Greetings fellow forum members

Thought I'd share the garden and it's adventures with y'all...

Hence, the garden plot.... Back in early June.. The wheat in the field in the background was really nice his year... The soil in the garden was amended as most the earth here is what we call "gumbo" and has the consistiency of concrete when dry, and baby crap when wet. So, it's had untold tons of sand, compost and "gumbo buster" added to get it loamy and suitable for home veg gardening.

No liberals were composted in the ammendment of this soil - I don't like the taste it imparts on the plants. That form of crap actuallly grows mushrooms better.

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Some squash and peppers I took last weekend....

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And no Texas garden is complete w/o tomatoes !

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Green beans are a coming, along with some melons, and of course... more squash...

Enjoy

Todays Harvest - Hybrid Giant Black Zuchinni, Yaller Squash, Butternut squash,Bell, Serrano, Pablano, Cayenne, Banana, and Jalapeno peppers, and three tomatoes, 1 of which has been consumed already.

Unbelieveable that these things survive 100+ heat all summer and still produce fruit. Most species are dormant like my maters - 3 fruits from 12 mater plants *shesh*

Not peppers or squash... Just keep the durn things wet!

We didn't get enough tomatoes to make juice outa them.. they are a big fav around here and tend to get eaten fairly quickly....Squash on the other hand.. I put a sign on them aside the highway "Free to good skillet"...

You know, that's a thought.. I sent all kinds of stuff over the country, boat dolly's, boats, computers, musical instr.,etc.. I've never tried to overnight a squash. Some fellows I work with up in Pittsburgh asked me to "overnight" them.. [ATTACH=CONFIG]902[/ATTACH]

Hmmm.. Well, they make some treatments to deal with that virus. I recommend that you take a few samples (from each spot you mentioned) of soil, and send them to the Alabama Dpt. of Ag, or the ag college for a test. They can tell you what virus it is and how to deal with it.

Viruses in Texas are rampant, and one has to be really careful ... Seems there's a damn virus for every plant here.. The answer for me is to buy plant starts from local nurseries or veg farms where they have been hardened agin the local problems. I also use a spray on product that is a three way prevention too. Last year, my 'maters were the best they'd been in years here. As usual, once the extreme heat starts they all went dormant until the fall. I usually cut them waaay back when it gets hot too. I read one fool on the internet literally cuts all the branches and leaves save for a handful and then just keeps them watered until the heat fades... I'm not that anal, but I do trim them back because all it does is grow vines and leaves all summer and is a damn mess come the fall.

The missus will eat them peppers raw right off the vine like a child with a damn apple straight from the tree. She complains all winter because the ones she gets from the store have no flavor... I grow Cayenne right next to the bell and serrano peppers and they all share a bit

Squash? I end up putting boxes of them out on the county road with a sign on front of them saying "Free to home w/iron skillets" They just get clean the hell outa hand here on this patch. Now, I almost never plant them next to the 'maters, mostly on account the squash plants want a lot of area to spread out. Maybe that's why I am not getting the viral's on them.

I have gumbo earth by default here, but I spent the first four years here folding cushion sand, and gumbo buster compost (Compost w/1/4 sized bits of extruded shale that was sent thru a kiln) to a depth of 10" in the garden square. I used the disc attachment on the tractor to start as that raw earth was like the concrete you'd find on the interstate. After that, it was hand tilling till it was fine and loamy to the touch.

Every year, it gets a refresher load of gumbo buster and tilled in...

Yes sir, and it's prep time now, so I found it pretty interesting this thread got piqued up today (Doesn't take much for me as you can see)

I was out this past weekend making an assay of where to start for this year in the garden. It's about to get tilled over in advance of the tater's going in on one side, and I flip (till) the whole garden when I do that - Hate doing crap over and over, and besides it's good to turn that earth a few times prior to planting and break up any root systems that grew in over the winter - helps a lot with weed control (wild grasses with huge root tubers) here, or so I was told by the Tx State Ag people. It supposedly also helps with the mold varieties, but I still use the fungus and mold inhibitors regardless..

And I pretty much document the grow every year with pix and a journal, so look for RcRed's 2014 Garden thread in an off topic area near you soon My Dad (who is 88) likes to follow along at home from NC and "advise" me where I am going wrong

Heya Stump,

I am about 50 m ne of Dallas, about a hours drive from Brewhaus o'er in Keller. We get everyone else's left over weather here I use wide rows as I have a small acreage and so I can allocate a lot of area as a garden. the wide rows are so you can use the hand tiller down the row and then only have a smaller weed track to deal with - now, I almost never see a two week rainy spell after May around here. But we have had up to a week's worth...And my neighbors have all asked me why I am outside pullin' weeds in a rainstorm...Simple really, they come out easier and I get all the root when they do...

Yes sir, it is a ton of work initially, but after that I try to keep it up by going out there just about every night and pulling what I can. I am really fortunate in that my employment allows working from home but at the same time a fella can get desk bound and so I love the diversion. Another cool part is that you can spend the time that would have been spent commuting to the city in the garden (or shed) instead

And I get to look like the damn fool kid I really am

"I was trying to post from photobucket but was a little confused as to which format I should use since non of them match what you suggested. Here is what I see, Email & IM
Direct Link
HTML code
HTML thumb
IMG code
IMG thum
Which should I use, thanks Juicer."

My wife is like a pro on our zero-turn, it is a Bad-Boy commercial with a 60 "deck, she love's it.
I'm thinking about building a better cultivator for my tractors and just go back to laying out my rows with them, then maybe I could minimize the time behind the rear tine tiller.I have plenty of room as my creek garden spot is about 6 acres in size but I normally just plant a fraction of that. I used to plant it all in corn until fertilizer and diesel got so expensive.

I have a pto tiller but the gear box is busted and a replacement is quiet expensive, otherwise it's almost new.
My first zero turn was a Cub Cadet RZT50 it was and still is a great mower. I handed it down to my son who put new tires on it and it still runs great.
I cut commercially with it for two years and then still got six more years of service here at home before I got the bug to upgrade. My lawn is near 4 acres so I can attest to the durability of that mower( it had the B&S motor by the way.)