Farm and Garden

[85_Ranger4x4]

Managed to get a hold of the Co-op. They said if they sprayed corn before me and didn't get the tanks cleaned out well enough it can cause what happened. They are going to come look at it and make it right supposedly if that is what happened.

If that is what happened it will kill the replant too... I found that out after I just refilled the planter.

 

[Curious Hound]

Managed to get a hold of the Co-op. They said if they sprayed corn before me and didn't get the tanks cleaned out well enough it can cause what happened. They are going to come look at it and make it right supposedly if that is what happened.

If that is what happened it will kill the replant too... I found that out after I just refilled the planter.

Oops. That stinks.

 

[racsan]

I tried something different with the cucumbers this year, put a kennel fence gate at one end of the raised garden bed & let the vines grow into it rather than go everywhere & wrap around everything else. It seems to work, and I have long skinny cucumbers rather than fat seedy ones. Easier to find them too.

 

[sgtsandman]

Our garden seems to be doing well for a first year of growing stuff. Do to lack of time on mine and the girlfriend's part. Weeds are running rampant and the tomatoes are out of control, even with the basket thing that is supposed to keep the somewhat contained.

I'm hoping to have a PVC lattice perimeter and some walk ways built for next year to help rein in some of the chaos. Some kind of mulch to stifle the weeds wouldn't hurt either. The lattice would also enable me to plant some companion plants along the garden perimeter to help combat pests. There has been just too much to do and not enough time to get it all done this year.

 

[Uncle Gump]

My garden is chuggin along...

Just spent an hour pickin and tying up my tomato plants. It helps with the chaos... but proper spacing when planting is more critical.

Last year I blew all my leafs into the garden. About three feet deep with leafs. Spent a couple hours with my tiller to work them in a bit but the surface was mainly chopped up leafs. Weed control was amazing... and that layer really helps with water retention too. Can't believe I didn't do this year's ago... but I will every year going forward.

 

[sgtsandman]

My garden is chuggin along...

Just spent an hour pickin and tying up my tomato plants. It helps with the chaos... but proper spacing when planting is more critical.

Last year I blew all my leafs into the garden. About three feet deep with leafs. Spent a couple hours with my tiller to work them in a bit but the surface was mainly chopped up leafs. Weed control was amazing... and that layer really helps with water retention too. Can't believe I didn't do this year's ago... but I will every year going forward.

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I've been dumping all the leaves I suck up with the shredder vac into the garden. It covers the entire area but not very thick. I'm thinking about getting some bags of manure from the hardware store to cover the garden over the winter and thrown some bails of straw over that. Then mix it all in with a broad fork in the spring.

The dirt is better than what it started out, but it still has quite a bit of clay clumps in it. It might need some sand too to address the clay.

I'm pretty sure that when the plan was built, they stripped all the top soil and sold it off to make even more profit.

 

[RobbieD]

I tried using straw as a mulch and a winter cover, but in my experience it made for grass sprouting later on, out the wazoo, as weeds.

The best thing I've found, for overwintering, is to cover the plot with hardwood leaves, in the fall, and then till them in in late winter. Then I use pine bark or wood chips as a mulch while the garden is in, to keep the weeds down and the soil moisture up.

For the red clay soil we have here in Georgia, I till in peat moss every year to loosen up the clay.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I've been dumping all the leaves I suck up with the shredder vac into the garden. It covers the entire area but not very thick. I'm thinking about getting some bags of manure from the hardware store to cover the garden over the winter and thrown some bails of straw over that. Then mix it all in with a broad fork in the spring.

The dirt is better than what it started out, but it still has quite a bit of clay clumps in it. It might need some sand too to address the clay.

I'm pretty sure that when the plan was built, they stripped all the top soil and sold it off to make even more profit.

My last garden spot was pretty much all clay. Sand... pea gravel... and several cheap busted open bags of hardwood mulch and pine bark nuggets tilled in really got it going. Then I used manure compost tilled in then mushroom compost. Best damn garden I've ever had...

 

[sgtsandman]

I tried using straw as a mulch and a winter cover, but in my experience it made for grass sprouting later on, out the wazoo, as weeds.

The best thing I've found, for overwintering, is to cover the plot with hardwood leaves, in the fall, and then till them in in late winter. Then I use pine bark or wood chips as a mulch while the garden is in, to keep the weeds down and the soil moisture up.

For the red clay soil we have here in Georgia, I till in peat moss every year to loosen up the clay.

I have a silver maple in the back and a varigated beech in the front. I get most of the leaves feom the neighbor's red maple since I'm down wind from them.

Good point on the straw.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I'm pretty sure that when the plan was built, they stripped all the top soil and sold it off to make even more profit.

I think it was horticulture in high school, they said it takes like 300 years to naturally build one inch of topsoil... it isn't something to be underestimated.

 

[sgtsandman]

I think it was horticulture in high school, they said it takes like 300 years to naturally build one inch of topsoil... it isn't something to be underestimated.

There is more than an inch and it varies. It was obviously thicker where the old garden was. I may have accelerated the rate though since I almost exclusively mulch the yard when I cut grass. Why rake or bag when I don't have to?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

There is more than an inch and it varies. It was obviously thicker where the old garden was. I may have accelerated the rate though since I almost exclusively mulch the yard when I cut grass. Why rake or bag when I don't have to?

No no, like if you just let it do is thing with grass dying and deer randomly pooping on it it takes that long to accumulate an inch.

Yeah, it can be quite thick but if someone dozes it away or lets it wash a way it can take a long time before it comes back.

The clown that built my terrace in my field just pushed the topsoil up, so below the terrace all my good dirt is in the terrace.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I’ll make a comment on the whole straw thing…

Proper straw will not really grow much of anything. Hay, however, will grow all sorts of grass and weeds. If you’re putting down something in the garden or on fresh seeded lawn, straw is what you want, not hay. I’ve made that mistake before.

Also, wood chips, not the shredded mulch stuff, but chips from a chipper will build topsoil in a couple years. Back when dad did concrete work and a lot of new housing plans were going in around here, every spring he would haul a few truckloads of wood chips in and we would do all under the Hemlock trees and all the planting areas. Every couple years we had to dig a couple inches of topsoil out of the planting areas to keep them from becoming giant mounds. Tree companies are often looking for places to dump chips too…

 

[Jazzer]

If you use wood chips (good idea) you should broadcast nitrogen fertilizer to speed their breakdown. It feeds the bugs that digest the wood, and they return soft nitrogen to the soil after digesting it.

 

[Uncle Gump]

With gardening... you know the day will come.

It's here...

Your garden produces more then you can normally consume.

My neighbors love it... cause I pass out samplings of home grown goodness. Then... you have to preserve. It's a bunch of work... but you do it or waste it.

I've got to do a double batch of salsa... same with banana rings. There is enough cukes to do a batch of zesty bread and butter and a batch of dill pickles. I also have 5 jumbo yellow squash and zucchini... never tried to preserve those... but I'm gonna try this year.

My bagged potatoes look to be doing good. I want to peek in there and see what's going on... but restrain myself from doing so. Seems we would wait until the foliage dies... like after the first frost... then start digging. Am I right? Suggestions would be helpful...

I also have some nice cantaloupe coming... those are typically a real treat.

Anyway... just rambling.