2021 garden season

[5backacres]

It is true that tomato leaf disease is often splashed up onto the leaves by rain and watering. Also disease is spread by splashes coming from already diseased foliage. Also some tomato leaf disease can be carried over winter on tomato cages or stakes. Also people move diseases around. Also smokers can transmit tobacco mosaic virus from cigs and cigars.

A good general rule is to never work or harvest when leaves are wet.

Yes we had smoke from wildfires last fall that obliterated the tomatoes. Re; cages Started with round bent cattle panel cages but went to right angle bend 1/2 cages put together with zip ties ( visualize 2 pieces of angle iron placed together to make a square) Round ones were difficult storage but the 1/2 cages nest inside each other for storage

 

[sonny580]

Great ideas and methods you guys have shared with us and a big thank you for doing that!
Different regions require different methods and I find that really interesting to see how it varies so much! Keep the ideas coming and pix. of your gardens/crops all season as that is what this thread is all about!
Any water splashed up on the plants can cause disease and rot in tomatoes---- we have that problem here and lose a lot of fruit from it. using mulch or any ground cover here is out due to varmints living under it, and destroying the fruit, so we over plant to make up the difference the rot causes. In dry years its not bad at all, ---the wet years ----- harvestable fruit is way down, but we seam to always have enough later in the season to can.
For tomato cages here I found some re-mesh 6x6 stuff---- works grate, also use woven wire but its kinda light and needs steel posts to hold it up! NOT something you want to do for 600 plants! lol!
This year we are starting indoor seed flats the end of Feb.--- any sooner and the plants start getting spindly. We dont have the best lighting for them here.--- only have grow light in basement over a table.
The out door hotbed will be planted later. Will do the sweet potatoes out there ---- had a couple last year in jars in the East window that made some early plants. I kinda like the outdoor hotbed better since the plants grow faster and seam to do better when transplanted, --- BUT,--- like everyone else ---- TRY for that very early mater!! LOL!! --- and sweetcorn!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Here I plant sprouted snow peas last week in Feb. Favorite cultivars, Kentucky Blue pole beans staggered planting by 2 weeks ...beans all summer, graffiti cauliflower, Bodacious sweet corn gives 2-4 ears, plant only red leaf lettuce ( makes thinning and weeding easier..not too many red weeds!) What we don't eat or give away goes to the cows and then the manure goes back into the garden in the spring!

we got our seeds in twds end of 2020. harvested some for dinner last nite other day. very tasty!

seeds were from patch season before

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I know it's the 2021 Garden thread but, I had to clean up the 2020 garden. We are supposed to go down to the single digits tonight and these little guys weren't going to make it so I figured I'd better pick them.
View attachment 885574

prob cook the fresh ones tonite... store bot other day

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

swell pix, gardens and such...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Anybody thinking about the upcoming garden season? Plans? bigger smaller, same size plots? Any change in crops or crop varieties? How about equipment? The usual 5 or 600 tomato plants, several dozen cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and eggplant will be planted IF the seed will grow. Expanding the hotbed area by 3 times current size for starting major amounts of plants at the same time this year trying to get a jump on the weather if possible. Onion plants are on order and the week of March 23 they plan on shipping them and we can usually plant same day we get them. didnt get any on order last year but did this time. Hauled in over 25 big dump truck loads of horse manure last fall and plowed it under 16" deep after subsoiling 36" deep with our antique JD subsoiler. Looks like there are 4 other horse owners not far from here that offered us there horse manure, so we will stockpile it during the summer and spread in the fall after harvest and plow it under again. Would like everyone to join in this discussion! Thanks!

hi sy580 - sounds like a big ops there for you! 25 dumps manure... omg! here, we are scaling down some. we do 2 seasons here in SW Texas... spring and fall. got TB Horse, but been at it so long beds so friable... only need to use same 'equipment'....fork only needed!

