Posted on 06/03/2011 4:18:59 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. Here in East Central Mississippi the heat has arrived. It was 101 yesterday and is expected to be in the high 90s and pushing 100 for the next week. A heat advisory is effect. My garden is surviving these hot afternoons. Some of my younger plants have needed watering every afternoon. My established tomato, squash and pepper plants have been doing well with a deep soaking of water about every three days. Looks like it is going to be a hot summer.
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We are going to purchase some sample packs and maybe a free range chicken or so, if we like what we see. Years ago we used to always order a quarter or half beef from the locker plant owned by my brother-in-law(he selected the source).
He retired many years ago, and we moved to 5 hours away, so we just quit. If we can find a reasonable priced local farmer with good reputation and equally reputable locker plant, I would really prefer to get back to that.
I have a question about moles. At least, I suspect moles. The ground is mushy underfoot. However, I’ve never actually seen the little critters that are making the ground mushy. I do remember what moles look like from when I was a little girl growing up in Arkansas.
Anybody have any suggestions as to how to rid myself of these little critters? I did find a hole when I mowed at the back of the property this afternoon and put a mothball inside what I think might be a mole hole.
(It worked for the hole the garter snake went into at the front of the house a couple of weeks ago. Haven’t seen that little critter anymore.)
And the raccoons don’t like the mothballs I put in the garbage cans either.
— Jane Reinheimer
I can just imagine.
These spring greens used to be a great source of Vitamin for the settlers, now they are a weed. You could also try making some dandelion wine.LOL.
Price is a problem with grass fed beef locally. We don’t eat enough beef to worry about the difference and prefer the tenderness and taste of the grain fed that we do buy.
I told my daughter that 100% grass fed would not be tender, but she is insisting that she wants to try it. LOL. We used to get great beef from the local locker plant and it was cheaper that the store bought, free from additives, and processed according to our specifications. It was great at the time.
The term grass-fed beef allows for 20% non-grass feed per big brother's regulation.
Grass-fed beef can be as tender and flavorful as grain-fed, but it has to be butchered at exactly the right stage. (Something about the wattle being an indicator, but I’d have to dig out the article again.)
Moles are looking for grubs - get rid of the grubs and the moles move on. Try some Milky Spore. Look it up. It may take awhile to work but the grubs will be gone eventually and the the moles will move on to some better feeding.
I was worried about our friend whose house we were it was. She’s 75 and has a bad heart. She took control of my 12 year old who was more frightened than she is willing to admit.
Doing the same behind enemy lines in New England...tomatoes are looking good. Of course; this is an Earth Box knock-off; so it should do well...self-watering containers are great. No weeding.
The only dandelion wine recipe I evr found called for more of them than even I have..........
And Diana hasn’t shared the recipe for HER dandelion wine!!!!!!!
What’s a wattle?
I never knew the difference - my daughter eats organic beef and I noticed that it has a lot less fat - which seems to make it tougher.
I know that how you dress a deer makes a big difference in the taste. (my daughter again)
Thanks for the info.
Row covers would be wonderful but they can’t stand up to the wind we are having this year.
I placed the row covers over the beds extending it beyond the perimeter. Then I took wood we had stacked for the fire place and rolled it a couple of twists toward edge of the beds. It seemed to work ok, and we did have strong winds. Course it wasn't tornado EF4 or EF5.
A wattle is the flap of skin and fat that hangs off of the animal’s throat.
Oh, cr@p! I still owe some guy here an e-mail on this subject, LOL!
Amazingly, I’ve been using this recipe from 1970 (when I was only 10 years old, LOL!) from Mother Earth News for years and it NEVER fails. Ignore the Hippie comments and use white sugar...it’s not like we make Dandelion Wine for our HEALTH, fer Pete’s Sake!
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/1970-09-01/Dandelion-Wine.aspx
That sounds like it would work, wrapping it around firewood at the ends and at least covering the windward side with something. We don’t have tornado winds, generally 25-30 mph with gusts to 50mph. We build to 80mph but I think the highest I’ve had to deal with has been 71mph. Thanks. A heavy plastic that wouldn’t shred on the wood should be okay and I can get that at the fabric store I believe.
Many thanks. Didn’t know they were looking for grubs.
Will try this.
— Jane Reinheimer
I’ve done some cold gardening but don’t deal with the shortened season like you. Still, I’ll pass what I know.
Do you have a south facing slope where you could put a garden? That and the wind barrier would improve things mightily. Taking out the wind factor and adding the sun factor will make an amazing difference.
Plant varieties that are short season as possible, especially the warm weather stuff. That way you can plant later and avoid the worst. You may already do this and know of these guys, but if not I know of a couple of seed companies that deal in just those varieties, Garden City and Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens.
http://www.seedstrust.com/joomla/
http://www.irisheyesgardenseeds.com/
Beyond that: plastic is your friend. I make tunnels out of rolls of 4-mil plastic and fencing that I anchor in the ground for wind. I use that to overwinter, but it works well as a cloche too. Plastic milk jugs for things like tomatoes and of course the Wall-o-Water. I even do the cheap version - wrap some plastic around the tomato cages and put some ziploc bags full of water around the base.
Plastic buckets from supermarkets are good for larger plants like potatoes. Pop and other drink bottles, tubs, etc. work well. I try for the cheap and throwaway stuff.
It’s more messy, but if possible keep a good stash of straw and/or leaves available. You can put these around things like potatoes and even combine it with a plastic bucket. You can leave it there for a good mulch too once the danger of frost is passed.
There are other techniques which I don’t use. If you can here’s a couple of books that are good resources:
Four Season Harvest: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Season-Harvest-Organic-Vegetables-Garden/dp/1890132276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307193577&sr=8-1
Winter Harvest Handbook: http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Production-Greenhouses/dp/1603580816/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1307193577&sr=8-2
And of course the internet. Not sure what’s out there but googling around might result in some ideas.
Melons like their nutrients. I believe it’s calcium they really need for good production. Potassium too.
Since I rotate I don’t put sand in my garden, but I have taken compost and filled a hole I dug with it, then make a huge hill over the top of that. Planting the seeds on top of that really gives them the boost. They’re never as good as sand melons but they’re productive and still pretty tasty.
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