Thread: YOU can Grow a Backyard Garden!

Transplanted some Tomatoes from old bed to new bed. These were volunteers that came up, from last years crop. There are always tomatoes left when the first frost hits in the fall, I just till the whole plant under. then add mulched leaves bagged up by the mower after the trees shed their foliage. In the spring the leaf mulch gets tilled under,ususally in early-mid march . after 20+ years my big bed is as rich and fertile as it gets.

Hoss Wheel Hoe Planter

Echinacea part 1

I guess part two will be made latter this year.

The FDA Works for Us!

The FDA is doing a lousy job.

It is up to us to FIRE the FDA!

Dining on Daylillies.

http://honest-food.net/2010/06/29/dining-on-daylilies/

Caring for hardy daylillies

Daylily care - YouTube

Along with fruit and veggies I collect varieties of flowers and herbs. I especially like to collect edible flowers such as the daylilly. It is a food source that will be overlooked during any confiscation processes.

My cherries are ripe, plump, and sweet.

Beautiful Flowers & Gardens (With Floating Rose Petals).wmv - YouTube

GROWING FRUIT TREES. Having involvement with both commercial and home fruit tree growing..First I'm posting the "Nursery" advice. Because some people really like to get their information from people like this...then I'm going to give you some alternative information.

Backyard Fruit Tree Basics - YouTube

Successful Choices I make in growing fruit on my trees.

1- Never get your advice from a local nursery. I have found most of the employees at local nurseries don't know much. Occasionally I have tested a couple of Northern retail nurseries in a couple of states by asking them a question I already knew the answer to. They are just going to pretend they know what they are talking about and sell you a product. Sometimes they will tell you to do something that will end up being destructive. Always contact a "Grower" You can find them online.

2- Decide what your goal is and don't let another person tell you what you want. The Nursery man in the clip above says that I want multiple very small trees in my back yard that will ripen during different seasons and give me just enough food for myself in my back yard. Such an idea increases sales for the Nursery and works for an elderly person.

However, at home I have limited space in my back yard garden yet I want enough fruit to can and supply my through the winter. In order to satisfy that situation I would select a self pollinating male fruit tree that is large in stature that will bear enough fruit to last through the winter and I would grow my fruit up high off the ground. Why?

1- Picking fruit with a ladder isn't hard for someone in decent health. It doubles your at home space by keeping your harvest above the ground and leaving ground space for flowers or veggies. I position the tree in my yard where it will receive proper sunlight but also provide shade in an area I want to be shaded. Perhaps you have a garden area that needs afternoon shade or a patio or playground where you can relax and not get sunburned. I keep the lower branches pruned away so there is room to walk and play. Digging and underground root cellar is also handy for storage space. It's like having a property with three levels. Ground level for playing and gardening. Upper level for fruit and shade. Basement level for storing roots and fruit.

2- Most commercial growers do not plant a massive orchard of one kind of fruit that ripens all at once. They have large sections of varieties they sell throughout the season. Most of them lean toward Semi-dwarfs and not full size trees because they need their laborers to get through the orchard with ease as quickly as possible. They don't want to pay someone to spend 15 minutes trying to reach one apple sky high. I know this to be true. As far as fruit that is too high to reach at home I have no problem gently shaking the branch enough to let the fruit fall because I am going to use that fruit today or cook and can it. (Shaking branches is an absolute no no for the commercial grower selling fresh fruit.) Or just cut off the center highest branch and let the tree grow wide. If you accidentally prune it wrong...don't worry it'll grow back and give you a chance to try again.


3- Dish soap will get rid of your aphids...you don't need expensive sprays. Aphids like Cherry and plumb the best. They also love roses. If there is a high up branch that starts to get aphids I just prune that one and burn it as well as the Aphids because Aphids make the fruit tree leaves curl which often can protect them from sprays.

4-Fruit cocktail trees never produce as much fruit as the solid variety. They just don't. You don't have to prune as much fruit off your tree as some will tell you when you are concerned about weight. You can brace up your back yard branches with a 2x4 for the few weeks until harvest. I also like to tie one branch to an opposite branch and the rope allows them to use the weight of each other to keep each other from bending and breaking underneath a heavier harvest. Doing such a thing will give me a few extra lugs of home fruit that I can bottle for the winter. I pick the ripe fruit immediately and do not allow it to wind fall. Picking the fruit immediately on a daily basis as it matures relieves the weight off the branch and allows the more immature fruit to ripen without stressing the tree.

