Love the heavy mulch. “Mulch gardening” is a cumulative effort - snowballing in a positive direction with each pitchfork full added. So I’ve been adding adding adding more more more OM every chance I get for many years now in the vegetable garden. Before I moved here 13 years ago now the previous older owner never added anything besides the usual 20-20-20 chemical fertilizers. The “soil” was basically beach sand - but after all this time it is now dark and very very rich and loaded with microbial life. Hell, I have bacteria the size of my thumb... A buddy stopped by today and we walked across the street to my vegetable garden. “You planted these out of greenhouse 6-packs 2 weeks ago???” “Yep” “It must be a real PITA watering all the time with all this dry weather this Spring!” “I don’t water very much if ever after the initial planting. I MULCH with OM instead. Look -“ So I peeled back the top layers down to the soil line and of course there were layers in varying states of decomposition and at the bottom there was mucho worms and incredible amounts of Vermicompost. The soil below the mulch was perfectly moist - Geez! I swear by layering old leaves and manure - it’s as organic as it gets, it’s free, it’s easy and I don’t have to water very often. Hoping to get out there tomorrow and get a bit more planted! J
I gotta get a bunch more organic matter but between keeping the kiddo busy and the wife happy I got to get more plants in still as well...idk when it will be maybe in my free time... what free time lol I have no clue either haha!
Jay, this has been a year after year thing for me lol Not all at once. Hehe Go give the wife and kid smooches. The gardens will still be there... lol And I hear ya on the free (lack of) time! J
I'm finally seeing my first tomato plants blooming. Because they are in a hoop house I'll be picking tomatoes until Thanksgiving here in the Pacific Northwest.
During the hot weather (doesn't happen that often here) I do roll up the sides but it still gets warm in there. The tomatoes don't seem to mind the temperature as long as you give them plenty to drink. I'm still lurking in the city just not saying much. I pretty much shared my knowledge in my 2 threads.
All my tomatoes are blooming too. Just took a few tomato cuts, by far the easiest thing to root. Heres a pic of my indigo roses starting to form. Gotta love the purps
Some garden pictures from this morning… Things are about where they should be. From here out now that the roots have taken hold Growth should start snowballing. I need to start thinking about tomato cages is pretty darn quick. I also spent some time doing some mowing down in the lower areas that Joy uses as pasture. It comes in a lot better if I couple times a year. The nutritious part of the grass is on the top 4 to 6 inches so to have it 2 feet tall doesn’t do anyone any good. I don’t get down there often enough. It’s a neat spot. Hope y’all are having a good Sunday! J
I’m in a Northern climate and start early indoors. It’s going to be an early and plentiful harvest, and I hope it is for all you as well.
Another chore that needs doing. I wanted to get it done this weekend but did t have the time. Planning on using this batch for more mulch around the plants in the garden - but may have to wait till next weekend. J
I only have the 5 plants in that spot and get so much biomass it’s ridiculous - something to keep in mind... It’s all about prepping the right sized holes... J
@stoneredd - can you elaborate as to what type of Comfrey you planted? Did you perhaps plant this by seed? Just curious... J
Hi Jerry, I bought the Comfrey from a Naturalist school nearby. I have a Russian and a Common Comfrey so he said. I have cut them down to the ground for mulch and they are back to the same size, just fuller. The school has a barter fair coming up and I am going to barter some red wigglers for something. Should be fun.