Farm Season: Spring

Elderberry trees are getting leaves and popping up everywhere telling me its time to pot some up! Irises are peaking through the dirt... Buds are forming on the blueberries and grapes...Snow peas are starting to grow more rapidly!

Farm Season: Spring

March still has some cold weather coming back this week but all the new life does brighten my outlook a lot! Makes me want to really jump start ALL those new garden projects I got rolling around in my head!

As well as get some things in the ground and many more seeds to be started inside! So exciting!!!!! But at the same time, I'm kinda lazy from the easy winter!!
To see my previous garden checklist for the months you can check them out here Garden Checklist

Spring is so busy on a farm and here in the southeast, it can be gone in a few weeks. Ok, it's not officially spring yet but when I see daffodils I call it spring! It helps get my brain back into the busy farming 'flow' after winter. Which can be really hard sometimes! Even for a gardening lover like myself. I'm very excited about all the things I have plans to do.. but actually doing them takes me some time to refocus and a few motivational tricks.

Things that help motivate me to get my farm hustle back

Motivation trick 1: Bringing out my easy low tunnels to transplant hardy vegetables in helps get me going! Normally I use simple plastic and hoops but this little fold out tunnel is so easy to set up and it works great! Less effort to set up than pvc hoops, rebar, and wrestling with plastic! I'd like to buy more of these! You can find different brands on Amazon and greenhouse shops online.

  

Motivation Trick 2: Getting excited to prep beds for early greens and peas can be hard because it's still cold but all the work I've put into my compost and topsoil helps motivate! 

Good topsoil can take years of work! Using raised beds helped me accelerate that though! Being pesticide free, chemical free helped along with good compost added every year and every season! So Finally the earthworms found my soil acceptable to call home! With every turn of the broadfork, lots of these guys were hanging out now. 

Seeing earthworms is most definitely a motivator to compost and get my beds ready!! 

Motivation Trick 3: Ordering new gardening Gloves!!!

One of my new most favorite garden tools!!! These waterproof gloves!!!! I love them.. I go through garden gloves so fast and they have never truly been waterproof but these are! In my top 5 garden must haves! I also got these at Amazon.

Motivation Trick 4: Getting out last springs garden journal and log sheets of planted seeds and amounts harvested!!

 I always keep a garden journal type book but its often a hot mess at the end of the seasons with ragged sketches and notes. It's more like a creative recording than die-hard record keeping. 

I love keeping my garden journal but I also keep more structured log sheets for quick clear references. I keep logs on how much I planted, amounts harvested and how much I canned or preserved in other ways. It works wonderfully to motivate me to get out there, cold on not and get everything ready! I seriously surprised myself when I started record keeping like that. I had no idea I harvested so much food before I kept records. Very, Very Motivating!! 

Motivation Trick 5: Livestock work! My barns by this time are a hot mess and getting piled very high! It can be very hard to get back in the routine of cleaning out barns (or coops or whatever livestock you need to clean up after) To help get me motivated to get out and clean up I start by cleaning out the feed room and going through equipment. What I don't need I put it up for sale and use it to buy new equipment I do need! That's usually the first step to getting me prepped to clean out the barns! I then start with the small stalls and work out toward the main areas. Adding to the compost pile usually helps keep me shoveling away because I like to think about all the vegetables it will grow! 

Motivation Trick 6: To help me get excited about the added livestock chores spring brings I print out a new journal! When I had poultry or goats I'd print out new brooder or new milk production/kidding record keeping pages. That always helped me get organized for new spring babies and ready the added livestock chores that come with spring. 

Now with the horses and donkeys, I print out a new training journal with health records. If I have a mare or jenny getting ready to foal I'll print out health records and milk production pages for them too. Then I place it all in a pretty binder with a pretty cover! 

If you need an equine training journal I have the one I use here. 

It has so many extras with it, like DIY herbals, essential oil and herbs for horses guide sheets, health records and more! Equine Training Journal

Picture of Bianca being long lined for her training session a couple of weeks ago. 

