Gardening / Homesteading

[The Guy In Pants]

20 hours ago, Jabba The Hutt said:

 

#1 need on a preppers list should always be as many fruit trees as you can stuff in your yard.

 

💗

 

We have a few but not like we want. As soon as this land thing is final; going to have quite a few. We have some peaches, persimmons and apple. I have my grapes in wheeled containers at the moment to move them around.

 

[Jabba The Hutt]

8 hours ago, The Guy In Pants said:

 

💗

 

We have a few but not like we want. As soon as this land thing is final; going to have quite a few. We have some peaches, persimmons and apple. I have my grapes in wheeled containers at the moment to move them around.

 

Don't forget the Cherries, plums, pears, nectarines...persimmons are way underrated especially the Asian/American non-astringent cross they finally hybridized. 

[IDBillzFan]

On 2/22/2023 at 10:54 AM, Jabba The Hutt said:

Don't forget the Cherries, plums, pears, nectarines...persimmons are way underrated especially the Asian/American non-astringent cross they finally hybridized. 

 

One thing to keep in mind here is when you plant fruit trees, you often need to put two (or more) of the same trees near each other to cross pollinate. I think it's like 150' apart, or something along those lines.

 

I'm sure it's obvious to everyone, but worth mentioning just in case.

[Jabba The Hutt]

3 hours ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

One thing to keep in mind here is when you plant fruit trees, you often need to put two (or more) of the same trees near each other to cross pollinate. I think it's like 150' apart, or something along those lines.

 

I'm sure it's obvious to everyone, but worth mentioning just in case.

Correct, unless monoecious or self-fertile. To me it's a complete waste of space planting more than 20 ft apart for ANY tree. 

[Ann]

40 minutes ago, Jabba The Hutt said:

Correct, unless monoecious or self-fertile. To me it's a complete waste of space planting more than 20 ft apart for ANY tree. 

Any tree? Or any fruit tree? 

[Jabba The Hutt]

9 hours ago, Ann said:

Any tree? Or any fruit tree? 

Well, even for ornamentals I love to get as many species in as possible, wood is always useful as well. Some people like the look of pines and oaks that are 75 feet wide.

[Ann]

4 minutes ago, Jabba The Hutt said:

Well, even for ornamentals I love to get as many species in as possible, wood is always useful as well. Some people like the look of pines and oaks that are 75 feet wide.

There are a lot of trees that should be spaced more than 20’ apart. Also, there are many trees that should planted more than 50’ away from a foundation.

[Jabba The Hutt]

4 minutes ago, Ann said:

There are a lot of trees that should be spaced more than 20’ apart. Also, there are many trees that should planted more than 50’ away from a foundation.

Lots of those foundation worries are unfounded. Same with a lot of trees around septic systems. Most people worry too much and never actually test out wether or not these things occur. 

[Ann]

On 2/24/2023 at 7:02 AM, Jabba The Hutt said:

Lots of those foundation worries are unfounded. Same with a lot of trees around septic systems. Most people worry too much and never actually test out wether or not these things occur. 

 

So, when we bought our house in the Buffalo 'burbs they had a lot of trees planted close to the house. I had seven removed immediately,  but it was too late. A few years later we had to have two basement foundation walls repaired, and steel beams installed for structural integrity. Due to trees.

 

The structural engineer we hired said that in tne beginning of his career he said 25' was enough, he now (now at the time of the work) recommended 100'. We still had a few trees left about 50' away, and I asked him about keeping those. He told me that was the "minimum."

 

While the repairs cost quite a few dollars,  those two walls were never going anywhere. 

[Jabba The Hutt]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

 

So, when we bought out house in the Buffalo 'burbs they had a lot of trees planted close to the house. I had seven removed immediately,  but it was too late. A few years later we had to have two basement foundation walls repaired, and steel beams installed for structural integrity. Due to trees.

 

The structural engineer we hired said that in tne beginning of his career he said 25' was enough, he now (now at the time of the work) recommended 100'. We still had a few trees left about 50' away, and I asked him about keeping those. He told me that was the "minimum."

 

While the repairs cost quite a few dollars,  those two walls were never going anywhere. 

Wow, must've been strong trees. Oaks?

[Ann]

Just now, Jabba The Hutt said:

Wow, must've been strong trees. Oaks?

 

Maples

[Jabba The Hutt]

53 minutes ago, Ann said:

 

Maples

Aha, makes sense. Yeah, a lot of those stronger large trees definitely have the strength to do damage for sure. If you plant those types of trees you can't just let them grow you need to keep them real small like a japanese maple so the root system can't get out of control.

[B-Man]

 

 

 

[The Guy In Pants]

22 hours ago, B-Man said:

 

 

 

 

I will attest to the "magic" of being in the garden or just outside in general. 

 

I believe that since we are Gods creation which was made from his creation, there is a strong connection between ourselves and the rest of it. Science is not a contradictor of grand design as there are many studies that prove the connection as well as things such as frequencies and their ability to impact our lives in many ways. I find myself most at peace when I am in the garden or just outside in general. Walking barefoot was recommended to me by my cousin when I was struggling. What a difference it makes.

