Wolffman's 2015 Spring Garden

[wolffman]

This spring is going to be a little different for us. Mrs Wolffman is normally a big part of our gardening operation, however, she improperly handled some 13-13-13 in the fall and ended up preggo somehow. Anyway, we have a little girl coming in June, and we'll be scaling back vs prior years.

This year we have much less garlic planted versus last year. Mostly due to eliminating strains I didn't want to mess with anymore. Onions in the ground and I'll begin preparing soil for planting as soon as it dries out. We've had a hard time getting the soil to dry out around here. It's a good thing, we need the rain. I will wait my turn.

We plan to grow the following this year:

150 tomato plants, various heirlooms and hybrids
sweet corn
cucumber (SMR 58) for pickling
cucumber (straight 8) slicing
green beans
yellow squash
Zucchini
All kinds of Peppers, some that we covered from last year
Eggplant
Herbs, all kinds
Garlic (Siciliano, Bee Keepers Sicilian)
Onion (10-15)
Shallots
Okra
Potatoes

Probably some stuff I missed. I don't have a bunch of pics to show right now. We are starting our tomato seeds indoors under a T5 High Output Fluorescent. These lights will produce a really stocky seedling.

 

[wolffman]

And we're off. Mrs Wolffman has roughly 200 tomato seeds starting to pop up under the light. She's got some basil in there too. We run this light 24/7 during the seedling phase. Once they get bigger, we transplant and move to the outdoors in trays. We'll end up planting about 150 of these for the Spring garden.

I'm going to try to turn some dirt this weekend if it is dry enough.

 

[Mike]

Are you using a heat mat with your seedlings? What about the bulb you're using, I'm thinking about going with a similar setup this year instead of my CFL light I used last year.

 

[wolffman]

Mike these are T5 fluorescents. It's a complete assembly. You won't be able to just buy the bulb and have it work with a standard fluorescent ballast.

Day and night difference between these and normal fluorescents, these things put out the lumens! We don't use a heat mat as these lights run pretty warm.

 

[wolffman]

When we transplant, we only fill the cup about 1/2 full of soil. Then, as the plant grows up and out of the cup, we pinch the bottom branches off and fill the remainder of the cup with soil. This will give a bigger root system.

We have some starter soil mixed with earth worm castings in the cup for transplanting.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the info, this gives me a few ideas for my own. I'll need to head over to the local hydroponics store as I believe they have some good grow lights.

 

[wolffman]

Today was windy and warm out. I was finally able to get in one of the gardens and do some tilling. It's a good thing because I want to plant potatoes and cucumbers next weekend. I'll give it a few days to dry out a little more, till it one more time and then hip and lay off the rows.

Planted dill today for pickling and Luke pulled up the rest of the fall carrots. He likes eating them straight out of the garden lol.

 

[wolffman]

Quick tip, if you have anything flowering that the bees are interested in, keep it there as long as you can. Bees are a commodity these days, without them we fail at what we do. Here's some broccoli flowers that I'll leave for the bees. I want them to be interested in my little space.

 

[wolffman]

Had to pull out the big gun due to the wife's pregnancy. Normally she would move the plants inside/outside depending on the weather.

This is a 600 watt sodium lamp, it will make things easier for her. We use this lamp after transplanting sometimes on cold years.

 

[Mike]

Quick tip, if you have anything flowering that the bees are interested in, keep it there as long as you can. Bees are a commodity these days, without them we fail at what we do. Here's some broccoli flowers that I'll leave for the bees. I want them to be interested in my little space.

View attachment 1660

You're right about that @wolffman. I'm planning on planting several things around the house this year to attract bees and butterflies both for that very reason.

 

[wolffman]

The tomato seedlings are close now to graduating into plants. In just 5 days under the sodium lamp (24 hr light cycle), the plants have grown a bunch. We'll be adding more soil to the cups soon. My wife picked up the potato seed recently too. We had planned to do some potato experimentation this year, but decided to just go with the tried/true instead considering what's going on.

 

[ErnieCopp]

I started my plants in the shop for a couple of years but found out i was not enjoying it, so i gave that up.

Our ground here has warmed up to 60 degree so seeds should not have any trouble germinating early this year.

I bought a half dozen tomato plants, $4.00 a pop, so will be lucky to break even on those, and will get more later for a longer bearing season.

