Mass Disruction!

If you read my last post, I showed you pictures of the Mellon bed and told you how well they were doing.
Well I left the Homestead last Wednesday for the job and returned home last night after midnight.

Got up this morning and this is what I found!

Crows had gotten into the bed and broke open several of the melons. Its not a total loss, But I had high hopes for this bed. And of course They got the biggest melons! I was able to harvest a few small ones and we made smoothies out of them tonight.
I have learned my lesson and next year the hole garden area will be enclosed in a hoop structure that will be covered with chicken wire.
Thees melons were the "Moon and Stars" type and some of them looked like they were going to be a real good size! But there are only 5 or 6 left and they are pretty small.
I have been using a deterrent spray to combat the Deer and Rabbits, But CROWS?
Well I guess I will know better next year!
So far this year, here are the crops that have been a flop:
Potato's....To hot and not enough rain.
Carrots.... Root maggots got to them.
Summer squash.... Bugs!
Pole beans..... Nothing, not one single bean!
Onions... Just disappeared!

I some times wonder why I even try!
Like they say.....MAYBE NEXT YEAR!?
I hope your growing season is doing better then mine.

Be good.. and if you con not be good, HAVE FUN!
Tom

Melons and more Melons

The growing season has been both good and bad. Weather here in North Carolina has been hot and very little rain. Tomato's are starting to come on and we have had lots of cucumbers. Summer squash was doing well...But then all the plants just stopped producing and are the plants are dead!

But the melons are every where! Lots of volunteer's and  the "Moon and Stars" watermelons are in great shape.This is the only melon I planted from seed and are in a raised bed (4' X 8') and are spilling over the side. Weeds are not much of a problem as the plants are so heavy they shade them out for the most part.
One of the nice things about the "Moon and Stars" is that the plants are Indeterminate and the melons will not all ripen at the same time and at last count there were 14 melons coming on!
The hard part is keeping the Deer and Crows out of the bed!

So I am building a PVC structure to place over the bed that will be covered with chicken wire and is high enough that they can not reach the melons.


But I also have melons in other place's on the homestead.

In the tomato bed.

And in the flower beds!

And even where last years compost pile was!

The reason that the tomato beds and the flower beds have the melons is because I used a lot of Worm cast in the beds and the Worms do not eat seeds. And the seeds ended up in the beds. Once they got started, I couldn't get myself to pull the plants!

And talking about the Worms!

Here are a couple of hand fulls from right out of the Worm beds!

And the last picture is of a hard working member of the garden team!

This young Lady has been pulling her own weight by ridding the garden of grasshoppers by the score! Now normally I get rid of spiders (I have a bad reaction to spider bites!) , But she is where I can see her and make sure I stay clear of her. I even toss her a grasshopper now and then!
So that is the Melon Report. Hope yours are doing as well!
Tom

Projects

I know its been a while and I promised to post the very next day...... But life keeps getting in the way!
Not being at the homestead for 5 days in a row doesn't leave me much time to post.
Anyway, I worked on two projects yesterday...One for me and one for the worms.
This past week-end I got 52 ears of Silver Queen corn and we roasted 15 ears and had them with dinner the last few nights. Terri said that they were so sweet that they could be desert! Yesterday I cut the corn from the remaining ears and blanched it. I used one of my favorite tools to get it ready for the freezer. Vacuum sealer! I made up 11 bags (Two cups of corn per) and placed the bags into the freezer to freeze over night. There was to much water in the corn and the bags would not seal. So the first thing this morning I sealed the bags and put them away for later use this winter.
And other project was a Worm Smoothie! All the garden produce that get past ripe (you know all those tomato's, cucumbers that hide deep in the bed!) get run through the food processor and the worms love it! Nothing go's to waste!
The next post will be a Melon update! Lots to show you!
Until then , be good (and if you can't be good, have fun!)
Tom

Garden Preaitors

Hello everyone,
With the fadt that I spend 5 days away from the Homestead, working in the garden and trying to keep the Garden Predators away from the beds is a challenge! And the main culprit's are of the four legged and winged type.
Deer are eating the sweet potatoes plants and the Crows are into the melons!

As you can see from the two photos, they do not wait until the melons are ripe before they break them open and eat the insides.

