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Been busy down here…
We got those three 60*F nights in a row…
Bedded up sweet taters last week… Jewel, Covington, Murasaki (Red), Long Purple no name, Japanese (White) and Jersey Sweet…
Planted more Asian Long Beans (best pole beans ever), set out ‘maters and peppers…Broccoli, Califlower and Cabbage coming in — ready in ’bout 10-14 days…
plenty of greens and carrots leftover from the winter that ain’t run up yet…
Cukes starting to climb…Still working on that Alkaline soil… it’s hot… small seeds — carrots, radishes and beets came up fine… but squash and zucchini seeds totally disappeared / evaporated into thin air after 10 days… replanting some transplants at end of week…
Gonna run another report in 2 weeks and share the results with ya’ll…
————————–I know you boys to north and west are getting busy too…
Now I got another turfgrass question for ya’ll….
If you have Tifway319 and St Aug mixed up… which way is the best way to go???
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!One way or the other, I committed to this front yard renovation…Been spraying Roundup and killing it! I unless I just plant it in soybeans for the summer, plow it under and start over with fescue in the fall.
Got my report from Bill, now I have to interpret. Sure is a good thing that Cowdog isn’t in the ag business…You’d never interpret him!
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
Stick… even Mr. Dog knows red sandy SC dirt ain’t got nuttin’ ‘cept red in it …
“Farm by the Bag” is what the old men used to say…
Now we know, while that mighta made a crop in a good year… most of it washed down the creek….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Stick… even Mr. Dog knows red sandy SC dirt ain’t got nuttin’ ‘cept red in it …
“Farm by the Bag” is what the old men used to say…
Now we know, while that mighta made a crop in a good year… most of it washed down the creek….
That’s a fact. Makes a pretty infield skin, though.
Stick… even Mr. Dog knows red sandy SC dirt ain’t got nuttin’ ‘cept red in it …
“Farm by the Bag” is what the old men used to say…
Now we know, while that mighta made a crop in a good year… most of it washed down the creek….
That’s a fact. Makes a pretty infield skin, though.
Well, you can grow peaches in it!
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
Getting that “Million Dollar Rain” after two dry / hot weeks…
87*F here Saturday..
1″ yesterday…
1.8″ so far today…
more to come…Picked a bunch of Kale, Chard and Collards Saturday…
Broccoli and Cauliflower ready to harvest as soon as it dries out…Went to the Farmers Supply Saturday — they gave me some ‘mater plants to try..
Said they were “developed and proven to be virus resistant by NCState…
I said …. in New Hanover County — that’s a “Maybe….”Any of ya’ll ever tried any “Amelia” ‘maters ?
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I don’t know that one – as a gardener and not a farmer my take is there is virus protection is a bit overblown as most og the open pollinated ones have never been tested. That is a different view from farming. In my garden I do not rotate crops but I do “rotate” soil. For this year I’m trying a Cherokee Purple x Brandywine called Gary O’Shea. I love the CP flavor and if the cross reduces the size on the core without losing the flavor it will be a win.
I was given a few Amelia seeds a few years ago from a friend at Clifton seed company. Decent tomato. I didn’t get any diseases on any of them that year, but a single sample size year is worth nothing. Viruses mutate fast so it’s just a matter of time any resistance will be worthless most likely.
Viruses mutate fast so it’s just a matter of time any resistance will be worthless most likely.
^that’s right… sooner or later…
I planted 1,000 ‘maters last year on the big farm… over 20 varieties, heirlooms, Celebrity, Marglobe, purple, yellow and red cherry…
The only two that “produced” without defect was Matt’s Wild Cherry and the Yellow Cherry — picked a lot of Celebritys and Marglobes but they had spots in ’em…
Viruses, mildew on the rest… and then there was one row of something that two 4″x1″ tobacco worms ate in one night….
so this year… cut that way back…
6 Celebritys and the 8 unplanned Amelias in a different setup…
We’ll see what happens…I’m just gonna get the rest of my ‘maters from RThomas…
He’s the MATER-MAN…. since 1960….and I might import some in later in the summer from the red clay hills of the Old Belt…
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Jetstars will be starring in the tomato plot this year. Said to be “non-crackable.” Hah! If they were ripening this week, fat chance of that.
Amelia is ok, grew a lot of them about ten years ago. Not really anything new. The high tech tomato now is grafted rootstock. I just planted 30,000 just before the flood.
Rthomas, have you done any tomato work with Frank Louws or anybody from his lab. Cary Rivard was spearheading some of his grafting work when he was getting his PhD some 8 or so years ago. Great folks both of them.
Rivard did his PhD work on my farm and Lowe’s grad student has a large plot here this year along with State’s tomato breeder.
I just planted 30,000 just before the flood.
