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

[protus]

More -
Weather....
Anyone who thinks their coming outta the cubicle farm when the zombies show up and expects instant results from their garden of Eden kit is fooling themselves. We've had good luck growing our 1st two years but I've been set back by bugs....frost...flood...old seeds...etc etc. Even with our livestock. It was great making few extra dollars from eggs till temps went into the high 90s and production slowed...same for the birds moltening ....and trees crashing through the run.
I've had successful runs though....beans taters...onions ...chili's ...tomatoes and greens...
So its not all gloom.
Likewise results fishing /small game....
Again don't kid yourself.

Don't be afraid to try UN orthodox means to your goal. I've given away books on gardening (sq foot to be exact) now looking to use our space to the Max meant dropping $$$$ on Amazon for new versions...and some of Max velocitys books.

I've planted citrus trees...started herb planters vs garden patches ....got pineapples and keep debating on bananas .....sugar cane has been discussed as well to make use of UN farmable areas....

Heat indexes of 110++ and 80-99% humidity sap the "will "" outta you...LOL but. I'm learning to pace myself vs full throttle and crashing ....which is hard since I don't like to stop once started.....

Sharp blades or tools and mowers make life easier.....
Team work even more so....

More later....

[protus]

Been a bit. figure to add more thoughts.
doing work by hand vs mechincal tools. tilling dirt/shoveling etc was easy at 18,,,nearing 40. Not so much LOL.
winter garden didnt happen. we let the beds sit after sept. Water levels have been high and with high temps and rain nothing would take.
We also learned seeds dont last forever!

Got a secondary water tanl installed. Got our well pump put in and its flowing (artisian) but we put a pitcher pump on for when the water table drops.

Spent all AM today mowing,,raking,chainsawing and revamping the chicken coup/run. New bedding,new boxes etc.)
our blueberries have berries so hopefully i can keep the tree rats off them. So far the .177 has a few in the freezer for later. I may harvest more.

Went and dropped a few dolars on non hybrid seeds and plan to discard all of our old seeds in the back of the property. See what we get there LOL.

Went our 1st winter with no heat(thanks to a lood in sept/august. ) we did ok. temps only really gotto mid 50's indoors. Got one slight frost but thats it so far.
started collecting firewood, learned how much i hate using a splitting maul .
again see above,,,a non protus powered splitter would be nice LOL.

Rotated out the compost heaps,amd started bigger ones.
hopefully spring/summer gardens will do well .

[RobertJ]

I always wondered how long seeds would last/Be productive. At SHOT in Orlando several years back Mark Larue was giving out sealed #10 cans of non hybrid seed, along with Dillo Dust and Dillos. I received one and kept it in a cool dry place,LOL. No such thing in FL. Any way I have forgotten about them till now. Wonder if they are any good still. I didnt want to open because my raised bed is only 4x4 feet. its just me and thats plenty. mostly Maters, cucumbers, bell pepper and Lettuce. I have failed miserably with the lettuce, every year the bugs or heat get most of it. Oh forgot scallions as well.
How old was your seed?

[Rmplstlskn]

I always wondered how long seeds would last/Be productive.

Sadly, not very long for many seeds. Maybe a year or two before germination fails rise. Personally, gardening is too important and too much work to waste all that time and the ideal planting window on seeds that may fail to germinate, or only 50% germinate.

Rmpl

[protus]

Our seeds by that planting were 1+ yr old
But we had environmental issues (humidity) ...

[justanothergunnut]

two years ago I used a bunch of seeds(non heirloom) that were between 4-5 years old. I had excellent results with everything except the carrots. Im not sure why but I had only about a 10% success rate with them sprouting. I did however use seeds that I harvested from peppers the following year so second gen hybrids and they grew with no problems except for the occasional misshapen pepper or off colors IE a half red half yellow pepper or the peppers shape was more round than elongated. They tasted normal but the fact that they had abnormalities brings into question their resilience to bugs, drought etc when normal watering or fertilizing may not be possible.

[protus]

Chickopcylapse is upon us.
No eggs in three days........
Time for chicken n dumplings !

