What have you done for garden prep so far?

[Danil54grl]

Today my Sweet Pea came for a visit. She wanted to come see her baby goats . Of coarse we had to go see all the little critters though. Since I've been working in the garden, she came out to help me plant. . . butternut squash, patty squash, and a few cucumbers but at only 2 1/2 her attention span is not long. We had gone inside to powder the dehydrated eggs in the blender. She likes pushing the buttons to make it go then stop. Even helps with pouring out. She is just too cute with her hair up in a ponytail, her pink rubber booties carrying my 1/2 gallon glass jar down to the stockroom to put on the shelf. Then we came back out to scramble more eggs for the dehydrator. She is almost a pro at cracking those eggs! I always try to encourage her to help out, even at this young age. It may take me 10 times longer to do a project, but its totally worth the extra time & you can never start too early.

 

[Arcticdude]

Wouldn’t composting get rid of most of that?

Yes, but it has to get pretty hot in order to kill the weed seeds. I'm not sure how hot or how long it takes to kill the weed seeds.

 

[DrHenley]

Down here just the heat from decomposition is enough. But up there in Nanook of the North territory, that may not be enough.

 

[Brent S]

I’ve read that horse manure has a lot more seeds than cows do. I guess 4 stomachs helps out some for the cows.

 

[grayghost668]

it is that time of year,I still have not made up my mind if I will put one out or not,,the weather screwed me last year,I lost track of how much I spent last year but I can tell you this much,the few tomato's I got were not worth the cost

 

[Danil54grl]

I know I didn't even mess with potatoes this year due to all of the rain we have had. I will be doing sweet potatoes though when we hit our drier months. The first planting of regular potatoes did OK last year, but the fall all rotted in the ground due to flooding even with my raised beds. Last year a lot of people had a rough go of it.

 

[Brent S]

I know I didn't even mess with potatoes this year due to all of the rain we have had. I will be doing sweet potatoes though when we hit our drier months. The first planting of regular potatoes did OK last year, but the fall all rotted in the ground due to flooding even with my raised beds. Last year a lot of people had a rough go of it.

Potatoes are a great crop to me. You get loads of produce for minimal work. That being said, you still need to know when and where to plant them. I also learned you need to rotate every year. I haven’t tried the sweet potatoes before, but think I will this time around.

 

[Danil54grl]

My fall crop went in right before our Great Flood where we got I think it was like 56 inches that one week, plus we got snow twice which really didn't help. As a kid I remember it snowing once in this area where it stuck. . . a few snow flurries in those years growing up, but it has snowed I think a total of 5 times in the last three or four years. We just seem to be getting a different weather pattern than we used to and I need to learn to adjust to them. Used to be we would just worry about frost.

Sweet potatoes did great for me last year. In fact we are going to hit the store so I can pick up a couple to start in the window will. Hunny told me this morning that he was going to make a run to the dump with the neighbor and not to get too dirty working out in the garden. Yeah right, I'm literally playing with old crap adding it to my rows to fertilize. . . . How dirty I get depends on how long he is gone. Planted Honey Dew and Cantaloupe on two trellises and finished the cucumbers on a couple more. I got the rows mulched that Sweet Pea and I planted yesterday and I got a couple more trenches dug for walkways adding that dirt to my rows to build them up. Still need to till that all in but, figured I better stop and at least get a little cleaned up before going out in public. . .

 

[DrPrepper]

I am working on a tiny vegetable garden this weekend. I am just taking a break right now. I live in suburbia and have a postage stamp back yard. I wanted to do a small raised bed to see what would happen. I have read, until I am blue in the face, about different ways you can do raised beds. Just when you are reading something and it sounds like it is the way to go, you read something else and it doesn't sound like the way to go. I have been wanting to do this for years, so I finally just said, what the heck, and went for it. I am using cinder blocks as a border. I read they can release fly ash (or something like that) I have also read that is for only older cinder blocks. I am going to line the inside with cardboard. I just picked up 800 lbs of top soil from Lowes and 200 lbs of composted cow manure. I need to go get the cinder blocks, but my son wanted a lunch break ( husband had to work all day today). I got my plants ready put in. I got tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and a cantaloupe just for the heck of it. I am hoping to keep it organic as possible. If I do have to use pesticide, what kind do you all use?

