KREESTUH’S GARDEN PROGRESS 2022: More Plants, More Problems

KREESTUH’S GARDEN PROGRESS 2022: MORE PLANTS, MORE PROBLEMS


What Is This?

This thread exists to to chronicle my 2022 gardening efforts for the year. Expect regular pics and updates about how I’m either saving or murdering plants. You can check out last year’s progress thread here.


Technical Details

Climate

Growing Zone: 6B ( See Map )
Climate: Moderate - 4 Distinct Seasons
Average January Temp: 25F (-3C)
Average July Temp: 87F (30C)

My Land

Acreage: 4.5 acres
Topography: Mostly flat, slightly hilly in a few places. A good portion of the land is old horse pasture; lots of tough grass and weeds. The back half of the land is an orchard + woodland. Over the last year I’ve had a member of the Kentucky Forestry department come and examine my land to give me pointers for managing the forest; and I’ve started on a small raised bed patch for growing veggies and grapes.

(Last Updated 1/11/2022)

Table of Contents


TL:DR;

Mods are asleep, post plant pics.

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Jan 2022 Update: Wintertime Blues


The Winter Garden

Because the outside has been looking like the below image lately, there hasn’t been much gardening going on outside:

But there IS a little bit going on inside, with a new AeroGarden we got for Christmas…


A New Indoor AeroGarden

This is our first foray into an hydroponic style system. An Aerogarden is just a ready made kit with a grow light, seeds/growing medium, a reservoir for water, and water-soluble nutrient liquid. This little herb garden is currently growing:

  • Basil
  • Thai Basil
  • Mint (which I will likely transplant at some point because lol at mint in a container this tiny)
  • Dill
  • Thyme
  • Parsley

Some people in last year’s thread asked about how to get started gardening, and while the startup cost for one of these is a bit high, I have to say I’m impressed by how well it works thus far. Obviously it’s easier to throw a pot of dirt on your porch with some seeds, but if you’re starved for sunlight and space (say in a small apartment), this is a great option. The germination rate has been good with the seeds and I’m hoping this will be a good way for us to keep herbs in the house during the winter months. I’ll post more as they continue to grow!

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I got my mom one of those Aerogardens for Christmas, it seems to be working well so far. I believe closer to spring she’s going to be using it to start seeds for the summer.

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I think that it’s technically a hydroponic system. IIRC aquaponics are when you are growing plants (hydroponic) and raising fish (aquaculture) in the same system. (Which are really cool from what I’ve seen)

Do you feel that it’s worth the price over a DIY solution?

Oh yep you’re right, i always get those confused. I will update!

My husband has been looking into this particular kind for a while which is why we got one, but I’d say it’s a decent value for the money, especially if you don’t want to fool with all the tools and parts required to make your own. (Only semi related, but that’s one of my biggest pet peeves about home DIY channels, they make it look so easy but they have a truckload of special tools and a carpenter on site, C’MON)

I definitely sympathize, it can be very hard to find a DIY channel that actually feels like the level of janky DIY that I actually have the tools/ability for.

I’d have to look closer at one of those units to know what all it does but I feel like it could be possible to bootleg together something with containers/parts you get off the shelf.

(Maybe you can bribe someone to come up with one for next Devember :stuck_out_tongue: )

EDIT: Took a bit closer look and it seems like the real benefits to it (besides obviously being a pre-built unit) is the reminders along with any of the proprietary nutrients and such.

It’d likely be possible to get a decent amount of the functionality with some plastic containers from the store, an aliexpress LED array and a A/C timer plug.

Feb 2022 Update: Maple Syrup Part 01 :maple_leaf:

Tapping Trees

If you watch the news you probably saw me talk a little about syrup on an episode recently. Last summer, I attempted to identify some maple trees on our property to try tapping. Being overzealous and probably disproportionately confident in my tree identification skills, I immediately added a syrup kit to my amazon wishlist and forgot about it for months, thinking it would be a fun project ‘for later’.

Fast forward to Christmas, and my sister-in-law got me that same kit. Time to tap! With a week of solid sap-running temps ahead, I went out tonight and started drilling our trees:

Taps are IN:

Already getting a tiny amount of syrup:

I’ve never done this before and I suspect we might not get enough sap from the five taps we have set up, but it’ll be a :sparkles:learning experience :sparkles: if nothing else. Once I get a large amount of sap I’ll have to find a way to boil it down to true syrup. Fingers crossed we get that far lol.

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Put in pot, boil the devil out of it.

At all of the sugar shacks I’ve been to that’s all they do.

Probably want to run it through a coffee filter first to get rid of any sediment though.

If you have any birch or hickory they also make good syrup.

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The un-boiled sap, maple water, can be used as natural sweetener, is loaded with antioxidants, and is also a good source of vitamins / minerals.

