Last week it was dry enough I tilled the beds in the tunnels. They were very weedy already, and throughout the winter the tarps don’t really kill the weeds. I assume because the plants go dormant. They don’t look great but aren’t dead, either. So I did a shallow till to chop them up and help kill them.
With some warm days and black tarps, my temperature widget is recording 90+ degrees when its sunny in the afternoon. After a week I pulled back one of the tarps and the weed seeds have started coming up.
This picture isn’t great, but you can see the thiny little shoots coming up. There are tens of thousands of them. Who knows what they are. Probably grass seeds blown in combined with all the tomatoes that tilled in and the end of fall last year. I’m very happy to see them coming up now and hope to have a lot less weed pressure. Its been a major issue with the spring crops. And I’m getting this year’s load of compost to spread which will have its own weeds to kill the same way.
I have not been posting any updates July, at least. Things got a bit crazy.
Laid off from my day job
Found out wife is pregnant, so a daughter on the way in February
At the same time, my tomatoes did well in one tunnel but not in anovther. Per the last post I destroyed everything in that one. I’ve since replanted for the fall and winter. This is the first test for winter growing in the new tunnels. I planted a bit late, but spinach particularly comes up fast.
Very weedy
The carrots are doing well despite being planted late. I’m hoping they will be ready by New Year’s. Last year I was able to harvest carrots from a low tunnel on New Year’s day. I expect the same, unless we get an extreme cold snap.
Speaking of cold, here is a picture of tomato blossoms taken on November 13th. They finally died during the last few days of sub-freezing temperatures. And even then I had to leave the tunnel sides up to encourage frost.
While the spinach has been doing well, its not enough to be worth selling based on the labor it takes to harvest it. I fill a 5 gallon bucket easily and it only weighs a couple pounds. Most we eat in smoothies and some is frozen. I did look into canning spinach. It takes about 30 pounds to get 7 quarts, which is a huge volume of spinach leaves. Hakurei turnips are also growing. I’m not sure if they’ll make it before bitter cold bites them.
In general, trying to plant the fall crops is a conundrum. Its always warm through September, and partially into October. For winter growing you want to plant as early as August. But if the tunnel is full of tomatoes still producing, when do I tear them out ? Its a big loss. Flipping the beds immediately also causes problems with weeds. The tens of thousands of tomato seeds create a fine carpet of plants. And as shown above the earliest ones got about a foot tall and bloomed.
Normally, its best to let the beds sit and water them for a couple weeks to let the weeds come up then kill them in some way – either a tarp or just cultivating them out.
Despite the lack of actual sales this year, I definitely learned whats going to grow best and be more popular. I’ll be detailing next year’s plan soon.
Been too long since a new post, too busy with life. Thats ok, though. The garden is ramping up as things have dried out a bit. The outdoor beds are coming online this month, and the tomatoes are just getting their first tiny blossoms. Below are the outdoor beds after spreading compost and doing a shallow till. After they were tarped off for stale seed bedding. Hopefully I won’t have the same weed issues with this plot.
On the left along the tunnel there is a big wet area with a very thick blob of clay soil. Where the beds are its a little sandier. Its continously a mudhole. Later in the summer I’ll have a proper ditch dug along it.
In the tunnel, tomatoes and drip irrigation went in. Its a mess in parts. In retrospect, about twice as much compost was needed. Everything will be ok, though.
And the farmstand…
I have lettuce and carrots that need to come out. Tomorrow I will put some out in a small cooler/stand in the front yard and see what happens. Even got a small sign made and everything. Slow and steady wins the race, for sure.
The sign in progress
And finally, the winter mix I put along the road is full of nice vetch flowers and looks really lush at the moment.
