2013 Lawn, Garden & Orchard thread

[kirk1701®]

Going to try to start this off with the pictures from early spring and work forward to present.

Will try to take photo's as close to the originals as possible which is kind of hard but I try.
Here yu go, just mowed and spruced up today so I've been busy
Lawn

Dogwoods in center are gone and if you notice the fence stake dead center of the pic, have a Pecan tree in the back, no pollination so hoping to get one going in the front to pollinate it plus give us some afternoon shade in about ohhh 20 years :thumbsup:

Landscaping
Not much blooming yet due to the weather, not even my lilies have opened yet. But here's a look at the new Landscaping I did last fall, followed by some of the existing.

Like I said, nothing blooming yet but do have 6 Crape Myrtles on order for this area. I'm a bit tired of the Marigolds every year and besides, they take water everyday.

Roses should be blooming soon.

Anyone ready to go fishin' that dogwood tree just screams bass are on the bed :deathmetal

Last years Crape Myrtles we started, hoping for some shade on that brick this summer.

New to the landscaping this spring, extended the brick on out and 3 more crape Myrtles for shade.

Walkway through garden

Garden & Orchard
Not much garden yet and what gardening I do have we'll, the dam beans look terrible and might need to start over and replant when we get a steady heat in the forecast.

Fruit tree's however, AWESOME!!! That is when I can keep from breaking them off at the top of the ground. I've done had to replace a apple tree due to the tractor catching the sheet it was covered with for frost. Like I said, been a cold spring.

Peaches on the left, Cherry on the right and behind the garage 2 small apples.

The first one you see is the replacement apple. Next small guy is a plum I just got.

Another shot of the peaches.

Like I said, there is no garden yet.

Tomato cages just raring and waiting :mrgreen:

 

[kirk1701®]

Early May

All this for $24 and will fill 2 deep freezers :thumbsup:

Here yu go guys
Got it all done ahead of the rain coming in, this side at least I still have the side by the garage to break up and plant.

Had to take the fencing down, re till the first couple rows on the left and replant the beans I sowed early April, that was a mistake and I should never had started that early.

50 Tomato plants, the first tray in the pic a few posts up.
4 Bell peppers and the onions from the second tray went along the left side by the beans.

5 rows of Okra on the right side

I love the month of May
When I post the June 9 pics a month from now your going to Say holy siht what fertilizer did I use :lol
And by July, you won't see the gas tank from this angle :lol:

More to come from the other side when I get that done but its just a small spot for squash & zucchini and cucumbers

I'm beat and I look like a red beet and feel like I've been rolled up hard and put up wet : :mrgreen:

Oh and I lost 10 Lbs
I'm now 170 Lbs. which is 10 Lbs below my goal weight. :lol:


Mid May
We have beans up and Okra also popping up thanks to the 85 degree temps the last week :mrgreen:

Got the rest of the garden planted yesterday.
Cucumbers against the garage, Squash and zucchini (we love zucchini bread and zucchini & tomato's)
Some more hot peppers, green peppers, a hot pepper I'm trying for the first time from seed.

I grow my own beans I suggest you rabbits do the same. I don't go in no one else's pantry and help myself. :lol:

Dead rabbit gets put beside garden as a warning to those who attempt trespassing.

 

[kirk1701®]

Beginning of June, exactly 1 month later for garden :mrgreen:
Will have July Pics up soon and HOLY COW!!!! Tomatoes are as tall as me.

No photoshop needed, yes these are one month appart :lol

 

[kirk1701®]

Just took yesterday

Lawn
For not having any rain for a good two weeks were looking quit good, very little watering so far.

Landscaping
Got the bright idea to try some cantaloupe in the landscaping, well see.

And on this side, watermelon which seem to be doing good.

Little tired of the marigolds every year and too much upkeep so looking for something a bit more permanent. Got the Gladiolus coming up, should be blooming soon and some small crape myrtles to take their place next year.

More Gladiolus starting to bloom and roses fixing to bloom for the second time.

Crape Myrtles started last year and boy did they take off this spring as you can tell from the first post with this pic.

Crape Myrtles in the new addition planted this year.

 

[alsh]

I admire all your hard work. Everything looks great.

 

[chrissarah1988]

looks great kirk love how you have looked after your lawn

 

[kirk1701®]

Thanks guys
As you can see from the last photo the garden is a jungle, I'll have updated garden pics this week.

However I'd sad to say no peaches this year, don't know what happened, got nice dime size and bigger then started falling off till they were all gone. :hmmm:

 

[alsh]

Question. In some places, it looks like you're using wood chips as mulch. In other places, it looks like just the soil. Yet I don't see any weeds. None. How do you do that? Even on my best day, I'll have some, somewhere.

