[greeneyes]

Greetings from a waterlogged area of Missouri. Today is a rainy, gloomy, cool 54 degrees. Tommorrow will be rainy too, but the good news is that there will be 3 days of Sun shine and no freezing temps at night followed by rain on Friday per the weather man.

So I got had some progress on the patio cleanup, but still have one to go. We have 4 patios of 240 sq foot each, which pretty well covers the back, front and northeast side of the house.

I did get the carrots planted and under a row cover for protection from hungry critters and birds. I spent some of the rainy day time making my own seed tape. It made the planting so much easier on my body, that I have decided to do the same with the beets. Cukes will be started indoors this weekend.

I have a pack of cucumber seeds SMR 58 from Ferry Morse that I got for free from a native plant seminar in Cape Girardeau, so I'll use those this year.

I received some of the literature that I ordered from bountiful gardens. I just finished reading a booklet:

FOOD FOR THE FUTURE; NOW A Survival Garden Plan which uses Bioentisive Methods to produce more in less area than Commercial Ag does.

The following will naturalize without being invasive:

Amaranth, Arugula, Chard, Boarage, Nastursium, Basil, Dill, Viola, Sunflowers, Calendula, Purslane, Chia, Mustard, Flax, Perilla.

I have seeds for 7 of those and have decided how to plant the more attractive and showy ones like Amaranth and Calendula. We have a bunch of Stumps left from cutting trees to get more sun. So I am going to lay down a perimeter of edging around the stumps, turn under the grass and cover it with cardboard or newspaper, dump some good soil on it and plant the tall ancient grains around it, and then the edilble flowers at the edge.

It should hide the stumps during the summer, and provide some food this year and going forward with little or no maintenance perhaps.

Anyway, I'll post some more on the booklet for those who might be interested in a little more detail.

Have a great weekend and God Bless.

[greeneyes]

got had = had

[Zuben Elgenubi]

I put in some mint into our garden two years ago (for fresh addition to adult beverages). This spring, there are shoots growing expodentially from the main plant outward about 8 feet or so.

To pare back to a more reasonable growth, do I rip the newer growth out? Do I pare back to the original plant? Can I use Roundup, selectively, on the shoots and, if so, how much of the plant will survive?

I'm leaning on the last option because this plant is really, really hearty.

[ApplegateRanch]

Finally drying out a bit. Even able to hang laundry outside for a change.
Rest of our plant materials arrived, and can go in in a couple of days or so: potato sets—German Butterball & Gold Rush; horseradish; black raspberries; Jerusalem artichokes.

Next year, I’ll put some of the Jerusalem artichokes inside the chicken yard. Yes, I know how invasive they are, but by cutting off the flower buds, it stops that avenue of spread, and makes bigger tubers. Tops & tubers are both good chicken & rabbit feed, and that is what I’m looking at: lower feed bills. Same with the planned larger plantings of both grey striped & oil seed sunflowers & corn.

To help protect things, today I dug out & tested my old fence charger. Hadn’t used it for about 30 years, but worked fine after replacing a fuse. I have a god supply of wire & insulators, both new & salvaged, so shouldn’t have to spend anything other than some time. :-)

[Arrowhead1952]

We have leaf lettuce ready to eat in a few days. Onions are almost ready to pull.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Have you read Steve Solomon’s book ‘Growing Food When it Counts’? He holds that the best way to produce survival quantities of food (like in the old days when they had to) is based on row cropping - not raised beds. Frankly, I have and use both systems, but I think he has a tremendous amount of insight and useful instruction in the book.

[MamaDearest]

We got our first hummingbirds of the season yesterday. They are awesome to watch. Last week our nights were below freezing. This week they are just above freezing.

[bgill]

Was it you who was trying to grow stevia? Any updates?

[left that other site]

I think I’ll plant some arugula...have you SEEN the price of it lately? :-)

[Free Vulcan]

It's finally warming up here, finally got a little of the salad crops in, almost a month late. Hopefully the next next month will be decent enough to get caught up.

For those in the market, I decided that maybe a wheel hoe was a good SHTF backup if fuel gets scarce and running engines might draw unwanted attention. After looking at about about a 1/2 dozen types I found one from Valley Oak tools that I though was durable and affordable enough to use.

Here's the website: Valley Oak Tool

A wheel hoe with scuffle hoe, cultivator, and furrower attachments set me back about $450. Not bad considering how well it was built. Comes in real nice when it's too wet to run a tractor over it.

Some pics:

Dug some jerusalem artichokes a few weeks back, they are always the first thing out of the garden along with the parsnips in the spring. Used them and some of the winter radishes I still had left over plus some chickweed and dandelion I picked in the field for some batches of fermented vegetables:

[Just mythoughts]

Thanks for the ping and wealth of information.

