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[Smart Red]

WOW! Those before and after photos are amazing! You and your mother did very well and your chickens, I'm sure, agree.

 

[Beekissed]

Last week I planted some raspberry canes received from a kind and good friend from Maine, who also sent me some garlic to plant as well. The ground and wood chips were sopping wet when I planted and we've gotten a lot of rain since, so I'm confident they've gotten watered enough.

Put some well composted leaves/wood chips around the apple tree saplings today, capping a layer of leaves I placed there a few weeks ago. Will continue to layer in composting materials there and will plant potatoes there this spring.

I need to water down my compost pit under the roosts and cap that again so that I can get some better composting action there....this year my coop is not leaky like it was last year, so I'm not benefiting from all those lovely leaks when it rains.

Soon will be ordering seeds!!!

 

[henless]

I finally got the rest of my garden covered a few weeks ago. Lots of leaves/pine straw with one section of chips. I gave up on getting chips. Just not a dependable resource around here. I have plenty of leaves though, so will be using those again this year.

I will be planting my bte garden in sections this year, instead of rows. My rows disappeared last year, it was just one big jungle! It actually looks like raised beds, but I'm not raising the ground level, just putting up wooden sides to define where I will be planting. That way, I can put my compost only on those areas instead of the whole garden area.

This is my new area. I have the beds in place with cardboard, compost and my mulch (leaves/pine straw). Since this pic was taken, I have put down cardboard and leaves (no compost) between the beds to keep the grass down for the walkways.



I still need to put my beds down in this portion of my garden. This where my garden was last year, so there is already compost down. I'll just rake back my mulch and lay the borders.



I plan on leaving about a 3 foot buffer zone between the beds and the cross ties. I hope this will help keep the grass from trying to take over like it wanted to last year. The edges of my garden where the worst. That bermuda grass kept creeping in all along the edges. Evil stuff!!

 

[Beekissed]

Henless, that looks so very neat and efficient! You've got a nice big garden space and it all looks so very neat and ready to go. You've done a lot of work there. I bet you can't wait to get going, huh?

What's the tall green canes growing there by the marigolds?

 

[Beekissed]

Slowly but surely building compost in the rings around the apple tree saplings...will plant taters there in the spring. They did fairly well there last year but will likely do better this year due to more depth to the compost...I'll keep adding until it fills the rings. Will likely finish off with straw.

Will be ordering seeds this week. I'm doing things in the garden much, much more differently this year and I hope it's all successful. Will be trimming down the actual things planted to allow for more space in the rows, will be eliminating space wasters, will space plants out better so that I can examine them more closely and keep at the weeds better. Will also be getting me a better tool for weeding in these wood chips...a different sort of hoe.

 

[baymule]

@henless your garden is looking so good! I really need to kick myself out in the garden and get it ready for spring!

@Beekissed I like what you have done with your fruit trees. They are dormant, but they still look like happy trees.

 

[henless]

Henless, that looks so very neat and efficient! You've got a nice big garden space and it all looks so very neat and ready to go. You've done a lot of work there. I bet you can't wait to get going, huh?

What's the tall green canes growing there by the marigolds?

Thanks Bee! It is a lot of work, but I hope it's all worth it once I get everything the way I want it. I just hope it's not going to be snakey with all the mulch I have around the beds.

Those tall green canes are what is left of my okra! lol. I had cut all of it back except those last 3. They still had some pods I was ripening to save seeds from. The hard frost got them before all the pods were ready to harvest though.

@henless your garden is looking so good! I really need to kick myself out in the garden and get it ready for spring!

You better hurry up bay. Spring will be here before ya know it!!

Hope your doing ok with all the storms heading through now. It's not quite to us yet, but it's on it's way!

 

[Nyboy]

Bee be careful how high you raise soil around your apple trees. The trunk flair should be above ground, when buried I believe it called telephone pole not good for tree. @thistlebloom would know more about it.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee be careful how high you raise soil around your apple trees. The trunk flair should be above ground, when buried I believe it called telephone pole not good for tree. @thistlebloom would know more about it.

I'd heard about that. But the BTE guy buries his in 18 in. of wood chip and has HUGE crops of apples, even on first year saplings, so I'm trying that method if I can get it deep enough.

 

[catjac1975]

Slowly but surely building compost in the rings around the apple tree saplings...will plant taters there in the spring. They did fairly well there last year but will likely do better this year due to more depth to the compost...I'll keep adding until it fills the rings. Will likely finish off with straw.

Will be ordering seeds this week. I'm doing things in the garden much, much more differently this year and I hope it's all successful. Will be trimming down the actual things planted to allow for more space in the rows, will be eliminating space wasters, will space plants out better so that I can examine them more closely and keep at the weeds better. Will also be getting me a better tool for weeding in these wood chips...a different sort of hoe.

Make sure the leaves are not piled against the trunk near the ground. Mice are active all winter even under the snow. The many girdle the young trees. They make plastic tree guards to prevent rodent damage.