 

[kirk1701®]

Question. In some places, it looks like you're using wood chips as mulch. In other places, it looks like just the soil. Yet I don't see any weeds. None. How do you do that? Even on my best day, I'll have some, somewhere.

Some of the wood chips you see is new landscaping as of last fall, I could not keep grass there because it dried out way to fast and in full sun so the grass died out, I'd replant in the fall, next season repeat so I decided to do something different.

This year those area's I decided to see if I could use the land for watermelon and cantaloupe :thumbsup:
That has yet to be determined but the watermelon seems to be thriving :mrgreen:

The garden is just soil but to answer your question both these area's I keep the weeds down with a Pre-Emergent which is a granule product, spread like you would fertilizer to prevent the weed seed from germinating before it gets warm enough to sprout. Preen is my choice for these areas but in the garden you have to do it carefully because it will also prevent your seeds (beans for example) from sprouting. So it has to be applied after the beans and other seed are up then spray a little round up to kill what did sprout.

http://www.preen.com/

As for the yard, same theory goes using a Pre-Emergent made for lawns that prevents weeds from germinating and any winter weeds I hit that in the early spring with some weed killer which pretty much covers 90% of the weed problem. I keep a little 2,4D on hand in a spray bottle for any breakthrough weeds I find during the summer and a squirt here and there before they get out of control covers the other 10%.

Something like this so you get your Nitrogen, Pre-M and Iron all down at 1 time

http://www.lebanonturf.com/products/items/2254326/index.aspx

And, I have tomatoes :thumbsup:

Just in time too because were out of the 120 quarts we did last season.

 

[Ch3vr0n]

Damn dude, i remember when this whole thread started back on old Dirtywarez. You'll be able to start your own fruit & veggie shop from homel lol

 

[alsh]

Thanks for the information. Too late for the Preen this year but watch out next year.
Tomatoes are beautiful.

 

[kirk1701®]

Thanks for the information. Too late for the Preen this year but watch out next year.
Tomatoes are beautiful.

It gets better each year
You think you know all there is but I find something better to try next year and can't wait.

Now, this was the first year I used the preen in the whole garden which will keep the weeds down "IN THE WHOLE GARDEN".

What does this mean? Less weed seed will be grown in that area so next year there should be less seedlings but I'll still use the preen none the less.

I just wish I knew what happened with my peaches and if it was something I did wrong or something I could have prevented :hmmm:
They all fell off so I can't brag about my peaches this year, looks like we will be buying those too.

 

[Chea]

That looks pretty awesome Kirk, I too remember your threads on the old DirtyWarez and always admired and envied your garden.. didn't you have that pain in the ass neighbour ? hows things going with her these days...

 

[kirk1701®]

That looks pretty awesome Kirk, I too remember your threads on the old DirtyWarez and always admired and envied your garden.. didn't you have that pain in the ass neighbour ? hows things going with her these days...

Everyone remembers my neighbor, jealous with envy because she can't keep up.

So much so she put a 6 foot fence up so she can't see my yard and yet she still can't stay on her side, was caught red handed and facebooked for the whole neighborhood to see climbing over the fence the next day knocking my flowers down with a broomstick :lol:

Or should I say was riding the broom the dam witch :thumbsup:

That was last September; haven't seen or heard of her after she was facebooked. :thumbsup:

 

[chrasna]

Kirk, it's looking better than last year! Great to see the garden flourishing again!

-Chris

 

[kirk1701®]

That looks pretty awesome Kirk, I too remember your threads on the old DirtyWarez and always admired and envied your garden.. didn't you have that pain in the ass neighbour ? hows things going with her these days...

Speak of the devil guess who I run into in Wal-Mart yesterday? :whistling:
Who could miss that dam stringy witch hair coming a mile away, on the wrong side of the isle with a buggy too so I got to the far left to avoid her. She seen me and as I got closer

JOEY

JOEY!!!!

JOEY...

Just kept walking like she didn't even exist. :lol:

Kirk, it's looking better than last year! Great to see the garden flourishing again!

-Chris

I'll have some pic's in a day or two, waiting on a nice sunny day. :thumbsup:

 

[kirk1701®]

Guys I'll have garden pics soon as I can get out there :lol:

Boy I sure am glad I threw some fertilizer out ahead of this system, the dam vines are now over my head :mrgreen:

***FLASH FLOOD WATCH*** in effect for much of Southern Kentucky until 7am Sunday.

Additional rainfall amounts could range from 2-4" area-wide by Sunday. It will be a bit warmer Sunday, with highs in the low 80s.

