Canesisters 2018 Garden Thread - BTE/SBG hybrid??

[canesisters]

All covered in sawdust/wood chips - organic fertilizer-ed - watered half to death.
Layers are: cardboard, leaves, compost/manure, rotting hay/straw, sawdust/wood chips, organic fertilizer.
Now to wait for it to rot a little.....

This picture was still short 4 bags of chips. Got them added and wet Sat afternoon.
A huge storm came through Sun night and delivered almost 2" of rain. Whoot!


Does anyone know - is it possible to get it/keep it too wet???

 

[flowerbug]

All covered in sawdust/wood chips - organic fertilizer-ed - watered half to death.
Layers are: cardboard, leaves, compost/manure, rotting hay/straw, sawdust/wood chips, organic fertilizer.
Now to wait for it to rot a little.....

This picture was still short 4 bags of chips. Got them added and wet Sat afternoon.
A huge storm came through Sun night and delivered almost 2" of rain. Whoot!
View attachment 25558

Does anyone know - is it possible to get it/keep it too wet???

erm, well, you did ask, yes, if you water it too much the nutrients get washed away or leach down out of the root zone of plants. that is a problem in many agricultural areas. they apply too much at the wrong time and too much ends up in the rivers and ground water.

the general problem with nutrients is that you want to have them available to plants when they are actively growing. composting changes what is rotting now (via microbes/fungi) into something that is a little more stable and longer term, but much is lost in that process IMO. most compost ends up being a fairly weak fertilizer, it is the longer term aspect you gain. the humus.

as you are in the warmer south, the harder thing for anyone is to keep soil carbon levels up. moisture and heat break down things faster.

 

[canesisters]

Have mercy.... every night in the 40*'s and 90-100% chance of rain every day for the foreseeable future.....
It feels like it's NEVER going to get warm...

At least it's not SNOWING.

 

[canesisters]

Up-potting tomatoes. LOTS of Romas, a few Pink Icicle, Uncle Mark Bagby, 2 surviving New Yorkers and some black cherry tomato variety that was free with my seed order.

There is another tray full of squashes, rice pea and rosemary.
Soooo anxious to get them in the ground...

"My Plan" is to grow enough tomato to put up 100 jars of diced, crushed, sauce & paste. I'm hoping to be able to remove them from my shopping list. With the size of my garden, I'm not confident that I'll hit that goal this year.
Does anyone know what the average yield of a Roma plant is? I grew them a couple years ago just to try and I vaguely remember thinking "Good Grief!! Is this thing EVER going to stop making fruit!?!?!" I didn't stake them that time and they sprawled all over the place and were really hard to harvest. This year - stakes and cages are ready!!

 

[Nyboy]

Last night I was craving a tomato and cucumber salad. The tomato where a pale orange at $2.99 a pound, cucumber where wrinkled and dried out 2 for $3. I had a lean cuisine instead .

 

[canesisters]

I've been eating a lot of these salad kits that are new in my store. Costs less than $4 and is chopped salad greens of one sort or another, toppings and dressing. ALL that I've tried so far have been great except for the 'Citrus Burst'.. very bitter. Added a bit of ground beef to the Southwest and made a taco salad that was WONDERFUL.
Wish I could remember the brand... They're over with all the other bagged salad stuff.

 

[Nyboy]

I find with bagged salad you can taste the preservative. My friends family owned a pizzeria they made a giant bowl of salad early in the day then sprinkled a preservative to stop it from browning later in day

 

[flowerbug]

production figures i have are only for beefsteaks and our location (20-30lbs/plant/yr). which means after processing 5-8qts/plant/yr. this is from about 12yrs of keeping track. alas, no data for romas, we've only grown them once and Mom didn't like them (too many small tomatoes). so this year for some reason she might grow one or two plants for friends.

 

[canesisters]

Everyone went out Sat for a whole day of filtered sunshine (under the table in the yard). It was breezy, sunny and just over 70*. All the leaves brightened up. Brought them back to the dining table because the weather is schizophrenic.
Sunday night it dropped back into the 30's....


Notes on my attempt to 'rush the garden soil'. Added 20 bags of compost where the rows are going to be. That's 800lbs... UGH.. arms don't work anymore.. but the garden is looking good.

MAYBE... ONE DAY... I'll learn to do this garden thing RIGHT and stop trying to go from zero to production without the proper prep...
Already collecting the materials to prep the expansion for NEXT SUMMER's garden.

OH! Forgot to add - I fenced off a 6' x 20' long strip along the back side of the chicken pen. No room for corn in the garden, so I'm going to try planting in the chicken pen.
If it works - FANTASTIC!!! If it doesn't - the girls will have a jungle to enjoy mowing down in a couple months.

 

[baymule]

I raised Pekin ducks for the freezer several years ago. I put 42 bags of leaves in their pen to absorb all the water and poop. When the ducks went to freezer camp, I turned the chickens in the pen. They scratched and roto tilled for me, then I planted corn. It made a great crop!