Gardens prepped for winter.

[bp fick]

Neighbor brought over a MOUNTAIN of leaves from his place last week. He shuttled back and forth for hours. He has one of those vacuum carts he pulls. Went out today and chiseled a bunch of them in. There's still places where they are a foot thick. Covered a 150x350 garden in leaves. Nice. Should have had him put some on them other garden, but, oh well.

Corn stalks have mostly softened up and are well on their way to rotting. Keep sheeting chicken litter from now til March. Time to take the middle buster off and put on the back blade, as winter is coming soon. The decay process will be in virtual stasis.

 

[stevess]

i thought i was done but recently read about garlic. now is the time to plant so i've done 2 4x8 raised beds. while loosening the soil i discovered a small celery plant. transplanted into my small home built greenhouse... i think i will try some other items for the winter. i like to keep busy
steve
massachusetts
bx25 sold
waiting for ????????

 

[BrianR]

I also planted some potatoes in my garden the other week. Put them 10 inches deep with leaves all around them to insulate through the winter. This will be first time planting them in the fall, so I am anxious to see how well they do.

Just got my no-till conversion completed and tested on my John Deere Flex 71 planter this weekend. Cuts through heavy corn field residue nicely!!

 

[stevess]

hi brian, whats the advantage to planting in the fall? will you be able to harvest in early spring? what variety of potato? i thought about potato but didn't show in my search for a winter planting crop. some items suggested included turnips-radishes-lettuces. weather has been projected to be very mild in the northeast for a couple weeks... of course could have a blizzard on week 3!
just learning myself and was looking for winter projects
steve

 

[bp fick]

Oh, I am sure potatoes planted now will grow in spring, of that there is little doubt. Most anywhere we had a potatoes last year, "volunteers" grew up like crazy. There's always a few you miss and culls left too.

I do not know whether it was the wintering over or nature of the volunteer seed, but, if we allowed them to grow, while they produced well, they finished much later and the quality of potato was noticeably poorer in quality.

Nice planter, Brian!!!

 

[BrianR]

Supposedly the advantage to fall planting is:

- No need to try to get into the field during the wet season in spring to plant
- Potatoes spend the winter, building their network of roots instead of top growth
- When spring comes, and soil warms then they will begin top growth

I planted a variety from Burpee seeds called Kennebec

Kennebec Potato Seeds and Plants, Vegetable Gardening at Burpee.com

For me the main reason I wanted to try fall planting is that last spring it was just way too wet to get equipment in the gardens. I had a 2 day window in mid may this past spring, and had I not had the Flex 71 planter for the tractor, I'd have never got them both planted until sometime in mid June when the rains finally let up.

 

[bp fick]

Brian

Grew 400 lbs of Kennebec and the same of Reds last year. Great potato. I still prefer the taste of the Reds, but my wife prefers the Kennebec.

Grandkids love to help harvest. We dubbed them the J & K Potato Co.

 

[stevess]

nice pic's BP. how's that 2320 working for you? i remember your post on the comparison between the bx and b. how's the lifting power of that fel after all this time? Brian, thanks for the Burpee link. i've ordered those potatoes but not sure if they will actually ship em this year.
steve

 

[bp fick]

nice pic's BP. how's that 2320 working for you? i remember your post on the comparison between the bx and b. how's the lifting power of that fel after all this time? Brian, thanks for the Burpee link. i've ordered those potatoes but not sure if they will actually ship em this year.
steve

It's been overkill on most everything, so far.:laughing:

I just needed the bigger 3 pt geometry and higher ground clearance. I like the tractor just fine.

 

[BrianR]

BP....that's a lot of taters there my friend!! I didn't realize that you upgraded tractors. When did you do that?