Posts by B. White
1 - 6 of 104 Posts
Everyone's opinion will be different, but here is mine, without knowing your budget. I do agree with others to grow into it over time. What I am going to list is my priorities and budget, so it may not apply if you are a doctor or a lawyer. Going to be a long post.
I would put the pond on the backburner. Built one with my father in Georgia as a teen. We did a lot of the work ourselves and rebuilt one he had in the 30's, but it was a still a lot of work and extra upkeep. Definitely worth doing, but not my main priority.
Garden: If nothing else for now, cut it and use tarp or plastic to keep weeds down between now and spring. Don't rush into a tractor. You have some time and should be able to find somebody to plow it for you in the spring in your area, if you haven't found a good deal on one by then. Spend the next month researching growing your own plants from seed and get ready for that (by February) and knowing what you will direct seed. Initially, go with the basics that will produce easily and well. Purple hull peas, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers/maters, etc. Plant Trucker's Favorite corn if you have room. If you pay somebody to initially plow, or do it yourself, get a wheel hoe for cultivation. Hoss Tools sells them in Georgia. The double wheel hoe with the sweeps attachment is all I use for my garden now. I have a tiller sitting in the barn I should sell, and a cultivator for the tractor that I haven't used recently. I can make a pass about once a week with the wheel hoe as fast as I can walk and it keeps the middles in good shape.
If you don't get a tractor, have someone clear some area to get you at least an acre to work with. Plant crimson clover in the winter for what area you are not growing food on. Plant iron and clay peas, buckwheat and sun hemp on bare spots during the summer. Will help keep weeds down, prevent erosion and improve soil, if plowed in at the right time. Find a tree service in the area to drop off wood chips. It will take some time to rot, but start soon to have it to add to your soil in a couple of years. Part of my garden now was a pile of rotting limbs, fence posts, etc. It is amazing how much better it does than dirt on either side. Start compost bins to add your kitchen scraps, leaves, and chicken manure along with any shavings you clean out of your chicken house.
Figure out how to keep something growing all the time you can eat. It is not hard in GA.
Put an electric fence around your garden spot. The interwebs have too much info on what you need to do this. It ain't hard. I have three strands that work fine and have to tighten or repair a section every couple of months. Probably when a critter passes through that hasn't tried it yet. The repair is about 5 mins and no extra cost yet, since I just fix whatever is stretched (aluminum wire) or rarely have to reattach something broken.
Canning/preserving: You or/and your wife learn how to can. Purple hull peas are a staple at our house. I pick them and she shells and cans them. I have a Camp Chef propane stove that she uses with a Presto pressure cooker/canner. She cans some pears and other stuff, but peas and blue lake beans are the bulk of the canning. We have small chest freezer and picked up a stand-up freezer at an estate sale. I also have a backup fridge/freezer in a barn that I think was $100.00 used and we use it to store what is picked until we have time to process it. She handles the canning and I freeze squash, okra and corn. We are beginners at fermenting and have done pickles and sauerkraut with good results. I also have a dehydrator and we have used it for cayenne peppers and other stuff. Also made some onion powder.
Fruit trees: They are nice to have, but unless you are selling/trading them or have a fruit fetish they are way, way down the list from my garden. Add a few at a time to right-size your needs. We inherited three large pears from the previous owner and could supply half the county. I have some young apple and blueberry. To my surprise, deer are leaving the blueberries alone, but I had to put some rusty 2X4 fence (also inherited from previous owners) around the apples to keep bucks from rubbing them. Fig trees would be good for preserves. l'm still working to get some established, since it was very dry here the past two summers. I took some cuttings from an old plum in the summer and will plant them in the spring. We have four pecan trees around the house. This year they produced more than my wife has been able to keep shelled. We did not plant any peach trees. IMO they take a lot of maintenance and spraying.
Chickens: For eggs, we have six RI red and barred rock that were a year old in Oct. I sectioned off a part of an old barn and added roosts and nest boxes. It has a doorway that leads to about a 12X18' area I closed in with 2X4 wire (already had it) and covered with chicken wire and a tin roof on top. We took down an old hogwire fence and used sections to attach to the bottom of the fence to prevent critters from digging. We get six eggs a day most of the year and probably four a day right now with the shorter days. I have not grown any just for meat recently, but have years ago. I figure I have plenty of room in the same enclosure to add some, if needed.
Rabbits: I added a few just for meat security and also to convert some garden matter into fertilizer. My wife was not big on the idea, but runs to go see them every day when she gets home and chastises me if she doesn't think I'm paying them enough attention.
