We now have a lot of posts to wade through from last year - time to put up a new thread and just have the old one to look back on.

I think the frosts are over in west TN now - leaves are out on bushes and many trees are starting to bud. I'm gonna say it's a waste of time to start seeds indoors anymore because they get off to a much better start in full sunlight outside!

HAPPY St. PATRICKS DAY!!!

 

We had a heavy frost this morning.
I got my tomatoes going good inside and the Cukes are big enough to be planted.
Still too early to let them out all night yet.

 

So far I've pulled up and trashed 3/4 of the ripped up plastic from last year (what a waste...). I think it's time to pull up and sort out the trellises and Tom cages so I can figure out where I want them. In hindsight a trellis would have worked better than a cage for the tomato's because it would have been open and spread the vines out when they branched instead of having the whole plant bunched together. I kind of like the idea of "Trelli" lined up like shopping aisles so that I could walk between them easily.

I still have no idea how I want to set up watering lines, but after the drought last year I need to work out something much smarter.

I also want to level out all of the plots even if it means they have to be divided into ten by ten foot squares. Having ten by fifty foot areas on a slope wastes a lot of water right there...

I'm not real concerned with getting plants started early this year. I went nuts with that last year and look where it got me! Better I think to invest in the future even if it means everything is late.



LINK: What was going on exactly twelve months ago

* Oh by the way - the deck is coming back off of the 'Frog for good. It's completely shot at this point and I have other plans for it.

ONEDIT: I got a third of my TOM cages set up and seeded today! Each set of four is going to be in its own ten by ten square and as level as I can get them. After last year I want them to be as water efficient as I can make them.

 

Problem 1) This year the whole setup has got to be easy to weed with a line trimmer
Problem 2) What to do with the carcasses of four old 38" Super Swamper TSL's...

Answer:

I now have four 38" PLANTERS in my garden that I'm growing Zuchini and Summer Squash in. It keeps the moles out of the roots, holds water well, will keep the plants up off the ground so I can trim around them, and it looks kinda cool in a redneck sorta way...

I LIKE IT!

 

I think I am doing away with the tom cages myself. This year I plan to have a type of trellis. More like aisles. I have some old dog fence I am putting up. Then let the tomatoes climb them and I can walk down the aisles to pick.
Sound like it will work to you?

 

I thought of that last year - only AFTER I built myself 12 classic six foot tall tom cages...

Each one of my cages could have been a six foot length of trellis that could have supported as many as three plants EXCELLENTLY!
They can be woven back and forth through the squares

Six foot sections running north/south spaced far enough apart to walk between would get full sun on both sides most of the day. At high noon most of the plants would be shaded, but that's good!

A trellis set in a trench would be excellent water control. The soil at the base of the trellis can be raised up to prevent over watering.

The above is how I'm going to set up my cucumbers this year, in groups of two or three trelli inside a ten foot diked square.

I made big mistakes with water control last season so this time around most of my plants will be in absolutely level ten by ten sections with raised edges.

I also have a really nice new weedeater (Poulan Pro 133) and everything is going to be kept clear the old fashioned way. Sort of...

~ I consider it Mechanized Warfare!

 

I also have used old chicken wire fencing for tomatoes and cucumbers for years. I also use some of the cages. I used 2 8-ft posts and parachute cord to make my own trellis.

I will do the last of the pruning today and re-water my new grass seed. I have spent the last few weeks trying to get all the work done and debris cleared from when the retaining wall went up...finally finished last night. Had to mow the yard this past Saturday, as well.

 

I like the idea. I am only planting Cukes and Tomatoes. I am going to give this a shot this year. A 4X4 on each end to support the weight and rows to pick from, hopefully without too much bending.

 

If you put a trellis in the middle, cucumbers grow up one side and down the other making harvesting much easier and less bug damage to the cukes.

 

I like to use PVC pipe to support my cages and trellises because it's easy to drive into the ground, cheap, flexible when there is wind, and cannot rot or be attacked by insects.

I got the last pair of them set today, and decided to seed one of them with tomatoes just to see how it compares with the cages. The other is going to be cucumbers. Both are twenty feet long and six high. I used 3/4" pvc for supports every five feet or so, I think that's inside diameter.

I use my boot as a guage for how far off the ground the bottom edges are and zip-tie the wire to the posts. That keeps the bottoms from rusting out.

'Gonna hold off on pictures until the sprouts come up, so figure about two weeks. Once I set the seed tomorrow that will pretty much be it for the southeast garden.

Next I have another plot about twenty by seventy to decide what to do with. I've been thinking about using part of it as a duck or chicken yard, and the part I haven't worked out is what to do about a chicken Coop. I like the idea of ducks, because the pond would be a never ending supply of liquid fertilizer


ON EDIT (Thursday March 31)
This is of course a picture of my two Ranger trucks, right? So it's allowed to be in one of my albums...

The street-side plot set up from front to back. 12 upright tom cages, two parallel 20 foot trellis's behind them, and a curved trellis seeded with honey dew melon at the near end. Three quarters of it all is dedicated BEEFSTEAK TOMATO territory, including one of the twenty foot trelli (the other is cucumber)

 

I planted my garden yesterday. I put in 8 cucmber plants, 16 pepper plants (3 varieties), 12 tomato plants (4 varieties), 2 types of carrots, onions and lettuce. I will plant more containers each week so I get yields at different intervals. I also will add more varieties of tomatoes and peppers as I go...cukes, too. I will also be getting some more herbs going. I have my perennial peppermint, spearmint, rosemary & sage. I also have basil and oregano plants that made it through the winter on a shelf inside. I need to get several more kinds to keep me set for the summer grilling season.

 

With all this rain this afternoon and tonight, I hope your garden is still there!!!

 

I bought something for my maters, it's a scope for my 22lr, as I have 2 legged pests that walk through my yard with their pants hangin off holding their nutz with one hand, leaving one free for mischief. I F-n hate gov housing, I'm surrounded by disrespectful trash that walk around my place, on my sidewalk beside my clothesline, I had to put my garden there as they would walk through it in the back yard, stepping on my rose bushes cause they could!

 

I have raised beds, so the rain only helped....

 

I finally got some mater sprouts -

This is a strange springtime