TOO Garden Thread

[Big_Holla]

Neighbor down the road grew some 6 ft tall tomato plants but didn’t get a single tomato. Talk about a garden fail

 

[Sgt Fury]

Neighbor down the road grew some 6 ft tall tomato plants but didn’t get a single tomato. Talk about a garden fail

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Wow! What do you think caused that? Lack of pollinators, lack of sun?

 

[finelyshedded]

Neighbor down the road grew some 6 ft tall tomato plants but didn’t get a single tomato. Talk about a garden fail

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Interesting, mine grew 8’ and are loaded so much they fell over after high winds and heavy rain. I just leaned them against the perimeter fence till they stop producing fruit. I’ll cut the tops off them next year at 5 feet if I have to. Lmao

 

[Jackalope]

Wow! What do you think caused that? Lack of pollinators, lack of sun?

It could be the Japanese variety tomato plant. Theyre notorious for only budding and not fruiting.

 

[Big_Holla]

It could be the Japanese variety tomato plant. Theyre notorious for only budding and not fruiting.

Good call, plenty of buds on those suckers. Sorry the picture wasn't a bit clearer, didn't want to get shot taking the pic LOL!

 

[bowhunter1023]

Whole neighborhood wonders where that damned skunk is living!

 

["J"]

Neighbor down the road grew some 6 ft tall tomato plants but didn’t get a single tomato. Talk about a garden fail

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Can you ask for some leaves? So you can grow the same “variety tomatoes“ next year?

 

[5Cent]

Yall need your eyesight checked there Ric & Sgt.

 

[finelyshedded]

Yall need your eyesight checked there Ric & Sgt.

For me it was not really looking at the pic but responding to the text part but yeah I should get these peepers looked at soon. Lol

I have no clue what lame excuse George will come up with though. LMAO

 

[Wildlife]

Harvesting whats left over this weekend

 

[Sgt Fury]

I honestly thought it was the tops of the 6’ tomato plants sticking up over the fence…didn’t really look too closely at the pic, just going off of what was written.

 

[Big_Holla]

I honestly thought it was the tops of the 6’ tomato plants sticking up over the fence…didn’t really look too closely at the pic, just going off of what was written.

Sorry Sarge, had to get someone with it. Maybe I shoulda used another emoji or

 

[finelyshedded]

I honestly thought it was the tops of the 6’ tomato plants sticking up over the fence…didn’t really look too closely at the pic, just going off of what was written.

 

[5Cent]

Pulled the last of everything today, and happy with the new combine performance

 

[5Cent]

Good question - short answer, no.

Longer answer
Turnips or other plants that have a significant taproot - are "mining nutrients" from deep in the soil. These are pulling things up like in both that micro and macro category. You are also allowing a large vessel for water to infiltrate for the entire period of time in which the turnips are growing/rotting, this works as a conduit from water to microbes. You are also benefitting the soil by having a plant exuding into the rhizosphere when most warm-season plants are dead or dying - this is good as it is feeding the microbes/fungi.

Now by tilling it up, you are going to disrupt your fungal network, if not kill some of it off. You are also going to likely see a large increase in CO2 respiration occurring because you are giving your microbes a boost of O2 (like giving candy to a baby) - this results in a FAST breakdown of OM, good right? Well not really because Microbes have a diet that is near 24to1 (CtoN) so once your carbon sources are gone (turnips have fairly low CtoN), the boost in microbe population and hunger needs to be fulfilled, they can turn to OM (humus) in the soil for more C or N to balance their diet, some microbes will also die off, which will be fed into the system.

With tillage, when you are adding an O2 burst to the soil - this can cause some oxidizing impacts on soil nutrients. I am far from an expert on REDOX reactions but I do feel confident using Iron as a good example. When iron is oxidized it is very difficult to make soluble again.

With tillage, you are damaging soil aggregation that is being created with the use of cover crops. Aggregates are formed through root channels, root exudates, and glomalin produced by mycorrhizal fungi - which is like a "biotic glue" that holds the soil together.

Lastly, you are speeding up the natural nitrogen cycle - which means you are more likely to leach N out of your soil. Think of all the N being released by OM breakdown, but if not used up and now in nitrate form - without a root absorb it - there is nowhere for it to go. This is heavily impacted by CEC of the soil, drainage, etc. but worth the food for thought.

All that to say - if you want to till your garden - till on!!

I just wouldn't till my turnips under until I was almost ready to plant. I would also reduce my tillage depth as much as possible and I would add other legumes and grains to my cover crop mix. One of the best benefits of a garden is they are relatively small and we can easily amend the soils with the amendment types of our choosing to create some super healthy-looking crops. This same process becomes increasingly more difficult as scale increases. For garden crops and for the cost, I highly recommend looking into some mycorhizal inoculants - cheap, and well worth consideration- especially if using tillage and wanting to re-establish that fungi in the rooting zone (rhizosphere).

Sorry for the length - hope there is something useful there!

AT

Albert, when will Vitalize offer the Garden products? I have Crimson Clover coming in the next few days, but would love for more options in this area for the garden over winter.

 

[finelyshedded]

Maters still being very fruitful and more coming soon.

 

[at1010]

Albert, when will Vitalize offer the Garden products? I have Crimson Clover coming in the next few days, but would love for more options in this area for the garden over winter.

So we just need to pack our fall covers smaller. We have a lot of sales to small farms, gardens, etc. just buying the half acre and splitting it between a few friends but ideally - I will add a small qty. packages for a more economical, smaller-scale grower.

I just need to clone myself! haha thank you for thinking of me, buddy!

 

[5Cent]

So we just need to pack our fall covers smaller. We have a lot of sales to small farms, gardens, etc. just buying the half acre and splitting it between a few friends but ideally - I will add a small qty. packages for a more economical, smaller-scale grower.

I just need to clone myself! haha thank you for thinking of me, buddy!

Gotcha, here is a shot of what Hoss is using for their 1lb'rs.

I broadcasted it in last night, nice .3" rain this AM. Went out and hit it with the roller just now.

 

[bowhunter1023]

We just got pounded with a good storm, which was perfectly timed for my garden. It got a blend of turnips and clover on it after blending in 2 skid steer buckets full of compost. I also added 100#s of lime and 50#s of 12-12-12. I bought a new sprinkler to help ensure I get some solid growth before winter. My plan is to buy a fair amount of actual topsoil in the spring to help build the soil. It's turned into nothing but clay dust over the past few years.

 

[Sgt Fury]

Finally found the peach theif! Next spring I’m setting up many have a heart traps and shooting every squirrel I catch in the fuggin head!