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Simple Tips to Grow a Sweet Potato Plant

Many people will say that a sweet potato is the easiest plant to grow but won’t include the steps to make it the successful maintenance-free crop it’s meant to be. Here at Hoss Tools, we want to help you grow your own food, so this is what we do to make sure we have a successful sweet potato harvest. With any crop, it starts from the beginning. At Hoss Tools, we order sweet potato slips, which are different from a draw. A draw grows from the vine where a slip gets picked from the sprout of a sweet potato plant. 

We have to make sure our soil is ready to have plants in it by digging our rows, and we suggest planting sweet potato rows three feet apart and 12 inches between each seed. You want to plant these slips in soil that has been tilled well and has good drainage. The pH is always essential, and we have seen that they do best in soils with a pH level of 5.8-6. 

For fertilizing your sweet potatoes pre-plant or post, it is vital that you keep it low in nitrogen and high in phosphorous and potassium. Keeping the nitrogen down will help you grow fewer vines and instead focus on the roots. Travis likes to put complete organic hen manure on his sweet potatoes about a week before he plants and then thirty days after when he is hilling the potatoes. 

Our Favorite Sweet Potato Varieties 

We have grown many varieties of sweet potatoes, including the Centennial, the Covington, the Bearugaurd, and the Georgia Jet. We have seen many benefits in all of them, including the Georgia Jet, being the tastiest sweet potato with a short growing season, the Bearugaurd having excellent nematode resistance, and the Covington being the prettiest plant. 

Picking a variety that works for you depends solely on what you are looking for and how your growing season is. For someone up north looking for a quick potato that Georgia Jet might be best, whereas someone just looking for a pretty plant would choose the Covington. 

Show and Tell Segment

Sweet corn is ready to harvest, so Travis brought in some for Greg to try, and if you don’t like watching them eat on the show, you might want to skip the first half. With just some butter and salt, this sweet corn was delicious!! Greg didn’t want to praise it too much until Travis gets some of his though, but Greg’s is about ten days behind Travis’s. We all love some friendly garden competition.

If you watched any of our social media videos this past week, you might have heard Travis talk about his Tomato disaster that occurred from all the rain. Travis’s tomatoes fell slap over on to the next row when his T-posts started to move around in the wet soil. It’s not a bad problem to have such a big harvest that your posts can’t hold up. Thankfully Travis was able to save the row with not many tomatoes lost.

Hoss Tools has some exciting things coming in the next few weeks, including a product that is frequently asked for, T-shirts!! Be on the lookout for a Row by Row Garden Show T-shirt on the website soon and maybe even some more designs. As the guys wrapped up their first segment, they ask our viewers for some help! Hoss Tools wants to use real customer testimonials to compile a video to use as promotion, help them out by checking out the link in the latest Row By Row show!

Viewer Questions

Tim Jones started us off with a mind-boggling question of how do seeds know up from down?? Travis had to think back to his botany class days but then taught us that it has to do a lot with gravity and sunlight. When the seed is in the ground, it tells by the gravitational pull, and once they get blooms on them, they will grow towards the sun. After that we had a viewer ask us why we aren’t growing Dahlias, Greg then informed us that he has a current trial going on with Dahlias trying to learn more about them as they are hard to grow down here in the southern heat. Along with that question, we had another viewer ask about flowers. Randy asked the guys how long does it typically take sunflowers to germinate and grow into a full-size plant? They explained that it could be 50-60 days to mature, but it all depends on the water and weather, just like any plant.

Product of the Week

• Corn Silking Brush

 

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Attracting Pollinators with our Flowers in the Garden

As we are all starting to wind down the spring garden and begin preparing for the fall, most of us don’t consider planting flowers in the vegetable garden. Besides their outward appearance, flowers can bring many benefits to the garden. With the weather right now, Greg suggested that though you can still plant Okra and Sweet Potatoes and get a good harvest, that’s about it. The time has come to begin planting our cover crops and preparing our soil for the future. 

One of the apparent benefits of Flowers is there ability to attract pollinators. If you already have a hive planting fresh flowers for them will feed them well. If you don’t have a colony, this flower garden will draw in the natural ones. Flowers also bring in beneficial insects such as butterflies. These beneficial insects will then help keep down your pest pressure and keep away the harmful insects. Remember, not all bugs are bad. 