This is about where we are now. We keep enough growing to eat so as to not get into the preserved stuff too much and it is a challenge to find out how to use it all. Supplementing chicken and rabbit feed with scraps and any extra green stuff has saved us a lot. We are older and kids are grown. We may add cattle, but I'm still weighing the ROI for the fence. We border a state highway, so the odds something could get out and on a rod bothers me, plus time goes by quick and we all get old and feeble at some point.
I would put the pond on the backburner. Built one with my father in Georgia as a teen. We did a lot of the work ourselves and rebuilt one he had in the 30's, but it was a still a lot of work and extra upkeep. Definitely worth doing, but not my main priority.
Garden: If nothing else for now, cut it and use tarp or plastic to keep weeds down between now and spring. Don't rush into a tractor. You have some time and should be able to find somebody to plow it for you in the spring in your area, if you haven't found a good deal on one by then. Spend the next month researching growing your own plants from seed and get ready for that (by February) and knowing what you will direct seed. Initially, go with the basics that will produce easily and well. Purple hull peas, okra, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers/maters, etc. Plant Trucker's Favorite corn if you have room. If you pay somebody to initially plow, or do it yourself, get a wheel hoe for cultivation. Hoss Tools sells them in Georgia. The double wheel hoe with the sweeps attachment is all I use for my garden now. I have a tiller sitting in the barn I should sell, and a cultivator for the tractor that I haven't used recently. I can make a pass about once a week with the wheel hoe as fast as I can walk and it keeps the middles in good shape.
If you don't get a tractor, have someone clear some area to get you at least an acre to work with. Plant crimson clover in the winter for what area you are not growing food on. Plant iron and clay peas, buckwheat and sun hemp on bare spots during the summer. Will help keep weeds down, prevent erosion and improve soil, if plowed in at the right time. Find a tree service in the area to drop off wood chips. It will take some time to rot, but start soon to have it to add to your soil in a couple of years. Part of my garden now was a pile of rotting limbs, fence posts, etc. It is amazing how much better it does than dirt on either side. Start compost bins to add your kitchen scraps, leaves, and chicken manure along with any shavings you clean out of your chicken house.
Figure out how to keep something growing all the time you can eat. It is not hard in GA.
Put an electric fence around your garden spot. The interwebs have too much info on what you need to do this. It ain't hard. I have three strands that work fine and have to tighten or repair a section every couple of months. Probably when a critter passes through that hasn't tried it yet. The repair is about 5 mins and no extra cost yet, since I just fix whatever is stretched (aluminum wire) or rarely have to reattach something broken.
Canning/preserving: You or/and your wife learn how to can. Purple hull peas are a staple at our house. I pick them and she shells and cans them. I have a Camp Chef propane stove that she uses with a Presto pressure cooker/canner. She cans some pears and other stuff, but peas and blue lake beans are the bulk of the canning. We have small chest freezer and picked up a stand-up freezer at an estate sale. I also have a backup fridge/freezer in a barn that I think was $100.00 used and we use it to store what is picked until we have time to process it. She handles the canning and I freeze squash, okra and corn. We are beginners at fermenting and have done pickles and sauerkraut with good results. I also have a dehydrator and we have used it for cayenne peppers and other stuff. Also made some onion powder.
Fruit trees: They are nice to have, but unless you are selling/trading them or have a fruit fetish they are way, way down the list from my garden. Add a few at a time to right-size your needs. We inherited three large pears from the previous owner and could supply half the county. I have some young apple and blueberry. To my surprise, deer are leaving the blueberries alone, but I had to put some rusty 2X4 fence (also inherited from previous owners) around the apples to keep bucks from rubbing them. Fig trees would be good for preserves. l'm still working to get some established, since it was very dry here the past two summers. I took some cuttings from an old plum in the summer and will plant them in the spring. We have four pecan trees around the house. This year they produced more than my wife has been able to keep shelled. We did not plant any peach trees. IMO they take a lot of maintenance and spraying.
Chickens: For eggs, we have six RI red and barred rock that were a year old in Oct. I sectioned off a part of an old barn and added roosts and nest boxes. It has a doorway that leads to about a 12X18' area I closed in with 2X4 wire (already had it) and covered with chicken wire and a tin roof on top. We took down an old hogwire fence and used sections to attach to the bottom of the fence to prevent critters from digging. We get six eggs a day most of the year and probably four a day right now with the shorter days. I have not grown any just for meat recently, but have years ago. I figure I have plenty of room in the same enclosure to add some, if needed.
Rabbits: I added a few just for meat security and also to convert some garden matter into fertilizer. My wife was not big on the idea, but runs to go see them every day when she gets home and chastises me if she doesn't think I'm paying them enough attention.
