Post your garden pictures and tricks here

zeuspaul · Jun 1, 2006

I have used wire cages, rebar stakes, wood stakes, and string strung from an overhead wire. I trained the tomatoes and removed the suckers. Now I have a lot of land and just let them sprawl and let the suckers be. I plant extra tomatoes to make up for the losses. It is less work and I don't have to deal with the hardware in the off season.

If I had a lot of spare time and/or a shortage of land I would stake them.

I plant starter plants deep...very deep. Just leave a little plant above the ground. I don't trim the underground leaves off any more.

Zeuspaul

zeuspaul · Jun 1, 2006

I have used wire cages, rebar stakes, wood stakes, and string strung from an overhead wire. I trained the tomatoes and removed the suckers. Now I have a lot of land and just let them sprawl and let the suckers be. I plant extra tomatoes to make up for the losses. It is less work and I don't have to deal with the hardware in the off season.

If I had a lot of spare time and/or a shortage of land I would stake them.

I plant starter plants deep...very deep. Just leave a little plant above the ground. I don't trim the underground leaves off any more.

Zeuspaul

Doc_Bob · Jun 1, 2006

( I have used wire cages, rebar stakes, wood stakes, and string strung from an overhead wire. I trained the tomatoes and removed the suckers. Now I have a lot of land and just let them sprawl and let the suckers be. I plant extra tomatoes to make up for the losses. It is less work and I don't have to deal with the hardware in the off season.

If I had a lot of spare time and/or a shortage of land I would stake them.

I plant starter plants deep...very deep. Just leave a little plant above the ground. I don't trim the underground leaves off any more.

Zeuspaul )

My neighbor exercises your wisdom. I have adopted the same approach. Lot's of land, plant a few extra plants, mulch with weed mat. wood chips and enjoy.

Doc_Bob · Jun 1, 2006

( I have used wire cages, rebar stakes, wood stakes, and string strung from an overhead wire. I trained the tomatoes and removed the suckers. Now I have a lot of land and just let them sprawl and let the suckers be. I plant extra tomatoes to make up for the losses. It is less work and I don't have to deal with the hardware in the off season.

If I had a lot of spare time and/or a shortage of land I would stake them.

I plant starter plants deep...very deep. Just leave a little plant above the ground. I don't trim the underground leaves off any more.

Zeuspaul )

My neighbor exercises your wisdom. I have adopted the same approach. Lot's of land, plant a few extra plants, mulch with weed mat. wood chips and enjoy.

PineRidge · Jun 2, 2006

Bob I try to keep the wood chips out of the garden altogether. One year most of our veggies didn't do well because we had tilled wood chips into the garden soil the previous fall. They suck up a lot of nitrogen while the're breaking down in the soil. I don't think it would be possible to add the correct amount of Urea during this period to compensate for the loss.

My suggestion might be to pile most of the big stuff up and when you get a respectable sized mound throw a bit of Urea on top of the pile and water it down. The Urea really gets the pile cooking and once it gets really hot it will kill all the weed seeds witch is an added benefit. You'll end up with a rich compost that's ready to be used in the garden.

PineRidge · Jun 2, 2006

Bob I try to keep the wood chips out of the garden altogether. One year most of our veggies didn't do well because we had tilled wood chips into the garden soil the previous fall. They suck up a lot of nitrogen while the're breaking down in the soil. I don't think it would be possible to add the correct amount of Urea during this period to compensate for the loss.

My suggestion might be to pile most of the big stuff up and when you get a respectable sized mound throw a bit of Urea on top of the pile and water it down. The Urea really gets the pile cooking and once it gets really hot it will kill all the weed seeds witch is an added benefit. You'll end up with a rich compost that's ready to be used in the garden.

Chuck52 · Jun 2, 2006

One thing I did get out of using the @%#$%^ cages this year was incentive to make myself a tool to help with weeding around the tomatoes in them. I use a "stirrup" hoe for most of the weeding. That's a hoe with a narrow sharp blade shaped kinda like a stirrup that lets you slice through weeds below ground level. You can work it pushing or pulling, and I find it much easier to use than a regular hoe. However, it is too big to fit into the rebar cages around some of my tomatoes, and I've had to crawl around and pull out the weeds by hand, thus my irritation with the cages. So, I made myself a miniature version out of some thin steel stock and a short wooden handle. I was going to use an old hacksaw blade, and I think that would work fine if I heated it at the places where it would be bent into the correct shape. Of course I couldn't find an old blade when I decided to make the thing, but I did find some useable stuff that will just have to be sharpened more than a good hardened blade. Anyway, for grass and similar weeds, it works great. Much easier to slice the stuff than try to pull it out a blade at a time. I've got a couple of raised beds that I plant pretty densely, and it works great for getting right up close to the plants and getting the grass that seems to follow me around and invade any area I plant in.

