Post by tbird on May 24, 2015 11:01:53 GMT -5
Welp - been working on the tomato bed. I have TOO many plants, lol. because I thought the old seeds would have been recalcitrant, but they burst into life despite those expectations.
so - I have a lot of 2 varieties, which I usually like just 1-2 plants of many varieties....I think I have 5 stupice, and maybe 6 burbank slicing. but with all those - not much room for other varieties. I did buy starts - 1 early girl bush and 1 amish paste. Early girl has some flowers on it. That was the only one I got transplanted last weekend before the temps dropped again.
so anyway -
The good - loads of worms in every shovelful! This bed has been under about 4-6" of leaves since fall, and had paper put down under that although a lot of it is rotted away. The worms have been loving it apparently. Some of them were BIG!
The bad - loads of bindweed. some poking up here and there were they could, but the soil is marbled with the roots. So that will continue to be a problem. I may need to designate a bed to be fallow for 2-3 years to try and stomp out this menace more effectively. 1 fall/winter/spring of smothering has little effect. I have been diligently pulling all that I can see wherever they rear their heads throughout the garden/yard. I've declared it public enemy#1.
The ugly - where the paper didn't rot away, HUGE slugs were slumbering under it's cover. I catapulted them away from the area on the edge of the shovel....hopefully, they don't travel back?
So - teeming with life of one kind or another...... We'll see how the toms do here....
I planted deep, taking off a few leaves/branches at the bottom if needed. Going to cover the area with a thin layer of my happy frog soil, and then mulch. I may need to wait a week or so for those layers, as I planted maybe too deep to allow for the extra volume.
How is everyone's toms doing?
How about your worms?
so - I have a lot of 2 varieties, which I usually like just 1-2 plants of many varieties....I think I have 5 stupice, and maybe 6 burbank slicing. but with all those - not much room for other varieties. I did buy starts - 1 early girl bush and 1 amish paste. Early girl has some flowers on it. That was the only one I got transplanted last weekend before the temps dropped again.
so anyway -
The good - loads of worms in every shovelful! This bed has been under about 4-6" of leaves since fall, and had paper put down under that although a lot of it is rotted away. The worms have been loving it apparently. Some of them were BIG!
The bad - loads of bindweed. some poking up here and there were they could, but the soil is marbled with the roots. So that will continue to be a problem. I may need to designate a bed to be fallow for 2-3 years to try and stomp out this menace more effectively. 1 fall/winter/spring of smothering has little effect. I have been diligently pulling all that I can see wherever they rear their heads throughout the garden/yard. I've declared it public enemy#1.
The ugly - where the paper didn't rot away, HUGE slugs were slumbering under it's cover. I catapulted them away from the area on the edge of the shovel....hopefully, they don't travel back?
So - teeming with life of one kind or another...... We'll see how the toms do here....
I planted deep, taking off a few leaves/branches at the bottom if needed. Going to cover the area with a thin layer of my happy frog soil, and then mulch. I may need to wait a week or so for those layers, as I planted maybe too deep to allow for the extra volume.
How is everyone's toms doing?
How about your worms?