This is about where we are now. We keep enough growing to eat so as to not get into the preserved stuff too much and it is a challenge to find out how to use it all. Supplementing chicken and rabbit feed with scraps and any extra green stuff has saved us a lot. We are older and kids are grown. We may add cattle, but I'm still weighing the ROI for the fence. We border a state highway, so the odds something could get out and on a rod bothers me, plus time goes by quick and we all get old and feeble at some point.
I'm in Upson county, so probably have the same variety of small critters to worry about as you. I only put the three strands of wire to detour deer. *****, squirrels etc. will find a way around anything you put up. I keep enough cover crop going to not lose enough vegetables to them to notice, with the exception of some corn the ***** like and rats or something else that cause me to have to dig sweet potatoes early before they get too much damage. There are enough fox, coyotes, hawks, owls and big timber rattlers and rat snakes around that help keep the population down. Besides, I'm two lazy to want to use a weedeater around an acre of welded wire. I made that mistake once in life. My bottom strand is knee high maintenance under it is pretty quick and easy.
Take advantage of all you can on the internet, but in the end keep it simple. It will nickel and dime you to death if you do what everyone claims is best practice and you will later discovery that was just one way of doing it and not really necessary. Grow lights and shelving and equipment to start seeds are one example. The cheapest walmart shop lights worked fine for us and we put the trays on a spare table and used bricks to adjust the height. The average person (my wife) would not want a room in their house full of plant trays, but I grew several hundred and by the time it was over she was enjoying seeing how much they grow every day and helped her to finally realize you do not "need" a greenhouse in GA. After 6-8 weeks we moved them to a utility trailer and wheeled them under a pole barn on cold nights. We left some others in screened porch.
Chickens are another thing that all the "chicken ladies" my wife knows said you have to do this or that. I told her it wasn't that complicated the last time I had chickens and she has figured that out now. I had Rhode Island Reds many years ago and stuck with what I knew along with some Barred Rock. I did not want a rooster right now. We have grand kids in the run regularly with no issues. I have neighbors down the road that keep taking new ones in and offer roosters all the time, so I know where to get one if I need it in a hurry.
I cleared an area and found some old stacks of blocks and bricks. I didn't like where the blocks were, so they became my compost bins once I moved and restacked. She uses them when cleaning out the chicken coop and we also add the kitchen waste. Limbs and other debris go on top of my 12' high pile of wood chips. I get up leaves and pine straw before a rain and have a few piles that haven't blown away yet. Once wet this time of the year it doesn't take them long to start to break down.
Take advantage of all you can on the internet, but in the end keep it simple. It will nickel and dime you to death if you do what everyone claims is best practice and you will later discovery that was just one way of doing it and not really necessary. Grow lights and shelving and equipment to start seeds are one example. The cheapest walmart shop lights worked fine for us and we put the trays on a spare table and used bricks to adjust the height. The average person (my wife) would not want a room in their house full of plant trays, but I grew several hundred and by the time it was over she was enjoying seeing how much they grow every day and helped her to finally realize you do not "need" a greenhouse in GA. After 6-8 weeks we moved them to a utility trailer and wheeled them under a pole barn on cold nights. We left some others in screened porch.
Chickens are another thing that all the "chicken ladies" my wife knows said you have to do this or that. I told her it wasn't that complicated the last time I had chickens and she has figured that out now. I had Rhode Island Reds many years ago and stuck with what I knew along with some Barred Rock. I did not want a rooster right now. We have grand kids in the run regularly with no issues. I have neighbors down the road that keep taking new ones in and offer roosters all the time, so I know where to get one if I need it in a hurry.
I cleared an area and found some old stacks of blocks and bricks. I didn't like where the blocks were, so they became my compost bins once I moved and restacked. She uses them when cleaning out the chicken coop and we also add the kitchen waste. Limbs and other debris go on top of my 12' high pile of wood chips. I get up leaves and pine straw before a rain and have a few piles that haven't blown away yet. Once wet this time of the year it doesn't take them long to start to break down.
There are a lot of posts about fence for a garden. Here is my experience. I didn't have a fence my first year on our new place I didn't have too much damage in the spring, but the fall garden was mowed down in a couple of days, except for turnips and radishes. I have pear trees and they would cut across the garden from the woods going to and from the pears. To give you an idea of how many are around, the first pic was 75 yds from the pears at one end where I didn't even have anything planted.
