What have you done for garden prep so far?

[Squirtgunsquirter]

Used the worm farm dirt to make a soil mix for starting seedlings in the mini greenhouse, got the mini greenhouse setup (inside by a big south facing window for now) and got the hydroponics tower cleaned up and ready.

Still haven't heard from the community garden if we got another plot this year... They really need to let us know before planting day.

 

[DrPrepper1]

I had to replace a cucumber plant and a red lettuce plant. They got damaged when they first got planted. I thought they would pull through, but apparently not. I replaced the cucumber and tried kale in place of the red lettuce.

 

[Dani]

I've always had luck with kale. If you pick just the outer leaves, you can eat a long time on the plants. I ate on the same plants since last fall when I planted them. Finally saved 3 to go to seed to replenish my seed stock.

I spent most of my day working on drainage issues, but did get the garden weeded.

 

[SheilaT.]

I'm not starting a garden this year (little point when we're moving) so I'm glad there are so many gardeners here as I will be able to watch how everyone does.

@Danil54grl How do you save seed from your Kale and greens? Do you worry much about cross pollination or isn't that a problem? I save a lot of my own seed, but have never done any of the cabbage types.

 

[lonewolf]

nothing started here yet as the ground is still too waterlogged.

 

[Dani]

I'm not starting a garden this year (little point when we're moving) so I'm glad there are so many gardeners here as I will be able to watch how everyone does.

@Danil54grl How do you save seed from your Kale and greens? Do you worry much about cross pollination or isn't that a problem? I save a lot of my own seed, but have never done any of the cabbage types.

I just leave them alone till they flower. At that point you have green pods where the seed is forming. I let them dry, then thresh & separate. I've only been saving these types of seeds a couple times now since the expansion so really haven't noticed much in cross pollination. The first time I saved small seeds, I actually hulled by hand. That took forever! Putting in plastic bag, hitting them with a broom a few times, pour in bowl and strain they collander. Much easier.

 

[Brent S]

I just leave them alone till they flower. At that point you have green pods where the seed is forming. I let them dry, then thresh & separate. I've only been saving these types of seeds a couple times now since the expansion so really haven't noticed much in cross pollination. The first time I saved small seeds, I actually hulled by hand. That took forever! Putting in plastic bag, hitting them with a broom a few times, pour in bowl and strain they collander. Much easier.

It sucks that I don’t like he stuff because it’s the perfect prepper plant. It is tough and literally grows like a weed, produces loads of edible leaves, and was super easy to get it to seed and collect seeds. I haven’t planted it for two years now and it still keeps popping up in the garden. I just tilled one up the other day. If shtf I would plant some more, but it’s just not to my liking normally.

 

[SheilaT.]

Kale is a great winter favourite. It survives the worst of the weather well into spring.

 

[lonewolf]

I ate some Kale for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and i'd happily repeat the experience.

 

[DrHenley]

IMO Kale is like eating grass flavored Brillo pads. But my wife and daughter love the stuff. I think it's inedible...

 

[lonewolf]

depends on how someone cooks it I suppose, most people boil greens to death, my mrs just "shows it the pan".

 

[DrHenley]

I read somewhere that if you rub kale with vinegar first, it's not quite so Brillo-like. Me, I just like my spinach and collards. Fresh young collards from the garden that don't have to be cooked long. But the big tough collards that my wife buys at the supermarket need to be cooked all afternoon to be edible to me.

 

[Dani]

My absolute favorite way to eat kale is Cranberry Kale salad. There is also a savory salad made with shaved parmesan, pine nuts which is good.

 

[Brent S]

I did learn that the young new leaves are better than the mature leaves. Still not really good, but more tolerable.

 

[Proud Prepper]

I got my old 2 cylinder diesel Kubota tractor prepped and ready.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I've been looking at walk behind rototillers online today. Is anyone familiar with the DR brand? The one that looks the best to me is the Pro XL-DRT. It tills 28" wide by 11" deep.

 

[Proud Prepper]

Ive heard good things about DR pro models

 

[Brent S]

All I know for sure is all walk behind tillers beat you up. The tractor ones are much easier on your body. Either way beats the old fashioned hoe though!

 

[Dani]

I had to borrow a Yard Maintenance walk behind tiller that ran smooth and even going over big clumps did not beat me up. The guy had welded a big metal plate on the front to help push and level dirt around. It really did a nice deep till. The only thing I didn't like on it was that there was no neutral. If it was running, the times were always going. The other good thing was it tiller both forward and backwards.

 

[Brent S]

My forward cable broken couple years back on my tiller, so I moved the reverse one to it temporarily to keep going. I’m kind of thinking at this point I will never have a reverse again... at least it does go to neutral when you release the handle, so it’s a little safer than spinning the whole time.

 

[Petoski]

A local small garden centre wants local produce and needs herbs so I have planted 1500 herbs of various varieties. Never done this before but I figure it may bring in a few extra pennies and I am growing all our fruit and veg anyway. This summers plan was to get the herb garden up and running. I guess it will be a bit more work now Waiting for the snow to melt and some warm weather so i can move them from the garden room. I hope it warms up soon as they will need to be repotted and i am running out of space.

 

[Maverick]

All I know for sure is all walk behind tillers beat you up. The tractor ones are much easier on your body. Either way beats the old fashioned hoe though!

