Ontopic 2018 Amateur Farm and Garden thread
- Thread starter Valve1138
- Start date
Mean Mr. Mustard
Always shouts out something obscene
What are you using
I got the stuff from home depot, its ok but the weeds still come up through the pores sometimes
The weeds are really aggressive here
imo that is an aweful lot of manure for that area. You can over-enrich a soil with nitrogen - and it pushes harvests later since the plants want to continue vegetative growth.im almost ready to move the garden, there is just too much nasty stuff overwintering in the soil that hits me year after year. I spend 5 years building up the organic material in teh soil in the plot im in now, which was both my blessing and my curse. The soil is spectacular now, dark black, rich, almost 2 feet deep of awesome top soil. I was dumping 5 tons of manure into it and tilling it every year.
The downside.... im pretty sure a majority of the diseases i have came in with the manure
Tilling - don't believe in it for a number of reasons.Tilling be bad, usually. Besides being unnecessary, some think it may have a substantial link to cancer in 1st world societies, due to an unnatural mixing of aerobic and anerobic bacteria into environments they don't thrive under. Causing massive die-outs of same, causing them to produce large amounts of cancer inducing aflotoxins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin Also disrupts beneficial fungal mycorzia - all mushrooms are friends of your plants, they either want poop to process or they want wood.
Nature does just fine building soil from the top.
anything you can buy localyl sucks. I went full industrial overkill, as i do with many things.
Mutual WF200 from amazon. its woven geotextile designed to be driven over by dump trucks and have tons of gravel dumped over it for road stabilization. It has reasonably good permeability for rainfall, and absolutely nothing gets through it weed wise, and it doesnt decay in UV.
It was all cow manure, so pretty good nutrient balance vs horse or others. And yeah, it was overkill, but im in pure sand here, organics and nutrients were completely lacking and i had to build up the soil before anything would grow at all. I havent done it the past 2 years, and will do a reduced amount next year now that the soil is good. I also havent tilled the past couple of seasons, for the same reasons you listed. The tillage previously was just to integrate the manure.
thanks man, fresh tomatoes cant be beat.
I need to get a good pickle recipe. My first attempt this year went to mush during canning
i considered that. Turned out to be easier, and cheaper in the long run to buy reusable barrier.
I have very sandy soil and I like it for the humus it adds and water retention. My cardboard is all waste, I get a lot stuff sent here. That and the window and door distributor a few miles down the road.
I change up my layout slightly from year to year.
Amstel
The Hoarse Whisperer
The owners wife at the barn had a shit ton of cucumbers and did some 'cut them up and soak them in this' recipe. She just put them in mason jars & handed them out. no real canning. They were awesome.I need to get a good pickle recipe. My first attempt this year went to mush during canning
Not sure it makes a difference once you get to a certain temp. Other than for bragging rights.
They were a nice,easy grow - stupidly prolific.I grind them one at a time in an old mini-coffee grinder. Then mix the powder with 3-4X that in sweet red paprika. So nobody gets killed if I give things one extra shake. #cutting_drugs.
Few years ago we made blueberry jam and I put some ghost in the last 6-8 pints. That was the bomb with a little cream cheese on a cracker.
Amstel
The Hoarse Whisperer
in a pinch, the Mrs. Wages pre-mixes are good. I did the bread & butter ones & would recommend. (in stores & amazon, etc)
http://store.mrswagesstore.com/pickles.html
http://store.mrswagesstore.com/pickles.html
Our biggest issue this year is weeds for the stuff that gets planted in rows, like green beans and root veggies.
For next year I'm going to buy a bunch of 2x6 PT's and drill holes at the correct seed spacing, then place that on top of the gap between the weed barrier.
Also build more taller trellises, and make gigundo tomato cages out of concrete reinforcing mesh.
And likely start the expansion for garden 2020.
Also, I want o string hops.
The thinking is that we have a buttload of farm breweries that kinda sorta have to get as much as they can the county, so why not try and sell them some stuff.
For next year I'm going to buy a bunch of 2x6 PT's and drill holes at the correct seed spacing, then place that on top of the gap between the weed barrier.
Also build more taller trellises, and make gigundo tomato cages out of concrete reinforcing mesh.
And likely start the expansion for garden 2020.
Also, I want o string hops.
The thinking is that we have a buttload of farm breweries that kinda sorta have to get as much as they can the county, so why not try and sell them some stuff.
We did fridge pickled radishes and asian pickled carrots.
The radishes were going to be for the cakes, but they couldn't be bothered to grow well like last year.
The radishes were going to be for the cakes, but they couldn't be bothered to grow well like last year.
i grow primarily habs and jalapenos. The habs heat + fruitiness is really nice, and scotch bonnets are even more fruity and about the same heat ive heard.Not sure it makes a difference once you get to a certain temp. Other than for bragging rights.
I grind them one at a time in an old mini-coffee grinder. Then mix the powder with 3-4X that in sweet red paprika. So nobody gets killed if I give things one extra shake. #cutting_drugs.
Few years ago we made blueberry jam and I put some ghost in the last 6-8 pints. That was the bomb with a little cream cheese on a cracker.
dont do that... PT wood right next to your seedlings is gonna leech all kindsa nasty stuff. Also, you're gonna have trouble pinning the weed barrier as the 2x6 wont sit perfectly level.
Cut holes in the weed barrier at the right spacing with a small torch instead. Try to make your spacing versatile for multiple types of plants so you can cycle and move the weed barrier for different crops and just skip holes for larger crops, or use all the holes for dense stuff like corn.