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Gardens 2020

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dschwandt

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Mar 31, 2012
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5,254
Location
Eastern Iowa
displayname
David Schwandt
This years corn patchy ready to plant.

Les got rid af a few trees down by the corner.
There are more that need to come out yet.
Too much shade

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Our garden would take 30 seconds with a Cub tiller.... (I still want one...lol)
This is from last year... 12" composite-wood raised beds. 2 yards composted horse manure every spring.
Deck is 7' from ground. Cukes are trellised, and the tomatoes are usually about 8'. Also have peppers, beans, potatoes, lettuce, spinach. Spices/herbs are grown in pots on the deck railings.
Marigolds keep bugs and critters out.
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This is right after the planting we have had so much rain here in Southern Indiana that I may have to till it up and replant the whole thing 😕
 

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Curious if any of you guys have done this... use cattle panels to support your tomatoes and climbing plants?
I'd suggested it to my mom for 2 years before she did it and now she wouldn't have it any other way. Just tie the stems as the plants grow...no more tomatoes on the ground.
You can see the panel behind my 100 in the greenhouse (which makes a freakin FANTASTIC work area in the winter BTW 😁)
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I use homemade tomato cages made out of rewire. I use full height wire for the indeterminate types and cut it in half for determinate types. Here's a photo from 2007. I've cut way back on how many tomato plants I grow now.

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I use homemade tomato cages made out of rewire. I use full height wire for the indeterminate types and cut it in half for determinate types. Here's a photo from 2007. I've cut way back on how many tomato plants I grow now.

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Nice setup! You could use dowel rods run through and wired to support the main stem and allow the plant to grow straight. (y)
PA has a program that provides free "high tunnels" to produce growers that sell fresh produce. Since my sister works for the state DCNR, she managed to convince my mom to get one - 40' long x 20' wide, so she's got 3 rows - mostly roma's, some varieties. Plenty of peppers, onions and the one side is a whole row of raspberries. She's had my dad install 2 raised beds outside of the greenhouse, not sure what she's got in store for there. I'm trying to convince her to delve into some hot peppers and some good heirloom maters. I think they'd sell really well because around this area, not too many people offer them.
 
Ben using the cattle panels for years.
Also made some individual cages from regular fend wire.
Make them any diameter you need and crimp the ends together using 1/4" piece of copper tube or brake line. Then sink a fence post on one side to keep them from falling over.

We use re-bar for pole beans
take a 20' piece and cut 2 8' pieces and that leaves a 4' piece.
Bend 6" down in a 90* on each end of that one.
The 8' pieces become the uprights.
Wels a smapp 4" piece of flat stock 12" or so from one end soi you can drive it in the ground with your foot.
On the other end, the top, weld a short 3" piece of pipe big enough to hold the bend down ends of the top 4" piece.
Sink the uprights in 2 rows, 3' apart and add the tops through the pipe recepticles.

WA LA!! pole bean arches.
The beans will grow up the poles and across the tops. You can just walk down the center and pick beans just like you would milk a cow!! And....no more crawling around on the ground to pick them!!
 
Got some pics of our 2020 Garden:
This is the "trellis" made from wire fencing. When the cucumber vines get about 2' tall, we train them up the trellis. The cukes hang, so they are off the ground, and are pretty straight. It's also very easy to pick them from underneath. You see that we have a lettuce patch under the trellis- it's early enough that we get quite a crop going. Later in the season, the cucumbers block the summer sun, and the lettuce still thrives in the shade. A plus+ on the 90+ degree dry days.
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Here are out Tomato Cages: they are also fence-wire with a metal fencepost to keep them secure.
We bury a 5-gallon plastic bucket in the center. It has a series of holes drilled about 6" down from the top of the bucket. We tightly pack the bucket with last year's compost. When we water, we just fill the bucket and the "compost tea" feeds the surrounding (3) plants. We learned about this system a few years ago- and it has worked great! We only need 2 of these cages, and have a few freelance tomato plants, and we still freeze (in freezer bags) a couple gallons of homemade spaghetti sauce every year.

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At peak season, this is what we expect our every-other-daily tomato haul to look like:
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1st pass through then sweet corn with the 100 and Brinly cultivator.
Was late getting it in due to all the rain last month.
Will hit it one more time (I hope) before it gets too tall in a week or so.
Was going to use the walk behind tiller but the rows were too close together for comfort.
This was more fun anyway!!



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Our little garden is in full summer mode. The wife is canning all kinds of pickles and relishes, although she's having trouble keeping up. Lots of zucchini and basil. The green beans are winding down. The okra is getting ready to flood us with pods. I ate so much okra last summer that my socks won't stay up! The tomatoes in the ground are dead all ready- a new record. In 8 years of trying, we've only gotten a few tomatoes. Wilt and blight seem insurmountable around here. I do have two live plants- one hydroponic, and one in a grow bag. Tain't really farming, but it's the only way I can get a dang tomato to the table.
 
John, I have plastic mulch around my tomato plants and my pepper plants. It really cuts down on weeds and keeps the soil from getting splashed up on the plants which reduces diseases with the tomatoes. Have you tried "solarizing" the soil to kill soil borne diseases?

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John,
Are your tomato plants shaded from the hot evening sun? It cooks my garden, so I planted a few behind the house last year.

One thing that helps with the blight and wilt is lime. Get you some powdered lime and put it on the soil extra heavy. You can't use too much. I also put a good dusting on the plants to help protect them from bugs and the hot sun. Just make sure you give them another coat after a pretty good rain.
Also, where the water runs off the garden after a hard rain, it makes the prettiest thickest stand of grass you ever saw!

David,
I have been catching them for over two weeks now. Have to change the bags at least every three days. They are feasting on my cherry and apple trees.
 
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