Flowers of any kind can lift anybody’s spirits when needed. If you are having a bad day or you and your woman are fighting, all you have to do is take a walk around the garden or cut you a lovely bouquet, and that will put a smile on anyone’s face. 

Favorite Varieties of Flowers for the Vegetable Garden

Growing flowers in the vegetable garden are something we never leave out. One of our tried and true flower varieties is our ProCut Sunflowers. These are perfect for the bouquets and anything you want to take inside because they are pollen-less. Pollen-less means that even when you shake them around, no yellow specks will fall, making them great for indoors. Also though they are pollen-less, that doesn’t stop the bees from swarming all around. If you want a sunflower that isn’t as expensive and doesn’t have to be planted as meticulous, some of the varieties we suggest are Chocolate Cherry, Autumn Beauty, Teddy Bear, and Santa Fe Sunset. These few sunflowers are gorgeous and can be mixed to grow a plot full! Sunflowers are perfect for a warm-season cover crop. 

Our next favorite flower is the Benary Giant. The seed is a Zinnia and is one of the biggest blooms in any variety. Not only is it big and beautiful, but it makes for a perfect cut flower because of its plant structure. At Hoss Tools, we sell many of the Benary Giant Zinnias separately, but we also sell them in mixes. Putting the Benary Giant Zinnia Mix in your garden will bring it life like never before. When you are done and picked all the flowers, you would like you can cut them down and mow it into the plots giving it proper nutrients. 

Show and Tell Segment

On the Row by Row Garden Show, we love starting with something to eat. This week Travis brought in several mason jars full of his freshly fermented pickles. Fermenting vegetables is very popular, but something the guys at Hoss Tools haven’t tried a lot. With the use of a big crock and many cucumbers, Travis topped them with some seasoning and let them sit. Both the guys loved the way they tasted and decided they will be doing this a lot more. They explained how this is simpler than canning because you don’t have to steam or boil anything but instead let it sit and then pour into jars. If you are overflowing with vegetables in your garden and want to try something new, you can start fermenting with our simple Complete Fermentation Kit.

After the guys stuffed their bellies with pickles, they started talking about the tallest thing in the garden right now, Sweet Corn. Our Sweet Corn varieties, Avalon and Hickory King are almost ready! Our pollen is dripping all over the newly formed silks meaning we will have corn real soon. Besides Sweet Corn, Hoss Tools also offers Field Corn seeds, and we got some new ones on the way. Lancaster Sure Crop Corn is one of our new varieties that is an heirloom with huge ears. The other new Field Corn variety is Reids Yellow Dent Corn, which is also an heirloom, but this one is drought-tolerant. 

Viewer Questions

This week’s viewer question segment started with some frequently asked questions regarding pest control spraying. After last week’s episode on pest control programs, we left our viewers wondering, so the guys answered.

The first viewer wanted to know after you have sprayed your garden with the pest control spray and still have leftovers do you have to throw it out or can you save it for later? The guys both agreed that you should to try and only mix your desired need, doing that will leave you not much leftover. You don’t want ever to use the leftover spray because after the chemicals have been sitting there mixed, it messes with their pH levels and how well it will work.

The next viewer wanted to know exactly when do you start these pest control programs? Travis said that if you are transplanting once you have put them in the ground and they have formed their roots, it is fine to spray. Though this seems young, starting spraying early on your plants will help prevent some of those pest pressure you know is coming.

Product of the Week

• Beneficial Insect Wildflower Mix

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Preparing for your Pest Control Program

As it is starting to warm up, preparing for pest control is a hot topic. Knowing what pest control program you should use is all about knowing was insect and disease pressures you face. Even Greg and Travis, who live in the same county, face different pest pressures and problems.

It is essential when getting rid of pests to be proactive and start spraying before they show up. Some of the main pests the guys see here are Squash Bugs, Pickle Worms, Leaf-footed bugs, and Corn Earworm. Both Greg and Travis like to spray once a week, and if it starts to get worse, go in twice a week.

They each pick a specific day and stuck to that schedule like Travis sprays every Sunday night. It would be best if you sprayed late afternoon or early morning, so your bees are not affected by the spraying. They both agree that their bees are active in the morning, so they choose to spray right as its getting dark, and the bees are going to sleep. 

