Got all old vegetation Burned off and lime put down this past weekend! Will till in some 12-12-12 this week or next weekend depending on weather! Wish my seeds would arrive, I am usually way ahead on plant starts by now.
I am going to try putting the cheap black plastic mulch down on a few of my gardens this year to save time on weed pulling. Anybody have success/failure with this stuff? Seems way worth the money if I'm not pulling as many weeds.
__________________ Most of my life I've spent hunting,... the rest of it I've just wasted
WHAT!!!! Up here we lost our snow for about 3 days and just got a new 8-12 in. last night!! I've got the itch but til the dang ground thaws I'm stuck!!
I seized the moment when we got a few days of 60! Its back to cold, windy & rainy now tonight and tomorrow! Good, it will soak the lime in the soil. I love gardening and cannot wait to do more! My seeds should be here next week, cutting it close for starting some stuff indoors, but I will speed it up with 18hrs of metal hallide, T5 & T8 grow bulbs.
__________________ Most of my life I've spent hunting,... the rest of it I've just wasted
Cross Hair-
I don't use the black plastic 'cause I'm too cheap, but I do use straw. Make sure you let the straw sit out in the weather for several months to kill the seed though, or you'll do more harm than good. Straw that has sat out and got wet lays down in nice flakes and really helps keep the weeds down. A good cheap fertilizer is manure. When I clean up the feed lots from feeding hay over the winter I push it up in one big pile and let it sit for a year, turning it with the tractor from time to time. If you get fertilizer from a farmer try to make sure that it isn't fresh as it can burn your seed up.
__________________ But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing.
I usually use the straw out of the dog kennel from the winter and had quite a bit left over last year from weenie roasts, but as windy as it got last spring half blew off! LOL, I figure its about $130 for a roll of plastic that will do 3 of my 6 garden plots, the other 3 have plants that dont need much weed control... beans and such and the rest will do my mothers and uncles garden if my calculations are correct. $130 bucks is well worth all the weed pullin' after work. Got too much other stuff going on with the big property!
As a kid the only manure we used straight into the garden was rabbit poo.
I got a load of "mushroom compost" a few years ago and it worked pretty darn good... its just aged horse manure. Last couple of years I tilled in the 12-12-12 then fertilized at intervals with either miracle grow if I was lazy (hook up to sprinkler and forget it) or used plant specific fertilizers like epsom salts or tomato tone.
I'm really lookin forward to it, every year I try new things and usually add on. This year the wife and I think we have it dialed in for canning and freezing to not need many store bought veggies and I am finishing off an unfinished front porch and will install my grow lights and a few hydroponic systems and we are going to try for fresh veggies year round... fingers crossed!
__________________ Most of my life I've spent hunting,... the rest of it I've just wasted
Cross Hair...Best to you with your garden this season. I'm in KC, MO and it's time to plant onions and radishes. Gotta wait till the freeze danger is over for tomatoes. That'll be around April 1st. I usually plant 10-12 plants with most being Jet Star variety and maybe a couple of Big Boy plants. Last season I had my best ever crop.
We're not allowed to burn (in town). Anyway, I believe the weeds, grass clippings, leaves turned under are all excellent things to turn under in my garden...so all of last season's clippings, etc, were rototilled under last October. I also added one bag of pelletized lime(garden is approx. 15 x 20 ft in size.) The soil was turned over many times then and will also be turned over ASAP before I plant vegetables this season. I will also add one 15 lb sack of 15-15-15...or close to that before planting this years garden.
Hey Oxford THAT is a good lookin' garden! Grass clippin's make great weed mulch too! and you are right tilled under in the fall and you are enriching your soil for next season. I tilled my 6 garden plots the other day and think I am going to add #7 just to plant sweet corn in. I need to get some ferts & lime this weekend to till in and I will be ready to roll!
I am getting nervous however, the seeds I ordered from Gurneys still have not arrived and I usually have my starts going by now! They told me a cp glitch caused the delay... that was over a week ago! I love Gurney seeds, but hope my stuff gets here! My mushroom kit was delivered to my neighbor... and I use that term in country sense of neighbor and he drove em' over yesterday... wonder where the rest of my stuff is????
We can ALOT and I usually plant a whole plot of 15-20 plants of just Roma's for making sauces and hot packing. Then I usually plant around 10 of various varieties that I get starts from country markets. I really enjoy the big boys, cherokee purple and many other varieties as sandwich and just plain eatin' maters!
