Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

Grinder said:
Did those plants seem fully grown and healthy otherwise? Do you plan to try again this year?
Click to expand...

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.
 
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:
 
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 [FONT=&quot]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. [/FONT]
 
Grinder said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.

Grinder said:
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:
Click to expand...

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.

JCsAudio said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
JCsAudio said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
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.
View attachment 9620
View attachment 9621


03/02:
Reorganized patio. Ready for seedlings.
View attachment 9622
View attachment 9623
View attachment 9624


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.)
View 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.
View attachment 9626
View attachment 9627
View attachment 9628
View attachment 9629
 
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.
View attachment 9652


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:
View attachment 9653
 
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.
 
naiku said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
naiku said:
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.
Click to expand...
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:
 
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.
 
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:
View attachment 9909
View attachment 9910
View attachment 9911
View attachment 9912
 
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).

View attachment 10093
View attachment 10094
View attachment 10095
View attachment 10096
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top