Annette Henry

Thanks!  Even if it isn't invasive, or not invasive here, I think I'll still try my idea of an out of the way natural plot.  Physically easier and cheaper ways to get edible perennials is the goal for this year.  I've already put in four fruit trees and two grape vines.  We'll see how they grow - or not, lol.

I don't know where the vid was posted from, but whatever type the poster was growing had SERIOUSLY spread.  Like, we're talking nearly taking over his entire garden.  He'd had to completely redo the beds next to the asparagus one and ended up just putting another layer on top because he couldn't get all of the roots out.  Yikes!

Nope, definitely wild, planted by birds most likely.  There were three ferns in one location, two in another 50 feet away, and yet another small bunch on the other side of the pond which is located on the other side of the property.  lol  Well that's fine.  It just means that asparagus will grow from seed here.  As far as invasive goes, the vid was explaining that the roots would travel up to 10 feet away from the crowns in all directions, even down.  Not what I wanted next to my main garden.

Well, I watched a 'what not to do' vid this morning on asparagus and it made me very glad that my plans utterly failed last spring regarding my asparagus patch.  I had no idea it was that invasive!  My planned patch was far, far too close to my garden for that to work.  So I began to re-imagine just what I should be doing instead.  I know wild asparagus grows in my area.  I found several stalks on my property just after we bought it.  However,  they are wild and I want some cultivated varieties.  Growing them in pots and putting them in the way the old advice keeps harping on seems far too much work for someone who is already overwhelmed with things to do, and as I said, I know it grows wild here - just not where I can harvest it as it usually ends up mixed in with the hay.  

So my idea is to till up a bed, and get it started really well, tilling some muck in and some 'potting soil' that's not really soil, more like chopped up bark.  Rake out all of the stones, weeds, and such, you know the drill.  But then, rake in asparagus seeds.  Just, rake it in and water and see if they come up.  

Good idea?  Bad idea?  

Missouri zone 6 on the plains for the usual questions.

Big gate (probably about 6 feet) and a roof of welded wire and a tarp is what I'm planning on.  There's pasture right next to the pen area so I can move a truck in there as well.

The piglets around here are typically bacon type mixes, no specific breed, and we're in zone 6a, Missouri around Springfield area on the plains.  Most of our winds come from the North/South/West, rarely from the East which is why I'm situating the pen gate on that side.

Ok, so last year my dear husband and I moved onto our now 10 acres. We're selling two acres of our former 12 ares to friends who want to partially homestead as well, and we're moving on from our rabbits and chickens into the bigger livestock.  

The first/second type of animal we're going to bring in are pigs.  (We might get our cattle first, but that's another issue, lol!)  I have available concrete blocks to build a pig pen.  The area is sloping east with a large area, but not a ton of blocks, perhaps two or three pallets worth?  These are being recycled from another project from our last house and they are the only things I have to work with.  My plan is to build a 4 foot wall in a rectangle shape with the lower, East side wall having a gate.  The West side will have a smallish? area with a block floor and roof, (from North wall to South wall) and at least two thirds of the pen will have bare ground for rooting/wallow building, etc.  I plan on using hay/straw from our land to put onto the concrete floor area for bedding.

Any suggestions on size for two pigs?  Depth of the blocks below ground with a 2 foot freeze depth?  Yes, I know they like to root down under walls, so hopefully 6 foot of concrete blocks total in the wall will help?  Do I need to go deeper?  There's no pasturage, although I might start/finish them in my garden but only after teaching them about electric fencing which I won't have anytime soon.  I plan on butchering in the fall, perhaps getting 4 piglets and butchering two small (100 pounds?) and letting the other two go until winterish weather sets in? Our first snow comes at the end of November, but really it doesn't snow until Jan/Feb.  I have two large freezers and plan on smoking/drying at least most of the meat.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Annette

Well, it looks like grubs it is then.  The land was pasture last year and I'd seen a few grubs but hadn't thought much of it.  It's too dry for slugs and I don't have voles or other tunnel making pests.  I'm off to research how to get rid of grubs now.  Thanks for everyone's input, it really helps!

Ok, so I'm in the fall of my first really large garden.  First year homesteading on acreage, so we put in a large enough garden last spring to grow potatoes as our main crop.  The deer got the tomatoes, cabbages did ok-ish, etc.  Not bad for a first year garden when everyone was busy elsewhere.

But I'm just getting to digging up my potatoes.  4 varieties.  Yukon golds had hollow heart.  Not great, but other wise they did well.  Second variety, fingerlings - well they just vanished beneath the weeds.  On to the 3rd.  Irish Cobbler, and something has been eating tiny holes in them.  They are completely underground, not being dug up and eaten.  There are no tunnels that I've found.  But a good half to 3/4 of them have holes up to the size of my thumbnail eaten out of them!

I haven't checked the Russets yet, but I'm not holding out hope that they came out unscathed.  

Has anyone else had this?  Any ideas of what could be getting into my, admittedly, small harvest?  I have seen some ants, but not a large amount.  No pillbugs.  Again, no tunnels for the groundhog that lives on the south end of the 12 acres I've got.  They haven't been dug up for deer or bunnies.

I plan on trimming up the Cobblers and just having potatoes for dinner, but I want to know what got into them so that I can plan out a way to avoid this next year.  Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

Oh, and I'm in Southwest Missouri if that helps.

Annette