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9 Attachment(s)
Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Garden details:
Location: South Central Vermont.
Dimensions (octagonal): Side length: 20 ft. Perimeter: 160 ft. Area: 1,931.4 ft^2. Why an octagon? Simplicity, efficiency, beauty, and as a sensible alternative to/rejection of row-gardening.
2016:
May – Got free 3-4yds of wood chips from local tree-trimming crew.
June – Planted some blackberry, raspberry and blueberry plants, mulched with wood chips.
2017:
April – Five large unhealthy pine trees cut down and chipped into giant pile of wood chips.
2018:
April – Began planning for garden
May - Put in fence posts (centered around berry plants, the sunniest location); moved remainder of first pile of wood chips to garden area.
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05/31 – Began moving second pile of wood chips to garden area.
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06/08 – Nearly finished moving second pile of wood chips. Entire garden area would soon be covered with up to 12 inches of wood chips.
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06/21 – Giant pile of wood chips long gone. Just to see what would happen, bought six tomato starts and two zucchini starts, and planted them amongst the mulch surrounding the berry plants. Simply move wood chips aside, dig 4” to 6” hole, depending on size of seedling container, add organic mycorrhizae fertilizer and composted cow manure, plant seedling in hole with amended soil (no additional fertilizer, compost or soil amendment would be added at any time).
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07/18 – Tomato and zucchini starts are doing well. Volunteer cantaloupe plants have begun sprouting from recently moved pile of unfinished compost. 111 dead and dying pine trees cut down and chipped into dozens of piles of wood chips (for ongoing garden support and conversion of lawn into low-maintenance greenscape – i.e. wildflowers, herbs, edible shrubs, fruit trees, etc.).
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(to be continued)
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09/02 - Tomato and zucchini plants doing far better than expected. Volunteer cantaloupe plants growing like crazy.
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Turned out to be a halfway decent tomato harvest (especially considering their late start and lack of support structure), and an amazing zucchini harvest (particularly from one of the two plants).
Wood chips have served to retain moisture, stabilize soil temperature and greatly reduce soil evaporation, while widespread mycelium activity has accelerated the process of breaking down wood chips into organic components of soil.
2019:
April – Began planting seeds in enclosed patio. Dug up and relocated berry plants to make room for more vegetables.
05/16 – Seedlings well on the way. Several larger zucchini, butternut and pumpkin plants have already been transplanted to garden. Similar to 1018, move wood chips aside, dig a 4” to 8” hole, add organic mycorrhizae fertilizer and composted cow manure, plant seedling in hole with amended soil (and once again, no additional fertilizer, compost or soil amendment would be added at any time). Note: While transplanting seedlings would have been vastly quicker and easier in straight rows of freshly tilled soil without up to 12” of wood chips on top, all such short-term advantages are vastly outweighed by the long-term disadvantages of rototilling.
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06/15 – By this time, all seedlings have been transplanted to garden.
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06/28 – Most plants are doing well. However, grubs are eating roots of most squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melon plants – killing a number of them, and seriously weakening others. Fortunately, we grew some extra seedlings and bought a few starts, so we eventually ended up with a surviving plant in all but a couple spots we planted, though several weakened plants would end up producing little or nothing.
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07/05 – 07/25 – Zucchini (onions and garlic are store-bought).
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07/16 – Everything is well on the way and doing far better than expected. Harvested nine zucchini already.
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(to be continued)
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07/21 – Things are really taking off. Monster zucchini plant seems to produce more than half as much as the other four combined.
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07/27 – 08/06 – Zucchini, first cherry tomatoes (07/30).
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07/29 – First cherry tomatoes will be harvested soon. Tomato plants (especially the cherries) have outgrown their makeshift cages. Need to do a better job keeping up with routing new tomato growth upward through cages. Need to plant indeterminate/cherry plants further apart, and/or not in adjoining rows to avoid creating any hard to pick thickets.
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08/07 – 08/18 – Zucchini, cherry tomatoes, first heirloom tomatoes (08/13).