Above here's my donkey Rani, waiting to foal. She's my best milking donkey and always happy to let a kid hitch a ride. Donkeys are a fantastic addition to most farms! You can read my ebook if you've been thinking about getting a donkey for your farm. Its especially wrote for someone who has no donkey or equine experience too! Donkey Care Primer ebook

You can also find more posts about donkeys on my blog Donkeys on the Farm
So if you need an extra nudge to get moving after the cold winter I hope these motivational tricks help you like they help me!

So much to look forward too on a farm! Many times my head is more excited than my body after 9 years of farming so anything helps! We all need extra motivation sometimes!! 😆

You can check out my homesteading pinterest boards for even more ideas Homestead and Horses

Happy days and many blessings for your dream homestead life.
Till next time....

Just want to say, I'm not an affiliate salesman. The products I recommend are products I actually use and recommend because they have worked for me. All pictures are from my own farm, they are not purchased stock photos! 

Garden Checklist : March!

For many of us in the upper and certainly lower parts of the south March is GO TIME for the garden!
I get really excited once March rolls in and happily get out my Garden Checklist because there is so much to do!!

This is when I really start seeing life come back into the pastures and woods here in southeast TN and I am so thankful to God! It's so beautiful!

Last month some seeds were started inside, some thrived, some did not! Those that did are in the greenhouse now!
My snow peas are up but the sugar snaps are not... I should have put a blanket over them too. Oh well, it's in next years notes!
It's not too late to plant snow peas in the southeast though it's getting close! If you're in a cooler climate you may just be getting ready to plant them! You can check out my post here on some tricks I use to get good crops and the best variety out of the 6 I have grown Growing Snow peas!

Some mustard greens planted in the fall thriving under low tunnels

Keep in mind I am in zone 7. You may need to adjust if you're in a different zone.

My Garden Checklist For March

1. Fertilize all fruit and nut trees and brambles such as blackberries. This is best done right before the leaves start to come out
2. Give garlic a side dressing of compost
3. Weed and compost any beds you missed in February
4. Fertilize muscadines (or any grapes) before the buds swell
5. I can start to Propagate Blueberries, Elderberries, and muscadines this month
6. Divide mature perennial herbs such as comfrey.
7. Sow clover cover crops if needed, and grass seeds for pasture improvement.
8. Plant potatoes when daffodils are in full bloom
9. When Forsythia blooms I can plant these outsides with frost cover on hand! lettuce, green onions, fava beans, burdock, carrots, cilantro, collard greens, dandelion, dill, kale, mustard greens, spinach, 
10. Inside or greenhouse start in flats: Veggies: main crop tomatoes, sweet peppers, tomatillos, ground cherries, kohlrabi, cabbage, celery. Herbs: Arnica, oregano, sage, sorrel, thyme, valerian, and parsley.
11. Start sweet potato slips
12. I can start to Harvest stinging nettle that's rapidly making a comeback!

All that and get your garden journals out to keep notes! My saved charts and notes through the years have helped me be successful in the garden more so than anything else.

If you haven't grabbed a copy of my Givers and takers plants to help you plan your garden you can grab it here! Nutrient Needs of Vegetables, Givers, and Takers

Spring Time and other happenings on the Farm

The only ones here more excited about spring than me is the horses! They are already leaving their hay and venturing out more and more nipping on all the grass the rains have brought up! Of course, its prime time for my equine to get rain rot so I shared this Rain Rot remedy a few days ago. You can check it out here if your animals love standing in the rain as much as mine! Rain Rot Remedy Herbal recipe

Below, I snapped this pic of my 5-month-old poodle puppies and my mini mare, Freckles. They were playing and watching me start seeds by the greenhouse. 

