Planting Sweet Poatoes

a great post on how to grow sweet potatoes, with pictures and a video:

http://awaytogarden.com/let-there-be-sweet-potatoes-how-to-plant-them

On my garden plan, I have a spot for "vine-y thing that amuses me".  I didn't know what I wanted there, but I figured I would come across something at the green house.

I did.

Sweet potatoes.

I've never grown sweet potatoes before..  so after planting them in the ground, I looked up how to plant them.  Yeah, I should have reversed that process.  They can't stay where they are, it sounds like they would take over that entire area....  and the ground up there is not really soft enough.  So I'll add a long raised bed in the back yard, and move them, and look for something else for that empty spot in my garden.  I'm sure I will find something.  :-)

These vines are so pretty..  I don't think I got a purple leaved variety.  But I will next year!

This site, from the photo above, has SO much information on how to grow sweet potatoes.. It's almost overwhelming,there is so much here:

http://www.onthegreenfarms.com/fruit-vegetable/how-to-grow-organic-sweet-potatoes-and-yams/

My favorite articles tell about others experiences growing things, that is what this article is..  although it's a bit larger scale than I plan to plant.  This year, at least.  :-)

http://myfolia.com/journals/59128-how-we-grow-sweet-potatoes

Black plastic is suggested for us northerners, to warm the soil up earlier.

http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-grow-sweet-potatoes/

Over all, it looks like the important things are:
Do not over water.  Near harvest, do not water at all.
Plant in loose soil.
Be prepared for the vines to take over the space.

Another informative article 

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/veggies/sweetpotato.cfm

At the Livestock Auction this afternoon

The sale seems to run later and later every week.  It is almost 3:30 now, and there is still a pen and a half of sheep before they will get to the goats.

Lots of changes here in the last year.  The computer system is a great upgrade.  We used to have to wait for the paper slips to travel up to the office before we could pay for what we bought.  Now we can walk up immediately, pay, and leave.

They used to sell the sheep after the goats and poultry, now they sell between the calves and goats.  I don't know what prompted the change, but it used to be you would only see a few sheep here. Often none at all.  This spring there are full pens of sheep, every week.  Sometimes there appear to be as many sheep here as there are calves.  There is one pen of really adorable yearlings, with long pretty fur. Another pen has 8 older sheep that do not look healthy at all.  :-(

There is a lot more poultry here ever& week too.  We brought in a crate of sex link hens, and a duck, today- cleaning out some of my excess poultry.  I prefer the "prettier" breeds, so the plain sex links are being sold to make more room for them.  Last year my hens hatched out some really pretty babies, I can't keep everything, and I want to keep these.  The duck I like, but he is male and tries to mate with my hens- he's hard on them, ripping feathers from their necks, so he is being sold.  He was dropped off at my house with some hens last year, I don't think he knows he is a duck.

There are several crates of meat chickens here, they look like they have come out of a commercial barn. Not full grown, but well started. A few boxes of rabbits, and at least two boxes with a hen and babies. One box has 8 week old barred rock chicks. I'd take them home, but with my luck they would all be roosters.

There are only 6 goats here today.  A boer nanny & 2 babies thatis thin and wormy looking, but obviously friendly and a good mom.  I wasn't looking for a boer goaat, but as I watch her, I just like her.  She has a good temperment.  Another boer, looks like a 4H or show goat.  Aloof. A little overfed.  A black dwarf baby, and a large, gorgreous, all black boer.  For looks, I was watching her.  I don't have an all black goat, she'd be a nice addition.  But she is not very friendly, and is a little aggressive towards the others.  I'm going to watch, but I wont pay too much for her.

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Absolute insanity with the goat prices today. Kids sold for $110. Nannies went for $160 and up. I have no idea what that was about, prices are normally about half to 3/4 of that. So no new goats for me today! I bought a grey hen and her 9 peeps for $5. I didn't need them, but I have a weakness for grey hens, and for babies.

Working on the Garden Plan today

Most of this is already in..  but I have not yet transplanted the peas.  They were grown in the field, but did not do well at all.  There are enough plants out there to move to this garden, but they will not be ready before the sweet corn goes in that field..  so I'll transplant them to here.  And still have room in front for something else, I think.

