starting the fun- my 1st few weeks of observations of living in a "new" rural area.

[protus]

gardens.....such fun.....

we rushed to get the 1st two beds going. beans are doing good,,,we have TWO sqaush of sorts growing. The pack of "winter" sqaush we planted hasnt produced anything but flowers.
Peas new pack,,not anything worth a snack.
The radishes are growing good as our carrots we'll see how they do come the next months.
the lettuch is coming along nice as well its aleaf/romain style so we trim as we need it.
i cant wait till spring to expand and really rock out.
Still experimenting with growing stuff. Herbs are doing well ( rosemary,sage and basil)


questions- garlic ,ginger, oinions from cloes etc, how do you know when to harvest or will they just produce seeds. we have broccoli stalks growing as well after cutting the broccoli off.

beets and turnips we planted as well ( cut in half and planted) they have the greebns but willthey produce a veggie or just seed out?

see learning curve trying to get that multi cam'd thumb LOL :)

[1Admin]

A little late-even in Florida- for the beans.

Winter time be thinking peas, carrots, lettuce, brocolli, cabbage, etc.

A couple years back when we had the snow that stayed around for a day or so, big old cabbage plants were the only things that made it through the snow and couple days of below freezing temps that came with it.

A small bag of lime from the feedstore -dolomatic lime- would probably be helpful. Pretty much every patch of soil I've had tested either up here or down there, was low in PH and lime also improves the uptake of other nutrients, adds calcium and some trace elements to the soil, etc.

Sounds like everything is rolling good, remember these things take time, Rome I mean Southern Idaho.. wasn't built in a day ;) Slow and steady wins the race.

[610Alpha]

Peas new pack,,not anything worth a snack.

I tried peas, I think I posted a video about my harvest...personally they aren't worth the space for what you get back. I also found that pole beans produce way more that bush beans. I might have had the wrong variety but I think I will just buy some DH peas.

[JUSTIFIED]

cant even fart at the bear with out the GFC fast roping in to my windows for a 3am no knock warrant for " wild life harassment...." LOL.

just gotta shore up the line and just report each time he tears something up

When we lived in the mountains of CO the bears came into our small town every evening, raided dumpsters and occasionally tried to break into a car or home. We'd often see them sleeping in trees during the day. It was fun watching them but we kept our distance at the same time. One evening I was walking through my carport and a black bear walked around the corner. I don't know who was more startled...me or him! LOL He reared up, turned around and ran down the alley...and I ran for the house!....chuckle...Could you shoot the bear if he tried to attack you on your property or break into your home?

Sounds like you've got a really good setup Protus. We made a similar move in July. We're in a small town but it feels like country. Like you, we're 30 minutes from the major stuff but have a few things close, including my work just blocks away.

We just refenced our property (6' stockade). The old stockade only covered half of our back and side yards so we moved it out to our boundaries on three sides. Now we have better security and more room in our backyard for a good garden. We don't have a well but we do have a 10,000 gallon inground bowl of water...chuckle...I'll shortly be reworking all of our guttering to funnel it to water containment and to our upcoming garden.

[610Alpha]

I tried peas, I think I posted a video about my harvest...personally they aren't worth the space for what you get back. I also found that pole beans produce way more that bush beans. I might have had the wrong variety but I think I will just buy some DH peas.

Plus the time it takes to shell the peas...I bet you got better things to do with that time :)

[protus]

well made my 1st duh huh on the garden.
got home late from work last night 630 ish or so. It hasnt rained here in a few days and we dont have it coming any time soon. So i turned on the ole sprinklers . I then went showered, ate dinner, talked to the wife unit about our days and other important stuff. Then i went and finished reading this book i got recently. I woke up this AM...going i wonder if she turned off the sprinklers..she did. AT 6ish Am!!! My winter side of things has about 1 inch of water standing in it. hopefully the sun will come up and evaporate most of it, and not kill any thing off. We would lose all of our carrots, radishes and lettech, we also have ginger roots,garlic on that side as well.
whats funny is i was laying in bed thinking about getting a small timer to put on the hose bib so we could only it run for xx minutes.

side note i think theres a critter living under one side of the house. i found some coon droppings near one side of the house and i'm thinking of going under neat tp look for more sign. its either that, a cat or tree rat.

either way im going in....

License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote.

