Today honeyman, myself and one helper we hired tackled the front large garden. With me working so much it had totally got out of hand. We got so much done!!! Its nearly back up to snuff!
We have a bit more to do but the worst is done.
I didn't take any before pictures but these are the after photos
The raspberries are no more.. all dug out finally! The Kiowa Blackberries grew under ground to the rows and have sprouted up by the cinder blocks.. I didn't dig those out.. I think I will use them to root more plants off of.. so I will stick them into pots of dirt over the winter.
Raspberries gone!! Texas just isn't a good place to grow them. To hot I think.
Didn't make it to the back row as you see it still needs weeding and cleaning up.. I have Kiowas in it. and some bush cherries.
rows ready for hay ... another day :O).. you can see my soaker hoses snaked in all the rows. They are a must have here. Watering is a major ordeal in Texas. With the heat we have and the lack of rain we have.. its a never ending battle to keep things watered. I call Texas the devils playground and not because people are bad here... but because of the heat and the extreme climate we have here... Its tough. Realllllllllly tough to garden, have a orchard etc. here. You have to reallllly want to do it here I think. Its so hard. I get discouraged myself.. But I just have to garden its just part of me. So I keep at it...
Metal hoop frames without the shade covers on.
Rows cleaned out and dirt added .. We didn't get any of the rows hayed today. Ran out of get up and go. But thats okay we got so much done.
Took the shade covers off the metal hoop frames.. folded them up and put them away till needed next spring/summer
You could not even see this gate let alone get to it before...
Front row of kiowa blackberries under control again
Cannot even tell you how hard we worked. But boy did we get a lot done in one day!
So let me ask you guys this, do any of you guys live on a river? Have any river front property? If so I would like to know what you think about it, would you do it again, have you had flooding issues? What are your thoughts in general about having property that is on a river? If you had enough acres to back off of it or sit above it would you think it was a better idea?
9 comments:
I have lived on a river bank. Grew up with rivers and dealt with em my whole (non-military) life. Personally I wouldn't live next to one especially since I believe we are about to go through a major decline/collapse. Most rivers these days are kept in check through a lot of government funding and corp of engineers stuff once that constant maintenance is gone there is no telling where the actual banks and flood planes will end up.
Honestly I wouldn't even live on the bank of a good sized stream either. I had a really neat place on a small lake about 2 decades ago and even it got flooded to a point the locals claimed it would never get to.
Now if I had about 100+ acres that bordered on a river that might be a different story but I can tell you just about all the old farm houses around here that bordered on the Missouri river are now long gone. Most of them are rotting in pieces down in East Texas or the Gulf somewhere. Maybe you can head that way and take a gander at them? :)
I would also add those same farm houses were a mile or more away from the actual river bank back in 93. Some at least 2 miles and the water came up that far.
I think that why the only flood insurance is government sponsored?
Wow! You have a huge amount of garden to keep up to! I got behind on my little one this year because I have Lyme disease. We have been out lately trying to get some weeding done but now need rain and the clay soil gets too hard to weed without rain. We do get a lot of raspberries when we have enough rain. We bought a soaker hose to try next year in case it doesn't rain. Can't help you with the river front property. I don't think I would like living on riverfront as am not a water lover. Nancy
Believe me, your hard work shows. The beds are so neat and clean. I've never lived on a river. I think it would be good but flooding would be my biggest fear. I would probably worry constantly.
Your garden looks huge, and all raised beds too. Very nice. That is a ton of work for a day.
I've lived near a river near coastal Oregon and there were lots of people who lived right next to the river. Flooding was expected and the river front houses were built on stilts, or open cinder block garages that had no doors, or on very high hills. People were able to garden or use their land for grazing because flooding only occurred during the winter. Our first winter it rained 21 out of 31 days in January.
For me, I guess it depends on the type of flooding. Winter high tide storm surge flooding, or hurricane type flooding.
That's a LOT of work, I can't imagine how tired but satisfied at the end of the day. It looks great!
Love the garden! You really worked hard!
I don't live on a river, but I know many people who do. As long as your house is up on a hill or the other side of the river is lower than your side, you don't have to worry about it as much. But if your like me, you will always worry a little. I find though that I would REALLY like the possibility to fish all the time. I think that would make me not think about the flooding as much. lol
OH my...I'm so embarrassed to show our garden area. Since I let it go in the summer, and it was SO unbearably hot, I just couldn't get to it. And I put it off. And then put it off. And put it off. And now it's just so bad I don't even like to look at it....kind of like if you gain weight, you avoid looking into a mirror? LOL! It's like that. I'm just waiting for cooler weather. Not sure how to tackle it but you inspire me to be able to get it done. Nice job!
Sadly, I won't have anything exciting to dig up like your blackberries, just weeds, ha.
I never tried raspberries but sounds like I probably shouldn't try. Need to try those Kiowas. We have wild dewberries but I'd like some "regular" blackberries along some of the fence lines.
As for water, I've never lived near it, though we do have a major river a few miles from the farm but we are still well outside of the epic flood zone potential if it ever went crazy. like some others have said, I know i would love being near it, but I would worry every time there was a heavy rain. I work in the insurance biz and flood claims are no fun. I will get you a website link that will let you check any address in the country to see where it is in relation to flood zones. It helps to know even if you aren't IN one to see how far FROM one you are. Because lets face it, even if you aren't in a flood zone, the water doesn't know to stop 2000 feet from your house. I'd rather be a couple of MILES away from the edge of the flood zone.
I had to pop over to see what was happening in your garden. The first thing I noticed was all of the hoops - how wonderful! Sounds like you use them to provide shade; in my garden I would love to do something like that over a few of my beds to provide some extra warmth and extend the growing season.
Doesn't it feel wonderful when you get so much done? We have done quite a bit this year as well, but I still have several sections of my garden that are in desperate need of attention - there are only so many hours in a day.
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