Farms Getting closer
to my Open House for Yockey Greenhouse
I am still
looking at May 23, 2015, as the date for my open house this year. Starting at
around 10 AM and going to whenever. I will also be open for 2 weeks after daily
from 10-6 if you would still like some plants. I will also be having a yard
sale cleaning out some extra tools and miscellaneous from the garage. There will
be fishing poles and tackle for sale at this yard sale and more man stuff. But who
knows what may turn up before the day of the open house? An area in the garage
will be set up specifically for the yard sale. Anyone else interested in selling
their stuff can contact me and I will do my best to accommodate your yard sale
items also. This will be for free.
I have plenty of
trees available for sale from blue spruce to hawthorns, to Norway spruce, and a
wide variety of trees that are native to our region of Ohio. I have perennials like
daffodils potted up and have some swamp lilies available in pots also. Not a
bad variety of potted plants but have cut back on the bedding plants and
instead have added some features like a straw bale garden and will have
different exhibits on that order to make planting off the edge of the patio
easier and more user friendly. This will help the urban as well as the rural
gardener help provide more produce in less space.
Tomatoes in a
two cage planting will allow you to have an inner core of organic compost
surrounded by a ring of tomatoes. The idea of this is that it allows the
nutrients of the compost to become saturated when the plants are watered through
the central core. This requires less watering and allows the plants to absorb
the nutrients leaked out through the compost, giving the plants all the
necessary nutrients with little fuss or mess on your part. It also reduces the
weeding and avoids the blossom end rot problem as you can just discard the
compost into your flower gardens and just acquire new compost for the next
year. This is just a test and next year at open house I hope to have some idea
of how well it works.
One reason my bedding
plants are not as plentiful as last year is that I am adjusting to using all
non-GMO seeds or heritage seeds. It seems as if the tomatoes didn’t respond to
well to my usual starting methods but then I couldn’t get them into the
greenhouse as early as I wanted as it was too cold, and I didn’t have the water
due to water line problems. I have the water line problems taken care of but it
is to late to replant so will not worry because I over planted the last couple
of years and had to give away plants.
Another thing I am
going to try is a potato tower. I have bought and cut potatoes for planting and
intend to plant them in a cascading tower arrangement where at each level the
plants will be able to grow in a pyramid fashion and in the fall you just tear
it apart and have potatoes in the center pf the pyramid. This again is just a
test and I will keep you informed as to how it progresses. The idea again is
for the off the patio growing of your own vegetables and produce to help offset
your needs. Again you can shuttle the spent soil to your flower beds and use
new soil the next year to void potato blight. This should reduce the space
required as well ease the work involved as now you are maximizing space and
reducing the work involved watering , and weeding as you will plant in crowded
conditions allowing only the plant intended to grow. Trimming or mowing around
this as well as tilling the soil as one would do in a conventional garden
should also be eliminated.
My idea of
adding items like the potato tower or the tomato ring is to try out new methods
of growing your own locally as easy as possible for the home gardener. With the
drought in certain parts of the country and specifically California, it may be
of everyone’s interest to once again take advantage of our wonderful water and
excellent soil to produce your own and save money. I won’t make much money off
your work but it isn’t all about the money as much as it is helping my neighbors
get by the best they can. If all I can do is provide the tools for learning a
better way, then both you and I will be better off.
A hay ride to the
top of the hill and a carved bear will be up for grabs; as well some refreshments
will be made available. More on this will follow in the days leading up to the
open house. Hope you all can come and look and buy if you want, if not learn a
little and maybe try something new, and have some fun.
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