My wild success was my potato crop that I planted from $1 bags of potatoes at the grocery store. I hear reports that store bought potatoes are sprayed with something that prevents eyes from growing, but every year, I plant them anyway. My ratio was nearly 4 to 1 pounds this year and I'm thrilled.
My chickens are doing well and I have four layers, two roosters, and two pullets that haven't started laying yet. Having two roosters is a problem and one has to go, but as usual - despite my public bravado - it's not an easy task and I am delaying the inevitable.
My freezer still has eight chickens from this summer and I need to start consuming them.
My other crops such as beans, peas, carrots, and beets were either over-grown by weeds, eaten by a woodchuck, or didn't come up properly. Edwin's garden next door turned out well, but throughout Southern New Hampshire, it seems like squash and pumpkins didn't do well at all.
Finally, my dear apple trees produced this year, but without spraying them, the apples suffered.
I had an interesting conversation with a family friend about growing apples. I sent him a link to a wonderful short course on pollination by Richard Norton. Did you know that crab apple trees are hands-down the best pollinators?
My Mom asked him why my brother's orchard in the Twin Cities Minnesota area has pears and apples didn't require any pesticides. My brother's apples and pears are flawless!
Mike replied saying, 'Whenever a storm blows up the coast, especially from the Gulf of Mexico region, the orchards that I help out at are plagued by bugs and disease.'
Interesting.
1 comment:
We don't spray our tree, but it doesn't matter to me. I'm going to make pie and applesauce anyway. I save the best for lunch. Plus they all still taste good.
Our berries did great because of all the rain. They are hanging in heavy clusters like grapes on a vine.
We never ate our chickens. We had them mainly for eggs. Nothing like a fresh egg.
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