Last spring, circa March...? I began learning how to garden.  Some of you remember the thread.  I'll post a link later.

I also learned to hot bath can and finally how to pressure can meat.

I also built a chicken coop, ordered Red Stars Layers from the web and I am now getting 16-17 eggs per day.

So, this year, I got started applying things I learned over the course of the last nine months from Arfcom, neighbors, the intraweb, ...

My plans for this year are to re-double my garden in both size and productivity.  Over the winter I squared up my rows, added fertilizer and used the right equipment this time (last year I had only a box-blade when I got started).

Well, you aren't here to read, so here are some pics...

First, a glam shot of my party barn and Farmall Super M.  I've always seemed to own a Farmall, but for years, they have only been used to haul wood.  This one, although not a garden tractor, is finally re-earning its living as a real piece of farming equipment.



Another party barn shot.  36x16'  Half is an outdoor kitchen/bar.  The other side is a covered deck.  Built in 1999.




This is the Satoh Beaver III.  I had always heard that these little garden tractors were 'top notch' for gardening.  I keep getting it stuck.  I used it to irrigate last year.  Worked great as a water pump.



This is the box blade I started with last year.  I also bought a bedding plow (top left) for 40.00(?).  I used it to plant taters in the Fall, but they got in too late.  Saw some small reds come up when I tilled the tater row.  I will use the plow again in a few weeks then I plant taters in Feb.



The three bottom john Deere plow.  Learned to use it last year, but, this year it was not needed.  It's on wooden blocks to reduce the rust.  



Six Foot brush hog I bought.  Got a good deal, delivered.  It was part of my 'equipment expense' last year.  So, I took a pic.



I scored this tiller (5'} on Craigslist last spring for 450.00 {?}.  It has damn sure been worth every penny.  I is a rockstar!



This is how the garden looks as I type this.  Four row of onions planted.  Texas Sweets and some Red Sweet {?}.  The rows are 90'.  So, with 4"-6" spacing...360' planted...700-750 onions planted today.  



The tiller was the rockstar purchase last year, but in second place was a single row cultivator.  I tried, and tried, and tried to get this to work on the Beaver, but it just kept getting me stuck.  I put it on the Super M this year and removed some of the blades so that I could put in two rows 26" spacing, about 4" deep for the onions (onions are not that deep).  I am planting 'in the valley' of the row right now.  They are still calling for a severe drought, so I am hoping the furrow acts as a water catchment.

The spacing also allows me to pull the two 'diggers' and put on the other blades to make this equipment actually cultivate the 26" rows.  Not perfect, but, it will work.



I did make one major mistake.  I failed to put a cover crop to stop erosion from the watermelon patch.  It was not a disaster, but, I have some box blade work to do now and next year I will plant a cover crop of wheat, rye, or oats to stop this.



A couple of gratuitous pics of the garden (vegetable patch) right after I tilled.  It looked *almost* like I knew what I was doing this year...almost...





There were a dozen Arfcommers that gave me advice on all the equipment posted, from advice on buyin, how to use it, how to fix it, and how to adjust it.  You know who you are, so, thank you.

Well, stick around, I'll update pics as I go this year too.

TRG

nice pics and nice garden...but a question? are you going into the truck farm business with the onions?......that is a serious amount of onions you have planted.


BTW: beautiful dogs....

maybe the man just -really- likes onions... :D

Nice pics!

Wow! That's a serious garden! A far cry from my few raised beds.





I also would like to know what you're going to do with the onions.

You could use lettuce, greens, cabbage, etc for cool season harvests and skip the cover crop.

Well, some will not make it, some will be picked early, some given away, some used in canning...

We ran out of onions last year, but I planted waaaay too late and the heat stopped them.

As for truck farming... I plan to retry my watermelon patch this spring.  I harvested about 50 melons last year. I think i can get 500 this year if I can keep the stinkbugs at bay.  

TRG

I was think about a vetch of some sort as a possibility as well.

TRG

One thing I have found with making bigger gardens,  you tend to get more crop-specific pests.  I would suddenly notice a new bug that I had never seen before and it was only on one type of plant.  I didn't know what they were or what method was best for getting rid of them.  It helps to read about known pests for each particular crop and your area of the country.   Some critters can do a tremendous amount of damage in a very short time.  Knowing the early warning signs or the preventative treatments can make a big difference in ultimate yield and quality of the crop.

 

It's funny that you mentioned that.  I was laying in bed last night trying to think of ways to stop the stinkbugs.  They decimated my watermelons and ravaged the squash.

I sprayed, dusted, neither really worked.  I saw some videos on the 'webz that mentioned using lighted traps at night.  My local gardening mentor advised using a plywood 'sandwich' to draw them under, then stomp to death.

