Raising Sweet Corn, Pumpkins, and Squash.

[Green Power]

Thanks for sharing the video Depmandog!:thumbsup:

 

[RalphVa]

I garden somewhat like Ruth Stout, naked and no till. Instead of hay, I use mulch that I make up myself during the winter with bags of leaves and limbs that all get shredded and put in a pile. I, of course, do the shredding naked, too.

Ralph

 

[charlz]

I like leaves for mulch as they generally contain no grass or weed seed. I used straw one year and got an inadvertent 'cover crop' of barley so thick you could almost have combined it I ended up tilling it all under as green manure... kinda defeated the purpose of mulching though. I am surprised that she didn't have more issues using hay.

 

[Green Power]

For the last two years i have raked the leaves off my moms lawn, and have put them in her garden, and let them decompose over winter. It makes a good mulch.

 

[RalphVa]

Leaves are what Thomas Jefferson used in his veggie garden.

Modern science has now proven that leaves do not change the pH of the soil. Yeah, initially when they first start decomposing, the soil gets a bit acid, but it changes back to what it was as the leaves further decompose.

Ralph

 

[RSKY]

I didn't know that. I thought leaves made the soil much more acid. Thanks for the information.

RSKY

 

[sixdogs]

Don't leaves consume nitrogen in the decomposition process, meaning that additional nitrogen must be applied to keep the soil where it was prior? I can't recall but I was pretty sure in thinking this.

 

[charlz]

Don't leaves consume nitrogen in the decomposition process, meaning that additional nitrogen must be applied to keep the soil where it was prior? I can't recall but I was pretty sure in thinking this.

For composting any 'brown' needs a 'green' which is probably what you are thinking of and yes, any time you add a large carbon source to the soil it will deplete nitrogen. In this case we are talking mulch so you are not mixing it into the soil so the impact is much slower. Getting nitrogen into your soil is one of the tougher jobs. Manure, green manure crops and commercial fertilizer are the ways to get it added in volume.

By the time compost is ready it is pretty low on the NPK scale. I don't like to add 'raw' manure to the soil since what I get is horse manure and still has a lot of hay etc. Once composted it doesn't grow any weeds so I must be doing a pretty good job. I use commercial fertilizers but I only add them right where the plants are. Broadcasting fertilizer just encourages weeds. A lot of states have cheap soil samples available to them via extension offices etc but here they are $35 so I mostly play it by ear: add lots of compost, use compost and leaves for mulch, use fertilizer right at the plants.

 

[Green Power]

I also have play it by what i see. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[Green Power]

So what does everyone think of the Jackpot sweet corn variety?