How does your garden grow?

[goeduck]

I tried the fabric and it was great the first few years. After that it seemed to be critter cover and I lost more from mice camping out under the fabric.

 

[Oaktree]

I bought a 100 foot roll of 3' wide landscape fabric at the hardware store this spring for $29.95. Wouldn't you know, the very next week our local salvage/discount store (Marden's, to Maine members here) had the same stuff for $9.99.

Love that store! We're about an hour and a half drive from their store in Rumford...we'll go there a couple times a year. Better selection of nuts/bolts/hardware than many of the box stores, and my wife likes their fabric selection.

 

[Oaktree]

I tried the fabric and it was great the first few years. After that it seemed to be critter cover and I lost more from mice camping out under the fabric.

Yeah, I also found it to be more trouble than it was worth. And just one more thing to go into the landfill when it deteriorates.

 

[Jstpssng]

Love that store! We're about an hour and a half drive from their store in Rumford...we'll go there a couple times a year. Better selection of nuts/bolts/hardware than many of the box stores, and my wife likes their fabric selection.

They have a pretty good chain selection also. I need a few more chokers and plan to get some #70 chain from them.

 

[robbyr]

About 15 or 20 years ago we went to a roadside fresh produce stand. Lot of stuff there. Bought some fresh pinto beans. Not sure why but I seem to remember them being a slightly purplish color. They were really good and you could tell the difference between them and store bought dried beans. Fast forward to this year. Never planted pintos before so I did. Just picked a mess, shelled them, and cooked a pot. Taste just like store bought dried beans. Kinda disappointing after going to the trouble of planting, weeding, and shelling. Why did the ones back then taste “different”?

 

[herm0016]

what do you do about voles?

we have a family camping out between our garden and our neighbors.

I laugh at the people that are picking things already. our stuff just went in the ground 2 weeks ago. I have a few flowers on the berry bushes and maybe one squash blossom. we lost a bunch of stuff due to poor hardening off practices i think.

 

[goeduck]

what do you do about voles?

we have a family camping out between our garden and our neighbors.

I laugh at the people that are picking things already. our stuff just went in the ground 2 weeks ago. I have a few flowers on the berry bushes and maybe one squash blossom. we lost a bunch of stuff due to poor hardening off practices i think.

We are not nearly as far along as many members but we do have tomatoes formed and blackberries in the red stage. I am way behind on peas and cabbage. The cabbage I had to replant, years ago I bought some seed and none of it sprouted. This year I planted seed from that same dang package :duh: :mur: :duh: :mur:

This time I threw it out. I was late to start with, now I am really late.

 

[farmer2009]

Thanks. I read those and none seem to fit. I have noticed some of the plants are starting to revive but others are getting worse. Still hope to get one to the ag agent this week.

Your pictures and your description reminds me a scald in tobacco. Happens after heavy rain fall which you said you had. Especially if you get a bright hot sun soon after and before the soil can drain the water down. My understanding of it, is a reaction to lack of oxygen in the soil and a hot sun. Some plants will grow out of it. Some won’t. We usually added extra nitrogen to tobacco in order to help pull it out.

Your 8 inch rain event was only 3.5 for me.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Feels like a Late September Morning. Reminds me of 911. Cool, Clear, crisp!

Garden pretty much dead, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, carrotts and even the sunflowers!

Who knows what the potatoes are doing underground.

Seedlings planted in the garden as well as in a top soil pile, where I made a terrace, same thing, each location.

Bought a large tomatoe Plant a couple of days ago.

First time in my life I didn't see a June Bug all spring. Uually one week a year some flying ants or something invade my Office Window Sill. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. They never made an appearance either!

 

[goeduck]

Pennies in water in a small ziplock works for flies around here. Apparently their vision is totally messed up and they stay clear.

Does this really work? I googled it and get more yes than no responses.

 

[dragoneggs]

Does this really work? I googled it and get more yes than no responses.

Yeah I first saw them in use at the Cash Brewery in Silverdale. They have garage doors that open up so there is more of an indoor/outdoor feel. They had them hanging from the upper frame. I finally asked the owner and he said what they were for and that it really worked. They flies would not come inside.

