Vegetable Gardens

Thomas · Dec 29, 2000

jyoutz,
Up here in the northern parts some still do leave the ground rough up for the following next year of growing.

For drainage also manure spreading during the winter months,than harrow it all back together couple of weeks before planting.

I remember some of those cold windy days, /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif but the crows and turkeys were sure glad to see me come chugging on the H with a load of manure./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Thomas · Dec 29, 2000

DFB,
Thats looks like an interesting attachment also the website.

I wonder if the cost would be worth the use up here in this region.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

jyoutz · Dec 29, 2000

Bird, plowing in the hulls would work better. Leaving fallow ground rough is the key to preventing wind erosion. Smooth soil surfaces and powdery soil will wind erode. Also consider that continual tilling without deep subsoiling or plowing will create a compacted zone just below tiller depth. If you need to till in organic matter before winter, perhaps you could then use a moldboard plow to roughen things up and let it go, until spring rototilling time.

DFB · Dec 29, 2000

Thomas, the one in the photo belongs to the wifes' stepdad. I'm sold on using it. Sure a mulch layer isn't for everbody, but if you put down a few hundred to 1000' or more of mulch each year I'd think it was worth it. Awesome tool. After tilling it smooths the ground, makes 2 trenches for the edges of plastic, lays the plastic and then back fills the trenches to cover the edges of the plastic./w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif That web site was the only one my search turned up./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif I'm hoping there's more to be found. The PS 120 was the one I was looking at. Using plastic will undoubtably give better yields up north. Here plastic warms the soil, retains moisture, and keeps the weeds down. Interesting to note was that this past summer the plastic actually minimized the saturation from all that rain we had. Without it the plants were swimming in mud. I went to the JD dealer today and measured the distance between wheels on several models. I was surprised to see that the distance was the same on my 4100 as it was on a 4400. About 25" The 4500-4700 was only about 32". Only when you get into the real AG's 5105 and up does it get really wide. I'd be satisfied with a 2' wide piece of mulch. Just would have to make more rows. I had about an acre of pine logged off before winter to make a new garden.(see pic) 25,000 board feet. Big ideas. Gee maybe an old farm tractor's what I need./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Kevin_mc · Dec 29, 2000

DFB,
Thats some beautiful scenery in that picture. I don't know if I'd get much work done there because I'd be busy painting the mountains (day dreaming).

Kevin Mc

DFB · Dec 29, 2000

Gee, thanks Kevin. That knob's called Allen's Peak. Supposedly named after Ethan Allen one of the original Green Mountain Boys.

TWINKLE_TOES · Feb 3, 2001

Bird,

Time to bounce this tread again./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
You posted in late Dec.
"Less than 6 weeks until time to start planting here if it isn't too wet to plant".

How are you doing? I could sure use some tips on Tomatoes.

I get good tomatoes maybe 1 out of every 4 or 5 years. Plants start great, get big and then the wilt takes over and they die from the bottom up. Tried everything I can think of.
sterilized soil, making sure water doesn't splash soil on the leaves, never watering if the water doesn't have time to dry before evening, buying VFN varieties. No cigar, no tomatoes./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird · Feb 3, 2001

Al, I don't know what the problem might be with the plants dying from the bottom up. Have you tried taking one of the plants to a nurseryman after it starts wilting to see if they could identify the problem? The first year I had this place none of my tomatoes produced, except the little cherry tomatoes. And the owner of the nursery where I buy my plants told me to go for the tall spindly looking plants, break off the bottom two or three leaves when I start to transplant them, and then don't put them in holes standing straight up; lay them down in a little trench, cover the roots, gently bend the top of the plant into an upright position, and pack the dirt around them. I'm not enough horticulturist to explain why, but it works. And I don't use sprinklers in my garden. I hand water everything just by walking up and down the rows with a hand held wand (high volume and low pressure) partly for water conservation and partly because I don't water between the rows to keep down weeds and grass, so the water just goes onto the base of the plants and ground right around them.