This is not to scale - each section but the one on the right is the length of a railroad tie.  The last one, on the right, is a short section.

Fencing Progress 5/10/12

The posts were finally, finally pounded into the ground yesterday.  We're using square cut locust from a local lumber mill, for two sides of the fence.  The fence is an L shape, so it's sort of 3 sides - the inside of the L - that will be done this way.  The outside (bottom) of the short end of the L is bordered by our front pasture - we'll put the field wire on the inside of that, but the posts are already in, with electric wire on them.  The outside (back) of the L will be metal posts - they are already in from the previous fence here, and since you don't really see them, I don't care.  The front needs to look nice, because this is the view from our front porch.

Getting the fencing guy here was frustrating to say the least...  he didn't show up the first 3 times, and on the day he finally arrived he was scheduled to be here at 9am.  At 10 he called to say he was on his way.  He lives 5 minutes from us.  At 11 Dan called to check on him, he said he had to pick up his assistant yet.  He finally got here at 1pm.  Ugh!

But he did great work, and he was cheap.

While he was here, we had him put in posts for the horse hitching area, for a turkey pen, and posts to repair the bottom of the front pasture where the drunk driver went through last year.  

The field wire, starting to go up on the outside..  I am loving how nice this looks!  The posts are uneven - Dan will chainsaw them off after the wire is attached.  (Actually, that is what he is doing as I type this post)

for a reminder, this was the before:

more of the before here:

http://hickoryspringfarm.blogspot.com/2012/04/fencing-project-before.html

Black Raspberry Bushes

Black Raspberry bushes.  I just dumped dirt on top of landscape cloth (which was down last year, the grass under there is dead) and mounded it up around the plants.  Last year Piper, the goat, got loose and ate off every raspberry bush I planted, none came back.  :-(  All of this new fencing project has been slow and annoying, but when I'm so excited about it, because when the new fencing is DONE, the goats should be truly contained.

Already, since we downsized our goat herd, we have not had any loose.  They are respecting the temporary electric fence, so the new super duty goat fence should definitely work. I hope!

You can't see the wire running between the poles here - there are two strands, to support the bushes as they grow.

Raised Beds - Planned & Planted

Most years I look at Companion Planting guides, and then I go out and plant the garden willy nilly.  This year I wanted to follow some of the suggestions.  So when I made my plan (I use microsoft publisher, 5x7 page size, create a grid for the veggies, and add notes to the right.  Save each page as a jpg, send to my phone..  voila, portable, digital, garden planning)

I planted cabbage right in the herb bed this year, because the smell of the herbs, and marigolds, are supposed to help repel the cabbage worms.  I planted catnip in the backyard too, because it is supposed to help repel fleas. 

Currently there are 3 raised, Modified Square Foot Garden, boxes in my back yard.  Below are the planning sheets, followed by a photo of what the box looks like planted.  I do not have tomatoes in the ground here yet, but everything else is in.

Three Sisters Garden

A Three Sisters Garden Consists of Corn, Beans, and Squash.  I've wanted to plant one for years.

Planting Chart

Today I found this great planting chart for one - 

http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html

But this version is so pretty..  I might try this?

http://gardengnomewanderings.blogspot.com/2010/07/three-sisters-garden-bed.html

This wouldn't allow for a lot of corn, but it would be great for some of the varieties I like to grow for decoration.  And it would look cool up near the chicken coop...

Squanto's Garden Ebook

And I found reference to a free ebook, but the post didn't include a link.  When I did a google search for the ebook, I found the pdf file, no need to give an email address or sign up for anything, it is just here:

http://www.kywisp.com/gov/squanto.pdf  (I am running it through calibre to make it an epub, then I will add it to my Aldiko app on my phone, to read)

What Kinds Of Beans, Corn, & Squash?

I enjoyed this site because it gives info not only on what type they planted, but also how they harvest and store them.  I really want to try drying squash like this for soups!

http://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/research/threesisters.htm