What have you done for garden prep so far?

[OldCoot]

In my continual effort to keep plenty of bulk seed in storage, I just ordered another 5 lbs of collard seed. That is actually quite a bit of seed and should be over 1/2 million seeds as normally there are 128,000 seeds per lb. https://www.trueleafmarket.com/pages/search-results-page?q=collards+seeds

My prepping style is to form a community of neighbors on our rural lane. To do so, we will need bulk seed. So I continually add fresh seed to my seed stores as the older seed has a lesser germination rate the older it gets. A cheap way to grow food for a lot of folks is by growing greens and by growing them almost year round. In north Mississippi I can do so by planting collards during the cool months and amaranth during the hot ones... easily 9-10 months out of the year. Both have small seed so a few lbs will grow a tremendous amount of food. If you consider that 100 collard seeds can grow 77 lbs of food, just imagine how much food 500,000 seeds can grow. Collards are a cool weather plant that can take some temps below freezing. They grow during a time of year where we always have plenty of rain. Amaranth, on the other hand loves it hot and handles dry periods very well. IMO, it is very important to plan on growing crops that you know will be able to produce in your area & climate.

Yes, I store lots of other seed, with an emphasis on the three sisters... corn, pole beans and winter squash. But since amaranth & collard seeds are so small and can produce so danged much food, IMO all preppers should keep them in storage.

Here is a single collard plant, which is around 3 feet wide. As you pick the large leaves, the plant keeps putting out new leaves from the top.

 

[Dani]

I harvest all my greens including lettuce that way too. I just dont see pulling it all up by the root when something will continuously put on new leaves. Even when it is the end of the season I will first cut off all the leaves before pulling. Makes cleaning so much easier.
Last year was great for growing greens and I put up enough to last a few years. I let 1 bed of collards and 1 bed of curly leaf mustard go to seed. Once the pods were dried I pulled the plants and threw into an old feed sack to thresh. Once out I removed the big stuff, then put everything left into a colander and sifted the seeds out. Worked good and now I am set on seeds to last me awhile.

 

[OldCoot]

I harvest all my greens including lettuce that way too. I just dont see pulling it all up by the root when something will continuously put on new leaves. Even when it is the end of the season I will first cut off all the leaves before pulling.

You know, I don't pull any plants. When they are done, I chop them at or near ground level, using either my field hoe, a machete, or one of my Hori Hori knives. I'm a believer in not disturbing the garden soil. I want those old roots to slowly decompose and help add nutrients/organic matter back into the soil. Also as those old roots slowly decompose, they will leave channels all thru the soil. The next plant's roots will grow down those channels following the path of least resistance plus following a path of nutrition. To me, great garden soil is a living organism that needs care and feeding and in return, gives back in a bountiful harvest.

I just ordered 25 lbs of Austrian winter peas, that will soon go in my garden beds. They will stay green all winter and protect the soil. Being legumes, they will put nitrogen back into the soil. In the spring, when ready to plant again, I will cut them off at ground level & leave them where they lie. Once again, more root structure to stay in the soil and green manure on top of the soil to hinder weeds and to slowly decompose and release more nutrients. Also the leaves of the winter peas taste absolutely wonderful & make a great winter salad.

 

[DrPrepper1]

You know, I don't pull any plants. When they are done, I chop them at or near ground level, using either my field hoe, a machete, or one of my Hori Hori knives. I'm a believer in not disturbing the garden soil. I want those old roots to slowly decompose and help add nutrients/organic matter back into the soil. Also as those old roots slowly decompose, they will leave channels all thru the soil. The next plant's roots will grow down those channels following the path of least resistance plus following a path of nutrition. To me, great garden soil is a living organism that needs care and feeding and in return, gives back in a bountiful harvest.

I just ordered 25 lbs of Austrian winter peas, that will soon go in my garden beds. They will stay green all winter and protect the soil. Being legumes, they will put nitrogen back into the soil. In the spring, when ready to plant again, I will cut them off at ground level & leave them where they lie. Once again, more root structure to stay in the soil and green manure on top of the soil to hinder weeds and to slowly decompose and release more nutrients. Also the leaves of the winter peas taste absolutely wonderful & make a great winter salad.

