Our Memorial Day Project & Ongoing Gardening

 
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windyhill4.2
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Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
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Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Thu. Jun. 19, 2014 6:30 pm

FF, when the deer ate the rose blossoms off the night b4 the day they would bloom,i did use the 22 to scare them out of our lawn. I have quit shooting the skunks since we found that they will keep the coyotes away & since coyotes like eating cats & we love our cats,we let the skunks eat our grubs & cat food as they see fit. Paul,we really ought to have a farm tractor to work our garden as it is about 1.5-2 acres with the rye ground,but lack of $$ always stands in the way.We do get the job done,just have to work longer & harder. :)


 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
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Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Jun. 19, 2014 8:17 pm

Too bad the large tractors are so expensive. Many years ago the ex-wife was going to buy me a restored Farm-all Cub for our one acre place, ... that is until she saw how much even a small restored antique tractor cost ! :shock:

Maybe somebody'll drop off a bigger tractor with a blown motor you can keep and fix up ? :D

Paul

 
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windyhill4.2
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Joined: Fri. Nov. 22, 2013 2:17 pm
Location: Jonestown,Pa.17038
Stoker Coal Boiler: 1960 EFM520 installed in truck box
Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Thu. Jun. 19, 2014 10:26 pm

A Farmall Cub/Super A/100/130/140 would be great for cultivating,a Farmall Super C/200 would even be a better all purpose tractor to plow,disc,cultivate & use for PTO work,we would like to eventually have a decent sized tractor with a loader . A loader would be so useful on this property & with our shop work,we could lift disabled units & move them around.But $$ have too many places to go & some things are higher on the priority list than a farm tractor for now. We have had a large sized garden for quite a few yrs. & have made do with our current equipment.This is the first yr. that we had 6' tall rye to chop with a garden tractor,what a time consuming job it was with this equipment.We might try renting a farm tractor & flail chopper next yr.Before we moved here in 2001,we lived on the in-laws farm & used the farm equipment for some of the garden work. The first 3-4 yrs on this property all we had was our 1985 Troy-Bilt Horse tiller.All our existing garden was lawn that I tilled with the Troy-Bilt.... lots & lots of walking :!: We installed a 28" tiller on a 1995 garden tractor in 2006?,it sure seemed like a big tilling rig compared to walking the 20" Troy-Bilt. Gardening is fun,relaxing,healthy & very rewarding especially when the food is coming to the table that we grew.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Location: Central NY
Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 8:32 am

windyhill4.2 wrote:A Farmall Cub/Super A/100/130/140 would be great for cultivating,a Farmall Super C/200 would even be a better all purpose tractor to plow,disc,cultivate & use for PTO work,we would like to eventually have a decent sized tractor with a loader . A loader would be so useful on this property & with our shop work,we could lift disabled units & move them around.But $$ have too many places to go & some things are higher on the priority list than a farm tractor for now. We have had a large sized garden for quite a few yrs. & have made do with our current equipment.This is the first yr. that we had 6' tall rye to chop with a garden tractor,what a time consuming job it was with this equipment.We might try renting a farm tractor & flail chopper next yr.Before we moved here in 2001,we lived on the in-laws farm & used the farm equipment for some of the garden work. The first 3-4 yrs on this property all we had was our 1985 Troy-Bilt Horse tiller.All our existing garden was lawn that I tilled with the Troy-Bilt.... lots & lots of walking :!: We installed a 28" tiller on a 1995 garden tractor in 2006?,it sure seemed like a big tilling rig compared to walking the 20" Troy-Bilt. Gardening is fun,relaxing,healthy & very rewarding especially when the food is coming to the table that we grew.
Yup, it's healthy food alright, .... let's hope growing it don't kill ya ! :D

Paul

 
Lu47Dan
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Post by Lu47Dan » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 10:18 am

Windy, without an electric fence around the garden here we would get nothing from it. The deer would eat the cole crops, the woodchucks would eat the beans and peas, and the coons would get the sweet corn.
I do patrol the area around the garden to find woodchuck dens and than I Fuzzee them to kill the woodchuck. I have seen woodchucks cross the road from my neighbors property to get to the garden also but when the electric fence is set right they can not get into the garden.
I am going to extend my chicken yard around my two pear trees this summer to stop the deer from harvesting the pears before I can get to them.
I would like to fence in my orchard/garden area and allow the chickens to roam free around the fruit trees. But I have not gotten around to that yet.
Dan.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 1:44 pm

Dan,

" ....... than I Fuzzee them to kill the woodchuck. "

I've used many ways to kill woodchucks, but this is a new one on me. What's a Fuzzee ????

Paul

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 4:31 pm

Sunny Boy wrote:I've used many ways to kill woodchucks
I generally catch them in a Have-a-Heart trap, then take them off to uninhabited places and release them. But the area is getting so built-up now it's hard to find a good release site. People will be taking shots at me pretty soon. :(


 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 4:46 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:We started raising our own mulch to use on our asparagus patch & other select areas.
That's quite an ambitious garden you have going. Looks like a pretty area to live, too. Our warm-weather growing season runs from about June 1 through September 30 unless we are unlucky and get early frosts. Your season is probably longer???

I mulch almost everything with hay, heavily, to control weeds and (gradually) improve the soil. It has some drawbacks, but I'd never keep up with the weeds otherwise, and my garden is NOTHING like the size of yours. Of course I have to buy the hay, but on the other hand I don't have to buy and maintain any power equipment -- just had the garden area tilled once some years ago, gave away my old tiller, and mulched ever since. My wife grumbles if I put "ugly" hay around any of her flowers, but then she is amazed how well her leftover perennials do when I stick them in my garden.

