I’ve been gardening for about 22 years now but I didn’t grow up gardening because Pappy always grew a huge garden and our family benefitted from that immensely! Even though I’ve been at it many years I still consider myself nowhere near an expert or master gardener. You may think that the picture of the garden at the top or my blog looks great (and hopefully it does) but looks can be deceiving. Last years garden was a good example. While a good bit of the garden did well, when it came to the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers it was about a 90% crop failure. Don’t know exactly why but when you get results like that you begin to try and think of ways you can do things differently. The main thing I will do different this year is; no chicken manure compost on the garden in the spring. I’ve always put my compost on the garden in the spring just because it seems like a good time of year to clean out the chicken coop. But I’m beginning to think I should wait until fall to put it on. I believe the composted chicken manure is to fresh and therefore to strong for some of the plants . The green beans in particular. They seem to come up ok but then when they are about 2 -3 inches tall they begin to develop brown spots on their leaves. I don’t really like to do it but if I don’t dust them with Sevin they go downhill quickly. (I try to keep my garden chemical-free as much as possible but usually end up using this dust once a year.) The dusting seems to help turn them around. But I’m hoping this year that they won’t need the dusting. I’m saying all this to say that no matter how experienced and knowledgeable you are there is always something new to learn in gardening and the agrarian field (kind of like living the Christian life and life in general).
So, if you’ve never had a garden before, why not give it a try. And don’t tell me you don’t have enough land or time. You can start by planting one tomato plant in a 5 gallon bucket filled with dirt. And then next year add some lettuce to that little garden and before you know it you’ll be making your own salads out of your own garden. And then maybe an apple tree. That way you won’t have to eat 14 month old apples.
After all the vertical posts and horizontal beams were erected it was time for a set of steps up to the second floor. After a set of steps were in place I could begin laying the 2nd floor decking. Nice to have help from my father-in-law and the Big Dawg for this part of the project. In the next post there will be pictures of the unAmish barn raising.
Only 16 more days til spring!!
Until then, stay warm my friends!
Todd