My garden

[simchah]

Apr 21, 2020 12:58:09 GMT -5 katie k said:

simchah, did the hay go into the compost pile or onto a garden bed? I use very weedy hay in the garden, and the key is to keep it covered as it decomposes with more mulch. I've heard it said that hay mulching is all or nothing. If you keep with it, adding adequate layers to mulch out the germinating seeds below, you will not have problems. But if you start mulching with hay, you are doomed if you stop, because you have lots of exposed grass seeds waiting to explode!

Usually a good one foot deep layer in the fall (here in the northeast) of hay, leaves, cow bedding, etc. will have "melted" to a few inches by spring, and is enough to keep the weeds down, even quack grass.

I'm with Shawn in that I will never go back to tilling/hoeing, etc. I am able to maintain a much bigger garden (75' x 200') with less work and great fertility. Friends are amazed by our garden, and think I am some kind of wonder-woman, but really its just about the magic cow bedding mulch ( which is mostly hay).

Talithathecow15, I found that if I put the mulch down in the spring and it was nice and fluffy it attracted a lot of insects, snakes, etc., but fall applied was not so airy and inviting. Your thing is spiders, I'm a wuss about snakes!

I see what the problem is now. We put it straight in the garden but do it once. We don't get much waste hay/straw. The cows are out in pasture year round and there is not much hay left from winter feedings. What little there is normally gets working into the ground in the pasture. We get a bit of hay from when we have calves in shelter but that is about it. We get a bit of pine shavings from when we have chicks but those I compost before putting out since I know chicken droppings need to get composted before use. Now that I have boxes I hope to be able to use some leaves in the fall, in the past things just all blow off and disappear. 

[Shawn]

True, I am so used to doing this I hadn't thought to say, pile it on and keep piling it on.
Some places our mulch is very deep. But we are constantly adding to it as some spots are always needing more coverage. Last fall, DH took a small round bale and just put it directly in the garden as he was needing more mulch. The dogs loved it, they slept on it all winter. We leave the garden/orchard open after the season is done so the chickens can do their work in there.

[MaggieGal]

Apr 25, 2020 22:31:53 GMT -5 Shawn said:

True, I am so used to doing this I hadn't thought to say, pile it on and keep piling it on.
Some places our mulch is very deep. But we are constantly adding to it as some spots are always needing more coverage. Last fall, DH took a small round bale and just put it directly in the garden as he was needing more mulch. The dogs loved it, they slept on it all winter. We leave the garden/orchard open after the season is done so the chickens can do their work in there.

When there is that much mulch, do you have trouble with seeds starting when you direct sow them into the garden? Or do you only use plants?

[Shawn]

For seeds, you just pull the mulch back for those areas. So like his lettuce, DH has to hand weed that, obviously.

For a row of green bean seeds (etc), just pull the mulch back a few inches so you can hoe out a row and plant. Then once the plants come up, you can tuck the mulch back up under the leaves.

We use tomato plants, and those you just pull the mulch back, dig a hole, plant your seedling and push mulch back up around it.

[MaggieGal]

Few things growing

[lew92]

Looking very good!

I did some work on my memorial garden this weekend. Had DH haul 4 tractor loads of compost and 3 of wood chips - the power company started cleanup just before the shutdown and we were the beneficiaries of 4 big loads of chips.

So it ended up being about 4 inches of compost and three of wood chips over everything. I pulled back the chips and most of the compost from around the trees, bushes and perennials in the garden so that they won't be injured by the sudden addition.

[MaggieGal]

We have had so much rain. I lost 4 out if the 9 tomato plants. I bought 3 more the other day. One cute little cherry tomato called Candyland I think? It'll probably end up on the deck in a pot.

I got a few more herb plants. I love herbs.

Going to try and get some stuff in the garden this weekend. We are going to be busy.

[mollymoo]

Here’s my attempt! The garden is enclosed with bird netting to keep chickens dogs and cats from digging it up! I have onions, Swiss chard, carrots, beets, salad, Brussels sprouts and tomatoes and zucchini in there. The patio pots have tomatoes and herbs - and marigolds for color/bug repellent! It all looks a bit sparse right now - but knowing Tennessee and my gardening skills will probably be overcrowded and overgrown in a heartbeat!

[lew92]

May 1, 2020 15:09:02 GMT -5 mollymoo said:

It all looks a bit sparse right now - but knowing Tennessee and my gardening skills will probably be overcrowded and overgrown in a heartbeat!

Even here in Wisconsin it is like that - we have excellent growing conditions in the summer, most of the time. It makes it so hard to not overplant, but that's where the raised beds have been a plus for me. The soil is so nutritious that the plants do well anyway.

[mollymoo]

What a difference three weeks makes! Here’s my garden this morning - already harvested some radishes, lettuce and Swiss chard


How are all of your gardens doing?

[MaggieGal]

I tbought I would update.

The squashes done relatively well. I had zucchini and spaghetti squash. The spaghett squash isn't as sweet as it it from the store. Maybe it's not fully ripe? Whatever the case on that, i like it much better than the sweet ones.

The peppers got over ran by weeds. The cabbage and cauliflower didn't make. The lettuce went crazy and the radishes were huge!

The tomatoes didn't do very well. I'm not sure why, perhaps the soil they was in and I didn't water well enough in the middle times.

The potatoes and onions done very well. My garlic is still growing i think. I check it frequently.

The blackberries were awesome.

I planted some more potatoes and I planted some green beans for fall.

We have begun planning for next year!

[susaq]

MaggieGal your garden did great!

[Shawn]

Looks great MaggieGal. Now you're hooked.

[lew92]

What joy!