Wow, wish we had room for all that, keep up the great work

Planted sweet corn and cucumbers today. First time doing corn.

For those who appreciate a cool soil test, this is from my garden. 17 years of no tillage and the equivalent of 15 tons of mulch (oak leaves, some compost) added annually. That sounds like a bunch, but in a year's time, 6 big bags "disappear". Note the pH (oak leaves didn't turn this Victoria clay acidic) and organic matter. Most conventional crop fields in the region will be good to do 1 1/2%. Here's the wild thing- the only fertilizer it gets is a tablespoon or so of organic under squash, and tomato plants, and the occasional side dress of okra. The micros are all from leaf and compost breakdown. This surprised even me.

For anyone that is truly interested in getting these tests, B1-83 can confirm or not, but this is a more advanced test. It looks like

5. R + Micro + B + OM + Texture Analyses (TEX)

Is this the one you did?

Yes. I wanted the micros and OM.

B-1 83 said:

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Yes. I wanted the micros and OM.

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I found this interesting and to your point about no till (i think). I don't do 'no till' because its a large area and Id rather sit on my tractor, but.....this soil sample was taken before I did anything with the garden. This was a pasture that has not been worked since the 60's. This particular sample is near an oak tree, that right now, is solid with oak leaves being shed. The soil is black clay and limestone cobbles in the hill country. At the time this sample was taken, it had not been fertilized, broken, or worked in any way, nothing but cattle and wild animals runing across it. I thought it interesting that I thought it would be depleted, but it's quite the opposite.

ought1ag said:

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Throwing some tomatoes and radish in the ground today.

36 celebrity
12 red snapper
12 early girls
6 better boy

Would have like to have a better mix of the variety but they were picked over pretty hard and had to get more celebrity than anything. Never tried red snappers before.

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Nice onions. I assume you planted in Novemebr

I reconfigured my garden this year so did joy get planted but when we pull onions like yours they will normally last till september

What about yours or do you sell

But nothing will make you throw up like a rotten onion

Planted 15 tomato today. Need to pick up 5 more, get some peppers. Wife wants cucumbers but I have no idea where I'm going to grow those. Not in the tomato beds!

3- Early Girl
3- Champion
2 - Big Boy
1- Beefsteak
1 - Better Boy
1 Juliet
1 - sweet Million
1- Carmelo
1- some kind of Roma
1 - Parks Whopper

Chickens got into our strawberry patch and ripped up a bunch of our bare roots. And now the nut sedge is coming in strong! Gotta get the kids to weed tonight.

Tomatoes…..better bush, mountain man, and old German.

And I'm a sucker for blueberries. My kids favorite. But can never get them to last more than a season or two with my alkaline soil.

we planted the onions in the middle of Nov and use them mostly in salsa and pickles.....but i would say half of them just get given away.

Dont know if you care to but as I said we put ours on metal racks and they will last till sept october Wife just walks out and grabs a couple and cooks with

They have a shelf life of 3-6 months depending on onion

Planting the second round of Contender Green Beans this week and am going to try to get around to putting in drip irrigation if I have time this weekend. The old soaker hose is about on its last leg

i found some cheap 50 ft ones at walmart for 9.99.....so far it looks like they will make it a 3rd season.

Finally got all of my seedling in the ground yesterday.

5 heatmaster tomatoes
3 chocolate cherry tomatoes
5 cucumber plants
Onions planted in January
Lettuce and carrots planted in January too. I'm pretty concerned about them. I've not had great luck with either.

Surprised more of you don't do lettuce and/or spinach. We use the heck out of it, and there are lots of varieties out there.

B-1 83 said:

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Surprised more of you don't do lettuce and/or spinach. We use the heck out of it, and there are lots of varieties out there.

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I do a buttercrunch lettuce and have a ton of patton hybrid spinach seeds.

I really don't care for the buttercrunch lettuce taste. After the spring garden is done I always plant a fall garden but never take care of it enough for it to do anything. Just read that the patton hybrid spinach crows in spring gardens. Might throw some down this week and see what happens.

B-1 83 said:

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Surprised more of you don't do lettuce and/or spinach. We use the heck out of it, and there are lots of varieties out there.

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i do pretty much year round, but seems the juciest varities dont like our humidity. all those salad bowl varities are too dry and stale for me, they go straight to the pasture animals.

What can I do to keep this common Bermuda out of beds.

Lonestar-aught-six said:

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What can I do to keep this common Bermuda out of beds.

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Discontinue gardening.

I hate Bermuda, the worst thing about my garden.

My plants got hailed on last night. No idea what the damage is because we are out of town.

Question- I have a couple tomato plants about 18-20" tall that are blooming. I typically pinch off the blooms so that the plant will grow. At what point should I leave the blooms? Thought last year I waited until April, but I didn't get crap for tomatoes last year.

Last year was not a good year for tomotoes Some people did well but most did not get many including myself

Had a bunch but the rains at the times it came destoyed most

Zjones920 said:

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Finally got all of my seedling in the ground yesterday.

5 heatmaster tomatoes
3 chocolate cherry tomatoes
5 cucumber plants
Onions planted in January
Lettuce and carrots planted in January too. I'm pretty concerned about them. I've not had great luck with either.

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Carrots again In my opinion are very hard Inhave planted three times one fall before they come up

Must water everyday and they do not start to sprout for 21 days until you see if the watering took

Anyone worried about this cold snap?

I planted almost a month early this year and wasn't worried about a freeze.

Everything i have is in ground but I'm worried this snap will kill some stuff. Gonna have my wife throw blankets over the garden beds i reckon.

It pretty much has to be 38 or so for frost or you not in the 50s in clear lake area

I dont love in clear lake area anymore and forecast is 41 but over the last year it has been colder than the forecast often. At a bare minimum I think we need to cover tomato plants.

Another user here gave me some nice tomato plants that were killed on a similar forecast.

Pulled a few radish.....not too bad if you like sand and chalk!!