And if it gets dry enough, I'll be planting beets, onions, radishes, potatoes, and turnips between the 9th and 15th; however, I won't be putting the tomatoes out until after March 7th. Of course, right now the weather forecast says I may not be planting anything the next couple of weeks./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

jyoutz · Feb 4, 2001

Bird, I ought to send you some info on the t-tape drip irrigation system I use. It has holes every 8" and drips just in line. Saves water and reduces weeds between rows. Best part is this stuff is so cheap that after a few seasons use, I just throw the stuff away and put out new drip tape. (I bought a 4400 feet roll of this stuff for $120. This is enought to last me about 10 years. It sure makes watering easy. Just turn the fawcet on and come back to shut it off in a few hours. If anyone would like info on this stuff, I order it from Harmony Farm Supply (N. Calf., phone 707-823-1734).

Bird · Feb 4, 2001

Jim, that might be good stuff. I've tried soaker hoses and the flat hoses with tiny holes in them, but my rows in the garden are just a little over 80' long and if I use even a 50' hose, I get too much water at the near end and too little at the far end; have to move them too often, etc.

Bird

TWINKLE_TOES · Feb 4, 2001

Bird,
Thanks for taking the time to resond./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I did have a fellow examine a portion of a plant at a gardening show. Fusarium wilt was the diagnosis. He recommended, first use resistant varieties (VFN), keep water from the leaves, add mulch around the base to prevent soil from splashing on the leaves, remove all plants from the garden and don't use them in the compost pile, plant in different locations ever year......
No Cigar no Tomatoes. I planted Early Girl, and Improved early Girl last year with two of six plants surviving. what variety do you plant?

Also I do the same as you on removing the leaves and planting sidways, but select much smaller plants. Maybe I will try the long spindly ones. My mother says if a plant in the nursey has started fruit it's not worth taking home.

DFB · Feb 4, 2001

Twinkle Toes,

It sounds to me like your covering all the bases. Here's a link that might help Tomato. But like Bird said a local expert might be more benificial because problems vary with locations.

A couple of remote possibilities come to mind. Do you have any Black Walnut trees near your garden? Its been published that the roots from a Black Walnut tree can release a toxin into the soil that will cause tomato plants to die off. The lower leaves fall off first. I've also read that people who smoke can cause problems too. Tobacco Mosaic disease can be transmitted from a smokers hands while handling the plants. Its supposed to resemble the blight. I'm always on my wifes case about that one. (Nothing worse than a reformed smoker)

I have an annual battle with the blight because of our humid summer weather. The only way to control it is with continous applications of a copper based fungicide. I been using a product called Soap Shield from this place GardensAlive. I have to apply it even before it happens.

And Bird, about planting tomatoes that way and why it works. The reasons I've read are that the plant will root along the buried stem and because the roots are closer to the surface and the sun's warmth the plant will grow faster than if the roots are buried in deeper/colder soil.

DFB

TWINKLE_TOES · Feb 4, 2001

DFB,

First thanks/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
No black Walnut here. My wife the "Smoker" did have a response to the tobacco mosaic disease. (Not suitable to post). Hell knows no fury like a ........

I have never heard of the tobacco mosaic disease and it has some merit. She did the pruning on two plants that I placed on the front deck in 1/2, 55 gallon barrels with sterile potting soil and steer manure. Both plants developed disease. She has always given me a hard time about my futile attempts to grow tomatoes. I'll make here wear surgical gloves.... yea right!!/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

DFB · Feb 4, 2001

Twinkle Toes,

Yep, MERIT, that's the wife's brand of smokes. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Btw, the garden book advises smokers to wash their hands in milk. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

DFB

Bird · Feb 4, 2001

Hmmm, this has developed into a very interesting thread./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif My wife and I are both heavy smokers and we knew smoking gets blamed for every problem that mankind has ever known, but this is the first time I'd heard it affected tomatoes./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And I agree with your mother; I wouldn't buy plants that have started producing fruit, and I do rotate everything in the garden so that nothing gets planted in the same place two years in a row.

