I started a bunch of seedlings around the first week of February inside, they got a slow start, but now that the temps are in the 50′s or better most day they have really started to take off.

I started several different types of tomatoes, Roma’s, Bradley, and San Marzano along with a whole handful of different peppers , jalepeno, thai chile and a few others I can’t remember right now…and I have missplaced my list oops!

Along with two types of dill and other herbs and some marigolds and other flowers to add a little color to the mix.

So overall the whole bunch is looking good, after I put them out in the makeshift coldframe they have really taken off!

There is just no substitute for the good old sunlight and warm temps.

Peaches and Plums.

The peaches and plums are blooming and they look good, hopefully a bumper crop is in store this year!

Stay tuned for more garden goods, thing are really picking up around here.

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Last week we put in some onions and garlic, this week some spinach and swiss chard.  The onions survived the chickens and turkeys uprooting them during the week, I must have replanted them twice over, hopefully they have finally given up on that foolish venture.

Raised bed for spinach and chard

The spinach went into a small raised bed up by the house, my wife Cathy loves Spinach, so we keep it close for her, I think she would eat spinach at every meal if she could. Anyway, we did a few rows of Swiss Chard, rainbow colors of course, in the same bedding area. We wrapped the bed with bird netting so the chickens don’t eat it all.

We also tilled another row and planted two rows of Green Peas (Alaska Variety) so we’ll see how those work. The seeding was a snap with the Earthway Seeder, I’m really starting to get the hang of that thing.

Well stay tuned the planting and seeding continues, oh by the way, the coldframe/seedstarter is working like a champ, I’ll try to post some pix tomorrow, the camera went wonky today so it didn’t get any of the pix I took in there, but believe me the seeds are sprouting like gangbusters!

so until then, keep planting!!

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Well it’s official, the Spring 2011 season has started around here. After the coldest February I can remember we are starting this week with lows in the 40′s and afternoon highs in the low 70′s.  Needless to say the bus has struck around here, and we have started off with a bang!

Of Onions and Tilling!

The first thing I did last Saturday, besides a brake job on my wife’s car, was a little tractor maintenance, I did the 250 Hrs service on the Kubota L5740 changed the oil, lube job etc. After that was done it was off to the tilling, you gotta love a PTO driven tiller, I don’t know how we made it  without one.  Anyhow I started out tilling three rows wide which gave us enough for three rows of red and white onions, a ling row of garlic and a half a row of carrots,  Im trying the seed tape style, they look promising.

Large Garden Area

Here is the garden area I was working on, I’ll have to get out and measure it one day.  This was home to the Okra and Purple Hull Peas last year, so good rotation is a must,  gonna work alot of root crops in this area along with some tomatoes and peppers.  Anyway That will all come later!

the Tillage Begins

As you can see that tiller does wonders, that’s just four passes and already a loose, workable planting bed.  So after that we planted the above mentioned onions and garlic and carrots and everything looks good for the start! Now we just need to have this good weather last a while and things wil be well on the way to a great season!

Cold Frame from Scrap Lumber!

We started a bunch of seeds back two weeks ago and now we have a few sprouting, Since the temps have been so crazy around here I have started all the seeds indoors for now, but soon they will be needing more sun than a couple florescent light can provide!

The answer, a cold frame made from scrap wood and an old sliding shower door, that’s right you heard it and old sliding shower door!  Here , let me demonstrate…

Homemade coldframe

Here look inside and see what I’ve done, it’s just some 1/4 inch plywood nailed together to form a rectangular box with the shower door laid on top.  This isn’t going to be a permanent fixture for us, just enough to keep the cool nights not as cool and get my poor seedling the daylight they need!

Coldframe Interior

On the inside I have a few concrete blocks to soak up some solar energy and also for some shelving. So this took me about thirty minutes to hammer together and it should serve its purpose well enough to give the seedlings a boost, and If another ugly freeze heads back, I’ll bring ‘em all back in!

Well there you have it , the season has started , we look forward to a productive spring, and hope you have one too!

What do you do on a rainy and cold, 41degrees cold, January day??  You whip out the seed catalogs that’s what!

With a steady rain this morning and the cold temps, nobody wanted to get out today, luckily we fixed the fence we needed to yesterday when it was sunny and nice!

So today on this cold blustery day, I start the annual seed selecting ritual.

Cold January day

Looking through these seed catalogs reminds me of one thing, I don’t have near enough money as I do want for new seeds to try, so what ya gonna do?   Guess i’ll just get the ones I can afford and hope have way more money next year!

Seed Catalogs

The Catalog Review!

As usual Johnny’s Selected Seeds has the deluxe catalog, 205 pages of full color seedy goodness, they never fail to impress. Johnny’s has an awesome website too. I have ordered from Johnny’s in the past and  have never had an issue .

Pinetree Garden Seeds has a nice catalog , not as glossy and large as Johnny’s, but still chock full of seeds, info and tools.  One thing I like about them , they have sections of ethnic and region seeds for example French, Asian and Latin American.  They also have some seeds you don’t see in other catalogs, tobacco for one.

