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General What's everyone growing this spring?

Mc_B

Mc_B

Member
Male
Just curious!
The area I live in has soil that's practically all red clay, when it gets wet, the water will just sit on top. I've done some research and I think I'll work on making raised beds (if I ever have time) and using pots and food grade 5 gallon buckets. For the buckets I have some Red Pontiac and Canela Russet seed potatoes I'm currently chitting. I'm also trying the Heinz variety tomato. My wife would like me to set up an area for herbs too, I've got some oregano, parsley and chives started. I found a Heritage Raspberry bush root ball at some store that I replanted like...2 weeks ago that hasn't shown a single sign of life. No idea on how long those take to show anything though. I also planted some Ozark Beauty strawberries and some radishes.
What do you have planned for this year? Trying anything new or have any good tips?
 
Check YouTube for 'Ruth Stout Gardening Method' in a year or two it will really help build your soil. Another midterm option is to have chipper trucks from line clearing operations dump a HUGE pule of mulch in your backyard. Turn it every two months or so then use in your garden... free soil!

Our garden.. already have potatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet peas, onions, and strawberries up. Many seeds being started this week in the greenhouse. Wide variety goes in about three weeks from now.
 
Wood chips are super useful in amending soil....and tree services usually have more then they need. :cool: Yup. Too much wood too.

We are growing a garden but do a lot of direct sowing later. Spring gets here quick!
 
Being on the road continually, I sure miss out on all that pressure, er....., pleasure of getting things planted on time.
 
I've grown in such soil, spring rains and your seeds will just rot in the ground or seedlings drown out. Then come summer the soil will crack up and plants wilt for lack of moisture.

Your instincts are right, double dug raised beds are the best way to go. Even better if you can add in finished compost (or just a really old cow manure pile that's turned to dirt). as you do it. After it gets warm and cool soil isn't an issue mulch the soil heavy with straw. Alternatively (if you have a large cheap source) you can just heap such compost up as a raised bed.

If it is sod already you've a bit of work ahead of you. But you probably won't get all the beds done you want in 1 season.

For the beds you want to build next year, cover the sod with a tarp to kill down the weed seeds (black side up). Then in the fall till it. You can double dig in the fall if ready and friable and if not wait till spring.

Another thing you can do is plant cover crops. Cow peas in the spring/early summer. Cereal rye in the fall. These will condition the soil to make it more friable and better draining. Depending on climate you can sow rye on beds after your vegies are done. Or you can do it after tarping.

Wood chips is a fun thing, but don't do it unless you have ready amounts of compost or nitrogen as they really tie up N. But they'll generate a lot of humus to correct your soil. Straw bale gardening (organic straw) is another option you could consider; place them where you want the raised bed gardens to be, they'll help build it and add a lot of organic matter.
 
rockfox said:
Your instincts are right, double dug raised beds are the best way to go.
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Agreed, except that you might be able to avoid the "double dug" part. Personally I'd just make a raised bed on top, without digging. Mainly because it's far less work so you'll end up making more raised beds. And because although a double-dug bed might be better in the short term, in the long term it won't make much difference as the soil structure will develop in both situations towards the same endpoint.

You might like to add calcium to the clay, to help improve the structure. If you have some old drywall or any other rubbish plaster lying around, smash it up and spread it over the soil, then build your raised bed on top of that. Or buy a bag of lime and use that instead. The good compost or topsoil in your raised bed won't need the calcium, but the clay will, this will let it dissolve and flow downwards into the clay to help its structure. This is entirely optional though.

The soil structure will improve under a raised bed anyway without any need to dig, especially if you're growing deep rooted plants like carrots and radishes, and cover crops as @rockfox has suggested. The big advantage of a raised bed is that you clearly define the walkways and the growing bed, so you virtually never walk on the actual garden itself. This prevents all further compaction of the area you're growing in, and lets the soil improve year on year.

If you use wood chips, make sure they're rotted first and only put them on the surface as a mulch, if you mix them in they will tie up N. But if you put them on the surface they'll gradually rot into the soil.

The best way of adding humus to your soil is through roots. Living roots deliberately leak sugars into the soil around, to feed microbes, and ultimately create soil organic matter (basically the plant gives the microbes sugars in exchange for the microbes supplying the plant with nutrients, in a number of very interesting ways). This puts organic matter into the soil at depth, in a form that is persistent. While the majority of organic matter added as compost will burn off and disappear into the atmosphere. Of course, in a garden situation, with small areas and a ready supply of compost, you can often afford to just keep adding it. But in a field situation living roots are the solution.