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08/10 – Diseased/dying zucchini plant has been removed, others are doing well. Most other quash and melons are doing okay, while the rest have been quite stunted. Tomatoes and peppers are the real stars of the show. Most everything else is doing quite well.
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08/17 – 09/05 – Heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, zucchini.
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08/19 – Squash and melons seem to be finishing up early. First heirloom tomatoes almost ready for harvest.
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(to be continued)
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08/19 (continued):
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08/20 – 09/17 – Heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cantaloupe, zucchini, pumpkins, immature watermelon.
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08/22 – Heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, final zucchini harvest.
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08/25 – Heirloom tomatoes, last zucchini (from monster plant, grown full-term for harvesting seeds).
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08/26 – First major pepper harvest, spaghetti squash, buttercup squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes.
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08/28 – Buried in tomatoes.
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08/29 – Buried in tomatoes.
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09/06 – 09/14 – Tomatoes, peppers, buttercup squash.
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(to be continued)
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
09/18 – 09/28 – Peppers (09/18), pumpkins and cantaloupe and butternut squash (09/21), final tomato harvest (09/28).
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09/21 – Buried in peppers and tomatoes, due to overnight frost.
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List of 2019 garden vegetable and herb plants / Harvest:
4 Cucumber plants (Straight Eight) / 5 (disappointing harvest).
4 Butternut Squash plants (Waltham) / 18 (decent harvest?).
5 Zucchini plants (Black Beauty) / 76 (very good harvest).
4 Spaghetti Squash plants (unknown variety) / 14 (most less than half fully ripened).
4 Buttercup Squash plants (unknown variety) / 13 (kinda puny).
5 Pumpkin plants (Jack-O-Lantern) / 9 (only three plants produced – majority from one ridiculously huge plant).
3 Watermelon plants (Sugar Baby) / 3 very small (never ripened enough to eat).
3 Cantaloupe plants (Hearts of Gold) / 7 (four were very tasty - not bad harvest, considering grub-stunted growth).
3 to 6 ea. Sweet Pepper plants (California Wonder, Hungarian, Red Marconi, Purple Beauty, Golden Calwonder, Cubanelle) / 300-400? (very impressive pepper harvest, especially given their late start and subpar soil conditions).
8 Cherry Tomato plants (Matt’s Wild) / 1,000s (Continuous overabundance of superb cherry tomatoes).
23 Heirloom Tomato plants (from saved seeds of unknown variety) Massive harvest of largely cracked and/or diseased tomatoes (unusually labor-intensive processing required to cut out extensive bad spots, while up to 20% of entire crop went straight to compost – not counting the many too-green tomatoes still on plants at first frost. Though frost was early, I should have started tomato seeds earlier for an earlier finish). While very tasty for raw eating, not so tasty for sauce/cooking. Looking forward to growing a much less problematic sauce variety next year.
1 Roma-hybrid/mix Tomato plant (from saved seeds of unknown Roma variety) Massive harvest of somewhat less disease-prone tomatoes.
8 Sunflower (Mammoth Russian) / 3 gallons of giant sunflower seeds.
4 Fennel (Wild Italian) / N/A (still learning to harvest fennel seed).
5 Thyme (Common) / N/A (will let plants get well established before attempting to harvest).
6 Basil (Lime Aromatic) / should have harvested a lot more, but managed to use it in several large batches of soups and spaghetti sauce.
5 Rosemary N/A (will let plants get well established before attempting to harvest).
4 Sage (Broad Leaf) / could have harvested a lot more, but did manage to use a fair amount.
3 Chamomile (German) / could have harvested a lot more, but did manage to pick and dry quite a bit.
3 Catnip / cut lots of catnip for the cat.
1 Chocolate Mint (grown from cutting) could have harvested a lot more, but did make quite a bit of fresh mint tea this summer.