There is a local beverage company that is entirely based on using maple water for the sweetener and have heard the sales pitch too many times. :smiley:

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Feb 2022 Update: Maple Syrup Part 02 :maple_leaf:

Delicious Maple Syrup

We’ve collected sap for a couple weeks now and have done two separate boils. The results are in:

The first jar was boiled down from around 4-5 gallons of raw sap. The color is a lot lighter than our second jar, which was boiled down from around 3 gallons of sap. I’ve read the difference in color is normal, as the syrup tends to darken and become more ‘maple-y’ as the season continues.They are also a bit cloudier than a commercial syrup, which can apparently be resolved with additional filtering (I only filtered once, twice would’ve been better). Both taste great though! They are really sweet, just like the ‘real’ thing from the store. I’m looking forward to eating these in my oatmeal and yogurt for a while.

We’re probably about done for our first tapping season, unless our temps go back down. The two trees we have tapped haven’t been flowing at all the last couple warm spring days. Still, I’m really pleased with this project. Probably the best farm LARP I’ve done so far, I will likely tap more trees next year.

March: The Mulchening

In addition to tapping our trees, the last week of warm weather has allowed me to get out and do some work on our raised bed area. We still need to actually um… finish the raised beds… but! the area is starting to come together from an aesthetic standpoint. I sourced some really cheap tobacco sticks to start on a rustic fence which I am actually really happy with. I think it will look really cottage-y and cute with some wildflowers and whatnot around it:

I’ve also been re-mulching the ground with woodchips to prevent weeds as the season continues. This has been fairly effective so far; I’ve only had to pull a little bit of growth up here and there. Even better-- digging down a bit in the areas where the raised beds will go, and you can see some nice dark brown dirt starting to form as the wood chips decompose. Exciting (if you’re a compost nerd!)

Also pictured: My transplanted blueberries which will hopefully grow into a small hedge by the entrance.

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We have a silver maple that is right above our septic tank. I don’t think the roots have intruded into tank, but I still wouldn’t want to tap it. Better safe than sorry.

One winter, we had a limb taken off of it, and in the spring you could see the sap flowing from the cut for a while, until it scarred over. Now, I hang the hummingbird feeder from the “stump”.

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“Tree Water”

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Your own maple syrup, how cool is that!

I started garden work, too. Cut back some smaller trees and cut some hedges. Was a nice opportunity to wield around the chainsaw. Around here you are only allow to trim and cut back bushes and trees until the end of February, since after that the first birds might begin to nest in those.

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We need to get a chainsaw, we have some invasive plants (mimosa and chinese privet) that are getting out of hand along one edge of the property. We put our money into a tiller first but that will likely be next on the list. What kind do you have?

Yup exactly. That’s how it works. The trees sap and liquids get increasingly concentrated and thicker.

Personally I prefer the dark B grade maple syrup but it’s an acquired taste and incredibly dark.

If you can collect the sap boil it and buy a small used bourbon barrel you can age the syrup in it and give it a wonderful flavor. I’ll leave it to you to decide how long you wish to age it. You’ll have to filter the char out but I’m sure you know this already. The darker saps and syrups are more receptive to being aged than the lighter ones (less water content)

Given you live where you live a barrel shouldn’t be hard to acquire… Preferably once used already since the wood will release more of its flavor (hence why you see scotch use a once used bourbon barrel :wink: )

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Pro tip: wet the barrel staves regularly so that you minimize the loss to the angels share or leakage :wink:

PS 6.5 to 7 months is the sweet spot for aging in the barrel. If your willing to wait for something that has quite a unique taste.

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Electric is the way to go if you can supply 120V and don’t need a longer bar, but electric motors are torque-y and still just as dangerous as gas powered ones, so treat them the same. Frequency of use is also a consideration as the most expensive gas chainsaws will still need regular maintenance where even the cheapest electrics are generally plug-and-play. Meaning if you leave both sitting in a shed for a year the electric will be easier to pick up and use.

If you can budget in both, an electric pole saw paired with a more powerful gas chainsaw (for emergencies or occasional big jobs) should cover 99% of your chainsaw needs.

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We have an electric chainsaw. We also have an electric hedge trimmer, electric leaf blower, electric lawnmower and electric screwdriver/drill. All of those devices are powered by the same 20V battery packs. This is really practical to use. Unfortunately I can’t recommend the brand to you, since they don’t sell in the US.

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That’s quite remarkable. As a Canadian it was a standard part of our elementary education to visit a sugar shack where they made maple syrup (no really, other Canadians can back me up). It always struck me how involved the syrup-making process really was.

Seems like a great success for a first try.

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Haha that’s awesome! I would’ve loved that as a kid. I was reading and I think the reason Canada and northern states are known for syrup production has something to do with the sugar concentrated in the sap. Apparently the colder temps somehow produce a higher ‘brix’ (sugar) content? When I was reading about it from the local KY extension site, they mentioned our trees have a much lower concentration in comparison.

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