Garden layout ...

[jinman]

Chris ... I am slappin myself around with this idea. Usually we wait for the Bois De Arc's to bud.... Thinking, Thinking ........

I think you will be better off if you wait until mid-March to plant that corn and any warm weather crop like melons & cucumbers. The ground must be warm enough to support good germination. I'd even wait until April to plant okra and peas. Our average last frost here is March 15th and I suspect yours is a week or two later. I'm going to set out tomatoes and peppers early, but be ready to cover them with plastic depending on the weather forecast.

 

[JakeBrake]

I learned years ago that it's a lot easier to plant a big garden in March, especially with a tractor, than to take care of that garden in July when it's 95 degrees and the warm weather weeds are rampant. So, now, my garden is 6 50' rows that I can maintain with my Troybilt Horse. We also have a small fruit orchard that produces more apples, blueberries, peaches, pears, plums, and persimmons than I will want to pick.

Last year and this year we rented a few acres to a commercial watermelon grower. Around here commercial watermelon growers grow a crop only once or twice on a plot of land. The land is then not used for watermelons for a least a couple of years. So, around here commercial watermelon growers are continually running the roads looking for clear fields they can rent for a year or two. We don't make any money to speak of, but I won't have to bush hog the field and we get all the free watermelons we want for personal use. Also, when the grower tells me he's through with the watermelons, there will probably be hundreds of over ripe melons in the field which make wonderful plinking targets.

 

[MarkV]

I learned years ago that it's a lot easier to plant a big garden in March, especially with a tractor, than to take care of that garden in July when it's 95 degrees and the warm weather weeds are rampant. So, now, my garden is 6 50' rows that I can maintain with my Troybilt Horse. We also have a small fruit orchard that produces more apples, blueberries, peaches, pears, plums, and persimmons than I will want to pick.

Last year and this year we rented a few acres to a commercial watermelon grower. Around here commercial watermelon growers grow a crop only once or twice on a plot of land. The land is then not used for watermelons for a least a couple of years. So, around here commercial watermelon growers are continually running the roads looking for clear fields they can rent for a year or two. We don't make any money to speak of, but I won't have to bush hog the field and we get all the free watermelons we want for personal use. Also, when the grower tells me he's through with the watermelons, there will probably be hundreds of over ripe melons in the field which make wonderful plinking targets.

Thats really interesting. Something I had never heard of before. Do you know what watermelons use up in to soil that requires rotating fields every year?

MarkV

 

[blueriver]

I think you will be better off if you wait until mid-March to plant that corn and any warm weather crop like melons & cucumbers. The ground must be warm enough to support good germination. I'd even wait until April to plant okra and peas. Our average last frost here is March 15th and I suspect yours is a week or two later. I'm going to set out tomatoes and peppers early, but be ready to cover them with plastic depending on the weather forecast.

Thats the date I planted corn last year on the 15th ... thats just 13 days away ... quess I can wait !!

Tomatoes went in last year April 7th ...

 

[blueriver]

I got the corn ground ready today and cultivated the onions ... I sure like cultivating.

 

[Wacky]

Where are those pics of your "Farmden"?

 

[blueriver]

Hi Blueriver,

Are your rows oriented on the contour or perpendicular to the contour? Also wondering what kind of slope you have.

Thanks,

Spindifferent

Its a pretty good slope ... runs from East to West and I plant North and South.

 

[keegs]

Planting in the garden state starts mid - late april. I get a load (small pickup) of composted horse manure on the ground around mid-march and roto it in when the ground is workable.

My 20x20 plot slopes north to south and that's pretty much the way the rows go as well. I'm also dealing with partial shade.

I rotate tomatoes, lettuce, brussels, zucchini, hot peppers (kung pow or scotch bonnets) beets, green beans and peas. And every few years I squeeze in some potatoes.

We're both city folk...the wife prefers the grocery store produce dept so I'm pretty much on my own when it comes to the veg garden.

Blue ..what are you doing with all that produce at harvest time?

 

[blueriver]

Where are those pics of your "Farmden"?

Here ya go ...

 

[bonefish101]

Sorry guys, nothing to add, just want to follow this thread and I cant figure how to from my desktop without posting to it.