0 Oregano (Italian) – did not manage to get even one plant beyond early sprout stage.
??? Why no carrots, turnips, beets, radishes, onions, garlic, leafy greens and the like? While wood chips at or near soil level were well on their way to breaking down, the rest simply needed more time. As such, the underlying soil was still very much like that of the former lawn. Rather than jump the gun and disturb larger areas of wood chips (along with the mycelium network breaking them down) any more than strictly necessary to transplant individual starts, I opted to hold off on growing anything that might not be reasonably well suited to thick mulch and uncultivated soil. Hoping soil will be ready to add some or all of these in 2020.
Probably won’t grow spaghetti squash again, unless I can figure out some tastier way to prepare it.
Will grow pie/sugar pumpkins instead of Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins from now on (would rather cook hone-grown and carve store-bought).
To make room for more veggie plants (and because they need no protection from deer, etc.), perennial herb plants (fennel, thyme, rosemary, sage, catnip, chocolate mint) will be transplanted from garden to other areas around the yard (as edible ornamentals, along with other annual and perennial herbs).
Widespread mycelium activity continues to greatly accelerate the process of breaking down wood chips into soil.
Questions? Comments? Discussion?
(to be continued in Spring 2020)
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Did the blackberries produce? I have tons of wild blackberries around me but they usually don't produce til the second year here.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Smitty
Did the blackberries produce? I have tons of wild blackberries around me but they usually don't produce til the second year here.
They did ...in 2018. Deer ate new growth down to almost nothing at some point.
Yeah, that's normal. They produce vegetative growth first (new branches, called "canes"), and then those "new" branches can then produce berries following year.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Cool, I never knew why that was. I'm usually mowing them down but I do keep a small section for harvesting.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
whoa... so many on the table and counter... you can open a grocery store!!! :thumbup:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
diy.phil
whoa... so many on the table and counter... you can open a grocery store!!! :thumbup:
Thanks. Two big upright freezers are filled to capacity. Gonna have to do some canning next year.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Just beautiful !
Yes , to canning , my wife loved to can !
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinder
They did ...in 2018. Deer ate new growth down to almost nothing at some point.
Yeah, that's normal. They produce vegetative growth first (new branches, called "canes"), and then those "new" branches can then produce berries following year.
Have you considered organic ways to keep the deer out? I've heard spreading human hair will do it and also urinating often near the garden. Haven't tried that here but I know you don't want to ever relieve yourself anywhere near where you're deer hunting. Then there's the tried and true method of having dogs to keep them chased off. My uncle knows of wild blackberry vines in the woods and always has to beat the deer to the berries. Damnit, now I want blackberry cobbler!
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
I've read about those and other simple non-toxic deer repellents. Many swear by one method (and vice-versa), while others have tried everything to no avail. To minimize frustration I accept that the deer will have their way with whatever they like outside the garden, while the garden fence keeps deer out of the garden.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
How tall is that fence to keep the deer from getting over it? I swear the deer down here have rocket boosters on them as high as they can jump.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Eight feet. In preparation for the garden I read a lot about fencing as well ...and reportedly deer can clear fences nearly that high. :shocked:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
...It's actually a very short fence, but there are 7' t-posts + extensions attached, with several strands of electric fence wire (non-energized, of course) forming the remainder of the 8' fence height. Simple, inexpensive and effective.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Awesome garden! I keep debating setting one up, we have about a 30' x 15' fenced in area that we used to keep chickens in (a Red Tail hawk made short work of them a while back). We thought about getting chickens again, fresh eggs are awesome, but the predators around here make it stressful keeping them. One night had a bear come in, bend the fence over and grab one of the chickens, have seen raccoon prints from them trying to dig into the chicken run etc.
