How does your garden grow?

[Larro Darro]

Yesterday I saw what I thought was a bloom on the yellow squash. When I got closer, I saw it was a squash. And the acorn squash continue to grow.

 

[Daver1963]

Here's what I've been able to do in the last week. Now we'll have to wait.
Spread 294lbs of lime (25lbs/1000sqft) and 223lbs of triple 15 (19.16lbs/1000sqft)
Planted:
10 better boy tomato,
4 bell pepper,
2 cucumber,
4 cabbage plants
2 - 50ft rows Shelly Bean
3 - 50ft rows Speckled Butter Beans (Jackson Wonder)
3 - 50ft rows Purple Hull Peas (Pinkeye)
3 - 50ft rows Corn (Peaches & Cream)
3 - 50ft rows Green Bean (Blue Lake Bush)
10 onion sets
2 rows carrots (on paper tape)
6 hills of squash
10 potato sets

 

[Larro Darro]

Dave, that will be quite the garden when it kicks in.

 

[Larro Darro]

Okay Larro, my wife is asking why I didn't get the recipe for your "Buckle"

I just got the recipe posted over on http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/288289-whats-supper-221.html What's for Supper?????

 

[Daver1963]

Dave, that will be quite the garden when it kicks in.

Larry
We moved it to a new and bigger location because the old spot got a lot of rain runoff. Then I actually did the smart thing and got the local CO-OP to send off a dirt sample to get tested. While I used fertilizer on the old garden I didn't get anywhere close to the amounts listed above. I hope that we have to give food away. Seeds are cheap.

 

[Larro Darro]

Larry
We moved it to a new and bigger location because the old spot got a lot of rain runoff. Then I actually did the smart thing and got the local CO-OP to send off a dirt sample to get tested. While I used fertilizer on the old garden I didn't get anywhere close to the amounts listed above. I hope that we have to give food away. Seeds are cheap.

I had some gullies washed on the garden this spring. The whole front yard drains in that direction, and we have had some big storms.

I bought more wire today. I'm adding to my garden plot too. I'm doing more tomato and pepper this year, and they take up space where my 2nd and 3rd planting of peas would go.

I haven't broadcast any fertilizer. I side dress with triple 10 or triple 13 after the plants are up. With cucumbers, melons, tomato and peppers, I use a little blue juice when watering. My rows are wider apart, and there is less weed growth between rows that way.

 

[Depmandog]

Yes we fight weeds like crazy. Last year I decided to make the garden larger, but to use wider row spacing and hipped rows with drip irrigation. This way I can side dress the fertilizer (or direct inject into the irrigation if I wanted) and cultivate with the tractor. The spot watering helps with weed control.

Then it's my daughter and SIL's job to weed the rows and harvest. Last year (the first year of this "dual" ownership garden arrangement) they learned that no amount of mechanical assistance substitutes the need for good old "by hand" hoe work. Last year the Mrs and I went on an Alaska cruise. We get back and the weeds had went unattended and nuts. Hopefully they learned it's so much easier to hoe when the weeds are 2" compared to 24"!!

 

[Paddy]

We have a different way of small gardening. We don't till up a patch, just a row. In the example in the attached photos, I use my tractor to dig a ditch, 8 in deep and 12 in wide. All the clay is scooped up and removed. Good garden soil is placed in the ditch. Wire cage is over the top to keep the deer out. Then a soaker hose is placed along the beans. To harvest, we just flip back the wire. The curve of the wire is as it comes off the role. We bought 5 ft tall 2" by 4" wire fencing. I cut it to 4 ft pc. It has the curve shape and is 20 in off the ground to accommodate the beans.

We plant half the row first and then 2-3 weeks later plant the other half. Then once the first planting is nearing the end, we will replant beside them. This way we have a constant supply of beans all summer. We don't can them, just for fresh use.

At the end of the season, fencing is stacked out of the way. Also, with the sod growing with in 6 in of the plants, we don't step in mud, weeds can't compete with the beans

You can do a tomato cage the same way. Use 5 ft tall wire in a 4 ft dia circle. Use one or two long wires to keep the ends together. Mostly I can reach in to get the tomatos. Deer still nibble at the edges.

 

[Larro Darro]

Paddy, that looks like a good idea. We have deer pretty bad here too. I used to let the cucumbers grow on the garden fence, but the deer kept them trimmed back, so I had to give it up.

 

[Larro Darro]

I noticed some small tomatoes on the beef steaks today.