure today. Moved some more compost and 347 other little garden projects in spite of my physical and mental fatigue apparently triggered by elevated blood/sugar levels. Lady Bender is trying to take up the slack plus everything else she does so well. All the berries are very robust but too early for eating but the corn will get planted in 10 days or so.
Oh, did I tell you I turned 79 this week?
First, please permit me to proudly announce that I completed the Master Gardener program this week, passed the final exam and plant identification test! Whew!
Took a few photos this evening at sunset...
Banana plants growing tall
The last two blueberries...sniff
Ruby red grapefruit recovering nicely after assault by citrus root weevils last fall
White bunch grapes--harvest within the next 1-2 weeks
Thank you! It was a labor of love and serious dedication. Like being back in college, except working full time too. Very relieved the study work is behind me now.
Just great! Your knowledge will be a great asset to all your FReeper gardeners and your local neighbors!
May you have a much longer life and continue to help us with your gardening skills and knowledge!
Thank you, I’ll try that.
Thanks Red. I’m in pretty good shape for the shape I’m in ;(
So much good news on the thread today!
My ‘invisible’ tomato growing off-the-decks project, knock on wood, is going gangbusters. I have at least a hundred little fruits, and have harvested some amazing ripe ones.
You are welcome! Did I disturb your slumber this morning with the early post?
I must have missed it, but what is your ‘invisible’ tomato?
We have strawberries!!!! When I checked the garden on Wednesday they were still green, but Thursday morning there were about a dozen cheerful red berries just begging to be picked! And more of them today, too.
My backyard garden isn’t doing as well as I’d like, but it’s growing. The peas have blossoms on them, and the radishes are plump. I’m curious, has anyone else grown Golden Midget watermelons before? They seem to be short on chlorophyll, the leaves are yellow even though the plants around them are fine. The watermelon vines also seem to be lacking in vigor. I noticed that last year but thought it was a nutritional thing. I’m not so sure anymore because other plants should have been effected too. Maybe it’s the variety?
I was reading the thread from comment 50 upward, with NN’s certification, then tube’s birthday and your new ale, all fantastic news and then it darkened a bit, so I want to apologize to upthread gardeners who had not-so-great-news also.
Invisible tomatoes are planted in large containers on the deck, with the plants forced between the balusters and dangling down to the ground so you pick your tomatoes reaching up from the ground. In the containers all you see is flowers, herbs and whatnot. I’ll take pics tomorrow when the sun comes out.
You can post these threads as early as you want but I won’t log in til 7AM BT (that’s Benderville time). I forgot to mention that everything seems to be slow here in the garden and the greenhouse and the sun doesn’t seem to have the intensity this year which is possibly related to diminished solar activity? Is that even possible?
Happy Birthday Mr. Bender.
Now, don’t get caught up in any black holes or alternate universes ;)
Have you considered hydroponics?
Blue tomatoes have more the of stuff blueberries do which we're supposed to eat or drink or at least buy more of.
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