So, I have this fenced in area that I am giving a lot of thought to converting to a vegetable garden. Last year we tried growing pumpkins and sunflowers in there, managed to get a single pumpkin from about 15 vines, the sunflowers grew nicely though. Also planted a grape cane last year, that grew like a weed, but over the winter has died back, hoping it recovers in the Spring and I can start to get some fruit from it.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
naiku
Awesome garden! I keep debating setting one up, we have about a 30' x 15' fenced in area that we used to keep chickens in (a Red Tail hawk made short work of them a while back). We thought about getting chickens again, fresh eggs are awesome, but the predators around here make it stressful keeping them. One night had a bear come in, bend the fence over and grab one of the chickens, have seen raccoon prints from them trying to dig into the chicken run etc.
So, I have this fenced in area that I am giving a lot of thought to converting to a vegetable garden. Last year we tried growing pumpkins and sunflowers in there, managed to get a single pumpkin from about 15 vines, the sunflowers grew nicely though. Also planted a grape cane last year, that grew like a weed, but over the winter has died back, hoping it recovers in the Spring and I can start to get some fruit from it.
Thank you! Sorry to hear about your pumpkin plants. Did those plants seem fully grown and healthy otherwise? Do you plan to try again this year?
I feel very fortunate. The garden has done far better than I'd have any right to expect. Hoping this year will be as good or better than last year. Will be ordering seeds very soon. Planning to prepare an area within the garden for adding small items like onions, garlic, carrots, beets, kale, spinach, lettuce; this might be jumping the gun though, as in the end it might be better to let the wood chips continue to do their thing, rather than move an area of wood chips aside to make way for those smaller plants.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Impressive garden and results. Takes a lot of work and dedication. Nothing like fresh veggies.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinder
Did those plants seem fully grown and healthy otherwise? Do you plan to try again this year?
Yep, the vines were pretty long and healthy looking. I think for whatever reason the female flowers were simply not getting pollinated before dropping off. I had planned to try and manually pollinate them, but the male flowers outnumbered the female at least 5-1 and the females seemed to just wilt really quickly. Planning to try again though, my youngest loved planting pumpkin seeds and eventually getting to carve his 1 pumpkin that grew.
At the moment the area is just grass/weeds, I need to either rent or buy a tiller to dig it all up to make a go of it. At least I have a nice little shed up there already (re-purpose the chicken coop) that I can store equipment in.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
This year I'll keep an eye out for male and female pumpkin flowers (googled how to tell the difference). It never crossed my mind until now.
I've heard that by simply adding mulch you can turn grass/weeds into garden soil with no tilling at all ;) ...and that it's far better for overall soil health. :nod:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Wow, that I is one awesome garden. I usually do one small garden with strawberry plants, 3 tomato plants, three cucumber plants, and One zucchini plant. This produces more than my family of 4 can consume if I can keep the pests at bay. Cucumber beetle and bacterial wilt disease usually cut my crop production down to probably half though, which is a problem I didn’t have in gardens I had at other properties in the past. I tried growing corn one year but the squirrels decimated that crop and they did the same with my sunflower plants. I had one squirrel one year eat my tomatoes.
I noticed that when my neighbor down the street started keeping bees that my production of crop seemed to go up. It’s amazing how much those good insects help with pollination.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinder
This year I'll keep an eye out for male and female pumpkin flowers (googled how to tell the difference). It never crossed my mind until now.
Once you get the hang of it, identifying female/male is pretty straight forward, then it's just a case of hoping for timing and some good luck to get the female pollinated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinder
I've heard that by simply adding mulch you can turn grass/weeds into garden soil with no tilling at all ;) ...and that it's far better for overall soil health. :nod:
I'll look into that, getting enough mulch to cover the area I have is likely no more than renting a tiller for a day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JCsAudio
I noticed that when my neighbor down the street started keeping bees that my production of crop seemed to go up. It’s amazing how much those good insects help with pollination.
I looked briefly into keeping bees, it's still something I think would be cool to do. I should put a bee hive right next to where the garden would go.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JCsAudio
Wow, that I is one awesome garden. I usually do one small garden with strawberry plants, 3 tomato plants, three cucumber plants, and One zucchini plant. This produces more than my family of 4 can consume if I can keep the pests at bay. Cucumber beetle and bacterial wilt disease usually cut my crop production down to probably half though, which is a problem I didn’t have in gardens I had at other properties in the past. I tried growing corn one year but the squirrels decimated that crop and they did the same with my sunflower plants. I had one squirrel one year eat my tomatoes.
