Anotherpower.com Forum
Project Journals => Users Projects => Topic started by: kurt on May 12, 2015, 03:46:51 pm
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well since i stopped being very active on all these message boards allot has happened life has improved. it started with the complex manager of the apartment we had lived in for 12 years refusing to replace the carpets wile we lived there they were thin when we moved in and ours was the last apartment that had not been totally remodeled and i think they wanted us out so they could get on with it.
i told my wife we had to move and she told me she flat out refused to move if we were just going to move to another apartment. she does not like moving at all she likes stability.
so i talked to our bank and found out as first time home buyers there was allot of help available to us through FHA and grants and the fact that we have very good credit. and the banker told us that if we worked everything right we could buy a house with $1000 down up to $40,000 which in this area is very viable for a foreclosure house at this time.
so i called a realtor that is a friend of or family and we went looking for houses.
to make a long story short we found a nice little house with 1 1/2 car garage and a small lot in a nice neighborhood and after it was all over and the banker worked her magic we ended up with a mortgage for a bit over $28,000 and we put just over $1000 down
it does need some work i had to have a roof put on the house last year got a really good deal on a metal roof and we are slowly replacing all the windows they are all old single pane and it needs a bit of siding work and some paint. and the kitchen and bathroom need to be remodeled but it is completely livable as is only had to fix a few minor things to get it move in ready.
this is what the house looked like when we bought it
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/27036-2/0511141411-00.jpg)
here you can see them finishing up the new roof
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/28002-2/0917141812-00.jpg)
you can notice the 90% dead evergreen on the left side of the photo that was winter bit the winter before i was hoping it would spring back but it never did and i took it out this spring as it was becoming a fire hazard
early this spring i planted an apple tree it just started to leaf out couple weeks ago it is a golden delicious semi dwarf
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/29658-2/0509151310.jpg)
also started a small garden i am testing a new method of no till gardening partly do to the fact that wile i was living in an apartment all those years my brother inlaw took the engine off my tiller and put it in a go cart for my nieces and nephews and its now in bad shape. and partly because this method is supposed to reduce the amount of weeds you have to deal with to almost none. but anyway i made it small this year so if it fails i will not have a huge mess to deal with.
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(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/29661-2/0509151859.jpg)
forgot to put photo of garden in there there are 6 tomato plants 4 bell pepper plants and a row and a half of green beans in there the deep mulch used in this system that you have to move aside to plant means you cannot plant things super close together its not really ment to be done on such a small scale but like i said this is just a test.
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Good to see some familiar face around... Things look really good... looks like the apple tree took hold nicely. ;)
Y'all come back now, y'hear? :P
Steve
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Good to see your back and well.
I can't believe you can buy a nice little house for less than 30k
I live on an island in the ,middle of nowhere...it is 1500 sq kilometers, with only 300 odd families on it...... and you would be scratching to buy a block of land for for that sort of money.
This country is clearly stuffed, as it has all it's wealth tied up in useless , non-productive real estate... and no industry any more.... your country has still got something going for it.... which is amazing considering your fed is trying to destroy it totally.
Well done, and hope the green fingers work for you.
I have 350 acres.... and I grow useless weeds :-[
.... oztules
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Hey Kurt-----nice buy on the house. Looks like a good size lot as well.
The reno's seem to be coming along nicely as well.
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Kurt.....Did you ever think of planting tomatoes on a barrel?
They put like 2" holes in the sides of a wood barrel the plants are put in the holes
and you end up with a tomato bush .Saves a lot of space .....used to like pole beans
Uncle used to just spade in rows. In between rows was lawn easier to mow than to cultivate
between rows
Norm.
Heck I might even try it this year .
got a lot of crushed egg shells supposed to be good for tomatoes.