Stinkbugs were my only major bug problem last year.  I stocked up on several end-of-season powders, liquids and sprays.  I hope to get a jump on them this year..

TRG

I was thinking edible winter crops.

you grow bacon. You don't get to be envious of anyone except the guy that grows MORE bacon.

Same here.  I have 18 hungry hens that like grass clippings.  I was thinking about using the vetch as a winter vitamin source for them.

I used my push mower with a bagger attached this fall to take them clippings.  Letting them out to free range works, but they stay in my woods.  They don't go out in to my garden area.

TRG

Plant some of the right kinds of flowers in and around your garden, they repel some bugs and attract others.  Also buy some predatory insects.  You can buy lady bugs, mantids and tachinid flies online.   If you hit on the right combo, you won't need to do as much work because it becomes a self sustaining pest control.

Of course, if you're going to spray for bugs you might end up killing the good ones, too . . .

re: rusty plow

A tip from my grandfather:
Drag that plow around until it is nice and shiny.  Rub it with grease when you put it away.  It will still be bright and shiny next year.

Well, that's what he said.  I don't remember that I've ever tried it.  I do know that I got grease all over me when I'd climb on the equipment as a kid.

So you are expecting another dry year?  Might want to put in a few rows of milo/ grain sorghum, it is fairly drought tolerant.  The grain is used as a substitute 1:1 for wheat in animal rations and would be good for the chickens.  I know you dove hunt!  Maybe add a couple of rows of sunflowers, too.  The combo of milo and sunflowers just past the watermelon patch should prove popular with the aerial targets next fall, especially if they can get to that water you pump from.

I used permethrin and Sevin last year.  It left the lady bugs alone, and I really had no issues other than the stinkbugs.  Apparently, only stomping them kills them.  

TRG

Very cool ...

And so it begins...

Thanks.

I looked at the Texas A&M website to look at planting options.  Mar 1 is my average last freeze.  According to A&M Beets can go in as seed, and I am pushing the edge of the six week window to plant cabbage, radishes, carrots, spinach.  

I had some old seeds (radish, spinach, cabbage) from last year, so, 10 minutes to set the rows, 30 minutes of dropping seeds and covering them... done. If they get hit by frost, no big deal.  February-March is the package date for planting in my zone, so if they fail to sprout, or get killed by frost, I am out a couple bucks and it takes 30 minutes to replant it all.

I also installed an app on my android.  It is simple gardening diary.  It is very basic, but let's me record the dates of planting and I used it to record what was on each row.

It is called "My Plant Diary" ... It could use a few more features, such as the ability to record pics of seed packs, or to record UPC codes for plants, but, it's free and will help me remember what is where this season.

TRG

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/publications/guides/E-502_home_vegetable_guide.pdf

Have fun.

This is another planting guide, Farmer's Almanac online.  Pick your city and it gives you another set of planting times/dates.

http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/TX/Arlington

Check your zone for the average last frost.  Count backwards 4-10 weeks (depending on the crop you want) and go to town.

I am going to get a three ring binder, some pencil/pen holders (the kind from grade school) and label the months for planting.  In each pouch, I am going to put the seed varieties I want to plant of the crops I want to eat. For example, February will have a notecard reminding me on potatoes, some packs of beets, cabbage, carrot and other February seeds. This should help me stay organized on what I should be putting in the ground each month.  

Right now, I am using a cheap tacklebox for seed storage, and I have not memorized my planting dates.  Hopefully the folder will help keep me on track.

The seeds I tossed in the ground are too early, except beets.  I expect to lose them (not onions or beets they are fine).  

TRG

TRG, don't forget to plant by the signs...suppose to give you a better crop...

It depends on where you're at.  I'm down closer to the coast, and we've had a wonderful winter.  I've had lettuce, and radishes all winter.  I put in onions around Thanksgiving.  I had some potatoes left over from Christmas and Thanksgiving and planted them the day after Christmas.  I didn't see anything for quite a while.  I was going to till up the area where I planted them today, and I now have potatoes coming up.  

Question for the OP.  What kind of spraying equipment do you have for pesticides?

I buy the 1 gallon hand sprayer of Sevin at tractor supply.

I have a handheld/handpump sprayer that I can use for mixing up weed killer.

TRG

They are probably eating every scorpion that they can find!  Good!

Wow, I can't imagine planting anything in January.  I planted tomatoes and peppers in late April last year and had to cover them twice.

Well, the onions were planted 'for real'.  The other seeds were planted so that I could hone my row spacing/layout before I do the real plantings in February  (potatoes) and mid March (beets, carrots, radishes).

I got lucky last year when I planted watermelon seeds in mid-March.  

