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loco-gringo

Crusading Clamp Monkey
Sep 27, 2006
8,887
14
Deep in the heart of TEXAS
What do you do when your 3 year old daughter says she wants to grow carrots like Curious George? You clean the carburetor on your tiller and you get some dirt turned up. I tilled a 20 x 20 spot last week. I've been tilling every couple of days to kill any weeds and grass. Watered it for good cultivation over the weekend and waited. Today I tilled one last round and put fertilizer down. Then I tilled it in and just got done watering it. By Saturday we'll take some planting pics. We plan to have carrots, corn, squash and a few plants to distract the bugs. Tomatoes too. Not sure what else I'll plant, but it may be cucumbers or some melons.

I mowed and put fertilizer on the lawn today. It amazes me what I'll do for a cute little girl with a smile on her face. Stay tuned for more from Farmer John. This is the first time I've done this without a John Deere.
 

pinkshirtphotos

site moron
Jul 5, 2006
4,827
521
Vernon, NJ
Nice, I tilled last week. I am doing a 20x40 garden this year. Corn, melons, tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, squash, radish, and lettuce. I will try some other things while I am at it.
 

H8R

Cranky Pants
Nov 10, 2004
13,959
35
Carrots:

SAND, and lots of it. Till sand into the soil where the carrots will be planted. Carrots love sandy, quick draining soil. Add some compost to the top.

Carrots don't do as well in the soft loamy soil like other vegetables.
 

Bushwhacker

Turbo Monkey
Dec 4, 2003
1,220
0
Tar Effing River!! NC
I'm with dwaugh on this...if you really love your daughter you wouldn't be putting those chemicals in your garden or your lawn. Iv'e been an organic gardener for around around 35 years, starting with my dad getting cow manure from the neighbor farm to put on the garden when I was 5. Now I'm on the constant search for various manures to add to my gardens. This year I'm doing the "Ruth Stout" method of gardening which is a no-till garden. You just heap piles of mulch on top and plant through the mulch with the idea being that tilling unearths millions of weed seeds that are in the ground and causes them to germinate.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2004-02-01/Ruth-Stouts-System.aspx

Don't get me wrong...anyone growing a garden gets respect in my book. I just think if your going to grow your own you would want to grow the absolute best you can. The raw materials for an organic garden are all around you. If you mow and bag your clippings (minus the fertilizers and weed killers, some of the weeds in your yard attract beneficial insects) the make a great mulch as do leaves in the fall. Contact your local tree service and have some woodchips delivered (they generally give them away). Kitchen waste such as egg shells, coffee grounds, veggie/ fruit peelings can be dumped around plants and covered with some mulch. Build good soil and you will have good vegtables, fewer pest problems and an overall better feeling about what you're feeding your family.

Here's a couple more links with some good info/ products

http://www.groworganic.com/default.html?welcome=T&theses=4480891

http://www.cd3wd.com/cd3wd_40/cd3wd/agric/ii06be/en/b144.htm

http://www.terracycle.net/index.htm

http://www.almanac.com/garden/plantingtable/index.php?utm_source=Almanac+Companion+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8ebefd9543-Companion_February_5_2009&utm_medium=email

Hope this helps and good luck with your garden!!!!
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,573
24,187
media blackout
Also, if you haven't done so already, put up a fence. Nothing will ruin your daughter's garden dream quicker than everything being eaten by wildlife. If you have deer, the fence needs to be at least 4-5 feet.

And I'm with bushwhacker. F*** fertilizers. I grew up gardening with my dad, and every fall after we'd cleaned out the garden, we'd pile all the grass and leaf clippings in it. Mix in a bit of dirt and it'll make a nice compost pile by spring. We'd also add organic waste from the house too - coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, etc. No egg shells or bones though.
 

loco-gringo

Crusading Clamp Monkey
Sep 27, 2006
8,887
14
Deep in the heart of TEXAS
A chemical free garden would be great, but I hadn't prepared for it and want to give it the best shot. Soil is not good and I have always neglected the lawn, so I'm giving it a boost. I'm not phobic of chemicals though. I used them for years when we farmed, because when you have 1200 acres of anything growing, you help it along and can't have pests destroying it.

That said, next year will get more preparation.

H8R - I'll put some sand in. I think I have 2 bags of play sand if that will work. I would imagine that is what you are talking about since loamy sand doesn't drain super fast.

btw - thanks for all of the tips. I appreciate them.
 

TreeSaw

Mama Monkey
Oct 30, 2003
17,669
1,847
Dancin' over rocks n' roots!
:thumb: Nice!!! Syd & I are also going to be planting a garden. We'll be working the soil this week, but won't put anything in the ground for a while still. We'll probably start some seeds indoors and see how it goes.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,942
13,135
Portland, OR
Nice work.

I will miss the garden when we move, that's for sure. I am building a large octagon shaped raised bed with multiple tiers so the wife and daughter can get their dig on. I hope to get at least one pepper start for myself.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
I've worked on our local CSA for the past few years... Just got home from transplanting jalapeno peppers actually. Last summer I worked on a commercial organic apple/cherry orchard. I was raised on a conventional apple/pear/peach orchard too.
Organic farming has its ups and downs. Nutrient management can be tricky if you let it be. Managing pests is probably the biggest hiccup though. Weeds are easy.. just takes alot of hoeing and pulling.

tilling can do more harm than good, from a healthy soil standpoint. The microbes in the soil are killed and worms get ravaged. Weed seeds can be turned up, and the turning of the soil actually releases nitrogen into the atmosphere, not to mention water.

But if it hasn't been grown on before and your adding serious amendments, incorporating them into the ground through tilling is really the only option. Can't really pour sand on top of the soil and expect it to infiltrate in any reasonable length of time.

Growing veggies is awesome. good luck man!
 

mantispf2000

Turbo Monkey
Aug 9, 2001
1,793
243
Nevada, 2 hours from Mammoth
Geez, all this talk of gardens (an excellent hobby/house help, by the way) and all I did the past 2 days was power rake the front/back yards and cleaned up 20 bags of thatch. To think of all that compost it would've made.................
 

loco-gringo

Crusading Clamp Monkey
Sep 27, 2006
8,887
14
Deep in the heart of TEXAS
4 rows of corn planted, 3 tomato plants, a row of carrots (with sand tilled into that row), 18 okra plants, 4 squash plants and a couple of bell pepper plants. Planted last night with a little water and about an inch of rain in the night/early morning. I'll get some pics as we start seeing green.