Garden 2023

I live on the dividing line between zone 5b and 6a so this time of the year the surface of the soil still freezes most nights, nothing gets planted in the garden for a while. I did get out in the garden yesterday to pick up rocks though. I picked up a little over half a yard of rocks and based on how little of the garden I got through, there are about 5 yards of rocks fist-sized and larger just sitting on the surface to pick up. No guess on how many more I will unearth after I put a load of manure on the garden and till it again later this spring.

Major changes this year are that I got a 1960s two-row JD row crop cultivator for cultivating instead of the single-row unit I used last year as it actually fits my tractor and has much more clearance. Kudos to the local Deere dealer for having the correct shovels for it in stock (the shovels were worn down to nubs) and at a price less than what the local farm store would have charged to order them from a third party supplier.

We had an 80 degree day last Friday (2/24)! I'm feeling good about planting several days before my last frost date. You can see some of my weed fabric and drip tape experiments in this picture. Please share any advice, as this is my first year with these products.

The smaller beets in the full row have no irrigation while the shorter row shares fertigation with the onions. So far the drip tape is working pretty well. Placing the tape under the fabric has been laborious because I have to put the fabric down without tape, burn the holes, lift the fabric, place the tape and replace the fabric. The wind is not your friend without a partner.

I had poor success trying to bury the tape a few inches deep. Seems like I cannot do that without damaging the tape. Finding a hole after everything is stapled down and planted can annoy. Digging up, patching and replacing inevitably damages the young plants. What do you think about my alternate of laying the tape immediately under the fabric?

Started ours today here in SC. Weather has us a couple weeks behind but it's OK. I've planted late before.

Growing this year

Avalon super sweet corn
Cabot bean
Tomatoes
Okra
Various peppers
Cucumbers
Zucchini

We planted onions a few days ago, put in a row of onions next to the two rows of potatoes we put in a couple weeks ago. I modified a one-row cultivator to make furrows for planting these. I left only two of the six shanks on the cultivator and moved the two shanks so one was 15" left of centerline and the other was 15" right of centerline. I then replaced the stock pointed shovels with middle buster plows and played with the depth control setting on my tractor until I made the correct depth furrows for each. It actually worked well. The potatoes just started to germinate in the past couple of days. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and peas went in too, those were done by hand with a hoe as they didn't go in full-length rows where I would have made the furrow with the tractor (length of the garden is a little over 50 paces.) I did use the tractor to haul several buckets of rocks out of the garden to fill in a wash along one of the fields and haul a few buckets of small squares from the hay barn for my wife to mulch the broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce with. Sweet corn and dry beans get planted in two weeks, those will definitely be furrowed with the modified cultivator, and I will cultivate the potatoes with the two-row cultivator as that will also hill them up some too.

I need some help regarding weed fabric. As mentioned earlier, this is my first year using woven fabric. I have a problem with my heavy soil holding excessive moisture after a rain. While I have used ditching and hilling before fabric, the flat terrain of my garden plot does not allow the rain to sheet drain under the fabric. It just accumulates. If rainfall is spread out over several days or low enough the soil dries satisfactorily. We got 5" over the last week. The tomatoes and jalapeños are severely wilted. I don't think the peppers will come back, tomatoes - maybe. Some plants like squash, bush beans, peas, and eggplant seems to thrive on this moisture. Very puzzling.

I tried hilling under fabric in the winter, but the fabric doesn't work well over irregular soil. Too many gaps,

What would you recommend in the future? I wouldn't mind growing peppers without the fabric, but the weed control in my tomatoes has really been helpful. I'm hoping someone has an answer to let me keep weed barrier over the tomatoes.

Thanks, jumpin