2020 gardens

[Ford850]

26 degrees here this morning. I'm hoping to get my onion sets planted tomorrow. Yellow, Red, and Candy are my go-to onions, and I have the best luck with sets.

 

[herm0016]

26 degrees here this morning. I'm hoping to get my onion sets planted tomorrow. Yellow, Red, and Candy are my go-to onions, and I have the best luck with sets.

can you explain? this is the first year we have done onions from seed. looking for tips.

 

[Ford850]

can you explain? this is the first year we have done onions from seed. looking for tips.

Onion sets are small onion bulbs, usually sold by the pound. They are much more durable since they are dormant, and start growing from the bulbs stored energy. Sometimes varieties are only available as seeds or plants though, especially the short day, sweet types.

 

[DJ54]

My favorite is the Yellow Stuttgarter onion. I get them as sets, and make hill rows for them to grow in. I've planted them as late as Memorial Day weekend, and all end up maturing with a decent 11 to 13 leaves (each leaf equals a layer of the onion) which is the norm for mature onions. Below is a pic of making a hill row with one of the Bradley's, and disk. I'll flatten the top off with a rake, making the hill maybe 6" tall. Poke the sets in every 4" or so, then after they shoot up a few leaves, I run some leaves through the chipper shredder, and make mulch fine enough to dress the hill,and in between onions. They are pretty much maintenance free the rest of the summer. A couple hours work doing this, saves many more hours through the summer keeping them weed free. I may walk through every 4-5 days, and re-dress the leaves,pulling them back up, mainly because of the Robins scratching around, looking for bugs & worms. In late August/early Sept., the onions will literally push themselves up out of the dirt, making harvest an easy job.

Latest shop build, I'm building a hiller to go behind my little Sears 4-wheel tractor. Hiller is done, now will start making a strike off blade behind it, to level off the top of the row. It won't make a near as big of a hill as the DB & disk, but will disturb the surface a lot less, but let me get my row spacing back to the normal 30" spacing, making more room for more rows.

Also below are a couple pics of the first shop build this winter after the holidays. I use cattle panels cut in half, and T-posts for trellis for certain tomatoes that are highly productive, and break down even the heavy gauge cages, plus a Florida weave, every 4-5 cages. Storing/moving them has always been the biggest hassle with them. I've ran several designs through my mind in the past, and decided this would be the best for my situation. I can store them, and carry them where ever I need them with this special carry-all I made. I've got 36 panels, and there are 18 of them on here in the pic, so all will fit nicely, and still room for more. Using the Fast Hitch, to 3 pt. adapter on the 240 Utility makes for easy hooking up, and unhooking. I can carry them midway in the garden, saving having to carry them the full length. Any more, carrying half way, beats climbing on and off the tractor several times,with my old knees. I don't know if anyone else uses these, but I'm seeing this so far as a real time saver,and storing them out of the way.

 

[Sonny580]

I only use plants here, and certain varieties!---well cept this year,--I was handed 6 bunches of plants, varieties unknown, and a pound of sets, again varieties unknown, so I planted them not expecting to have much in the line of nice onions this year!
All of the potatoes are planted and it did rain last night so guess we got lucky.

 

[CADplans]

A local supplier discontinued selling biodiffuser chambers, and I bought some at a WAY discounted price.

I used some to get rid of gutter run-off water,, but I still had a half dozen,,
I put them in the garden, they are completely filled with leaves,, the same for the upside down 100 gallon tank.

I had plants started (lettuce, spinach, broccoli,, etc,,) and planted the plants in rows, as well as right next to the chamber,,

So far, the ones next to the chambers are growing twice as fast,,,

I would imagine it would need an entire summer drought to dry the soil under the chambers,,
the soil under accumulated leaves is always damp, and full of earthworms,,, :thumbsup:

So, I hope it will be a giant in-garden earthworm casting factory,,,

 

[herm0016]

A local supplier discontinued selling biodiffuser chambers, and I bought some at a WAY discounted price.

