Help in the garden

[Seeb]

My favorite time of day, early morning, working in the garden with music low on outdoor speakers, and I always have help . . . . . cat's in the corn, dog guards the butterbeans.

[The15thMember]

Beautiful dog and cat!  Particularly kitties seem to love to "help" with things around the house, and by "help" they mean sit on the thing you are trying to work on.    Last night my mom was working on sewing some face masks, and her cat was helping out by playing with the thread and knocking things off the table.   

[Seeb]

thanks member.  my cat always wants to have his paw just barely touching me, and my dog doesn't want the cat touching me, so it gets pretty hilarious around here at times.

[JurassicApiary]

Beautiful dog and cat!  Particularly kitties seem to love to "help" with things around the house, and by "help" they mean sit on the thing you are trying to work on.    Last night my mom was working on sewing some face masks, and her cat was helping out by playing with the thread and knocking things off the table. 

Yeah, my cats lay around and ?supervise? while I work. ;)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Seeb]

Yeah, my cats lay around and ?supervise? while I work.

My cat has the most fun when I?m picking butter beans - he loves to hide and then jump over the rows to attack me or my harvesting basket.

[Acebird]

Corn looks like it was planted by machine.

[Seeb]

Corn looks like it was planted by machine


Thanks Ace, yes it?s called a seeb-walkalong, you can tell from the butter bean row that it needed recharging.

[Ben Framed]

 

[Acebird]

I have a walk along seed planter that was rather pricey.  Just wondering if you used such an aide.

[Seeb]

I have a walk along seed planter that was rather pricey.  Just wondering if you used such an aide.

Ace - I have a planter, but it's about 35 years old and I've always found it more aggravating than helpful. I enjoy planting by hand and since I don't have a large garden, it's no big deal.
Do you have a vegetable garden in Florida yet?

[Acebird]

He, he, he, you what a laugh?
https://photos.app.goo.gl/85DbKJnFXUKsVQZB9
My wife is experimenting.
In southern FL if the plant can survive the climate you grind up rubbish and throw the seeds over you left shoulder and you have a garden.  Some plants can be grown twice in a year.  I think the issue might be a lot of critters like what you plant.

[Acebird]

Ace - I have a planter, but it's about 35 years old and I've always found it more aggravating than helpful.

Being an engineer for so long I like to build machines and tinker.  Aggravation is part of the fun.  The fact that it might take longer using the machine is no deterrent.  One of the first things I bought after we got the house is a tractor.  My wife is fully on board with a tractor.  She has seen the back breaking work it can do.  She doesn't like me planting with it because she claims it is her fun to plant by hand.  So up north we had two gardens, hers and mine.  Mine didn't have a weed in it.  Towards the end of the season hers looked like a wild flower meadow.  One year we caned 74 quarts of tomato sauce not just tomatoes.  Sauce is comfort food and we had long winters up there.  I grew the potatoes, onions, garlic, corn, and buck wheat for the bees.  Half of it would rot in the basement by April.  There is only two of us.  It is all about the fun of gardening.

[Seeb]

I had a tractor when I had a 22 acre farm, and loved it [especially bush-hogging]. Wish I had one now, but with an acre of land . . . my pride and joy now is a BCS walk-behind tractor with a rear tine tiller that does a very impressive job https://www.bcsamerica.com/products/tractors.
It's just me, so once everything starts coming in, I have to let a lot of the weeding go so I can can and freeze, etc, so I guess my late garden is more in line with your wife's garden.
My aggravation with the planter is it will go about 4 rotations without planting a seed, then drop 4 or 5 seed for awhile - and I end up having to do too much bending to straighten it out.  I just plant my little post at each end of the garden, turn my hoe upside down and make a run post to post - go back and drop the seed, then cover - it takes about 5 minutes per row.  Then the little post keep my garden hose from running over plants when I water.
Looks like you plant indeterminate tomatoes. I do both, mostly heirloom Cherokee Purple, Brandywine.  I always planted buckwheat for the bees too, and interestingly enough, the deer preferred the buckwheat to my garden vegetables.