Chuck

Chuck52 · Jun 2, 2006

One thing I did get out of using the @%#$%^ cages this year was incentive to make myself a tool to help with weeding around the tomatoes in them. I use a "stirrup" hoe for most of the weeding. That's a hoe with a narrow sharp blade shaped kinda like a stirrup that lets you slice through weeds below ground level. You can work it pushing or pulling, and I find it much easier to use than a regular hoe. However, it is too big to fit into the rebar cages around some of my tomatoes, and I've had to crawl around and pull out the weeds by hand, thus my irritation with the cages. So, I made myself a miniature version out of some thin steel stock and a short wooden handle. I was going to use an old hacksaw blade, and I think that would work fine if I heated it at the places where it would be bent into the correct shape. Of course I couldn't find an old blade when I decided to make the thing, but I did find some useable stuff that will just have to be sharpened more than a good hardened blade. Anyway, for grass and similar weeds, it works great. Much easier to slice the stuff than try to pull it out a blade at a time. I've got a couple of raised beds that I plant pretty densely, and it works great for getting right up close to the plants and getting the grass that seems to follow me around and invade any area I plant in.

Chuck

Doc_Bob · Jun 2, 2006

( Bob I try to keep the wood chips out of the garden altogether. One year most of our veggies didn't do well because we had tilled wood chips into the garden soil the previous fall. They suck up a lot of nitrogen while the're breaking down in the soil. I don't think it would be possible to add the correct amount of Urea during this period to compensate for the loss.

My suggestion might be to pile most of the big stuff up and when you get a respectable sized mound throw a bit of Urea on top of the pile and water it down. The Urea really gets the pile cooking and once it gets really hot it will kill all the weed seeds witch is an added benefit. You'll end up with a rich compost that's ready to be used in the garden. )

The wood chips suck the nitrogen out of the soil. This is true. I agree no way to figure out how much urea would be needed. Trial and error. What I do is move to the next plot of land and just repeat the process.

Now, what is funny this year, is that the farmer planted his soybeans in my wood chips!!!!!!!! I was riding with him and said, would you mind plowing and planting the wood chips. He plowed about 1/4 acre of wood chips (2 feet thick pile) and then planted soy beans. The beans are growing like weeds!!! only time will tell how well they do. These "wood chip" beans sprouted first and are growing better than any of the other beans. No nitrogen has been put into these chips. I am using the 2 feet thick layer to smother the weeds in the area (yes, the weeds are smothered!!!!)
Bob

Doc_Bob · Jun 2, 2006

( Bob I try to keep the wood chips out of the garden altogether. One year most of our veggies didn't do well because we had tilled wood chips into the garden soil the previous fall. They suck up a lot of nitrogen while the're breaking down in the soil. I don't think it would be possible to add the correct amount of Urea during this period to compensate for the loss.

My suggestion might be to pile most of the big stuff up and when you get a respectable sized mound throw a bit of Urea on top of the pile and water it down. The Urea really gets the pile cooking and once it gets really hot it will kill all the weed seeds witch is an added benefit. You'll end up with a rich compost that's ready to be used in the garden. )

The wood chips suck the nitrogen out of the soil. This is true. I agree no way to figure out how much urea would be needed. Trial and error. What I do is move to the next plot of land and just repeat the process.

Now, what is funny this year, is that the farmer planted his soybeans in my wood chips!!!!!!!! I was riding with him and said, would you mind plowing and planting the wood chips. He plowed about 1/4 acre of wood chips (2 feet thick pile) and then planted soy beans. The beans are growing like weeds!!! only time will tell how well they do. These "wood chip" beans sprouted first and are growing better than any of the other beans. No nitrogen has been put into these chips. I am using the 2 feet thick layer to smother the weeds in the area (yes, the weeds are smothered!!!!)
Bob