Is there a balance in climate? (as far as growing seasons go)
My wife and I start seeds indoors in March.

Our growing season may start in late May but usually goes to Sept. and we don't get heat without the rain that comes with it.(usually)

I'm just trying to get a feel for other growing seasons in other parts of the country and what it entails.

GM

I'm'a go ahead and say it since we've made it three pages...


Thanks to TRG for not showing any of his "Nude" gardening pics.... as his thread title promises.

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Well, we set records for rainfall in January, I think. Yesterday it began to rain, and then it got serious and turned in to a deluge. I have been sick for the last couple of days so all I could do was watch as the rain swept through my garden.

I had a problem with some erosion before that I posted, but these rains took it to the next level of erosion. Not catastrophic, but, man...

Anyways, here are the pics of both the damage and the resolution:

This is looking across the watermelon patch toward the vegetable patch. These are now a foot deep.



The ground is sloped, and it has never eroded this badly before. To redirect the water, I cut two ditches through the pasture to help turn the main flow from the hill.

I used the bedding plow to cut it, and then used the rear tire to shape them. There are two ditches now. I tried to use the natural flow patterns as much as possible.





There are several more views in my photobucket album is anyone wants to look at different angles.

http://photobucket.com/TheRedGoat



The vegetable garden also got washed away. I lost alot of the onions that I had planted, and gathered those that I could find and replanted as well as I could.

I had to cut a ditch to stop water from my front yard that was channeling/draining right down the middle of the vegetable patch.


This is all of the material from the melon patch and the vegetable patch that was washed out. I can move it this summer with the box blade, but, man, it's a mess.



TRG

The end of the vegetable patch, these ditches should help turn the floodwaters from my front yard, away from the vegetable area.



I have cleaned them up a little since this pic was taken, and I'll adjust them as needed to keep the water turned away this spring during heavy rain.



Some of the erosion. You can see it cut a swath through my onions...




For those of you, like myself, who are still learning terms for gardening, this is the bedding plow that I used to dig the ditches.



TRG

I too have an erosion problem at the far end of my largest field.

I'll be watching to see how your solution works out.

When I bought this property in '94 I had to cut two ditches to stop the house from being flooded each time it rained.

Over time, these new ditches should become part of the landscape.

After I had cut the ditch around the vegetable patch it dawned on me that I had possibly snagged a lateral line, but, apparently God watches over fools and children and I missed them.

TRG

He was wise indeed.

TRG

When too many eggs pile up I boil them and feed them to the dogs and chickens.

TRG

Ever think about throwing up a pole barn to keep all that equipment out of the weather? Maybe a party barn annex?

Considered it, but right now we are remodeling the house.

Oddly, the best place for a pole barn is right in the middle of the vegetable garden. Fairly flat, out of the woods and secure from thieves.

the 'other' good spot is where I plan to put in a small orchard, and is too close to the road.

TRG

Lifted about 6-7' from the creekbed, then pushed it another 20-30' in elevation 150yds away to the garden. I think it was pumping about 9GPM. It did allow me to keep my garden alive during the record drought though. Financially, spending a thousand on commercial canned goods would have been more cost-effective in hindsight.

It seized because I did not have enough transmission fluid. It was on an incline (so I could get closer to the creek).

Worked fine when the pump was new, but,as the pump aged, the clearances made it harder and harder to initially draw water.

I plan to build a retaining wall/dam this spring to hold more water. I could pump my creek dry in about an hour at full pressure.

TRG

I'm curious if there are any laws/regulations regarding pumping from a creek.