I noticed that when my neighbor down the street started keeping bees that my production of crop seemed to go up. It’s amazing how much those good insects help with pollination.
Thank you! Yeah, pests and disease... after so much planning and effort, the damage can be heartbreaking. While there were a few issues in that regard, I feel very, very fortunate. Late May last year, a day or two after having transplanted most of the pepper starts, a critter got in and dug up and destroyed a number of those pepper plants. Pretty sure a skunk had passed through a narrow gap beneath the gate and the ground. Took care of that with a piece of rolled up fence material. Root grubs were the major issue, weakening, stunting, and/or ultimately killing a number of pumpkin, squash, cucumber and melon plants.
Yeah, I bet you're right about the bee-keeping effect. I bet the same would happen here as well. Unfortunately, there's not much gardening going on around here. It's very much a monoculture of lawn, with a few ornamental flowers here and there. For five months a year, it seems there's hardly a daylit moment without hearing a lawnmower, leaf blower or trimmer running somewhere. Been working on turning the majority of our sizable lawn into wildflower/bee garden. As with the vegetable garden, it all begins by moving wood chips... lots and lots of wood chips... Good thing we've got plenty! LOL
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
2020 Garden Update
Changes for 2020:
Deer-resistant herbs such as basil, catnip, chamomile, fennel, mint, rosemary, sage, thyme, etc. will be relocated from and no longer grown within the fenced garden area, providing maximum space for vegetable crops.
Getting a much earlier start on peppers and cherry tomatoes than last year (03/03/2020 vs 04/04/2019). While last year’s pepper harvest was far better than expected, those plants could not reach their full size and production potential due to their late start. While last year’s cherry tomato plants seemed to do very well, they seemed to get off to a bit of a slow start. Might regret starting this year’s cherry tomatoes a full month earlier though.
Apart from Spaghetti Squash (not a huge fan, in terms of convenience, texture and flavor), all of the crops grown in 2019 will be grown again in 2020:
-Lime Aromatic Basil (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-Catnip (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-German Chamomile (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-Wild Italian Fennel (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-Italian Oregano (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-Rosemary (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-Broad Leaf Sage (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
-California Wonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Cubanelle Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Golden Calwonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Marconi Red Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Purple Beauty Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Sweet Hungarian Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019, and new for 2020)
-Common Thyme (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
However, some of the crops grown in 2020 will be of additional and/or different varieties and/or sources than those grown in 2019:
-Genovese Basil (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Tommy Apple Melon Cantaloupe (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-California Wonder Pepper (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Connecticut Field Pumpkin (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Buttercup Squash (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Butternut-Waltham Squash (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Zucchini-Fordhook Squash (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Titan Sunflower (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Strawberry Watermelon (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Rainbow Blend Pepper (Pinetree Garden Seeds/Superseeds.com)
-Greek Oregano (Fedco Seeds)
-Marketmore 76 Cucumber (Valley Greene/The Page Seed Co.)