[protus]

well i think i ID'd the varmit.
Wife unit went outside when she heard our recycle bin crash ( full of wine bottles etc),,so she goes out while im asleep...tact lite in hand. In the AM she recounts her story to me,,which i gave some protest as to why she went out when she knows the bear comes around. I get the " i was being sneeky,,i didnt just run around the corner...so i laugh and said okk what was it.
" well it was a possum,,i saw this ugly ratthing run past me into the corner.." at which point i said you cornered a possum. At this point im wondering why my wife is still alive LOL....
next thing i know she'll tell me she caught a racoon bare handed or some junk.


garden update....radish's doing well,,lettuch stlll rocking out. Replanted a section after raking out old squash vines. Re planted with cabbage,lettuch . Figure it'll keep our green going through winter/early spring .

just did my 1st "real" concrete slab job for a side project here. no i know why i stopped doing plastering work,, 80lb bags aint light like they used to be LMAO

[610Alpha]

just did my 1st "real" concrete slab job for a side project here. no i know why i stopped doing plastering work,, 80lb bags aint light like they used to be LMAO

Yeah that concrete work ain't no joke...helped my FIL pour some a month or so ago for birthing stalls for his mare's. I forgot how demanding that is on the body.

[protus]

yeah trust me i know...i dont lift really heavy stuff much after i injured myself so all day i was worried i would bust my back again.. but non the less i woke up just a tad stiff this AM...

[Maid Marion]

Wow Protus..congratulations on the new place! It sounds wonderful but those places can definately be a handful. Grew up in a home built in 1798. When electricity became available they put in that lovely cloth covered wire. Yes, we were still dealing with it prior to moving out. It was on 98 acres of land.....way to much. The question of mowing vast amounts of of land around the house becomes a matter of what you feel safe with. My dad was born in 1913 and always said.........keeping a decent amount of mowed land around the house is a good firebreak in the event of a wildfire or someone setting a fire intentionally. Are the local law enforcement people so tight to you that you couldn't get away with "quietly" desposing of that tasty bear? Someone with a legally owned silencer who would like half of it (maybe) would cure the problem. Gosh I love bear meat. We were able to get permission from the warden service to shoot nuisance bears on the farm. Got severe enough to call in the hunters with bear dogs. Someone mentioned hitting critters along their road on the way home.........cracks me up as long as your vehilce doesn't get damaged or anyone hurt. I keep a road kill kit in the suv for just that purpose. This back road is known for tons of larger critters suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Not traveled hardly at all so just pray for no other cars to come by and having remembered to have replaced the tarp for the back of the suv. Deer are one thing (can usually be lifted) but a moose would be a whole other problem. In this state the person who hits the moose can claim it first but it takes an eternity for the authorities to get their fannies out to the site. Don't like leaving an animal suffering just because we aren't allowed to put it down without their permission. Had to cut a deer's throat on one occassion......no offense to anyone.....but did the indian commmitting the animal spirit to above and did the job. This new place is far smaller then the old farm but is an old full log sturdy cabin so I'm pleased at this point in time.. Bunnies seem to be the way to go for quick and handy meat. Sure sounds like you have made great inroads into getting yourself set up for what may come that we are all preparing for. Best of luck. Can't wait to hear more of your great stories. You are a terrific and entertaining writer.

[MustangGal]

Use a wrist rocket to shoot some moth balls under there. Don't do too many, it will stink you out and can be toxic, but a few should do the trick. After a few days, seal up anywhere they might be getting in.

[protus]

This possum is growing on us...LOL...we've seen him again tonight......my little one got a Daisy BBC gun today....and the wife unit keeps hinting at my tote full of 110's and leg holds in the other room :)

[WiseOwl]

Your own Possum Kingdom lol

[protus]

Your own Possum Kingdom lol

my lil ones loves watching animal plants show with turtleman?? so i told her we gotta go under the house and scream "live action" a few times and the possum will be gone.

i shoulda bought that 2 pack live trap deal at the tractor supply......i could nab it with the 110 but then if the neighbors cat wonders over... lol
right now he aint tearing anything up or ended up inthe house tet lol so i aint sweating it to much...

[WiseOwl]

I have come to the conclusion that you can catch anything on earth with peanut butter. If dinosaurs still roamed, peanut butter would bring em to the grill