garden time is coming

[johnson1942]

Mary B, i think you hit the jack pot. that is mineral rich fertilizer you are looking at. shovel the crumbly loose stuff into a pick up truck bed take it home and scatter it on your garden and have someone till it in. in you norther minn. acid soil also till in wood ash, not coal ash but wood ash. also find discarded sheet rock from remodeling jobs of houses break that up and till that in also. even though they took the iron out of that rock their their is still iron in it that is available for plants. look at the color of it. that stuff is gold to a gardener. wish i had a dump truck of that stuff here in ne. we are short of iron in our soil. that stuff mixed in a good humus soil and your in business for gardening. if you travel straight north of me to n.dak it is real dry just like here. however they grow a lot more bushes and trees in n.dak in spite of the lack of water. the diff. is this. their soil is red up their and full of iron, that why n.dak can grow trees and bushes on the west end of their state that we dont grow well here. IRON. every ranch and farm every where has rotten straw or hay bales that they will never use, that is a gold mine also. all grave yards power rake their leaves and stack them somewhere with their grass clippings. that is gold also. we have a huge compost heap of leaves and grass behind the graveyard here. some is about back to a lush soil. this year im going to thow pumpkin seeds allover that compost heap and see what happens. if we get enough rain we get enough pumpkins to supply every one in town. ive been thinking about tailings for years, just wish i could get them here. thanks for the picture.

[MaryB]

I am 160 miles sw of that... I live on the prairie where I have 4 feet of rich black loam when I dig. Garden actually needs some peat this year to lighten the soil some, and a load of manure. Last time I dug holes for the solar panel frame I cut through a foot of sod first, then rich black dirt then I always hit a layer of hard pan clay, then gravel after 6 inches of that.

[johnson1942]

my mother is 92 years old and lives in moorehead, are you near their? that soil you have will grow anything, wish i had some of it here. my wife wants us to move to cass lake where she could get work. who know maybe some day i will give in. if i did, the first thing i would put in is a large blueberry garden. also straw berries and raspberries. man can you grow them up their. the ground up their smells like fish when you till it. most is a old lake bottom. perfect for growing things.

[MaryB]

Moorehead is way north, almost due west of Hibbing. I am down near Redwood Falls/Marshall. Soil down here is even better than Mooreheads which is a bit sandy.

[johnson1942]

lived very close to you way back when, very very nice country.

[Artful]

So anyone doing vertical gardening - like in a tube?
http://truegarden.com/tower-gardens/

or

[MaryB]

Wind here would destroy that...

[johnson1942]

planted radishes and onions for green onions today. also planted two pear trees. going to grow a lot of different kinds of winter squash this year. what we dont eat we will sell. they are easy to sell in the fall. also got my tomato bed all ready for mid may and planting. will plant potatoes in 2 weeks and strawberries. no rain or snow of recent but plenty of moisture in the soil. is about 80 degrees to day.

[DLCTEX]

I plant my tomatoes in a cylinder of concreted reinforcement wire. I use the heavy duty type and sink it 10-12 in. deep in the soil so it freestands even in our wind. Plant the tomatoe in the center, then wrap the cylinder with clear 4 mil plastic, roll the edges and fasten with a desk stapler. This creates a mimi greenhouse about 5 ft. tall and keeps wind and wind borne disease off the young plants. When the weather becomes hot, remove the plastic and train new growth inside the cage. In our dry climate I have just dug a hole , plant in the center, then bury the wrapped cage to leave a well to hold water that soaks deeply. Works great.

tomato in the singular, can't correct easily with my tablet.

[WRideout]

Bugs burrow in the stalks of my summer squash and kill them right about the time they start producing. I say every year im not going to plant any more, but I do it every year. Lol. I need to figure out a way to grow them and kill the bugs.

I was having a lot of trouble with cucumber beetles getting into my zucchini, the same way. A couple of years ago, I somehow ended up planting much later than usual, and the beetles never attacked. Some time after that, I was talking to a man at the Conservation District, who told me about a thing called "cucumber day." That is the earliest day in the spring that you should plant all the cucumber and squash related plants, because the beetles only get them in the early spring. Now I always wait a while to plant.

Wayne

[hoosierlogger]

Awesome Wayne, I'll wait to plant them this year and see if that makes any difference.

[johnson1942]

planted 20 golden current bushes and 20 honey locust trees to day. got the bunch from the state of neb. for 35 dollars. cant beat that deal. they are one of the few things that grow good up here in this high country.

[oneokie]

planted 20 golden current bushes and 20 honey locust trees to day. got the bunch from the state of neb. for 35 dollars. cant beat that deal. they are one of the few things that grow good up here in this high country.

Curiousity qestion, why would you plant honey locust trees?

[johnson1942]

they grow into a beautiful large tree and nothing seem to kill them or stop their growth in this area.

[FISH4BUGS]

The last of the snow is leaving us. It is only in very protected areas, and that should be gone in a few days. Here in New Hampshire it was a tough winter - well over 5 feet of snow and very cold temps. We burned 7+ cords of wood and the stove went 24x7 since about october.
The garden will be prepped and seedlings are already underway.
We grow a bunch of squash - butternut and buttercup. I put a bunch aside in the fall but cook up and freeze most of the rest. When the ones in the basement get a little punky I cook them up and freeze them
Squash has been my favorite out of the garden. Put in a little butter and a touch of molasses or maple syrup and yumbos!
Green beans (36 plant's worth!), tomatoes, brussel sprouts, squash, and brocolli are the staples that we freeze.

[bangerjim]

Here is the Desert SW our garden planting season is looooong gone! We are hitting the 90's now. The wife has tried for years (being an old Iowa farm girl) to raise a garden like we had back there. Everything burns up.

I do my gardening in the produce isle of the grocery stores! To heck with all the sweat and toil of a garden. Been there...done that, too many times back east.

And all my hunting is done in the menus of Texas Roadhouse, Black Angus, and Outback! Life is good.

banger-j

[oneokie]

they grow into a beautiful large tree and nothing seem to kill them or stop their growth in this area.

Enjoy them.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The little ones, looking out, at their future home.

[johnson1942]

fish for bugs, im a squash grower also. i encourage you to go to baker creek on the internet and get some knife river landrace squash seed for them. it early, hardy and very sweet and a good keeper. the squash comes from the arikara tribe and i gave that seed i got from the arikaras several years back to baker creek and it has caught on in the northern areas. it is really worth growing. i gave a huge bag of seeds of that squash 25 years ago to a lady who went to the mountain of mexico to visit her family and all of her family were liveing off of their gardens. they are most likely growing it all over the mountains down their now as it really produces in the harder climates. it would really grow well in your area.

[chuckbuster]

Its a start