Madfarmer's 2023 Grow

[MadFarmer]

I wanted to give this year's grow a clever title; 2023 Resurrection, 2023 Redemption. But then I didn't want to jinx it.

Two rows of each variety for 36 plants. My plan is to build a 5x12' raised bed to fill with 16 plants, nevermind I haven't purchased any materials or prepared a space for it.

 

[deluxestogie]

Mounded Raised Beds: How To Make An Unframed Raised Bed

If you're like most gardeners, you think of raised beds as structures enclosed and raised above the ground by some sort of frame. But raised beds with no walls also exist, and these mounded raised beds are also great for home gardens.

www.gardeningknowhow.com

Just an idea.

Bob

 

[MadFarmer]

We have liftoff! Every variety accounted for.
This photo is a couple days old. I'll have thinning to do tomorrow.

 

[MadFarmer]

What I did today:


Thinned and pricked. If you're a new gardener and want to develop tolerance to culling seedlings, grow tobacco. The small pile of tobacco starts makes tossing a tomato seedling (one variety I got free twice and only planted once) so much easier.
The weather is warm enough the next few days that the eggplant and tomatoes are staying out all night! Their slumber party should last until Wednesday, they grow up so fast.

 

[skychaser]

Baby killer!!

lol Just kidding. I know how you feel. I often have enough for a salad when I'm done. They are really easy to divide if you have room for more plants. Wait another week or so until they are a little bigger, pop the dirt from the hole and swish the dirt away from the roots in a small bowl of water. Divide them up, re-pot and soak them in. I've divided hundreds of tobacco and tomato seedlings that way.

 

[MadFarmer]

I worked on all my veggies today and my tobacco only made a cameo. I've misplaced my tweezers so everyone had a break from thinning.

They'll get labels soon. I have to go buy more bamboo skewers.

 

[MadFarmer]

Still need labels. Going out in a week or two; Piloto Cubano, Yellow Twist Bud, and Glessenor.


My seed starting area is messier than it looks.

 

[Knucklehead]

The plants look good. Best of luck with your season.

 

[MadFarmer]

Something got loose among my young plants. I killed an unidentified caterpillar Monday or Tuesday.

The Glessenor was the hardest hit, the Piloto seems unscathed. Fingers crossed I'll have my bed built today full of the salvageable seedlings.

 

[Knucklehead]

Something got loose among my young plants. I killed an unidentified caterpillar Monday or Tuesday.
View attachment 45495View attachment 45496
The Glessenor was the hardest hit, the Piloto seems unscathed. Fingers crossed I'll have my bed built today full of the salvageable seedlings.

As long as the growth bud wasn't damaged they should all be salvageable. That growth you see now would end up as flyers or trash anyway. I usually snip off the lower leaves and bury the seedlings deeper anyway. What color was the caterpillar?

 

[MadFarmer]

What color was the caterpillar?

It was a gray/brown type I see all the time outside the garage. Soon after we bought the house one spring I found dozens of them climbing the garage door.

They also had quite an aphid infestation going on. I took the tray to the back and hosed off the aphids. The plants will be fine, the gardener's patience is running low.

 

[Knucklehead]

Here are some caterpillar images from Texas A&M University. Can you identify it?

Common Caterpillars — Texas Insect Identification Tools

texashighplainsinsects.net

 

[deluxestogie]

Can you identify it?

Or... just spray BT.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

Or... just spray BT.

Bob

I was going to check my label. None of that satisfies my idle curiosity.
Does BT kill all caterpillars?

 

[deluxestogie]

Bacillus thuringiensis (kurstaki strain) kills caterpillars, and only caterpillars—moth and butterfly larvae. Don't spray it on milkweed and other butterfly-friendly plants. On tobacco, it is sprayed directly on the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. It lasts about a week, and needs to be sprayed again weekly or after rain. It is organically approved.

Bob

 

[MadFarmer]

Here are some caterpillar images from Texas A&M University. Can you identify it?

Common Caterpillars — Texas Insect Identification Tools

texashighplainsinsects.net

It's a good match with the Fall Army Worm. Also makes sense as I wasn't sure if the massing I witnessed on the garage door was in spring or fall.

 

[MadFarmer]

It doesn't look like much, but this will be the future home of my 2023 grow. 5'x10' just needs lumber and soil.


I spent the better part of the day cleaning out the metal bed and planting not quite the last of my tomatoes. I still feel good about concentrating on cherry tomatoes rather than 12oz slicers. We're out of drought (for now) but it's been dry for April.

To cool my tobacco growing fever I planted a single Glessenor in a pot. This pot and soil gave me the best looking tobacco I had last year, as opposed to the grow bags.

 

[MadFarmer]

Framed up and ready to fill. Unfortunately, I did not adjust my soil cost projections to inflation. It will take a bit more time to find soil I can afford and am willing to spend on.

 

[deluxestogie]

You could do what is called a double-dig. It tends to loosen and elevate the soil into a mound the shape of the bed.

Preparing a new Garden Bed with Double Digging

How you prepare your garden bed depends on your context. At the moment we're renting, so we're taking a biointensive (ish) approach, with double digging.

www.milkwood.net

It's done using two tools: a square garden spade (shovel) and a garden fork. You use the spade to shovel the topsoil to the depth of the blade along a narrow dimension of the bed, moving each shovelful to the far end, just beyond the bed. Then you use the fork in that first trench to loosen the subsoil.

When you start again with the shovel, to dig the next trench, its topsoil is simply dumped onto the adjacent 1st trench. You work your way, trench by trench—shovel then fork, until you finally cover the last trench with the topsoil removed from the very first trench.

Then just fertilize. It's a fair amount of work, but I was doing that with all my garden beds well into my 60s. In subsequent years, you can consider just adding a bag or two of compost, and just tilling it in as usual.

Bob

 

[93rdCanadian]

Hügelkultur - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Ive had good experiences using a sort of modified Hugelkultur. Essentially composting in place and using garden debris to beef up a bed with double digging.

You could also throw in a bale of peat moss plus some oyster shells/other calcium carbonate to adjust Ph. Peat moss goes for $30 CAD per 2.2 cuft bale in Ontario, so may not be cost effective where you are.

Combine both methods to add fertility to the inert peat moss. Coco coir could also work if you get it cheap (but beware poor quality products due to salinity). Coco coir does not need Ph adjustment but still needs additional fertility.