Spring is Right Around the Corner

[THAT Gurl]

I'm SO itching to start my seedlings for the garden ... How about you guys?? Any thing different you are wanting to plant??

I wanna do the usual -- tomatos, okra and green beans, for sure. And we have the blackberry bushes. Believe it or not, those blackberries keep me under water while they are in season. And OMG are they good!!

Oh and the fig bush!! Those are fantastic, too. I'm definitely gonna freeze dry a bunch of them.

I have some elderberry seeds -- and would like to have a row of bushes in the backyard. So there is that ...

Cabbage (for sauerkraut), broccoli and brussel sprouts are all fall garden seedlings but I'm gonna try and see what I can do if I plant a few now and harvest them when it starts getting hot.

And then I want to get the perennial corner back in shape. I haven't kept up with anything for the last couple of years so getting the asparagus garden cleaned out and getting a strawberry patch in.

I have a couple of young men (12 and 13 years old) -- sons of a friend -- who WANT to learn about gardening who are helping me this year. We have negotiated a deal where they come help me every week -- watering, weeding, cleaning out rabbit pens and spreading the poo in the garden and worm "house" and compost bin, picking ripe stuff, etc. -- and I pay them for their help and give them some of what we harvest.

Interestingly enough, they have shown a lot more interest in small livestock husbandry and canning, dehydrating and freeze drying than I thought they would. I have me a couple of budding farmers, it seems. They are good kids.

So ... What are you guys gonna do this spring?? And what are ya doing right now???

 

[El Pablo]

So ... What are you guys gonna do this spring?? And what are ya doing right now???

Eat at your house…..?
Right now I’ll dream of blackberries. We don’t really have room to do anything.

 

[Perplexed]

Why am I now thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

 

[El Pablo]

Why am I now thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Lol, I had the same thought when I read it. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Eat at your house…..?
Right now I’ll dream of blackberries. We don’t really have room to do anything.

We just have an average city lot. But I'm trying to figure out how to have a couple of goats in the backyard. Grumpy is ... Well ... Grumpy ... When I try to have any kind of honest conversation about it. Lol

 

[El Pablo]

We just have an average city lot. But I'm trying to figure out how to have a couple of goats in the backyard. Grumpy is ... Well ... Grumpy ... When I try to have any kind of honest conversation about it. Lol

You have one in the house, grumpy. He has to be the greatest of all time to put up with…


our useable backyard is tiny, and a silver maple behind us blocks sun to most the backyard.

 

[Timmy59]

I'm SO itching to start my seedlings for the garden ... How about you guys?? Any thing different you are wanting to plant??

I wanna do the usual -- tomatos, okra and green beans, for sure. And we have the blackberry bushes. Believe it or not, those blackberries keep me under water while they are in season. And OMG are they good!!

Oh and the fig bush!! Those are fantastic, too. I'm definitely gonna freeze dry a bunch of them.

I have some elderberry seeds -- and would like to have a row of bushes in the backyard. So there is that ...

Cabbage (for sauerkraut), broccoli and brussel sprouts are all fall garden seedlings but I'm gonna try and see what I can do if I plant a few now and harvest them when it starts getting hot.

And then I want to get the perennial corner back in shape. I haven't kept up with anything for the last couple of years so getting the asparagus garden cleaned out and getting a strawberry patch in.

I have a couple of young men (12 and 13 years old) -- sons of a friend -- who WANT to learn about gardening who are helping me this year. We have negotiated a deal where they come help me every week -- watering, weeding, cleaning out rabbit pens and spreading the poo in the garden and worm "house" and compost bin, picking ripe stuff, etc. -- and I pay them for their help and give them some of what we harvest.

Interestingly enough, they have shown a lot more interest in small livestock husbandry and canning, dehydrating and freeze drying than I thought they would. I have me a couple of budding farmers, it seems. They are good kids.

So ... What are you guys gonna do this spring?? And what are ya doing right now???

Sounds to me like those young men should be paying you for life experience.

 

[GC7]

Do figs do well in OK? Never knew.. always assumed they had to be grown in the middle east.

You mean like this right?

 

[THAT Gurl]

Sounds to me like those young men should be paying you for life experience.

Nah -- they are good for me! Keep me honest.

 

[THAT Gurl]

Do figs do well in OK? Never knew.. always assumed they had to be grown in the middle east.

You mean like this right?

View attachment 335604

Yep, like that ... I think this plant is a Chicago Hardy. It is planted in a spot that is sheltered from both the north and west sides. And gets shaded morning sun. I want to try and root some stems this spring and plant a plant or 2 in the backyard to see if the afternoon sun affects fruit ripening. I have a TON of green figs every fall. I found a recipe for green fig preserves not too long ago so at least that fruit won't go to waste next fall. That used to break my heart.