Freckles is with foal and I couldn't be more excited or more nervous! Vets are on speed dial! She's the only horse I have bred to deliver this spring. Everyone else is due this fall or being bred to foal next spring. I love Freckles and she has great potential to be a good team partner for work. But first I'm praying for a healthy baby!! and an easy time for mom. 💓

If everything goes well I do plan to milk her just like I do my donkey jennies. If you are unfamiliar with why I would milk mare's or donkeys here are a few links

Wikipedia on Mare's Milk

Mare's Milk for health

Mare's milk and donkey milk are extremely similar. Both are great for people with food sensitivities and allergies like me! They both have incredible medicinal properties. Both can be used to make Kumis which we love! Talk about energy after just 1 little shot of it! Mare's milk being higher in milk sugars than donkey milk will make a bit better product. Here's a bit about Koumis Wikipedia Kumis

For more info on Donkey milk and what donkeys can offer a homesteader, you can check out a few other posts I've done at this link  Donkeys on the farm

Curious about donkey milk soap? You can try some here Etsy shop Donkey Milk Soap

Well, I think that's all that's going on here this week! Going to be a busy month getting everything done and I feel so blessed!

Have you have a blessed productive week of homesteading!

Rain Rot in Horses and other Livestock Free Herbal Recipe!

Sorry for the inconvenience but this recipe has moved to 

https://donkeylistener.com/rain-rot-in-donkeys/

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Garden Maintenance Checklist : February

Garden Maintenance Checklist for February 

January and February are my 2 least favorite months because for us in the southeast they are usually the coldest and most likely to get some snow and ice. Which I also hate! 

I'm a spring, summer and fall girl all the way! Gardening books, planners and seed catalogs help but there is no real substitute for getting in the dirt and sunshine! 

At least in February things pick up for seed starting! There are only a few things I can start in January but this month I get to start early tomatoes, ground cherries and other things I can put out early in wall o' waters!! 

Let the fun begin... if you missed Januarys checklist you can get it here Garden Maintenance Checklist: January

My February Garden Checklist 

1. Prune fruit trees, blueberries and propagate raspberries if you grow them.
2. Prepare beds for carrots, spring greens, onions, broccoli, and potatoes
3. Weed perennials such as asparagus, walking onions and strawberries and give some compost.
4. Sow inside at seed starting station or in the greenhouse: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi, hot and sweet peppers, Asian greens, celery, lettuces, leeks. I also start tomatoes, cucumbers and anything I plan to plant in a wall o'water.
5. Outside you can plant arugula, spinach, and radishes. 
6. When the daffodils start to come up or the forsythia starts to bloom I plant my snow peas (in a low tunnel or under a row cover. I also plant cold-hardy greens, carrots and fava beans outside at this time.
7. If you started spinach, onions or other hardy greens last month you can transplant outside them after hardening off.

Isn't it exciting? There is nothing as wonderful as a garden!

If you've not got your garden planned yet you can download a copy of this PDF to help with rotation planting based on  Nutrient Needs of Vegetables

Keep in mind this checklist is best for those in Zone 7a and 7b. Your zone may require a later start to some of these seeds. 

Also on the Farm

Our Livestock and Farm Days in the Cold

Luckily we do not raise any livestock that cannot handle cold weather on their own anymore! 

Though cold weather does take its toll on us as we have to go out and care for the livestock every day no matter the weather. Still, Some require a bit more time outside than others. 

Like my husbands Meishan pigs, since they don't have access to the ponds or creeks the Bald Man has to water and of course, feed every day. But they do absolutely fine in the cold weather with simple 3 sided pallet sheds! So no worries with them!

Never heard of the best homestead hog ever? You can check out a bit more about them Wikipedia_Meishan Pig and the Meishan Articles 

My Equine actually really like the cold, especially the horses! Yes, Donkeys are desert animals but healthy donkeys grow amazing thick coats for the winter and rarely go in the barn even if it snows. 

In fact some of them grow hair and an undercoat that I have actually spun into art yarn! Spinning art yarn is one of my favorite ways to spend a cold day inside plus gives me more to sell in my etsy store for extra cash (to buy more miniature horses and seeds 🤣)

The Donkeys do hide in the barn for icy rain and wind though, unlike the horses who stand outside in any weather!

