How does your garden grow?

[thepumpguysc]

Funny that I ran into this thread this morning..
I spent the afternoon yesterday raking up all the hay I had put down & tilling the weeds down/in..
THEN reapplying the hay.. THAT was a work-out..
IF applied heavy enough. the hay is a great weed deterrent.. & it looks good too..
I had to weigh the cost of the hay vs the labor weeding.. & the hay came out a winner..lol
I planted Mid-March & this has been the 1st time I had to go in & "weed"..{re-till}
The hay between the plants works great too.. then along the walking rows..
I do use the HEAVY BLACK plastic ground tarps in areas I don't use.. it was almost 100.00 for the roll at Lowes..
But like I said.. you gotta weigh the cost vs labor..
The thing about the plastic in areas I didn't use is>> once I decide to actually USE IT, its ready.. the BLACK burns off any unwanted fungus in the dirt..
Just move the "tarp" to another area of the garden or fold it up & start planting..
I pulled up 2 rows of radish's yesterday & some onions..before tilling.

 

[Sigarms]

I understand that one could argue the merits that either it helps or it's a waste of time, but my wife has been doing it going on 3 years now and she's a believer, and that's ALL that matters LOL

 

[thepumpguysc]

Whatcha doin.?? washin yer socks.?? Lol

I've got green beans flowering.. squash & zucini the size of "brats"..
& pulled the rest of my radish's.. yum, yum..
Any of u folks ever grown Pink Beauty Radish's.?? They aren't hot, hot & u can sit down & eat'm by the handfuls..
I like to cut'm in half & put'm in the frig w/ water & salt.. & about a day later dig into m'..

 

[Sigarms]

Whatcha doin.?? washin yer socks.?? Lol

Compost Tea.

Wife tried it a couple years ago after a class, and she likes it for spraying.

 

[herm0016]

its snowing today. we have about 5 sq feet of seedlings of squash, radish, onions, melons, tomatoes, and a few other things in our kitchen, some lettuce outside. getting 10 yards of compost at the end of this week. all out outside stuff is covered with harbor freight moving blankets. hopefully that is enough, not supposed to get below 30 or so. and my grass is coming in pretty well. we started from a clean slate in 20k sq feet of our backyard. its all bentenite clay. hundreds of lbs of soil conditioner and other stuff put down by me, at the recommendation of a local place and it seems to be working.

 

[Jstpssng]

Funny that I ran into this thread this morning..
I spent the afternoon yesterday raking up all the hay I had put down & tilling the weeds down/in..
THEN reapplying the hay.. THAT was a work-out..
IF applied heavy enough. the hay is a great weed deterrent.. & it looks good too..
I had to weigh the cost of the hay vs the labor weeding.. & the hay came out a winner..lol
I planted Mid-March & this has been the 1st time I had to go in & "weed"..{re-till}
The hay between the plants works great too.. then along the walking rows..
I do use the HEAVY BLACK plastic ground tarps in areas I don't use.. it was almost 100.00 for the roll at Lowes..
But like I said.. you gotta weigh the cost vs labor..
The thing about the plastic in areas I didn't use is>> once I decide to actually USE IT, its ready.. the BLACK burns off any unwanted fungus in the dirt..
Just move the "tarp" to another area of the garden or fold it up & start planting..
I pulled up 2 rows of radish's yesterday & some onions..before tilling.

Are you using hay, or straw? The former is full of seed heads and will produce even more weeds next year; whereas the latter is (supposedly) the residual after the grain heads have been removed.

I have some 20 foot wide black plastic which is great for planting seedlngs on. The first year that I used it was a bad year for blight, and it got my tomatoes. I pulled them, rolled everything up and put it in my stump dump. It was a great way to clean up all of the diseased plant material, which is now buried under 10 feet of stumps and soil.

 

[dragoneggs]

Corn is coming up! Not quite an inch high.

 

[Jstpssng]

Yesterday I planted potatoes, and it's been raining ever since. I stepped next to the row tonight and it was like walking in quicksand. The warm rain did seem to raise my soil temperature from 42 to 58 though. :thumbsup:

 

[goeduck]

We have naturally acidic soil here and our 4 blueberry bushes go nuts every year. We don't do anything really but last year, my wife put fir branches down as sort of a weed blocker knowing they are acidic. Didn't hurt. We added a bunch of peat moss a long time ago to the virgin soil just to hold more water as we have sandy glacial till that drains extremely well.