Insects and their eggs like to stay under the leaf, so it is crucial that when you spray, you get under the foliage and over the top for good coverage. With our organic sprays, you must get excellent coverage. A question a lot of gardeners ask is, when do I know I have sprayed enough per plant? Greg likes to use the run-off method. If you are spraying the plant and it is starting to run-off the leaves, then you have sprayed plenty, and you need to move on, or you are wasting money. 

What Should your Pest Control Program Include? 

For every good pest control program, it is vital to have a combination of insecticide and fungicide. Many people do not realize not only can you mix the two, but it is terrific for your plants to do so. All of the chemicals here at Hoss Tools have no problem mixing, but like always, it is imperative to read the pull-off label on the back. That label will also tell you how you are required by law to mix it and by what ratio. 

Both Greg and Travis have two different combinations they alternate on their gardens. For week one, Travis goes in with spinosad, Garden Insect Spray, this chemical takes care of crawling and flying insects. He mixes in with that spinosad the Liquid Copper Fungicide. He notes that when mixing, he does them each individually then adds them together.

For Travis’s week two, he goes in with Monterey B t Spray to help take care of worms, moths, and caterpillars. The Bt gets mixed with the Take-Down Garden Spray, which will help take care of squash bugs and their eggs. The last chemical he adds in there is Complete Disease Control, which is a comprehensive organic fungicide. 

Greg’s pest control program consists of Liquid Copper Fungicide and Spinosad Garden Insect Spray for his first week, which is similar to Travis’s. The Garden Insect Spray sticks to the leaf perfect, which is important if you spray before a rain shower. The Liquid Copper is great for early and late blight, which is something Greg’s garden struggles having. 

For week two, Greg goes in with a fungicide that is good for leaf spots and can be used to treat soil born diseases, Complete Disease Control. He mixes that with a not as well known spray named Fruit Tree Spray, don’t let the name fool you though it works wonders on vegetable gardens as it is a combination of pyrethrin and neem oil. One last tip to remember if you are spraying something with oil if you are expecting to have a hot afternoon and you sprayed in the morning, you have a high likelihood your plants are going to burn. 

Show and Tell Segment

Exciting things are happening at Hoss Tools, including giveaways, T-shirts, new video segments, and new seed varieties. The giveaway will only happen if we hit 100K on Youtube by May 30th, and if we do, Hoss Tools will be selecting three winners to win gift cards up to $500!!

The new video segments Travis spoke about are called Garden Goodies, which will be short videos on various things Greg or Travis want to show you or teach you around the garden. These will post on IGTV, but at the end of the week, they will get compiled into one video available on Youtube. 

Row by Row t-shirts is in the making, so get ready! The guys are steadily working on designs to give you a great way to support your favorite channel and garden store. Let us know what you would like to see by commenting on any of our videos.

The new seed varieties were various pumpkins, great for jack o’ lanterns, small or big. The following seeds are also powdery mildew resistant, so that makes them easier to grow in the south. 

• Half Pint Pumpkin
• New Moon Pumpkin
• Mustang PMR Pumpkin

It wouldn’t be a Show and Tell Segment if we didn’t have an infamous gardening story from Greg now, would it? After Greg left us with the question of Vine Okra the other week to see what our viewers knew, he finally gave us a little insight, with some humor. The Vine Okra he spoke about and showed was considered a gourd, where he went on to say that anyone in the south or southwest could have success with it as it’s such a maintenance-free crop. 

Product of the Week

• Take Down Garden Spray

Check out the video below to listen to the guys talk more in-depth about their pest control programs!!

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Comparing our Onions

The guys were comparing onions and potatoes in this week’s show, as Travis brought in three different types of onions. Red, yellow, and white, and they took a bite out of each! The red onion was the Red Creole onion that Hoss Tools carries, it was direct seeded into the ground, and it came up about a week before the other ones. The guys explained that they loved this type of onion on salads to give it some color.

The next onion they compared was the Savannah Sweet onion, which is a yellow one and has more of a sugary taste compared to the other two. After looking at the onion, Greg and Travis agreed that they thought it was a semi-round. The last one they tried had the most bite to it and would have been a perfect pairing with a chili dog, and that was the white onion.

Comparing our Potatoes

After Greg’s joke on Travis’s potato growing abilities last week, Travis brought a bucket full of his potatoes in. They have been all about comparing their onions and potatoes. Travis’s Yukon Gold potatoes were some of the biggest ones he has ever grown! Travis explained that he didn’t put any fertilizer on his potatoes this year, but it was all about the cover crop cocktail he mixed up. The cocktail consisted of Hairy Vetch, Radishes, and Austrian Winter Peas, that mix fed his soil in just the right way to give him a bountiful harvest.

