Baymule's 2017 Garden Thread

baymule

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
18,327
Reaction score
34,456
Points
457
Location
Trinity County Texas
I can't believe I haven't started a garden thread yet! So here goes! This will be our 3rd garden since we moved. The first year was a total bust, second year was much better, expect this year to be even better!

https://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/baymules-2015-garden-from-raw-land.16897/

https://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/baymules-2016-garden.18914/

Our soil is pure sand. In August 2016, a friend of my husband's gave us all the 5 year old wood chip mulch we wanted-if he would haul some to his house and some to his father-in-law's house. He jumped on that offer and got our neighbor, Robert, to help. They hooked up the dump trailer and started making loads. I pushed the mulch up in a big pile while they went after another load.

IMG_1177.JPG


They made 4 or 5 loads a day until it was gone. Robert got mulch too and spread it in his front yard and in his garden. The mulch was black, crumbly and rich.

IMG_1178.JPG


The mulch sat piled up all winter. The grand daughters liked the mulch mountain and played on it.

Helper 1.JPG


We started getting wood chips from a crew cleaning power line right of way and they parked their trucks here at night and on weekends. I decided to move the old mulch to the garden and got all of it moved and dumped in one day. I put the tractor in low gear, dug into the pile with the front end loader, scooped, and turned toward the garden. I put it in high gear and bounced across the yard to the garden, dumped and raced back to the mulch pile. I was so sore the next day! I had a tractor hangover!

Then we had the crew start dumping wood chips in the spot formerly occupied by the old mulch. DH has kept up with the loads and there is 22 loads of wood chips there now! There is 15 loads on the pipeline now, we already spread 22 loads around the barn yard to keep the sand dust down. In places it is over a foot deep.

I raked the 5 year old mulch out on the garden, and rowed some up. I planted squash, zucchini, yellow crookneck, lemon, and white Lebanese marrow squash. It is up now and has 3-4 leaves. I planted a row of green onions, dill, turnips, pak choy, and mustard. Today I planted 30 Sleeping Lady tomato plants and okra. I planted a double row of Jing Orange okra (should be interesting LOL) and a double row of Jimmy T okra.

My husband and I opened up paper feed sacks and laid under the cow panel trellis we made last year. Then we covered them up with the black mulch. They are ready to plant now!
 

Ridgerunner

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
8,227
Reaction score
10,049
Points
397
Location
Southeast Louisiana Zone 9A
I don't know where you got your five year old mulch to rake out of the garden and why that is still mulch and not dirt or compost after five years, but this should be fun.
 

Ridgerunner

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
8,227
Reaction score
10,049
Points
397
Location
Southeast Louisiana Zone 9A
I'm still about a moth away from tomatoes and peppers in the garden myself. I've found it's better for me to wait until the ground warms up enough before I plant them instead of rushing them, but I have a longer growing season that some people. I really want that first ripe tomato but as long as I use strong healthy plants it doesn't seem to delay that first tomato if I wait a week or so.

Bay, did you read Bee's thread on growing stuff in a pile of wood chips? You are in a different climate and have different base soils, but you might be able to draw on some of her experience.
 
Last edited:

baymule

Garden Master
Joined
Mar 20, 2011
Messages
18,327
Reaction score
34,456
Points
457
Location
Trinity County Texas
Agree. Curious the "why" on the different okra's.

It's called "just for the fun of it" :lol: The orange okra supposedly turns green when it's cooked, I just thought it would look pretty in the basket when I pick it.

I don't know where you got your five year old mulch to rake out of the garden and why that is still mulch and not dirt or compost after five years, but this should be fun.

It is compost/dirt with some chunks of wood still remaining. I planted directly into it and the seeds must like it because the young plants are looking happy.

They say about gardens 1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, 3rd year they leap !! I cant believe you are planting tomatoes I am scraping ice off my windshield.

In the 60's at night and will be a sunny 83 degrees today!

I'm still about a moth away form tomatoes and peppers in the garden myself. I've found it's better for me to wait until the ground warms up enough before I plant them instead of rushing them, but I have a longer growing season that some people. I really want that first ripe tomato but as long as I use strong healthy plants it doesn't seem to delay that first tomato if I wait a week or so.

Bay, did you read Bee's thread on growing stuff in a pile of wood chips? You are in a different climate and have different base soils, but you might be able to draw on some of her experience.

Yes I read @Beekissed Back to Eden thread. Last year we mulched with pine shavings from a horse event center and they really helped hold in moisture. But finding all this 5 year old wood chips was a bonus! He was selling it to landscapers for $250 a pick up load and gave the rest of it to us for FREE! My husband and our friend hauled mulch for 3 or 4 days.
 

Latest posts

Top