Good to know, I put in 4 blueberry bushes about 2 weeks ago. An early season, a mid season, a late and a very late season. I never have grown blueberries. I added a gooseberry and a current at the same time.

 

[mapper]

A few years ago we started to have a problem with mummy berry in in our blueberry patch. One recommendation was spraying repeatedly throughout late winter to bud break in the spring. After consulting with my sister the successful commecial organic farmer, l found a much easier way to control it. I mulch the beds with a couple of inches of alder sawdust each year, this prevents the little fruiting body of the fungus that causes mummy berry from reaching the surface. The added advantage is that the sawdust creates the acid environment the blueberries like, I also started garden giant mushrooms in the sawdust and am getting more than I can use now!

 

[Oaktree]

Yesterday I planted potatoes, and it's been raining ever since.

Are you on the coast? Way too early to plant much of anything here except cool weather stuff like peas, lettuce & spinach, and even they didn't get planted until this past weekend.
Been such a cold, rainy spring. Asparagus is just starting to come up now, about 2 wks later than normal.

I usually hold off until mid-June for potatoes. Doesn't seem to affect yield but does deter the potato bugs somewhat.

 

[Jstpssng]

Are you on the coast? Way too early to plant much of anything here except cool weather stuff like peas, lettuce & spinach, and even they didn't get planted until this past weekend.
Been such a cold, rainy spring. Asparagus is just starting to come up now, about 2 wks later than normal.

I usually hold off until mid-June for potatoes. Doesn't seem to affect yield but does deter the potato bugs somewhat.

I usually do plant a little early, in part because that's when I seem to find the time. My peas have been in the ground 2 weeks and are just waiting for a little sunshine to bring them out.
I plant a short row this time of year from last year's leftovers for summer eating; there's nothing like fresh dug potatoes with a little butter and salt. :licking: I plant my main crop later using fresh seed potatoes for the same reason you mention, plus I feel they keep longer into the spring. I eat them right up until the day they go back into the ground.

One thing the most recent rain did was warm up the soil; it went from 42' on Sunday to 58' yesterday.

 

[dragoneggs]

50 degree nights is what my dad used to say about planting here in the PNW. We plant peas earlier though.

 

[goeduck]

A few years ago we started to have a problem with mummy berry in in our blueberry patch. One recommendation was spraying repeatedly throughout late winter to bud break in the spring. After consulting with my sister the successful commecial organic farmer, l found a much easier way to control it. I mulch the beds with a couple of inches of alder sawdust each year, this prevents the little fruiting body of the fungus that causes mummy berry from reaching the surface. The added advantage is that the sawdust creates the acid environment the blueberries like, I also started garden giant mushrooms in the sawdust and am getting more than I can use now!

Amazing how simple solutions like that are not publicized, they would not sell much spray if they were. :thumbsup:

 

[Molalla1]

50 degree nights is what my dad used to say about planting here in the PNW. We plant peas earlier though.

Better to just check soil temperature . . .

 

[dragoneggs]

Better to just check soil temperature . . .

Agreed. I just like the old school ways and says. Brings back childhood memories.

 

[goeduck]

Agreed. I just like the old school ways and says. Brings back childhood memories.

Same here. Easier to look at the thermometer outside when the dogs get me up at 3 AM to piddle. :thumbsup:

Having said that I would like to have a soil moisture meter. I am guessing they register temperature as well? But I cannot guarantee that at that time of day I will be able to retain the (3 AM) readings In the morning. :confused3:

Maybe after coffee, strong coffee. I am known for making coffee that pours like molasses :

 

[robbyr]

You should be able to float a horseshoe in good strong coffee. Right?

 

[Jstpssng]

I just use a simple $4.00 probe thermometer to check soil temperature. It only goes 4” into the ground but that’s deeper than my seeds lay anyhow.

 

[goeduck]

You should be able to float a horseshoe in good strong coffee. Right?

Yes, if your coffee consists of moist coffee grounds the horseshoe will sit on top nicely. Good and strong. You just need a BIG cup to get that horseshoe on top.