A farmer works in acres not hours.
10/1/2020 – Using the new Taylor soil thermometer the soil temps 2″ down in the big garden was 88° (soil that had been in the shade for about 30 minutes) to 92° for the nearby soil that was still in the sun and had been for 5+ hours on this almost cloudless day with the […]
Continue Reading8/26/2020 – Tehama – One packet has 250 seeds planted on 12″ spacing, 1/4″ deep in 18″ rows. Pre-sprouting in the frig – For most crops, 0.2 inch (5 mm) [initial root] is enough. For lettuce half that length is good, and one day may be time enough. per Pam Dawling. Lettuce can be planted […]
Continue Reading9/28/2020 – Sowed Elbon Rye in the north half of the garden as a cover crop. It grew well last year in the south half. The roots are supposed to trap root-knot nematodes and break up the subgrade fairly deep. The grass will improve the organics in the soil. The area is 1/6th acre including […]
Continue Reading9/28/2020 – Mary bought a six-pack of Bonnie Romaine Leaf Lettuce and a six-pack of Red Romaine Leaf Lettuce at Hurley F&S. Today she planted them in the flower bed along the electrical panel wall at the back patio; i.e. in front to the new hydrangeas.
Continue Reading9/27/2020 – Mixed 2 gallons of Monterey Spinosad (from the new 1-gallon jug delivered last week) at 2 oz/gallon plus non-ionic surfactant. Sprayed the following. All plants in the garden that again have flea beetles. mustard butternut squash white scalloped squash beets broccoli radish did not spray the peppers or flowers All plants in Mary’s […]
Continue Reading9/26/2020 – As Hurricane Sally came across the Gulf on 9/13/2020, supposedly headed west of New Orleans, I set up some Peppermint Chard seed to soak overnight. But, Sally kept trending east and eventually came ashore in Baldwin County. The seeds had spent over 24 hours soaking at room temperature but the storm was coming […]
Continue Reading9/24/2020 – The flea beetles are also on the small plants. Sprayed everything except the peppers with Spinosad. She fed most with fish emulsion including the tomatoes.
Continue Reading9/23/2020 – Mary picked swiss chard but it all had some dead and live flea beetles. All leaves were speckled with their damage as they were everywhere. Threw it in the compost. Sprayed Bug-No-More on: Chard Cabbages Broccoli new little Tendergreen mustard radishes mustard 9/24/2020 – Cut off all leaves of the chard and saw […]
Continue Reading9/23/2020 – We sowed the following in the big garden expecting the 80% rain this afternoon through tomorrow noon. The placement is listed in the south to north order. Note that some of these locations are where other seeds failed to germinate–likely due to the daytime temperature. Update – We only got about ¼” but […]
Continue Reading9/23/2020 – The Blue and Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins grew great vines and beautiful leaves with lots of blooms. Then the leaves and vines started turning yellow. Leaves fell off. Sprayed them several times with Spinosad and Bug-No-More (Zeta-Cypermethrin sp?) to try and stop squash vine borers getting to the others. When all of them were damaged, […]
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