The front tillers are the problem the rear tillers walk behind not so bad, one the ground been turned 3 or 4 times and all the rock removed the front and rear tiller are on equal grounds. I’ll use my ford tractor to turn and till the garden but use the walk behind tiller for the planting rows before I plant.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Well I ordered a new tiller yesterday. I decided to go with the DR brand. It looked like the best tiller in this size and price range, $800 with free shipping. Should be able to start tilling in a couple of weeks.
Also bought a new trailer for the 4 wheelers. It's got electric brakes and electric dump. The trailer brakes will come in handy on our steep hills around here.
Our garden and orchard area is snow free now. The fruit trees have some tiny buds and some strawberry plants are starting to come up. Saw our first wild flowers yesterday too.

 

[Dani]

Hunny made a trip in town with a neighbor. Asked if there was any thing I would like have him to pick up. I said a 6 pk of something would be nice. . . He brought me home a variety of peppers! He knows me well. Tobasco, cayenne, bell, & jalapeno. I didnt have the heart to tell him I already have 18 jalapeno & 14 bell plants already . Only 1 of the cayenne and one of the Tabasco so those are a nice add in.

When hunny came thru the front gate he called to say my goats were out in the front yard. I had just checked on them before I took my shower to get ready for work tonight. Apparently he forgot to hitch the middle pasture when he went to feed pigs this morning and they finally found the opportunity. Hunny got dogs in and I called for my bwbies. Got 22'out of 24 in. Told hunny I'm minus some babies. George and Lulu. I got both and put in pasture. Had to take second shower. Goat urine was not what I wanted right before leaving for work. Two boys didn't forget the promise land and jumped the fence while I was gone. Big dog Alex and hunny got them back in. They are not wanting to mess with Al again so it seems and stayed in pasture. All these years keeping goats I've never had one except for Penelope and that was to just escape her two kids, then she'd jump right back in.

 

[brandx]

I got a ton of leaves in the garden area, just mounded up until I'm ready to spread and till them in. I also have the rabbit cages in the garden, with mounds of pellets to till in as well. Today I bought some asparagus to try again with, (3tries so far), and a large bag of red potatoes and white onions. I'm itching to plant, but with two days of snow starting tonight think it may be wise to wait a little. Anyone else have any good prep ideas for pre planting?

Have my tomato plants started in the house and second set of leaves on, should be just about right at planting time. I will put them up to the first set of leaves. Checking on how to treat my trees for sooty blotch. One recommended taking a rag with bleach water and wiping down each apple. Absolutely NO freaking way. Will probably have to resort to sprays but geez, I wonder what is worse eating blotch, making cider with blotch or spraying and then washing the apples. I should have planted the blackberries farther away but they are established now, may create a new patch and eventually ease them all over to somewhere else. FYI, blackberries harbor blotch which spreads to apples. Off subject, sorry, I tend to ramble.

 

[brandx]

Well I ordered a new tiller yesterday. I decided to go with the DR brand. It looked like the best tiller in this size and price range, $800 with free shipping. Should be able to start tilling in a couple of weeks.
Also bought a new trailer for the 4 wheelers. It's got electric brakes and electric dump. The trailer brakes will come in handy on our steep hills around here.
Our garden and orchard area is snow free now. The fruit trees have some tiny buds and some strawberry plants are starting to come up. Saw our first wild flowers yesterday too.

My plum trees are blooming idiots and the apples aren't there yet.

 

[Dani]

I've had black sooty mold on my crepe mertles before and made up a detergent/water wash. Sprayed on, let it sit for awhile then sprayed off. ended up repeating it a few times to get it all off. Happened with my lemon tree too. Pain in the butt cleaning all those lemons when I got ready to use them. We had a very wet and humid spring that year which only made it so much worse. Did end up doing some major pruning to get better air flow with them. Not sure if sooty blotch is the same thing though. Seems like I sprayed with a homemade type Neem oil too to keep the guys down. Made with detergent, oil and water.

 

[Brent S]

I finally got the motivation to take the tractor and take out the last of the peach trees and two apricots. It was kind of heartbreaking to kill established trees but the maintenance required, and chemicals, to actually get a peach to make it to being edible wasn’t worth it to me. One good thing is that area was overplanted anyways, so now the apples will have an easier time not competing for sun. I had planted 5 pear trees in the fall also and it’s good to see they all made it and are coming to life with the spring warmth! This is definitely my favorite time of year when everything is turning green and coming back to life. It’s really satisfying to see all the effort I’ve put into the edibles here paying off.

 

[brandx]

I've had black sooty mold on my crepe mertles before and made up a detergent/water wash. Sprayed on, let it sit for awhile then sprayed off. ended up repeating it a few times to get it all off. Happened with my lemon tree too. Pain in the butt cleaning all those lemons when I got ready to use them. We had a very wet and humid spring that year which only made it so much worse. Did end up doing some major pruning to get better air flow with them. Not sure if sooty blotch is the same thing though. Seems like I sprayed with a homemade type Neem oil too to keep the guys down. Made with detergent, oil and water.

This blotch is a fungus and it is not harmful to the fruit, it is on the skin only. But we don't want to eat this stuff and since we make cider I am not sure what the results would be and washing hundreds of apples doesn't sound like fun. I know that humidity makes it worse, I didn't get a good pruning on the trees this year unfortunately, this would have helped with air circulation. I was hoping for something natural to fight this fungus that I could spray on. Maybe there isn't anything and I just need to move the blackberries and trim the trees good next winter.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I'm still waiting for the rototiller to be delivered. I was hoping to start tilling the garden soon. Our garden/orchard is on a slight slope and it drains well so I thought I could start tilling soon.
We're still getting snow and the ground is frozen hard this morning. Guess I'm just getting anxious to start working the soil after reading about everyone's garden here.
I really need to build a green house this summer.