I also bought some treated 4x4 posts and some 1 3/8" fence tubing for some grape trellis. I find that by drilling holes through the posts for the top rail, then putting a screw in through the wood, that i can tighten the lower wire without moving the posts. I get a lot of grapes from my arbor but started another some Himrod and Concord vines last year, so am planting a couple more of those.

Santa Ana NE winds are bringing in a lot of heat from the Nevada deserts so been hot and dry today.

Ernie

 

[wolffman]

Today we worked in one of the gardens and got all the potatoes planted. We have about 150 row/feet planted now. First, we cut all the seed and dusted them in wood ash from the wood stove. Pulled up the rows with the single row bedder and layed them off with the underside of the dirt scoop that I have for my small tractor. We planted on a 12" spacing at about 4" deep. Before covering them up, we gave them all a sprinkle of azomite. Normally, I would have liked to had the rows already prepared for quite some time, but the rain this year kept us from doing that. I'll use the bedder again in the spring to hill the potatoes once they have about 10" of foliage.

It's about to get real busy around here, time for everyone to come out of winter hibernation lol.

Short Video of the bedder...

 

[w_r_ranch]

Getting read to do our potatoes this week...

 

[wolffman]

Chilly out again today with more cold weather on the way. Tomato plants are coming along, but show signs of not liking the cold garage. They'll be fine, just need spring to make it here already.

 

[Rahab222]

WOW! What a setup!

 

[wolffman]

Wow, we've had a bunch of rain lately. The gardens are soaked. It will be quite a while before things dry out enough to plant anything. The potatoes are starting to pop through the soil, shallots are coming along, and the TX Redbud tree that we planted a few years back is showing off its color. Spring is right around the corner.

 

[Rahab222]

Your onions look good. I'm hoping things are dry enough tomorrow to get out and plant some more! The squirrels have dug up three of my Yukon Gold seed potatoes, so I need to replace those, too. My lettuce has exploded with the rain. I'm hoping to be able to do some weeding tomorrow while the ground it wet. I just won't be able to work with the soil yet. Lookin' good, Wolffman!

 

[wolffman]

Well we had more flooding this morning. I'm going to have to concede a complete loss for this year. Everything is all but dead now. I also lost all my garlic, over 10 years of acclimating that strain. I'll be tilling it all under as soon as it dries out and plant a cover crop in preparation for the fall.

 

[ErnieCopp]

Wolff, Sorry to hear that. Farming is a tough business, for sure.

Ernie

 

[Rahab222]

Wolffman;

I am SO SORRY to hear that; especially since we are pretty much in the same neck of the woods. I took my Lily outside about 7:30 a.m. yesterday and you would have thought a hurricane was coming through with all the wind. It was just starting to rain with multiple fingers of lightening all over the sky. Then, yes, the bottom fell out. I had a funeral to attend at 11:00 a.m. and there were lots of flooded streets between the house and there. There were probably fewer than 100 people present because a lot of them stayed home due to the weather. When we came out around 1:00 p.m., It was one of the most beautiful days I've seen this spring; but it was HOT and sauna like, after the rain. I guess our summer has arrived. I haven't been out to check the garden yet, but I've had to do a lot of extra work this year - like staking my potato plants that were all blown over. I know this doesn't help right now, but you might consider putting in a couple of raised beds for your personal table. These at least keep the plants up out of the water when we get such a wet spring. Take care and never, ever, ever give up! Farming and gardens are heavily dependent upon the weather.

 

[w_r_ranch]

If my garlic makes, I'll set aside at least 3 lbs for you to plant in the fall.

 

[wolffman]

Wow, we are getting hit again. 2 inches and counting so far. I think the tomato garden actually got hit by lightning, lol! (not kidding). Yards around here are turning yellow from too much water. This is ridiculous, never seen anything like it before. Supposed to be more rain tomorrow. Should have planted rice!

 

[Rahab222]

Wolffman; Maybe this is why rice is so popular around here with the farmers. The news is saying we're supposed to get hit again around 4:00 a.m. Monday morning. I didn't go check my garden today because this spider bite on my forearm has grown to the size of a quarter and the Calymine Lotion drew puss and blood out, so it looks really nasty. I'm going to call my family doctor tomorrow and see if they can squeeze me in. I didn't want to be around manure, etc. with this apparent infection going on.