Willhite Seed Inc. is a Texas seed company out of Poolville, Texas. They have a well laid out catalog in full glossy color, they arent as big as Johnny’s or Burpee but they have what looks like the largest selection of watermelon varieties I have seen, along with several different sweet potato varieties.

Burpee has another very nice catalog, but then again, they have been around forever, they know how to do this stuff.  With 146 pages of stunning color photos, you will love this one, I know I do!

So there you have it, my list is long and expensive at this point, I will narrow it down soon and place my order, Can’t wait for it to warm up and the gardening can begin!

There are several other catalog that I order from, but they haven’t arrived yet…stay tuned!

Wow! , I can’t believe it’s May already, we have been too busy around here.  With so much to do I have neglected updates to the blog, I hope you can forgive me?!  Lemme run down a few things that have gone on since last we spoke.

We have had another dairy calf born, SweetLily is her name!

Newest Calf At The Farm

We had a litter of pigs born, as well as picked up a Large Black Boar to breed back to the mama pig.

Fightin' for the milk

Large Black Hog

Ok Ok enough of the farm animals, if you want more check out my other blog here!  Now on to the veggies!

After the tillage and bed preps , using the Earthway Seeder , I planted a large section of purple hull peas and they are coming along really nice.

Purple Hull Peas

The Earthway seeder is nice, but it does take a bit of adjustment to get it working at it best, and I’m still learning the ins and outs of it!

We also planted around 20 or so tomato plants, mostly Celebrity, a few Arkansas Travelers, and three Yellow Pear… If you haven’t tried these little wonders, I highly recommend them , sweet and delicious with just a hint on acidity….ummmm ummmm love em!

Celebrity Tomato Plant

It was getting late so i couldn’t get a good picture of the whole bunch of em , next post maybe!

Carrot Bunch

Pulled up a few carrots that we planted late fall last year, My wife loves em, I’m not a raw carrot person, but we did slice up a few and drop em in a jar of pickled Jalapenos… now that’s a treat!

We also have the cucumbers out and ready to run up the trellises , also the  zucchini and yellow summer squash is in the ground and growing along with some purple potatoes and Yukon Golds.

Got some corn planted too, but again the Earthway Seeder was hit or miss, along with the fact that my step-daughter was helping me…  Thanks Julie  hehehehe

oh tea, and I’m trying some Diakon Radish to make into some Kimchi later!  I’ll let you know how that goes too.

So that’s the update for now, I’ll keep ya posted…stay tuned!

I picked one of these up at our local feed store the other day and I thought I would share the experience with ya’ll.

Assembly

It was pretty easy to put this together, it involved about 4 bolts with nuts,  a pin and a few wing nuts, I had it together in about ten minutes, and that included finding the tools.

Tools And Seed Plates

Here you can see the tools needed to put the seeder together, 1/2 inch and 7/16 inch wrench and a cresent wrench, thats it, very simple !  The seed plates in the picture are different sizes to plant the different seeds, there are 6 altogether , you can also purchase other sized seed plate to handle any possible seed you could want.

Still In The Box

Here is the box, to give you an idea of the size, 4 cubic ft bag of humus for reference!

Assembling The Seeder

The seeder comes partly assembled in the box, all you have to put on is the rear wheel, the handle and the row spacer, in the photo above I have the wheel on and I’m about to add the handle, you can see that in the left side of the photo.

The handle goes on with 4 nuts and bolts , its that easy , the row marker goes on with a pin and cotter key so it can move freely, very simple design.  Like I said it took maybe ten minutes total.

Complete Earthway Seeder

There is also a black plastic clip that the row marker folds up and tucks out of the way in, it just clips on the the handle , it doesn’t hold the marker very well at all, you may have to rig something if you want it to stay there when your done seeding.

Well there you have it , in ten minutes a time and back saving device for the serious gardener, next time a review of the seeder in action, and yes it does have some pros and cons, but i’ll let you know about ‘em soon, so stay tuned!

Ok folks, here it is, my homemade seed starting rack!   I’m going to use this to  get a little head start on my vegetable seeds this year. I tried to start some last year but it just wasn’t enough light is the house with out some serious lighting backup.  I think I have that problem solved this year, take a look.

The Parts

Wire baking Rack

We had this one already, They run about $40 at the Sam’s club, the good part about these is that the shelves are adjustable. There is also a larger rack that runs about $90 , if you need more capacity.

Fluorescent Shop Lights

I got these two shop light fixtures at home depot for $9 apiece, The rack has a total of 4 shelves so if you wanted to you could add four more lights for a total of three actual growing shelves, but for know I’m starting with one.

Rigging The Lights

The set up is pretty easy, the lights have some chain included with the, you just have to get the lights centered like you like them and hook the chain to the fixture and then the shelf.  I used two fixtures for the shelf for more light, but you could use just one fixture per shelf need be.  Once the lights are connected you’ll need to adjust the shelves so there is very little clearance from the top of your seed pots and the light base, you’ll need to adjust the light distance as the plants grow, but the closer the better, this keeps the plants from getting too leggy.