found some 1015Ys other day at big box garden center. decided on a bunch. heeled them in, in compost. took to that. and got in other day. cold and rainy today, so mulched them some to keep mud off them... 80 plants set out...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

got my leeks going again...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

pix taken yesterday...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I'm about on par with Del. Have a few planted waiting for sprouts, and the rest will be planted here soon. I think we're going to try out the "big" garden area again this year, and well as the small garden off the side of the house. Normal stuff will be planted, hot peppers, bell pepper, tomatoes, beets, lettuce, cabbage, eggplant, cucumber, squash, pumpkins, watermelons, and this odd kohlrabi plant my wife likes that I detest.

picked up some herb sets other day... dill, cilantro, sage and parsley. garden center had no veg sets. maybe in a few weeks they said...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Have 2 50'X 50' gardens and excited already for the upcoming season Just the house hold basics , like tomato (several types of course ) kale ,spinach , beets, onions and would like to grow eggplants and potato like always but the potato beetle problem was horrible last season .......I don't use any type of herbicides or pesticides so the weeds and potato beetle make life hard for me . I put down 20 Cu.Yd. of mulch last year and I use grass clippings all summer along with tons of leaves that people leave me out here but still I get overwhelmed with weeds eventually as I cave in to hand picking them , think I'll go with black mesh barrier this year , All the wood bark from splitting goes right in the gardens also Never used chemicals but think I may have reconsider things Oh, and grew Tomatillos last year and man are these awesome , most people say what in the world are those things but when they try one they are hooked so going to have plenty of them this season

bio-degrad mulch production important here for our home garden. got about 200-250 gallons of mulch. all done in binned welded wire. dont turn or rotate. just let degrade. always forest floor fresh once done. add all from garden and some if lots from kitchen. i guess my current bins are 10 yrs old +/-.... these leeks were down to 12 from 120! just never responded to much at all. bit is with that!? nada. so finally, cleaned bed... the sugar snaps are thriving in same spot... and put into pot filled with mulch only. almost overnite responded. puny roots turned into large. thriving rootballs. and i planted in holes i first filled with more conpost... thinking some leek soup not too far off!

3-4 weeks later...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

I make my rows wide enough apart to get the little tiller between them. Makes keeping the weeds at bay much easier.
I have been doing my winter splitting over the bug garden area, I figured the dirt is always so nice and black out back where I split by the wood shed, may as well just make the mess in the garden area this winter. Seems to be working out so far, and I dont have to load the dump cart up with the shovel and truck the mess away.

and makes a pretty pix, too... imo!

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

View attachment 884654Filled (topped off) our raised beds with manure and seeded the hole garden to winter rye in late Aug.

View attachment 884657
View attachment 884659
Actually the first two pics were spring and the last was Aug. 2020.View attachment 884744
This is the watering system we used with drip hose, water tank hold 80 gallon, next year will pressurize tank with a 12V sprayer pump.

nice! pretty pix... nice plants! is your garden off the kitchen of the home? or other location...?

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Been thinking about gardening season a lot, lots of new projects this year involved. But I can't get anything in the ground til June anyway. It'll be fishing season by then! Then it'll be hunting season. The one season that doesn't end though is wood harvesting. Pretty jealous of the long growing seasons everyone else has

swell post there AK! interesting to hear how your season goes tween break up and freeze up again... well, i am a bit envious of those fishing seasons u get to tap into... lol

wood gathering pretty serious affair for us down here. always scrounging as it falls in my neighborhood like rains. oak mostly. why, just this morning we hear a loud crash, bump etc. thot tunder? no, limb came down? in the yard? no, across the street! handyman showed up 30 mins later, cut it up and appears he just left there for neighbor. plenty to scrounge imo. and can't hardly beat the trek to get. what i call 'walk in' or close lol take care. hope to see some of your AK gardening if u get a chance....

just fell couple hours ago...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

We just started testing some of our saved seed to see how much of it will still sprout -----have some libby type canning pumpkin seed from 2014 that still sprouts--- kinda thought we lost that variety but might still be hope for this year. We love them for pies! ---I know there are other pumpkins and squash that work but we have been growing these for many years from saved seed. Last year they froze off --- late freeze here did a number on everything, no fruit either. late garden wasnt our normal way of growing, but did get a LOT of good stuff by hauling water all summer. Hauled 13,000 gallons from neighbors big well and saved the garden. Hope this year is a bit better.
Always wondered if you could grow gardens in Alaska. A friend of mine lives in Kodiac but never said about gardens there----he works in a machine shop part time and retired.
AK TrailDog -----LOVE your avatar pic! I always wanted to visit Alaska!

