2024 garden season

[DJ54]

That’s a large area to mulch. What do you use?

Lawn trailer pulled by a garden tractor. Loaded with a Bobcat, spread with a pitchfork. Took 2 evenings, about 2.5 hrs. each. It took a little physical labor, but not nearly as much as hoeing around all of that stuff for the rest of the season in 85º heat. As Pap used to say, "Some people pay good money for a workout like that at a gym." Pic below is from last year, didn't think to get one so far this year.

 

[DJ54]

The crows decided they didn't want me to have most of my sweet potatoes so they pulled the plants up. I have the 12 Ga. loaded now.

I picked the shell beans(Bountiful), shelled them, vac sealed and froze. I got 10 quarts. Planning on planting a late crop as soon as we get some rain.

Corn and butter beans need rain to finish filling out.

That must be a thing with Crows everywhere this year. They snipped off the tops of my Beet transplants, 8-10 smaller tomato transplants. The tops were lying beside the plants. Pulled the second planting of Sweet Corn in the spike stage to get the kernel. Strange they will pull the treated Sweet Corn, but not the untreated Ornamental corn. I've seen Starlings do the same thing.

I sprayed everything with Peppermint to deter the Deer, but apparently doesn't work for Crows.

 

[workinonit]

Same thing here. They pulled the plants and laid them on the ground. They also pulled up some late peas but not too much of those.

 

[t1kilo]

I have been thinking about various ideas to support the plants. This is one I will have to consider.

I was thinking about putting posts on each end of the garden and running steel cable across and tying the plants to them somehow but don't want to bend the stalks....

Last year I ran a cable across the top at about 6 or 7 feet and used string and clips for my tomatoes. Works pretty well. They do the same thing with indeterminate tomatoes in hot houses. This is similar to what I use.

Trellising Kit for Palram - Canopia Greenhouses

 

[jyoutz]

Lawn trailer pulled by a garden tractor. Loaded with a Bobcat, spread with a pitchfork. Took 2 evenings, about 2.5 hrs. each. It took a little physical labor, but not nearly as much as hoeing around all of that stuff for the rest of the season in 85º heat. As Pap used to say, "Some people pay good money for a workout like that at a gym." Pic below is from last year, didn't think to get one so far this year.

Nice work. What do you use as a mulch material? Looks like leaves.

 

[DJ54]

Nice work. What do you use as a mulch material? Looks like leaves.

Yep, 100% leaves gathered from neighbors plus a buddy of mine helped a friend of his with a lawn service that offers leaf pickup. He brought in 8-10 loads like pictured below. A local city used to let them dump for free, convert it to compost then sell it. Last Fall they started charging $50 for a tuck that size to dump, so he was asking around for a place to dump. He'd forgotten about me mulching with them and another buddy reminded him of it. I told him I'd take all he could bring. Probably have enough to cover the whole garden and then some. Don't mind having some left over.

 

[DJ54]

Last year I ran a cable across the top at about 6 or 7 feet and used string and clips for my tomatoes. Works pretty well. They do the same thing with indeterminate tomatoes in hot houses. This is similar to what I use.

Trellising Kit for Palram - Canopia Greenhouses

A friend of mine told me she saw on Facebook where someone had a dozen or so tomatoes and birds working on them. Went to a Dollar store and bought metal mesh trash cans for a buck apiece and used them for a cover until plants got large enough not to have to worry about them. Great idea if you have up to 2-3 dozen, not that hard on the wallet, and will last for years.

 

[jyoutz]

Yep, 100% leaves gathered from neighbors plus a buddy of mine helped a friend of his with a lawn service that offers leaf pickup. He brought in 8-10 loads like pictured below. A local city used to let them dump for free, convert it to compost then sell it. Last Fall they started charging $50 for a tuck that size to dump, so he was asking around for a place to dump. He'd forgotten about me mulching with them and another buddy reminded him of it. I told him I'd take all he could bring. Probably have enough to cover the whole garden and then some. Don't mind having some left over.

Nice. And then you can till them under after the garden season. I wish I had a supply like that, but our forests are conifer trees, so not much leaf material.

 

[DJ54]

Nice. And then you can till them under after the garden season. I wish I had a supply like that, but our forests are conifer trees, so not much leaf material.

Actually, wait until the following Spring and plow them down. 4"-6" of leaves pretty well breaks down into fine compost by then. Really improves the soils organic material and mellows it out.

 

[Sonny580]

Not exactly my garden, but our farm is blooming. Kinda neat to see. There are several different native flowers and grasses planted in there and something is s'posed to be in bloom all summer long.
A couple pix of the 137 acres of these daises. This is year 2 of the 10 year project.
I planted a pollinator mix that has a half dozen different varieties of stuff in it.