What is green manure?

 

[OldCoot]

What is green manure?

From Wikipedia:

Green manures usually perform multiple functions that include soil improvement and soil protection:

• Leguminous green manures such as clover and vetch contain nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacteria in root nodules that fix atmospheric nitrogen in a form that plants can use. This performs the vital function of fertilization. If desired, animal manures may also be added.

Depending on the species of cover crop grown, the amount of nitrogen released into the soil lies between 40 and 200 pounds per acre. With green manure use, the amount of nitrogen that is available to the succeeding crop is usually in the range of 40-60% of the total amount of nitrogen that is contained within the green manure crop.[2]
Average biomass yields and nitrogen yields of several legumes by crop:[3] Biomass tons acre−1 N lbs acre−1
Sweet clover 1.75 120
Berseem clover 1.10 70
Crimson clover 1.40 100
Hairy vetch 1.75 110

• Green manure acts mainly as soil-acidifying matter to decrease the alkalinity/pH of alkali soils by generating humic acid and acetic acid.
• Incorporation of cover crops into the soil allows the nutrients held within the green manure to be released and made available to the succeeding crops. This results immediately from an increase in abundance of soil microorganisms from the degradation of plant material that aid in the decomposition of this fresh material. This additional decomposition also allows for the re-incorporation of nutrients that are found in the soil in a particular form such as nitrogen (N), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and sulfur (S).
• Microbial activity from incorporation of cover crops into the soil leads to the formation of mycelium and viscous materials which benefit the health of the soil by increasing its soil structure (i.e. by aggregation).[2]

The increased percentage of organic matter (biomass) improves water infiltration and retention, aeration, and other soil characteristics. The soil is more easily turned or tilled than non-aggregated soil. Further aeration of the soil results from the ability of the root systems of many green manure crops to efficiently penetrate compact soils. The amount of humus found in the soil also increases with higher rates of decomposition, which is beneficial for the growth of the crop succeeding the green manure crop. Non-leguminous crops are primarily used to increase biomass.

• The root systems of some varieties of green manure grow deep in the soil and bring up nutrient resources unavailable to shallower-rooted crops.
• Common cover crop functions of weed suppression. Non-leguminous crops are primarily used (e.g. buckwheat)[4] The deep rooting properties of many green manure crops make them efficient at suppressing weeds.[5]
• Some green manure crops, when allowed to flower, provide forage for pollinating insects. Green manure crops also often provide habitat for predatory beneficial insects, which allow for a reduction in the application of insecticides where cover crops are planted.
• Some green manure crops (e.g. winter wheat and winter rye) can also be used for grazing.[4]
• Erosion control is often also taken into account when selecting which green manure cover crop to plant.
• Some green crops reduce plant insect pests and diseases. Verticillium wilt is especially reduced in potato plants.[6]

Incorporation of green manures into a farming system can drastically reduce the need for additional products such as supplemental fertilizers and pesticides.

 

[OldCoot]

What is green manure?

Let me explain maybe not so scientifically. Soil is like a bank account. You have deposits and withdrawals and at a minimum you want the account to stay in balance but would prefer the account to build up. Our crops make withdrawals, especially heavy feeders like corn. Today we mostly make deposits thru fertilizer and other chemicals added to the soil. Fail to make proper deposits and the crop is greatly reduced or fails. There are all sorts of ways where one can make deposits naturally and keep the soil account in balance. Rotation of crops, where you don't plant the same crop in the same plot over & over helps. Companion planting, such as the native American three sisters garden help, where the pole beans, a legume, add nitrogen back into the soil to help feed the corn. Allowing plots to stay unused for a year allows nature to rebuild the soil. Then cover crops, green manure, greatly help to build up that soil account. Most are legumes, so they take nitrogen from the air & store it in the ground. Their roots and above ground growth add nutrients and organic matter back into the soil as they decompose. Those same roots and above ground growth protect the soil from being washed away from the winter & spring rains. Keep in mind, these garden plots don't have a cover of grass to hold the soil in place. Short term cover crops, green manure, do that.