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i have tried pole beans before in the community garden in the park were i used to have a garden when we lived in the apartment most verities of pole beans are not resistant to Japanese beetles and the beetles just destroy them here most varieties of bush beans seem to have less issues with the beetles for some reason.
norm the verities of tomatoes i like to grow do not do well in containers this year i have 2 mortgage lifter radiator charlies (my wife's favorite tomato) 2 early girls and 2 box car willies they are all all big indeterminate tomato plants
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made a short video update of the garden its coming along nicely we have been having a really wet year so far most people who till there gardens did not get there gardens in until June first if they got them in at all just has been to wet to till.
i have had very little disease issues this year i had a bit of some kinda blight early on the tomatoes but i pruned that off and they outgrew it something nibbled on my beans and peppers here and there but not enough to hurt anything. and then i had the one bell pepper that turned sickly there for a wile but it seems to be bouncing back.
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i only wish mine would grow as well as that Kurt ....the spuds are really slow this year ....great quality vid as well ...you may have a harvest ...:) ..........totally awesome
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Looking good Kurt. Ours--potatoes good, beans good, beats not so good, carrots and lettuce no shows. We have
had good heat for zone 2, but lack of moisture.
Tomatoes and peppers are an embarrassment compared to yours.
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just an update on the garden few photos
having an aphid issue 3 of my tomato plants ended up looking a bit rough before i figured out what was going on but i got the garden on a spray regime with a neem oil solution which is a organic certified pesticide also sprayed my apple tree i just planted it this spring so was not spraying it as it did not have fruit but i will for the rest of the year now because my 60 foot tall black walnut tree is also infested with aphids and it is way to tall for me to use a leaf spray so i have ordered a pesticide that works through the roots of the tree it will get rid of the aphids but it will take 2-3 months till then i will have to keep spraying my garden and apple tree to keep them from being reinfested.
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/30027-2/0711151443.jpg)
first ripe tomato on the early girl that was unaffected by the aphids
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/30024-2/0711151445.jpg)
i have a rabbit that thinks my garden is his personal lunch buffet he just keeps getting bolder and bolder as time goes on it started out with a couple bean plants then he was nibbling on the pepper plants a little well today he has eaten the leaves and the beans i was about to pick off every last one of my bean plants the little varmint
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/30033-2/0711151443a.jpg)
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Wonder if that means wascally wabbit stew without beans.....
................oztules
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naw killing a rabbit out of season and within city limits will get you a visit from Wally from DNR and he won't be happy this fall after i expand the garden to the size it is going to be i am going to have to fence it. i was not really expecting to get much out of this little 9x9 square out in the open with no protection its a test of this gardening system and this particular ecosystem here in this neighborhood to see what challenges i face here and if gardening in this area is practical.
there are some areas here were local condition make gardening not very practical between the birds the squirrels and the rabbits and chipmunks and every other creature on earth you get nothing no matter how much fencing and netting you use.
so if all i have to deal with is one hungry rabbit i am fine with that.
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That is a fine looking early girl Kurt. Shame about the beans.
Not sure about your area, but here we can buy lady bugs for release. Their prime food is
aphids, and are natural to the area. A friend in the city had problems similar to yours,
he tried them, and worked well for about three years. Can't remember the price though.
Our garden is Ok, but still struggling due to lack of water. I have hauled water for it
a couple of times, but not the same as rain it seems.
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That is a fine looking early girl Kurt. Shame about the beans.
Not sure about your area, but here we can buy lady bugs for release. Their prime food is
aphids, and are natural to the area. A friend in the city had problems similar to yours,
he tried them, and worked well for about three years. Can't remember the price though.
Our garden is Ok, but still struggling due to lack of water. I have hauled water for it
a couple of times, but not the same as rain it seems.
well anyway have you ever tried crushed egg shells for tomato plants .....I've heard they are very beneficial .
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it is that time of year again
tomatoes and peppers growing under grow light in my basement. peppers are just now starting to pop there heads up there allot slower to germinate than tomatoes but that is OK because there really not supposed go outside till a couple weeks after the tomatoes.