Final Configuration

Well here she is, for about 15 minutes of work and around $70 I put this lighted seed starting rack together, it should last a long time since it will be indoors for most of its useful life. I have a few flats of seeds ready to go, so that will be another post, I don’t have the photos ready yet hehehe.

If you needed to you could rig the shelf unit with some sheet plastic for a mini green house set up, I used this set up since it will be in the house where the temps are good but the light isn’t.

Well thats it, I’ll keep you updated on how it works, I potted up some roma tomatoes and some  Jalepeno and sweet banana pepper seeds for the first batch and we’ll see how they work!

Good luck with your gardening!!

Some Ideas For Your Spring Garden Preparations.

Here in my zone, it won’t be long until the cold weather goes away for a while, and will be replaced with the scorching temps that Southeast Texas is known for. In between those two extremes is the three week period known as Spring, when fair weather and sunshine prevail.

Until then the time is nye to make the preps for the long gardening season ahead. So here are some ideas to get you jump started.  Oh and If your are still under the 6 week sentence of  Punxsutawny Phil, adjust you times accordingly.

1. Order Some Seeds!

Get your seed catalogs out and order your new crops, get the beans, get the lettuce, get the melons , just get something! Also make sure you get the right crops for the right season!  There is no way I can grow lettuce  anytime after June in my area, its just way to hot.

2. Prepare the Planting Beds.

No matter if you till , or follow the no till, lasagna methods of bed prep, now is the time to start. I have loads of unraked leaves that haven’t made it to the compost pile yet, If you till, now is the time to work them in to the soil, They need time to break down properly.

Set up some raised beds, I have used concrete blocks landscape timbers, old tires, the possibilities are endless.  Also set up any fencing to keep the pests and varmints out! Bird netting too, don’t forget the bird netting! Its a life saver.

3. Start Some Seeds!

When the seeds you ordered come in, or the seeds you saved from last years garden, you did save some seeds didn’t you? You’ll need to start the seeds. Some plants do better being direct seeded, others do better with a head start, tomatoes are one example.

You can use the “Mini-Greenhouse”  kits you get at the box stores, or if you have a florescent light , and some space you can make a better homemade set up…Look for my post on this coming soon!  Anyway, use some loose seed starting soil and get to it, In five to fifteen days the seeds will begin to sprout, keep the grow light close to the seedlings so they don’t get to leggy!

Before you plant the seedlings, let them acclimate outside for a few days, wait till the weather will cooperate, this will keep the new tender plants from getting “weather shock”.

Well I hope these ideas get you started on the way to a great garden this year, lemme know what you get planted when the time comes, I’ll keep ya’ll up to date too!

And as always , thanks for stopping by!

When it’s 54 degrees outside and a slight drizzles is coming down, there ain’t much you can do outside in the garden, so let’s bring it inside for a while and look over a few of the seed catalogs that fill up the mail box over the year!

Johnny’s Select Seeds

Johnny’s has one of the best put together catalogs in the business , IMHO.  It’s full color and brimming with pix, and every description lays out the info you’ll need to make the most out of your crop.   The tools section has more goodies than you could find just about anywhere, hoes, seeders, what ever you need.  So when the December Gloom is in yo face, check this catalog out!

Seed Savers Exchange

If rare and heirloom varieties are you thing, Seed Savers is the place for you!  This catalog is not as polished as Johnny’s, but what it lacks in shine it makes up for in variety.  I didn’t even know there were that many different kinds of beans!!    The layout is easy to navigate  and it still has plenty of pix and info for the avid gardener, it also has an extensive book section in the back.  Overall a great catalog!

Henry Field’s

Henry Field’s catalog is another great one, It has a great selection of seeds but also has an extensive fruit and nut tree section.  This one has plenty of full color photos and information and a large tool and goody section as well.  It’s another good one to pull you through the cold times.

And for all the flower people out there each of the catalogs mentioned above have a large flower seed section as well, so there is something for everyone

I know there are plenty more , these are just a few that I have done business with, and no I’m not on the payroll of any of them.

So enjoy your shopping and I hope you can make it through until Spring!

Happy Gardening!

The last three tomatoes of the season have turned red, and we’ll miss the great taste of a red, vine ripe summer tomato, oh well only 5 months till spring!

Now to clean out this area for the next round, or maybe I’ll let this bed sit for a while with a thick layer of compost.

First Sprouts Of The Fall/Winter Garden

So thanks to the extra mild temps we have had these last couple weeks, most of the stuff we direct seeded into the raised beds has started to sprout!

We seeded:

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Brussels Sprouts
• Oriental Cabbage
• Regular Cabbage
• Carrots
• Red and Yellow  Onions
• Soft Neck Garlic
• Beets
• Radishes

I’m trying to figure out my macro settings on the camera , so maybe soon I can get some better pics for ya’ll.

Until then Enjoy the Fall weather, it’s awesome!!!