5.7″ in two days just down the river…
Old farmer said…
“Sometimes, too much of a good thing is just as bad as too little…”
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!I had just finished updating my 40 ft long raised beds Saturday with 2 X 6 sides. Last year they were just mounded and I had to mound up the sides to keep the water in. I had hoped putting sides on would alleviate that problem, and then the monsoon came. 8 inches yesterday, 2 today and finally it’s moving out. Haven’t had a chance to see them yet, hopefully they didn’t spring too many leeks. I was hoping to get smaller rains until I could see where potential problems are. Oh well.
This year I’m planting 300 hills of corn in those long beds, spread out over 3 plantings the stagger the crops coming in (and be able to freeze as much as possible). Few other things I’m doing different this year. Putting up a 30% shade for the maters, got me some blue hubbard squash for sacraficial plants for the squash borers, and dropped a shallow well for irrigation along with a collection system for rain off my shop. Want to make sure I keep the corn well hydrated along with other stuff in the long beds.
Smarter than the average bear
Well, you can grow peaches in it!
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· BEING A FARMER IS TOUGH!
A farmer was selling his peaches door to door. He knocked on a door and a shapely 30-something woman dressed in a very sheer negligee answered the door.
He raised his basket to show her the peaches and asked, “Would you like to buy some peaches?”
She pulled the top of the negligee to one side and asked, “Are they as firm as this?”
He nodded his head and said, “Yes ma’am,” and a little tear ran from his eye.
Then she pulled the other side of her negligee off asking, “Are they nice and pink like this?”
The farmer said, “Yes,” and another tear came from the other eye.
Then she unbuttoned the bottom of her negligee and asked, “Are they as fuzzy as this?”
He again said, “Yes,” and broke down crying.
She asked, “Why on earth are you crying?”
Drying his eyes he replied,
“The drought got my corn, the flood got my soy beans, a tornado leveled my barn, and now I think I’m gonna get fvcked out of my peaches.”^My wife laughed out loud when she read this…
then she said, “You boys just don’t want to grow up, do you?”
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!well CD, supposedly the borers have the highest affinity for that particular type of squash, and yes, I’ll probably plant extra just so hopefully I’ll get a few before they get squashed (pun intended). I’m going to try something different this year, fewer squash plants but replant in the middle of the borer cycle to minimize their effects.
Smarter than the average bear
With summer squash I tend to plant late to disrupt the borer cycle – it helps but is not a cure all. Being a garden rather than a farming operation I can easily do that. I prefer to not use ‘cides but when they are needed they are needed. It is always interesting to compare what you can do as a gardener with a small plot as compared to a farmer.
Tractor, last year I planted more corn in a much smaller plot and I was able to keep it watered with about 20% of what I’d used in previous summers and had twice the yield of summers where I could not water enough. For me raised beds was THE way to go. Companion planting and I could keep the weeds out easier, had better yields overall with much fewer plants. I had romas running out of my ears. This year I’ve reduced my mater plants by 40% just to give my cukes more room to grow. At my age easier and smaller is better. I also gave away a lot of veggies to my more elderly neighbors. Most offered to pay but that would have destroyed the karma. Besides, the smiles were more than payment enough.
It was funny though, all of them were wondering what the heck I was doing with the raised beds at the start of the season last year. It didn’t take them long to remark how much I was getting out of such small spaces. I’ve seriously considered selling my disc and hiller. Both are pretty much useless now, I’ll never go back to row cropping.
Smarter than the average bear
I also use raised beds – lots of reasons starting with the clay here could not be worked until late spring meaning I had problems growing peas, beets, various greens. My garden is half raised beds and half conventional. The conventional I use for things like winter squash. The raised beds get tomatoes, summer squash, cukes (on a trellis), horseradish, eggplant, etc. In the fall I use a “greens mix” as a cover crop and to provide greens and turnips (plus some radishes). Things you can do in a relatively small garden as opposed to a farm situation.
Well, you can grow peaches in it!
·
· BEING A FARMER IS TOUGH!
A farmer was selling his peaches door to door. He knocked on a door and a shapely 30-something woman dressed in a very sheer negligee answered the door.
He raised his basket to show her the peaches and asked, “Would you like to buy some peaches?”
She pulled the top of the negligee to one side and asked, “Are they as firm as this?”
He nodded his head and said, “Yes ma’am,” and a little tear ran from his eye.
Then she pulled the other side of her negligee off asking, “Are they nice and pink like this?”
The farmer said, “Yes,” and another tear came from the other eye.
Then she unbuttoned the bottom of her negligee and asked, “Are they as fuzzy as this?”
He again said, “Yes,” and broke down crying.
She asked, “Why on earth are you crying?”
Drying his eyes he replied,
“The drought got my corn, the flood got my soy beans, a tornado leveled my barn, and now I think I’m gonna get fvcked out of my peaches.”Awesome…the heck with zoysia and tomatoes. I’m growing peaches!
"Whomp 'em, Up, Side the Head"!
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