Life On The Hill

[matt walker]

Oh geez, I have to do garlic too. I've been cutting my scapes and letting them develop into little bubils, so I've got like a million to plant. I seem to do better with the hard neck Guy, I'll be interested to see how the soft neck does for you. Sounds like you certainly have been busy!

[pa_friendly_guy]

I had planted this variety of soft neck garlic years ago. As a matter of fact I gave my neighbor some bulbs to plant years ago. So it has made full circle back to my garden. I had stopped growing garlic for awhile when Rocco from the Italian Club gave me some of his hard neck to plant a few years ago. I have had very good luck with the hard neck, nice large well formed cloves. My only reason to want to try growing the soft neck again is because I attended a seminar last Feb where the woman said that of all the garlic she grew [ which was substantial , she was a market gardener for garlic and winter onions ] the soft neck was always the last garlic they had to eat. She said that it definitely kept the best, so I thought I would try it again. But if I get the same small misshapen cloves that my neighbor was growing I think I will stick with the hard neck.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I started my annual battle with the leaves today. I sucked up 9 cart loads before it started to rain. That is a good start, I have been busy visiting kids etc and let it go longer than I should have. Set the mower deck as high as I possibly could and still had it plug up a lot. I will set the mower down next time so the grass is mowed short, making it easier to get the leaves sucked into the cart. Today I just worked on majority. It's to rain here for the next several days, so I am really pleased to have gotten so much done. Almost 20% of the 50 some cart loads I normally get. It feels good to get stated with this annual task, and to start the count down to the end in Nov.

[matt walker]

Man, that is a lot of leaves Guy. I don't recall what you do with them. Do they go in the new garden beds?

[pa_friendly_guy]

I put a load around all the fruit trees. It helps to cool the ground in spring and delays the bud swell and blossom buy as much as a week, maybe more. Around here a week can be the difference between getting fruit or getting the crop killed by frost. I put 3 loads of mostly pine needles around the blue berries to add acid to the soil. The nut trees that I just planted all get mulched with leaves, maybe a little less than the apple and pear trees. The rest , maybe 27 loads or so go in the garden in a pile. I put them in the next bed I do and add them 2 cart load of leaves to 2 cart loads of sifted sub soil and let them rot in the ground. The pile rots all winter before I get the bed prepared, so it is sort of like compost, but not really because I do not turn it or mess with it all winter, and there is not enough green grass to help it compost properly. But when I add it to the garden bed down deep it rots just fine. So you can see I put them all to good use, but to be honest I could do with a few less leaves to suck up.

[mannytheseacow]

I don't do anything with my leaves, Guy, except cross my fingers that they will kill my grass so I don't have to mow it! I'll run a fire through my woods in the spring which burns up a lot of them left after winter.

Have you noticed any negatives from putting the leaf mulch around your fruit trees, disease or fungus on the fruit or anything like that? I've been told to keep things fairly clean and tidy under fruit trees to prevent this, but me and clean and tidy don't get along very well. I have also heard that planting comfrey under your fruits helps fend of diseases and fungus. This might be a wives tail but I've planted it around some to try it out. It's good for the bees, too.

Either way, it sounds like you've got a good amount of work on your hands. Good luck!

[pa_friendly_guy]

I do not spay the fruit trees. So yes my fruit has spots, some of my fruit has worms, some of my fruit is mis-shappen, but I can't say it is from the mulch. Of course I can't say that its not from that either because I have always done it that way. I think cleaning up the rotten fruit and getting it out of there would be a bigger deal than putting down leaf mulch, but like you I don't do that either. I do not think that putting down much is ever a Bad Thing, I just don't think that feeding the soil is ever Bad as far as that goes. Just my opinion.

[pa_friendly_guy]

Last Sunday I sucked up 4 loads of leaves, that makes 46 cart loads for this year. I normally get up about 52 loads but I think I may be about done for this year, Oh there are several loads down out by the fire pile behind the stone wall, and there are still some loads I could get out of the field, but I think I have enough for the garden and it broke a record here yesterday for cold. It never got above 20* and the wind chill was below 0* last night. I think I have had just about all the enjoyment I can stand from sucking leaves for this year. The cart is still hooked up, so if we get a very warn day, or if the spirit moves me I may try to get over 50 loads, but I doubt it, I truly doubt it.

[mannytheseacow]

Guy, did you go deer hunting this year? Get anything?

[Myrth]

Good job getting through loss of power during a chilly November! We really need to improve our preps at this homestead. We have a generator. But at this property we do not have it wired to run our well pump. That wiring (and an emergency shut-off switch to protect the grid) is on my list of needed preps. Previous home was set up so that the generator could run well pump, fridge, freezer, and a few other circuits.

Also still on my list is a wood stove or fireplace and a root cellar / storm shelter. Eventually...