Cayennemist's 2021 from SCRATCH! New property

Peppers in the Trees 2021 ​

A Grow Log​

 
  I'm back! I joined in 2015-16-17 and had a fantastic run. I got a new job in 2017 as a Commercial Construction Superintendent. I was working a lot and just didn't have time to for gardening. Stress was high but the pay was great. At the time we were living in San Diego with our 4 kids and I had to put my hobbies on the backburner just to LIFE.
 
Fast forward to Jan, 2021, we are living in Northern California in the ultra rural area that I grew up in, Quincy CA. Life has slowed WAY down. We have horses and a few acres to call our own. Horses have become a big part of our life, especially with my 11yr old daughter. Horse manures was stacking up quick, we produce about 20yds of manure a year. 
 
The first paddock we built went neglected for about a month and then it rained. It was bad, we were left with area that had about 12" deep of mushy mud and poop. The horses cant be in that for too long or they will start having issues with their feet. We quickly moved them to a new area with better drainage and where left with a large flat mud pit.

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When life gives you poop, grow a garden!​

 
  So I had a chat with the wife and kids and they are all in! We do have one major problem in this area when it comes to gardens, deer are overly abundant! So I'm going to have build a deer fence. The local deer are quite athletic and can easily clear a 4ft fence. I'm going to need to BUILD A WALL, and I'm going to make the deer pay for it.   Jokes aside, this is for real. At around 120ft @ $6.00/1ft = $720 not including posts, concrete, screws, stringers. so this wall would quickly exceed $1200...
Nah, I'm good. I decided to used recycled materials and see what I can do that was cheap but looks okay. The  answer was Pallets and some old 2x6 I had laying around.
 

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We have a source for FREE pallets. A local feed store gives them away. SCORE!​

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  I started building "The Wall" on 1/19/2021. The plan is to screw 2 pallets together side by side and make panels. Each panel with sandwich a 2x6 that is 6' 6" tall. These posts will hold 28" wire fence on top of the wall making the total Hight of the entire wall 6' 6" tall. Can a deer clear that? I'm sure some can yes. Will they do it? I doubt it.

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The wall is secured to the ground with a 6' T-post on every 2x6 and the corners will be 6" round posts sunk in to the ground about 24"​

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[Cayennemist]

Does not sound like something you want near the house

 
LOL, True story!

 

[Cayennemist]

Lots of work hardening off to a greenhouse from a grow room!​

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I lost a bell and a pepperoncini R.I.P. I have one cayenne that I put in to a 7g grow bag and he isn't looking great, but its too late he isn't coming back in.​

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The supers are killing it! its mostly the just anums that are being little B!#$hes.​

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First set pod is going to town on a Hatch.​

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I got a bakers dozen or so in 7g grow bags. I got 40 so that's what I'm going to cull down to. The rest will go to friends and family or random spots around my property.​

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The rest of the Garden is looking nice, I plan on growing lots of veggies in beds. I turned the soil and it is looking real good.​

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[Cayennemist]

I got big WOOD!​

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So now that people are selling dime bags of saw dust on the corner, I had to get creative with my raised beds.​

I was thinking about corrugated metal because I have a stack of that, but I would still need to build a frame for each box.​

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Plan B was to use pallet wood. That would require hours of deconstructing pallets and those days are behind me!​

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Yesterday I was driving to softball practice when I saw a dude with a nice mill set up. He had stacks of lumber drying and logs ready to mill down.​

I swung by there today and asked him if he sold lumber and he was like DUH! lol not really but he replied yes.​

So we walked around and were looking at his stock. He was out of cedar but he had loads of pine. We looked at his 1x12 16' it looked real nice and straight and he only wanted $20 a board! and it is a true 1"x12" ​

In todays market that is a steal of a deal. ​

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Then it gets better!​

I turned around and saw he had a pile of skins or the outer rounded edges of the tree with bark still on it. I started to picture beds that looked like logs with peppers growing out of them. I asked him for the price and he said ".50c a BF" that comes out to about $8 per 16" stick. He didn't care about thickness or width. ​

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I told him HELL YEAH! I'll take 20​

I went and got my 14' trailer and he used his skid to load me up! the entire thing took me about 20 minutes.​

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I know I will only get 1-2 years out of them but for the price, I'm cool with that.​

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[PaulG]

Those boards should make great raised beds. Nice score!
 
they might last longer than you think.

 

[Cayennemist]

The plan is to dig out the are where the planter go and then use the surrounding areas as fill.​

Once all the good stuff on the top is on the beds I will mulch the ground.​

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[PaulG]

Hey, Andrew, those beds look great.

How ya doin"? Guess you have been busy busy.
Would love to see how your grow has turned out.
Looks like it was off to a great start!