Growing fragrant flowers and mint under your fruit trees attract lots of bees for pollination. Always check your flowers for bees before smelling them. Safety first!

Make sure there are no bees on the fruit branches when you are checking the blossoms to see which blossom is fertilized. Just trust me and don't learn it the hard way.

Corn Pollination

Unlike all other major grain crops, the corn plant has separate male and female flowering parts. The tassel and ear shoot are the male and female flowering structures, respectively, of the plant. The flowering stage in corn, which involves pollen shed and silking, is the most critical period in the development of a corn plant from the standpoint of grain yield determination. Drought, high temperature stress, as well as hail damage and insect feeding have the greatest impact on yield potential during the reproductive stage. The following is an overview of some of the key steps and phases of the corn pollination process.

Pollen shed usually begins two to three days prior to silk emergence and continues for five to eight days with peak shed on the third day. On a typical midsummer day, the shedding of pollen is in the morning between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.

The tassel is usually fully emerged and stretched out before any pollen is shed. Pollen shed begins at the middle of the central spike of the tassel and spreads out later over the whole tassel with the lower branches last to shed pollen.

Pollen grains are borne in anthers, each of which contains a large number of pollen grains. The anthers open and the pollen grains pour out in early to mid morning after dew has dried off the tassels. Pollen is light and is often carried considerable distances by the wind. However, most of it settles within 20 to 50 feet.

Pollen shed is not a continuous process. It stops when the tassel is too wet or too dry and begins again when temperature conditions are favorable. Pollen stands little chance of being washed off the silks during a rain storm as little to none is shed when the tassel is wet. Also, silks are covered with fine, sticky hairs which serve to catch and anchor pollen grains.

Under favorable conditions, pollen grain remains viable for only 18 to 24 hours. However, the pollen grain starts growth of the pollen tube down the silk channel within minutes of coming in contact with a silk and the pollen tube grows the length of the silk and enters the female flower (ovule) in 12 to 28 hours.

A well developed ear shoot should have 750 to 1,000 ovules (potential kernels) each producing a silk. The silks from near the base of the ear emerge first and those from the tip appear last. Under good conditions, all silks will emerge and be ready for pollination within 3 to 5 days and this usually provides adequate time for all silks to be pollinated before pollen shed ceases.

Pollen of a given plant rarely fertilizes the silks of the same plant. Under field conditions 97% or more of the kernels produced by each plant are pollinated by other plants in the field.

The amount of pollen is rarely a cause of poor kernel set. Each tassel contains from 2 to 5 million pollen grains which translates to 2,000 to 5,000 pollen grains produced for each silk of the ear shoot. Shortages of pollen are usually only a problem under conditions of extreme heat and drought. Poor seed set is more often associated with poor timing of pollen shed with silk emergence (silks emerging after pollen shed).

Corn Pollination - An Overview, AGF-128-95

Classic European Organic Garden Methods

Homestead Farm

Compost and Rock Dust instead of Manure

The Federal War agaisnt Family Farms Expands with Drones

This is a MUST SEE film!

The benefit of WOOD CHIPS in a garden.

Back to Eden

Welcome to Back to EdenÂ*Film!

More Severe Hail Storms

Hail as deep as snow and as large as golf balls.

This time it was Colorado and Wyoming.













Amazing pictures of devastating hail which submerged cars as it swept Colorado | Mail Online

Drought Continues in California

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Alameda, Marin and Tehama counties in California as primary natural disaster areas due to losses caused by drought that occurred from Oct. 1, 2011, and continues.

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/newsRele..._rel_0053.html

Originally Posted by Poor Richard

Drought Continues in California



http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/newsRele..._rel_0053.html

Which is WHY we grow our gardens. It appears I have around 10 more days of cherry season and then come my apricots and raspberries. I'm not even noticing California's drought.

I truly love each fruit season.

From Zero to Vegetable Garden in 6 Months