Study Hall
Save Time And Money: Reuse Your Drip Tape
If you plan on having a year-round garden like we do here at HOSS, drip irrigation is the obvious solution in your vegetable garden. But what happens to your drip tape after you've harvested your crops? Spending the money and time replacing your drip tape is not only costly but wastes hours that could be spent in the garden...
Top 7 Cover Crops To Plant In The Summer
As many gardeners know, crop rotation is important for having healthy soil in your vegetable garden. For example, if one season you plant tomatoes, you don’t want to follow it up the next season with tomatoes because the soil will be missing the specific nutrients those tomatoes need because the previous crop has already...
How Much Food To Grow & Preserve For A Family Of 4
Planning is a vital part of growing enough food to feed your family. Preparing for the unexpected like food shortages, rising prices, and supply chain issues will ensure that even in the worst of times, you have what you need to thrive. While a lot of gardeners prefer to eat their crops fresh, preserving either a portion...
Maximize Your Garden Space | Vertical & Container Gardening
There is a common misconception that you need to have acres of land to be able to be successful growing your own food for you and your family. But what happens if you live in an apartment, only have a back porch, or just a small window ledge? Or what if your dedicated garden is already full of rows and rows of vegetables and...
Top 5 Reasons To Plant Flowers In Your Vegetable Garden
The first and arguably most important reason to plant flowers in your vegetable garden is to attract pollinators. A pollinator is an insect or animal that carries pollen from male plants to female plants to aid in fertilization. These critters are attracted to the flowers in your garden and will subsequently help to pollinate your...
An Easy Choice: Bare Root vs. Strawberry Plant Plug
So you want to grow strawberries in your garden. That's great news but we know that deciding the best way to start can be overwhelming. Fear not, HOSS Study Hall is here to help. The two methods we explored were starting with a strawberry plant plug and bare root plant. Lucky for you, we've done our research...
Growing Potatoes in a Root Pouch Bag
In recent years, the popularity of container gardening has skyrocketed, and for good reason. Container gardening can provide flexibility, convenience, and the opportunity to grow plants in areas where traditional gardening is impractical. Root Pouch Grow Bags take this concept to the next level...
Simple Watermelon Tips for your at Home Garden
When growing watermelons there are many things to consider, so where do you start? There are many watermelon tips out there, so we need to start from the beginning, the seed. With almost all plants, there are two choices, Hybrid or Heirloom. An heirloom seed is one that has not been altered but past down...
Harvesting and Storing Potatoes from the Garden
The most popular variety of potatoes is the Yukon Gold which is a versatile potato variety that produces heavy yields, has an excellent flavor profile, and makes consistent medium to large-sized potatoes. Similar to the Yukon Gold the German Butterball produces medium to large-sized potatoes. This...
Removing Silks from Sweet Corn in the Garden
The best time to plant sweet corn is during the spring after the last frost date has happened. When it comes to planting sweet corn or any kind of corn variety it should be planted in blocks or squares for better pollination. Planting in blocks instead of long rows ensures that once the crop starts tasselling the wind...
Reducing Your Weed Seed Bank in the Garden
The weed seed bank is the amount of weed seeds you have stored in your garden soils. However, we want to eliminate the weed seeds in the soil because they can cause some serious issues in the garden. The contributions that we can't control when it comes to weed seeds are wind, water, and animals...
Why Should You Be Growing Beets in the Garden?
There are several health benefits when it comes to eating beets. The first benefit to growing beets is they can detoxify your blood and liver. Also, lower your blood pressure and provide lots of antioxidants to fight free radicals. While providing Vitamin C and fiber which is going to help with your digestive system...
Using the High Arch Wheel Hoe to Hill Corn
Some of the important reasons we like to hill corn is for weed control, to prop the corn up, and to create more brace roots at the bottom of the plant. Greg doesn't like to use any herbicides on his corn, therefore small weeds will begin to pop up around the corn plants which is not good. To gain weed control...
Tomato Trellising with the Florida Weave Technique
When it comes to trellising tomato plants there are many advantages that improve the overall health of these plants. The easiest Florida weave trellis technique is used for determinate tomatoes, while tomato cages are typically used for indeterminate tomatoes in the vegetable garden. We use the...
Everything You Need to Know for Planting Tomatoes
On this week's episode, Travis has the complete guide to planting tomatoes in the garden. The first step to preparing the garden for planting tomatoes is to set up the drip irrigation. Travis went ahead and laid the mainline tubing down the day before planting to allow the newly laid tape to stretch out and lay flat...
Planting Ambrosia Sweet Corn with our Garden Seeder
On this week's episode, Travis is planting ambrosia sweet corn in the vegetable garden. Previously planted was crimson clover and Travis decided to let his chickens graze on the spot in order to clean out the area. When planting sweet corn or field corn you always want to plant it in a square plot for better...
