Share Cropping.

[jdmidwest]

My neighbor offered up most of his garden spot this year to me. Now that he is a single man, he does not need a big garden. I have farmed it in the past, when the previous owner came up with cancer and could not plant it.

I tilled it up today and planted 8 20' rows of Silver Queen and Peaches and Cream sweet corn, 1 20' row of Jade bush green beans, 1 20' row of Dwarf Long Pod okra, and 4 hills of zucchini squash. It is a nice open, sunny spot for growing big row crops. They should do well.

My garden plot is getting shaded by trees in a fencerow shared with a neighbor. With that, and the squirrels, it has been a while since I have had a good mess of sweet corn. I planted some at the farm the last few years, but the coons and squirrels raided it before I got any.

My plot has the 4 raised beds I made last year, one is all tomatoes, 2 smaller ones are pole beans and bush beans, and the other is all cucumbers. The remainder of the garden is a row of okra, 2 rows of silver cowpeas, a row of sunflowers, and a few hills of zucchini. The strawberry bed I made last year is blooming like crazy and looks like it will really produce this year.

My other raised beds/cold frames are filled with lettuce, a few peppers, spinach, and knee hi sugar snap peas.

I split my bees here yesterday and made 5 new hives. Going out to the farm later this week to do splits there. At the end of the week I should be at around 20 hives between both places. If all goes well, I should be able to get 5 more splits in June bringing my total to 25.

I need to get all of this stuff done so I can get to fishing. I am tired of people telling me how great the fishing is now.

[Gavin]

Hope you get something to eat for all that work! Did our meager little bit on Sunday. Maters, herbs,peppers. 1.5 yards of mulch. Bought half way there before the backyard is good.

[ness]

Wow JD -- you've really scaled up on the bees. And the crops too, I guess.

So you've got bee hives at home and at the farm? Every hive has a box, I guess? Sounds like a lot of boxes.