2025 gardens

[sixdogs]

Last year our sweet corn did pretty well... This year I'm trying side dressing with urea to see how the growth compares

Lots of guys here now use slow release N for corn and side dress at 6" tall.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Lots of guys here now use slow release N for corn and side dress at 6" tall.

I heard that I should side dress after it gets some height on it too... ?

 

[sixdogs]

I heard that I should side dress after it gets some height on it too... ?

Some people do that and yes, it is suggested if within the confines of a soil test. Too much not good.

I band 19-19-19 at planting time. That's actuallyy enough for the whole season down here but I band some 21-2-5 w/added iron as the ears start to form. We have dynamite sweet corn every year. Delectable is the variety.



Corn likes nitrogen but too much makes it grow too tall and susceptible to blowing over in a hard wind. That's why I give mine the 21-2-5 just as the ear is starting to form. Straight N would likely be better but I usually have 21-2-5 left over and close enough.

The next year I plant tomatoes on the corn ground and add no fertilizer. There's plenty left from the 19-19-19 the year before and I don't want nitrogen with tomatoes. I want fruit, not 10 ft tall plants.
Before I plant those tomatoes, I turn the ground by hand in the spring (or fall) and an inch of rain softens it up enough. Plus, earthworms live with my shovel technique. Not so with tillers. It's hefty work but is needed cardio. Trust me on that. We get around 500 lbs of tomatoes from 11 plants.

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[masseyrider]

When I put in transplants I water in with plant starter.
Once they get underway I water them with Bullsh-t Tea. I put some good composted manure in a 50 gallon barrel and let it sit a day or two before side dressing all the plants with it.

 

[DJ54]

Got (5) 100' rows of sweet corn in. 15 more to go. And 300 bush beans plantedView attachment 3472143

Any pics of your Phacelia..?? Hopefully mine comes up pretty quick being we got rain within 24 hrs. My seed dealer said I'm pushing it with ground temps, need to put the thermometer in the ground and check it. She showed me some remnants of some coming up off from seeds from what she planted last year.

She did warn me not to plant it around raspberries, as bees will go to the Phacelia, and not the berries. Not a problem here. I have some seed left over and going to give to the neighbor girl and her mom since both have hives at their different properties.

 

[DJ54]

When I put in transplants I water in with plant starter.
Once they get underway I water them with Bullsh-t Tea. I put some good composted manure in a 50 gallon barrel and let it sit a day or two before side dressing all the plants with it.

I made some compost tea out of leaves more than several years ago and used it mainly around some Bid House gourds just to experiment. Those things exploded with growth. Only 10 plants, but they produced like 200 usable gourds. One vine grew to 78 feet in length. Left them hang on the trellis I made to dry over the winter, then in the Spring cleaned the mold off and sold them all within 45 minutes of posting on Craigslist for $2.00 ea. to a woman who decorates them for porch hanging. It was a lot of work to scrub them off but paid for a few years of garden supplies.

After that, I used it around pepper plants and a few other things, and they too grew like crazy. For several years we had wet summers and got tough to water things in when the ground was wet or rained on the 3rd day when it was done. Should have done it last summer after the drought set in but didn't.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Any pics of your Phacelia..?? Hopefully mine comes up pretty quick being we got rain within 24 hrs. My seed dealer said I'm pushing it with ground temps, need to put the thermometer in the ground and check it. She showed me some remnants of some coming up off from seeds from what she planted last year.

She did warn me not to plant it around raspberries, as bees will go to the Phacelia, and not the berries. Not a problem here. I have some seed left over and going to give to the neighbor girl and her mom since both have hives at their different properties.

Failed for a second year. Came in nice and thick, grew to 3" tall, stunted. That was two months of growth. It got tilled under and buckwheat will be planted soon. I won't plant it again.

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

Hadn't thought about the effects a tiller would have to worms. Hmmm. Too much work to shovel 18 125' rows but I like the way you are thinking.

During the planting season I may till up my rows 5-6 times with 1-2 week intervals between to kill out weeds. I can't say the last time I saw a worm out there either...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Hadn't thought about the effects a tiller would have to worms. Hmmm. Too much work to shovel 18 125' rows but I like the way you are thinking.

That's called "operator error", have you seen how the folks on this site tell people to till their gardens? They tell them to go sloooooow and yes that does grind up the soil and everything in it, sometimes into powder. (including the worms)

If you use a bit faster ground speed and depending on the soil and tiller, adjust the back door opening you so can change the tillage. That's why on my Howard tillers, I can even change the rotor speed, to get the amount of tillage I or my customers want/need.

On this site, folks are worried about "pretty" instead of their "soil structure"!

SR

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

When I am weeding with my tiller I generally only go down about 2" and at a good clip. Unlike the initial tilling I go as slow as 2500rpm in 1st will let me.

Neat feature to change the speed on your tiller. I usually just slow my rpm's down to accomplish that.