Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 10 Entries. Saturday, February 28 View Page Season two is getting close. The cereal rye cover crop will be greening up soon. There is 6300 sq ft that will be divided into 3 patches and placed in a 3 year rotation. The rye in the 2026 patch will be terminated soon to keep from causing a lot of nitrogen tie up. Rye for the 2027 patch will be allowed to grow longer but will be mowed a couple times before being terminated prior to starting a warm season cover crop. Rye in the 2028 patch will be allowed to grow to full height and accumulate as much biomass as possible, at anthesis it will be rolled down to terminate and allow the straw to start decomposing, for the patch that is 2 years away from being used I am hoping to grow a lot of plant material that will decompose and build the active soil organic matter. Warm season cover crop species is still yet to be determined. Saturday, February 28 View Page It seems that every spring we struggle with excessive moisture, getting the ground really fit to till often doesn't happen until May or the beginning of June. Last year I tilled when it was too wet which resulted in cloddy soil and a layer of compaction at the bottom of the tilling depth. The last 10 days or so have been dryer than average and the ground is starting to dry out. Unfortunately the Ag Weather (ag-wx.com) maps that I follow show us in above average precipitation for the next 4 weeks. I put down a 20ftx40ft piece of 6 mil plastic to cover the central area of the patch where the hoop houses will go and a little area beyond that. I plan to keep it covered on rainy days and uncover on dry days. Hopefully by about the beginning of April I can have a nice dry area to broadfork then till before I bury my heating cables and put up the hoop houses. Friday, March 6 View Page I went to my first IGC in Salt Lake City, it was a great trip getting to meet growers and take away some more ideas for the patch. I took my oldest daughter with me and we had a wonderful trip, we spent a couple days in Moab and hiked in Arches National Park, I think it is one of those trips that we will remember forever. Thanks to the growers who gave her seeds at the conference, she scored a 2115 Barron, 2166 Harrison and a 2819 Paton however she was most excited about the giant carrots and widehead sunflowers from Chris Brown. It was a great group of folks and I am already looking forward to next year right here in Ohio. Sunday, March 15 View Page It was about the beginning of March last year that I decided to actually try to grow a giant pumpkin, I had picked up some seeds at the Circleville Pumpkin Show the previous fall and kinda forgot about them for the winter. I was a bit overwhelmed with all the information but decided I would make an effort but not go crazy like a lot of guys do. I thought I could grow a decent pumpkin without spending a ton of time or money, I wouldn't go for any records just something reasonably large. I should have known I was not capable of doing something halfway. This all came to my mind as I am spending all Sunday afternoon (my only day to take it easy) setting 12ft treated posts 3 ft deep in the ground. These will have high tensile wire at the top that will support shade cloth. I think its safe to say this hobby has moved beyond the realm of casual hobby. I have already had to change by planned grow spots in the patch, when I was setting posts I realized how much of a drainage issue I have alon Monday, March 16 View Page Looking at my spring soil test I don't think I am in terrible shape. I knew P would be high due to overuse of manure on this site, hopefully that does not prove to be problematic. I am somewhat puzzled that the Ca did not increase more, I pulled a test in Oct and Ca was 2300 PPM, then I added 900lb gypsum on 6000 sq ft and this spring Ca has only increased by about 150ppm. I wonder if it is a matter of being too cold over the winter to react with the soil. I will be interested to see the level on my next test in a month or so. Friday, March 20 View Page So in running the Langley calculator I am looking at adding some Potash, Dolimitic Lime, Zinc, Copper, Alfalfa Meal, Soybean Meal, Urea and Boron. I will try to get everything but the Urea out soon and the Urea when the plants come out of the hoop houses since we tend to lose nitrogen if applied too early, hopefully the SBM will provide some slow release N. I am shooting for a 10 to 1 P to Zn ratio, hopefully increasing my Zn levels will help with the potential Zn tie up from the excessivly high P. Other non nutritive additions this spring will include several bales of peat moss and some granular Humic Acid. Friday, March 27 View Page A new addition to the fleet for this year. I also got a 48" tiller for it. I can't believe how handy this thing is already. It's proving to be much easier to use in the garden and the patch than the old JD 4000 I have been using. Thursday, April 2 View Page Starting some test seeds, looked through my collection as had these two that are damaged, we will see if they grow. I also have a couple undamaged ones to try as well. I'm planning to go with the paper towel method then into 1 gallon pots. I want to test my potting mix, seedling fertilizer mix and grow light before I get the main plants going. I plan to grow these for about 2 weeks. Targeting 4/12-15 for the start of my competition plants. Sunday, April 5 View Page Heating cables are in. I used 60ft gutter deicing cables in a 4x4ft square. I broadforked the bottom of the holes and was surprised to find roots from the rye down deep. The new Massey made digging the holes easy! Sunday, April 5 View Page I've been keeping an area covered with plastic when it rains and that has allowed me to get the soil in great shape where the hoop houses go. I added one bale of peat moss where each 6x10 hoop house goes and tilled it in. My soil is in way better shape than at this time last year in terms of moisture level and compaction. You see a few clumps here where I dug a little deep for the heating cables and brought up some wetter soil.