2021 gardens

[glenn57]

Do you have any idea how bad radishes stink after sitting in a mailbox for a few weeks? 

 

Planted dill, radishes, lettuce and spinach today. Enough for one day. Being retired I got time. next up will be kalarabi and onions.

This strategic planning takes a lot out of a guy.


 

[glenn57]

Oh yeah, I harvested these today also.

[mike89]

so hh then!!!   

[glenn57]

so hh then!!!   

naw. 

[mike89]

 

[glenn57]

Anybody been to a greenhouse recently?? My wife came home from her friends, told me her friend went to a greenhouse looking for some hanging plants. Said the prices are like price gouging high.

[LPS]

Dotch should find this interesting.  I just read in our North Star Electric monthly magazine that our total moisture from our snow fall all winter added up to a half inch of water.  And it was dry going into winter. 

[Gunner55]

Lake was down almost a foot when we put the dock in on 4/6. Three days of steady rain the end of that week & some snow the next week brought it back up 10-12 " by the following weekend, 4/16.

[Dotch]

Dotch should find this interesting.  I just read in our North Star Electric monthly magazine that our total moisture from our snow fall all winter added up to a half inch of water.  And it was dry going into winter.

Indeed I am. That's an extremely dry winter no matter how you slice it.

We had an interesting winter here as well. Snowfall at the ranch for the winter if you include the 9" we received in October, has amounted to 49.8". The normal for the SROC at Waseca is 52.8" so not that far off the pace. We've had only trace amounts of snow in April thus far and only .56" of precip total for the month. Normal at the SROC for April is 3.21" with 2.7" of snowfall being typical. The normal October thru April precip at the SROC is 14.26". Thus far at the ranch it's totalled 8.61". Luckily we went into fall with a relatively full moisture profile with abundant precip falling in August. This drier signature had its beginnings here in Sept. Something unique about the winter here was that even though the snow tended to be drier than normal, much of the water from the snowmelt went into the ground as it thawed and re-froze much of the winter. Frost depth reached its peak in late February at 17" and was gone by mid-March. The vast majority of the 2.63" of precip we got in March was stored in the soil. Our soil moisture is actually adequate as a result in spite of what the data might indicate. We will definitely need some rain hopefully by June or July at the latest depending somewhat upon what temps do.

I enjoy looking at the info on the link below. The monthly and 3 month forecasts are tenuous at best. They completely blew the February predictions for instance. However,  the drought monitor does take a look at present conditions so pretty hard to screw that up.     

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/

[glenn57]

so fleet farms ad today had there veggie plants in  the flyer. buy a flat for i think it was about 29 bucks.........so i scooted to fleet farm earlier today.''''''yea what a joke that was.

i got my 20 tomato plants and a 4 pac of cabbage.......but they didnt have any peppers. had a bunch of different herbs.......

also went into the store to look for canning lids..nuttin of course. a guy working there asked if i was finding for what i was looking for, said no. he tried telling me it was cheaper to buy the jars with rims and lids then to just buy lids and rims. i about went off on him.  but i didnt. tired of looking for them, so the kid is going to order them for me through..........yea Amazon!!!!

[Dotch]

I saw a whole bunch of lids at GlennMart the other day when I was picking up some Tanqueray 10...

My faith in FF has been dwindling for some time. Since they sold out & the guy running the show was/is a former WalMart guy, the WalMart-ization of the stores continues. Went there to get a replacement outdoor fixture for the garage a week ago. I really didn't feel like driving to Mankato to Menards where we got the original. I got a replacement at FF 6 or 7 years ago that while not identical, you'd really have to look hard to notice. Got there & they had nothing remotely resembling it. Also, I needed to get some work socks. Been getting gray work socks there for years. Again, diddly. I guess if no one is working they don't need work socks!  Also checked their garden center for a Honey Gold apple tree. Zero. Zip. Nada. Very little in the garden center in general in spite of the huge sign saying they were open. Few trees other than stuff I already have. Got home & there was a letter saying they were changing their rewards program. No longer do you get a $25 gift card periodically, now you have a tally or some such nonsense to keep track of. We've been taking more of our farm related business to Bomgaars. If FF keeps it up they may just as well be known as Fleet. Fleet makes enemas so it'd be fitting...      

[glenn57]

It'll suck driving across st cloud but I'm beginning to be more and more a runnings fan.

[mike89]

It'll suck driving across st cloud but I'm beginning to be more and more a runnings fan.

yup I hear ya!!  and it's 75 miles from here!!!! 

[roony]

Dotch, let me know if you find a Honeygold. For once in my life I might take Del's advice.

[Dotch]

I may make a trip to Turtle Creek Nursery this weekend roony so will let you know if they have any Honeygolds. Delbert is 100% correctamundo on those. My Dad liked yellow apples although I never determined what the yellow apple really was he had planted at home. Harvest apple he called it. 

Purchased this unit yesterday so we'll see how it pans out. Blew my 25+ year old tiller up last spring so limped along in the small garden in the meantime. Guy I bought this from used it one year to establish his lawn in Owatonna then got a job in Hawaii. Wondered why the phone no. was an 808 area code. Tiller had been stored in the garage for ~13 years. Had been looking for one with a Briggs or a Kohler but most of them were several hours drive. Then this one showed up close to home. May need some carb cleaning but we'll start out with some Sea Foam to see what that does for it.

   

[mike89]

looks lioke a good unit Dotch!!!   

[LPS]

Nice looking tiller Dotch. 

[Jerkbiat]

Nice!!!

[KEN W]

I see it has Counter Rotating Tines. Does that mean you have to push it or it will come back at you and not go forward?

[Dotch]

I believe on this one the only way the tines will engage is when the transmission is in forward. Can also run it in forward, reverse or neutral without the tines engaged. If it dries off the next couple days I'll fire it up & put it through its paces. Turns out its the same model my brother had. Said it worked well.

BTW roony, I stopped at Turtle Creek to look for a Honeygold apple tree. No have. Also stopped back at FF. Nothing there either. May have to check a few other spots to see if they're in existence or if I have to go to ordering online, something I've had mixed success with.   

[roony]

Thanks for the update. If you find one buy two, I will make it right with you.

[mike89]

https://www.fast-growing-trees.com/products/honeygold-apple-tree

here's one for ya fellers

[mike89]

https://onegreenworld.com/product/honeygold-apple-tree/

another

[HD]

Asparagus is starting to pop!

[mike89]

I like that!!!   

[LPS]

Checked our spots and nothing doing yet.  Can't wait. Love em.

[KEN W]

Can just see mine an inch or so. Going to order some purple asparagus to fill in the empty spots. With new purple I will be able to tell which is the green and ready to cut.

[Gunner55]

Overnight temps under 30* predicted for here the next 3 nights so there's only a few things in the ground.

[glenn57]

took a walkarouund the garden. radishes, lettuce and spinach all poking out!!!!!!!!!  seen a couple onions out too!!!!! thought i seen a few kalarabi's also!!!!!!!!!

[LPS]

Around here I hear people saying to get your garden in by Mem. Day.  What a big difference in planting zones just in MN.