Around the second week in February, in both 2010 and 2011 we set records for snowfall. (8-12")  We'll see how it goes this year too.

TRG

You might want to think about getting something a little larger.  One of the things I found about getting rid of stinkbugs, is to not only spray your crops, but spray the area around your crops too.  This provides a buffer where they can't just go and hang around till the stuff dries, then come back.  

I had a lot of problems with them on tomatoes a couple of years ago, and this worked well.

What did you find that repelled them?

TRG

I used the liquid sevin that attached to the end of hose.  In fact, I've used it for several years now, and have had pretty good luck with it.  The directions say to only use it 3 times per season, but with stinkbugs I use it every 7-10 days, or after every rain.  I also spray about 10-15ft. out from the garden on all sides.  Stinkbugs aren't that great of fliers, and when you spray the garden and the area around it, they fly into an area that is also sprayed, giving you a better chance of killing them off.

I sprayed clusters of them directly on the base of my squash.  It did not seem to do anything more than rinse the dust off them.

http://www.stinkbugsremoval.org/stink-bug-control/

TRG

I do my best to keep my garden as organic as possible, so when I've got pests, my shopvac works wonders

Granted, I've got a smaller garden (about 20x30'), but doing it manually lets me attack exactly which bugs I want to get at while leaving others and it's not really a lot of work as I enjoy my relaxing time working in the garden.

The main issue I've had in my area is grubs in the dirt. They are all but impossible to get rid of organically. I have limited their numbers greatly by gathering them as I till in the Spring/Fall, but I can't find/get them all, but there's not so many that they are greatly affecting my garden.

Yeah... scale is gonna keep me from being able to use a shop-vac.  But, there was a mention of using a 'sticky garden torch' as a way to attract and trap stink bugs.

To me, that sounds like a hoe, wrapped in duct tape (stick side out) and an LED flishlight as a lure.

TRG

I'm jealous of your land and and your gardening skills.

But I gots ta tell ya, Man- you done gots too much weights on da front of dat little blue and white tractor.
 Dats one reason why you be keep getting it stuck. Front tires are plowing furrows!

Also the rear tires could be a few sizes bigger, if the transmission will allow you to drop down a gear for a given desired ground speed...

I bought them about a month ago.  They are just hanging there to keep them out of the dirt.

It has not hit a lick this season in the garden.

It's going to go back to its two main jobs, irrigation via PTO and the 4' brush hog work on some hard to reach spots on the property.

TRG

Quoted:
I do my best to keep my garden as organic as possible, so when I've got pests, my shopvac works wonders  

Granted, I've got a smaller garden (about 20x30'), but doing it manually lets me attack exactly which bugs I want to get at while leaving others and it's not really a lot of work as I enjoy my relaxing time working in the garden.

The main issue I've had in my area is grubs in the dirt. They are all but impossible to get rid of organically. I have limited their numbers greatly by gathering them as I till in the Spring/Fall, but I can't find/get them all, but there's not so many that they are greatly affecting my garden



I would think Diatomaceous Earth may have some effect on your grubs.

yeah, but also my redworms and earthworms too... thanks for the suggestion tho.

I watched an aquaculture video from Australia.   His suggestion for those wanting to keep the garden free of nasty chemicals, was to use watered down molasses.  Leaves a coating the bugs don't like, and is not damaging to the final product.



It seemed to work on our small garden, YMMV



 

One website cited rubbing alcohol as a direct spray to kill them.

Anyone know if this would be harmful to squash? melons?

TRG

dunno about that, but I have injected a watermelon with vodka before and it didn't hurt my feelings any

What the heck does one do with 16-17 eggs per day?

Pickled eggs.

 

Yeah, that worked for about a week.

Now, I give them away to anyone that wants them.

TRG

We give them as gifts to customers and friends.

The 2.00 is far outweighed by the customer's reaction.

It's like the Hare Krishnas and flowers.

TRG

Sigh, I wish I was gardening this year!!!



Tag for more lessons that I don't have to learn the hard way!

Can't imagine having that many.  My five hens supply our household, two neighborhood households, and two people at work.  I even gave a dozen to a UPS guy who asked about the chickens.





 

It is not quite a *nightmare* level of production, but, everyday,  seventeen more eggs... Let's just say it is not as entertaining as I thought it would be to raise these hens.

TRG

Planting at the end of may can be risky some years here.


GM

Well, the garden bug hit me in March last year.  Too late for onions to do very well.  Beets survived, barely, and cabbages ...well, couple nice ones, mostly a bust.

My early summer stuff, like tomatoes, I screwed up as well.  Oddly, even though my peppers did not do well in the summer, I was canning them by the quart the week before Thanksgiving.

Local buddy (former member FUGGIT) is picking radishes from his garden this week.  

TRG