Most everything written or on video says you need a very tall fence, or a 3d electric fence. I didn't want to run wire and was looking at solar, but it was expensive and everything I saw that was wired looked like it put out more juice at a lot lower price. I decided to try the basic setup of a 3d fence with a wire knee high, rear high and shoulder high and used gate handles in a few places so I could have quick and easy access to get the tractor in as needed. I was going to add the outer 18" high strand later, if needed. Used the charger in the pic and I think 17ga aluminum wire. I added an extra post near the house on one corner and cut a 4ft wide piece of cattle panel and attached with fence staples as hinges to use as a walk through gate.
I turned it on a couple of months before the spring garden to see what reaction I got. The next morning I had a strand broken and took pliers and twisted it back. About a month later I had another place stretched where something hit it running. Bottom strand, so may have been a coyote or dog. Tightened it back and since then I will have to do a 2 min fix every couple of months that I figure is when a new critter comes around or one is being chased. I was surprised how much the wire will usually just stretch and not break. My 100 lb dog tested it twice early and won't get within 20 yds of it now. I watch the deer eat pears mornings and evenings in the fall, but the have learned to respect the wire and stay a couple of feet away from it.
The last pic was when the crimson clover was just starting to come up and you can see uneaten pears on the ground that have rolled down the hill under the fence. I hunted about 250 yds away opening morning of gun season and saw 13 deer in about 2 hrs, so they haven't moved out of town.
The funniest thing to me is how many folks still tell me it won't work. I guess they are right, since I have had the breaches mentioned above every couple of months, but I can live with that as long as I have no crop damage. I can still add the additional outside strand 18" high that every says is needed, but it isn't worth the hassle right now.
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Most everything written or on video says you need a very tall fence, or a 3d electric fence. I didn't want to run wire and was looking at solar, but it was expensive and everything I saw that was wired looked like it put out more juice at a lot lower price. I decided to try the basic setup of a 3d fence with a wire knee high, rear high and shoulder high and used gate handles in a few places so I could have quick and easy access to get the tractor in as needed. I was going to add the outer 18" high strand later, if needed. Used the charger in the pic and I think 17ga aluminum wire. I added an extra post near the house on one corner and cut a 4ft wide piece of cattle panel and attached with fence staples as hinges to use as a walk through gate.
I turned it on a couple of months before the spring garden to see what reaction I got. The next morning I had a strand broken and took pliers and twisted it back. About a month later I had another place stretched where something hit it running. Bottom strand, so may have been a coyote or dog. Tightened it back and since then I will have to do a 2 min fix every couple of months that I figure is when a new critter comes around or one is being chased. I was surprised how much the wire will usually just stretch and not break. My 100 lb dog tested it twice early and won't get within 20 yds of it now. I watch the deer eat pears mornings and evenings in the fall, but the have learned to respect the wire and stay a couple of feet away from it.
The last pic was when the crimson clover was just starting to come up and you can see uneaten pears on the ground that have rolled down the hill under the fence. I hunted about 250 yds away opening morning of gun season and saw 13 deer in about 2 hrs, so they haven't moved out of town.
The funniest thing to me is how many folks still tell me it won't work. I guess they are right, since I have had the breaches mentioned above every couple of months, but I can live with that as long as I have no crop damage. I can still add the additional outside strand 18" high that every says is needed, but it isn't worth the hassle right now.
I added some thermal and NV equipment to slow down any nocturnal diggers, like armadillos.Racoons and groundhogs are very territorial. Racoons claim rights to about 35--40 acres, while hogs (ground) don't stray much from their major food source--your garden. If you can eliminate the main inhabitant early, it will be the next season before another one comes along to claim it as his--usually-a dominant male groundhog, and hers for the other furry creature, along with her litter of five to six little eater/destroyers. For me, a little youth Marlin Papoose with a red dot sight, loaded with CCI .22LR MiniMags is just the ticket. (and a cage trap baited with marshmellows) It's lightweight, breaks down and fits into a briefcase to meet Michigan transport laws. Even though there is a hunting season for rabbits and racoons, you can shoot them on your property as vermin. I always toss a couple of beer cans at the far edge of the garden, just to say, "Honestly. officer, I was just target practicing and that critter came between the bullet and target just as I shot."
But rifles are an addiction for me. I thought 22 was the number of rifles I should buy just to get a good one.
If I had snakes, I would get the Springfield survival gun, an over under .22/410 combination--I need an excuse, maybe. For big hogs.... maybe a .410 slug? You're on your own.
geo
I have noticed that folks with clay want sand and folks with sand want clay. I don't think he will have any problems at all, looking at where he is on the map. Can he make it better? Of course. A little drip tape will work wonders for him. Most of the big Ag in GA is in the south part of the state. Would mostly all be considered a sandy area compared to where I am in Mid GA, but it ain't the desert. He will be fine with what he has.
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