[Acebird]

My aggravation with the planter is it will go about 4 rotations without planting a seed, then drop 4 or 5 seed for awhile - and I end up having to do too much bending to straighten it out.

Yeah, same with mine.  I guess there is too much variation in the seeds to use the cupped wheel method.  I have done a heck of a lot of automation in my time handling all different kinds of parts if I actually needed the planter I would have modified it to increase it's reliability.  We had 8 acres before and now we have 1.25 a very big house 3 car garage and trees everywhere so I am never going to have a garden that needs a planter. (and the wife forbids it)  I would love to redesign the planter so it works right and sell it to someone that needs it.  I know I could make it work but my selling skills are zilch.

[Acebird]

I had a tractor when I had a 22 acre farm, and loved it [especially bush-hogging]. Wish I had one now, but with an acre of land . . . my pride and joy now is a BCS

I looked high and low for a two wheeled tractor (no tiller) and they just aren't used in this country any more.  So I made one out of a rusted out snow blower.  It was my pride and joy for weeding between the rows but the hard dry clay in the hot summer made it a work out.  So I took the implement that I made and mounted it to a riding mower.  I used the mechanism for lowering the mower deck to raise and lower the implement.  That was the creme de la creme.
Two wheeled version:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QQrwKXghdt9xSwiu6

[JurassicApiary]

I had a tractor when I had a 22 acre farm, and loved it [especially bush-hogging]. Wish I had one now, but with an acre of land . . . my pride and joy now is a BCS

I looked high and low for a two wheeled tractor (no tiller) and they just aren't used in this country any more.  So I made one out of a rusted out snow blower.  It was my pride and joy for weeding between the rows but the hard dry clay in the hot summer made it a work out.  So I took the implement that I made and mounted it to a riding mower.  I used the mechanism for lowering the mower deck to raise and lower the implement.  That was the creme de la creme.
Two wheeled version:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QQrwKXghdt9xSwiu6

Awesome, engineering, Acebird! My wife would love this for her garden.  Now where can I find an old snow-blower in Hawaii to modify? 

[Seeb]

It IS awesome engineering, I always admire people that have the talent to think and work outside of the box.

I used to use a troy built but that would throw me across the garden if I hit the littlest thing, and the tilling result was far less than acceptable, so when I hurt my back, I couldn't afford to take a chance with it. This walk behind that works off a PTO does beautiful beds, like what you get with a standard tractor and has much better stability. Many other high quality/usable attachments are available. I think it is made in Italy.

[Acebird]

Now where can I find an old snow-blower in Hawaii to modify? 

She wouldn't be able to handle it anyway.  As Seeb posted it would throw her.  Handles need to be extended backwards a long way for stability.
However if you have enough land go with the riding lawnmower version.  You have to make the rows 30+ inches and every subsequent year off set the rows to the center of the path.  Basically that soil is fallow every other year.
Seeb, I have an issue with tilling with a tine tiller.  It kills the worms and ruins the soil over a period of time.  It is basically only good for establishing a garden in a sodded field the first year.  You will have to kill the soil with chemicals if you continue using it.  Before I got a bottom plow for my tractor I converted a tine tiller to run off the three point.  The garden you see by the highway was a wiled forest like you see in the right of the photo.  Large rocks, roots and tree stumps needed to be removed.  For that kind of work you need a second tractor to pull out the one that got stuck.

[Seeb]

Seeb, I have an issue with tilling with a tine tiller.  It kills the worms and ruins the soil over a period of time.  It is basically only good for establishing a garden in a sodded field the first year.  You will have to kill the soil with chemicals if you continue using it.

I don't know Ace, I understand it is not the preferred way, but I do plant cover crops, add manure, and generally do the best I can for my  situation. I'm not sure what you mean when you say I will have to kill the soil with chemicals.   