Al, I don't know which varieties of tomatoes are best; I like to play around and experiment. This past year, I planted 6 Patio Cherry, 6 La Roma, 6 Porter's Pride (Improved), 6 Big Boy, and 12 Homestead #24 and they all produced more than we could use, sell, give away, or that the grasshoppers could eat. Sure glad I didn't use gloves or wash the tobacco off my hands or I guess we'd still be swimming in tomato juice./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I've also had very good luck with the Early Girl tomatoes in the past, and haven't decided for sure what I'm going to use this year; seriously considering nothing but Early Girl and Big Boy since they seem to make the biggest tomatoes.

Bird

Bird · Feb 4, 2001

Hmmm, this has developed into a very interesting thread./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif My wife and I are both heavy smokers and we knew smoking gets blamed for every problem that mankind has ever known, but this is the first time I'd heard it affected tomatoes./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Al, I don't know which varieties of tomatoes are best; I like to play around and experiment. This past year, I planted 6 Patio Cherry, 6 La Roma, 6 Porter's Pride (Improved), 6 Big Boy, and 12 Homestead #24 and they all produced more than we could use, sell, give away, or that the grasshoppers could eat. Sure glad I didn't use gloves or wash the tobacco off my hands or I guess we'd still be swimming in tomato juice./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I've also had very good luck with the Early Girl tomatoes in the past, and haven't decided for sure what I'm going to use this year; seriously considering nothing but Early Girl and Big Boy since they seem to make the biggest tomatoes. And I agree with your mother; I wouldn't buy plants that have started producing fruit, and I do rotate everything in the garden so that nothing gets planted in the same place two years in a row.

Bird

DFB · Feb 4, 2001

Bird, it is interesting about that virus. That first link came from the Texas Plant Disease Handbook of all places. Your practical experience seems to suggest otherwise and I have to say my father-in laws' brother was always having a smoke while he tended to his garden. Now, you wouldn't also happen to be sitting in the shade of a black walnut tree while your having that smoke./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

In the short time I've had my garden I've been experimenting with different varieties too, trying to see what will work out best. There are so many but I'm limited to short season producers. I've grown both Big Boy (did okay this year, too much rain) and Early Girl (lots of tomatoes but small). Northern Exposure grows well here. Have you ever tried HeatWave. Supposed to do well in in the hottest summer weather. They grew good for me both in the rain this year and in drier weather the year before. Also tried some of those keeper varieties. Both LongKeeper and Red October. Had some Beefsteaks this year. Total loss with all the rain./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif For cherry tomatoes I grow both Sweet 100 and Gardener Delights. I'm going to try Celebrity this year. On the commercial side my wife's step father has been using Sunbeam for last 2-3 years with good results. Good size fruit. 3/4 to 1 lb. And if all else fails there always Jet Star.

DFB

Bird · Feb 4, 2001

you wouldn't also happen to be sitting in the shade of a black walnut tree

Nope, no walnut trees on my property./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif In fact, my garden gets NO shade; out in the open with full sunlight. When I was about 12 years old, Dad & I found that you don't want to put your fish pond under a black walnut tree, either. We buried a concrete watering trough in the shade under a black walnut tree to keep minnows in. Bad mistake; walnuts fall in the water and kill the fish./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Now-a-days, there's so many different varieties of every fruit, vegetable, nut, and berry that I can't keep up with them. Celebrity and Beefsteak tomatoes have done pretty well for us and a neighbor, and I only planted HeatWaves one year, late in the year. They made a lot of big beautiful green tomatoes, and not a single one ever ripened before the first frost./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif And I haven't tried any of the other varieties you named.

Bird

jyoutz · Feb 4, 2001

Bird, this system is entirely different altogether. It's very thin flexible stuff and you run it at low pressure (10-20 psi). I use a pressure reducer at the head of the tubing. I run 100' rows with no problem. All you do is make a header pipe along one end of the garden (I use 1/2' black polyethelene), attach a hose connecter and pressure regulator and end caps. Then cut the header pipe at each row, slip a t-conector into the pipe, and branch off a run of t-tape down each row. I weight the tape down every so often with a shovel full of dirt. When use want to plow or pick it up, just start at the end and roll it up to the header pipe. It's that flexible. The lettuce growers and berry growers use this stuff on very long runs in AG applications.