IMO, such natural gardening practices make perfect sense even today but will be life saving during an extended crisis. Another benefit from these green manures is that they help provide food for the wild game, during a time of year where little else grows. Around here farmers use a lot of clover, hairy vetch and winter peas in their fields. They especially use the winter peas when they want to feed the deer during the winter as they keep growing even when the temp drops to 10 degrees. My winter peas grow during the fall and early winter, stay pretty static during the cold winter and then have a huge rush of growth in the spring.

Here is one of my beds where I am cutting the winter peas.

And now in that bed, I'm planting tomatoes with my trusty Hori Horo knife & the dead peas will provide mulch and will slowly break down & add nutrients back into the soil. Note other bed with winter peas.

Random pics of winter peas... green manure.

 

[brandx]

I forget to roll up all the garden hoses, so now they're frozen solid. Maybe I'll drag them out in the sun later today so they can thaw out. About every day or so I pull plants out of the garden and give to the pigs. Last week I turned the hens out. They're loving being free again, and I'm loving not having to feed them as much. I need to run electric out to the hen house so I can use a heater to keep their water from freezing. Last year I hauled hot water out every day from the cabin.

That is a real pain to haul hot water, I did that for ducks one year. Then I bought a heated dog dish and that worked as long as I could keep them from trying to swim in it. It was pretty comical seeing them all trying to squeeze into a dog dish and take a bath. but the mess wasn't so funny.

 

[brandx]

Need to get the hoses put away, I keep forgetting.

 

[brandx]

You know, I don't pull any plants. When they are done, I chop them at or near ground level, using either my field hoe, a machete, or one of my Hori Hori knives. I'm a believer in not disturbing the garden soil. I want those old roots to slowly decompose and help add nutrients/organic matter back into the soil. Also as those old roots slowly decompose, they will leave channels all thru the soil. The next plant's roots will grow down those channels following the path of least resistance plus following a path of nutrition. To me, great garden soil is a living organism that needs care and feeding and in return, gives back in a bountiful harvest.

I just ordered 25 lbs of Austrian winter peas, that will soon go in my garden beds. They will stay green all winter and protect the soil. Being legumes, they will put nitrogen back into the soil. In the spring, when ready to plant again, I will cut them off at ground level & leave them where they lie. Once again, more root structure to stay in the soil and green manure on top of the soil to hinder weeds and to slowly decompose and release more nutrients. Also the leaves of the winter peas taste absolutely wonderful & make a great winter salad.

That is a good thing to think on.

 

[DrPrepper1]

Let me explain maybe not so scientifically. Soil is like a bank account. You have deposits and withdrawals and at a minimum you want the account to stay in balance but would prefer the account to build up. Our crops make withdrawals, especially heavy feeders like corn. Today we mostly make deposits thru fertilizer and other chemicals added to the soil. Fail to make proper deposits and the crop is greatly reduced or fails. There are all sorts of ways where one can make deposits naturally and keep the soil account in balance. Rotation of crops, where you don't plant the same crop in the same plot over & over helps. Companion planting, such as the native American three sisters garden help, where the pole beans, a legume, add nitrogen back into the soil to help feed the corn. Allowing plots to stay unused for a year allows nature to rebuild the soil. Then cover crops, green manure, greatly help to build up that soil account. Most are legumes, so they take nitrogen from the air & store it in the ground. Their roots and above ground growth add nutrients and organic matter back into the soil as they decompose. Those same roots and above ground growth protect the soil from being washed away from the winter & spring rains. Keep in mind, these garden plots don't have a cover of grass to hold the soil in place. Short term cover crops, green manure, do that.

IMO, such natural gardening practices make perfect sense even today but will be life saving during an extended crisis. Another benefit from these green manures is that they help provide food for the wild game, during a time of year where little else grows. Around here farmers use a lot of clover, hairy vetch and winter peas in their fields. They especially use the winter peas when they want to feed the deer during the winter as they keep growing even when the temp drops to 10 degrees. My winter peas grow during the fall and early winter, stay pretty static during the cold winter and then have a huge rush of growth in the spring.

