Many of us are planning major projects. I’m going to remain silent on what mine is for now. This project has taken several years to put it all together. I’m getting very close on the first step of it and then will update some of the specifics. What is everyone else working on?
What’s the big project Clark is working on? Hmmmm… we should make this a guessing game. Hahaha
I plan on getting a backhoe, deepening my 800’ drainage ditch, creating staggered small ponds on its way to the 1.5 acre pond. Big pond I want the north edge dug 15-20’ out along 250’, deepening existing shallows and enlarging the pond during peak drought. Plant a weeping willow on the overflo edge.
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I’m staying silent on this.
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Installing the irrigation system I purchased 3 years ago… Now that I’m almost done fencing the whole yard and building a “deck”.
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Man if it were circular around a shack, it would count as a moat. It’s linear so well call it a “staggered, wetland gulley drain”. Hehehe. Write a song with that… need to rent a 420 class bhoe cat with extenda boom and a dump trailer! In my 1.5 acre pond, I pumped for 2 months drip irrigation and its down 18". I would like a bigger pond to trap more melt water
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Would love to see photos at some point!
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Planting 200 ish persimmons (100 seedling experimental short season from cliffs and 100 for grafting right away), 100 euro hazelnut, collecting some more pear varieties and maybe a-100-ish raspberry row, transplanting some things for better organization… finishing some building renovations first this summer… and harvesting fruit and gardens for winter…
and my guess is clark is doing a medium density pear orchard on a pond island.
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“my guess is clark is doing a medium density pear orchard on a pond island” with a new ultra tough, tolerant-of-everything calleryxbetch rootstock with his dutchess x warrenx yellow pear crosses and such;)
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Yeah, it’s all his fault, I’m now have more pears that I can dream off and ordering more scions.
Ok, I spill the beans, my secret project is to turn my yard into cherry pear orchard. I will end up with 10 varieties of each. Ambitious, yes, YOLO.
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i am experimenting on a small flock of hens, my goal is to see if i can improve the service life of egg laying hens. time will tell if i can also improve the yoke hormonal quality within the yoke. ultimately i want to double the testosteronal content of the eggs and improve the hen’s production that can lay eggs for 10 or more years. contrary to what people say a hen will not run out of eggs before she dies, her ovaries get old and stop producing eggs. So diet will be critical, a diet that reduces oxidative stress on the reproductive system, and breeding the best chicken that express the characteristic desired. So this is a long term project.
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I’ve found that the kelp used as a feed supplement, believed to be remnants of previously extracted kelp, created an unbelievably rich egg yolk. People will notice the difference even next to other free-range eggs not fed kelp.
A little goes a long way.
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Sea weed is what i use, Aronia berries, goji berries, blue berries are the antioxidants that should protect the ovaries’ but Aronia is the major berry that are fed my hens because of the high antioxidants and fiber content, as it will not give the hens issues if over consumed, i believe this will increase the hen’s service life. but i don’t think that alone will get 10 years, breeding will be the other part of the equation.
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Kelp is a good choice because this add iodine to the eggs and while we do get iodine in salt it’s not enough for growing children and it helps children with IQ points. So eggs high in iodine is a good thing…
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My current and near future projects (the ones relevant to this forum anyway), are:
- Kill more of the grass in my side yard and expand my fig collection. I am debating which figs to add, as I have room for three or, if I expand the fig area a bit, five more. I mostly have “sugar” types (I have LSU Purple, LSU Scott’s Black, LSU O’Rouke, Brown Turkey, Celeste, Green Ischia, Alma, Violette de Bordeaux VS, and Olympian). I know I am getting Smith, and am considering getting Ronde de Bordeaux, Hative d’Argenteuil, De la roca, LSU tiger, Verdino del Nord, Black Marseille VS or one of the other good Mt. Etna types. Not sure yet which ones I will end up getting. I miiiight also get Desert King, a second RdB, and a premier exotic berry fig or two for container growing.
- Kill more grass in my front yard and add some persimmons and feijoa. I would like to add one or two more astringent persimmons, as the only one I have right now is Saijo. I want to get ahold of one or two more of the new NZ cultivars of feijoa.
- Kill more grass in my back yard and add some hybrid and American persimmons. I am thinking I will get JT-02, Deer Magnet, some one or two other American varieties.
- Kill more grass in my back yard and start my pawpaw collection. I don’t have any, not sure yet which ones to get.
- Kill more grass in my front yard and add some paulownia, Kentucky yellowwood, styrax, lilacs, hearts-a-bursting, camellia, azaleas, osmanthus, tuber rose, agapanthis, peonies, and a big rose trellis for climbing new dawn.
- Kill more grass along my driveway and add some hybrid lilac, blue sage, hyacinths, bluebells, and plumbago.
- Kill more of the grass in my side, front, and back yards and add more bushes to my screening hedge. I have a bunch of young hollies in already, as well as a collection of different hesperocyparis species and some Mexican buckeye and eucalyptus. I am planning on adding a few other species of eucalyptus, a podocarpus or two, torreya, sterile buddlejas, bush honeysuckle, redbuds, goumi, beautyberry, baptesia, illiciums, guelder rose and sorbus torminalis if I can get seeds, scarlet firethorn, and maybe some hardy citrumelos to confuse the neighbors.
- And, if I have time, I’ll go kill grass for other people.
- Kill moar grass. Then spread as many tons of mulch as I physically can. Mostly so the grass stays killed. Kill some more grass making mulch piles.
- Kill the grass around my AC and put down some gravel or something.
- Kill some grass out by my garden so I can plant a peach tree, pamper it like crazy, and watch it die from a “no spray in the southeast” experiment.
- lawnago delenda est
That about sums it up.
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I’m in the process of trying to get my own apples from seeds. Very limited space and everything are packed tight. Hoping of getting at least 4 good apple trees. It will be many years of dedication before seeing the result. I hope love will bring the fruits within 3 years. Then, I’m experimenting on growing Lychee in zone 9. My Avocado from cutting is still in progress. Still waiting for roots since April 1st.
I think I know what Clark is up to. He is training 9 cats to search and destroy the critters. Especially squirrels that high five you one morning and than stab you at the back. We needs those loyal cats to be fearless and claws sharpen for action.
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I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you. My project is top secret!
My goal is to breed a tomato so much better than any currently on the market that it becomes the most widely grown tomato on earth. But that is not my top secret project.
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Good, most varieties I’ve grown are disappointingly bland. I love high flavor-acid-sugar.
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