majors 2018 garden..

[majorcatfish]

I simply am astounded at the maturity of all of your gardens, you all! Mine is still small. Nuthin' moving or really growing. What is the difference? Rain? Humidity? My beds are brand new and were made with some local soil from the property and several yards of compost from Southern Oregon compost.

yours should start going nuts very soon.... yes we have had inches of rain, been in the 80's nights in 70's, humidity 60-70%...and years of amending the soil...

 

[Collector]

@majorcatfish your gardens are growing like crazy right now. 2/3 of our garden is first year I just tilled up the lawn and raked out the sod clumps that turned up and added rotted sawdust and horse manure. I hope we Have a little luck this year so far things look just ok. Nothing like your gardens good job.,

 

[majorcatfish]

@majorcatfish your gardens are growing like crazy right now. 2/3 of our garden is first year I just tilled up the lawn and raked out the sod clumps that turned up and added rotted sawdust and horse manure. I hope we Have a little luck this year so far things look just ok. Nothing like your gardens good job.,

think alot of people forget that the first 4-6" of soil is healthy after that most soil is inert <unless you live somewhere super special>, once you turn it you need to start amending it..
just my two cents worth...
1. adding cover crops during the off season. crimson red clover is my favorite...

2. having your soil tested in the fall to see what it's lacking in and amending as needed.. is usually calcium

3. while amending the soil add ..green sand has most of the micronutrients... most organic shops carry 40-50 lbs bags, plus if you what to go organic they should carry bone meal ,blood meal..etc..

4. something i need to as well..add leaf mulch and mix into the soil <the worms will love you for it> free fertilizer...

5. really read up on all stuff you want to add to you soil.. it might be good for flowers/lawn, but it might not be good for vegetables..msds/sds sheets..read the ingredients in them and research them...do you want them in your food?

 

[Collector]

@majorcatfish i don’t know where to get green sand but I can get an endless supply of biochar. That and a couple of winters ago I took care of DB cattle, we would break open a 1500lb of straw spread a thick layer around the feedlot every week like lasagna. When spring came I piled a huge mountain of it with a track hoe. The pile has shrunk from 150yds to 50yds and looks black and rich. I going to haul some here this fall and add to biochar hopefully that gets things going. It not really that bad but the tomatoes are not dark green like they should be and seeds slow to pop up.

 

[Collector]

PS weeds seem to really like it lol.

 

[flowerbug]

I simply am astounded at the maturity of all of your gardens, you all! Mine is still small. Nuthin' moving or really growing. What is the difference? Rain? Humidity? My beds are brand new and were made with some local soil from the property and several yards of compost from Southern Oregon compost.

it takes a while to get a garden established, but also you are much further north than he is so he's got about six weeks on ya.

we just put our greenhouse starts in the ground the other day, in six weeks our gardens will look nice like that too. hang in there!

 

[flowerbug]

@majorcatfish i don’t know where to get green sand but I can get an endless supply of biochar. That and a couple of winters ago I took care of DB cattle, we would break open a 1500lb of straw spread a thick layer around the feedlot every week like lasagna. When spring came I piled a huge mountain of it with a track hoe. The pile has shrunk from 150yds to 50yds and looks black and rich. I going to haul some here this fall and add to biochar hopefully that gets things going. It not really that bad but the tomatoes are not dark green like they should be and seeds slow to pop up.

biochar is a great substrate, but needs to be charged up first (run it through a compost pile if you can) to be really productive. what it has is a large amount of surface area and is a very long term carbon source. that's all good for bacteria/fungi and the rest of the soil community which feeds off them.

not sure what are DB cattle?

and yes, weeds do great once a compost pile is done, but at least they're easy to pull out of there if they're not at the bottom.

 

[majorcatfish]

@majorcatfish i don’t know where to get green sand but I can get an endless supply of biochar. That and a couple of winters ago I took care of DB cattle, we would break open a 1500lb of straw spread a thick layer around the feedlot every week like lasagna. When spring came I piled a huge mountain of it with a track hoe. The pile has shrunk from 150yds to 50yds and looks black and rich. I going to haul some here this fall and add to biochar hopefully that gets things going. It not really that bad but the tomatoes are not dark green like they should be and seeds slow to pop up.

look online for organic supplies... found ours at a organic/homebrew shop and you can ask local feed stores they might be able to get it...

 

[Nyboy]

Where are your flowers ?

 

[canesisters]

I always look forward to your updates. Your garden looks SO GOOD! Gives me hope for mine.... one day....