23,948 Garden Web Discussions | Vegetable Gardening
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!
Dave- Thanks for the clarification.
"My apologies, Rodney. Yes, you were asking about the OPs steer manure. I was talking about the steer manure I was referring to."
Not a problem. :)
"If the biosolids don't come from sewage, as now seems to be revealed for EarthGro, then the question is pretty random, and carries misleading implications. I usually associate the word "biosolids" with processed sewage including human waste but evidently it's also used, quite sensibly, for solids that come out of cattle."
Agreed. I wasn't completely sure if animal manures were being included by using the term "biosolids" and so I just assumed that it was meant to be only sewage/sludge type products.
Rodney
Where did the OP go??? Some one has an agenda to discredit walmart or whoever. And we are reading and commenting on it. Not saying it is not interesting, but lets not be mislead by the terminology used. Is BIOSOLIDS the new GMO?? We are against it but don't really know what it is.
I don't raise brussel sprouts, but I do raise broccoli and similar brassica.
I have already put most of them out in the garden. I may be a tad earlier than you as it seldom frosts here after early May. I think there is a good advantage in setting them out before they are damaged by staying in the pots too long.
I find that they can take light frosts well after they are established....not as well right after setting out.
I suggest having some cover pots ready to set over them overnight until they take off in the ground.
Brussel sprouts are normally a fall cool crop not a spring one. They need fall and early winter frosts exposure to develop a full taste and when well established are very frost tolerant (not so for seedlings). They tends toward bitterness otherwise. Sadly many garden centers insist on selling them as transplants this time of year ignoring the proper planting times for them - mid-summer.
So your choices are to try to keep them going in containers indoors until approx. early June and then transplant them which is hard to do OR plant them out whenever and hope for the best. If you can keep the plants healthy and productive until your first fall frost you'll note a distinct difference in flavor in those harvested late rather than the early ones.
Dave
I grew some broccoli about a month ago and it turned out amazing! I think that if you are waiting to harvest your broccoli until you see flowers, you are waiting way too long. Once the broccoli starts to flower, the broccoli starts developing a bitter taste. 
Thanks Dave.
I've always grown Big Zac, Portuguese Monster, Delicious, etc. for large tomatoes (for fun), s I'm not as familiar with the cherry tomatoes that I'm growing this year and didn't realize their plant sizes..
I already have my beets etc. planted (I'm in Washington DC and also Southern Maryland on the Ches. Bay). I can usually plant those cool crops through mid May and still get results. So I'm thinking of them maybe as a second or third planting this weekend, even before I put the tomato plant in..
My thinking is that since Tomatoes are getting most of the nutrient from deep in the soil, something with a more shallow root (like onions) can be in the container and not affect the tomato's feeding needs.
Once I harvest my current crop of beets and onions, I don't want to be left for the rest of the Spring/summer without any more beets...
Basil I will have scattered everywhere in the garden, so I probably wont do that and same for marigolds.
Also open to other plants I might not have thought of. I had extra space in the garden last year and someone gave me eggplant seedlings. I'm not really a fan and never would have thought to on my own, but I ended up liking the eggplant and now include them regularly. SO I like seeing what others might recommend.
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!