couple seasons ago i planted some lima bean seeds i had saved. kept them in the shop refer for over 20 years... nearly 100% germination... and loads of limas, too...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Thanks! It's tough growing up here outside. If you have a way to heat greenhouses or high tunnels you can start/extend a month or two but the ground/raised beds don't thaw until June and first freeze can happen late Aug, usually mid Sept where I'm at. Some fantastic growing though. The matanuska valley produces some of the largest vegetables in the world. As long as the soil is good and nutrient rich, it's amazing what you can do.
I started making all my own soil last year with everything found on my property (dirt, trees, leaves, woody debris, compost, chicken poop etc) been working well so far. Anxiously waiting to see how things produce this season

we make dirt down here, too.... Texas dirt! ~

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Carolina reaper sprout
View attachment 884818

Seed starting closet
View attachment 884819

Need to get these guys transplanted to bigger pots and under the bigger lights. I’m slacking already lol
View attachment 884820

a reaper! looks green from here, but... no thanks! too hot for me... jalapenos took me 30 yrs to get close to... lol. yesterday

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

A couple winters ago the utility company had a crew cutting limbs along their distribution lines and they had good sized truck with chipper & box , I asked the guys if they would like a place to dump at end of day and invited them to my place right down the road . Believe it was 60 total yards they dumped that week and I just spread it out with the plow on my ATV , the following year I grew some nice sugar babies through that stuff.........my place use to be a dairy farm so the soil is plenty fertile to begin with and the mulch is mostly intended for weed control but is a great soil builder also. Nice simple and free way to get mulch , in the summer I'll take a 2 yard trailer with sides that I built from an old boat trailer and go to the local burn site where they accept all yard waste ........there are several mounds of wood chips , leaves , grass clippings and black dirt there also free for taking, I usually take 2 yard load of heavily composted grass clippings & wood chips to put in the gardens . Always people dumping and people loading up like myself for their gardens , there should be such sites right in your area to take advantage of .

free mulch! nice. we had a tree crew up at the farm late 2019. trimming oaks, etc. shredded everything i dint want. needed place to get rid of it or they would have to leave for the day, maybe not finish entire job. so i let them dump down side one pasture. let time to its thing. maybe i can find a pix, or get one soon...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

We compost most anything that rots here ---makes for some real killer dirt after about 2 years, so we have at least 2 piles going at the same time.
The horse manure we get dont have much hay in it so what few seeds in it are killed in the compost cycle. I have one 3-year old pile that we use for potting soil --- I still stir it when I am on the skidloaders , keeps weeds from growing in it. Right now it just looks like black dirt and plants love it. also start seeds with it in trays or pots and put a bunch in our hotbed by the house to start more plants out there later on for the maincrop. --- house started plants are for the earlier crop.

when i did my entire side yard as a garden 1200 sq ft or so... maybe bit more... i could get manure from local polo club. but too hot for me so i went to in-house binned compost making... been doing it ever since. not everuthing these days. got more than i can use. but if from the garden... everything!


n reading the garden posts...

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

Sounds like you have pretty good handle on how to get compost materials and your are correct you should not have to be paying for it, most are generous and like being good neighbors helping one another out .

I'll give away lot's of produce thru the summer and never ask for money , usually I am rewarded later with firewood , venison , fish and other things that good people like to share with their neighbors ......gardening is a wonderful social event and it attracts some of the best people you can find.

seems to be the case.... don't think i ever met a gardener type i dint like....

 

[Backyard Lumberjack]

The neighbor and I have been taking his skidloader and big dump truck around here within 15 miles of us and picking up their **** for free--- they dont even have to get their tractor out of the shed. We give away most all of our produce here except for the small amount we process for us to last a year or two. Manure and all compost fixins should be free---IF you dont take them--they most likely will have to pay to have the stuff hauled away!

the amount of bio-degradable in my neighborhood alone and only 2 streets that is put out to curb is awesome. TONS! the polo club manure was free. and i got no shortage of free-range cattle offering theirs, too! lol