When do you put your garden in?

[Hulk]

Hello again to everyone on this very fun thread. Sorry I haven’t been here as much as I should. I’ve been sick with worry over my poor kitty. Took him to the vet on Saturday and he had a fever of 104.6 and he is obviously in pain but we couldn’t find the origin. So we have him home on antibiotics. The fever is down and he is a tich brighter by the day but there is something wrong and it is driving us batty that we can’t pinpoint it. So needless to say he has had all my attention.

That and the temp has dropped here, and it is cold. I have developed cold induced asthma ( I think because of my lymes) and this year it is much worse. It is not easy to deal with as just going to a heated car is a big deal, its become that bad. so I am not a real happy camper the last 2-3 days. Sorry:disgust:

That being said Ruth 0552… the condition you describe your soil to be in is called hard pan. It happens. I will look up in my favorite gardening book on how to revive it more quickly, later today. But I think from memory (which is murky at best) That they suggest roto till. add loam. Roto till again, add loam, etc until you can get a spongy feel to the feet.

As far as loan any thing works. Leaves, straw, wood chips, stall cleanings, grass clippings, pine needles/cones old mulch hay.  Just start heaping the stuff on and turn it into the soil to break up the hard pan.

[NancyM]

Weed control- I plant my rows quite close together. I hand weed early, after things have sprouted. I have to do that once or twice. But as things get growing, the vegetables choke the weeds out well. Hand weeding is therapeutic.

For doing the walking paths (even though they are kind of narrow) between the rows, I have a particular type of hoe. It is a triangle shape, and set on an angle at the end of the handle/stick. I inherited this hoe from my grandmother, who died in 1965. I suspect that she brought it with her from England after the first world war. She was a great gardener, and I really didn’t know her, I was 6 when she died. My mother used the hoe for many years, but gave up gardening decades ago now, and died in 2005. So I have the hoe. I had never seen another one like it, and I have looked, perhaps you have seen a hoe like this. If you do see one, buy it. As you push it back and forth through the dirt under the surface, it takes out all weeds at the roots, the sides of the triangle are wings going through the soil that cut and destroy everything in it’s path. It’s easy to use, very quick to do all the garden paths. Then I just have to hand weed the rows, until they grow up enough to crowd the weeds out. The hoe has been sharpened (by my Dad about 30 years ago now), and the handle has been replaced (by a friend, as my DH was going to take it to the DUMP when the handle broke a couple years ago now!!!). But repaired again, it is still in use here. THEN, when touring our local “Antiques” store (our town is FAMOUS for junk stores- they sell a bucket with a hole in it for $15) and I wandered past the heap of dirty old gardening tools, there was a hoe. The right type of hoe, in pristine condition. It cost $2. So I have two hoes now, one for each garden.

[Obsidian_Fire]

@TheJenners

OK so where do you suggest I order seeds, @Obsidian Fire ?? I have a cleared spot in the garage now :yes: Also, I see some “cool weather” stuff can actually be planted out now? Or inside and moved out?

OMG…:lol::lol::lol: I have ordered from Territorial Seed (they are in Oregon) before, and I did again. I got nice seed last time and germination was great.
I also ordered from Burpee this year, altho I’ve never done that before, only because they had a specific tomato variety I wanted and couldn’t get elsewhere.

Aside from that, ordering is more expensive than just seeing what you can find at the big box stores or your local feed store.
Don’t go too crazy!! :winkgrin:

[Obsidian_Fire]

@NancyM can you post a pic of this hoe?? I am curious. I have a triangular one but I don’t think it’s what you are describing.

I, too, plant my rows close together both for weed control & watering efficiency and space!! It does help!

[Obsidian_Fire]

@Hulk - I’m sorry about your kitty. I know how that feels. I hope he gets well very soon.

And yourself too!! Hugs!

[Hulk]

Obsidian Fire Thanks for the well wishes. The cat is on the mend, but you just hate to see them sick. And me, well I got to figure something out. I wish I could find a place to hole up that is south of here, for just the winter. But the problem is I just want to be at a farm. So I can… you know poke around the garden and the barn. That would be ideal.

