My Half Acre Homestead: Almost There!

The Garden is Half In!

Well Its May 15th a little early..But I am going away for a week On the 19th..so I needed to get in what I could...I already have my tomato planters hanging in the porch til I get home...The Squash are doing well in their frost teepees...

The Potatoes I planted in the tire and flower pot containers ..

They are now sprouting after two days of rain...

And today my son and I got in the Cabbage Plants..a Row of Carrots..some pickling cukes and three rows of beans!

I had started the Cabbage plants from seed..and today I planted the small plants under a cabbage tent..This was made from Willow whips and a frost blanket..held on with clothes pegs ( GOOD clothes pegs)

I originally had the willow whips much higher..BUT..the frost blanket was not wide enough..( I should have bought two)

Here you can see how High the originally were...But I had to cut them down a bit..These willow whips were given to me by a friend who bought them at IKEA and soaked them in a rain barrel to make them supple again..I Made a hole on each side of the row with a piece of 1/4 inch dowel ...I hammered the dowel into the ground..pulled it out and push wthe whip in and repeated on the other side.

I then folded the frost balnket over top and pegged it to the whips..and pegged the ends closed. This method serves two purposes..One..to keep the frost off the young plants. And two allow sunlight and rain in while keeping those sweet little white moths..

From laying eggs on my cabbage..because once the worms hatch..they make your cabbage look like swiss cheese!

I planted cabbage once many years ago..and it was so full of holes I did not know if I could save it!

I threw all the cabbages in the bathtub and soaked them in cold water with a cup of pickling salt thrown in..the worms literally crawled out of every hole..I threw away the cabbages..and never planted them again...

So This year..I AM..and I am hoping this pesticide free route will allow me to grow my own worm free cabbages for my sauerkraut!

I would reccomend if you are going to use this method..Buy TWO of these frost blankets and join them down the middle..this will give you cabbage LOTS of room to grow!!

So the formal ( square ) garden in half in...