Gardening 2020...

[churchmouse]

Do you folks till every year.

Our raised bed has some really great dirt from years of attention. I bury the tiller as deep as it will go every spring. This year I wonder if I really need to till.

 

[Phase2]

Definitely not. Soft soil is much better for the plant roots.. That is part of the benefit of raised beds. Far less clay and you aren't trampling over it to compress it.

 

[Leadeye]

We till every year, but the soil here isn't that good even after a lot of work.

 

[bwframe]

If I don't till, I'll be mowing.

My garden was cut out of a 100 year old pasture and is still surrounded by that pasture. Years and years of weed seed already in the soil on top of more deposited every time the wind blows.

 

[churchmouse]

If I don't till, I'll be mowing.

My garden was cut out of a 100 year old pasture and is still surrounded by that pasture.

I put down ground cover. It works pretty well for the 14'X18' raised bed we have.

 

[bwframe]

+/- half of my 30 X 90 foot patch gets covered with black plastic. Even the soil that holds the plastic sheeting down grows weeds in no time.

Depending on rain, I till/cultivate every couple weeks or so between plants and plastic mulch. My hoes get quite the workout also...



My tiller tine bearings were pretty sloppy last year. I might be in the market for another tiller this year?

 

[churchmouse]

+/- half of my 30 X 90 foot patch gets covered with black plastic. Even the soil that holds the plastic sheeting down grows weeds in no time.

Depending on rain, I till/cultivate every couple weeks or so between plants and plastic mulch.

We put the leaf fall (mulched) on the bed and cover in the winter. There are a few weeds but easy to keep up with. But we are dealing with less than half your tilled area. No more room.

 

[2A_Tom]

A good book for reference is Square Foot Gardening.

I am using 5 gallon buckets for everything this year.

My seeds are all from fresh produce and my onion , celery, carrots and lettuce are from cuttings.

 

[churchmouse]

This little patch takes care of our needs.

 

[bwframe]

 

[spencer rifle]

More maple syrup from last night's batch.

 

[sngehl01]

Lookin good. Have you grown it before? Wondering how it compares to store bought.

 

[bwframe]

That celery is store bought. I just planted the end that you cut off and discard anyway.

 

[Expat]

Looks like i have about 30 feet of spinach that needs cut

 

[Leadeye]

More maple syrup from last night's batch.

That's good looking stuff, do you have a setup to make it or do it on the stove?

 

[2A_Tom]

I bought a small box of artisan lettuce and a romaine, cored them and just stuck them in some potting soil about 4 days ago.


There are also 2 onions cored out before chopping and an iceberg lettuce.

 

[Phase2]

For anyone that uses seed starting trays to start plants, I want to report that a warming pad *really* speeds things up. I've never had plants emerge before 7 days, but I've had some emerge after 3 days this year (cucumber and leafy greens). Very impressive. You can buy simple warming pads or ones with a thermostat for finer control.

If you decide you want one right now, Amazon won't deliver quickly due to current circumstances. I got mine on Ebay or you might be able to get one at your local store.

 

[Phase2]

For bwframe and anyone else doing the celery regrow trick. Jack Spirko is using aquaponics to grow in this 2min video, but the lessons are the same as growing in dirt.

[video=youtube;Xnu0nlaHnJQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnu0nlaHnJQ[/video]

 

[spencer rifle]

That's good looking stuff, do you have a setup to make it or do it on the stove?

Ran a gas line outside near the side porch, and do most of the boiling there in old canner pots. We bring it inside to finish off. Since we don't have a humidifier, the steam serves that purpose.
This year we made about 2.5 gallons, a record for us.

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

Put in some radishes and spinach seeds last week and started some other seeds inside (tomatoes, green beans, peas, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash). Also got a head of Bibb lettuce with the root ball attached in a delivery so it got cut and replanted. Got some sprouting today when I checked.