Obviously, they can handle it but Rain Rot can and does happen so here is a PDF printable home remedy for Rain Rot if your donkeys or horses need it Equine Rain Rot Remedy

My equine have access to creeks and ponds that do not freeze for water and the hay stations my husband build save me from carrying hay flakes to everyone everyday! 

Making my winter chores very minimum! Most days I just walk down to the barn give them a treat and hug and get back in the warm house! 

Endless natural water supply and hay (or pasture) for days is the best way to raise horses and donkeys for me. Anything else would make them to high input and I would fall behind on the gardens. As I did with higher maintenance livestock in the past. Time management and saving time is SO important when you're trying to homestead. As I found out the hard way!

You can check out this post for making DIY Hay Feeder

It also works really well for sheep...most goats, not so much 🤣🤣

Though the Angora goats did well with it.

I hope you're keeping warm and cozy in the brutal cold that's hit the USA this winter!!

Just get out those seeds and let the spring dreams take over for a while!

Saturday the warmth came out for a few hours and I gladly took advantage and hooked up Stormy for a drive around the lower pasture.

Till next time... May you have many Homestead Blessings and Bountiful Gardens  💚

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Growing Snow peas and the best Variety for your garden

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Mmmmmm... 

Love the snow peas! It can be tricky to grow snow peas in the southeast to get a good crop. Over the years I've come up with a few little tricks to help out.

For my zone, Basically, if my snow peas aren't in the ground in February I can forget about a good crop! It's still cold here in February so how do I work around that.

How I prep and start snow peas extra early!

My secret to early snow pea success and large crops, Low tunnels! I also prep the ground by January and get my hoop cover in place. Then about 2 weeks before I plant I place hot compost, mostly horse manure because that's what I have an abundance of, around the edges on the inside of the low tunnel. This provides a tiny bit of added warmth that keeps the ground from freezing if we do have a cold snap. Keep in mind I'm in the southeast, cold snaps are short and winters are fairly mild so this hack works very well for me. Some years if it has been colder I will also add a 'black mulch' on the ground too.

When the daffodils start to bloom its time to get them in the ground! 

I do inoculate the peas which helps them along. If you're unfamiliar with inoculating peas and beans here is a good informative article. Pea Inoculation

Also here are some other ideas for winter gardening Winter Gardening Boards

When planning my gardens I keep in mind the 'givers and takers' and always plant accordingly for best results. You can grab yourself a copy of my givers and takers PDF printable guide and checklist here Givers and Takers Guide

The Snow Pea Varieties I compared

This year I planted 4 snow pea varieties. 

1. Norli ( pea in the middle ) was the first to produce and continued to produce large amounts! Much larger and longer than the other varieties. It isn't super sweet which is what I prefer.
2. The snow pea on the far right is Corne de Belier. It is much sweeter than the other varieties but just now starting to produce.
3. The pea on the far left is just starting also. Carouby De Moussane. It's the largest snow pea I've ever grown! Taste similar to Norli. 
4. The fourth variety is Dwarf snow has a few baby peas. Taste is sweet but they are few and tiny.

All these peas were planted at the same time with the exact same growing conditions. 

Other pros and cons of these varieties

Norli has a semi-bush habit which means no trellis needed! It also takes up less space and they are stringless.

The dwarf snow didn't need support but was too poor a producer. 

The other 2 varieties needed big poles for support. They never produced as much as Norli but took up more space.

Previous Snow Pea Trails 

Last year, In a previous trial, I planted Golden snow peas, Norli, and Snow Pea Melting Mammoth. Again Norli won hands down! Melting Mammoth needed support, took way to long to produce then the heat killed them out fast! Not a good variety for a large long crop in the southeast! The Goldens tasted good but were very poor producers and just not worth the time or space. 

I truly hope these growing tips and variety comparisons will help you grow a large crop of snow peas to enjoy this spring!