And I wish I could follow your very sage advice about not to go crazy when ordering your seeds. What can I say, I am a lost cause there.:lol:

[SmartAlex]

RE: Weed control - raised beds. With the large row style garden I spent most of my time maintaining the paths. Why waste time on the paths? Every spring we tilled with the 4 foot tiller and tractor and put up the fence. Now we have a permanent fence and the weeds are blocked by stabilization mat and gravel. Once a week I walk 'round and pull whatever is growing in the gravel. Or rake it. We spent quite a bit of time and money on the beds and fencing but the amount of work it saves is worth it. I can get my garden in weeks before anyone else can even get their soil prepared. I can run out in my good shoes and either water or pick produce for supper.

Here are two examples of before and after

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[TCA_Arabians]

I have inherited some of my Grandparents gardening and kitchen tools too. They are the best and you can’t find similar new. Smartalex - I love your after pictures. Particularly, bottom left.

I planted a vegetable garden one year that had winding paths through it with pavers for steps. I made it that way for the grandchildren to run through. It was a hit.

My grandfather would always wash off tools and put them down into a bucket of sand with just the handles sticking out.

[Ruth0552]

@Hulk thanks for the information. We will try to add stuff early this spring so when we rototill it will be a bit better.

Before we did the black plastic we did weed a few times at the beginning but the garden still got overhwhelmed with weeds. Perhaps because it’s in the horse paddock and has manure in it?

Can you use Preen on the paths/walkways? I wasn’t sure how long preen stays in the soil or how close it can be to plants. We direct seed all our squash so I need to have germination/sprouting in some areas.

Re: potatoes. We have had some years that have been more successful than others. We have used both large plastic containers/pots and grain bags. The pots actually worked well because they were smaller and if you moved it the soil didn’t shift. We used some composted manure in the bottom, probably about 4-6 inches, then moldy hay on top of it. Then when we could see green leaves sprouting we added more composted manure and moldy hay. Repeat, repeat. We found the fingerlings worked better than other large potatoes. I’ve always blamed our relatively short season but if Nancy’s growing hundred of pounds in Canada I guess that’s not it.

I think I have an entire pinterest page full of raised beds and fantasy gardens. I broke my back in 2003 and it still gets sore- I don’t anticipate that’s going to get BETTER with age so I’m hoping to do raised beds that are a few feet high at some point.

[TheJenners]

Love the before and after @SmartAlex !

I have raised beds as well, out of necessity; I have crap ground and clay starting a few inches down and down at least 2+’.

[NancyM]

@Obsidian Fire

@NancyM can you post a pic of this hoe?? I am curious. I have a triangular one but I don’t think it’s what you are describing.

I, too, plant my rows close together both for weed control & watering efficiency and space!! It does help!

I can no longer post most pictures here, my camera takes too high resolution for this site to accept (apparently), and I, of course, don’t know how to resize them because I am a tech idiot. It’s just a wide triangle thing, pointy end at the front, and it glides through the dirt level with the surface, just under the surface, back and forth as you go, cutting the roots and tearing out weeds. About 6 inches wide from wingtip to wingtip, and 3 inches from the pointed front to the connection to the handle at the back of the triangle. Very simple.

[saultgirl]

If I’m going to start seeds indoors, I usually start in March. Tender plants can’t go out until after the “full moon in June”.

[SmartAlex]

@TheJenners

I have raised beds as well, out of necessity; I have crap ground and clay starting a few inches down and down at least 2+’.

Mine are mainly because of the maintenance. I always thought I had good soil. But after weeks of working on the garden site building the beds, we had compacted everything down to hard dry clay. I asked my husband - Where did my nice rich soil go? We put the 6" beds on top of the hardpan, then rototilled inside the bed before we added soil. When I grow carrots they always find that hardpan and stub off. Everything else does fine. I use a fork to loosen everything each year. It helps the percolation a lot This year I’m treating myself to a broadfork that spans the width of the bed.

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We originally chose the garden site because it was so wet we used to get the mower stuck. I didn’t have much trouble tilling it in the wet spot, but converting to gravel sure solved a lot of problems both with the lawn and the garden.