 

[DrPrepper]

My fall crop went in right before our Great Flood where we got I think it was like 56 inches that one week, plus we got snow twice which really didn't help. As a kid I remember it snowing once in this area where it stuck. . . a few snow flurries in those years growing up, but it has snowed I think a total of 5 times in the last three or four years. We just seem to be getting a different weather pattern than we used to and I need to learn to adjust to them. Used to be we would just worry about frost.

Sweet potatoes did great for me last year. In fact we are going to hit the store so I can pick up a couple to start in the window will. Hunny told me this morning that he was going to make a run to the dump with the neighbor and not to get too dirty working out in the garden. Yeah right, I'm literally playing with old crap adding it to my rows to fertilize. . . . How dirty I get depends on how long he is gone. Planted Honey Dew and Cantaloupe on two trellises and finished the cucumbers on a couple more. I got the rows mulched that Sweet Pea and I planted yesterday and I got a couple more trenches dug for walkways adding that dirt to my rows to build them up. Still need to till that all in but, figured I better stop and at least get a little cleaned up before going out in public. . .

cantaloupe requires a trellis?

 

[DrPrepper]

Potatoes are a great crop to me. You get loads of produce for minimal work. That being said, you still need to know when and where to plant them. I also learned you need to rotate every year. I haven’t tried the sweet potatoes before, but think I will this time around.

I think they are planted in late summer or early fall. I think I read that. If this works out for me, I want to plant sweet potatoes. I love them.

 

[Arcticdude]

Here's what our garden looks like now. I think it'll be awhile before we can do anything. The orchard is left of the pig pen

 

[DrPrepper]

Here's what our garden looks like now. I think it'll be awhile before we can do anything. The orchard is left of the pig pen
View attachment 8564

Holy cow!!!! No way I could live there. That’s what I call roughing it!

 

[Danil54grl]

cantaloupe requires a trellis?

Not required, but its a way from keeping it from sprawling all over the place.

 

[Danil54grl]

I think they are planted in late summer or early fall. I think I read that. If this works out for me, I want to plant sweet potatoes. I love them.

Sweet potatoes like it warmer than regular potatoes. I'm about to start my slips in the window sill now. Seems like you are not too far north from me?

 

[Brent S]

Trellising is a great way to produce more on a small piece of earth. It’s also a back saver as well. I saw Picts of a green bean tunnel made from old concrete reinforcement wire where the couple were picking the beans hanging down inside. Cool garden feature.

 

[Danil54grl]

After digging my third trench by hand today, hunny finally took putty on me and brought out his excavator. . . that will save me about a weeks work at least Still have more that needs hand dug cause I still have things going to seed in rows. He's pretty much been down for days with his neck and back.

 

[Arcticdude]

Potatoes are a great crop to me. You get loads of produce for minimal work. That being said, you still need to know when and where to plant them. I also learned you need to rotate every year. I haven’t tried the sweet potatoes before, but think I will this time around.

Back in the old days the original homesteader on my place grew potatoes and sold them to the local mines. Apparently potatoes grow well here. We haven't tried growing them yet, but they are on our list.

 

[Psalm7]

Iv got to get My garden tilled . All the rain is keeping it to wet when I have a day off . Hopefully this week or next .

 

[Brent S]

I added more manure and got the second half of the greenhouse tilled and raked out. I may plant it later today, but am still thinking it’s a little early for the warm weather plants. I mowed the main garden and started tilling it but got tired and overheated in the sun. It’s sunday and I just don’t care to push it too hard today. as long as I am making some headway I’m content to let my age take it a little slower....