I used some to get rid of gutter run-off water,, but I still had a half dozen,,
I put them in the garden, they are completely filled with leaves,, the same for the upside down 100 gallon tank.

I had plants started (lettuce, spinach, broccoli,, etc,,) and planted the plants in rows, as well as right next to the chamber,,

So far, the ones next to the chambers are growing twice as fast,,,

I would imagine it would need an entire summer drought to dry the soil under the chambers,,
the soil under accumulated leaves is always damp, and full of earthworms,,, :thumbsup:

So, I hope it will be a giant in-garden earthworm casting factory,,,

i have nearly 800 feet of them under my yard!

 

[CADplans]

i have nearly 800 feet of them under my yard!

I guess you are using the chambers to get rid of waste,,
I am trying to use them to create earthworm waste,,,

 

[DJ54]

I turned the lower1/3 of mine over yesterday, to get some clay mixed up in the topsoil, where I'd brought it to the top putting in tile last Fall. Also, to turn under some Mustard I sowed last Fall for a biofumagation experiment that failed. Didn't want to be fighting the residue when cultivating. The leaves I'd put on last Spring 6" thick, had pretty well decomposed down to 1" of compost. When I rolled it over, there were literally hundreds of big fat night crawlers in the soil. Didn't take them long to seek cover, or I'd have gotten a picture of them. They seem to like chowing down on those leaves. Glad to have them providing castings for fertilizer, and tunnels in the earth to make the water perk out easier.

Almost hate the thought of tilling the top 25' width to loosen up soil to plant potatoes in, killing many worms I know are in there. I will only make one pass, to incorporate some Sulfur to drop the PH level down to about 5.5 to 6.0. Last soil test showed it to be 6.8. I'm afraid that it being that high, may cause scab issues. And some K to hopefully boost some tuber growth.

Hopefully next week will bring some sunny weather, so as to get that done. Will probably start some cabbage, and peppers seeds next week also. I like to set plants at about 6 weeks of age, doesn't seem to be near the shock to them, and they'll take off and go.

Also want to experiment with using Kelp, Monty's plant food, and just normal dribble of 12-12-12 starter fertilizer, and see the difference. Which ever of the 2 plant foods produce better results in the first 30 days or so, I'll give the plants with nothing a shot of it, then use that next year.

 

[Sonny580]

Did get more done on the compost hauler!







box bed is done so now I have the tub and box. Takes 2 bolts to hold them on and not hard to switch beds.

 

[DJ54]

Pretty cool..!! I'm assuming over center gravity dump..??

Am I seeing a Farmall Super A hiding in the background..??

 

[Sonny580]

Over center dump for sure, and ya SA sitting beside it. also have an A that I used to mow with til it shucked the front pulley, cant keep it tight and it flies off into the fan. Got a new used one, same deal, so crank must be worn. not sure at this point how to fix it, other than welding it on and no way I want to do that. next thing front seal would go out then couldnt get pulley off to put in new seal.

 

[DJ54]

If I remember correctly, aren't the crankshafts threaded internally on the pulley end..?? 1/2 NF comes to mind. I'm setting here scratching my head, trying to remember which of the small tractors I worked on, that I had to pull the front pulley off. I know I made a short slug, with a dimple, to use a puller, to pull the pulley off. and pretty sure I used a, maybe 2 different lengths 1/2" NF bolt to push it back on, after heating the pulley up on the coal stove.

If you don't hand crank it, then a proper sized bolt, and flat washer with Locktite on the threads ought to work. Otherwise, pull the crank, and have a machine shop plasma weld it up, and turn back to specs. Has to be a lot less expensive than a reground crank, and new bearings, and a lot less work..!!

 

[Sonny580]

No threads and no hole in crank. someone messed up the end of the crank trying to drill it. --- been sitting 2 years now and I cant afford another crank for it so it sits. excellent motor and the whole tractor is good cept the pulley.
No shops around here to do that kind of work. ---way to costly to fix the tractor.

 

[DJ54]

Too bad...

