What Did You Do In The Garden?

[digitS']

Finished the first round of tilling on the first 8' of the big veggie garden. Finished the 2nd round on 1/2 of that and have some planted in peas last week and a 4' by 45' bed planted in potatoes, today. I believe that this is the 2nd greatest amount of garden that I've committed to spuds in recent decades. The greatest was last year and that left me with about 30# of sprouting potatoes.

I am not sure if I have ever used my own potatoes for spring planting. I believed that certified seed potatoes are best. However, my potatoes are usually gone before the end of January. Not this time!! And, they look okay ... I guess, - so into that bed they went.

It was another 3 hour day out there. That's okay. I will have to take the rototiller back soon no matter when the tractor guy shows up and what kind of job he does. Another 8' by 100' need to be gone over with the tines rotating in reverse. The kale, brocolli and such are hardening off in the backyard right now. The plants won't be ready to go out there this week.

I really, really should have remembered to take a hose and watering wand. I have felt all day that it might rain any minute but it doesn't look like we will even be getting our customary 3 drops ... It's also the warmest day of 2020 with temperatures above 75°f this afternoon despite all the clouds.

Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I planted bok choy, kale and collards in the garden. These are older kale and collard plants. I have some younger hardening off and cabbage.

 

[flowerbug]

The flooding is not due to a nearby waterway - it is due to the slope & terrain of the farm field about 100' away, and the location of the garden. There is a (wash? swale?) that runs through the field, and extends into my friend's property. No marsh, just a low spot (although there is marsh down slope from me). The area is dry most of the year & cultivated, but there can be a lot of drainage from the field during heavy rainfall... my friends jokingly call it "(their name) River". It flows harmlessly across their lawn, and can wash away exposed soil - but nothing regulated by the DNR.

When I first started gardening there, the rain mostly went around the garden; but a heavy flash flood several years ago (4-5" in a few hours) flooded much of their yard, and stripped away a substantial amount of topsoil from my garden in the lower 1/3 (that same storm flooded my culvert onto the street 15" deep, and nearly reaching my foundation.) Subsequent cultivation filled in the low spots, but the resultant level was too low to drain properly.

The garden is permanently fenced on two sides, with the two open sides used for tractor access during tilling (those sides are fenced just before planting). The water enters through one of those open sides. If I move the fence to cover the presently open sides, I can build a berm against the fence to direct the flow around the garden (which will also bury the lower part of the fence). That would (or should) prevent any further loss of soil, and allow me to restore the low area to its previous level. It will probably require about 2 cubic yards of topsoil to replace what was lost.

That is if DW & I still want to garden the full 10,000 square feet of that garden, in addition to the 1600 square feet of our home plots... something as yet undecided. My heart says "yes", but we are not getting younger, and it may be time to scale back. I will be extending the home plots a little more this year, as part of a gradual shift away from the rural plot... but regardless of scale, I would still use that remote plot for saving pure seed.

we have similar flash flooding from the field to the south. i put a big berm in to redirect the flow around the fenced gardens. takes about the same amount of rain to get it to flash flood as your setup, but there are several square miles up hill so if we get rain upon rain it can come at us from two different directions (we're right in the middle of the topological flow).

one year it rained so hard that we had water flowing "uphill" to go around us. this lot is a mess due to the too many large drains going through it. i'm pretty sure whoever designed the one to the north had marbles in their brain. *sigh*

it is always a challenge to garden on slopes. i've downsized one of my gardens because the bottom part was nothing more than a weed magnet and it was taking me about 30hrs a season to keep it looking nice. now i'm trying to get that uphill slope covered with creeping thyme to keep the topsoil in place (mostly it is clay which doesn't move much - i don't till it). the water flows i have redirected around it so now there isn't much dirt being moved when it rains heavy.

10,000 extra square feet is a lot of space, but nice to have when people get hungry. the problem with being remote is that you can't really protect it easily.

fence required here too.

 

[ducks4you]

The flooding is not due to a nearby waterway - it is due to the slope & terrain of the farm field about 100' away, and the location of the garden. There is a (wash? swale?) that runs through the field, and extends into my friend's property. No marsh, just a low spot (although there is marsh down slope from me). The area is dry most of the year & cultivated, but there can be a lot of drainage from the field during heavy rainfall... my friends jokingly call it "(their name) River". It flows harmlessly across their lawn, and can wash away exposed soil - but nothing regulated by the DNR.

When I first started gardening there, the rain mostly went around the garden; but a heavy flash flood several years ago (4-5" in a few hours) flooded much of their yard, and stripped away a substantial amount of topsoil from my garden in the lower 1/3 (that same storm flooded my culvert onto the street 15" deep, and nearly reaching my foundation.) Subsequent cultivation filled in the low spots, but the resultant level was too low to drain properly.

