Raiquee's 2015 gardening journal

**Raiquee** · 03-20-2015, 10:34 AM

Well since last year that I did this it was an epic fail (as in recording stuff) I'm doing it again this year! Or trying!

Background:

We live on 4.3 acres. We have a 50x50 fenced in garden.
Perennials we currently have are: 3 mulberry trees, 2 pear trees, 1 cherry tree, rhubarb, asparagus, raspberries, Concord grapes.
Livestock we have: 1 rooster named bubbles, 7 laying hens. 1 tom turkey, 4 blue slate turkey hens.

Goals:
Leave garden at 50x50 this year. Expand next year.
Plant some more fruit trees
Figure out perennial garden and add something to it.
Get set up ready for pigs next spring
Get new chicken coop up.

Our garden did amazing for us last year, bringing in 350+ lbs of tomatoes, 60'ears of corn, a root cellar full of winter squash, 100+ lbs of potatoes, 15lbs of green beans, 50lbs of peppers...etc.

I have intensely planted the garden this year, and we are going to try and grow an amazing amount of organic produce for our family. I want a place to post it all, so I don't bog up other threads. If I have time to post it!

**frugalwarrior2** · 03-21-2015, 01:30 AM

please a few pics when its going Raiquee if you have any time. Our is 12x12 and I havent planted in 3 years. These 3 dogs play in it among other things.
Maybe I can do something but we cant plant until memorial day.
Do you have a tunnel or a greenhouse

**Raiquee** · 03-27-2015, 04:00 PM

Took some pics of the seedlings. Unbelievable that I still have SO much more to plant!! I need to do our celery, more onions, broccoli. Then there's the melons, but I got awhile before I do those.

We have 8 flats going right now, but mid April 4 of the flats should be able to start going outside to be hardened off.

First image is onions and spring mix salad. Second image is spinach and sprouting broccoli, with some pots of ground cherries in front. Third image is brussel sprouts, peppers, etc. I have another two flats of toms and peppers but they just started poking through.

**frugalwarrior2** · 03-27-2015, 08:29 PM

what about blueberries?

**Raiquee** · 03-28-2015, 02:11 PM

I don't have a tunnel or greenhouse, we just have a basement grow room. Hubby wants to build me a coldframe, and thinks he has enough materials on hand for that. I want a greenhouse but we will probably not do that until we've done all our basics.

Blueberries- we plan on putting in a ton of bushes. Like 100-200. My boys can eat a crapload of blueberries. We have sandy and acidic soil, so they should fair well here. I just don't know if it will be this year. I might do strawberries or asparagus. Just because of the sheer quantity we are planting of each thing, I'm limited to how much I can do per year ($$$).

I know for sure we will be tilling the area this spring. My first priority is fruit trees tho!

**brenda67** · 03-28-2015, 03:14 PM

Holy Smokes on the Blueberries. You go girl!

Where are you buying your fruit trees? What breeds are you getting?

**Raiquee** · 03-28-2015, 07:12 PM

Brenda) well I'm still in the air about that. Vanwell nursery has a price point I like ($16 a tree) but doesn't have all the varieties I want. So rain tree is second in line to fill anything I couldn't get. Apples- honeycrisp, tollman sweet, Granny Smith, I might try black Arkansas. Peaches- Desire (I like to grow things with my name lol), contender, Saturn donut (I had some donut peaches up north like zone 3 at a farm and they were so sweet and drip down your chin good!) Cherries- bing and rainier or right now. Plum- no real clue. Prolly Italian or Stanley. Apricot- gonna try a cold hardy one that blooms late. Like harglow. Pear- Bartlett.

May dabble into nectarines, Asian pears, more mulberries, figs, etc. but the ones listed above is what this first year tree order will contain.

**brenda67** · 03-28-2015, 08:25 PM

So they are all online Nurseries?

**brenda67** · 03-28-2015, 08:32 PM

I bought all of mine from our local Nurseries..you should check Daves garden to review the online Nurseries as many of them didn't have good reviews..so I would be weary of them imho. I paid anywhere from $40 to $60 for each tree that is average 5 to 7 years for the semi dwarf and dwarf varieties..I bought mine a few a year to several a year when I used my Birthday and saved money to buy them.

My Nurseries also has a guarantee on their trees another thing to think about.

**Raiquee** · 04-13-2015, 10:18 AM

Brenda we have limited varieties here which is why I was going to order from an online nursery. Raintree has very good reviews luckily!

Purchased my seed potatoes yesterday. 25lbs of them! We had a 1 to 6 return on the Yukon golds, and a 1 to 10 return on the reds last year. Which if we had an overall 1 to 10 return this year, would get us around 250lbs of potatoes. Prolly still not enough for us for all winter, but will take us at least I'm hoping into march.

Varieties I bought:
Kennebec russet 10lbs - good storage
Yukon golds 5lbs - same quantity we planted last year
Viking reds 5lbs - same quantity we planted last year
All blue 5lbs

I want to get a few lbs of a fingerling variety, just for fun. Last year the yukons and reds made it to January before sprouting, and we finished them end of January. They aren't even a storage type so I'm excited to see how long the russets will last. Nothing like a home grown tater

**Raiquee** · 04-13-2015, 07:49 PM

Also picked up new chicks for our 2016 flock. 4 silver laced Wyandotte pullets, 3 Americana pullets and one all brown wild card. Hoping he's a rooster, as our rooster will be getting the chopping block soon. We need fresh blood and if that ones a too he's unrelated to everyone and would be perfect!

Raiquee's 2015 gardening journal-image.jpg

**Raiquee** · 04-16-2015, 11:28 AM

Hubby tilled the spring area of the garden. I got 30' row of peas to plant, lettuce, radishes, spinach, herbs. Onions and carrots need to go out too, but hubby needs us to move compost. So between little girl naps and the boys I'm gonna wheel barrow chicken litter to the garden and empty our compost bin. We will need to buy some compost this year. Hopefully next year we will have enough.

**renmerc446** · 04-16-2015, 08:58 PM

One of the new members of my community garden just finished putting together the sifter for our compost bin yesterday. The past couple of years, we've brought in some manure from a local horse farm but this is the first year we'll have stuff from our compost bin. Definitely not going to have enough for everyone from that alone. But it's a start. It's a three bin system so we can keep making more while the rest gets sifted and breaks down totally.

What kind of compost system do you have?

**Raiquee** · 04-17-2015, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by renmerc446

One of the new members of my community garden just finished putting together the sifter for our compost bin yesterday. The past couple of years, we've brought in some manure from a local horse farm but this is the first year we'll have stuff from our compost bin. Definitely not going to have enough for everyone from that alone. But it's a start. It's a three bin system so we can keep making more while the rest gets sifted and breaks down totally.

What kind of compost system do you have?

Well right now it's a cute wooden box with a latched lid that hubby made. Totally impractical for our garden size now lol! We plan on putting up concrete blocks and doing a two bin system, which we will turn with our tractor.

We got a hookup of free composted cow manure so will be going to get that on Sunday. Better save my energy, as we don't have a tractor yet. So all poop shoveling is by hand!

**renmerc446** · 04-17-2015, 10:19 AM

Good luck with the manure duty on Sunday. When we get our manure, it'll pretty much be the same deal for us, with one wheel barrow and several buckets between 20+ people. At least we have several shovels on site to use when one of the members pulls up with his truck.

Our compost bin was created by a girl scout as a badge project. You might want to check to see if a girl/boy scout needs to do a project for one of their badges and if they're willing to do one for you. Both sides benefit.