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31481-2/0329161606.jpg)
EDIT: lol this photo came out terrible after the board mangled it you cannot see anything here is a link to that image blown up full size.
http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/v/pics/house/0415162038.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1
expanding the garden to 4x the size it was last year
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31515-2/0415160853a.jpg)
load of aged shredded tree trimmings i am going to put over what is already down in the first photo
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31518-2/0415161925.jpg)
short youtube video i made the other day before laying down second load of compost from city composter.
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kenebec seed potatoes laid out on the table to dry after cutting we chose kenebec because they store well, taste good and they don't have a patent on them which is important because if all goes to plan they will come up year after year without having to replant every spring you just put one of the potatoes you harvest in the fall back in the hole you pulled the plant out of and let that and any you missed winter over to grow next year. so did not want anything with a patent on it don't want hassles with Monsanto. :)
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31527-2/potatoes.jpg)
seed potatoes laid out on compost ready for mulch
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31530-2/0416161120a.jpg)
first load of mulch down gotta wait a couple days for the second my mulch connection does not work weekends hopefully i can get a second load Monday evening
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31533-2/0416161352.jpg)
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Looking good Kurt. You have put a lot of work in.
As we are much further north, not quite work the garden time yet,
but soon.
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(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31566-2/0508161626.jpg)
well i got the mulch all on then a few weeks ago i planted 3 half rows of white onion sets and 2 half rows of carrot seed
today i planted the tomato plants i been growing in my basement bell peppers need a couple weeks yet they really like it to be a bit warmer and warmer soil temps before going in the garden anyway. although most people plant them the same time as tomatoes here and they do just fine. my pepper seeds just took forever to germinate this year so they are a bit behind.
i also bought a super early variety of tomato plant that i want to try to see if i want to buy the seeds next year so 7 tomato plants this year.
i also planted some pole beans today around the same type of cage i use for tomatoes should work fine
the last cage i am going to attempt to grow straight eight cucumbers up if i can get the seed locally if not whatever slicing cucumber i can find
the fencing around the garden is for rabbits they were a major problem last year i need to get some weather resistant bungee cords and make a step over gate in the wire i want the bottom part to not have any breaks in it because if if there is a opening along the bottom rabbits will exploit it so only the top will open and i will have to step though which is fine because with this system i do not have to get any equipment into the garden like tillers etc.
when it comes time to add more mulch i will just take one side of the fence down which is not that hard.
the bottom of the fence is folded outward 6" to prevent digging i used some old bricks and rocks to hold it down until it takes a set.
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Looking good Kurt.
Every garden has it's enemy--yours rabbits, mine deer.
We only have potatoes, and lettuce in. Rest this week.
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well there is a good chance of frost tomorrow night and the only thing left in the garden is a few green tomatoes on the one plant out of 7 that did well this year so i will be picking those tomorrow then working on putting the garden to bed for the winter. so it is time for an end of season update.
of 7 tomato plants only 1 did well this year and that plant was the only one that was in a tomato cage that i built this year all the others were cages i reused from last year. they were stored outside all winter i had thought that the -10 F + cold we get here would kill any diseases from the year before but i was wrong i am pretty sure that is the cause because as that 7th pant got really big and a couple branches reached out and touched the resounding tomato cages those branches got sickly and i had to trim them off to keep the entire plant from getting sick.
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/32073-2/gardenjuly.JPG)
i started my bell pepper plants and all my tomatoes except 1 from seed one of the tomatoes that died was a 4" pot from local nursery this years tomatoes did OK starting out but i started the seeds in my basement and it was to cold for the peppers and i kept them to moist and they got root rot. only 1 of the plants ended up surviving being transplanted and it was severely set back so bad in fact i only got 3 green peppers off of it just a week or so ago and it took all season for it to grow big enough to make those. but you learn by doing be better next year.
