Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 19 Entries. Wednesday, March 11 View Page Tillage Radishes: A Cautionary Tale Wednesday, March 11 View Page Look close and you'll see tillage radishes decomposing, not so quickly, as they repeat freeze-thaw. Planted last year with some soybeans (which the damned rabbits ate) and some sunflowers (which were admittedly very nice, at least the few that the rabbits didn't also eat). Now tillage radish are great for addressing soil compaction and, like your mustards, produce glucosinolates that can act as natural biofumigant. So I decided to throw them into my cover crop mix after mustarding my patch last year. They did great! What is not advertised are all the reasons you probably don't actually want to grow these if you are a (sub)urban grower. Yes, after winter killing they do break down. The process is rather aromatic. Also, they do not advertise how much dogs enjoy frozen radish popsicles. This is particularly problematic when you have a dog that has some food guarding behavior and really likes radishes. Also, these are not good for marital harmony when your better half is more sensitive to Sunday, March 29 View Page Beautiful day with a high near 70 today. Tomorrow should be nearly as nice before we cool down to more seasonal temperatures. Got two tills done on the patch and the radishes are mostly obliterated. Will give them a bit more time to break down this week and pull a soil sample. Lake is nearly iced out. It's been fairly dry lately, hope that leads to a strong start to the year. Sunday, March 29 View Page Lots of good seeds to pick from in my collection but this is what I pulled. 2144 needs no introduction. 837.5 is a cross I made a few years back pulling forward some of the first genetics to break 2K with one of the modern great. It was a bonus that the father was a beautiful orange 2560. Should be a nice looking fruit with (hopefully) strong genetics. Was a 150 sq ft plant that was quite competitive. Saturday, April 4 View Page Cold and wet week, but was able to pull a sample to submit to midwest labs and dry it a bit before sending out this morning. Started seeds earlier today as well. If the results come back fairly quickly and assuming I can get the ammendments I need, I hope to be able to get the patch amended next week, planting site prepared, and the new greenhouse up to warm the soil. Sunday, April 5 View Page Getting the pots ready for the seeds on Monday or Tuesday. Back to ProMix for my seed start this year. Sunday, April 5 View Page Decided to try air pots this season. Probably could have opted for a size down, but the seedlings should not get root bound. Threw some old Root shield and MT-17 in with the potting mix to start get the biology set up. Tuesday, April 7 View Page Every seed germinated (4 for 4). 2144 was a workday behind the three 837.5 seeds but it is an older vintage. Tuesday, April 7 View Page 2144 went in the red marked air pot plus gets it's flag. Have a few mater seeds including the 7.1 Faust that I also started and have put under the grow light now that it is on. Hope to have one giant mater in the eating garden. Thursday, April 9 View Page Soil test is back and I feel like I've been pissing into the wind. OM is creeping down, which is good. pH is always reading about 8.0 in the spring, despite adding elemental sulfur every year. Hopefully pH will drop as it warms up and the sulfur begins to break down but I've clearly got something buffering the soil pretty effectively. Not planning to amend with too much, 25 lb more of sulfur and the usual micro nutrients (manganese sulfate, borax, and copper). Hope to get patch prep finished this weekend with a final till to mix in the amendments Friday, and then drip install plus greenhouse and planting pit completion on Sunday. We're forecast to get some storms so we'll see how much rain we get. Sunday, April 12 View Page Big patch prep weekend. Cables in on Sat before the rain hit. 80ish and humid Sun, but got my greenhouse frame up. Weather permitting, I'll get my drip tape down tomorrow or Tuesday evening while the weather is still OK and put the plastic on the greenhouse to get it nice and hot so the microbes come back to life Monday, April 13 View Page All four starts are up and look healthy and normal! Monday, April 13 View Page Favorite patch mascots have been in town again and making their presence known. Wednesday, April 15 View Page Nothing like working till last light to get the drip lines installed. Actually may have a kid helper this year! Nothing warms the heart like "Dad, I think I want to do this with you full time." We'll see how that holds up when it's 100 degrees and humid and weeds need pulling. Seriously, though, put a pair of my shoes on a 10 year old is a good way to avoid soil compaction. Sunday, April 19 View Page Got the plastic up Sat evening and finished more or less securing it. North end is being a pain, may need some sandbags. Sunday, April 19 View Page Soil cables in, heaters on. Seeing how we manage on the next cool couple of nights and may move our Tuesday. Added moisture, soil temp, and EC meter. Got a SenseCap setup as a Christmas gift as a fairly affordable option. Unfortunately it sounds like they passed along a lot of tarraf charges to purchases so it cost almost twice as much as expected. Also I'm fairly tech savvy and it was a real pain to get set up. Not user friendly but it's working. Tuesday, April 21 View Page Plants are ready to get in the dirt. Plan to plant out tomorrow. Would have gone today but we're forecast near 85 and that seems like too stressful in the greenhouse. Thursday will be rainy and somewhat cooler so should be an easier transition. Wednesday, April 22 View Page As promised, planted out at about 5:00 PM. Hot as Hades in the tent (100F), glad they weren't in it all day. 2144 is growing northeast, 837.5 will be heading southwest. Soil temp was reading 85 in the cabled area, 75ish in the middle of the tent. Weeds starting to germinate so that's a good sign. Tuesday, April 28 View Page Went out of town for a couple of nights and came back to this. Crap. RIP 2144 Barron. Backup in the ground, looks like I'll be growing all my own seed this year. I threw a little Merit around the seedlings when they got planted out, but it wasn't measured. I was thinking before I left "maybe a good idea for a little more insecticide." Should have listened, and both plants got a dose (3 ml of 2% split between them).