The garden is permanently fenced on two sides, with the two open sides used for tractor access during tilling (those sides are fenced just before planting). The water enters through one of those open sides. If I move the fence to cover the presently open sides, I can build a berm against the fence to direct the flow around the garden (which will also bury the lower part of the fence). That would (or should) prevent any further loss of soil, and allow me to restore the low area to its previous level. It will probably require about 2 cubic yards of topsoil to replace what was lost.

That is if DW & I still want to garden the full 10,000 square feet of that garden, in addition to the 1600 square feet of our home plots... something as yet undecided. My heart says "yes", but we are not getting younger, and it may be time to scale back. I will be extending the home plots a little more this year, as part of a gradual shift away from the rural plot... but regardless of scale, I would still use that remote plot for saving pure seed.

I have seen some farm fields plant something else in the wet areas, either to harvest, or just to keep it as dry as possible and then till it under in the Fall or next Spring.

 

[ducks4you]

I believed that certified seed potatoes are best. However, my potatoes are usually gone before the end of January. Not this time!! And, they look okay ... I guess, - so into that bed they went.
Steve

I know where I have planted bought potatoes and those that sprouted in the bin, and a LOT of grocery store, sprouted-in-the-bin in my bed are up. Just some FYI, and we will see how they produce.
Can't get blue potatoes in the grocery store. Lost my window. Maybe, I will plant those next year.

 

[ducks4you]

@flowerbug, Here is an interesting article on terraced gardens.
They look amazing!

50 Garden and Backyard Retaining Wall Ideas and Terraced Gardens (Photos)

Welcome to our photo gallery featuring a selection of the most luxurious and beautiful terrace gardens with retaining walls we could find! We hope you can glean a retaining wall idea or two from the

www.homestratosphere.com

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug, Here is an interesting article on terraced gardens.
They look amazing!

50 Garden and Backyard Retaining Wall Ideas and Terraced Gardens (Photos)

Welcome to our photo gallery featuring a selection of the most luxurious and beautiful terrace gardens with retaining walls we could find! We hope you can glean a retaining wall idea or two from the

www.homestratosphere.com

no thank you, i'm not looking for yet more projects - there are plenty enough already.

i'm also trying to avoid things which complicate matters more here, things which create edges that would then need to be maintained, anything i have to later get rid of, simplification is my focus now. it makes life a heck of a lot easier if i don't have to work around hardscape items or edges.

 

[Zeedman]

10,000 extra square feet is a lot of space, but nice to have when people get hungry. the problem with being remote is that you can't really protect it easily.

fence required here too.

I still might use all that space, if I can solve the drainage issues to the point where the soil can be worked with the tractor. No problem with security; the yard is rural, and the owners have very alert free-running dogs - which also keep the ground hogs in check. It does need to be fenced due to deer & rabbits. The bottom is chicken wire to keep out the rabbits, with electric fencing above that up to 6'. The fences have been very effective; I hardly need to keep the fence wires charged, the deer get bit once & remember. Only twice since 2006 have deer broken through the wire (that must have hurt) and they immediately jumped back out without eating anything. It is a minimal pain to tear down & re-erect the two open sides every year, but there would otherwise be no room to maneuver the tractor.

I have seen some farm fields plant something else in the wet areas, either to harvest, or just to keep it as dry as possible and then till it under in the Fall or next Spring.

In most of the local fields with slopes or low spots, the farmer leaves a narrow grass swale running through the field for drainage. That area remains untilled. The grass probably helps to capture some of the erosion that might otherwise be washed away.

@flowerbug, Here is an interesting article on terraced gardens.
They look amazing!

50 Garden and Backyard Retaining Wall Ideas and Terraced Gardens (Photos)

Welcome to our photo gallery featuring a selection of the most luxurious and beautiful terrace gardens with retaining walls we could find! We hope you can glean a retaining wall idea or two from the

www.homestratosphere.com

My garden slope is nowhere near enough to warrant terraces... although if it were my land, I might put in a few permanent raised beds similar to those built by @majorcatfish . DW might be interested in terraces, though, for the flower gardens in the front yard.

 

[seedcorn]

Planted cabbage plants that were given to me. They are MUCH nicer than what the local nurseries are selling.

 

[ducks4you]

I have also seen grass swales, too. I'm talking about the pools that form in the middle of some of these fields. SOME farmers are reseeding with green somethings that will not allow weeds to form and, of course, they will soak up the rain. It is better than reseeding.
There is a 5 acre area NNE of us, along a main drag and just north of a stream. When we get flooding rains the stream overflows, and so does the field. On years where it doesn't flood they get a good crop. On other years, it is like farmland along a midwest river.