 

[goeduck]

Yeah I first saw them in use at the Cash Brewery in Silverdale. They have garage doors that open up so there is more of an indoor/outdoor feel. They had them hanging from the upper frame. I finally asked the owner and he said what they were for and that it really worked. They flies would not come inside.

Cash brewery in Silverdale? There is a brewery in Kitsap that I do not know about?
:beer: :reading: :reading: :reading: :beer:

Research, research.

 

[goeduck]

Cash brewery in Silverdale? There is a brewery in Kitsap that I do not know about?
:beer: :reading: :reading: :reading: :beer:

Research, research.

EDIT
Website found. Burgers, beer. Not far from Tractor Supply Co. What is not to like? :cool2:

 

[Alan W.]

Your pictures and your description reminds me a scald in tobacco. Happens after heavy rain fall which you said you had. Especially if you get a bright hot sun soon after and before the soil can drain the water down. My understanding of it, is a reaction to lack of oxygen in the soil and a hot sun. Some plants will grow out of it. Some won稚. We usually added extra nitrogen to tobacco in order to help pull it out.

Your 8 inch rain event was only 3.5 for me.

I think your right. Im gonna try abit of triple 19 on them and see what happens.

See that your a poultry farmer. When I was truck driving I had to do backhauls of eggs from western KY. Didnt know if ya raised for slaughter or eggs.

 

[Jstpssng]

Cooking dirt. I'm tired of fighting weeds in my root crops, so when nobody else wanted my father's soil sterilizer I brought it home. One batch should give me a 6" deep bed 12" wide and 12 feet long... that's a lot of carrots. It's a little too late to plant them this year but it won't be the first time that I've wintered them over.

 

[CADplans]

I switched the part of my garden that I am done with for the year to buckwheat,,
It was planted with an EarthWay 1001 planter using the #22 seed plate,,

This pic is after the seed has been in the ground 7 days,,,

 

[Jstpssng]

I switched the part of my garden that I am done with for the year to buckwheat,,
It was planted with an EarthWay 1001 planter using the #22 seed plate,,

This pic is after the seed has been in the ground 7 days,,,

I tried buckwheat once and it didn't look that good after 2 months. I didn't think of using the Earthway though, instead using the broadcast seeder on my ATV with a length of fencing to stir it under.

 

[CADplans]

I tried buckwheat once and it didn't look that good after 2 months. I didn't think of using the Earthway though, instead using the broadcast seeder on my ATV with a length of fencing to stir it under.

Every item I read about planting buckwheat said broadcasting requires 2 or 3X as much seed because of poor germination.
I was amazed at the germination,, but, I did work hard with the planter,,, and it was 90+ degrees when I was doing it.

 

[Alan W.]

Cooking dirt. I'm tired of fighting weeds in my root crops, so when nobody else wanted my father's soil sterilizer I brought it home. One batch should give me a 6" deep bed 12" wide and 12 feet long... that's a lot of carrots. It's a little too late to plant them this year but it won't be the first time that I've wintered them over.

Curious about the soil sterilizer. What does it use and how does it do it.
I remember gassing the tobacco beds when I was young. I assume this is different.

 

[Jstpssng]

Every item I read about planting buckwheat said broadcasting requires 2 or 3X as much seed because of poor germination.
I was amazed at the germination,, but, I did work hard with the planter,,, and it was 90+ degrees when I was doing it.

I will try that the next time I plant. Buckwheat is much better than the oats I've been using as a cover crop.

Curious about the soil sterilizer. What does it use and how does it do it.
I remember gassing the tobacco beds when I was young. I assume this is different.

It's electric, and runs off my electric clothes dryer outlet. I only run it a few times per year so it doesn't hurt too badly when I get my power bill.
It's great for preparing seed beds, and I run off a yard of soil/compost in the fall for starting my plants inside the following spring.
At $2400 plus shipping it's not something I would go out and buy on my own; but it was just lying around in the greenhouse and followed me home one day.
Soil Sterilizers | Commercial Greenhouse Equipment

It smells like buckwheat pancakes when the soil is cooking. To me that's a rather nostalgic smell as my father used to sterilize all of the soil for the greenhouse...probably 30 yards or so using steam in the body of his KB5 international dump truck.