Gardening Archives - Page 6 of 6

Beans!

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This year we planted dragon tongue beans, pinto beans, and top-pick crowder peas. The seed packet for the dragon tongue beans said they could be picked early (green) and the shells are similar to a green bean or left to dry and pick after the bean is fully mature similar to the pinto bean. We opted to let them mature and dry and pick them like pintos.

This is what we got. It is just about enough for one good mess of beans. I am grateful as we did not even know if we would get any harvest. The shells have purplish striping. Some shells are darker than others. We were curious to see how they taste.

Dragon Tongue Beans

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Bush Removal

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What does bush removal have to do with homesteading and disaster prepping? A source of self sustaining food and water are the top priorities in being prepared. When you only have one acre of land, you start thinking every inch is precious.

Our one acre already has 20+ trees. Most are pine, but we do have a handful of pen oaks and two maple trees. Add to that a few handfuls of decorative bushes and flower beds around the house and you start to run out of workable land that is productive.

Jon and I regularly “walk the land” and discuss what we like to plant where and how. We have decided that nothing new would be planted unless it provided a source of food or some practical need. Ornamental plants and trees are pretty, but there are many fruit/food bearing bushes and trees that can be just as pretty.

Right now, we have decided we will not be removing any pine trees, but as we lose them we will not replace them with another pine. We lose about one every year or so. They have shallow root systems and are very top heavy with the pine needles. Add a gusty storm with wind and rain or some ice or snow weighing those heavy laden branches and it doesn’t take much to lose large limbs and sometimes the whole tree.

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Gigantor!

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Now, that’s a zucchini! It was so big that we named it Gigantor!

Gigantor is so big intentionally. We were trying to let it grow enormous so that we could get some good size seeds out of it to use for next year. When I cut it, the seeds were noticeably bigger, but amazingly still nowhere near the size we had expected. They were quite a bit smaller than the seeds we had purchased and planted. So, we just decided to slice ole Gigantor up and freeze him. He even got his name on the freezer bag!
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“Harvest” of 2012 Has Begun

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The “Harvest” of 2012 has officially begun! We are very proud of our first zucchini that we picked.

We planted only 10 seeds that have grown into 8 good-looking healthy plants. There are blossoms all over them and many have little zucchinis growing. Right now, this is the only one big enough to pick.

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Off to a Good Start…Mostly

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Our first garden seems to be off to a good start. The corn is a little sparse and our carrots and onions were planted too late, but the beans, lettuce, and zucchini are looking good. We’re still not sure about the broccoli. It may have been planted too late as well.

Those 3 little flower pots in the corner are where we planted our pepper seeds. Yeah, I see why our oldest shook his head and all but laughed at us. They started to grow just a little (very little), but they have all mostly disappeared. I think bugs ate them or something.

You can see how all the grass is trying to grow back up through the garden as we didn’t get it tilled good enough, but all in all we may actually have some sort of crop from this!

Running the Well Dry

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When we arrived home from our weekend trip to Chimney Rock, NC you know the first thing I do is head straight to the bathroom. It is only a few hours drive, but still my bladder can barely hold…LOL! But when I go to wash my hands there is no water. Oh my!

Then of course I realize that the toilet has flushed, but it is not refilling. Of course I go check the kitchen sink and yup….no water there either. So, I tell Jon, and we start checking the breaker box. All good there. Then it dawns on us! We asked our son to water the garden in our absence.

So, we go check the outside water spigot and sure enough it is still on. I quickly turn off the breaker to the water pump so the motor doesn’t burn up (if it hasn’t already).
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What To Plant?

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So, now we’ve just tilled up the yard…..so what to plant?!? We were already starting pretty late on this whole garden thing so we needed to get on the ball and buy some seeds and get planting. We bought various seeds from Tractor Supply, Walmart, Lowes, and Dollar General.

We were out in town and thought we’d run by Lowes and Walmart and pick up some seeds. These were not our usual store locations, but we were already there and they were more convenient at the time. Let me tell you don’t even bother going to a Lowes or Walmart in a city. Their selection is pitiful! We had much better luck going to our usual rural Lowes and Walmart.

Man, everywhere had tons of different types of green beans. We thought we wouldn’t do green beans because both of our Mama’s always keep us generously supplied with canned green beans. So, we were thinking maybe some other kinds of beans. I thought maybe we should try some October beans. I knew from growing up they are about the same thing as pintos, but is what most people around here always had. At least that’s how I recalled it…lol. Well, we couldn’t find October beans or pinto beans anywhere. We found some dragon tongue beans that look similar to a pinto but with some purplish stripes. We were curious so bought them.
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How I Got My Garden…Finally

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My wife had for some time, been telling me that I could not have a garden. She would say “not as long as you are working 55 hours a week and taking online classes, cuz I ain’t gonna be the one doing all the work. So, we began discussing growing herbs in pots, or maybe a raised bed. We talked about this for most of the winter.

Then spring came. She decided that having a row of fruit bearing bushes would be nice. We decided to put them along the edge of where the garden would be, when I was allowed to put one in. So, she ordered a couple blueberry bushes and grape vines. We picked up two blackberry bushes at Lowes the day before the other bushes were set to arrive.

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