And in your case, it is roots that will get persistent organic matter down into that clay.
 
As everyone else mentioned, increasing soil organic matter is key. It can be mulch, wood chips, compost, manure, cover crop, etc. Work on increasing the soil organic matter.

My soil has the opposite issue. It is very sandy. I'm also always trying to increase the organic matter. I use compost, mulch, manure, and cover crops. I'm also trying to minimize the soil disturbance. Tillage decreases soil organic matter.

I grow a lot of potatoes (Irish not sweet), and winter squash (butternut and japanese Kabocha) because they store well all winter. I'm also big on greens like kale, swiss chard, and collards. I like them because I harvest them almost all year (tough plants). A couple months ago, I was digging through a foot or more of snow to get the collards and kale underneath.

I also grow everything else I can. Tomatoes (esp cherry type), carrots, onions, garlic, lettuce, beets, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, asparagus, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, radishes (daikin type), peas, chives, basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, sweet corn, cantaloupe, honeydew,. watermelon, peppers, eggplants. There might be a few more things I forgot about.
 
Have you ever seen the Back to Eden film? While folks get mixed results depending on their area, there are a lot of folks with very positive opinions of it. I’ve done raised beds, traditional gardening, and Back to Eden gardening (wood chips, essentially), and I’m overwhelmingly in favor of the wood chips.

We bought about 18 acres last year where I’m busy planting fruit trees right now, which has killed my gardening time, but I do have a couple of different tomatoes started, quite a few peppers, and some herbs. We’ll also plant corn and a few other things - just need more time. :)

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My wife and I watched "Back to Eden", and we liked it. It clearly works well.

I do have a couple of reservations about it.

1. We can't really go back to Eden, and shouldn't try. We must press onward to the New Jerusalem. Post Genesis 3, the joys of work are mixed with sorrow. Still, I think the ecological approach of trying to mimic natural systems rather than fighting them is the right approach.

2. There are limited supplies of wood chips. Not everyone can do it everywhere. The USA alone has around 350 million acres of cropland and it would be impossible to cover them all with wood chips.

Cover crops and rotationally grazed livestock integration really are going to be key for regenerative agriculture. Check out North Dakota farmer Gabe Brown on YouTube to learn more about cover crops and livestock integration in farming systems. I think that is where we need to go with larger scale farming.

Still, if you can get the wood chips you need, AWESOME! Go for it.

Back to Eden really is pretty similar to Ruth Stout's no work approach. They both use tons of mulch.

Masanabu Fukuoka also has some great insights in his "One straw revolution" book (but a little Buddhists).

Everybody seems to have a special "philosophy or approach" to gardening. I've learned a lot from a bunch of them.

Permaculture - Bill Million etc.
Bio intensive - John Jeavons (how to grow more vegetables)
Square foot gardening - Mel Bartholomew
Back to Eden
Ruth Stout
Rodale
Joel Salatin
Elliott Coleman

Also look at principles of soil health with Ray Archaleta from the USDA-NRCS.

A. Keep soil covered at all times (plants or mulch)
B. Minimize soil disturbance (no-till)
C. Livestock in system, rotational grazing
D. Have living plants growing wherever possible
E. Cover crops (diverse mixes of them)
F. Crop rotation and diversity
 
Good points, a few thoughts though:

Bartato said:
My wife and I watched "Back to Eden", and we liked it. It clearly works well.

I do have a couple of reservations about it.

1. We can't really go back to Eden, and shouldn't try.
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I don’t think anyone is saying we should go back to Eden. It’s the catchy name someone placed on the movie. Paul Gautschi rarely used the phrase. He is merely telling his story of wood chips. I’m not going to get caught up in a title.

Bartato said:
2. There are limited supplies of wood chips. ... The USA alone has around 350 million acres of cropland and it would be impossible to cover them all with wood chips.
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In interviews, Paul Gautschi and others have said this wouldn’t work in mass crop land - it’s designed for gardens that are maintained by someone who is more intimately involved in what they are growing.

That said, wood chips are getting harder and harder to come by, and not everyone has close resources. However, it’s not just wood chips. I use oak leaves, and they work great. I’ve got plenty of them, and there’s no need for chips.
 
I’ve not grown potatoes, but I have the same issue you do natively: red, clay soil. My neighbor claims she grows great potatoes using straw bales. I think she said she starts with composted manure on top of the bales, then wets them down really good. Afterwards the potatoes grow better than she’s ever seen otherwise. Like I said, I’ve not done this, but she’s a believer. Facebook seems to be down now, but when it’s up again, I’ll come back and post exactly how she does it.

