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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT com-pair.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] A Failure, was Irony
  • Date: Fri, 11 Sep 2009 10:47:30 -0800

O.K., let's talk about failure cause I have a bunch <g>

Up here we have no soil to speak of and what we do have is so acid we could use it to remove paint! We have rocks and if there was a market for them, then we'd be RICH! We also have a large surplus of gophers, moles and voles. Couldn't have just one, we have to have all of them!

So, although I have attempted, with tons of compost, to grow in the ground here, it simply isn't an option unless one can afford a few grand in hardware cloth and a belly dump of manure and other goodies. So, not an option.

What I have done is raised beds (which now have hardware cloth in the bottom), Tires. And, my fav, freezers/fridges. I'll have to get off my rusty, now that fair and 4-H are over for the year, and get a picture of my 6 "little" pepper plants in one freezer.

The county went and stabbed me in the back. They had a freebie day where everyone could haul in their old appliances. Ah, I wanted those old appliances but now they have become scarce!

So, I decided to try growing in bags of soil. I mean, I can only build and compost enough material for a couple of new raised beds each year. DH went to Ace where they were having a big sale and he brought home Happy Frog and Black Gold with coir. I, silly me, followed some directions online. I forget which site or I'd post a warning <g>

One: you need more than one watering hole cut in the top of the bag.

Two: the bags will NOT do 6 plants! They strangle each other and creat so many roots that the water has no where to go.

Three: do NOT put the plant holes on the edge of the bag. All the water leaks out. Put the plant holes up near the top third of the bag.

Four: be sure you don't have a kamikazi chicken on your hands who is Houdini reincarnated! <g> Said Kamikazi chicken has scratched and pecked off all the watermelon runners, thus killing the baby watermelons. Well, knock on wood, I have two left. When we figure out how she keeps getting in the garden, we will fix it but so far we can't find any holes. She can't fly in (8' fence and clipped wing). Houdini, I tell ya.

And, Happy Frog is first choice.

Lynda
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are
to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theordore
Roosevelt, 1918.
----- Original Message ----- From: "EarthNSky" <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>

snip>
People here have plenty to share. Most just devalue their own opinions
and experience. Even a failure is important to share.

Sage, if you are reading, I'm glad to see that you got some much needed
rain. As I watched the radar this afternoon, I kept saying YES!
And Rob, you should see those JA's!!





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