This side of the state is waterlogged as well. It rained here most of the day. I did manage to get in a couple hours of weeding in the strawberry beds, but was forced back inside when the drizzle of water became a downpour.

While the garden is too soggy to do anything but pull weeds, I can at least pull out the weeds. I went to majority of raised beds exactly because of how wet most springs have been. Last year of course was the exception. Right now I am waiting for warmer temperatures so I can plant in these raised beds. I think my snow pea seeds would be rotting were it not for them being planted in a raised bed, it has been that wet this spring. I am a bit concerned that the wetness might cause the potatoes to rot as there is no sign of them yet.

It was only a couple of years back that I discovered ‘Purslane’ was not just a weed. I did not plant them so they must be ‘native’ to this area. I planted dill one time over twenty years ago and have not had to replant since. Sometimes it comes up where it is not wanted but I always have an abundance of dill.

What did you use to make your seed tape?

[djf]

My neighbor turned over an area of about 12 feet by 15 feet with his loader. It was full of blackberry bushes, western dock, and old branches...

I’ve been running it through a filter/sifter and tossing the rocks and roots, and building a minor rock retaining wall of sorts.

This is pure, virgin forest floor with tons of organics and worms. Never been gardened in. Gets about 7 hours of direct sunlight a day.

I’m thinkin tomatoes and I’m excited!

[TEXOKIE]

“We have a bunch of Stumps left from cutting trees to get more sun. So I am going to lay down a perimeter of edging around the stumps, turn under the grass and cover it with cardboard or newspaper, dump some good soil on it and plant the tall ancient grains around it, and then the edilble flowers at the edge.

It should hide the stumps during the summer, and provide some food this year and going forward with little or no maintenance perhaps.”

What a great idea! Darlin and I just cut down a very scraggy red bud, and it is in a good area of the yard to receive some planting. I have 5 of the plants from your seed list. I sprouted some amaranth that I had bought from the health food store as one of my whole grain cereal grains. They’ve been growing like crazy, and I’ve been wondering where to put them. I also have some of the red amaranth that I now may sprout as well to use in a similar manner as you describe.

I have some privet hedge that volunteered in one of my beds a number of months ago, and I had not realized how it had taken over. It’s gonna be a job getting it cleared out so that bed can be reclaimed! I’ll have the challenge of not disturbing the day lilies that I transferred there several months ago.

I bought some Appaloosa, Anasazi, and Cranberry beans to have on hand, and set aside some for trying as garden seeds. Also bought some black turtle beans for same reason, but they aren’t as pricy as the other 3.

Pulled out my large pots from the back yard and brought them around to begin prepping them for the container portion of my garden. Not fully decided what goes where, but am in the fun part of “figgerin’.”

Still wondering when our local wizards will give the all clear in our area to start planting without fear of freezing.

[Ellendra]

Managed to snag a few more milk jugs to make into wall-o-waters and finished planting the back garden this week. Haven’t planted the bigger garden out on the land yet, but I want to get the fence up first.

I was planning to go out there today, but when I stopped for gas before leaving down, I discovered that my truck’s gas tank has sprung a leak. And a big one, judging from the “waterfall” just after filling it. Yikes!

[Nita Nupress]

Any advice welcome:

I’m looking to buy a small cultivator/tiller, and I don’t want to pay more than about $300 for it. I’m new at in-ground gardening (built containers last year), so the ground hasn’t been touched yet. I really don’t want to over-buy, but I’m a little worried about how hard it’ll be to loosen up packed dirt.

1) Can’t i just go rent one of the big machines at first to loosen up the dirt instead of buying something bigger than what I’ll need in the future?

2) Gas or electric?

3) What brands are good and which ones should I stay away from?

Thank you for any advice you can give me!

[Augie]

It’s still quite soggy here in Central Missouri. Far too wet to work the soil in the garden. I set out some hazelnut and persimmon tree saplings that Dad got from the state nursery, and replaced the sweet cherry that croaked during last summer’s inferno. Potatoes are starting to come up. Beets are up. Garlic is rocking. Think I’ll hit the nursery on my way home this afternoon and pick up my tomato and pepper plants. The stevia and English tyme is ready to set out but it’s supposed to get cold again later in the week so I’m going to wait on that. Picked the first mess of asparagus yesterday.

[Aliska]

I can't garden much at all any more, think I overdid the digging thing. Anyway I can still enjoy what comes back from prior years. The tulips in front are exquisite this year.

I wanted to make this so you could use it for a postcard but with flickr and measuring, too complicated.