Today will be spent cleaning family gravestones. There's rain in the forecast for tomorrow through Thursday. AND, I hurt my knee so I might be feeling overly unrealistically optimistic.

Memorial Day is early, this year, so I'm not overly worried if I have to wait another week.

I use landscaping fabric to keep the weeds out of the veg garden so maybe we can, at least, get that down, today.

I would have mine tilled, cover with black plastic, cut holes for the plants. Cheap, stays moist and no weeds!

I didn't plant it, for a couple of years, and it's gotten infested with weeds. I want to get it ready for next year because I'm going to let my niece plant a veg garden, in that spot. The house she's moving to has far too much shade for much of any gardening.

Rototill the garden, cover with black plastic, weighted down with stones, extra bricks, anything.
I used to have railroad ties. Don’t ask, those suckers are heavy. i also added 2 or 3 bags of sterilized cow manure. No smell and cheap.

Took me years to find out how nice plastic was. Make it easy for her.

We actually kept ours from last year and used it again this year. We put that down a few days ago. The M.O. is to do things in stages and not all at once these days.

We did the roto tilling, now the fabric, and then the plants go in. I'm just going to have to figure the best way to get the plants into the ground that doesn't involve kneeling. I also have to do another fence line inspection, to make sure I've sufficiently reinforced the spot where the ground hogs tend to breech. I haven't seen any, as of yet, but it's a rare year when I don't. I can usually find them by spotting their path they take from beneath the neighbor's shrubs, to my herb and veg gardens.

I've started planting ghost peppers at that particular spot, and spraying the rest of the vulnerable plants with a home made hot pepper spray concoction, which is just a bottle of really hot hot sauce in a gallon of water. Of course, it's vital to remember to do a good rinse job on any plants, before eating them.

From my Son’s hot bed. He finally listened to me about his Grandfathers 2 by 6 boards and an old window.

My Dad was a farmer in Southern Ohio who always planted his lettuce and other things in February. .

Enjoy your gardening.

I remember my grandmother throwing food scraps in the garden for compost. Do people still do that?

And, I remember those hot beds made from an old window!

Is a must. He has one of those,too. Put all your food scraps, coffee grounds, yard waste. I think any old container will do, just turn it every so often. He has a rain barrel hooked up with a hose to water.

Since Lebanon has horse farms one year he got a load of that! No more!

My Dad always used lime each year to sweeten the ground. You can buy it now that does not blow all over the place. Ohio land seems to be acidic

I remember my parents with the lime. So far we have not needed it here.

My neighbor many years ago gave us some horse manure from his pony for our garden. I know exactly what you mean! Never again!

but I can't keep up with them once they start coming in--good luck with yours. You have a busy summer ahead of you!

I have a Food Saver, so picking some every day and freezing them in dinner-sized batches is my plan. Hopefully!

I may wish I had pole beans instead of bush, or should I say my back may wish for the pole beans .....

Have the food saver. Big freezer?

Hubby fishes all spring and summer so I freeze what he catches. I buy chicken 25 lbs. at a time so that gets Food Saver’ed as well. It’s amazing how fast they fill up.

which is three feet deep (off the ground). No stooping, no kneeling (as if I could kneel anyway)--it's really nice.

garden. So thoughtful and nice that you donate to the local food bank. Nothing like an Ohio grown tomato! I hope it all grows well Bean Queen!😊

Amended the dirt as usual with that new black bag of organic 3-month feeder Miracle Grow and compost with manure, and just doing a couple romaine and Merlot (red) lettuces, 6 Roma tomatoes, an Early Girl and a Rutgers (also a medium tomato), a couple Cuke hills, a couple green peppers, a couple Zukes. 3 green cabbages, 3 red cabbages, two Acorn squash hills, and a Butternut squash from seeds from one I made into soup, hahaha. If something doesn't work out, the green bean seeds will go in the space as they are pretty hardy. Just have to guard against those bunnies coming to munch. The squirrel has even stolen a few tomatoes if the weather gets all hot and dry. Hoping all the flowers will get pollinated and fruit well. It's really a very small garden without much space in between the rows, so it will probably look like a veritable jungle. I count on the vining plants to use the fencing as a trellis. We will see what we get!

Wll eat the tomatoes if it is hot and dry!

Driving last week to the Cemetery a baby deer bounded acros the road. Son stepped out of his Pole Barn, came face to face with 2 deer. They looked at him for a minute, sauntered off.

