2020 Victory Gardens

[WhistlingBadger]

Look at this oat patch! It should be ready to harvest in a couple more weeks, and I should get several pounds of good hulless oats.  I'm very excited about this, never having grown grain before (except corn).


There's an old story about Dr. Johnson, the famous English scholar (and scoffer at all things not-English), traveling through Scotland with Mr. Boswell, his Scottish assistant (and no slouch in the brains department, himself). Johnson, commenting on the prevalence of oats in the Scots' diet, said, "In Scotland they feed men what in England we only give to our horses."

Boswell, not missing a beat, replied, "Yes. England has better horses. Scotland has better men."

[Eric Krewson]

Aside from my usual Ky wonder pole beans I tried Anasazi beans, the pack of seeds said bush beans but I built a trellis for them having read conflicting reports about their climbing ability.



I could tell the pickings were slim off the 16 ft row, lots of vines, few beans but tried to get enough for lunch. I got so few I decided to walk down in my woods to get some chanterells to cook with the beans to fill the pot better.



I cooked the beans with chanterells and onions, they had a sweet taste and were a bit different, I like Ky wonder pole beans better.

[mullet]

The Kentucky Wonder pole bean is my go to bean also. They produce a lot of beans.

[Marc St Louis]

Gardens were a bit slow to start here with a nasty cold spell at the beginning of June, lost all my Cabbage to frost.  My Spaghetti Squash are finally starting to produce fruit.  We started actively planting a native plant called Lambs Quarter that is tasty and full of nutrients, before I would just pick it out of the garden as a weed.  Now I have to figure out a way to stop the Deer from eating it, they seem to like it as well.

[WhistlingBadger]

We mostly grow shell beans.  We've had good luck with golden jacob's cattle.  This year we're trying Caribbean black beans.  I doubt they'll amount to much in our climate, but you never know until you try...

[mullet]

My first garden is finished and harvested. I've started the summer garden now . Planted okra, sweet potatoes and sweet peppers so far. Been busy picking figs, grapes and Barbados cherries. When it starts to cool I'll start some collard greens.

[bjrogg]

Gardens were a bit slow to start here with a nasty cold spell at the beginning of June, lost all my Cabbage to frost.  My Spaghetti Squash are finally starting to produce fruit.  We started actively planting a native plant called Lambs Quarter that is tasty and full of nutrients, before I would just pick it out of the garden as a weed.  Now I have to figure out a way to stop the Deer from eating it, they seem to like it as well.

If you run out of lambs quarter your welcome to come pick some from my fields Marc. I have plenty yet. I know you can eat it. I’m assuming the tender tops before they go to seed? As good as it grows around here it seems like it would be a very easy garden crop.

Like Marc weather was very cold this spring. Then very warm. My sweet corn is almost ready to tassel. My green beans are starting to grow nicely.

My Navy Beans are starting to blossom. This field looks really nice. The rest are starting to grow now but not as nice as these. It’s been hotter and drier than they like. Got a little shower and a couple cool nights that perked them up a bit. Hopefully it doesn’t get to hot again and cook off the blossoms.

Bjrogg

[WhistlingBadger]

That's great, BJ.  My corn is tasseling, too.  I don't think it ever has this early before.  We got off to a rough start, but this is shaping up as the best garden yet.

[YosemiteBen]

Ground Squirrels! My arch nemesis! wife had a pumpkin plant just starting to get some good growth and the d@@n squirrels got to it! Had to literally lock it in to keep them out! They like our squashes too! So far we have only gotten half squashes after they get done with them. Pack rats too! They really like green veggies. Carrots got about 2 in tall and then they were gone.... I have all kinds of traps. I put road flares in squirrel and gopher holes.... dont like poison.... just cant keep ahead of them.... The main population of squirrels live in a log pile between me and the neighbor - so when they present themselves to be nixed - I cant because there is a house behind them.... Lots of work to keep a garden here. Hard clay based soil lots of critters. everything is in raised beds.... Cant afford to sit out all day waiting for them with the .22 either... so, we get what we can out of it in the mean time...

[WhistlingBadger]

Ground Squirrels! My arch nemesis! wife had a pumpkin plant just starting to get some good growth and the d@@n squirrels got to it! Had to literally lock it in to keep them out! They like our squashes too! So far we have only gotten half squashes after they get done with them. Pack rats too! They really like green veggies. Carrots got about 2 in tall and then they were gone.... I have all kinds of traps. I put road flares in squirrel and gopher holes.... dont like poison.... just cant keep ahead of them.... The main population of squirrels live in a log pile between me and the neighbor - so when they present themselves to be nixed - I cant because there is a house behind them.... Lots of work to keep a garden here. Hard clay based soil lots of critters. everything is in raised beds.... Cant afford to sit out all day waiting for them with the .22 either... so, we get what we can out of it in the mean time...

Need to ask @outbackbob48 to show you have to make figure-4's!   

[bjrogg]

You could try live trap, but wire doors open for a week or two and just feed them. They will get comfortable with it and then you can set it so it will go off. Then you can catch a bunch of them.


We are right in the middle of wheat harvest. A couple pictures.

First one is cart along side combine. It catches the wheat from combine and takes it to truck. The combine never stops. It unloads onto the cart on the go. Kinda like flying in formation really low to the ground.lol

Second picture is combine with windmill in background. Harvesting wheat and harvesting the wind at the same time.

Bjrogg

[bjrogg]

Pictures

[bjrogg]

If you look at the clipped wheat stubble. You might notice the green between the rows. That is clover we seeded into the growing wheat this spring. The wheat was planted last September

The clover is a cover crop. It fixes nitrogen, reduces soil erosion, puts organic matter into the soil and all the wildlife love it.
Bjrogg

[Marc St Louis]

Plenty of Lambs Quarter here plus I harvested the seeds from some mature plants last year.  We like them better than Spinach now.  It is best to harvest them as young plants but the seeds are also edible.  If anyone needs calcium in their diet these are the plants to eat 

[Eric Krewson]

I am overloaded, I planted a covid 19 sized garden just in case, this is almost a daily picking, I have canned about all I need and my Anasazi beans are just coming in. I try to give the stuff I don't use away but I am running gout of people who want it because everyone is giving stuff away and there is an abundance available.