How to Hill Potatoes with the High Arch Wheel Hoe
On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to hill potatoes in the garden. Here in the south, we have experienced a good bit of warm weather which has caused our potatoes to grow quickly and they are around six inches tall. Since the potatoes are around six inches tall it is time to hill the potatoes...
Growing the Best Potato Varieties in the Vegetable Garden
On this week's episode, Greg is planting the best potatoes in the garden. When planting potatoes he likes to plant them around the end of February. Some of the potato varieties that he plans on growing this season are Jelly, Blue Belle, and Red Pontiac potato. The Jelly variety produces a large potato that has a nice...
Transplanting with Hoss Dibble Wheel Attachment
On this week's episode, Greg decided to plant some beet, bok choy, and broccoli transplants using the new Hoss Dibble Wheel. Back in the day, Greg just cut a stick to his desired spacing and used it to determine the spacing between each plant in the garden. However, with the new dibble wheel, it lays off the...
Improve Soils with Chickens and Cover Crops
On this week's episode, Travis shows how he uses the chicken and cover crops to improve soils in the vegetable garden. He set up the poultry fence and added the chicken tractor inside the fencing to allow the chickens to cover more area in the garden than just inside the coop. The poultry fence comes with a solar...
Why Leave Your Everyday Desk Job for Sustainable Farming
The three main objectives of sustainable farming is to create a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social/economic equity. This way of farming is to seek techniques that will promote farming practices that will help improve the soil environment and are economically good for the community...
Overcoming Too Much Rain in the Garden
The biggest problem with accumulating too much rain in the garden is disease pressure. Some of the diseases that could overtake the garden include powdery mildew, fire blight, and anthracnose. However, if you monitor the garden and have a prevention plan set in place to eliminate these disease issues you...
Best Way to Reuse Drip Tape in the Fall Garden
The easiest way to maximize garden production with effective irrigation and steady water-soluble fertilizers is through the use of drip tape. Most people believe that drip tape can be used either on top or buried in the soil. However, drip tape was really made to go underneath the soil in the garden...
Best Tools for Weeding Carrots and Onions
There are several benefits of removing weeds from the vegetable garden such as improved plant growth and garden soil. Weeds can cause restricts on plant growth due to them competing for nutrients, soil, water, and space that the plants you are trying to get growth development. One more issue with weeds...
Fertilizing the Garden with a Chicken Tractor
A chicken tractor is basically a mobile chicken coop that does not have a floor. Usually containing wheels, it is small enough to move around from one spot to another and rotate around certain areas. There are several different designs of chicken tractors available online, but Travis built one for himself that is...
Start to Finish: Preparing for Fall Garden Planting
On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to prepare for fall garden planting. He recently has added on a new plot for gardening and it is a 20 foot wide by around 35 feet long area. Originally this plot was just grass and in order to prepare it for planting, Travis tilled the area during the summer and since...
Planting Mixed Greens Bed in the Garden
On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to easily plant mixed greens in the vegetable garden. We recommended using the wheel hoe and garden seeder to create these productive elevated green beds in the garden. You can use either the Single Wheel Hoe or the Double Wheel Hoe and attach one...
Making Your Own Corn Meal and Grits
The best time to plant field corn is during the spring and can be grown throughout the warmer months up until fall. We recommend planting field corn using our Hoss Garden Seeder to provide accurate spacing in the vegetable garden. We also suggest using drip tape irrigation because corn is a heavy...
Building Up Your Garden Soils with Cover Crops
On this week's episode, Greg is discussing how to build up the soil by using cover crops. The many benefits of growing cover crops are the increase of organic matter, nematode suppression, and weed control. When building up your garden soils you have to supply the best cover crop that fulfills the...
Harvesting Fruits and Vegetables in the Garden
The Over The Shoulder Harvesting Bucket is by the far the best tool to use when harvesting fruits and vegetables around the homestead. It allows you to easily cut crops with one hand then harvest with the other hand. The harvesting bucket contains adjustable straps that won't cut into your skin and a padded...
Ultimate Guide to Growing Okra in the Vegetable Garden
On this week's episode, Travis is growing the easiest crops in the vegetable garden. Being apart of the Mallow family, okra is related to cotton or hibiscus and they all share similar flowers as well. It is pretty much a maintenance-free crop meaning it hardly needs any water or fertilizer to grow in the garden...
Top Vegetables to Grow in the Summertime Heat
On this week's episode, Travis describes the top vegetables to grow during the warmer summertime growing season. During the summertime, the weather conditions are not ideal to grow many vegetable varieties in the garden. Along with the harsh weather conditions, pest and disease pressures are unbearable...
Using a Garden Hoe for Maintaining Heavy Weeds
It is important to maintain weeds in the vegetable garden because they can ultimately overrun the entire garden area if they are not controlled. The major issue with weeds in the garden is they compete for nutrients, water, soil, and space against plants that strongly need it for growth. If the plants do...
