Spring or Winter Preparations...Depending

Alison

Well Hello from my frozen farm!  It's great to hear from someone down under!  I have been taking inventory of my seeds and seeing if I need to order any more.  I've been saving seeds so each year I have fewer and fewer seeds to buy.   This year I am buying fruit trees and berry plants to expand my food forest.  Grapes also.  Most of my food forest is no longer getting mowed but is ready to add grapes and berries to their growing area.  I am expanding to cover the area I want to make a camp site at. That is what I need more fruit trees for.  Got to run, it's time to go push this weekends snow around so we can get out tomorrow.

Blair

sub zero temps here this weekend, shoveling snow, wading my way through snow to get to the chickens, and online and curled up with herb books and seed catalogs. when not at work or working on the house or any one of a dozen other things or some other trivial thing like cooking meals etc. :-)

Cherlynn

Well we haven't had much winter for several years so guess it's nice to have the winters we are used to getting.  We had to go clear the driveway after the hard winds we had and now it's sleeting and it's suppose to dump another 8 inches of snow.   No chance of anything melting with single digit temps.  My sister sent my a lovely flower arrangement and told me to hang in there as Spring is just 8 weeks away.  I feel so sorry for all those who are going without paychecks right now.   I hate politics in general and this just helps me remember why.   I am in my late 60's so looking at getting this food forest going so we can just walk out and collect food when we can do so.  Watching the snow pile up right now makes it hard for me to focus on our food forest.   I know we need to build another berm this year for the new area around the new camp site.  So maybe I can close the blinds and get my planning notebook out and see what all I can get done in another snow storm.

 

Valerie Johnson

APRIL 2018   What I started with.



Now at Beginning of Winter 2018



Hi,

I live outside of a small town called Nipomo, CA, in the mountains of the Central Coast of California.  I am new at vegetable gardening and am looking for planting guidance.   When should I start planting seeds and young plants for spring?  I have let my garden be dormant during winter.  We are currently in our rainy season and  our winter micro climate here is cooler (low 27 degrees,high 65 degrees.  We have had about 3 or 4 hard freezes since late November (32 degrees or less for a duration of 4 - 8 hrs) .  Last night it was 34 degrees through the night and right now at 8am it is 38 degrees.

Just last year I was given an existing garden area 50' by 150'.  It has  existing fruit trees, raspberries, grapes, Bay tree,  and many volunteer flowers from calendula to poppies,  herbs and leaf vegetables.  I collected seeds from all last year, cleared the grasses, set up drip system for fruit trees, grapes. lemon verbena and raspberries.  Then set up container gardens  (since we have lots of gophers )with a bunch of tires I found on the land - grew tomatoes, tomatillos, various greens (kales, collard, leaf lettuce, beets, mustard greens, Japanese mustard greens (when eaten raw they taste like wasabi).  Also, mulched all the fruit trees.

Thanks for your time and sharing your knowledge.

Blessings,

Valerie

Blair

school canceled due to weather forecast of a wintery mix. we got the snow expecting freezing rain before late afternoon. trying to watch some of the immune summit speakers. making my way across ice crusted snow to the chickens with fresh water. trying to stay warm enough to keep moving. looking forward to spring.

MikeF

We are in the South East USA.
Last month, I pruned all of the fruit trees in our orchard and installed some limb spreaders to train them into better shapes.

This weekend, I applied compost and fertilizer to all of our fruit trees and berry bushes. Our Peach, nectarine, cherry and blueberries are in nearly full bloom.

I have a few trays of started seeds that should be ready to plant in a few weeks when the weather stays warm.


M

Alison

5 months have passed since the last post, with that I trust everyone is reaping the reward of their planning, preparations and hard work.

We are now a month away from the start of our spring in Australia...though we can get frosts until near the beginning of summer here.

It's been very warm for winter here and as we are now in our 3rd year of drought I am working to make things as productive, yet water efficient as possible.

I am moving the smaller pots from my back veranda and replacing them with 75lt woven grow bags. These are being planted out mostly with blue berries. I've not had luck with them in the ground. This will give me the ability to adjust the PH without making nearby things unhappy in the process. Being able to get to a good height it will provide a little shade in the first 1/3 of the day and be close for watering. I've also planted 4 grape vines on the back veranda also.

I have written a list of my most desired veggies and am working out the best places for them so they are close enough together to water without it being too demanding - as I hand water with a watering can from a water tank.

Fruit and nut trees are getting a feed of blood and bone + potash [as I never have enough ashes from the fire].