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Post by gardendmpls on Sept 9, 2021 8:08:50 GMT -5
I googled Rockaway and it looks like a really nice beach town with surf shops and stuff! Some areas are really nice. Then there are the "projects". Some of those are good, but a few are full of drug users, dealers and gangs. They used the area as a dumping ground until the locals got the courts to put a moratorium on projects. They find ways to get around it, such as having a well known hotel company build a small hotel in the middle of nowhere and then fill it with "emergency" cases. Where I am, by a bay and wildlife area, is great for growing. Soil is sandy loam. The bay moderates the temperatures, which gives us zone 7. Some years can be frigid in the winter, but often plants survive through: kale, cauliflower, spinach, arugula, garlic and even snap dragons. Generally shut things down in the winter, as I need a break, so the kale will end up feeding the chickens in the spring, when it becomes an aphid magnet. Extra protein for the egg layers.
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Post by raphanus on Sept 14, 2021 18:58:56 GMT -5
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Post by raphanus on Oct 22, 2021 17:11:53 GMT -5
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Post by binnylou on Oct 22, 2021 19:50:45 GMT -5
raphanus, little frog seems to be posing for the camera. Thanks for sharing your pics.
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Post by desertwoman on Oct 22, 2021 23:09:39 GMT -5
Were All those lined up pumpkins grown in your garden? raphanus, It's fun seeing your garden!
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Post by raphanus on Nov 4, 2021 18:17:20 GMT -5
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Post by Mumsey on Nov 5, 2021 5:11:13 GMT -5
raphanus, Wow! You have a regular feast going on, looks interesting!
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Post by desertwoman on Nov 5, 2021 8:55:48 GMT -5
Who's that sweet looking pooch?! raphanus,
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Post by raphanus on Nov 25, 2021 7:30:28 GMT -5
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Post by raphanus on Dec 5, 2021 9:26:56 GMT -5
I’ve been in the process of moving my garden to the orchard a few miles down the road. The gardens were at a place I had been renting for the last two decades, about 1/5 of an acre, 20 or so raised beds, most in full sun. Four feet above sea level. Mostly clay with some muck swamp soil on top. A couple of fruit trees, but mostly annual veggies. I recently moved in to the house with the orchard to help take care of ill family, the orchard is about 1/4 of an acre, 16 ft above sea level, there’s about 18 inches of actual topsoil, but it’s all unfortunately in deep shade. I’ve been slowly moving hundreds of potted container plants from the garden to the orchard. I’ve been planting winter rye grass around all the fruit trees. I finished building a new greenhouse but am a little worried about rainwater pooling on the middle 4 foot section that is flat. It’s a large metal framed plastic house that is 12x15x15. I wedged a 2x4 between the metal frame and the plastic in the center, hoping to give the greenhouse roof an inch of lift in the center so water doesn’t pool. This is by far the largest greenhouse I’ve ever built and I had to do it entirely by myself. The spinach is growing soooo slowly. There’s tons of mustard greens and arugula and kale. The collards and broccoli are going strong. Two of my five lemon bushes have fruit. We had an unprecedented crazy early freeze on November 24. We usually don’t even get a light frost until late December. Most years we are frost free 10 months of the year. In 2021, we had a crazy late freeze in April and then this crazy early freeze around Thanksgiving. Very weird year. Some years we don’t even get frost. This year was bad for the citrus, but maybe it means next year will be good for the peaches. I’m overwintering a few peppers in the new greenhouse. Got some kohlrabi ready to harvest. Sowed some carrot and parsnip seeds yesterday. Can’t wait to prune the grapes.
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Post by raphanus on Jan 29, 2022 11:22:55 GMT -5
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Post by raphanus on Feb 13, 2022 13:23:16 GMT -5
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Post by raphanus on Feb 20, 2022 8:02:37 GMT -5
The middle area in between the two cinderblock 15x3 beds is 20x15 and will hopefully be tilled or turned and I’ll plant corn. Well I think today is the day that I am going to sow seeds in the two new large cinderblock raised beds in the front yard. (pictured) The last week of March of the first week of April, I will sow zucchini seeds in these two raised beds. But today I’m sowing something else, peas or cool season beans, most likely unless I get more interesting suggestions My backyard is all permaculture orchard and very shady, so this is my only real sunny spot. I was taking suggestions for what to plant in the what I did today thread and did get a few, but still welcoming more suggestions. I’ll attach a photo of the raised beds, but they are basically 45 sq feet apiece and there’s two of them and they are full of certified organic compost and there’s some Bermuda grass and a bad florida bettany / prickly sida weed problem underneath, so I want to plant dry weather crops here and not water. My last frost is usually mid March, but it’s possible that the last frost is already over for the year. Once in a blue moon we get a frost in April, but there’s less than a 50% chance of that happening. It’s too late to plant carrots, and I don’t need any more radishes or salad greens. I’m leaning toward planting Lima beans. I also thought about doing an experiment where I divide the beds into 90 individual one square foot plots and plant some of the beans (or peas) with clover and some without, and inoculate some with rhizobacteria and dont inoculate others and then collect data on yield differences. Still taking suggestions on other things to plant here
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Post by emmsmommy on Mar 3, 2022 12:49:35 GMT -5
raphanus, Wow! Your garden is stunning and makes me eager to start more seeds. I had trouble with Lima beans last year. Out of three plantings I had two seeds germinate and they only produced a pod or two. I'm trying an inoculate this year in hopes of better results as well as trying seeds from a different source. Would fava beans grow well there or will the temps get too hot before they produce?
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Post by martywny on Mar 3, 2022 15:39:49 GMT -5
I had trouble with Lima beans last year. I have never been able to grow a decent lima bean but that's not going to stop me from trying again.
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