Gardens 2011

[dcharette]

Kraig,
Good idea using the cement re-inforcing mesh.I'll have to make some of them.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave, it's not my idea but I pass the idea along. I learned of it in a Fine Gardening Magazine back in the early 1990's. For tomatoes I make two heights. Full height for indeterminate (tall plants that continue to grow in height over the season) tomatoes and half height for determinate (short plants, plants that stop growing in height) tomatoes. I cut off the bottom ring of wire to form wire spikes that hold the cages upright, no need for separate stakes. The larger diameter cages like the one for the cukes I leave the bottom wire ring intact no need for it to stick into the ground, the wind never blows them over and the cukes don't pull as much on them as the heavy tomato plants do. I forget how many squares long (determines the diameter) I make the tomato cages, 13 squares comes to mind. I'll check next time I'm in the garden and report back. I use a heavy fencing tool aka Staple Puller to cut the wire. Heavy duty cutters are a must! I'm also a proponent of using plastic mulch for tomato and pepper plants. It really reduces the weeding. It warms the soil, retains moisture and prevents soil and thus soil borne disease from being splashed up on the lower leaves. Here's a photo from early June back in 2007 when I had more time to garden. This shows the plastic and cages in use.

 

[dcharette]

Kraig,
That garden sure looks nice!
The plastic mulch sure would minimize the weeding.Do you run a drip line under the plastic for watering?
I've got one row planted at a neighbour's garden,approx. 60' of veggies.I use a 45 gallon plastic drum on a dump cart with a hose and drive along beside the row to water.
I'm going to use a big plastic tote I've got to catch rain at the new place to water the garden.The new shop is going to be 24'x40' with a 12' carport on it so I should be able to catch enough water.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Dave, thanks!

My garden is much smaller this year. Ah yes, rain barrels are a good idea. I have the stuff to set one up. A 55(?) gallon blue poly drum but just have not ever gotten around to it. The drum can be seen in background at the upper left of the soil pile photo I posted below. I no longer have gutters on my house. I need to get some back up but I need to finish the fascia on the north side first. I do have a gutter on the shed lean-to which is where I was going to set up the rain barrel. This year it's rained so often I've not need to do much watering. No drip line under the plastic. I discovered long ago that the planting hole and the holes the cages poke make for perfect watering. The holes where the cages poke through allow plenty of water though and provide water in a circle a ways out from the stem and a happy circumstance of that is it forces the plants to spread their roots in search of water. Also the plastic is only 4' wide so water does get in along the edges. I learned of the cages in the May/June 1991 issue of Fine Gardening Magazine. I cut my wire mesh to 14 squares long. The 14th square will have an open side, those wires are bent into hooks to hold the wire mesh in a circle. They mention to stake the cage. I did the first year but discovered it was not necessary. It might be if your sandy soil is too loose to grip the wire.

I don't make the short cages 3' tall. Instead I cut the 5' wire approximately in half and get two ~2.5' tall cages. Better use of the wire mesh and 2.5' tall cages work just fine.

Detail of the hook end of the wire mesh. Sorry about the blurry photo.

Note the holes in the plastic. The water ( from rain or a sprinkler) collects on the plastic and drains through the holes. Weeds will actually grow through these tiny holes so it's a good idea to pull them out before they get too big.

 

[lhinds]

Got the potatoes out and sowed greens today. Didn't have as many since the dry weather this summer. But i had a lot of good help and fun. They are going back to Iowa this week. Will have them again next summer.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Luther, nice load of taters there! I see one thumbs up for the Cub Cadet. Here's another:

 

[lhinds]

Well the garden is all done for this year. I sowed greens for my neighbors but most of the seed didn't come up. I has been to dry and hot for gardening this summer. My lawn hasn't needed mowing for 4 weeks now. It is so dry it would burn. I was going to start my year end plowing but it is to dry.

 

[kweaver]

Luther - Are you getting this down pour ?
I let my yard go a little to long b4 mowing then this rain hit and will be here through NEXT weekend so my yard is shot.

One year at the farm Kathy and I were hauling water out to our garden trying to keep everything from dying. It was one of those hot dry years in the early 90s. About a mile and a half away a heavy rain came through , we could hear it pounding the woods that far away. We were hauling water and my Great Uncle without a garden was getting flooded !

 

[lhinds]

Ken; I have got about 7 inches since sunday afternoon.I will have to mow as soon as the rain stops. The greens in the garden have grown about 2 inches since the rain started. Saturday i had 101 degrees and yesterday i had 58 for a high. If this keeps up today the rivers will flood and no fishing this week.

 

[jbaker]

Ok, since I started this thread I figured I should show some of our harvest samples.

 

[kweaver]

Something to consider for your Garden 2012

 

[wshytle]

Jeff-

I have to admit I've never seen a white bell pepper. You also must like spicy foods with all those peppers. Nice little harvest.

 

[jbaker]

Wayne the white ones are Yellow Bell peppers and all the stuff is from heirloom seeds. This is what my wife tells me.
I am not much up on the data part, just pure labor

 

[dcharette]

Jeff B. are you going to make hot sauce with all the hot peppers?
Luther,nice load of taters there,mine did well here at home where I could keep them watered enough.
Kraig,thanks for the plans for the cages.I'll be sure to order a little extra mesh next year when we start building.
I plowed up the area where the new garden will roughly be at the lot.My son disked it up and we planted some mixed grains for a cover crop.I'll get some pics next time i'm there.
My banana and haberno peppers did really well this year.We had some good feeds of grilled peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon.I've got a couple buddies coming up from Michigan this weekend to goose hunt,I think i've got enough for another good feed.
Since we've been getting rain the last month the cukes and squash have started growing,they actually look healthy now!

 

[lhinds]

Dave What kind of cukes and squash are you growing now?
We have cabbage and collards, turnip greens, and mustard growing now. I plant greens for a cover crop and let friends and neighbors help themselves.

 

[lhinds]

The garden is all gone except the turnips and cabbage. The dog is taking care of that.

He eats them every day.