2024 gardens

[roony]

Could it be your tone?

[glenn57]

Could it be your tone?

could be the slurred words too!

[HD]

I've been cutting back slowly on my farming over the years. I used to have milkers, dropped down to beef, then went to hogs... and lastly chickens. Now I just sell hay....

Maybe once I retire, I might start back up to keep me busy.... But, as Dotch can attest... it's a lot of work, and not much gratification. 

[LPS]

Good for you HD. 

[Dotch]

Amen HD. Am hoping the young 4-H lady's family will be able to get a building built before fall so they can get 10 ewes from us. It would cut our brood ewe flock by 1/3. We are letting them go for cheap even tho there's a lot of high powered breeding there, not to mention all the work the past 37 years. Can't keep this up forever & they would go to a good home.

Got some action photos of the garden tonite. Water running out of the side hill thru the string beans & sweet corn. Ugly peppers altho the 'maters that haven't turned yellow, yet. Stabbed in some early zucchini where they didn't come & filled in one hill of cukes I might've missed Monday. All the other hills have cuke seedlings coming up in them. Tomorrow I'll stab in some string beans & see if they'll grow where they're missing. Gotta keep trying.

[glenn57]

gonna snip off all the cruddy looking yellow leaves of the maters today. i dont just let them lay in the garden anymore, i'll toss them in the yard waste bin. dont really know whats causing it so i dont want it left in the garden. it seemed to help the last few years i started getting them out of the garden.

also gonna snip the low branches......seems to help with the plants not getting blight!!!!

[glenn57]

It's coming along considering. pulled the lettuce and spinach today, getting  bitter.

[LPS]

That is one heck of a garden Glenn.  Very nice!

[glenn57]

That is one heck of a garden Glenn.  Very nice!

  thanks!!!!!!!

[roony]

Attributable to favorable weather. 

[glenn57]

Attributable to favorable weather. 

not sure what it is with the soil here but doesnt seem to stay soggy for very long.

[Dotch]

Be interesting to see what soil type or types are under Smurfville. Guessing it's internally more well drained than most in SC MN. If I get a chance during a rain delay, I'll check out the soil survey to see. You should mail us some...

[roony]

Also getting 5-8 inches of rain a week doesn't help a bunch.

[glenn57]

Be interesting to see what soil type or types are under Smurfville. Guessing it's internally more well drained than most in SC MN. If I get a chance during a rain delay, I'll check out the soil survey to see. You should mail us some...

it used to be a farm field back in my high school days.

i can dig a fairly deep hole to say, bury fish guts etc, but it does get a tad sandy the deeper i get.

now when they redid my driveway........they hauled out 3-4 trailer loads of clay kinda crap!!!!

[Dotch]

Kewl! I was wondering about what kind of subsoil you might have. Your proximity to irrigated ag made me curious. A nice layer of black soil over sand or fractured limestone like in SE MN makes for a wonderful gardening environment when rainfall is abundant, sans a high water table anyway.

Just got done tilling some of the high ground in the garden to see if I can get some more string beans, sweet corn & perhaps a few decorative sunflowers in. Let it dry and plant later afternoon or this evening. If I wait until evening, Misael might show up & help. He's a helluva worker so it'd go fast. Their garden is nearly a complete trainwreck. I promised them they can have anything we get here. Hope I'm wrong but given the forecast, this might be my only chance. 

[glenn57]

  not aware of many irrigation systems in the general area.........but 45 minutes to either the south or north there's plenty.

south towards monticello and big lake were there's all kinds of tater and sweet corn fields.

north, once to royalton to about brainerd.......same thing. its my understanding most the sweet corn is earmarked for thew state fair!

i grew up in Richmond, 5 miles west of cold spring. back then it didnt seem to be an issue for either city to find water to supply. both my mom and dad where very involved in Richmond  city council so i heard plenty of bits and pieces, but now here in cold spring from what i read and hear....its an issue. but then again the brewery here expanded big time and they suck up a whole sh!tload of water......and of course the city bends over backwards for them!!!!

[mike89]

earmarked; I see what you did there!!!   

[Dotch]

Well I'm sure Cold Spring benefits greatly from the brewery. Bet it keeps their terd palace running at peak efficiency! 

[glenn57]

Well I'm sure Cold Spring benefits greatly from the brewery. Bet it keeps their terd palace running at peak efficiency! 

yea they hadda expand that too because of the brewery....which i'm sure the residents are paying for!!!!

and the brewery got plenty of tax relief also!!!!

question......since all this rain i havent noticed near the box elder bugs like early spring??? is this because of all the rain.....or does it have more to do with the farm fields getting bigger??? not that i'm complaining!!!!!!!

[Dotch]

No, you're not imagining things. Boxelder bugs tend to thrive when it's warm and drier like it was last summer and fall. Like a lot of insects, there are bacterial and fungal pathogens that help keep them in check in wetter years like this one. There are some insects, rodents and birds, that eat them but not large quantities. The exception might be guineas. I'd highly recommend those to people in town who have neighbors with dogs that bark constantly like boober's. Guineas make a lot of racket. Bigger farm fields may be a factor in that there are fewer boxelder trees in the fencelines for them to reproduce on. There are fewer boxelder bugs at the ranch and around the office in Bugtussle so far.

[glenn57]

  thanks good to know!

[roony]

I do better on a dry year here. When I spent time in the Avon area I saw a farmer and his wife in the field picking up rocks with silage forks and throwing them on a bale wagon. I guess whatever went through the tines was considered soil. Much better topsoil in the Richmond and Cold Spring area.
 

[glenn57]

I do better on a dry year here. When I spent time in the Avon area I saw a farmer and his wife in the field picking up rocks with silage forks and throwing them on a bale wagon. I guess whatever went through the tines was considered soil. Much better topsoil in the Richmond and Cold Spring area.

so....you get his close to me and never want to meet up??????

my feelers are hurt!!!!!! 

[roony]

I don't get up there like I use to. I have a friend that lives on Kayla lake in Collegeville Township. Of course I'd enjoy meeting up with you sometime!

[glenn57]

I don't get up there like I use to. I have a friend that lives on Kayla lake in Collegeville Township. Of course I'd enjoy meeting up with you sometime!

well if you do....give me a holler.

that lake sounds familiar.......think i may have fished it 

[Dotch]

Tilled up some high ground yesterday morning, put in 4 more rows of string beans in the afternoon. Also stuck 5 rows of decorative sunflowers in. Looking at the 4 o'clock patch, there were a lot of gaps in the rows. Luckily there were a bunch of volunteer 4 o'clocks on the other side of the garden where I planted them last year. The ground was real moist so after transplanting & watering them in last night, there was virtually no transplant shock this morning. If it rains like they're talking, we should be golden. Plopped the last daffodil leftover from the spring bulbs in the row and called it a day. Only thing I might do yet if weather permits is a little more sweet corn. Not holding my breath. 

[KEN W]

Started picking Peas today. Lots more to come the next couple weeks.

 Also eating plenty of Romaine lettuce. Best Romaine is a variety called Little Gem. Solid crisp heads. Not huge but nice crisp leaves.

Still picking strawberries every other day. Almost done. Couple more times.

Planted the last three 25 foot rows of corn today before the rain comes tonight.

July 1......onions starting to make bulbs now with longest days ahead. Time to fertilize them. The larger the tops are now.....The bigger the bulbs will be. Started pulling some to use as green onions in salads.