So be careful on the road.

Last year some tiny bunnies managed to get through the coated wire fencing.

Drives me crazy when birds peck one hole in each tomato!

Good luck with your “North 40”! You’ve got a nice variety there.

If you had 80 inches

Do you have room for a pony, too? I hope you have seen the British Comedy,” Keeping Up Appearances,” for that last remark.

We live in a multi-family townhouse row, and the North 40 inches is between the patios in front of the air conditioner units. There's a community garden area in our suburban city, but it's not convenient to haul equipment. Our complex and unit has a community pond (retention pond out front in which live fish, turtles, and which is visited by other waterfowl and large birds, but, unfortunately, prey birds as well.) On the pond live some, less than a dozen, domestic ducks, non-flying white Pekins like Aflac (4) and some mixed (5) Black Swedish and Rouen that live on the pond and free-range and eat our healthy offerings twice a day. Even made a winter "duck hut" with the blessings of management. I do get some fresh eggs this time of year if I go out searching for them before a female goes all "broody," but then we need to help rescue and release some babies some years (they are not good parents); perhaps some are to be expected this week or next. It's not all rosey; predator nocturnal animals, humans, and cars have taken out some.

Sure would love to homestead/mini-farm. We'd have that pony, for sure. I'd make it a miniature mini-farm, hahaha! I've always been a city girl but attracted to nature. I sure wish I'd had the good sense to change that earlier in life when I had the energy to give it a go.

A great life doing what you want. i see you take good care of the neighborhood flock.

I still have a good sized yard, but am lucky enough to have a great person to do my yard now. A School Teacher with 3 small boys to support. A neighbor who started a lawn mowing business with one lawnmower.

An early retired Son who comes up often when he has time from his big garden.

My Gardening this year consists of 2 Concrete planters full of flowers, plus another from Mothers Day.

My small Church has a big garden. They use the produce for the free Community meal once a week.

👍

Last edited Mon May 27, 2019, 11:38 AM - Edit history (1)

Our family brown lab meets me at the door demanding treats. Patient at first, then the nudges, then comes the scolding. My DIL taught her that. Actually sounds like she is.

Sits on the other side of the fence when I go out to pick and I often toss her something to chomp on. If she sees me grab the colander even before I go out the back door she knows what that means.

We may have over-planted eggplants this year, we have eight plants. I make a lot of eggplant Parmesan for my extended family.

We have 20 tomato plants, a few peppers, some cukes, squash, and two rows of corn. Sometimes we pick the corn before the critters get it, but it's always a battle.

I love growing broccoli, because it's the last thing to freeze when winter comes. I can be out there in November eating little stalks. I live in Massachusetts.

Guess we’ll be eating lots of Parmesan and ratatouille! Delish.com has a very good recipe for eggplant parm made in the crock pot. Hubby is trying 3 Burpee Shooting Star. Only 57 days to harvest, they say. I also have 3 Black Beauty.

I would love to try broccoli next year. I remember eating Swiss chard into November a few years ago as well.

They're really strange to watch grow but taste so much better fresh from the garden or blanched and frozen. One year tried broccoli but these turned out too small and matured too early to have much to eat and freeze for winter meals. The cabbages should be better if the bugs don't chew 'em up first; I love slaw and haluski.

starting with flowers and the vegetable beds are tilled the first time in 3yrs. Again a heavy storm blew in yesterday.

Spring is always a busy time!

I wish we had one here. I gave 30 big watermelons to the guy who was working for us last summer to set up a roadside stand. He supports a pack of grandchildren.

Starting to pick spinach now. Have little green tomato's and blueberries, a few strawberries. Apple trees getting some babies for the first time.

I seriously scaled down this year, from a third acre, to all raised beds in the backyard. There was so much going to waste (though the chickens loved it), and I just couldn't keep up. Put donkeys and goats on one side this year, watermelons and cantaloupes on the other. Mulched the hell out of those with straw. Get lovely cedar mulch from local Amish sawmill, and that went in the raised beds, and big flower garden. Still trying to dig all the weeds out of the perennials, and get mulched.

I'm late! But this year, I decided that I wanted to enjoy my gardens, instead of spending all my time weeding. Speaking of which--I need to get out there. Already 90 degrees out.

I had the absolute best blueberries we picked from a fruit farm when on vacation two years ago. Never had anything better!

Good luck with your efforts and hope you get enough to give some away to those who may need it more.