Preparing your vegetable garden for next year's crop

Hi Johnny, I thought I would post this as it may be of some interest to the 'older' gardeners. These are raised beds that we installed a couple of years ago and they make a big difference to the back.

I used to teach a residential landscaping class for adults at the local high school. It was based upon my 40 years of gardening experience (no latin names for plants). I always stressed the importance of safety. I mentioned over and over that kneepads and gloves are a must when gardening to prevent cuts and puncture wounds. I friend of a co-worker was working in her garden without kneepads. she knelt down and an old nail went through her knee She hadn't had a tetanus (lockjaw) shot in years. She developed tetanus and died!! Get your tetanus shot 

Our first few tomato crops were sort of iffy, we didn't know much about growing them. But since, we've really gotten many great harvests from them. We water them daily, just a cup or so placed within the soil containment wall around them. And you're so right, gotta keep water off the leaves and tomatoes.

One summer we had a long gentle rain shower, next day nearly every one was split. No loss, as they were ready for picking and we cooked them down for sauce, then canned them.

The BLT sounds great, and it isn't a burger without sliced tomatoes.

We're in West central Oregon, with acreage for garden space available. We grow apples, cherries, berries, strawberries, tomatoes, beets, cabbage, spuds, kale, lettuce, peas, green beans, lemon cucumbers and carrots. 

We use lots of onions and garlic so we grow large crops, and we produce our own herbs that do well. Surprisingly, the kale and carrots can usually last through the winter, although the kale then produces much smaller leaves.

Fun to learn about other gardener's crops and methods.

That's too bad about your leg. I hope it gets better.

I know a bunch of friends that have little success growing tomatoes. Tomatoes are not as easy to grow as people think. They are real fussy regarding soil conditions and fertilizer. They do not like dry soil but they hate getting their leaves wet and they hate really hot weather. They stop producing flowers when it gets really hot. I plant Marigolds around them to attract bees. No pollinators means no tomatoes.

Thats a good tip about tomatoes and egg shells, will give that a try. We have 6 chooks so eggs are plentiful. Another tip with eggshells - crushed they can be spread on the surface of the bed. Slugs and snails won't cross them.

We are now in Spring and I still have a number of winter vegetable to pick. Unfortunately breaking my leg so badly has really affected my ability to garden. I have missed about two months so far, including my Winter pruning of fruit trees and vegie bed prep. In Autumn I usually plant cabbage, cauliflower, brocoli, turnip, swede and broad beans. In Spring pumpkin, carrot, various beans and peas, sweet corn, capsicum, eggplant, several types of chilli, tomatoes and beetroot, and of course all of the usual salad vegies. I don't necessesarily plant all of these every year, as we do a lot of preserving. I try to grow a big crop of particular things that will last us a couple of years, which allows me to rotate what I grow.

I prep my beds by forking them over to the depth of the tynes on the fork. I keep all of the chook droppings and straw from the henhouse and let it rot down. When its ready I dig this into the beds. I try to avoid horse and cow manure because of the grass seeds they contain, although I do use it sometimes. When plants start to fruit I like to use a liquid fertiliser.

Because we live by the sea, we rarely get frosts, but we are also in a rain shadow, so watering is vital. A couple of years ago I too was inconsistent with the watering and lost a lot of tomatoes. Lesson learnt!! I also use my discarded crops in the compost beds, along with lawn clippings.

Sadly my gardening is not going to be great this season because of my current physical limits, but look out next year!

Rob F

That's a good idea to put egg shells into the soil. Tomatoes need calcium to prevent blossem end rot.

Mushroom compost, which is sold in bags, is a really good way of adding nutrients to your soil. HOWEVER, it is made from horse poop, so it stinks. 

This year we had a very dry August and I didn't water the tomatoes aften enough. In early September we had heavy rains for a couple of days. The tomatoes sucked up all of that water and burst open like water balloons. I must have lost about 50 tomatoes, red ones and green ones. Next year I'll make sure that I water those tomatoes on a regular basis.

There is nothing better than a BLT with home grown tomatoes. Makes me smile just thinking about it.

GMorrison

 

We stopped composting because it attracted rats.

 

Bill

 

Just about at the point. Last of the carrots and beets, onions and a few other randow greens are still growing. And the artichokes are in full production. Around November it starts to rain and there's not much point in growing anything other than seeds.

I never snows here and last winter there really was never a freeze. The flip side of course is that we can't grow hot sun vegetables either.

I ammend my soils with chicken manure and mushrooms. Usually I discard tomato soil for other uses, like the succulents. 

We stopped composting because it attracted rats.

Bill

Hi, Johnny - We till fall and spring, each time we add some of our own compost, mint and manure. Our compost is only from vegetables we raised. In fall we plant mustard or cabbage, which the wife says adds nitrogen, (I don't know the science, I follow her lead.) Then we till it all under, before blossoming.

Right or wrong, we do till deep and until we get a well agitated powdery soil. In spring she adds sea-90, which is minerals from the ocean. Egg shells for the tomatoes for calcium, to prevent blossom end rot. That works rather well.

We're strictly amateurs, might be way off base, but we do harvest some nice crops and are grateful to eat well in the summer. I'll mention your ideas on light tilling.

Thanks for the post.

Patrick