[The Guy In Pants]

Been a gardening fool as of late. Nice to have some time to be able to squeeze it in. 

 

My wife's other grandfather, the one we are taking care of since her grandma, mom  and aunt have passed; fell 3 times in the last week. We are out there multiple times a week and I swing by on the way home from work to do things for him. Poor guy couldn't get Solitaire on his computer to work the other day lol; I fixed it for him and he was very grateful.

 

We've asked her cousin (his only other grandchild) to assist in taking care of him since the taint doesn't work. Unfortunately; she hasn't been able to find time for him given the white trash to do list is so overwhelming for her. Which I suppose is not a bad thing; just means I don't have to worry about any thefts from him. We did convince the lot to send their youngest son who is so overweight, his face turns red when he is eating or even thinks about eating; to stay with him for the summer to help out. He lasted less than 24 hours before the grandfather caught him stealing money. The way it was told to me he was stuffing money in his pockets while sobbing. He wailed when caught and said he did it because he missed his mom. A bag of Doritos may have prevented the attempt to steal money but I am not certain. 

 

I actually feel horrible about the children's situation. We have tried to get them involved with local farms and such to give them things to do and look forward to but mom and dad just can't pry themselves away from doing nothing, to do something for them. The youngest son does gravitate toward me at gatherings, his family picks on him because of his weight including his parents, but I assure him in different ways that he can and will do some good things in his life. His latest is he wants to play football. I gave him some easy exercises to do. Might help him anyway. I doubt he's doing any of them though.

 

They live on about 12-14 acres with a pond, a barn FOR FREE. They pay nothing. It was a great grandmothers home, in the country. They sold all the farm equipment that they DID NOT OWN. The grandfather pays the taxes. He recently lost insurance due to the condition of the home. Windows are boarded up instead of fixed and its a trash heap. But; instead of fixing it up or caring for their children, they have successfully put a lift kit on a Jeep Cherokee so they could take it off road as well as worked their tail off to buy a gently used Shadow motorcycle in the past few months since they don't have a good car. They were driving the grandpas 1988 Ranger.....but they totaled it.......his 1993 conversion van....they rear ended someone and totaled it...... oh shit; yeah forgot about the 1998 Jimmy. Totaled. Wrapped around a tree. She was drunk. She lived. It was 10:30 in the morning. She did not receive a citation. My wife's father who died in his car accident on the way to work; was cited for not wearing a seatbelt although HE WAS DECEASED at the scene. Funny how that works. 

 

Seems like I got off on a tangent. Whoopsies. 

 

Anyway; so when the grandfather we are buying land from came to see us Sunday; we explained to him that there was a possibility the grandfather who fell would be coming to live with us. He said "That's an awful small house to have 3 people in". I should have said "well, if someone would have had the land surveyed when I asked, our home would be almost done" LOL but instead I explained we didn't have a lot of options. My wife may go and live with him if the visit with the doc tomorrow expresses that need. We will cross that bridge when we get there. The most important thing is he didn't get hurt bad when he fell and we need to just make sure he is taken care of. We take him to breakfast every Sunday and he finally admitted he may need help this past Sunday. Finally. Hard headed old man.

 

Anyway; upright today. Day 3 of a sharp stabbing pain in the left side of my head. Assuming allergies since I have been outside in the beautiful weather. God is too good to us. I certainly deserve nothing I have. As much as I complain, he should probably give up.

 

Hope everyone is good and has a good Wednesday. I have an itch to finally do a YouTube vid on something but I just don't know what. Maybe I will. 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by The Guy In Pants

[The Guy In Pants]

Walked the property again looking to lay out a little better. About 4 acres of this relatively flat and drains well. Different soil on this side of the property. This is where we plan on adding the gardens and more fruit trees.

 

 

[Fansince88]

52 minutes ago, The Guy In Pants said:

Walked the property again looking to lay out a little better. About 4 acres of this relatively flat and drains well. Different soil on this side of the property. This is where we plan on adding the gardens and more fruit trees.

 

 

Never mind the garden, what kind of vegetation is that!?

[The Guy In Pants]

9 hours ago, Fansince88 said:

Never mind the garden, what kind of vegetation is that!?

 

Mostly pine saplings back in there. Her grandpa had much of the timber removed some odd 10 years ago. These are all volunteers. I am trying to maintain a buffer between properties and I finally got around to removing the wall of briars so we could get back there. It was larger than I figured and the property line he gave us is actually wrong according to the deed my wife has. shows we would own a little further back. 

 

This is around the area where the pigs and goats used to be kept on the old farm. It's the only part of the wooded that has the most grass and the soil is different. Seems less clay. 

Edited March 2, 2023 by The Guy In Pants

[Fansince88]

This guy is tremendous @The Guy In Pants Wasted about 3 hours binge watching his page.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Fansince88

[The Guy In Pants]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:20 PM, Fansince88 said:

This guy is tremendous @The Guy In Pants Wasted about 3 hours binge watching his page.

 

 

Yes sir; very familiar with him. Some creators are a tad boring but he is pretty good.