Having been less than satisfied with last year’s tomato varieties - particularly the unknown (heirloom-mix) variety grown from saved seeds of a neighbor’s tomatoes, which turned out to be rather malformed, disease prone, and not so tasty for sauce – these three highly regarded tomato varieties will be grown instead:
-Jet Star Slicing Tomato (Fedco Seeds)
-Opalka Tomato (sauce/paste tomato) (Totally Tomatoes)
-Chadwick Cherry Tomato (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
Adding new crops for 2020:
-Contender Green Bush Bean (Everwilde Farms)
-New England Sugar Pie Pumpkin (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Mammoth Long Island Dill (Valley Greene/The Page Seed Co.) (for herb and flower gardens)
-Diakon Minowase Radish (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019) (as a fall “tillage crop”)
Planning to try a number of additional crops on a limited basis, and see how they go; though I’m not sure there will be sufficient opportunity and/or garden area for all of these items:
-Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Rocky Top Lettuce Mix (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Buttercrunch Lettuce (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
-Detroit Dark Red Beet (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Copenhagen Market Cabbage (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Scarlet Nantes Carrot (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Siberian Organic Kale (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Red Russian Kale (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Black Kale (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Black-Seeded Simpson Lettuce (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Sweet Yellow Spanish Onion (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019) (for green onions)
-Gigante D’Inverno Organic Spinach (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Rainbow Mix Swiss Chard (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – not grown in 2019)
-Purple Top White Globe Turnip (Valley Greene/The Page Seed Co. - not grown in 2019)
-Early Scarlet Globe Radish (Valley Greene/The Page Seed Co. - not grown in 2019)
-Nantes Coreless Carrot (Valley Greene/The Page Seed Co. - not grown in 2019)
-Bok Choi Chinese Cabbage Chou Chinois (OSC Seeds - not grown in 2019)
Starting some bee-friendly ornamental seeds this year, to enhance and expand existing flower gardens:
-Campanula, Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium)
-Columbine, McKana Giants Mix (Aquilegia coerulea) (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
-Early Sunrise Coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora) (Fedco Seeds)
-Phlox Beauty (Phlox drummondi pomegranate) (Park Seed Co.)
-Peony Poppy (Papaver paeoniflorum) (generic/unknown vendor)
-Red Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) (generic/unknown vendor)
-Gaillardia Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata) (Pinetree Garden Seeds/superseeds.com)
-Monarda Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata) (Pinetree Garden Seeds/superseeds.com)
-Blue Queen Salvia (Salvia x superba) (Park Seed Co.)
Getting Started
March 01, 2020:
Set up warm, bright seed-starting/germination location in office. First time using heat mat. Hoping for faster germination and higher % rate, compared to April-May 2019 results in somewhat cooler patio without heat mat.
Attachment 9620
Attachment 9621
03/02:
Reorganized patio. Ready for seedlings.
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03/03:
First round of seed-starting:
(12 seeds) Chadwick Cherry Tomato (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
(12 seeds) California Wonder Pepper (Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co./Rareseeds.com)
(3 seeds) California Wonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds - leftover from 2019)
(6 seeds) California Wonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – fresh for 2020)
(3 seeds) Cubanelle Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 seeds) Cubanelle Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2020)
(3 seeds) Golden Calwonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 seeds) Golden Calwonder Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2020)
(3 seeds) Red Marconi Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 seeds) Red Marconi Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2020)
(3 seeds) Sweet Pepper, Purple Beauty Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 seeds) Sweet Pepper, Purple Beauty Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2020)
(12 seeds) Sweet Pepper, Rainbow Blend Pepper (Pinetree Garden Seeds/Superseeds.com)
(3 seeds) Sweet Pepper, Sweet Hungarian Banana Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 seeds) Sweet Pepper, Sweet Hungarian Banana Pepper (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2020)
(6 cells) Greek Oregano (Fedco Seeds)
(6 cells) Italian Oregano (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 cells) Rosemary (Ohio Heirloom Seeds – 2019)
(6 cells) Campanula, Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium) (Pinetree Garden Seeds/Superseeds.com)
(6 cells) Columbine, McKana Giants Mix (Aquilegia coerulea) (Johnny’s Selected Seeds)
(6 cells) Early Sunrise Coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora) (Fedco Seeds)
(6 cells) Phlox Beauty (Phlox Drummondi Pomegranate) (Park Seed Co.)
Attachment 9625
03/07 – 03/08:
Heat mat and warmer seed starting location greatly improved germination rate and time frame.
Majority of cherry tomato seeds have sprouted.
Some peppers are sprouting
Greek Oregano seeds are sprouting.
Coreopsis seeds are sprouting.
Phlox seeds are sprouting.
Attachment 9626
Attachment 9627
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Attachment 9629
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Wow Grinder, that is some serious stuff you’ve got going there. Looks awesome!