 

[DJ54]

Got my onion sets in this evening. The hiller I made, did a decent job of making a hill row, to plant them in. I may adjust the cut next time I use it, and set them a little straighter, to let the dirt flow out between the disc blades better. Dirt was just damp,and still wants to ball up a bit, and not flowout like I want it to. If that doesn't work, I'll extend the bars the disc blades are mounted to, and set them out a few inches wider. At least it allows me to make rows 30" OC, and not 48" or more with using the disk's, on the walk behind, or behind the ST10.

I made 2 rows, because I was thinking it would take 2, 90' rows, to plant the 2 lbs. of sets. It sure looked like a lot. I placed them 4" apart, and only made it about 60'. I picked out the larger sets out of the bin, so naturally not as many per lb. That's just another 30' I can plant something else...

 

[Ford850]

I got my onion sets planted on 4/4, in 5 raised beds approximately 3'x8' each. I plant those beds in mass, using a 6" grid pattern over the entire bed.
I planed another bed with lettuce and spinach on 4/20, striking off rows 6" apart going across the beds. I hope to keep cutting these greens as they are just large enough to eat, so they can continue to regrow. I might leave a few stragglers go into small heads. I planted Bibb, Romaine, Iceburg, and Buttercrunch lettuce, along with one variety of Spinach.

 

[Sonny580]

Onions are growing here, look good so far. Potatoes are not quite up but just under the surface. Rain started today,--looks like all week could be wet here. Maybe it will soften the ground so I can till the rest of the little garden.
Have the hot-bed ready to plant. Not going all out with plants, but need a fair amount if the seeds will grow.----have had some in the past that didn't.

 

[DJ54]

Got the potatoes in the ground today. Only had room for 5 rows, and gave the rest of the seed potatoes to a buddy of mine. Near as I can figure, planted about 75 lb. 3 rows of Red Chieftain, and 2 rows of Yukon Gold. The Chieftain's, from what I have read, are a short season, commercially grown potato, developed in Canada some years back. Guess I'll see what I end up with. The hardest part was dropping them, those little garden tractors sure save a lot of labor..!! This is the first time I've ever used that adjustable foot plow on the Bradley. Makes a dandy furrow for planting potatoes in. Really surprised that little tractor pulled it as easy as it did, with no wheel weights, or loaded tires. I have another in the shop I'm re-powering, and will put wheel weights on it. I finally found a "Southern Cultivator" that has extra frame work, for wider row cultivating, plus a set of wings I can add to it. So, should be able to cover 40" or so, when I get it set up. I'd imagine a front counter weight will be needed, to pick all that iron up, at the end of the row, to turn around and come back. I'll have to do some scrounging, to see if I can find some thing for a form. Local village is putting in a new sewer system, and using 8" line. I calculated a 12" piece will weigh 46# full of concrete. A buddy of mine is hauling spoil dirt they are digging out. I'll see if he can scrounge me a few pieces.

Also got some cabbage sprouts in trays this evening, just as it started to rain. Ended up with 70, as a few did not germinate. I really like sprouting seeds using the coffee filter/sandwich bag method. These sprouted in 3 days, after checking them yesterday. Knew I had to get them in trays sometime today. I like the Stonehead, and we used to plant Flat Dutch years ago. Trying a Tropical Giant Flat this year. Got them from Park Seeds when they had one day only free shipping, so took advantage of the cheap seed prices on those, and some Mammoth Sunflower seeds.

Waiting for the Tomato, Pepper, Rhubarb, and Asparagus seeds to sprout, then I'll be getting them in trays, and set in the little mini greenhouse. Doubt we're out of the woods for a cold snap, but I have a small electric cube heater, I can put in there, to keep them from freezing.

 

[Sonny580]

Potatoes froze off as did most other stuff last week,---not lookin too good for garden this year. Grape buds are burned off and any nut tree is brown. Fruit trees are hurt as well. This week we have a bunch of rain and cant do gardens, so been trying to mow/spray weeds. The only thing we got planted was the potatoes and onions. The onions look fine.
Wanted to get the other seeds planted but ground too cold right now. Did get hotbed planted and a few cabbage plants are up, so that's promising.