Introduction from Michigan

[Onatah]

Hello fellow gardeners!

I just joined today so thought I'd start off with a short introduction.
I live on a small homesteading farm in northwestern Michigan. After having health issues preventing me from gardening for about three years now, I was finally able to get back at it this year. I wanted to freeze and can much of my harvest but I made plenty of mistakes along the way. I did get a lot of corn put up in the freezer and diced peppers, onions, etc. The canning? Well, I guess I have plenty of jars to start with next year. *sigh*

I will be even more determined than ever next year. Hopefully I'll also be more educated and organized. Hope to learn a lot from this forum.

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome! Great to have you here

 

[DeborahJane]

Welcome Onatah. I'm sure you've done a better job than me at the veg thing. I think I left picking my asparagus a bit late!

 

[marlingardener]

This has been a difficult year for gardeners all over the USA, so don't worry about not getting as much production as you had hoped. The gardener's mantra: "There's always next season!"
Welcome to this site, and we'll do all we can to help you fill those canning jars!

 

[Onatah]

Thank you so much for the warm welcome!

I'd LOVE to try asparagus growing. Hubby vetoed that idea since we know someone who farms it. Guess that's where I'll 'cheat' and just buy it.
I think I got a bit carried away in trying so many new things I hadn't grown before. I did learn what likes our soil and what doesn't, though. Already started my growing list for next year. I even purchased a couple mini pigs that will be turned loose into my large garden for clean up soon. Hoping they will help not just till it up (it's surrounded by chain link and quite large) but we have a lot of grubs in there. I was picking them as we rototilled last spring and tossing them into my pond. Was fun to see the bass and bluegill go nuts but I'd prefer not doing this job myself. Yuck. Then I figure they can re-till in the early spring and we will go over it with the rototiller after they have had their fun.

One thing I NEED to learn is the best way to support a lot of tomatoes. I'm so incredibly sad at the huge bounty I could have had but rotted against the ground before I could gather them. If they went ripe, they went bad. My onions tasted great but were really small. Most of my green peppers were oddly shaped stubbies but still better this year than when I tried growing them a few years ago. Then we had a bad experience with the place where we bought seeds selling us the wrong seeds so we got crocknecks instead of summer squash, etc. Much of our bean seeds never came up and none of the leeks.

But, like you said ... "There's always next season!"

I raise and show rabbits so have a LOT of rabbit manure so they will have plenty to till up for us when I dump my winter treasure trove inside come springtime.

 

[Sheal]

Welcome to the forum Onatah. The pigs sound like fun and they will certainly help to give your ground a clean up. Perhaps you could post pictures of them at a later point please.

 

[Onatah]

While I was raised on a commercial hog farm with full sized hogs, I loved the idea of smaller pigs for less damage and easier management.
These two are our first. I hope to add more and/or have these bred. My granddaughters named them Charlotte and Cutie Pie. Garden tilling and fertilizing all in one cute... okay, two cute packages! We affectionately call them the bacon bits.

 

[Trellum]

Hello there and welcome to the forum! You got a really lovely farm, at least that's what I can tell from the pictures you have shared and the things you have said on here Best of luck with your hog farm!