We already have 3 inches so the fertilizer washed in real good.

plenty of tomatoes coming in but its getting into the garden without getting muddy to get them so I'm picking around the edges.

 

[kirk1701®]

Here yu go guys
Reason I put the garden pics in a separate post so I could quote it and add the next pic below last months pic to see the difference from month to month side by side.

Next month I'll take out June so you only see July and Aug.

Dam this shit grew :lol:
Keep in mind this is one month apart.

Beginning of June, exactly 1 month later for garden :mrgreen:
Will have July Pics up soon and HOLY COW!!!! Tomatoes are as tall as me.

No photoshop needed, yes these are one month appart :lol

Now you see why there is so much room between the tomato rows in the May photo's :thumbsup:
They grow and they grow out.

I've been working on cutting the leaves off the Okra but have a little left to do yet, this is back breaking but dam its good in February. :lol:

And a few extra's

Makes the vines about 7 feet high right now.

There's a row in there somewhere :roll:
The beans just grew too dam fast I couldn't keep up and now I can't get in there so next year the beans go 4 feet apart

I call this the squash that got away, unlike the fish I have proof it was caught just a little to late, it's too big now.

 

[Tango]

The pics look great, I have trouble just growing grass in my garden

 

[kirk1701®]

The pics look great, I have trouble just growing grass in my garden

Moist
Keep it moist not wet and drowning in water that's the key. The more contact with the soil the seen has the better and best done in the fall after the summer heat breaks.

 

[kirk1701®]

And a few from the orchard.

Another shot of the peaches.

Boy did the peach tree's take off but don't know what I did wrong, all the peaches fell off so nothing to brag about this year were going to be buying peaches to put up :hmmm:
Be different if I knew what I did wrong so I'd have learned from it but shit, this sucks.

 

[kirk1701®]

Been pretty dam busy
So busy in fact I forgot to take a pic of the first 10 gallon of tomatoes, next day afterwards got these

First 10 gallon did this:
Deseeded tomatoes

Made this
One pot of hot salsa, one mild :thumbsup:

To this

Scraps from deseeding, run through juicer

Plus the 5 gallon above made this:

To this:

To This:
7 Quarts of juice.

Scraps from 15 gallon of tomatoes :mrgreen:

Juicer

 

[nevyn68]

Kirk, you need to get a job.

You have way toooooo much time on your hands.

Good work though.

 

[kirk1701®]

Kirk, you need to get a job.

You have way toooooo much time on your hands.

Good work though.

This place is a dam full time job, its a farm actually and I've even started calling it my mini-farm

Give me 10 acres I'd have some cattle and name it South Fork :whistling:

Thanks
Its a lot more involved then throwing out a seed, watering a vine and waiting to harvest the fruit. But in the end you know what your eating and its not full of MSG or other preservative's and fillers.

 

[kirk1701®]

14 quarts of Bloody Mary mix for this winter

That's a lot of mixed drinks guys :thumbsup:

and won't cost $2 a glass

Then there's the Cardinal in my tomato's and she don't want me no where near my garden. :whistling:
Too bad
She can stay, Turpin has to go

Couple days later

Stay tuned, I'll have children next :lol:

 

[kirk1701®]

I guess I'll let the tarpon be.
Just when you think its bad, we'll I guess it could be worse.

I could have a shot gun standing by killing sewer rats :hmmm:

This comes from the small town up north where I grew up, Hazleton, Pa.

http://lattimerarchaeology.wordpress.com/2013/07/26/91-years-ago-this-week-starving-mine-rats-terrorizing-lattimer/

 

[nevyn68]

Bait, Bait and more Bait.
Then all you need is a shovel.

 

[kirk1701®]

Bait, Bait and more Bait.
Then all you need is a shovel.

I'm sure there are plenty of bait in my garden, worms do a great job on fertilizing the soil :mrgreen:

I've caught some of my best bass on a nightcrawler

They also helped produce these, there's more where they came from I had to quit before I was done. Got dark and I couldn't see what I was picking so I'll pick again tomorrow night and hoping for 1 canner tomorrow and 2 canners sunday for a total of 21 quarts of tomato's this weekend.

By the way Nev, all this started from that small tray remember? The top tray in the pic actually.

 

[nevyn68]

No Kirk I meant Bait for the rats then bury them.

I have started a new project but you can't see it till I'm done.
It's rained for 2 days so I haven't been able to finish the roof or door.
But I have lots of pics as I have gone along.
Again I needed the power tools. Sorry bmark240 but the Mrs made me use them.

 

[SHALLY]

looks amazing pal