Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Grunt on February 08, 2010, 09:03:43 pm
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Were getting more snow tonight followed by freezing rain then more snow. I keep thinking about spring and have found a good way to combat the winter time blues. I drug out my seed catalog and started to work on this years seed order. We have eight raised beds, two cold frames,a spice and herb bed, asparagus, blueberrys, rasberrys and about 50 shiitake mushroom logs. Really nice to get a cup of coffee and a legal pad and go through the catalog. Good way to escape winter, for a bit.
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Hey, you grow shiitakes? Cool! My wife and I gather wild mushrooms. We still have King Boletes and Lobster mushrooms we dried from a couple seasons ago.
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Yeah, I need to start thinking about the garden too. For my family and I, winter is a time to slow down and reflect on the good times we've had and to just enjoy each others company while the day's are slow and dark. For me, I like to be in the woods when its cold to camp out and to just be with nature....or to shoot at the little critters if they get too close >:D And no I'm not trying to ''hijack'' the thread :)
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AWWWWW!!!
That splains a lot then. ;D
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These days I'm more interested in sugar snaps, pole beans, squash, tomatoes, snow peas, cucumbers, potatoes, lettuce, mustard, spinach, swiss chard, thyme, basil, cilantro, sage, lemon grass, oregano, parsley, dill, beets, radishes, are you getting hungry yet? I think I'm going to order some flax seed to see if I can make some linen. Be good to know how to make linen. I know that under all that snow the good earth is just waiting. Winter time blues are leaving.
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Grunt, gonna turn all my stuff into raised beds this year. What are your frames made from?
Did you just fill with mother earth,or something sterile?
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We grow shiitaki mushrooms also. Have for about 10 years. Need to start new logs this year probably.
We also pot up our lemon grass to overwinter in the house. Dog and cat love to eat it. Have blueberries also. Haven't had good luck with other fruit trees for some reason. Grow tomatoes, peppers, squash, cukes and a few other vegs and lots of cut flowers.
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I also have a garden its only about 12' by 30' but don't have a big yard, stuff like peppers and tomaters I buy bedding plants from the local greenhouse
summer is to short to start from seed. Going to plant collards this year I'm going to be the only Yooper to grow it, heck you can't even buy collard seed up here :o
As for winter you have to get out and enjoy or it will drive ya crazy, we cross country ski, shovel snow, ice fish, shovel snow, snowshoe, shovel snow :D
Also winter is the time I make bows and stuff
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Grunt, gonna turn all my stuff into raised beds this year. What are your frames made from?
Did you just fill with mother earth,or something sterile?
Timo, The saw mills around here are loaded with hemlock right now. The reason is the woolly aldebid is killing all the hemlocks and folks are cutting them and selling them to sawmills. I had cedar 1x6's for 15years replaced the cedar last year with rough sawn hemlock . Hemlock will not rot in contact with the ground. I bought several 12' hemlock 1"x6" for $3.00 each. Stay away from pressure treated. I just double dug and added compost and lime and manure. Takes a couple of years to get the beds working.
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Grunt, got a buddy with a mill that sold me that he will cut me some 2x8 red cedar. Should last a few years. Was gonna use osage, but just can't bring myself to laying it in the ground! ha
Staying away from anything treated. >:D
Planned on dbl dig with manure. We will see. Thanks.
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Luckily we don't have much if any snow here winter is when we do your hunting. Summer is for fishing.Ron
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Tim, double-dug raised beds are the way to go. It's amazing how much food you can grow in a few small beds.
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Whats double dug mean, can't say I've ever heard that term ???
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Dana, you dig out the bed and set soil aside. then dig it again and replace all the soil(basically). Gives you a deep, soft bed. Keep beds 4" wide so you can reach the middle and don't step on the soil and compact it. You can add compost under the top layer to feed roots and it will keep soil warmer in fall and winter...well, maybe not ya'lls winters.
We grow salad greens and spinach in fall and spring. If the spinach is big enough when winter comes a simple wire cloche and clear plastic will allow us to have fresh spinach all winter for us. Lettuce usually melts at the first hard freeze.
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Grunt, got a buddy with a mill that sold me that he will cut me some 2x8 red cedar. Should last a few years. Was gonna use osage, but just can't bring myself to laying it in the ground! ha
Staying away from anything treated. >:D
Planned on dbl dig with manure. We will see. Thanks.
Timo, Make all your bed sizes the same. I did this and built two coldframes that I can sit on top of the bed frames. Base frame, ridge pole, two doors on hinges. Every year I pick them up move them to a new bed.
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Thanks Pat I have a raised bed garden but its all-in-one, so you guys have multiple beds ???
Pictures please :)
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Thanks Pat I have a raised bed garden but its all-in-one, so you guys have multiple beds ???
Pictures please :)
Picts as soon as the ice melts Dana. Can't even see the beds.
Found another way out of the winter time blues. Spent a couple of days at my fly tying bench. Wooly Buggers in 10,12 14's, Pheasant Tail nymphs, Rubber legged Copper Johns, and Squirmy Wormys. All in 16, 18's. Now I got to wait to fish them or go out to the river with my chain saw or my axe and rip or bust some holes in the ice.
