2025 gardens

[sixdogs]

We're down to just 12 tomato plants and enough Delectable sweet corn to eat and freeze. The tomatoes I like are Steak House from Burpee and then a couple of Juliette smaller tomatoes. We have had the best luck with them and they respond well to our climate and diseases.

I rotate the crop every year and rip out the old plants and dump far away from the house. I think that has kept or disease situation down.

We started tomatoes yesterday and will gradually acclimate to outside when they are just a few inches tall. You have to be careful to keep out of the wind and up against the house till they get stronger. A little at a time.
We plant in mid May when they are about a foot tall and maybe a little leggy. I snip all the leaves off except the last inch or two and dig a hole deep enough so just the top part sticks out. That whole stem will root and you barely be able to rip it out of the ground in fall.

We had a cover crop last fall and the ground is fertile so no fertilizer, especially nitrogen. I have 18" x 60" welded wire cages I made and place over tomato and zip tie to a metal post driven in the ground. I snip off the bottom branches that touch the ground to keep diseases down. Until the cages go up, I cover with a 5 gallon bucket at night to stop the rabbits and frost. Now, we wait.

Usually no fertilizer at all. The plants will go to 6' on their own and the ground is already fertile from last year. Last year we planted 12 or 13 plants and got 460 lbs of tomatoes. The Steak House can be 2 or even 3 lbs each so that helps the weight.

Come late fall just before the freeze or frost we pick what's left and store in the garage. Most will ripen. Very disturbing about last year and again this year was that our seeds, even though from Burpee, came from China. Nothing against that but it's not what I paid top dollar for and don't want it. I'm going with USA standard varieties next year.

 

[masseyrider]

I'm still debating the garden.
Lots of work, more free loaders coming around for freebees.
I did buy some seeds cheap last week.
We don't plant until May 21-24 so I won't be starting the plants until the last week or so of April.
Last 2 weeks spent under outside glass hardening off before the big move.

 

[DJ54]

5, 72 cell trays sowed with cabbage this evening, will do 3 more tomorrow. Hopefully will be germinated by Sunday, then do a couple more of 2 more types of cabbage, and Buttercrunch lettuce.

 

[DJ54]

8 flats/576 cabbage seeds in the germination chamber and still a little room left to fill in around the bottom, and shelves in the door. I have some second generation Greenboy I saved from a couple years ago, and some smaller head Copenhagen I want to start too. Hopefully have enough room after that to start a dozen Brussels Sprouts.

 

[Sonny580]

Going to be a late start in the greenhouse this year here. still getting light snows, hail and rain here. Water still freezing on top of the catch tanks.
onion plants are to come the week of the 24'th and more rain on the way.
Been mowing the farm off and still have about 1/4'th of it left to do.
Had hail a few days ago and didnt quite make it to the truck in time. 1/2 to 5/8'th hail balls hurt when they hit your face.
Got a lot of the acres plowed in the garden and ready to munch up with the big tiller when it dries off enough.https://youtu.be/TOMCftPHyHU

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

Wifey started our garden plants for the spring. Brassicas are going out to harden off Monday, forecast shows no hard frost for next 10 days so we will plant them and corn in the next week.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

We planted 1 acre of phacelia last week, for honey production. We are planting two (72) cell trays this weekend with tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, cabbage etc…
We will also be planting bush beans, 2800 stalks of sweet corn, and 96 pumpkin vines

 

[DJ54]

We planted 1 acre of phacelia last week, for honey production. We are planting two (72) cell trays this weekend with tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, cabbage etc…
We will also be planting bush beans, 2800 stalks of sweet corn, and 96 pumpkin vines

Did you plant the phacelia as a monoculture crop or a mix..?? Drill or sow to plant..?? This may be a good legume for my buddy the market gardener to use for a cover crop in his rotation of leaving some areas fallow for a couple years. It would make a great food source for their bees and other pollinators. I did a Google search to find the seeding rate per acre, and price per lb. It'd probably have to be in a mix as he'd be too tight to spend $50+ per acre for a cover crop, even though it appears like it will reseed itself for 2-3 years after the initial seeding. I tend to be somewhat thrifty myself, but this dude screws his socks on in the morning.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Did you plant the phacelia as a monoculture crop or a mix..?? Drill or sow to plant..?? This may be a good legume for my buddy the market gardener to use for a cover crop in his rotation of leaving some areas fallow for a couple years. It would make a great food source for their bees and other pollinators. I did a Google search to find the seeding rate per acre, and price per lb. It'd probably have to be in a mix as he'd be too tight to spend $50+ per acre for a cover crop, even though it appears like it will reseed itself for 2-3 years after the initial seeding. I tend to be somewhat thrifty myself, but this dude screws his socks on in the morning.

We till, broadcast, cultipack at a rate of 25lb per acre. So, $100 per acre. We use this and buckwheat as nectar/cover crop on this plot. It is monoculture.

 

[DJ54]

We till, broadcast, cultipack at a rate of 25lb per acre. So, $100 per acre. We use this and buckwheat as nectar/cover crop on this plot. It is monoculture.

Thanks..!! My buddy is somewhat interested. Wondered where you by the seed. Locally..?? We have several cover cop seed dealers close, but I'd have to check their websites to see if they handle it. I saw a price online from a seed dealer that it was $6.95 a lb. $4.00 a lb. sounds a lot better.