BYC gardening thread!!

[marktoo]

Jury duty forced me to put the garden on the back burner for the past week. Now I'm back working in the garden, the cover crops are in. Time to take out the tomatoes

& plant favas.

 

[SunnySkies]

Must be a lot of T-tape for a garden of that size.  Did you buy that 4,100 ft roll?  How bulky was that?  I had been looking at that, it would keep me forever but was concerned about storage.  Take me about 1,200' to redo my garden.

I did. And it was huge. I rolled it on the ground like a tire, and my poor UPS man almost broke his back hauling it off the truck. But I'm pulling the tapes up ahead of the hogs (they are doing a lovely job plowing, clearing weeds, fertilizing and making meat) and saving it for next year. I have maybe half the roll left, (i think I laid out about 2000-2500 linear feet, as I did not lay line to everything. Potatoes and corn did not get lines) and it is stored in my horse trailer. It was too big and too much of a hassle to take it to the garage. Someday I will have a big garden shed out there next to the garden to store all this stuff in!

The mainline was a pest and half. It doesn't like to lay flat. The tape did, even right off the roll. I was glad I had ordered lots of the long staples to hold the mainline down until it agreed to stay in place.

 

[marktoo]

I did. And it was huge. I rolled it on the ground like a tire, and my poor UPS man almost broke his back hauling it off the truck. But I'm pulling the tapes up ahead of the hogs (they are doing a lovely job plowing, clearing weeds, fertilizing and making meat) and saving it for next year. I have maybe half the roll left, (i think I laid out about 2000-2500 linear feet, as I did not lay line to everything. Potatoes and corn did not get lines) and it is stored in my horse trailer. It was too big and too much of a hassle to take it to the garage. Someday I will have a big garden shed out there next to the garden to store all this stuff in!

The mainline was a pest and half. It doesn't like to lay flat. The tape did, even right off the roll. I was glad I had ordered lots of the long staples to hold the mainline down until it agreed to stay in place.

Guess I know what not too buy! Actually if I redo half my garden I'll have enough soaker hose & fittings to use in the other half for several years.

How long are your lengths of tape? Are you putting it back on the roll? I kinda wish when I laid this garden out I made all the beds 10' or at least multiples thereof, so all the hose would be the same length. Oh well! I ain't changin it now. Hind sight is always 20/20.

Sound like them piggies are doing a fine, fine job for ya. Clever idea! Think I'll stick with the broadfork & the chickens though.

 

[SunnySkies]

Guess I know what not too buy!  Actually if I redo half my garden I'll have enough soaker hose & fittings to use in the other half for several years.

How long are your lengths of tape?  Are you putting it back on the roll?  I kinda wish when I laid this garden out I made all the beds 10' or at least multiples thereof,  so all the hose would be the same length.  Oh well!  I ain't changin it now.  Hind sight is always 20/20. 

Sound like them piggies are doing a fine, fine job for ya.  Clever idea!  Think I'll stick with the broadfork & the chickens though.

Well. I can redo the garden in the future, lol, with my leftovers

I am simply rolling up the tapes, after removing them from the fittings, rolling them up (they are only 40-50 feet long, although 4 were 100 feet) and putting them in the horse trailer.

Come spring, after the piggies have gone to freezer camp, I am planning to move the mainline around too before re-installing it all. I realized halfway through the season that the melons were not getting enough water. The entire garden has a slight slope to it, and I was trying to push the water from thr bottom of the system uphill to the ends of the farthest line...where the melons were. Sigh. We got a few, but not like we should have. So, I am planning to flip the whole thing and run it from the top of the garden and make gravity work for me. Duh. Yeah. I is smart.

I looked again at a broadfork, as it might be useful to break up any compacted ground after the winter and prep any beds after the pigs roll through. The ground here is really awful. Hard red clay with lots of rocks. We use a pick axe when we dig holes for trees.

Speaking of trees, hubby drove over one of my new apple trees. I almost cried. Poor little tree is missing half it's bark. I hope it makes it.

 

[marktoo]

Well. I can redo the garden in the future, lol, with my leftovers

I am simply rolling up the tapes, after removing them from the fittings, rolling them up (they are only 40-50 feet long, although 4 were 100 feet) and putting them in the horse trailer.

Come spring, after the piggies have gone to freezer camp, I am planning to move the mainline around too before re-installing it all. I realized halfway through the season that the melons were not getting enough water. The entire garden has a slight slope to it, and I was trying to push the water from thr bottom of the system uphill to the ends of the farthest line...where the melons were. Sigh. We got a few, but not like we should have. So, I am planning to flip the whole thing and run it from the top of the garden and make gravity work for me. Duh. Yeah. I is smart.

I looked again at a broadfork, as it might be useful to break up any compacted ground after the winter and prep any beds after the pigs roll through. The ground here is really awful. Hard red clay with lots of rocks. We use a pick axe when we dig holes for trees.

Speaking of trees, hubby drove over one of my new apple trees. I almost cried. Poor little tree is missing half it's bark. I hope it makes it.

My soaker hose is cut to several different lengths so if I pull it out to store I have to mark it as to where it came from. The stuff is so old if I try to pull the hose from the compression fittings, the hose tears, so I just leave it where it lays & do repairs as needed. We garden all year long anyways!

Yeah, from what I remember that T tape needs to be on fairly level ground but I would think it would work better for ya runnin down hill.

The broadfork manufacturers seem to stress "previously tilled ground" so you may have a pretty hard time of it from what you're sayin. That being said, this guy http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/how-to-improve-soil.aspx#axzz2iMkcHCJw claims if he had to do it over again he would do it with a broadfork, covercrops, etc, etc. Just improve the soil a little at a time.

Sorry about the tree! How's the Hubby? Not planted under the tree...I hope

 

[SunnySkies]

Will definitely read the link. I am trying everything I can to improve the soil here. It takes such a long time. Sigh.

Hubby is not under the tree...but I sure wanted to put him there! He drove over the tree just as I said, you are going to hit my trees. Urgh.

 

[marktoo]

Hubby is not under the tree...but I sure wanted to put him there! He drove over the tree just as I said, you are going to hit my trees. Urgh.

Frustrating, I know. However in the grand scheme of things you folks were pretty fortunate....in most vehicle vs tree collisions the vehicle & the passengers generally don't fair so well. Good thing he picked on a baby tree.

 

[Angelicisi]

Red mustard greens doin well

Okra is hanging on

This one lone broccoli looks great! The rest of the row is still 3 inches tall :/

The herbs are all thriving

Got some romaine lettuce, Swiss chards, asparagus, peas and carrots moving right along too

 

[marktoo]

Angelicisi, Nice pics! My okra plants always drop leaves throughout the summer, by fall they look like sticks with pods on them. Do yours do that?

 

[Angelicisi]

Yes. Sometimes mine hit 6 feet tall, 4 leaves lol plenty of flowers and okra so I haven't messed with it. But we don't eat much of it. Chickens LOVE it chopped and fried with jalapeno lol