Let the bed rest through late summer.
Did get a decent okra harvest and sweettaters.and cucumbers .
Hot peppers have done great.
Added more fruit trees.
Replanted all the beds two weeks ago. Everything seems to be sproutting up this go around.
Theres talk of going rabbits and splitting our chicken area into layers and meat birds or going to a smaller flock of layers .
Coop and pen both need a good clearing out and repair of rusted netting.

Tree rat season is upon us...lol


Survival dog continues to do her job of critter control.
Saw her first snake (gardner)..keep her distance...barking while circiling it. Untill i pinned it and picked it up to toss it in the back away from her. Then like any tree rats she goes into its "mine" ..lol
Gets depressed with the "but protus...you threw my new friend into the woods ...". Lol

[MustangGal]

Most seeds last quite a long time when stored well. Carrot seeds are not most seeds and tend to lose viability at an astonishing rate as they age. Hope that helps. :)

[protus]

Well. Wish me luck.

Garden plots getting complete over haul..new fencing..compost etc etc etc..
May drop some funds for a tiller. Doing it by hand is time consuming and I'm lazy lol .off to go get sweaty and dirty...

[Bill Foster]

A word of caution on the tiller. Use non-ethanol gasoline. The 10% ethanol fuel seems to eat fuel lines and carb gaskets and clog carburetors. The carb for my 2-year old tiller was going to cost me 1/2 the original price of the tiller. I went back to a shovel.

[protus]

Thanks ill keep an eye on it.
Got a small troy built. Put In 100ft of weld wire fencing..with new post.
Transplated my asparagus...added two bags of mushroom compost and big bag of peat.
Left one bed untilled .(3 total).it's gonna be dedicated blueberry bed once the migrant squash dies out. Lost three out of 6 blueberries few months back...after the winter May even go strawberries.

[protus]

Fast pic. Fresh tilled beds are a 6x16 and a wider 8x12ish.
Other non tilled where that squash is a 6x16 as well.will be building another 4x4 box as well n for more v taters or carrots.
Plus ill add a few more post. I shorted my self by three or four.
Gonna use as much of this space as we can. With the stronger fencing vs chicken wire (last one) ..we're gonna try to get beans ..peas..tomatoes..other climbing stuff on the bed ends and that long edge. The other 4x4 will go in that space near the front.
We have more raised beds on other areas on the lot.
This area gets almost 80-99% light all day till 4-5 right now. Once time changes it'll get a little less.
Still need more organic matter in the dirt. Its pretty Sandy. I've added leaves...grass clippings..top soil with mulch...on top of what I just added.
So well see how it does.
Taters and hot peppers I have no problems growing lol

[rockriver]

nice pix...
encouraging me to get back to the garden.

--
btw, can the deer jump that fence?

[protus]

nice pix...
encouraging me to get back to the garden.

--
btw, can the deer jump that fence?

They could. But they have to jump another fence With a 6ft high 3-4ft thick hedge row. Then get there before my Aussie/border collie runs them down. Lol.
We have a bigger issue with bears..possums..tree rats and coins..than deer where I'm at.

Plus I don't see deer in a yard lasting long here. Lmao.

But honesty I'm shock I haven't seen any..as there is plenty of open land/lots for natural lanes of travel. Towns only two miles wide..and nothing around us for 30-40 miles...we see everything else but the deer. Prolly most on the south west side of town..I'm more in the swampy areas.

[Lowdown3]

The local deer have gotten pretty bold with us. We've pulled up in front of the house many a night and they are 30 yards down in the orchard munching away. They just turn and look, watch us for a minute, sometimes go back to eating, sometimes run off. Even with 6 big dogs running around and laying on every entrance way to the house. That's o.k. we like to harvest a few now and then.

Beds look great. Before you drop coin on a tiller- I got away from tilling for a few years in our north garden. Just planted right into the crop residue of last item that was dead and brown on ground. Results got better. Slightly more weeds yes, but noticed more earthworms, etc. Bought a tiller years ago on a whim and started putting cold steel into the ground there again. A few years later- fewer earthworms, more weeds and less tilth to the soil IMO.

Also, remember to let the ground rest every soil often for a year. God told us to do that for a reason, and you'll see much better results the next year after the "soil Sabbath" on that plot. Everything needs to rest every so often.