What Did You Do In The Garden?

[SPedigrees]

i'm envious of anyone who has an uncomplicated enough space that they can even get a tiller in there. almost all of the gardens here are not really big enough. ...........
so i dig, how i dig ( said with an accent of Yenta the Matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof )...

Ah yes, I can relate. I joke that back in the days when we had a big vegetable garden, *I* was the rototiller... me, myself, and I, with a shovel, a hoe, and a rake. But I was young then - now I find myself drawing up plans to limit the amount of gardening work going forward. For instance next year I'm going to reforest another chunk of mowed land in back of the house, even though it will mean abandoning three perennial beds. I can't really get around the way I used to, especially not carrying a string-trimmer and other tools across the expanse of that field. My raised beds need to be hand-dug, like yours, but in my case, I have only two of them, so digging is not too taxing.

 

[digitS']

Ran the lawnmower over 1/4 of the big veggie garden and then, ran the tiller over it. .

Two hours and I'm not more than 25% done with a first step.

Oct 5. It has been a ridiculous scheduling of 4 visits done over a month. After that initial 25%, part of the next 2 hours is spent on a return pass running the tiller at 90° of the previous 2, 180°'s. The tiller is rear-tine but not very heavy duty considering what is required of it.

It took 3 years to cycle in the composting-in-place because I used it on 1/3rd of the beds each year. When using especially heavy material like corn stalks, the first year was for vines. It was one of the reasons that I became a big squash gardener .

I do make quite a lot of compost at home. These days, a good majority of it is used in the potted plants. When I used a tilling attachment for the gas weed whacker, I could quickly till in compost in a bed. A little Mantis type tiller now sits unused in the garage. The paths in the big veggie garden are just too rocky for it to be of use. Tilling a bed requires me to walk on what I'm tilling – something I don't want to do since the compost application is especially useful to a bed for direct seeding. The weed whacker attachment keeps my #13's off the soft dirt. But, an electric whacker replaced the gas and the attachment doesn't fit ...

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

A few years ago it dawned on me that my garden has accidentally become more or less no till, ever since I started 'flipping' beds from one crop to another with layers of compost that are added on top-- but hardly ever dug in. Very few of my crops are direct sown as that method has not yielded good results for me. I mostly tuck seedlings in, and as I learn more about hardy winter crops like kale, mustard, chard and broccoli many of the beds now have something growing in them year-round. There likely will be deep digging every 4-5 years or so, usually to remove as many rocks as possible before planting carrots and also for new beds. Apart from that I tend to just leave plant material on the surface to decompose, and then if there is anything left in the spring it either gets buried under a fresh layer of mulch, or else added to the compost. There are very few weeds with this approach, although some would likely consider the plant debris and seeds that I allow to self-sow kind of messy or 'weedy'. For example at the moment I have a massive swathe of 2" tall dill, a nice tidy patch of 10" tall phacelia, hundreds of pretty little lettuce, and quite possibly millions of small pansy seedlings. All are volunteers that are covering the ground much like a green manure, and all except the pansies and a few winter-hardy lettuce specimens will likely winter-kill. I find that I get a lot of joy in seeing which plants sprout spontaneously when I don't disturb the soil much (and it doesn't hurt that it's less work on my part!)

 

[flowerbug]

...My raised beds need to be hand-dug, like yours, but in my case, I have only two of them, so digging is not too taxing.

only two...

 

[Branching Out]

It was supposed to start raining at 11am, so we hustled out to the garden at 10am and got to work. My husband finished pulling out the roots of an invasive creeping laurel for me, and I was able to plant more garlic in its place. Dark grey clouds were moving in, so I was planting like a crazy woman trying to beat the rain. In the end not a single rain drop fell for the entire day, which was a big bonus. I even had time to flip my compost bins and top them up with a nice layer of rosy autumn leaves before the wind really kicked up. My last task was cleaning up a couple of dozen seedling pots so I could bring them indoors for the winter. The freeze-thaw cycle and UV rays seem to ruin the containers otherwise, not to mention that if they are left outside the get blown all over the yard every time there is a wind storm. I still have lots of pots and trays to clean and put away--but today was productive. And fun!

 

[flowerbug]

it will be cool and sunny today, but not windy so i will attempt to get some gardening done later on when it warms up some more. at the moment it's nearly freezing out there and perhaps we got frosted (but i can't see a thing yet it being too early for even some light).

 

[Phaedra]

We kept building the second roofed chicken run. When it rained, we ran inside the house; when the rain stopped, we kept working. Hopefully, we can finish it tomorrow.

 

[flowerbug]

i did mostly finish one garden yesterday so that looks much nicer now. today will be a choice between spreading ashes and digging those in or just getting another garden done as much as i can and maybe also finishing the one right next to it. flip a coin or just take it as it comes i guess. good chance i'll take the second path since there is enough wind out there now to blow ashes around a lot more than i'd like. plus it will make Mom happier to have more gardens looking tidy and that corner right now is quite a mess...

gardening mysteries and questions for the morning.

 

[oberbrunner]

Yesterday, I did some weeding and added some fresh compost to my raised beds. Last week, I planted some tomato and cucumber seeds, and they're starting to sprout now. Today, I'm planning to tackle some pruning and maybe plant some herbs.

 

[Branching Out]

Planting more garlic...almost finished. Short days are making it a challenge to complete all of the garden tasks that need to be done. I may have to dig out my headlamp soon.