The particular melons are a few of the volunteer plants I transplanted from the worm beds and are doing quit well. And today I built a hoop frame work over the rest of the bed and covered it with bird netting.

This is one of the cantaloupe's that looked pretty good, but......

As you can see they got to it too! I weighted in at 1 and 3/4 lbs and was not ready for harvest. But did they care.......H--- NO! So now I will run the ruined fruit the food processor and turn it into a Worm Smoothiee and add it to the Worn beds tomrrow.

And the Bean Bettles have been hard at work turnung the leaves of the bean plants into lace. But at least they do not bother the gree beans and I was able to harvest 1 1/2 lbs today.

Here are todays harvest

Purple top Turnups and greens. About 1 1/2 lbs total.

Beets and greens. About 12 oz. I love thies roosted with the turnups and new potatoes. A little oilive oil and 350 degree oven for about 45 mins. YUM!!

Summer squash is comming on strong. Got about 6 lbs here. And the plants have lots of flowers and small fruits ear marked for fried squash and onions.

And 13 lbs of cucumbers! Some of thies have gone over to the smoothie catagory. But I see pickles and salids in my future!

Tomorrow I will be working in the garden , weeding and cutting grass. Also I need to get a hoop frame set up over the Moon and Stars water melons befor the crows see them! I found several melons starting and thies I planted from seed (a little late) and they look real good too.

The tomatoes and potatoes are not looking so good and this years harvest does not look very promencing.

I'll have photoes of the Moon and Stars melon bed tomorrow. Come see the hoop frame I will make and how I use 1/2" PVC (makes a very good building material and is pretty cheep too!). This one I will cover with chicken wire and I will be able to remove it when I have too get into the bed to weed and harvset

So I will talk to you tomorrow.

TOM

Wordless Wensday

Sad Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a very nice day. Had the day off the OHJ and was able to work in the garden all day. Terri made me a birthday dinner and her and Mark gave me a new PC and Printer. So I was ready to get some pictures today and make a couple posts to let you see how the garden is growing.
But I got up this morning and found that BOO-BOO my 15 year old cat had pasted sometime late last night. And because she had not been sick and I did not take her to the Vet, I dig her a grave out on the back 40.
I had just cut that area last week (first time in two years) and there were several maple and pine trees that I left growing out there. I pick a spot near one of the bigger maples for her last resting place.
Boo was my sister-in-laws cat and she picked her up as a stray back in 1996 and when we moved back to tidewater in 98, her and Boo moved in with us. Lisa pasted away in 2003 and I kind of inherited Boo then. So I lived with her for 13 years. She was a once person kind of cat and up until Lisa's passing she was the only one Boo would have any ting to do with. But afterwords, Boo became mine and she would come to me only if she wanted attention or food.
So I have lost another of my kids to the Rainbow Bridge this year. Bella in January and now Boo!
I know that death is part of life, More so on a farm/homestead, But that does not make it any easier!
Next post will be better, I hope!
Tom

I WON!!!!.....And first harvest.

Its been a while sense I have had the chance to get back to the Blog and I took a look at the last post (18 may) and there were two comments. Carolyn over at krazoacres.blogspot.com made a comment and gave me the news that I had won her book contest! "Hen and the art of chicken maintenance" Thanks Carolyn! I do not have the chickens yet (Darn OTH JOB has me gone 5 days at a time....no time to tend to the chickens!), But I read up on them as much as I can and I spend a lot of time on other Blog's to see what I can learn. Carolyn's Blog is really great and very informative. As with all the other Blogging friends I have, she has great pictures.
And we have started to harvest from the garden! Cherry tomato's and Patty Pan squash so far. We had to pull the Kale we had planted as it had blotted and was trying to go to seed. Not many leaves from over 20 plants. But it has been HOT and we never did have a spring! It went from winter to summer in a little over a week and the cool weather crops did not do very well. But the heat loving crops are going gang busters. We got potato's (Yukon gold and Superior), Yellow squash,Watermelon and Cantaloupe planted just last week. So the garden is finally in and we will not do any more planting until we put in the fall crops in August.
Oh and the dog that was in my last post, we found her a new home. Four dog's are a little bit much and the family we gave her to has two young kids. So she is happy and so are they!
I will be back at the homestead next Monday and will try and get a post done then with pictures.
Every one take care and I will talk to you later.
Tom