The good husband came from a farm family and has recently returned to his roots. Last year, he and his brother decided to grow veggies. Of course, being men with large egos, everything had to be large to match those egos. The garden is huge. We now have 300+ ears of frozen corn, and bag upon bag of half runner beans. I also canned about 50 quarts of beans, some salsa and a few pickles. It was my first canning experience and thankfully I had a dear friend show me the way.
We are now embarking upon our second year. The land was 'plowed' last week, the plants were purchased a few days ago, the rows were dug yesterday, and today the tomatoes and beans are going into the ground.
I am sure we do things a little differently on our farm. The good husband's brother li
kes to use his deceased father-in-law's tool they call a "liner". It makes the rows. This brother also has a creative streak and made two handy 'bean and corn planters'. He attached a plastic holder to a plastic pipe.
He fills the holder with beans. He then firmly indents the dirt with the pipe, drops 2 beans and continues this procedure every 18 inches or so. Before covering the beans, they do the same only with fertilizer. With gloved hands, they pinch a bit or use a small spoon and let it fall about an inch or so beside the two beans. Now the beans are ready for their summer blanket of dirt. This neat little tool eliminates sore backs at least for the bean and corn planting. The tomatoes must be planted the old fashioned way.
kes to use his deceased father-in-law's tool they call a "liner". It makes the rows. This brother also has a creative streak and made two handy 'bean and corn planters'. He attached a plastic holder to a plastic pipe.
He fills the holder with beans. He then firmly indents the dirt with the pipe, drops 2 beans and continues this procedure every 18 inches or so. Before covering the beans, they do the same only with fertilizer. With gloved hands, they pinch a bit or use a small spoon and let it fall about an inch or so beside the two beans. Now the beans are ready for their summer blanket of dirt. This neat little tool eliminates sore backs at least for the bean and corn planting. The tomatoes must be planted the old fashioned way. Their favorite tomatoes are Mortgage Lifters and Big Boy's. Mortgage Lifter was developed by a West Virginian and I guess he was pretty successful with his plants. Upon the advice of our local garden expert, I was told to use Roma or the new name "Viva Italia" tomatoes for salsa. So I finally found some, but my good friend who helped me last year insists that they are not that great and to find some 'German Queen' plants. So far, I haven't found any! Will look again today.
It is supposed to rain all this week, so the plants should be happy in their new surroundings. I still have a pear tree to plant, lots of weeding, some more planning as to where I am going to put my flowers, and I need to add some better dirt to my blueberries. Other than that, all is well on the farm!
It is supposed to rain all this week, so the plants should be happy in their new surroundings. I still have a pear tree to plant, lots of weeding, some more planning as to where I am going to put my flowers, and I need to add some better dirt to my blueberries. Other than that, all is well on the farm!
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9 comments:
What a great garden, who gets to do the weeding? lol. I like that bean/corn planter idea, I may have to try that. I got a couple blueberry bushes (sticks) to plant this year, hopefully they make it. It will be fun to take Jimmy out to pick berries in a couple years. Happy gardening and here's to a bountiful harvest!
What a huge garden! I remember as a kid my parents had a big garden, probably not as big as yours but it was so much fun. My OH and I have talked about putting in a garden, we haven't done it yet. Hopefully someday!
Oh my husband would be SOOOOO jealous! He was just telling me last weekend that he wants to grow his own vegies! We'll see...
Ugh, sounds like you get your fair share of ticks too, no fun at all! I do use Advantage Plus on the dogs (though Duke always ends up with a couple ticks, never engorged though) and will pick up some Revolution for Oreo when I go pick up the dogs' next round this week. Thanks! That is a good idea to use white bedding too. I have light sage green right now, so that isn't too bad. I may have to do more of an off white if I go that route since we just have SO much iron in our water, its really hard to keep whites white for long, even with the water softener. Oh well =)
Oh, I am so jealous of your garden. But that is not really a garden, that is a mini crop farm! ;) Just think of how wonderful it will be to have those canned and fresh veggies!
So much work to take care of a garden (especially one that size) but it is so rewarding at the end of the season to see what all YOU have grown and put up for the winter.
thank you fellow bloggers for all your wonderful comments! this will be a busy season for sure but we love it and it is very satifying like what country whispers said about being able to grow your own food and share with others!
Oh my dogs have had tick problems this year too in spite of using collars and sprays! We have a small veggie garden and have planted beans, carrots ,parsnips and broad beans. Hopefull it will bear fruit! Well done with your mini farm, it looks huge!
We used to grow a large garden, but nothing like the size of yours! Sounds like you will be busy all summer long, but the fruits (veggies) of your labors will be sweet.
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