Building a Hobby Farm- from woods to eggs

[charlz]

As scgargoyle noted leaves (any 'browns') will tie up nitrogen. You could use them for mulch after you plants are up... will bring in the worms. The leaves will disappear quick and you will have worm castings which is good stuff.

As for the hand pollination, the silks on the ears are the female and the tassels on top are the male. When the pollen is on the tassels cut some off and rub it around on various silks. Easy to do in small patches and not needed in large patches, corn is wind pollinated.

As for the mushroom compost... everything in moderation... I would just be leery of putting tons of it down for several years... better to mix things up.

Watch out for the summer squash... they are all fairly prolific... you don't want to be the new gardener doing 'ring and run' leaving zucchini and the like on your neighbors porch so you can get rid of them I take a lot of stuff every year to the local foodbank so if you get more than you can use don't forget them.

Charles

 

[tony123]

Charles, you say to rub the pollen on "various" silks. Are you impleying that it doesn't need to happen on all of them? Maybe 50%?

If I 'mess up' and plant too much of any one thing, we have lots of friends asking for veggies. And, I do need to find a place that is in need of food. Our church will be a good source for that.

 

[tony123]

I got the compost spread out yesterday. What an easy job! Having a trailer now that can go from the truck right to the tractor without transfering the contents is such a back saver!

I did have a bit of a surprise. My boat is a 2", so I want to keep the trailer at 2" afterall. But, My 2" ball would not work with my drawbar. The shank is 1" and too big to fit through the hole. So, for this small job I just used a chain wrap to connect trailer to tractor. I know, dangerous. Anyway, I don't know what I'll do as a solution. I know that a receiver hitch is available, but would rather not spend that much as a solution.

The compost actually didn't spread all that far, so I don't think I'm concerned about over doing it.

I'll try to get out and till it in later today. Supposed to be 63 degrees!!! That always makes you want to get outside.

Onto the photos

 

[tony123]

Put together my seed order today. Ordering from Park Seed Co., they are in Greenwood, SC which is about 2 hours south of me.

Here's the order with varieties:

Carrot- YaYa Hybrid
Beet- Red Cloud Hybrid
Spinach- Melody Hybrid
Potatoe- haven't figured out yet
Cantaloupe- Ambrosia
Corn- Sugar Buns
Squash- PattyPan Balmoral
Squash- Parks Creamy Improved II (yellow straight)
Watermelon- Sangria Hybrid
Eggplant- Parks Whopper Hybrid
Pepper- Sweet Rainbow Mix
Tomatoe- Better Boy Hybrid
Sweet Potatoe- haven't figured out yet
Bush Bean- Roma II
Okra- Clemson Spineless
Peanut- Virginia Jumbo

Seems like an awful lot of stuff! I'm only ordering spring and summer seeds now. I'll order the fall crops later so I don't have to worry about storing and freshness.

Any input on the varieties would be appreciated. I tried to follow our local extension service's suggestions where I could.

Also got my order together for the chickens. We're going out of town in the spring, so I had to postpone the chicken order until the end of April.

7- Buff Orpington
6- Rhode Island Red
4- Black Star
4- Ancona
4- Barred Rocks

Total of 25 birds. Thats a little more than we wanted, but it was the minimum order. I expect there will be some loss and the number might end up about where we want.

So now the pressure is on! I've got to get the water lines installed for the vegetable garden and the tractor built for the chickens in the next month or so.

 

[Tororider]

Tony,
I started a post in rural living about chickens. Feel free to hijack that for specifics on chickens. I am thinking about Buffs and Americaunas, we will see if it happens.

Did you decide what pumpkin variety to plant?

 

[scgargoyle]

White potatoes are usually grown from seed potatoes, which are nothing more than regular potatoes cut into chunks so each chunk has an 'eye'. In CT we used to buy seed potatoes from a local feed & grain store. You can use store-bought potatoes, but they will start slow, since they are treated with a sprout inhibitor. Sweet potatoes are usually grown from slips, which are just sprouts growing on a sweet potato. Some people just stick a store-bought sweet potato in a glass of water, and harvest the slips as they emerge. I'm not sure of the size for the slips, or exactly what to do with them for planting. Maybe you root them first? Looks like an ambitious list, but that's the quickest way to find out what does well. Just be philosophical about your losses, and keep a log so you remember for next year. It'll be interesting to see what kind of bus and other critters you have to deal with, too. Sounds like a good mix of chickens- are you planning to process any, or are they just for eggs/pets? Don't forget to take lots of pictures!

 

[charlz]

Charles, you say to rub the pollen on "various" silks. Are you impleying that it doesn't need to happen on all of them? Maybe 50%?

Just that you don't have to rub it only on the plant you cut it from. Good pollination helps the cob's develop.

As for potatoes Yukon Gold are great for making mash potatoes.

 

[tony123]

Toro, that looks like a good thread. Don't know how I missed it? I will keep a close eye on it.

I have not decided on a pumpkin variety yet. I've got some time on that one.

SC, that's the reason I haven't picked out a potatoe yet. Parks catalogue only had them as "tubors", which were like $30 or something for one bag. I thought.....heck, for $30 I'll just buy potatoes. There's got to be a cheap way to do them, likely along the lines of what you've explained. I think I'll call the extension agent again. He's a pretty helpful local source.

The chickens are mostly for eggs, but I will process any trouble chickens, low producers, plus a few each year. I think the boys will enjoy some chicks every spring.

 

[mopacman]

You keep putting that black stuff on your garden you will turn all of that pritty red dirt black.

 

[jtlee]

tony about the hole not big enough in draw bar will a 3/4 inch shank work
heres one for 7 bucks if it will

2" STD Hitch Ball