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I'm with Dana I never heard the term double dug until now. Makes good sense though. I also like the idea Pat mentioned of separation so the soil doesn't get compacted. Right now mine is just one big raised bed. I had to haul in the soil from work as the soil on my land is like a black silty sand. I live in a low area. We have had great results with our garden. For the soil the best mixture I know of is what we call 50/50 its 50% compost and 50% topsoil then after that is spread we cover it heavily with a good 3" of peat moss and then bagged manure. Then just till it in deep until its nice and fluffy about 18" deep. Seems the fresh manure has to much nitrogen and makes big plants with little vegetables :) Better once it has composted that's why we get the bags. You got me thinking now. The garden really does need new boards so I think i will make it all separate raised beds. I have access to white cedar logs for free which should make it at least a few seasons before they rot.
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If you have fresh manure add it under the top layer of soil. As it composts it will create some heat that will aid germination and as the plants grow and the roots get longer they will benefit from the nitrogen, somewhat weakened by composting. Generally cow or horse manure isn't too hot if mixed with soil but usually contains weed seeds. Chicken manure is excellent but must be composted first or it will burn anything that touches it. Rabbit manure is as good as chicken but will not burn your plants.
Look up the "The Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening" by Rodale Press. I have had my copy since 1980. All the info is still pertinent and they have probably added lots more since then.
My cloches are made with 2x4 fence wire. I cut it so I can fold it in half lengthwise to make a tent shape the length of the bed. It is the same size as the bed when folded. When temps drop I add clear plastic film to continue the growing season. I use the 2x4 wire so the rabbits don't get in.
The best soil you can use is soil you make your self. Top soil usually has too many weed seeds so I stay away from it. A mixture of soil, manure, lime, leaf mold and other organic materials works best. A soil test is a good idea. Last year I didn't till my garden(also promotes weed growth) but dug a hole for each plant and mixed in 30 year old dried manure we got from an old cattle barn. Boy did those plants jump! ;D
Weed seeds like from crabgrass can stay underground for 60 years or more. As soon as you turn the soil and the light hits them, they will germinate.
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I raise chickens for eggs and meat,so I have plenty of manure from them.I normally just use it sparingly with decent results.
How would be the best way for me to compost it?( I am a simple man so keep it so.) ;D
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Tim, Layer the chicken manure with lots of dried leaves, straw and similar high carbon items. Wet the pile and let it sit for a few days. Then mix it all up to add air and it will start to cook. Getting the right ratio of nitrogen and carbon is the secret. The pile will start steaming when it cooks. It can get to 140deg to 160 deg when it is really cooking. Aerate the pile every few days and in a month or less you will have good compost. You can tell when the temp drops. Finished compost doesn't stink either. Has a nice earthy smell.
Put a coil of copper tubing in the pile and hook your garden hose to it for a nice hot outdoor shower. ;D
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Here's mine so far. It's harvest time for the Mustard's.
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I look outside at my garden and all I see is ice and snow. Haven't seen the ground since before Christmas. You are a lucky man.
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Nice Greens Eddie........everything here is dead...including the Boo.......boo-hoo.......... :'(
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I went out today and took some pics of a bow...Was perty nice out, most of the snow was about gone....I went in the house for a cup o joe,came back out and this!
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Got another 2"n about an hour....Wait some more I guess? I did see that the local coop had seed spuds and onions already.
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Got 6" more last night and I've got a 140 mile round trip to Asheville today. Roads should be ok when I get off the mountain.
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I raise chickens for eggs and meat,so I have plenty of manure from them.I normally just use it sparingly with decent results.
How would be the best way for me to compost it?( I am a simple man so keep it so.) ;D
Timo, Are you familiar with the deep litter method of keeping chickens? Basically you START with 6+ inches of pine shavings in your coop, and then stir everything up once or twice a week. I also add a few handfuls of diatomatious earth (DE), it dries and keeps bug out. Keep the manure from caking under the roost. You add shavings and DE sparingly as needed. The idea is if you have enough material, it stays dry and won't smell. For even less work sprinkle a handful of scratch in the coop every day and the chickens will turn the bedding over for you. Anyway, you only have to pull everything out once a year or so depending on how many birds you have, mine's been gong about 1.5 years. It's about time for me. After you pull everything out add some carbon rich material if you need it (plant matter like hay, shavings, mulch, etc.) and then let it cook for 6 months to a year depending. There are formulas for the ratio of manure to carbon, just look up manure composting, I'm sure you will learn more than you want. BTW I cold compost my stuff since I'm not in a hurry, we get plenty of rain, and it's less work to just let it sit. There are folks that go nuts with composting, run around with shovels, thermometers, and plastic sheeting (and more power to them). I like simple and easy: Put in pile and then wait. Make next years compost this year.
Swamp
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I kinda let that happen on it's own,lots of straw down with the manure, and yes I throw some scratch with it. I've left them penned alot this winter due to snow cover,so it has been turned alot. Was thinking on building me a little area to pile it and let it work, just haven't come up with the right idea yet! ???
Someone recommended some snow fence columns,Pile it in with a little water, wait a couple weeks and then transfer to another column. What say ye? :)
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That will do it Tim.
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My cold frame frames are really cold.
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