Gardening - Growing Your Own.

[cory]

I just about tilled mine up today, but got side tracked.

Mr Regen Ag, Mr Miccorhizae- tilling??

 

[stig]

I've got 166 tomato/chili/aubergine/melon plants under artificial light in the house, getting ready to move out in the polytunnel.
Unfortunately we got a bit of frost ( It was snowing 30 minutes ago) so they'll just have to wait for better weather.

 

[sotc]

First 2 rows of tomatoes in the ground yesterday , 2 more going in today

 

[squisher]

Nice Willie. Is it still your father in law doing the garden or is it yours now?

 

[sotc]

Him, when he's done, I'll probably put it all in pasture. He's gotta girlfriend all of a sudden, probably dial it back a lot if they get together. Fun to see his excitement

 

[stig]

Yup. Girls beat tomatoes any day.
Good for him.

 

[squisher]

Indeed!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Just so when he's talking about tomatoes now you know which ones he's talking about.

 

[JD3000]

I'm not till but topdressed area with compost yesterday. One more week puts us past the frost date here

 

[FireFighterZero]

Mr Regen Ag, Mr Miccorhizae- tilling??

Don't think I haven't thunk it!

I don't want to use chemical either.

 

[treebilly]

I'm not till but topdressed area with compost yesterday. One more week puts us past the frost date here

I usually wait till after Memorial Day Jason. Well at least for tomatoes and peppers.

 

[sotc]

Got down to 32 this am with 800 tomatoes in the ground, got lucky

 

[Burnham]

Close call, Willie.

It's still mud city in our garden spot here. Hopefully some warmer and dryer weather will some day arrive. Still have to up the game on a deer-proof fence, too.

 

[TreeMuggs]

Last year I grew pumpkins in wood chips and I was amazed with the results, so this year I converted my entire garden over to mulch. This is another big experiment for me, we'll see if it pays off.

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This idea came from the Back to Eden documentary:

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[treebilly]

Doing the same thing here Treemuggs. This will be the first year. I noticed my garlic did best when I put it in my flower beds. Hasn't been worth a dang since my wife put an end to that. Just making my garden a giant flower bed now. Using a two year composted mulch. Hoping for a good year

 

[FireFighterZero]

Can you explain your method of composting tree chips?

 

[treebilly]

I'm guessing you just let them sit in a pile for a long time. Maybe stir them up with a loader every now and then.

 

[TreeMuggs]

I didn't do anything to them, they just sat for 5 years in a pile, with fresh mulch piled on top. I had to scrape off the newer stuff to get at this black gold. I have a very good feeling about this stuff, it just makes so much sense to me, in a hindsight sort of way, you know?

 

[FireFighterZero]

Very cool. Amazing that it took 5 years to compost those chips. Wonder if there is a way to speed that up?

I hauled 12 yards of old sheep manure into my garden.

It worked okay, but was full of baseball sized rocks.

Its kind of funny, I am farming 3000 acres sustainably, but my garden is a mess!

Going to try some cover crops out there.

 

[Mick!]

We're growing melons, potatoes and some beans in pure chip this year.

 

[TreeMuggs]

3000 acres Jim? Wow. Are you a Joel Salatin-ite yet? He has some brilliant stuff.

 

[sotc]

I'm doing that in my orchard too. Over the winter low spots would be full black water. Compost tea every time it rains!

 

[FireFighterZero]

I had not read about Joel Salatin yet, but looking him up just now, he seems pretty interesting.

 

[sotc]

Yeah, good stuff that one but who has time to build all those chicken tractors?!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Just south of me is a large agricultural region, at least large by our standards. A good friend of mine is heavily into ag, renting more and more properties that the elderly generation can no longer look after themselves. He can get the fields cheap now. I help him out from time to time. This week mowing his pear orchards and yesterday I planted thousands of corn seeds. I like the peaceful quiet and open spaces of agriculture areas, but some or a lot of the work is so mindless repetitive it makes me nuts. I don't necessarily mean that is a critical way, I respect the people that can do the tasks in a good spirit, maybe it's a gift or a learned skill to be able to shut your mind off and be like automation. I mean corn seeds, one after another in endless rows....I can't wait until lunch to get out of my misery. Not easy on the back either.

I much prefer the tired of tree work over agriculture, I guess because my mind hasn't suffered in the one compared to the other.