Garden tore down

[Dr. Who]

As I said, you are still taking the chance that there are pathogens active, and what is the cost of a lost crop?

I've gardened for crops for 20 years, and when I have had crop damage due to disease, a combination of things happen. The crops get rotated every year, regardless of disease, but depending on the disease, the bed may be left vacant for a season, after the top 8-12 inches of soil has been removed. That soil is disposed of over the embankment, a good 200 yards away from the beds, in case it is airborne, dusted with lime. After a season of exposure, new soil is used, and amended if necessary.

Soil doesn't need to be 'expensive' to grow crops. I live where clay is the 'soil', and some crops are planted directly in it. I'll admit, I spoil mine a bit and add leaf mulch, compost, earth worms, and when I can get down to the Monterey mushroom farm, bring in a load of that compost.

If one is more concerned by the cost of the soil, but not the 'amendments' necessary to rehab a disease bearing soil, then who am I to argue. I disagree with you, as would most professionals, but it is your choice to make.

It's not my garden, it's Peter's and it's not really a garden but a number of planters on a balcony, hence he will be buying pricey potting soil by the bag rather than a few cubic yards of top soil plus amendments. If, as I suspect, it's a matter of bad fungi, heating the soil to 180 degrees will kill the fungi and adding some rich compost and nutrients will do the trick. It's up to Peter whether he would rather try to rehab the soil or toss it out.

[Peter1469]

Alright. My garden is all but done. I have just one pepper (habanero) that is still ripening. The side facing the sun is just now turning red. Most is still green. But we are going to have a freeze soon. (I will keep watching.) Question: once I see a forecast for the freeze, should I just pick the pepper even if it isn't ripe yet? I figure it can ripen further after it is picked, that is how things are done anyway for crops that are to be transported long distances. I don't want to lose it to a freeze.

And I think we are going to have a hard winter based on how humid it is at this point of the year. I have lived here since 2002 and have not seen it so humid in October (although for 3 years I parked in an underground garage, so those years don't count for this statement).

[Tahuyaman]

Wednesday, weather dependent, I'm going to till my garden area and cover it with landscape fabric. I might till in some rabbit manure and pot ash and let it cook all winter to reconstitute the soil.



This won't be spending the winter in Mexico this year. Just the month of November. So, I hope to have a better garden next year.

[Dr. Who]

Alright. My garden is all but done. I have just one pepper (habanero) that is still ripening. The side facing the sun is just now turning red. Most is still green. But we are going to have a freeze soon. (I will keep watching.) Question: once I see a forecast for the freeze, should I just pick the pepper even if it isn't ripe yet? I figure it can ripen further after it is picked, that is how things are done anyway for crops that are to be transported long distances. I don't want to lose it to a freeze.

And I think we are going to have a hard winter based on how humid it is at this point of the year. I have lived here since 2002 and have not seen it so humid in October (although for 3 years I parked in an underground garage, so those years don't count for this statement).

According to the Farmer's Almanac the east coast is going to be wet or snowy this winter. https://www.almanac.com/weather/longrange/region/us/3

This weather forecast seems to agree: https://patch.com/district-columbia/...dc-accuweather

[Cotton1]

Instead of all dat fancy
eatin' garden stuff
I go to me local wal-mart. I look dat producin fella right square in da eye and say " gimme them thar maters in the back. Mama gonna be a busy feedin dim young uns' tonite.

[Cotton1]

Dim young'uns of mine say " "wooiee papa" dim dar maters you got from da wal mart sho was a good eatin'

[bulletbob]

every year I added what was left of our garden to a mulch pile and covered it with hay had some nice much after a few years. as for the garden I normally threw some horse dung on it and whatever we got from the chicken coup and turned the garden over one time them added lime very lightly.

we had 2 fairly large vegetable gardens strawberry beds 2 asparagus a small orchard grapes trellis .I miss it to be honest.

[Dr. Who]

every year I added what was left of our garden to a mulch pile and covered it with hay had some nice much after a few years. as for the garden I normally threw some horse dung on it and whatever we got from the chicken coup and turned the garden over one time them added lime very lightly.

we had 2 fairly large vegetable gardens strawberry beds 2 asparagus a small orchard grapes trellis .I miss it to be honest.

Gardens are a lot of work of the backbreaking variety. I love what comes out of them, but I don't really enjoy the planting, the weeding, the thinning, the watering, the worrying over bugs, animals or blight. I planted for several years and always ended up with more of any given vegetable than I could use, so I gave a lot away. After a while I thought, what the heck, I'll grow flowers and buy vegetables. I still have a mulch pile which my neighbor adds to, but I'm just not really the gardener type. My mother was totally happy in the garden and so are my brother and sister. However my brother lets his plants go native with variable results. My sister is really the one with the inclination, more like my mother. I take after my father in that respect.

[donttread]

Gardens are a lot of work of the backbreaking variety. I love what comes out of them, but I don't really enjoy the planting, the weeding, the thinning, the watering, the worrying over bugs, animals or blight. I planted for several years and always ended up with more of any given vegetable than I could use, so I gave a lot away. After a while I thought, what the heck, I'll grow flowers and buy vegetables. I still have a mulch pile which my neighbor adds to, but I'm just not really the gardener type. My mother was totally happy in the garden and so are my brother and sister. However my brother lets his plants go native with variable results. My sister is really the one with the inclination, more like my mother. I take after my father in that respect.

I enjoy it all. it gives me outdoor time, a little activity and time to think.

[Just AnotherPerson]

Gardens are a lot of work of the backbreaking variety. I love what comes out of them, but I don't really enjoy the planting, the weeding, the thinning, the watering, the worrying over bugs, animals or blight. I planted for several years and always ended up with more of any given vegetable than I could use, so I gave a lot away. After a while I thought, what the heck, I'll grow flowers and buy vegetables. I still have a mulch pile which my neighbor adds to, but I'm just not really the gardener type. My mother was totally happy in the garden and so are my brother and sister. However my brother lets his plants go native with variable results. My sister is really the one with the inclination, more like my mother. I take after my father in that respect.

It all depends how you garden. I throw a weed mat down. You can get really nice ones that last for years at local nurseries. I then put in a drip line that was connected to the irrigation and when the sprinklers would kick on with the timer, the water lines would come on too. It was nearly a maintenance free garden. You still have to take care of plants and tie them up fertilize, and so on. But it is much less labor intensive. It doesn't cost much to garden like that. Here is a pic of my garden when I lived in the city, I didn't have the drip line in yet. I put one in the following year. The plants were still young in this pic. I really miss my gardens.

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