I am putting a large plot of potatoes in this year and need to figure out how to preserve them through winter??? any suggestions guys?
Beans, cabbage, carrots, radishes, sweet corn, jalapeno's, green peppers, yellow & orange peppers, beets, lettuce mix and sunflowers all around the property... dove's love em and I love putting doves in the freezer! LOL
__________________ Most of my life I've spent hunting,... the rest of it I've just wasted
All of the nutrients and nitrogen cause my plants to grow tall. Here's a picture which shows how tall the tomatoe's are in comparison to standard size tomato support stands.
As a result, I'm planning on making new support stands out of concrete reinforcing wire which should have large enough spacing to allow my hands to get inside for picking ripened tomatoes.
Crosshair ,
I used of all things tar paper last year as a weed barrier . Here is how I did it . When the soil was ready . I covered it with the tar paper . (Cuz its cheap). You have to do this one row of paper at a time. Then took my pitch fork and punched holes in the paper being sure not to rip it . Then planted my plants . Cutting slits where needed for row crops. Will it rip if you stand on it well yes ifs its muddy but all in all it stayed together pretty good . Then after I was done I covered the whole thing with straw . It was a good experiament that yealed the desired results. The straw added a layer of strength to the paper I did not expect. I had 0 weed problem and expect that I may have burnt them off for at least this year,as so far no seedlings are showing up. Oh and by the way I took it all off last fall before I plowed it . I have allready tilled it up and it is lomie as could be . Before I had a clot problem. Anyway good luck with your spot . I feel the smart man will plant a big garden this year and put up what he cant eat or give to family. my 2 cents
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Given half a chance people will do half of what you expect from them .
Crosshair,
In referance to preserving them If you mean fresh preservation. We pick them green in the fall and use old panty hose and put in a mater and tie a knot and repeat . Then we hang the hose in the celler and take them out as we need them and put them in the window. You can just cut under the knot and take them one at a time or hang a sock full in the window for 10 days or so. They will last about 2 months easy in the celler long as they don't freeze .
P.s . The same trick works for potatoes and they will keep a long long time .
__________________
Given half a chance people will do half of what you expect from them .
Oxford, those are outstanding! I like the fact that you have a raised bed garden as well. I have been thinking about making one. Did you use old railroad ties?
1inthepipe, Thanks for the tips! Thats a good idea with the roofing paper, it is cheaper than the plastic idea! I will for sure check that out as I am going to Lowes tomorrow for some more supplies! I dont have a cellar as most of my house is on a slab... I do have a pretty nice crawl that is deep enough to stand hunched over in, do you think the crawl would preserve them ok? It gets cold down there, but never has gotten so cold as to bust any copper pipes.
__________________ Most of my life I've spent hunting,... the rest of it I've just wasted
Cross Hair...You mentioned that my plot looks like a "raised garden." That is because since 1968 I have used the same plot for the garden and have roto-tilled in all of my grass cuttings, clippings, leaves and smaller tree limbs which I break into short pieces.
Consequently, I have been making top soil. When the soil gets taller than my railroad ties I spread it around on low places in my yard, and have even hauled several lawn trailers full of the soil to another neighbor's garden which needed better soil.
Many years ago another neighbor gave me the old railroad ties from his garden and I lined my garden with them. So...they must be at least forty years old or older. I doubt if any cresote still exists on them...and the bottom halves of them are basically rotted off. Still, they make a much easier border for containing the garden soil and for separating it from the lawn.
I might add, also, that my garden "drain's" very well, which is the result of all the mulch and being a little elevated from the surrounding lawn.
Newpaper works for a weed barrier and mulch. It slowly rots up and stays wet when it rains or you water. My father uses it all the time. Looks like crap, but it works real well.
As soon as the soil drys out a bit, I'll be tilling up my garden. Need to add some lime and mushroom compost this year. I add a layer after I till and then till in the compost. It is a very rich mix.
The wife informed me the other day that she would like a garden again. Its been 5 years since the last one. I looked out the window and where the garden goes I have a 2 foot deep snow bank and it is snowing again right now, ground is starting to turn white. Guess her garden getting tilled is still going to be awhile.
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"Decaffeinated coffee is kind of like kissing your sister" ~ Bob Irwin
Don't feel too bad GC my tiller has to go in for an overhaul fore I can get to tilling. But um mmmmm home grown maters still warm off the vine are just too good not to have!
__________________ "You can have my Freedom when I'm done with it!"