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JCsAudio
Wow Grinder, that is some serious stuff you’ve got going there. Looks awesome!
Thanks! It's pretty exciting.
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2 Attachment(s)
Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
03/10
Heat mat issues
For better or worse, the heat mat does not have a thermostat, but is simply meant to provide a 10 – 20-degree (F) rise.
In hindsight I appear to have made a big mistake when setting up the heat mat, having thought to maximize efficiency by placing it on a piece of 1” R-Max (foil-faced isocyanurate foam insulation that I happened to have on hand). And while it did seem like things might be a bit on the warm side, yesterday I finally realized that there was a problem, as nearly all the sprouting has occurred at or near the outer edges of the mat, with no sprouts at or near the center. I then lifted one of the trays to place my hand directly on the heat mat. Clearly too hot… SMH
I removed the R-Max. An hour or two later, though not as hot as before, it still seemed a bit too hot. I placed a double-folded thick terrycloth towel on the heat mat. This seems to be just right.
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As it seems likely that many/most of the unsprouted pepper seeds have been overheated, I plan to re-seed all those unsprouted cells today. I could kick myself…
Happy seedlings:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Grinder, you’re suppose to cook your vegetables after they have grown some, not before. :doh::daniel::)
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JCsAudio
Grinder, you’re suppose to cook your vegetables after they have grown some, not before. :doh::daniel::)
:kanye:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JCsAudio
Grinder, you’re suppose to cook your vegetables after they have grown some, not before. :doh::daniel::)
Really though, that is very funny. :thumbup:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Grinder
Really though, that is very funny. :thumbup:
Humor was the intent, lol. Glad you got a kick out of it. If people didn’t make mistakes life would be boring.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Nice updates! I bet it is incredibly satisfying getting all that harvest.
Social distancing has me looking more seriously at converting our old chicken run into a vegetable garden, hoping to get a delivery of wood chips sometime soon (failing that will go to the local dump and buy 2 yards of mulch) and will then see if I can get anywhere. Planted a couple rhubarb plants yesterday in one corner where I had started a (neglected) compost pile, fingers crossed that will grow since the stores here never seem to have rhubarb and when they do it's gone almost immediately. In the meantime I am going to try and extend the fence a little higher, it's currently just under 6' tall but I plan to extend it about 3' higher to keep deer out. Also need to make a gate, but, weather seems perfect to be outside so may as well make use of the area and hopefully get some success.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
naiku
Nice updates! I bet it is incredibly satisfying getting all that harvest.
Social distancing has me looking more seriously at converting our old chicken run into a vegetable garden, hoping to get a delivery of wood chips sometime soon (failing that will go to the local dump and buy 2 yards of mulch) and will then see if I can get anywhere. Planted a couple rhubarb plants yesterday in one corner where I had started a (neglected) compost pile, fingers crossed that will grow since the stores here never seem to have rhubarb and when they do it's gone almost immediately. In the meantime I am going to try and extend the fence a little higher, it's currently just under 6' tall but I plan to extend it about 3' higher to keep deer out. Also need to make a gate, but, weather seems perfect to be outside so may as well make use of the area and hopefully get some success.
Thanks! Yes, it is incredibly satisfying, particularly when it surpasses all expectations; and it really lit my fire to get going again this year.
Wishing you the very best of luck in getting your garden growing. Keep us posted on how it's going. Take pictures if you can. Feel free to post here ...or better yet, start a thread. Yeah, spring seems to always come in such a rush. So much to do in so little time, it can be hard to keep up. Boggles the mind to think how farmers do/did it.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quick question for you, is it OK to simply use mulch vs wood chips? I realize they are very similar, just curious. I'm trying to get some wood chips delivered, but the local dump has a huge pile of mulch for $15 a cubic yard. My biggest concern is it's dark colored, so may absorb a lot of heat.
Assuming it would work, I may go pick some up in the next couple days to try and get started with things. Ordered a bunch of seeds, so ideally can start growing.
