BYC gardening thread!!

[politicalcenter]

You are not being rude, I'm actually looking for information

Persistant herbicides can be a real problem. They can show up in animal feed, hay and straw, and they can cause real problems in a garden. They disrupt the normal cell stacking process in plants and cause twisted leaves and stunted growth. I first noticed the damage when I used goat manure on my garden. I didnt know what it was but i knew there was some kind of virus, nematode, or something. So I went with disease resistant tomatoes...it didnt help. Then I put several truckloads of horse manure on my fall garden and my green beans and potatoes got twisted leaves with no production. The manure was hot composted. Then i googled killer compost. U tube has videos on it. Now I only use pine straw gathered from the woods on my garden and sawdust or wood chips. The area that has been contaminated will be used to grow corn. I am still using horse manure on my pastures. The stuff does grow good grass and some of my pasture is almost solid rock and it needs something. The persistant herbicides will cause problems in concentrations as low as 5 parts per billion....thats billion with a B.

 

[Loc20chick]

Quote:
Thanks for the info. I had read some of this in the cons of straw bale gardening.. I haven't had a problem with manure as the cow manure I got last year was from a friend who does everything organic (a bit to the extreme). By the time straw is ready from my trusted supplier it will be late in the planting season.. I might just stick to raised beds.. I'll be moving my garden from the spot it has always been as i noticed it tends to flood and hold water too long. The new area will be next to the chicken coop.. I now need to start building my raised beds will scrap wood i already have.

 

[politicalcenter]

Quote:
Thanks for the info. I had read some of this in the cons of straw bale gardening.. I haven't had a problem with manure as the cow manure I got last year was from a friend who does everything organic (a bit to the extreme). By the time straw is ready from my trusted supplier it will be late in the planting season.. I might just stick to raised beds.. I'll be moving my garden from the spot it has always been as i noticed it tends to flood and hold water too long. The new area will be next to the chicken coop.. I now need to start building my raised beds will scrap wood i already have.

Composted cow manure is good stuff. It will grow just about anything. I would haul all of the good cow manure I could get my hands on.

 

[politicalcenter]

I tore down my old wood framed greenhouse today and stacked the wood up. I am going to store the wood in a shed for use later. I need the space for my goats. And with a 270 day growing season I really dont need it. I costs more than it is worth.

 

[Loc20chick]

I tore down my old wood framed greenhouse today and stacked the wood up. I am going to store the wood in a shed for use later. I need the space for my goats. And with a 270 day growing season I really dont need it. I costs more than it is worth.

Was it heated or were you just using it to extend growing season?

 

[politicalcenter]

Was it heated or were you just using it to extend growing season?

I heated it when the weather turned cold with a home made heater. I only had to heat at night now and then. I tried a lot of things like water storage and even considered compost heating. I figured I would be better off growing in a shed with LED lights.

 

[lazy gardener]

This is me today: happy dance, jumping for joy, shouting praise! The soil in my green house has finally thawed out! I'm washing up some milk jugs, and other plastic lids and such to do a double layer of plastic. Can plant some seeds in the green house this week. There are about 6 plants that appear to have survived the winter. A swiss chard, a couple of lettuce, kale, and 1 or 2 spinach plants. Oh yeah, there's also some garlic bulbils, and some parsley.

FYI, still 2.5' of snow on the ground everywhere else!

 

[politicalcenter]

Congrats....get an early start on those tomatoes and peppers.

 

[lazy gardener]

Congrats....get an early start on those tomatoes and peppers.

Still way too early for that in the green house! But... I may start some within the next week or so.

 

[politicalcenter]

Sorry, forgot you live in the great white north. We have tomato plants for sale at the CO-OP already. But we will probably get a frostor two before April 15. That is our frost free date.