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/32070-2/peppers2016.jpg)
potatoes did very well this year i got two full cat litter buckets of potatoes plus enough to replant for next year. with this system you replant your potatoes for next year as your digging this years crop up and they overwinter in the ground. at least that is the plan i do not know of anyone who has tried that in my growing zone so we shall see in the spring.
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31896-2/potatoharvest.jpg)
cucumbers were late but did well planted good old fashioned straight 8 cucumbers
(http://gallery.anotherpower.com/main.php/d/31726-2/first2cucumbers.jpg)
beans did not do that well got a couple of small servings that was about it i planted pole beans this year because i did not have room for bush beans and the bugs ate them and what the bugs did not eat did not grow well. also they got a late start because we had a cool spring after a quick warm snap so the seed sat in the ground for over two weeks after i planted it it was almost first of June before it finally came up and that sets a plant back hard when that happens
my onions got crowded out by my potatoes this year i went with sets this year next year i think i will go with onion plants perhaps they will do better.
this is just a learning experience and you have to remember that the spring before last for 1/4 of it and this spring for the rest this spot was lawn. it takes a few years to build good soil even with this method.
it is not like the gardens in the park were master gardeners from the county extension had been overseeing the amending of the soil for the last 20 years were everything grew gangbusters especially the weeds lol.
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Tomatoes here are always a bit of a challenge. Hadn't considered the contaminated cage thing before, but
I will now.
Peppers I have given up on, as growing season too short. (that's my excuse anyway ;) )
As we got good rains this year, potatoes, swiss chard, and beets were really good.
Yellow beans and carrots fair only.
You are right about soil-----still experimenting here. Work in all the leaves I can each fall, but thinking
about working in sand next spring. Had some success with it in a flower bed, so worth a shot.
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All may not b lost with contaminated tomato cages, Ive heard spraying
bleach on them, soak for a bit and rinse will eliminate problem.
Thanks for sharing, i will b more careful.
LH
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Bleach, yup works well.
Rinse well or corrosion will be your next trouble.
I suppose Starsan could be used. Brewers use it to disinfect, it may work well on this too.
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ya that is what i am planning to do was planning on spraying them down tomorrow my wife was at walmart today so i had her pick up a $.99 spray bottle to use but i forgot to check the purchase date on our jug of bleach
we always write the date on the bleach jug when we buy one so we know when it has gone past its prime. bleach is only good for about a year for household use after that it is pretty much just salt water.
the date on this one is 9 of 2014 so project is on hold until next time we get to a store.
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well time for a spring garden update first off it appears that the back to Eden method of growing potatoes does not work in my area i replanted last fall at harvest time and so far nothing has come up and they are past due they should be up by now if they were going to.
I started tomatoes and peppers from seed again this year applying the lessons i learned from last year i also purchased a cherry tomato plant and replaced the one mortgage lifer radiator Charlie plant that i had die on me wile under the grow light (my fault let it get to dry you learn by experience)
I also purchased a ancient sweet red pepper on the growers recommendation (I think they wanted to get rid of them as they were the biggest pepper plants there and any longer in the greenhouse and they would have started getting leggy but i googled the variety when i got home and it sounds like a good one) and then i got a California wonder bell pepper in case the 6 I started from seed do not do well
all the purchased plants and the 5 surviving tomato plants have been planted the peppers i started from seed need another week or so
i made a couple videos
the first one shows my seed starting set up it was shot about 6 weeks ago.
the second one was shot today
it shows the tomatoes before and after they were planted and the current status of the peppers it also gives you a look at the store bought tomatoes and peppers in the ground.
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Looking good Kurt
We are still too wet to do anything. Hoping to be able to plant in a few days.
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Sweet corn is starting to tassel here! great season so far. Broccoli is doing well too! How are the crops in Canada?
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Due to the wet spring, about 1/4 of crops didn't get planted. For those who did manage to plant, things are looking
pretty good. Moisture/heat good.
Garden wise, about the same. Potato plants are massive, but, of course the proof will be in the digging.