Weekly Garden Thread - September 25-October 1, 2021

September 25, 2021 | Diana in Wisconsin/Greeneyes

[Diana in Wisconsin]

https://www.edenproject.com/mission

[Ellendra]

I’m thinking of trying a variation of that next year. I need to be able to plant more and weed less. The dwarf marigolds I planted did an ok job of competing against the weeds without interfering with the crops around them, whereas the chia I was using as a cover crop ended up out-competing everything.

Previous years when I planted chia, it never got more than a few inches tall. This year it was up to my chest!

Anyway, I’m also planning to try a different planting technique. Basically, sprinkle everything on top of the ground, then run over it with the tiller. It worked with field peas, so I figure it’s worth a shot.

Large vining plants like squash and melons will be in blocks of marigolds. Tall plants like sunflowers will still get chia, since it does suppress just about everything. Tomatoes will be mixed with radishes, chard, and possibly beets. Potatoes and bush beans are on their own.

We’ll see if that works! I just know that I can’t have another year like this last one. Very little got planted, and what did was way too late in the season. There has got to be a way to streamline it. WithOUT spending thousands on a bigger tractor!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Incorporate yourself and hire a bunch of strong teenagers as Interns?

I’d loan you Beau, but he’s unavailable past June 1st or so, LOL!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Found pictures of my greens-growing set up that I used last year to great success inside my unheated greenhouse. I had greens until December, which is great for Zone 4/5 up here on The Frozen Tundra!

I bought three 50-quart clear storage bins (Mainstays brand, Walmart) and then three 1-cubic foot bags of potting soil, Miracle Grow. The cover of the bin acts as a tray to catch water. I poked holes on the back side of the bag of soil, then laid it on the tray and cut out the top of the bag. I will direct-seed salad greens into the soil and water. Cover with the 'bottom' of the tub to act as a mini-greenhouse until the seeds germinate, then off during the day and on at night. Can be set up outside, or on your back/front porch in warmer zones.

Beau added another set of shelving to the south side of the greenhouse for me. The three bins will still fit, but they'll need to run east to west now, and I will have to turn them every week or so to make sure all seedlings get enough light and aren't crowding one another out. We'll see how it goes - more photos as things, 'develop.' ;)

[Liz]

Great idea.......we can use it in your book.

[metmom]

It’s beautiful.

[Augie]

Made it home from vacation in one piece.

I expect that I have a lot of weeds to pull in the garden.

Off to the sawmill this morning to retrieve a trailer load of stove wood.

When I'm done with that I have to get 2000 miles worth of bug guts off the grille of my truck.

[metmom]

Our soil is pretty heavy and wet so I’m trying no till or lasagna gardening.

I’m scavenging cardboard and after pulling up this year’s crops, weeding, leveling the dirt, then laying down cardboard. On top of that I’m spreading grass clippings, wood chips, old broken down straw, leaves, will be adding daylily leaves and stems when I clear the beds out, manure, and anything else I can find to put on top.

Theoretically, come spring, the stuff will all be composed together. It did work last year when I laid down some used charcoal bags and threw some stuff on top simply for weed suppression and I was surprised by the results. When I stumbled across the lasagna gardening technique, I realized that was what I essentially did without knowing it.

[bigfootbob]

Nice, very, very clever. Here in zone 8B that system would work all winter into Spring.

I will have to figure out an anchoring system. We had our first series of coastal storms come through Saturday evening and most of the day Sunday. This one caught me with my garden pants down! They usually don’t start until mid-late October.

This one blew my watering can 1000’ from where I keep it and it shredded a poorly sighted, my bad, Salvia gensneriiflora Mole Poblano. The darn thing was advertised growing to 3-5’. This one is almost 9’ and the same wide in 1 growing year.

The thing is supposed to bloom in Summer thru Fall but mine started in September and it will probably bloom all winter! Crazy plant.

[bigfootbob]

I read that when it was posted. We seriously are in big trouble with these Frankenfoods. Food naturally evolves without man sticking foreign DNA into the mix. Ethics in science is fiction.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

What a great set-up! I'm going to see if Beau can make me some of those 'risers' for our pantry. They would be very handy! I will share my pantry pictures later this week. I THINK I have things pretty well organized.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Fall Charcuterie:

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

GM foods

‘Lettuce’ Vaccinate You and Other Reasons You Can’t Trust the Food Supply https://basedunderground.com ^ | September 27, 2021 | by Jeff Thompson

Posted on 9/27/2021, 8:28:02 AM by Red Badger

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Two resources familiar to the garden thread:

https://www.rareseeds.com/

https://www.seedsavers.org/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“...we can use it in your book.”

I have an old book (1995 - 26 years!) called, ‘365 Days of Gardening’ and I LOVE the format because it is divided by Spring-Summer-Fall-Winter and literally has a TIP for every calendar day of the year. I paid $2 for it; it is a treasure trove of ideas.

It’s been out of print for ages, but still available on Amazon from private sellers (52 copies appear to be available), so maybe now is the time to strike? Everything Old Is New Again! ;)

https://www.amazon.com/365-Days-Gardening-Day-Day/dp/0060170328

I would title it something else, of course! And self-publishing is also a ‘thing’ now. Wisconsin has quite a few private publishing houses.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“When I’m done with that I have to get 2000 miles worth of bug guts off the grille of my truck.”

What’s the last thing a bug sees when he hits your windshield at 70 MPH? His butt! ;)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I am a HUGE fan of Lasagna Gardening! I made an herb bed using that technique about 25 years ago. It's awesome.

Ruth Stout was a huge advocate of using straw in the garden beds.

[FamiliarFace]

This is a really neat idea! Please continue to post photos of the process (and progress), if you don’t mind.

[Blurb2350]

Fascinating! Keep us posted. I’ve been trying container gardening using cheap plastic “totes.” They’re very handy, easy to fill and move as necessary. I set up two small raised beds several years ago, but they’re not ideal out here in the desert. They dry out too quickly and the nearby mesquites send out their greedy rootlets to grab the precious water. Totes eliminate these problems and are (small) rodent proof as well.

[Qiviut]

I would use your method except I don’t have a place to do it - but I’m now thinking about it! Surely I can come up with ‘something’ ... :-)

Chicken sitting - the run door is “busted”. It’s bad enough I think I have to fix it .... headed down there in a few minutes to see what I can figure out. I think I have a piece of hardware cloth (aka “bunny wire”) ... if I can find my brother’s staple gun, putting the wire across the bottom would cover up the hole in the chicken wire/help hold the frame together (one corner has come loose). I have a brand new roll of wire (not mine - it’s dad’s) but if I can find used wire, I’d rather use that instead. Fun times!

The “girls” are a hoot, one in particular. Everybody was on the roost after sunset, but she was not - came running to me when I was going in to close up the coop. She’s pretty tame and doesn’t seem to mind it if you smooth her feathers. I think being raised from a chick by little girls (ages 2 & 5) has something to with being ‘friendlier’. :-)

[metmom]

I have used those white plastic buckets with the bottoms cut out.

I did bucket potatoes this year and the one bucket I checked so far came out great.

I did carrots in another bucket because our soil is not carrot friendly so I used a mix of peat moss and well composted manure and got some great carrots.