How to Grow the Best Sweet Corn in the Vegetable Garden
On this week's episode, Greg is discussing all the essentials needed to grow the best sweet corn in the garden. The three most important factors when growing the best sweet corn are pollination, irrigation, and fertilization. When it comes to planting corn it should be planted in blocks or squares because corn is pollinated...
Best Tool to Use for Harvesting Okra
The best tool for harvesting okra in the garden is our Handy Twine Knife. This tool is a vinyl-coated ring that slides onto your finger that makes it easier to harvest vegetables and cut twine when using the trellising technique. When harvesting okra this twine knife can be worn either above or below the knuckle...
Best Way to Grow the Healthiest Tomatoes
When planting tomatoes they do best transplanted instead of direct-seeded in the vegetable garden. Transplants should be planted in the garden, 4 to 6 weeks before the intended outdoor planting date. If weather conditions are just right the tomato transplants can be planted directly into the garden...
Organic Disease Controls in the Garden
When growing your own food in the garden the overall goal is to produce the healthiest vegetables. In order to achieve this goal using organic disease controls and pest controls help eliminate applying harmful products on our vegetable garden area. To produce the healthiest vegetables, we need a garden that...
Planting Sweet Potatoes in the Vegetable Garden
This warm-weather crop can be planted as late as July or August, but Travis is planting them in May this year because he wants to harvest them a little earlier in the garden. The sweet potatoes typically take around 100 days to harvest. There are several health benefits to growing sweet potatoes such as they provide...
Harvesting Asparagus in the Vegetable Garden
There are a couple of different health benefits to growing asparagus in the vegetable garden. Like other vegetables, asparagus provides nutrients such as protein, fiber, potassium, phosphorus, folate, and a few other vitamins. As well as, a good source of antioxidants which helps protect cells from oxidative...
Best Way to Fertilize Corn in the Garden
On this week's episode, Travis is discussing the best way to fertilize corn in the vegetable garden. When planting corn in the garden it is known to be a heavy-feeder that needs lots of water and fertilizer in order to produce healthy plants. Earlier in the Spring, Travis planted Truckers Favorite Yellow Corn in the garden...
Planting Bloody Butcher in the Vegetable Garden
On this week's episode, Greg is planting bloody butcher in the vegetable garden. Greg typically plants his corn with 36-inch spacing. However, in today's video, he narrowed it down to around 30 inches to get the most out of this rather expensive variety of corn. When planting corn varieties in the garden, you need drip...
Planting Double Rows of Blue Lake Beans
On this week's episode, Travis is planting two different varieties of beans on double rows in the vegetable garden. The first variety of bush bean is Blue Lake which is great for canning and eating fresh from the garden. The second variety is known as Green Crop Bush Bean which contains a flattened appearance...
Organic Pest Control in the Vegetable Garden
When using organic pest control the most important step in eliminating the pest problems is to be proactive in the garden. Greg recommends having a spray program early on to ensure that you reduce the pest issues before they over populate the vegetable garden. The benefits of using organic pest controls...
Why Adding Lime in the Vegetable Garden is Important
On this week's episode, Greg explains the benefits of adding lime in the garden. The two different forms of lime are regular agricultural lime and pelletized lime. The major difference between the two forms is that the regular lime is a powder and the pelletized lime can be used in a spreader. The agricultural lime...
Simplest Way to Plant Potatoes in the Garden
On this week's episode, Travis is planting potatoes in the garden area. This year, when planting potatoes he has a few different varieties from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds to try out. The varieties we are going to try out in the garden are Jelly, Blue Belle, and Russian Banana. In order to plant potatoes, Travis recommends...
Planting Field Corn in the Vegetable Garden
On this week's episode, Travis is planting a popular variety of field corn in the vegetable garden. The best time to plant corn is during the warmer months up until the fall. When growing field corn it is nearly impossible without drip tape irrigation. Since field corn stalks grow tall in the garden the overhead irrigation...
Growing Cauliflower in the Vegetable Garden
Cauliflower is one of Travis's favorite fall crops to grow due to three major benefits. The first benefit is the ability to succession plant it throughout the growing season. This means when growing cauliflower you can plant it at several different times throughout the fall and get multiple harvestings. The second...
Keeping Your Garden Clean & Healthy This Fall
If you are not a big fan of planting in the garden year-round, we recommend keeping the garden area clean and healthy instead of letting it grow up with grass and weeds every year. If you allow the area to grow up with grass and weeds every year you will have a continuous battle of fighting them off once you
Planting Pelleted Carrots in the Vegetable Garden
To begin planting pelleted carrots in the high tunnel greenhouse Greg must first prepare the garden area. The first step in preparing the garden for planting pelleted carrots is to use the Oscillating attachment on the Wheel Hoe to work the garden soil. Then, after working the soil we laid out compost exactly...