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
Quote:
Originally Posted by
naiku
Quick question for you, is it OK to simply use mulch vs wood chips? I realize they are very similar, just curious. I'm trying to get some wood chips delivered, but the local dump has a huge pile of mulch for $15 a cubic yard. My biggest concern is it's dark colored, so may absorb a lot of heat.
Assuming it would work, I may go pick some up in the next couple days to try and get started with things. Ordered a bunch of seeds, so ideally can start growing.
While I'm certainly no expert on the subject, a few thoughts come to mind.
It all depends on what said mulch is composed of, and whether or not it has been adequately composted (i.e. at high enough temperature to kill pathogens, pest larvae, weed seeds and such). I've heard some places grind up stuff like furniture (along with adhesives, paint, finishes) and pallets, and add biosolids/sewage sludge to their compost. In general, unless I was sufficiently confident of its composition and quality, I would strictly limit my usage of such material to trees and ornamental gardens.
I would also bear in mind that, even if it were composed purely yard waste, it would likely contain random bits of plastic trash/debris.
If it were reasonably clean and hot composted, it would have the advantage of faster assimilation into and amendment of your soil. However, to that extent it would be more like compost than mulch, and might not to serve so well/long as uncomposted mulch or wood chips in terms of weed control. Maybe use both?
I wouldn't worry too much about the color. Whatever you use will help regulate soil temperature and retain moisture.
Whichever mulch you decide to use, congratulations on getting started. :thumbup:
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Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
That would be my biggest concerns as well, what exactly is in it. I have seen it steaming so assume it has gotten to a fairly high temperature, but like you, I am not an expert!! Going to contact a couple local arborists and see if they have anything available or offer it as a service. I've seen a couple houses nearby have fairly large loads of chips dropped off, so someone in the area must offer it.
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4 Attachment(s)
Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
O3/29
While the heating pad debacle did indeed kill/compromise/weaken a large percentage of those seeds, it turned out to be only about 2/3 as bad as it initially appeared.
Many more seeds have been started in the meantime: More assorted sweet peppers (to replace overheated seeds, and then some); Jet Star slicing tomato; Opalka sauce/paste tomato; Lime Aromatic Basil; Genovese Basil; Catmip; German Chamomile; Broadleaf Sage; Common Thyme; Columbine; Blanket Flower; Spotted Bee Balm; Salvia; Black-Eyed Susan.
Transplanted four cherry tomato plants into larger pots yesterday; will transplant the remaining four or five healthiest cherry tomato plants tomorrow.
Here's how everything's looking today:
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4 Attachment(s)
Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden
04/12
Seedlings are coming along nicely.
A good portion of the peppers and most of the cherry tomatoes are doing well. While it's disappointing that some of the herbs and ornamental flower seeds have had low germination rates, given my unfamiliarity with some of them, and less than ideal conditions, overall results are as good or better than I've any right to expect.
Based on the slow growth rate of last year's cherry tomato seed starts, I started this year's cherry tomato seeds 30 days earlier, along with all the peppers. Well, turns out this year's cherry tomato variety (Chadwick Cherry Tomato) evidently grows a whole lot faster than last year's variety (Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato). I mistakenly assumed all cherry tomato plants get off to a slow start (facepalm). As big as they've already gotten, and with five weeks until average last frost date (when transplant in garden), not sure how I'm going to manage them until then.
Kinda worried about the other two tomato varieties' seedlings (Opalka and Jet Star), appearing as though they're all variably mutated. No clue what's up with that. Hoping it's completely normal and that they begin looking more normal/healthier soon. If not, I'll have to start some of the "heirloom" tomato seeds left over from last year, just in case. Those tomatoes weren't the greatest, but the plants themselves were quite strong and healthy, and they'd be a whole lot better than nothing.
Going to begin transplanting the larger/healthier pepper plants into larger cells tomorrow (18 cells per tray, vs the 48 cells per tray they're in now).
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