Me too, William. Are you ALSO ready to call this year off, and start planning for next year?

I think it's been awhile since William has posted anything. Maybe he's been busy building something.
William - You need to check in and tell us what you've been up to.

this has been a very busy yr. the ice storm here was very bad. spent a ton of money trimming trees with a bucket truck and then spent the next 2 mos. filling in the ruts the truck left.

my garden was a bust because of me. another self inflicted wound. i put down a band of granular herbicide around our large raised beds thinking it would go down and wash away. nope! the beds wicked it up and killed everything. had to replant all except the 13 containers. we still have cukes, beans, okra and peppers. a good tomato i had this yr was pink german. a robust plant with large tomatoes. it is a PL plant and i would plant it again.

because of some of the postings on this forum, i have decided to start a micro nursery. i have a license from the courthouse and an ein number from the irs. ordered 100 crape myrtles this past may and they have really grown. just ordered 75 jap. maples from wash. state and just replanted 5 grafted jap maples from oregon. am going to put in around 500 gladiola this spring in our 4 large raised beds. maybe my wife can sell some cut flowers this coming year. have also installed a drip irrigation system for the 4 beds.
thanks to ceresone, glenda, rb, jamsey and all others for their postings. this has brought back some passion to my life that i truly needed.

sorry this is so long but it has been a while.

william

william, how exciting! I would have loved to have an iris farm, but alas.....the time has passed. I don't think I could last to keep up with it. I think if you keep everything heavily mulched once you get it in, the work won't be quite as bad. I notice when I drive past one of Springfield's oldest and most prestigious nurseries, they have all the balled and burlapped things just sitting on top of the ground with mulch heaped up over it.

Good luck and try to post once in a while and keep us updated.

I just thought of a tip about edging. Try using glyphosphate (generic Roundup) in a hand sprayer and spray close to the ground. There will be no residual damage to the soil and it only kills what the spray touches. I use it to edge flower beds. I know I should go completely organic, but I just run out of time and energy trimming.
Usually once a month is sufficient. I buy the 2.5 gallon size at a farm supply and it is reasonably cheap.

We're glad to see you back, William.
My tomatoes have pretty well been a flop this year, too much rain, and not enough heat.
To my suprise, the rather bland White Oxheart produced well, and it is still going.Despite it being lemon yellow, and flat tasting..
Even the paste tomatoes didnt perform to expectations.
Now, the Sweet Potatoes are going crazy--even going into the chicken pasture.Good thing I put panels around the bed, because any vine the deer could reach are nipped off. going to dig later this week, hope the did as well as they look.
Colored Peppers-I planted every color--unless they start with color, they went bad before they changed.

ceresone, I went out to turn the chickens into the garden to graze for squash bugs....saw my digging fork stuck in the ground and decided to dig my 10 plant row of sweet potatoes.

They weren't the most productive I have ever had in spite of the vines that went crazy and bloomed all summer. I think we had too much rain for them. At least I got a nice little pile and hope to save 1 or 2 for slips for next year. I planted Beauregard. I love the dark pink color.

Left them lay out in the sun for a day or so.

I have ripe peppers still laying in the garden. I just planted one bell pepper and none have turned red yet. I just don't need all those peppers.

William where did you get your pink german tomatoes?

helen- the pink german tomatoes came from SSE. it was one of the 2 seeds that helped found the organization. granda pa otts morning glory was the other, i believe.

william

Sounds like you have had a busy an full summer William.
Hope all goes well with you plans an good luck.
Bonnie