 
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windyhill4.2
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Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 5:45 pm

We have planted things in our garden in Mid-March in past yrs. Last yr we had 26* on May 28 & froze our strawberries among other things.This yr we had temps almost as low but we had not started the garden as early & did not get the freezing temps as late as last yr. Normally we could plant almost everything by mid-April to end of April. Our frost free date is now May 29- Oct 14 but we can get those rare frosts in late Sept. We have done a lot of hay mulching in the past but currently have no place to buy mulch priced hay that is chemical free. We have a possible contact on some hay that would meet our criteria. We do actually like to use lots of mulch as it is a wonderful soil improver.

 
rberq
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Post by rberq » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 6:05 pm

windyhill4.2 wrote:We do actually like to use lots of mulch as it is a wonderful soil improver.
In the past I have also collected tree leaves after they fall. Most break down pretty well especially if you run over them with the mower a couple times. I wish I had a truck, because in some residential areas I could collect hundreds of bags that people have left out for the trash collector. A few towns (not mine) compost most of the leaf/grass/etc. waste they receive, and make it available to residents free or at minimal cost.

 
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windyhill4.2
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Hand Fed Coal Stove: Crane 404 with variable blower
Coal Size/Type: 404-nut, 520 rice ,anthracite for both

Post by windyhill4.2 » Fri. Jun. 20, 2014 6:17 pm

If you look at the back ground in the pics of our buildings you will see lots of trees & we do collect lots of leaves & generally put them on our asparagus patch.We also have some customers who will drop bags of leaves off.If you look thru the Pennsylvania Photo album you will see pic's of our 2013 garden & some mulch use. Look closely at the photos in this thread,you can see the mulched asparagus patch,look closely at the corn row pic with some sun glare,left side of the back part of pic. We have potatoes growing under mulch,we no longer plant potatoes in the ground because they then have to be dug out of the ground. We lay them on top of the ground & throw mulch over them,not as pretty but less hard work A& that's a good thing. We close our shop at 6 p/m on friday so we collected all the weeds my wife had pulled this week & threw them on top of the potato patch. We are supposed to have on-off showers tomorrow so not a good day for working outside.

 
Lu47Dan
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Post by Lu47Dan » Sat. Jun. 21, 2014 10:23 am

Sunny Boy wrote:Dan,

" ....... than I Fuzzee them to kill the woodchuck. "

I've used many ways to kill woodchucks, but this is a new one on me. What's a Fuzzee ????

Paul
Paul, at one time it was a brand of road flare sold around here. I place one in each entrance to the burrow complex and cover the hole up with dirt. The smoke from the flare does in the woodchuck and also indicates any other opening into the burrow.
Another thing that works is CO2 gas from Dry Ice, or CO2 gas from a pressure cylinder.
Dan.

 
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Sunny Boy
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Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace

Post by Sunny Boy » Sat. Jun. 21, 2014 10:38 am

Ah, ok, that method I've heard of doing.

Buddy in NJ did a lot of chuck removal service for local soybean farmers. He liked to use half a road flare down one hole and he'd wait at the other hole with his 12 ga.

A farm I patrolled last year used the flare and shovel method for years too. Worked very well because I only saw two chucks on their place all summer.

I have some store-bought critter smoke bombs that are similar, for areas where a gun shouldn't be used, but I've yet to need them.

Paul
Last edited by Sunny Boy on Sat. Jun. 21, 2014 10:41 am, edited 1 time in total.

 
Lu47Dan
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Post by Lu47Dan » Sat. Jun. 21, 2014 10:39 am

rberq wrote:
windyhill4.2 wrote:We do actually like to use lots of mulch as it is a wonderful soil improver.
In the past I have also collected tree leaves after they fall. Most break down pretty well especially if you run over them with the mower a couple times. I wish I had a truck, because in some residential areas I could collect hundreds of bags that people have left out for the trash collector. A few towns (not mine) compost most of the leaf/grass/etc. waste they receive, and make it available to residents free or at minimal cost.
I quit using hay for mulch as I have a slug problem if I use hay. I went with black plastic and weed barrier to stop weed growth. I do add leaves in the fall to the garden and till them into the soil to improve the soil. Chicken litter (chicken poo and wood chips or saw dust) works well also as the chicken poo is very high in nitrogen and the wood content mellows its effect on the plants. I use to get horse manure but that resource moved away.
I have also used shredded paper from an old girl friends business to mulch cabbage, but that is also not an option anymore. :shock:
All my non vegetable kitchen waste goes on the compost pile for use in the garden and on the flower beds, the vegetable waste gets fed to the chickens. My egg shells go into the compost pile also.
I have a yard vacuum started so I can pick up more leaves from the lawn and woods line to add to the garden also. Grass clippings are left on the yard to decompose back into the soil there.
Dan.

 
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Post by titleist1 » Sat. Jun. 21, 2014 10:46 am

Lu47Dan wrote: Paul, at one time it was a brand of road flare sold around here. I place one in each entrance to the burrow complex and cover the hole up with dirt. The smoke from the flare does in the woodchuck and also indicates any other opening into the burrow.
Another thing that works is CO2 gas from Dry Ice, or CO2 gas from a pressure cylinder.
Dan.
I have one that is frequently heading under a shed we have, but I am guessing it wouldn't be a good idea to throw a flare under there to scare him out!!! :lol: :doh:


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