A friend of mine also used buckets, which worked, but there is the constant need to water, which she became very tired of. You can’t leave them long or they dry out.
 
Aineo,.
Have you ever seen where people slack old tires full of mulch to grow potatoes? I haven't done it myself, but it looks cool.

Also, about Back to Eden. I think it really is a great approach to gardening if you can get the wood chips. Like you, I use a lot of leaves. I'd be happy to use wood chips if I had a convenient source.

Somehow in the fall, everyone around me fills up tons of trash bags with leaves and puts them on the curb for the trash man.

I just drive around the neighborhood and collect tons of them. That is my main organic input every year. I can get as many as I want, but usually call it good after 60-80 garbage bags. I compost most of them, but also mulch with some.
 
Regarding the straw bale gardening, here’s what my neighbor said, “I'm getting my straw bales ready for planting. I'm fixing to water them in for the first time. Put a layer of chicken poop compost and black gold compost on top of each bail. Now everyday for 10 days I water them in real good. At that point they'll be conditioned and ready to plant. I've grown everything that you would grow in a traditional garden in straw bales with much success. For this batch of straw bales I'm going to be planting my viny things my butternut squash spaghetti squash pumpkins maybe even some sweet potatoes so they can vine on down the hill here where they've got some room. I don't do straw bale gardening exclusively but I do a little bit of it every year. I guarantee you my sweet potatoes that I grow in straw are five times bigger than any that I grow in plain dirt.”

I thought she said potatoes, but it seems it was sweet potatoes.

I haven’t seen anyone use old tires, but I have seen someone make square layers with wood and stack it higher and higher as the potatoes grow.
 
aineo said:
Have you ever seen the Back to Eden film? While folks get mixed results depending on their area, there are a lot of folks with very positive opinions of it. I’ve done raised beds, traditional gardening, and Back to Eden gardening (wood chips, essentially), and I’m overwhelmingly in favor of the wood chips.

We bought about 18 acres last year where I’m busy planting fruit trees right now, which has killed my gardening time, but I do have a couple of different tomatoes started, quite a few peppers, and some herbs. We’ll also plant corn and a few other things - just need more time. :)

(
)
Click to expand...
The ultrasound technician at my anatomy scan was telling us about it ha. We have been meaning to watch it, so thank you for posting it and reminding me to watch it!
 
Bartato said:
As everyone else mentioned, increasing soil organic matter is key. It can be mulch, wood chips, compost, manure, cover crop, etc. Work on increasing the soil organic matter.

My soil has the opposite issue. It is very sandy. I'm also always trying to increase the organic matter. I use compost, mulch, manure, and cover crops. I'm also trying to minimize the soil disturbance. Tillage decreases soil organic matter.

I grow a lot of potatoes (Irish not sweet), and winter squash (butternut and japanese Kabocha) because they store well all winter. I'm also big on greens like kale, swiss chard, and collards. I like them because I harvest them almost all year (tough plants). A couple months ago, I was digging through a foot or more of snow to get the collards and kale underneath.

I also grow everything else I can. Tomatoes (esp cherry type), carrots, onions, garlic, lettuce, beets, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, asparagus, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, apricots, peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, radishes (daikin type), peas, chives, basil, oregano, thyme, cilantro, sweet corn, cantaloupe, honeydew,. watermelon, peppers, eggplants. There might be a few more things I forgot about.
Click to expand...
Sweet potatoes would love that sandy soil.
 
I've grown sweet potatoes here before and they did alright, but my climate (inland dry Pacific North West) is a little on the cool side for sweet potato (and peanuts, okra, and black eyed peas).

We lived in North Florida for a few years and I grew all that stuff. When we came back up here, I tried it all and mixed results. This is pretty awesome county for growing regular potatoes.

I miss my boiled peanuts (which I had never tried before living in Florida).
 
I am happy this spring to have found trees in the nursery to.replace the ones we lost to gophers and neglect. Even the cherry that I didn't notice had died before it was too late to get a replacement. It is a rootstock of two plum varieties, myroballan root grafted with adara/Puente which is sweet cherry compatible. I got Bing scions from a neighbor. :)
Out of 6 trees planted in 2012 one original is still there, another remains from 2013 I think and FOUR just got new replacements this year. I am hopeful that the plum roots will make a longer lived tree.

For trees and even gardening I recomend checking out www.growingfruit.org

It is a great resource with friendly people that can help by sharing what varieties, methods of growing, etc. work well in any area.
 
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