23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
It's the 3rd year I'm planting in this soil so all rocks are long gone :) thank you for your help on this, also is there a best way to till? I read to go in straight lines, and to really not over till either. Is there truth in this? What are your best practices when tilling?
I prefer to deep till then mix the compost in. I also often will till across or at an angle to the way the rows will run. also working the soil just before planting is good. I don't know what it cost to rent a tiller or how big your plot is, but you may want to consider a mantis for about $300 on Ebay.
Pegleg, wood chips are fine for surface mulch, but will tie up nitrogen when mixed into the soil unless they've been well composted ahead of time. You might want to start a new thread to ask about soil mixes. I just use native soil with compost turned in every year or two and it does fine, but I have good soil, and am not any type of expert.
I was under the impression that soil microbe feed on the sugar in Reg Coke. Jerry Baker, Master Gardener Extraordinaire, has a recipe using coke to enhance plant growth. Claims your plants will be jumping out of the ground.
You should do that coke vs soap experiment using reg coke,
I have found brown bead to be largely a function of variety. That probably also equates to water as brown bead is much more rare on high dome heading varieties versus those which are more flat. I depend on rainfall, but have more brown bead in rainy seasons with varieties like Packman.
Thank you very much! I just delivered a soil sample for nutrient testing, but that's good to know about nitrogen as I was reading that lack of nitrogen could be the problem.
We have already decided not to use the sprinklers for the tomato plants since it encourages early blight, but it's been so convenient! We're going to put in a drip system for them, so I suppose we'll just do that for other plants as well if we need to. I'll take your advice and not use sprinklers for the broccoli.
As far as variety, I've been purchasing whatever is available at our plant centers, whatever that might be. I'm not sure. I'll try to look into that and find out if a flat variety is available. Thanks so much!
Pictures are very helpful...and why you are getting responses. Otherwise it is just a guess as to what your questions refer to. And yes, like mentioned, compost your weeds. If left on your lawn they may take root but will create a lumpy lawn. Your compost bin is fine. Considered a passive system. Plant matter will take some time to compost down...really likes a bit more air circulation. But use what you have and plan for another/better compost system later. I do have one similar for garden trimmings and weeds but also have a built 3 bin system that cooks faster.
Those of us with years of experience really don't need to weed much if beds are tended throughout the year, put to bed and covered in the fall, etc...and properly mulched when planting. Just takes a bit of study.
You didn't mention what you might like to plant. I also suggest a spade. And double-digging. Starting at one end of the bed...dig up a shovelful, flip it over and pull/shake out the roots and weed matter. Going across in rows. It does take time but can be done a bit at a time.
OR, and maybe best, with not much time as it can be overwhelming, ...you could just dig three spots spaced evenly down the middle, about a two-by-2 ft square, (just three would not take much time), mix into each hole/area a bucket of good top soil to make mounds....or three bags of purchased soil.
Then cover the entire bed with weed barrier or plastic, and cut open the mounds to expose them. 5-8 seeds per hill of your choice like zucchini squash, winter squashes, pumpkins, ...put four of your stakes and make a teepee and grow some beans, sunflowers, A nice way to start slowly and get fast results for a first time garden. A nice way to start new beds. The rest of the bed will break down and be easier to clean up next year.
I started a new bed that way last year and had a few dozen winter squash that we ate throughout the fall up until the holidays.
a pic...from last year. My beds are cleaned up in the fall and covered. Ready to plant in the spring. Salad beds get planted thick, less weeds. veggie plants that need more room get mulched with straw, again no weeds. I only have the weekends to tend my garden. No time for weeding, just picking.
This year i start tomorrow...with early crops. And start/tend
a bed or two every week over the next 6 weeks. 2-3 hours a week is all it takes to tend an established garden.
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Hey Dave, thanks for our response! Being right down in the bottom of Ontario, surrounded by the lakes keeps us a bit warmer. Even farther south in the Niagara region (protected even more by the lakes and a big escaprment) it get downright balmy, pushed even to zone 7a! Interestingly, zone maps from before 1980 have us listed as a 5.
Sorry I didn't realise the photo was so tiny - I have no clue how to resize it. My spacing is 8x2m (26x6 feet roughly).
Having used Garden Planner in the past, I think I remember most of the plant spacing a being accurate. Maybe a little small on the tomato spacing--they can easily get bigger with certain varieties. What kinds specifically are you doing? Also, to me without seeing the spacing well enough, you may not have wide enough paths for harvesting--if it's 6', you won't be able to reach the center from each side.
Red Brandywine - I got poor yields. I planted 5 plants and got one tomato. Not worth the time and effort in my opinion, but lots of people like it.
I've never grown Old Virginia or Goliath.
Celebrity, Big Beef and Romas have always given me good yields. Some people don't like Big Beef or Celebrity becuaes they taste like a "grocery store" tomato. I think they're fine tomatoes.
Matt's Wild Cherry gives crazy yields! It's my favorite to grow. Have a plan for when they start coming in. They don't keep well. They do have amazing big tomato taste in a tiny dime size fruit.
All plants were planted in the ground.
Thanks for all the responses! I'll give some more growing info:
- I'm planting in a 4x4 raised bed, one that I've been growing in for 3 years.
- However, I'm going to plant some of the tomatoes in large pots, don't know the size in gallons, but each are somewhere around a foot and a half wide at the top. In the pots, I'm using very fertile potting soil, pots hold in moisture pretty well
- Soil stays pretty moist, lots of organic matter in the soil
- The nightly temps. average somewhere around 52-53 right now
- Location of the raised bed is pretty good, is shaded some, plants get enough sun but not too much
- I prune indeterminate varieties pretty occasionally
- Watering with a hose
- Big beef, brandywine, and goliath are transplants, rest I'm starting from seed
- Seed brands are Lake Valley Seed and Southern Exposure
Normally you would start with a trench and within the trench you would plant and cover crowns with 3-4" topsoil, still leaving another 3-4" below grade for filling in as plants grow.
In concept you don't want to cover crowns with so much soil that it creates an impenetrable barrier for the new crown first growth, yet on the other hand the crowns should ultimately be low enough that they will never dry out. You may have started out planting crowns just below grade and so you'll likely need to ultimately create a raised row in order to sufficiently cover your crowns for long term crown health, a lot like a row of hilled potatoes. You don't want to cut new growth for these first few years as crowns become established and new growth is tender so wait until growth is higher (tougher) before hilling around spears.
The visible shredded wood remnants are a non-issue. The odds also favor the little bugs outdoors to also be a temporary thing that's a non-issue; it's their territory after all and they're just taking advantage of current local conditions. Speaking of which, what's your area/zone/weather?
It's true that there is no way to diagnose too-wet conditions from a pic of the surface that's just been rained on, but low N is a good first call and some light fertilization should be OK to try. And just waiting a bit could work too!
Dicamba will drift even on a calm day. What is he trying to control. 2,4-d is good on dandilions and clovers. dicamba will control crabgrass. the drift will damage nearby trees and is deadly to tomatoes. in my area, weed and feed should have been done in late march. I have used granular in early spring and a gain in September to kill off lawn weeds. I now have good thick grass an don't weed only feed.
Well, corn gluten does work if applied at the right time for the seeds you're looking to exterminate. I have used it for years. But it does degrade, and if the seeds germinate much later than the application, then it doesn't work.