So is anyone...

[HappyChristian]

...growing a garden this year? We have not been able to plant a garden for years, but this year we are going to. My Dad had a garden that was a good size, as well as fruit trees. The garden hasn't been planted since 2011.  The trees have produced, but we are hoping they'll produce even better this year.

Tomatoes don't grow really well here unless it's an unusually hot summer. My Dad fixed up a hot house for tomatoes and peppers. 

I don't know for sure what all we'll plant, but I'm pretty excited about it. Fresh veggies! 

[Jim_Alaska]

I hear that this is going to be a good year to grow...................meat!   

[Alan]

Bushes and flowers. Last week my wife and me and planted three more Rose bushes!

Edited March 15, 2016 by Alan
grammer

[heartstrings]

I emptied all the hay out of the hot house, hooked the disk harrow to the tractor, made about 10 rounds in a 2.5 acre field for planting summer clover. After that I was going to disk up the dirt in the hot house.. But I had to practice 3 songs to perform at a wedding. That's all done. Maybe this week I'll get back to it.

[Rosie]

I hear we are going to have a hot summer. well where I live its hot I can't imagine it being any hotter.. anyway no I can't grow a garden where I live, its against the rules..

[HappyChristian]

I'm not sure what kind of summer we'll end up having. I know that we have to wait until later in the spring, normally, because the ground doesn't warm up very quickly. 

[heartstrings]

Up before daylight this morning, fed sheep grain, put out about 80 piles of peanut hay for them then went to work, prepped and spray painted two signs and cut some vinyl letters on the plotter, did some design work for a customer and emailed it to him. Emailed another design in pdf format to another customer. Helped my son with fixing the well he backed his truck over. This afternoon, after 5:30, travelled to Black, Alabama, picked up 4 rolls of hay and hauled it to our farm in Wausau, FL, arrived about 8pm, met with a guy and sold him the engine out of my Tahoe. Tomorrow morning, up before daylight, put out hay again, go to work, do all that again, come home and go to church. Thursday I'm supposed to nhelp PawPaw burn some brush piles if it doesn't rain. The tractor and disk harrow is still where I parked it last week. Maybe Saturday, after I put out the hay again......

But after the ground is cultivated with the disk harrow, I have to install the new engine in the rototiller. Then we'll be gardening.  

[Salyan]

I have a little community garden plot, about 4' x 10'. Last year it grew rhubarb really well.  I Kinda didn't pay it enough attention for anything else to grow well.  Haven't started making plans for this year's garden yet. Up here, we can't plant until the May long weekend. I do like growing zucchini and onions - they make the best fresh stirfry for rice!

[HappyChristian]

I'd kind of like to have some bees. But I'm not too fond of being stung, so...that's out. But having bees around would be beneficial to the garden. I had my niece read a book on bees and told her she was going to have to be a beekeeper now. Heh. She as not amused. 

[heartstrings]

When I was a kid, every time my Dad would say, "let's go work the bees", I would be terror stricken, The last time was about my first year on the track team.  I had put on the veil, gloves and all that stuff while Dad casually worked them in nothing but his work clothes. Just a few minutes into it, one of the ferocious little devils made it's way into the veil and got me while the rest dive-bombed me desperately trying to do what the first one did.. That was it.. I broke the world record for the 200 meters that day, managed to rin up and embankment, across the railroad tracks, uphill to the house and through the back door with no further stings, Then I stood there listening to them hitting the screen trying to get to me.  Like I said, that was my last time. I eat honey, I leave the rest to the beekeepers.:)

Saturday I fed the sheep and, between going in the house several times to play with my grandson, managed to disk the 2.5 acre field twice. After that  I helped LynnDee work some sheep and do some ear marking, then I disked up the green house, replaced the engine on the tiller and found it needed a new v-belt.. Bought the new belt this evening and will hopefully have the tiller ready to finish cultivating the greenhouse, make the rows, and plant the garden.

[HappyChristian]

Yes, that would be my fear of beekeeping...we have a friend who had a couple of hives he kept at another friend's property. One day the beekeeping friend was taking of things with his bees - also in just work clothes. The property owner later told us that he saw the man and then he saw him go down. He thought at first he was goofing around, but when the friend didn't get up he went over to him...he was in anaphylactic shock due to many stings. 

He recovered, but he did almost die. Needless to say, he gave up beekeeping.

It seems that spring has arrived here (it doesn't always come with the calendar), but we are still waiting. While the weather is much milder than anywhere else we've lived, there is still chance of frost and the ground is not yet warm enough. My cousins in WVA are already starting their crops (not in the ground yet, though).

[Ukulelemike]

We have thought about a couple bee boxes. They have a new kind now where you don't have to remove the panels and disturb the bees-it actually has a spigot built in and the design brings the honey right out. So we may look into a couple of them.

[Jim_Alaska]

Mike, how do those new boxes work? Do the panels fit in horizontally instead of vertically so that the honey drips to the bottom?

I'm not real familiar with bees and honey, but have seen how they harvest it, which requires spinning or shaking the honey out of the comb.

[heartstrings]

If I had to keep bees, that's what I would do. I would also use a full-body suit, with remote air supply and a big inline vortex tube.

[heartstrings]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_pj4cz2VJM