Hello fellow gardeners! I’ve been off the site for number of years, and I thought you folks who might remember me would like an update.
I made my health a priority, and discovered, among other things, that my health was vastly improved by the installation of a pacemaker… because my heart was going one third slower than it should’ve been. This gave me the energy to do a number of things, including focus back on my garden.
I’m 65 years old now. Because of that, we had a landscape designer put in raised beds so that I can literally sit on the edge of them while I’m gardening and be able to do this far into my retirement years. And in the 10 years since I started following Peak Prosperity the edible landscape is doing well. Our 1-foot high bare-root Mulberry tree has grown to 25 feet tall, our peach tree died of old age, Our apple trees are starting to bear, and we have two different types of pear trees on the property as well as a chestnut tree. Our hazelnuts did not work out all that well, but our grapevines are doing beautifully.
I learned a great deal about gardening in the Carolina Midlands. One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that if you want to control weeds, intentionally pick something invasive to cover the area you don’t want anything else to grow in. For example, we have a bed of sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes is their other well-known name) in the back of a raised bed that’s too deep for me to reach conveniently.
We consistently get good yields out of our fig tree, And I’ve become very proficient at saving last season’s seeds. I wish all of you a happy and prosperous 2021, and am doing very well indeed.
Glad to hear you’re in good health, as well as learn of the nice progress your homestead’s food production has made over the years.
Nice to see you back on the site 
It is amazing what an unlimited budget can do for good customer service! For the rest of us, maybe not so good.
Wendy, it is so good to see you back! I had been concerned about your well-being when you stopped posting, as you’d mentioned having health issues when last we heard from you. I’m so glad you found a solution with the pacemaker, and that it has brought you renewed energy!
I’m glad you are reaping your well-deserved rewards from your garden. And don’t worry about the hazelnuts; you didn’t miss out. Mine grew beautifully, but the rotten squirrels always strip them bare before they are ripe enough to harvest!
Welcome back!
Okay…they are nibbling away on my young broccoli transplants …Is there a way to set a have-a-heart trap and bait it for them? I ‘ve had porcupines scale the 8’ fence before but this is tiny nibble stuff. There is 1” chicken wire at the bottom of the fence buried and up 18” . Just can’t figure out how they are getting in.
And …Hi Wendy…I always enjoyed our conversations. Glad you are back.
I use a have-a-heart trap all the time for rabbits in my garden. Oddly enough, carrots seem to work quite well as a bait. Also have use trail cams to try to figure out how rabbits get into the garden thru the fence and what they are doing. I also use a pellet rifle from time to time, but the trap is the best thing I have found to keep the rabbits under control as they often come and go in the night.
So good to have you back, and to hear all is well.
Got up early with my shotgun…saw a huge wabbit and he or she became breakfast for my cat. Had to have been living in the garden which is 125’ x 125’, and is well fenced. I hate to kill stuff but at least it is being eaten by Paris (my female cat named after Paris Hilton) . Now to replant some broccoli transplants … Potatoes are breaking through the ground… Have 12 early tomato plants out and a few squash and cukes… in case we have no more freezes. Life in South Central Texas is good just 2 weeks after 6 degree weather.
oog:
I think I’m jealous. My base snow cover is down to about 15", but after the recent cold snap it’s pretty much all ice. Oh, and a light snowfall is in progress.
This is why I’m staring out my kitchen window day after day imagining a new glass greenhouse attached to my chicken-and-tool shed next to the garage. It’d have a solar-sink north wall. I think I could grow cold-hardy veggies in such a setup pretty much all year. I could certainly keep some root crops in the soil over winter. And it’d be accessible, unlike the large plastic-covered hoop house down at the lower garden that requires snowshoes to get to. (If I build it, it’ll be summer 2022’s project.)
#NorthCountryWinterDreams
The wabbits ate my cabbage and carrots. I had two cabbages left from my winter garden, almost ready to harvest. Checked them yesterday and both were eaten by wabbits. They have also done damage to my carrots too. And, something ate one of my prize broccoli heads. That’s why we have to plant extra. The wabbits have to eat too. Can’t shoot wabbits in the community garden. I do still have one purple cabbage left. Wabbits must not like purple cabbage.
The wabbits I bag become stew. I love them. They are as much a consequence of my garden as a potato or carrot. My garden “grows” rabbits in the same way that it grows vegetables.