Here is one of my beds where I am cutting the winter peas.

And now in that bed, I'm planting tomatoes with my trusty Hori Horo knife & the dead peas will provide mulch and will slowly break down & add nutrients back into the soil. Note other bed with winter peas.

Random pics of winter peas... green manure.

Thank you! I am a beginner harder with one raised bed... but one day I hope to have much more.

 

[OldCoot]

Thank you! I am a beginner harder with one raised bed... but one day I hope to have much more.

Most of my newer raised beds are lower to the ground... just one treated 4x6 board high. Such a bed is much easier to build & much cheaper. So as opposed to building the bed up from ground level & filling with new soil, I simply remove the grass inside the short bed, then dig down around a foot deep to loosen the soil & then mix in soil additives, such as sand (if needed) and organic matter (maybe bags of potting soil). I use short pieces of treated 4x4 in each corner to screw the boards to. If your ground is not level, you can use the 4x4s as legs to raise up part of the bed. Just put a level on the boards to determine where to screw in the boards. Depending on the length of the bed, I will run a treated board in the middle across the width of the beds to keep the sides from bulging out (see empty bed in last pic). No need to set in concrete or to dig a hole for the 4x4 legs. Once you fill the beds and some soil spills out, that bed is locked in place.

 

[OldCoot]

This is the time of year that one can help their garden soil out greatly, without planting a cover crop, by adding a layer of leaves to their garden. Best part is you don't have to do all the hard work of raking leaves. Just go into town & fill your truck with bags of leaves sitting on the curb. In Memphis, the bags have to be free of sticks and other debris and have to be in clear bags. Just perfect for the gardener. Also lots of communities have the vacuum trucks that suck up piles of leaves from the curb. They do a basic grind of the leaves to pack more in. I got one of the trucks to dump the ground leaves at the back of my company's parking lot & hauled them down to the farm in the back of my truck.

 

[Psalm7]

Not food garden related but last year I let the first freeze get to the Wife's elephant ears and they came back in the spring . Iv been told to cut the leaves, stalks down before frost and pile on top of the plants to insulate them and they come back each year . Anyone in the freeze zone have elephant ears ?

 

[Petoski]

All the food is now out of the ground, processed and stored for winter. This is our second year of growing our own food and we learnt a lot from the previous year. We managed to increase the amount of food we produced and judging on last years numbers we should have enough stored this year to last through the whole year. I keep a spreadsheet of all the harvests and weather conditions which was very useful to compare the results. Last year was wet and we got lots more fruit and this year was dry and hot and the root veg was a little smaller in size but the tomatoes and cucumbers grew very well. It is definitely is a good idea to have a well balanced selection of food to safeguard against various weather conditions and bugs that may attack the crops. Next years plan is getting some of the meat and dairy going. I was thinking goat, chickens and then hunting for deer and rabbit.

 

[Dracos]

Its a little early yet. There is no visible dirt. Just snow everywhere. I hope to finish my mostly underground greenhouse this year. It has an insulated and heated room with grow lightes. My goal is tomatos and peppers in January.

 

[user 7704]

I have herbs growing under grow lights. I've planted cabbage seeds twice and zero have even sprouted. Going to change soil.

 

[DrHenley]

I planted these from seeds I harvested last year from some volunteer collards in the back yard. I made five rows and just sprinkled the seeds down the rows not knowing how many would germinate. When they started coming up all down the tops of the rows I realized I needed a LOT more room.

At first I just lengthened the rows on both ends, and transplanted some of the sprouts to the new ends of the rows, but that was far from adequate. I have since made two new rows and have transplanted about half the sprouts in total. I'm still going to have to thin the plants once I figure out which ones are the healthiest. I'll probably harvest a lot of young collards before the final thinning.

 

[Dani]

I have done absolutely nothing out in the garden since last year, but the bug has really been biting. We had to stop by Tractor Supply and they already have tomato plants out to sell. The sun is actually supposed to make an appearance tomorrow so I may just get out there and start tilling. The weather forecast calls for no rain after tomorrow morning for the rest of the week. Just hoping I don't get stuck and have a repeat of last year. With everything going on with work, granny, & hunny's up coming surgery, I will not be doing it as big as I normally do. I just want and need a few things in my life.