And if you want a huge early snow pea crop you can order Norli Seeds here from Park Seed. I am not affiliated with Park in any way I'm recommending them because they are a great company and Norli snow peas are the best! Park Seed Norli Snow Peas

🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡🏡

For beauty and fun, a Few pics of my previous Goose Flock

Off current Subject, I no longer raise any poultry, but I love looking at my old homestead photos from the past years. Geese are hands down my favorite homestead poultry if you have pasture. Without pasture, they wouldn't be very efficient but they are certainly beautiful in any case. 

I made the decision to move away from poultry at the beginning of 2018 for several reasons due to no fault of the goose! I'll write about later on. I'm still a huge fan of homestead geese. Here is a post about my favorite breeds and why they did well here to fit our needs for so long Homestead Geese
I do miss the geese!

Just a lovely site... Grazing geese...

Thanks for spending some time on my blog today!

Do check out my Pinterest boards for more garden and homestead for more ideas!
Homestead, gardening and more boards!

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Till next time.... happy homesteading and enjoy the journey!!

Garden Maintenance Checklist: January!

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Last month I was a bit late posting my Garden Maintenace Checklist so this month I wanted to get right down to business and post my Garden Maintenace Checklist for January!

I mean, January is SO exciting!! The seed catalogs are rolling in, the holidays are over so now so garden planning can truly take priority, and indoor seed sprouting for spring vegetables (for me in the southeast) begins at the end of this month!!!

I can hardly contain myself!!!🎕

This year I've got plans though not as grand as previous years perhaps. But plans to try more vertical gardening and more medicinal and tea herbs. I've got a major re-do on one of my front garden beds too.

Planning a garden can be as big or little of a project as you want. But no plan can be a hot mess! I have several Pinterest boards just for garden ideas and planning. You can check them out here Homestead and Horses Boards Don't forget to follow me if you're a planner because I post actively on them!

Here's my Garden Maintenance Checklist for January. Do keep in mind I am in the southeast zone 7 so your checklist might need to be a little different.

Checklist for January 

1. Order SEEDS! Whatever seeds you need now is the time!
2. Review last years winners and losers notes (I hope you kept notes!) Make notes about what needs to be planted this year! and what doesn't! Here is one of my posts on This year's Winners and Losers in the Garden
3. Finish up any pruning fruit trees or vines
4. Start making seed starting and planting schedules.
5. Inside you can go ahead and start Onions, hot peppers, artichokes, and rhubarb if you plant these items. I also start cold hardy spinach and greens this month that I will plant in a 'hot' bed with a low tunnel next month.
6. Outside prepare beds for greens, spinach, and peas. If I don't plant my snow peas in February I won't get a good crop! Which is totally unacceptable 🤣🤣 Check out this previous post I did on my snow peas trials Snow Pea Trials
7. Get your garden journal or planner ready. Don't have one? Check out this Pinterest board for some ideas Garden Journals

That's it for this month! But its enough isn't it? 

Now, if the weather will cooperate with my plans. That's the issue with gardening, the weather doesn't always get the memo that I need to get stuff done!

Ever an adventure but it's always an exciting one on a homestead! 

Blessings 💚

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Garden Maintenance Checklist: December!

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

Most people are planning holiday dinner parties this time of year... well not me honey! I'm in full on garden mode and ready to get this month's Garden Maintenance checklist for December all done!

Life changes when you start a homestead And life is adjusted in major ways for the Four season gardener. Seasons are certainly not about what holiday is coming up. Oh no, for the avid gardener, homesteader or kitchen gardener, we want to know; what do I prepare, what do I plant and what can I harvest!!??

Its all about the garden!💗

Maintaining a four season garden is a huge (fun!) undertaking and organization is key to success. But even if you don't garden all four seasons most of us what a spring and summer garden. Which means truly successful spring gardens are typically planned right now!
Especially for us in the southeast who want a snow pea crop! And I'm talking SNOW PEAS is what I want! Which means my actual planting in the ground starts in Feb. or I won't get a big crop.

