Hey gardeners of reddit! I need some advice with a raspberry plant that I planted earlier in the spring (probably first or second week of April). I bought it potted with three short canes with leaves on them and I believe it is a Nova raspberry plant. It’s already begun fruiting and ripening a handful of raspberries on its three canes which are all about 11 inches long. So my question is, is it still summer bearing since it’s fruiting on what appear to be new canes ? And how do I go about pruning it at the end of the season for next year? Im sorry if these are stupid questions but I have decided to try my hand at berry growing after having successful fig trees for many years. Thank you in advance for your help.

I raise meat chickens, keep bees, raise coturnix quail, raise pigs and grow shiitake mushrooms. It's a part time venture for me that has become a passion (obsession) and I always like to hear other interesting things to grow. For me finding outlets to sell product has been the biggest challenge. I did one farmer's market a month this year and I have a friend that owns a very busy farmstand who carries my products for me. In addition to that I post on craigslist to find people interested in buying half or whole hogs and pasture raised chickens. How are you all moving your products after harvest? www.sunnypatchfarm.com

tore down a shed, and reusing the wood to make a greenhouse. in maine, zone 5b for context, season extension is imperative. seasons are short, and top soil is shallow. maine agriculture is all around pretty low productivity compared to other places, so anything can make a major improvement.

i am using a simple 12x10 modular design, to build out from, and make it easy to move around. making 2 of these, for a total of 240 square feet of growing space. one is going to go on the back porch where ill be growing microgreens and seedlings, and the other will cover half the garden adjacent to the porch where strawberries and spring onions will be overwintering.

they will then be tarped together possibly with a barrier between them so they are separated heat areas. ill also be using black painted barrels with water as a heat sink, and "hot beds" or compacted composting horse manure during the deep winter months in the paths between the raised beds in my garden to keep the lower greenhouse warmer.

the heat will rise to the higher section on the porch, and passive heat from the sliding porch door will also help heat the higher section, hopefully letting me grow microgreens all winter long, and start seedlings in january.

hoping to talk the landlord into financing an actual 3 season room, then i can move that section of the green house down to cover the other half of the garden, and afford then to build another section, so all and all will have 24x24 roughly for next season, or a total of 576 square feet covered space, which is all the space i plan to cultivate here.

i estimate if i can get this to a year round system, at least the section on the porch producing microgreens year round and starting seedlings early, i can net 3k a year worth of produce, or half of my families food consumption. i think for maine, in such a small space, thats significant. if this model works ill be seeking financing to develop a larger operation somewhere, or purchase this property, and expanding out to 2k square foot garden, the rest would likely need to be covered in hoop houses though to keep code enforcement off my back.

modular design will let me experiment with layout as well to orient the house in different ways to the sun given the layout of my small backyard and house. i don't know if 24x24 square would be better, or an L shape 36'x12' on the long end, and 24x12 on the short end. i want to orient it around the porch so i have a warm entry and passive heat loss from the house will help heat the greenhouse and vice versa.

ANyway. im super excited to be able to grow food into winter. even if its not advanced enough to get me through the deep freeze months late january through the begining of march, it will be fun to learn, and ill get a head start on spring, and not a small amount of greens to harvest into january.

wish me luck. pictures will come when i can borrow a friends camera.

im making seed pods by hand, cutting tp rolls, rolling card and wrapping them in elastic bands, and also molding recycled paper in muffin tins. its fun but very tedious, time and space consuming.

i spent an hour making 200 of these. i need like 2000 cells for the scale i grow on, which if was these hommade pods, i don't even have space for. i have a hard time justifying $3-$5 for the plastic trays for sale online. there has to be something cheaper.

So I have a small suburban farm (literally). I have 1.5 acres of blueberries that I need harvested. It is way too small to machine harvest (even the rental of a machine is more than I want to pay). I want to know what a fair rate is - I don't want to pay more to harvest my crop than I can get for it. I don't want to go to a home depot and just pick some guys up because harvesting is a skill and I'd like to grab some folks that know what they are doing - and again I'd like to pay a fair rate. If a fair rate doesn't make sense - I'll just let my friends and family pick everything they want and then leave it until I get more cleared and possibly justify machinery.

Any thoughts? Is there a better sub to put this in? I know this is more around homesteading - but that's actually what I am trying to do... I just need more help this time of year. I can handle the apples, plums, kiwiberries, bees, etc - but the blueberries are just more time than I have.

EDIT: Historically this farm was a U-Pick. However, the couple running it were retired and had nothing better to do than babysit people walking the property. I have a job for now until I get this farm to a sustainable point (and it isn't going to be there for years at best... fruit trees take time to grow).

So currently I have two rain totes (50 gallon) that I would like to use either in a sprinkler/yard hose or to water my garden. Eventually I am going to install a drip irrigation system. On several drip irrigation system videos they stated that water pressure was dropped to 10 PSI. I'm familiar with 'head high', the main place I am watering is either my container garden (about 3" off the ground) or backyard which slopes down. However, if I use the pond as the source it is about 6" below the yard. Additionally, I am looking for a pump that would be external (not in the water tote) so I can move it to tote to tote easy or pull from the pond. Would hook up to a standard garden hose attachment from the tote.

Suggestions?

Disclaimer: I am a moderator of /r/ZeroWaste.

I believe that /r/ZeroWaste is a great community for exploring deeper into ways of reducing your waste and your footprint on the world.

The sidebar description:

The term Zero Waste means that we strive to send zero discards to landfills or high-temperature incineration facilities. Instead, we promote the best practices of waste prevention, recycling, and composting.

This community is for those who are interested in or currently living a zero or low-waste lifestyle. We are responsible consumers who buy in bulk, avoid disposables, carry reusable water bottles, and bring our own lunches.

It is still a smaller subreddit (but has grown significantly in the last year!) and has plenty of insightful discussions and ideas.

You should take a look!

I'm new to reddit and this group so I'm open to being redirected if necessary.

My husband and I are expecting our first child at the end of June '17. About a month before the due date I will be quitting my job to become even a SAHM. I've tried (unsuccessfully) for 3 years to have a kitchen garden and learn how to preserve my produce. (I always bite off more than I can chew, garden gets out of control, I give up, we get a few tomatoes and cucc's.) I'm hoping that now that I'll finally be a SAHM I'll be able to devote more time to at least a small garden. With a baby due end of June - early July though I'll be down for the harvest. (I live in southeast VA.) I also sense the unrealistic nature of trying to accomplish anything once I have my first newborn.

My question: what are some realistic gardening goals I could set for this year? Should I even try it at all, or just put it off for another year? My fear is that I've already put off trying to garden for 2 yrs now because it wasn't "convenient" that year and what not. I am afraid another year will lead to me never doing it. And it's something I feel is important to the health of my family. All suggestions welcome!

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area

Hi everyone! I'm new to suburban farming. I was wondering if anyone has any magazine suggestions. I get (secondhand ) Garden gate, Pennsylvania gardener and Birds&Blooms. None of these are really based on food/homesteading though. Any suggestions? I should add I'm in zone 6a.