 

[Maverick]

I have too much snow on the ground to worry about the garden, end of April or May? hopefully, weather dependent.

 

[Brent S]

I’m planning a smaller one this year too. Just too busy for the whole plot and greenhouse. Bought three tomatoes at Walmart recently with zero flavor. Can’t wait for some decent ones.

 

[lonewolf]

nothing is planted or sown in the ground here until we can be certain the frosts have finished and that's not yet, had a frost just this morning, ground is far too cold for anything to germinate.

 

[user 7704]

I have done absolutely nothing out in the garden since last year, but the bug has really been biting. We had to stop by Tractor Supply and they already have tomato plants out to sell. The sun is actually supposed to make an appearance tomorrow so I may just get out there and start tilling. The weather forecast calls for no rain after tomorrow morning for the rest of the week. Just hoping I don't get stuck and have a repeat of last year. With everything going on with work, granny, & hunny's up coming surgery, I will not be doing it as big as I normally do. I just want and need a few things in my life.

I'm dog sitting the test of the week, so I am going to use the time to start some tomato seeds. The earth doesn't get to 60° here for outdoor planting until the end of April/first of May. We have a few pretty weekends in March and people run to the nurseries to buy plants then they all end up frozen.

Patience grasshopper.

It is almost time to plant my cold crops. I can't get them to start indoors this year.

 

[Dani]

Normally I would already have my cool season crop in. . . I'm further south than you though. I hate it when we get the occasional freeze in May and I'm scrambling to cover and protect. That's only been once in the last 15 years that I can remember, but can happen. Very frustrating. Enjoy your dog sitting .

well it's still raining this morning so it looks like I won't be filling today. . . Weather forecast was only an eighth of an inch but it will be more than that for sure. I guess I will have to catch up on housework in my free time today and maybe work on granddaughters quilt. I'm only scheduled one more day this week at work but have a feeling I will be getting a text closer to the weekend. I kinda feel like they can use me now, but after Hunny has his surgery March 12th they can forget any extra hours.

 

[user 7704]

I have done absolutely nothing out in the garden since last year, but the bug has really been biting. We had to stop by Tractor Supply and they already have tomato plants out to sell. The sun is actually supposed to make an appearance tomorrow so I may just get out there and start tilling. The weather forecast calls for no rain after tomorrow morning for the rest of the week. Just hoping I don't get stuck and have a repeat of last year. With everything going on with work, granny, & hunny's up coming surgery, I will not be doing it as big as I normally do. I just want and need a few things in my life.

I can't believe I haven't even done my fall cleanup. We've just had too much rain all Fall and Winter.

 

[Dani]

Don't feel bad. There are spots in mind too. Hunny says I just need to put some goats over there. . .

 

[Mountain trapper]

The wife and I have decided to cut back on the size of our garden this year. A big garden is just more work than we want. She has several raised beds with herbs and asparagus that she might expand on some. But the rest of the garden will be smaller. Of course that's easy to say now.
In the orchard we have space for 6 more fruit trees, more blackberries, strawberries, blueberries and grapes.
We're going to try starting some seeds in the root cellar this spring too.
Right now there's over 6 feet of snow in the garden so it'll be awhile before we do anything other than planing.

 

[Dani]

Oh how many times have I said that too Arctic. . .

 

[Dani]

Well I had every good intentions this morning. After I fed I went straight out into the garden to start working and after almost an hour got a phone call. . . After taking granny to the doctors and testing I come home with a couple hours to start dinner, feed and then back over to her house. This is my new world now. On the plus side I am almost done with crocheting the baby blanket for our renters at the big house.

 

[user 7704]

I planted my tomato seed today. Put up another grow light for them. We shall see.

 

[Brent S]

So, the plan is to pull the trees (big weeds) out of the garden and greenhouse tomorrow, mow, till and water in everything. The kids are eating healthy now and buying organics, so they both volunteered to help. I will take it when and however I get it!