Large rocks, roots and tree stumps needed to be removed.  For that kind of work you need a second tractor to pull out the one that got stuck.

Now this I understand - lol

[Acebird]

Chopping up the soil kills the worms and destroys the ecosystem of the soil.  I don't know the exact science but over time the soil degrades even with green and animal manure.  Even the use of a bottom plow has it's negatives.  Chemical fertilizers kill the soil but the yield is more in a smaller area.  It is like round up, once you go that route you have no other choice in the future.
Actually with that two wheeled tractor you have you could just use a stationary till to just scratch the surface for planting and you would be fine.  No killing worms and no beating up of the soil.  If you let the garden go fallow for a few years you would be forced to use the rotary tiller again.  As long as you plant something to keep the weeds down you should be able to scratch till.

[Seeb]

[Seeb]

[JurassicApiary]

Beautiful, thanks for sharing.  Nice to see something so peaceful amid today's world.

[Seeb]

It is peaceful and full of hope. I?m glad you enjoyed. The flower is Salvia ?Amistad?

[Acebird]

I just got a package from China that contained a small packet of poppy seeds.  I did not order anything.  Any idea why I would get them?  Will they grow in FL?

[Seeb]

 I did not order anything

Speaking only for myself Ace, if I did not order them, I would not plant, especially if seed come from another country. I'm thinking kudzu and other plants that become invasive outside their native area.

[Acebird]

My wife threw them away last week.  We can't take a chance in southern FL.  Everything grows like its on steroids.

[Seeb]

I've been so busy canning, freezing, and gardening that I've not had time for much else. I applied for a pistol permit and have booked time at a shooting range, and looking at the Sig Sauer P229. I'll know better about that once I've used one at the range. Checked on my bees yesterday, so sign of any problems [whew] but they were ornery; had to go get my gloves.

[The15thMember]

I've been so busy canning, freezing, and gardening that I've not had time for much else.

Great looking pantry!  You are making my mom jealous.    Your okra are so tiny.  Are they a certain variety, or do you just pick them small? 

Checked on my bees yesterday, so sign of any problems [whew] but they were ornery; had to go get my gloves.

Yeah, we're getting on towards that time of year.  I got nailed in the wrist today just taking honey off.     

[Seeb]

Your okra are so tiny.  Are they a certain variety, or do you just pick them small? 

I pick them small for some things. A neighbor wanted me to try a different way of preparing: I had to borrow her microwave steamer, little water in the bottom, cut okra right below the stem, and microwave 1 - 2 minutes. Believe it or not, it was tender, and not slimy at all. I'll cut them a tad longer when I dill pickle them. I rarely fry okra [usually roast in the oven], but when I do, I pick them small and fry them whole, again cutting the stem off.

 Great looking pantry!

Thanks, the only problem is, I hate to use them, because I like seeing them sitting on the shelves, my kind of art.

[The15thMember]

I pick them small for some things. A neighbor wanted me to try a different way of preparing: I had to borrow her microwave steamer, little water in the bottom, cut okra right below the stem, and microwave 1 - 2 minutes. Believe it or not, it was tender, and not slimy at all. I'll cut them a tad longer when I dill pickle them. I rarely fry okra [usually roast in the oven], but when I do, I pick them small and fry them whole, again cutting the stem off.

I love okra so much that my mom never gets a chance to actually prepare it, because I just eat it raw off the plant too fast.  She might have grown enough this year that I'll finally let someone else have one.           

[Seeb]

I love it raw too, and when I steamed them, it was almost as good as raw

[Acebird]

Okra is a plant you don't see much in the north.  The only way I have had it was battered and deep fried in my younger years while working in the south.

[Seeb]

deep fried is popular for sure. Now that you are in the south, maybe you can try it several ways. To me, battered and deep fried, though good, hides the favor of okra.

[Acebird]

I think it is an acquired taste like kale and spinach.  Which probably means it is good for you.