Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Been Busy!

It's getting to be that time of year again.........the weather is nice, and Goodwife Farm is bustin' at the seams with stuff to do!  Saturday The Man and I hauled some more scrap up out of the ditch.  We got 5 car batteries plus almost 1 ton of scrap metal.  That netted us over $200 cash money which is always nice.  We got 40 bucks for the batteries alone!  Plus we are really making a dent in that ditch full of junk! 

Sunday I had housework to do while The Man mowed the yard.  Then I went out and worked in my herb/flower bed.  It looks MUCH better now!  Sunday evening we were able to plant some garden.

The Man is running down with the tiller once more, while The Youngun is on her board swing, waiting to start plantin'!
Here I am cutting up the seed potatoes.  Ellie is helping me.  Today I'm canning up what is left of the potatoes after cutting off a nice piece with an eye to plant.  I haven't canned potatoes before but I'm hoping they turn out well.  I don't have a cellar so I have no good place to store my potatoes.  If they turn out good, I'll just keep my dug taters in the garage and use them as usual.  Then when it gets close to winter, I'll can up what's left.




The taters are ready to go in the ground!













Daddy and The Youngun markin' off the row with our handy dandy redneck row marker...........a broken fishing pole with a stick tied to the line.  You shove the stick down in the ground at one end, then at the other end you shove the broken part of the pole in the ground with the handle sticking up.  Then you just crank the reel to tighten your guide line!  The Man is a genius like that.........

Me plantin' taters......once again Ellie is helping me.  Wherever the Goodwife is, Ellie is never far behind!






The Youngun and The Man then strawed the taters good and we went on to plantin' corn.  In the above picture, I'm covering up the corn, ever so gently tucking it in to rest until it pokes it's head out of our rich garden soil!  We planted three rows of taters, 5 rows of sweet corn, beets, some radishes, some onions, spinach, romaine, black seeded simpson, and three rows of carrots.  The good weather is supposed to last so we will be planting Roma II beans, cucumbers, and white patty pan squash next weekend and probably setting out our tomatoes and peppers the following weekend.  I actually planted my 18 remaining tomato plants yesterday.  I figured as bad as they look, getting them in the ground isn't going to hurt them any!  If it's supposed to get cold, I'll go cover them up.  

Here's hoping you had a fabulous weekend wherever you may be!  Till next time.........God Bless! 

11 comments:

  1. ooo that's so exciting! i'm just getting started getting my ground ready. I still haven't decided how I'm gonna do my taters. My mom told me about this method called a potato barrel where you fill a 50 gallon drum with a layer of rich soil, plant your seedlings and then as they grow, you layer on more soil. If you do it right, you're supposed to end the season with a barrel full of taters! But I'm still thinking about doing it the traditional way too. Good luck with your planting!

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  2. Oh! looks great! We're still out a week or so before planting spuds. We did however get the composted manure hauled to the garden, now to spread it and work it in. I have a question for you, do you like your reartine tiller? We've always had a frontine tiller and Dh is being stubborn about looking into reartine tillers. He thinks that since I am always making new beds a reartine tiller wouldn't work, what say you?

    Do you let you spuds dry a bit before planting( kind of scab over a bit?) Ours rotted one season when I didn't let them dry in the sun and instead just planted right after cutting.

    You soil looks so dark and lovely, I can alsomst smell it*wink*

    It's raining and snow mixed today, but alas we NEED the moisture, it's been such a dry Spring already.

    Blessings for your week,
    Kelle

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  3. Nice post...

    So you just let the potatoes go eyes on them, then cut and plant? Pretty cool... last year we ordered our, but if thats how ya do it, we dont need to order any, lol

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  4. Looks good..I wish our dirt was as good and rich as ya'lls...thats why we did a raised bed...I so need to get pictures and post em of our garden..everyhting is poppin up..I think we may try taters next year...we eat alot of them round here.

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  5. Oh I love it! Your garden looks beautiful. I found a great way to keep taters over the winter that you might like to try. Search "pseudo root cellar" on my blog. We tried it last winter and it worked great!

    Can't wait to see your harvest!
    Susan

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  6. Hey folks! Thanks for all the comments! Lars, you can grow taters that way. You can also make a potato tower (similar idea only you use wire instead of a barrel). :)

    Kelle, I LOVE our reartine tiller! I'm very short so using a front tine tiller is very hard for me. It beats me to death. The reartine is a breeze to use. It will break new ground for you. I swear ours would eat it's way to China if you let it! However we do break new ground with our tiller that is pulled behind the lawnmower. I don't let my spuds dry. I cut them and then put 'em right in the ground. I've never had them rot, but that could just be luck I suppose! :)

    Jennifer, yup you just let your taters start to sprout a bit, then cut off the pieces around the eyes. You don't have to cut a huge piece off either, just a bit. :)

    Hey tberry! Homegrown spuds are easy and yummy! Glad your garden is srouting nicely! :)

    Hi Susan! I will do a search for your pseudo root cellar. I must admit I'm intrigued! Thanks for commenting! :)

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  7. Looks very good,I am uber impressed! You and EJ want to come do mine? My taters are going in bins again...I truly love the no dig thing. I am so darn lazy these days and tell myself I don't need the carbs. In reality it's just my advanced age. :)

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  8. Sounds like a busy weekend but one that will reward you a little while down the road.

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  9. Oh silly FarmLady! Of course we'll come do yours, just let us know the day! ;) In bins, you mean no dirt, just in straw?

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  10. I'm jealous of your garden. We were going to have one last year. Husband tilled up the spot but we never got around to planting! Again, I bow down to you!

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  11. I'm always so impressed with all that you do --- your youngun is learning so much... I didn't grow up with a garden other than our pumpkin project... We tried once after we were married -- it froze in July... so now we try to help Grandma and Grandpa and then we do freeze our own corn if there is plenty etc.. you have been busy!

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