As someone for many many years grew ALL my families veggies I have a checklist for every month and I've decided to share it with you guys!

Its truly exciting isn't it!! Preparing and planning the spring garden!

Here's my Garden Maintenance Checklist: December

1. Evaluate seed collection and make notes about what you need to order next month. Clear out and throw away any seeds that aren't viable anymore. Check  Seed Viability Guide PDF for info.
2. Get out the garden journal from last year and make notes about things you need to have ready this year. Such as homemade organic pest sprays, frost blankets, veggies that did well to re-order.
3. Service the rototiller if you use one so you don't get caught in the spring rush
4. Spread ashes and compost over gardens. 
5. If you do no-till gardens like most of mine (but not all) apply a thick layer of compost and thick layer leaf mulch. This has not only enriched my soil but also keeps weeds in check for gardens that aren't planted until late April or May. 
6. Get seed starting equipment ready and order what you need.
7. Prune grapevines or in my case muscadine vines :-)
8. I like start planning my layout during this month, planting light takers where heavy takers were in the previous year and planting heavy takers were givers were planted. Here is a free PDF printable of the takers and givers to help you plan. GARDENING GIVERS AND TAKERS GUIDE
9. I also like to walk the property with my husband and show him/make lists of what needs has to be done before planting, like repair the greenhouse, bring compost up from the barn, etc...

I keep a planner of 'garden projects' to do and like to go over them and see if there's anything I can fit in. Such as trying a spiral herb garden or building a new potting bench area.

Its crazy fun to plan a garden if you are prepared and organized so you don't get overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed is never fun.

I hope my checklist helps you plan your best garden ever!! 

Garden Vegetable Lists : Comparing Winners and Losers 2016 Results

I wanted to share my garden vegetable list of experiments this year! It was a good year in my garden.

This year I had some outstanding harvests. Gardening is a huge part of our farm and makes up the majority of our food supply. It's also the biggest money saver on the farm.

**ALL photos you see are from my actual Homestead. I do not need to use purchased stock photos. What you see on my blog is REAL! 

For the last 6 years no matter how small something is always growing in my garden.

In the fall and winter, there may be greens, onions, garlic, spinach, and carrots ... Early spring with mass amounts snow peas, carrots, broccoli, more greens, radishes, and kohlrabi .. Summers filled with tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, okra, peppers, squash, grain corn and more! 

This extra long Summer's end has left us still with peppers, okra, wild tomatoes and sweet potatoes not yet gathered!

Waiting for that first frost to sweeten the fall/winter greens! Spinach, broccoli, cabbage and hopefully Brussel sprouts!!

The garden is never boring. It's a ton of work. But boring?? NO! 

Gardening at this rate can be totally overwhelming if you have other things going on. 

Like kids or like trying to handle livestock, gardens and a farm business! Or simply just trying to actually enjoy living your life! 

Overwhelm happens on a farm but especially when you are trying to level up and grow a part of the farm. Which is what I've done with my garden every year so far. 

And no matter how good you think you are at gardening... There will be failures!

Every single year...

No matter how tried and true you plant the weather will rule your outcome.

Now this year, yes, I had huge harvests and lots of success. 

But I also had loads of fails this year, mostly because I did a lot of experimenting. Never know till you try and garden experiments are so much fun for me! I'm a major plant geek so that helps fuel the motivation for the extra work and time garden experiments take!

So this year winners and losers in the garden list!

Winners:

•little tyke cucumbers ( extra early hybrid) planted in wall o waters in March. I was harvesting cucumbers in April! Seeds and Such is where I found these little gems! Great seed company!

•Red stripped greasy beans( hands down best tasting green bean I've ever eaten, we loved these! unfortunately so did the rabbits.. Next year I will protect longer!)

•paymaster dent corn (grain corn that can be grown on sub-standard soil,, needs another run because my goslings broke in and ruined most of it. But it did produce even without the additional mid fertilizing I have to give other grain corn)

•red ripper cowpea

•Dixie Lima peas

•Bertha low Lima beans

•snow on the mountain Lima beans

•Charleston grey watermelon (amazing! but have ALOT of space for these guys!)

