Pellet heads!! What's up today?

The good part of it is that I know it will be gone tomorrow. But it is March and we have had many 'noreasters in March. In fact, some of our most heavy snow has been in March of other years. Last year, the snow was up to our butts this time of year.
I was looking in the greenhouse and saw some weeds growing in the pots. These are from seed. that tells me it is safe to start planting cold tolerant plants in there if I want to.

 

Was snowing here today Larry, just light flurries though. ( All bets are off living on the mountain here, those 'NorEasters dumped major snow last March, picking up a case of Beer for the person who plows our driveway tonight - Thanks for that reminder. )

Garden beds are uncovered, going to be 60+F on Wednesday, I have about 3 days worth of car maintenance to cram into a few hours, wife sez "Why don't you roto-till the Garden beds and get an early start? .. " ... It's still freeze/thaw, that would be like roto-tilling Concrete here.
The rototiller "may" have to be buried behind the pellets I'm picking up later this week.

Hope everyone is warm and well, may actually get a day off later this week - hope to see you all then.

Have a great week folks.

 

Jay , if you put the weed and feed down before it rains , you won't get the results you want the herbicide , needs to sit on the leaf surface for at least 48 hrs to get absorbed into the weeds system and do it's job. . It's also best to apply when the turf is damp ,dew or After a rain so it can stick to the leaf surface . If you're just using fert before a rain is perfect . This concludes the public service announcement from your horticulturist

 

Whore da culturist

 

You don't want to touch that soil with a tiller until you can take a handful, make a ball, not have water run out, and it easily crumbles when you squeeze it. Working the soil before that, will indeed be like making cement. Also, there is some information out there now about not tilling or not tilling so deep because it destroys the structure and lessens the nutrients. Just say'in No Till Gardening - How to Practice No Till Farming and Home Gardening

 

I haven't used weed and feed for years now because I am fearful of the animals getting it on their feet and licking it or otherwise getting absorbed. I really don't know how much of a concern this should be, but for me, herbicides are a real concern. I have to look around a buy lawn fertilizer that is just plain, put it on before a rain, and contend with the crab grass that follows. I have found that going out on a sunny morning and spraying the weed directly with vinegar and dawn mixed with water does a adequate job of weed management for things like plantain week, or dandelions. It will also burn up the grass weeds growing between walking stones, or for edging driveways.

 

Today i unbolted the snow plow from the deere, took off the weights and chains and put it back in the shed. didn't use it a single time. snowfall total for this winter is 1 inch, and that didnt happen the same day.

Kinda grateful, yet it would have been nice just once. oh well. I also went and made some improvements in the garden. put a nice border around it with some landscape timbers etc. tomorrow heading out to tractor supply to look at some decent tillers. My ryobi tiller attachment for the weed whacker just isnt doing it for me anymore.

 

I think the same way about the pets and animals and generally will fertilize before a rainfall. I have even cut back on that lately.

 

We use a no till method here. Every year we rotate the fields we use. Last year's production fields will be in cover crop this year. A series of plantings and chop downs that add nutrients and organic matter without adding dangerous manure or expensive fertilizers. The field that will be used this year was planted last fall with "winter kill" daikon radish and field peas. The radish's grew to be 12 -18 inches burrowing a hole in the soil. Their remnants after dying in the winter will continue to hold the soil, decay by the time we want to plant, ultimately leaving an aeration hole. The holes help bring oxygen to the soil fertility process, and helps dry out the soil sooner from the wet springs we have. We will bottom plow a conservative amount of area only when the soil tests show we need to bolster the deep soil with some amendment/s or if we have a drainage problem.

It has been a long slow process but the results speak for themselves. We now have fewer disease and pest issues. The fruit and veggies taste great, they also have a longer shelf life.

 

And there it is! Hard to unscrew years of practices. But this one has real merit once we realize how alive our soil is.

 

The only lawns we have, surround our wells that provide our drinking water. We don't use commercial products at all. We have also evolved in our thinking, not all weeds are weeds. In fact you can eat dandelions and plantain, our local grocery store sells dandelions. Dandelions are also nutrient miners, pulling nutrients up from their deep tap root and feeding the lawns/fields.

My quest to learn was sparked with the painful introduction to Stinging Nettles. I was ripping weeds away from a big ole tree, 3 foot diameter big, I was cutting down. It was in the front yard here just days after buying the property. The back of my hands burst into a painful rash. If I had any of this stuff left on my property I was going to make sure I eliminated it, every last one! I was outright flabbergasted when an Amish told me that they drink tea from the nettles and some will eat them cooked.

Every year I experiment with other non traditional seeds. Last year we had amaranth and quinoa planted.

Yesterday and today we are in the greenhouse planting strawberries. We got 210 planted yesterday.

 

Although I used to go after the grubs the same way, even evolving to milky spore and nema attack. I now attack them with a different approach. The crops the Japanese beetles attack are valuable to me, so I have a bucket with soapy water and knock them into it. It does take an enormous amount of time, each year it is getting better. In any case it's not as bad as it used to be with the potato bugs. Ten years ago my first efforts with potatoes and organic growing were disasters. I would spray organic pesticides and come out the very next morning with more bugs flying in. I had I had my best potato crop last year, the plants were so strong they weren't really bothered with the bugs! That's soil fertility!

 

This would explain my lack of success dating.

 

You being 62, at least you have your memories. I'm 69 and have some issues with my memories.

 

supposed to it 70 today, stove is done for the year, the couple cold days left will be the heat pump. 1.6 tons left over this year. wont be here next year I guess leave them for the new owner.

 

Leave the new owner .6 ton and sell the one ton. Put an add out for a good price and they will be out of your way and some money for the move in your pocket.