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Thread: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

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    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

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    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

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    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

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  8. Back To Top    #78
    Noob naiku's Avatar
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    Dec 2015

    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

    Great update! Your pumpkin vine looks like it did really well.

    Our garden was not as successful as I had hoped, just got a handful of tomatoes. The rhubarb I planted is growing really well, but for the 1st year it is recommended not to harvest any, but with the way it is growing I should have plenty next year. The grape vine grew hugely and I had a few small bunches of grapes. Unfortunately, Japanese Beetles did a number to the vine itself and birds got the grapes before they were large enough to pick. Encouraging signs though for next year though. I think my biggest issue is getting enough water up there, the garden is about 250' from the house, I think if I used a hose then I am going to also need some kind of pump as the back yard drops and then goes up to the garden, that combined with well water means the pressure is not great to begin with.

    I do have a question for you, what gate is that and how is it attached to the T-posts? At the moment I just prop some old fence up, but having an actual gate would be nice.
    Another white wagon.
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  9. Back To Top    #79

    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

    Thanks! Yes, a few of the field pumpkin (for carving) plants, and several of the pie pumpkin (for eating) plants did a lot better than expected, given this year's devastating cucumber beetle and squash beetle infestation, and given their late start as a result of the infestation. As young plants died, I planted seeds to replace them, until I ran out of seeds. Nearly all of the survivors were from the final round of squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melon seeds planted on June 25th, which is very late in the season. A few butternut squash plants, and several cucumber plants managed to survive as well.

    The thick layer of wood chips greatly reduce the need for watering. Even this year, as unusually dry as it was, I only watered a few times once the plants were established, and mostly just the tomatoes and peppers. As I am loath to damage plants by dragging a hose around, and to minimize water usage by applying it only where and when it's needed, and to avoid wet foliage, all watering is done via watering cans that are filled by hose outside the gate - which might seem like a monumental hassle, but it's not that bad, and well worth the advantages.

    Of course, the carrot/radish/turnip patches, sans wood chips, needed frequent watering until well established; and then periodic watering thereafter, as needed, depending on rainfall. Speaking of which, I plan to harvest all those today.

    The gate is just an ordinary one from Tractor Supply. Having used both painted and galvanized over the years, I recommend the latter. Here is the one that I have: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...mesh-gate-4-ft


    For additional critter protection, I attached a piece of fence material to the gate. I bought and installed a latch, but I just use the attached chain (for some unknown reason, the chain not shown in Tractor Supply's image of the gate).


    To mount the gate, I simply drilled an upper and lower ~0.25" hole in the T-post, and then enlarged each of those two holes to ~0.625" with a step drill/unibit. I then cut four pieces of 1/2" PVC conduit, and then opened them up a bit with a rat tail file, until they can be firmly screwed/threaded (I used channel lock pliers) onto the threaded portion of the hinge mount, as shown. It worked perfectly. If you have the tools and patience, I wholeheartedly recommend it.



  10. Back To Top    #80

    Re: Grinder's no-till vegetable garden

    10/28

    And now, last but not least, the carrot harvest:




    First time growing carrots, so I really did not know what to expect. Been putting off harvesting them for quite some time now, until there's more room in the freezers. However, with a few inches of snow and a severe cold snap on the way, I couldn't put it off any longer. I'd been kinda dreading the process, not knowing how much of a pain harvesting them might be. To my amazement and relief, they just pulled right up, nice and easy. No struggle. No digging. They clean up very nice and easy too. Beautiful! Today I'll be chopping all of them up and getting them into mason jars and then into the freezers.

    In case you're wondering at their unusual appearance, this variety of carrot is called Nantes (Scarlet Nantes and Coreless Nantes). They are characteristically shorter and less tapered than typical store-bought varieties, and are therefore recommended for home growers, whose conditions might be less than idea in terms of soil composition and depth.

    I'm quite surprised and satisfied with this first-ever carrot harvest, and will definitely be growing these again.

    All in all, this year's garden was a great success. While it is never easy, and I always learn a lot, this year has been particularly challenging, and as a result I learned far more than ever. As always, I am deeply thankful for every bit of it.

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