•spaghetti squash ( 88 days, netted and planted with protection extra early to avoid SVB. When planted late it couldn't hold up to the heat.

•tender green mustard ... Love!

•dragon tongue mustard. So hardy! But very hot and sharp! Needs frost to mellow the flavor. 

•glacier tomatoes, This is an extra early, more cold tolerate tomato and only does well here ( zone 7) planted extra early! Done right this plant will give you tomatoes by the end of May/first of June. Which is way better than waiting until July for most tomatoes! They do die out at the end of June. 

•sugar Ann ... Great sugar snap peas! Early and long producing for a pea here!

Losers never to be planted again...

• any *new* specially bred OP tomato! ugh! I devoted huge space to plant these newly improved tomatoes .. none of them could hold up in the humidity here. Some never produced a single tomato, some produced a small number of unimpressive tasting tomatoes! I'll stick with my 3 tried and true favorites next year! Maybe try one of the hybrid specifically bred for humidity! 

•mouse melons .. Hardly produced until late summer. Took up a lot of space. Then they produced a load of tiny fruit and have an odd, unappealing texture. Nope!

• buttercup squash.., supposed to be more insect-resistant .. Lol! Produce 2 squash and died from SVB!

• shark fin melon ... It's huge .. Grew and grew took over a huge area. It's weird and it produced 2.. Never again!

• cassabanana ... No.. Just no!!

•triple treat pumpkins... A naked seeded pumpkin that's supposed to be good for eating, 'naked' seed production and carving, Produced 3. They were terrible keepers. Not a lot of seeds.

So.. No...

•Job's tears... Used as a grain like barley. They grew beautifully! I had high hopes for these as an alternative grain. Formed perfect seeds and then kinda molded ☹️ not good for high humidity obviously..,I may try a different variety at some point. 

•tiger nuts... Grew great!! Produced well, But what a pain to harvest and clean!!! If there was an easier way to harvest them they'd be great. Very hard to see them! Would be good in a food plot to draw in turkeys.

•any variety of sweet corn ... Just no! They suck up a huge amount of nutrients, attract pest like crazy and take a lot of space For very little food. And are kinda a one trick pony compared to a good heirloom dent grain corn. Which can be eaten off the cob in its milky stage or left to dry for cornmeal either way. Dent corn Cobs can be used to make corn cob syrup too!(which I made this year and it's amazing!) 

• flour or flint corns... They are just to attractive to pest here. And they typically only produce 1 ear per stalk. I like dents that produce 2 ears per stalk. For obvious reasons.

• any snow pea but Norli ... I planted 4 different types this year and others the previous year. Snow peas don't exactly like this climate and must be planted very early to get a crop .. I plant in February.

 Most snow peas still yield too little for me, All but Norli. I won't bother with any other again.

•runner beans... Did surprisingly well planted extra early but wow! They take up tons of space! Not worth the space for the yield they gave to me. 

• fava beans... They are yummy and different but they yield low and I've decided they must hate it here. Only 1 variety I planted produced anything. I'd rather just have more snow peas planted in their space.

I think that sums up all the experiments this year!! Except for the sweet potatoes which haven't been all harvested yet. I planted 8 different heirloom varieties! Can't wait to get digging!

I don't experiment to this extent every year. Years I've had commitments to livestock I just don't have the extra time, unfortunately. Downsizing the livestock is going to have to happen. The gardens have just become too big of a money saver and key in self-reliance. 

Part of the reason I'm able to grow all our veggies and grain corn is that I experiment so it's really important! 

For a garden list comparing Snow peas check out this post- Snow Pea Variety Comparison

and for my January Garden Checklist go here What to do for the garden in January

Hope some of you in zone 7 find this helpful! 

Blessings for great future gardens!!! 

To help you achieve this check out this free GIvers and Takers Garden checklist to help you plan your garden! Givers and Takers Checklist PDF