He gave his life so others might get sticky, LOL!
Posted on 07/31/2009 4:00:03 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning to all of you gardeners. The last day of July and I am wondering what August has in store for us weather wise? One thing I do know is the weather will continue to do what it wants and the only thing you can do about it is to accept it or move somewhere else. Of course once you move the weather there will change.
Canada Goose? Rats with wings, IMHO. But they sure are tasty! Hunting season starts soon around here. We live across from a lake so our farm is right on their daily flight path.
Some days you can smack them out of the sky with a broom they fly so low, LOL! (But we don’t. The DNR don’t like that, LOL!)
They haven’t discovered my garden; there’s about 700 acres of crops around us for them to feed on.
I see you are from Louisiana. I bet you can garden almost year around.
We have a pair of wild geese that come to the pond in our backyard every year and they have done so for the past 10 years or so. There is an island in the middle of the pond where the goose nests and the gander hangs out in the yard with me while she sits. They raise their young and we have a pretty darn good time.
The good thing about having a "resident" pair of geese is that they viciously defend their yard and pond, which pretty much leaves us free from other geese. This year they raised 7 youngins, so there is quite a bit of goose poop to contend with in the yard, but it breaks down very quickly and I would imagine provides great fertilizer. LOL!
Actually, the geese are great in the garden. Before I covered the garden in landscape fabric, I had a horrible problem with nutsedge. Geese love to pull nutsedge and they provided a bunch of help. The drawbacks are that they are pretty clumsy and they step on everything and have been known to break a whole row of young tomato and pepper plants in an afternoon. I learned to stake them immediately at planting and cured that problem. The geese don't actually bother most of the vegetables, but for some reason they like to mouth the little green tomatoes. Just pinch them with their beaks so much so that they leave marks sometimes. That is why they get run out of the garden and they don't understand why I don't like their company in there anymore. I used to welcome them into the garden to help me deal with the nutsedge.
Now I keep corn on the ground just outside of the garden and, for the most part, I don't have to fuss at them very often. Yesterday they had cleaned up the corn and were looking for trouble! LOL.
We have never had a problem with the geese in our farm fields, but I do know folks who have when they have wheat. The fields where we generally plant wheat aren't around any big water, so they don't tend to congregate. We know the guys that farm in the area immediately around the reservoir, and they have had problems.
I have no problem with you using Canada Geese for your garden workforce, LOL!
Husband is waiting for a big old hog from the farm across the road to wander over to help him with his BBQ pit. So far, only the cows manage to get out. ;)
That is so sad... .
The black landscape fabric that I utilize does help provide heat on cold but sunny days and last year I still had cherry tomatoes and peppers right up through Christmas. We have the perfect winters for cole crops and greens.
The only trouble I have from October through January is that I am a deer hunting addict and that doesn't allow for a whole lot of gardening! ;-)
Please let me know when the hog shows up! Gosh I'm hungry now...
I really appreciate the shoutout on your homepage too, I am humbled. I'd like to hear what you think of using the fabric now that you've experienced not weeding for a few months, and also anything you've learned that might be a tip for my own plot. How has the fabric held up? Are you planning your fall plantings yet?
I'm getting ready to put in some acorn and spaghetti squash and another little white pumpkin-looking squash that I can't remember the name. Going to do them on the cattle panels. This year instead of buying the broccoli and cauliflower plants in trays, I'm going to try to do them from seed. I also have several different types of herbs and peppers that I'm going to try from seed.
I really need to go out to the back of the property and take a photo of the grape arbor and post it. I made an area by covering it in landscape fabric and bending and staking. I'd be interested in hearing what you think.
The fabric! Just Wow is all I can say! No weeds to amount to anything. Every once in awhile one will pop up where the holes were cut in the fabric. The mulch is old hay from my friends barn. It helps to reflect the heat. Every once in awhile a seed from the hay will sprout on top of the fabric and I just pop it off. The roots can't get through the fabric so the weed root is confined to the surface of the fabric easy easy easy.
The fabric is some tough stuff and I will be using the same fabric next year. I still have about 15 ft. left on the roll of 225 ft. The $34 I spent on it at Sam's was well worth it!
He gave his life so others might get sticky, LOL!
Families like yours and mine eat for pennies a serving, but the taste is priceless. Life is good!
Hey guys!
Enjoyed the thread, just haven’t had time to answer.
Our garden is about done except for field peas and butterbeans which are jsut about ready, and peanuts.
Greenhouse is cranking up for fall. All I’ve done for the last couple of weeks is sow collards and broccoli and cabbage and collards and bak choi and collards and late herbs and did I mention collards? LOL We sell A LOT of collards.
And water. At least twice a day, sometimes three times. That time of year.
The figs we rooted in Dec/Jan are ready to sell and I ahve to move them so I’ll have room for collards.
Y’all have a great day/week!
Well if the first weekend of August is any indication ---- I'm sunk ---- literally.
The storms knocked the power out Friday afternoon/evening, which bit because not only was I in the middle of cooking dinner, I was also cooking up green tomato chutney to can ---- I HAVE AN ELECTRIC STOVE!!!!!!!
Because of so much rain, the phones proceeded to go out Saturday morning. Yesterday afternoon I was still unloading groceries from the car when the skies openned up yet again. And we probably got another 2 inches last night.
My fields are swamps and the mosquitos are having a feast!!!!!!!!!
We're having corn on the cob for lunch. Yum...
YUM is right!!!!!
Great picture.
My corn and cantelopes aren’t ready yet, but I’m getting a mess of each from a friend. The corn goes in the freezer and I’m going to try making melon pickles.
Right now I’m waiting for the canner to come to a boil -— it takes forever.
Excellent! Dinner here at ‘Casa de Diana’ is:
Ground Venison Salsa Joes - a regular sloppy joe recipe but substitute homemade salsa for the ketchup
Sauted ‘Largo’ zucchini from the garden - saute for about 10 minutes in olive oil, add grated hard cheese and GOBS of black pepper
A side of homemade coleslaw. I grew the most GORGEOUS red cabbage this season in one of my flower beds. It was hard to cut her out, but it had to be done, LOL!
And you are 100% correct. Homemade is best...and incredibly CHEAP. In another life I’m going to teach people to live within their means...and still live like kings. :)
Collards? I’ll never understand it, LOL!
Nicely done! We have 700 acres of Sweet Corn around us this year, but it’s about 3 feet high and nowhere near even tassle stage yet. It was the last field planted this season, but I think it’ll be the SWEETEST for us having to wait so long. ;)
We’re having a week of average (versus below normal) temps and lots of sun, so Im hoping to have more ripe tomatoes by the weekend. :)
“I’m waiting for the canner to come to a boil -— it takes forever.”
A watched canner never boils! :)
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