[SmartAlex]

@NancyM

It’s just a wide triangle thing, pointy end at the front, and it glides through the dirt level with the surface, just under the surface, back and forth as you go, cutting the roots and tearing out weeds. About 6 inches wide from wingtip to wingtip, and 3 inches from the pointed front to the connection to the handle at the back of the triangle. Very simple.

Like a stirrup hoe? (aka scuffle hoe)

[Obsidian_Fire]

@SmartAlex - LOVE your beds!! Those look like something out of a wish book!

[NancyM]

@SmartAlex

Like a stirrup hoe? (aka scuffle hoe)

Well that would work in kind of the same manner, but it’s different. What goes through the soil is the triangle, kind of an arrowhead shape, with the wings out the side and pointed in the front. Which I suspect makes it glide through the soil with less resistance than this one would have. I just really have not seen anything like what I own TWO of, and I have looked in a number of gardening tool catalogs. Not saying that it isn’t there, somewhere, but not anywhere that I can find it. I was looking for a second one, just in case the old one broke, or got taken to the dump by mistake by someone who likes taking things to the dump.

[Obsidian_Fire]

@NancyM - is this it?https://www.lehmans.com/product/push-pull-hoe?utm_term=1228770&zmam=32933335&zmas=1&zmac=1&zmap=1228770&gclid=Cj0KCQiApvbhBRDXARIsALnNoK2Jhrqw-cV7PdfI5rJC0THRu1zQfiFyDYXFHzz20MCwxUjGr8KisYcaAp1lEALw_wcB

[Hulk]

Smart Alex…We have the same problem with carrots snubbing off due to hard pan. So we plant Danvers half longs and they do better than super long varieties.

Okay so in general…I was reading this article some where about how scientists are thinking that our bodies retain memories on a cellular level. So that got me thinking does that mean we are naturally drawn to garden because some of our family tree gardened or farmed.? Do we as gardeners have some sort of driving force deep with in us to go dig in the dirt and watch things sprout and grow? And don’t you get excited when your plants germinate, 3rd leave, grow, flower, produce fruit? I know I sure do.

Smart Alex your story of choosing your garden area made me ponder this. How you surveyed your land, watched its normal progression through the year, then made your choice.

[SmartAlex]

@Obsidian Fire

@NancyM - is this it?https://www.lehmans.com/product/push…caAp1lEALw_wcB

Oh that one is cool! I think I need one

Leonard’s has a lot of neat garden tools.
https://www.amleo.com/prohoe-6-inch-…yABEgLeNPD_BwE

[SmartAlex]

@Hulk

Smart Alex…We have the same problem with carrots snubbing off due to hard pan. So we plant Danvers half longs and they do better than super long varieties.

My solution: tree tubs and potting mix. It’s SO MUCH fun to pull carrots out of potting mix. My carrots grew to the bottom of these tubs and found the drain holes.
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@Hulk

Okay so in general…I was reading this article some where about how scientists are thinking that our bodies retain memories on a cellular level. So that got me thinking does that mean we are naturally drawn to garden because some of our family tree gardened or farmed.? Do we as gardeners have some sort of driving force deep with in us to go dig in the dirt and watch things sprout and grow? And don’t you get excited when your plants germinate, 3rd leave, grow, flower, produce fruit? I know I sure do.

Collective Unconscious I firmly believe that there are bred in traits in humans.

@Hulk

Smart Alex your story of choosing your garden area made me ponder this. How you surveyed your land, watched its normal progression through the year, then made your choice.

Well I wanted it in the middle of the back yard where there is the most sun, but my husband wanted it out of the way. We have a large, flat, level lawn that now refuses to drain and is going to have to be french drained and graded this year. The garden is off to one side on a slight grade. 8"-10" over 50 feet. and that works out really well. And the evening shade works out well too. One half of my garden get’s 2 hours less sun each day (6 instead of 8) and I use that side for things that could burn out.

This is our backyard showing the garden site off to the side. It is actually the driest part of the lawn. Everything to the left of it is soggy and difficult to mow

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