Now that he has all these potatoes, they discussed how he was going to store them. If you go back to the video, you can see a shelf design Travis drew up that is perfect for storing and adding other layers too. You want to make sure that you are keeping your onions and potatoes in a cool, dark, and dry space as well as making sure they have plenty of room not to touch. If you have them too stacked on each other, that will cause them to rot.

Show and Tell Segment

If you are not a fan of good eating, you would not have enjoyed the first part of this week’s show. Travis and Greg both brought in some great things to taste test, which even led to Travis being blindfolded and spoon-fed!! Greg made Travis try some of his pickled vegetables, including pickled squash. Greg also shouted out one of Mrs.Hoss’s favorite Southern Living books and where she had gotten some of these recipes. The book was titled Little Jars Big Flavor. Pickling is a great resort to turn to when you have an abundance of harvest or want to save that taste for later.

Travis also brought in some of his Max Pack variety of cucumbers and talked about how awesome they were doing and their excellent disease resistance. The guys also announced some new varieties were hitting the website, including Dewlectable Melons, Halo Canary Melons, and Alexandria Squash. 

Viewer Questions Segment

Here at Hoss Tools, we focus a lot on vegetables well our first viewer question was centered around our thoughts towards fruit trees. Travis and Greg listed the many fruit trees they both have at their homesteads, including a Granny Smith Apple tree, lime and lemon trees, a muscadine vine, and many fig trees. Greg then talked about his PlumCot tree, which is a cross between a plum and an apricot that was developed at the UGA research station.

The next question we had a viewer ask about tips on Kohlrabi, Greg said that this was one of his favorite things to grow. He told her that it does not like the heat and does better in the cooler times of the year, he also said that Kohlrabi goes great in coleslaw as a substitute for cabbage.

One of the last questions had to do with raised beds/container gardens and what mixture you would use in them. Travis urged not to use only compost because you need something just a little bit denser to hold the water, but instead to fill it about two-thirds of the way with topsoil, then top it off with compost. Then Greg reminded him that if you don’t have access to good topsoil, you could even use peat moss.

Product of the Week

• Japanese Hulless Popcorn

Watch the video below about comparing onions and potatoes and how you can enter to win a $500 gift card to Hoss Tools!!

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Travis’s Maintenance Free Picks

After a viewer asked the question, “What is the best maintenance free vegetables to grow in your garden?” Travis and Greg both came up with their list of five easiest to grow annual vegetables. As they answered this question, they realized that this is subject to change with every gardener, and that is why even in their two lists, there is deviation. When Travis was answering this question, he considered the following.

• Pest Pressure
• Disease Pressure
• Weed Pressure
• Harvest Frequency
• Water Needs
• Fertilizer Needs

After considering all of the above, the number one maintenance-free crop Travis came up with was sweet potatoes. Their lack of need for fertilizers or water is what made him rank this one number one. Another bonus of sweet potatoes is down here in South Georgia. There are very few pests for them. Number two was collards, Travis explained how you get the most bang for your buck with this plant right here. Collards can be harvested six-seven times on one stalk, and each bundle of collards can sell for around five dollars, meaning that you could make almost forty bucks with just one plant. With our weather in South Georgia, you can also get around eight to nine months of growing time. Winter squash was Travis’s number three, mainly the Cucurbita Machado species. This species is resistant to the squash vine borer, making it very easy to maintain. The fourth vegetable was okra, though it does have to require multiple harvests, it only has to be watered overhead around once a week. The last one on Travis’s list was radish. This one was considered on the list because of its ease when direct seeding it and its very little water need.

Greg’s Maintenance Free Picks

As Greg began to answer this question, he didn’t think near as deeply and specific as Travis. He just responded to the question of what causes him the least amount of effort? After twenty-five years of growing this crop, Greg decided this would be his number one maintenance-free pick, Irish potatoes. Potatoes do not need a lot of water because of the time of year they get planted. His next two went hand in hand, summer squash and cucumbers, he explained that these are only maintenance free if you plant them early though. As you plant them early and keep them healthy, they are more likely to fight off diseases. He emphasized that every beginner gardener should be planting these two crops. They also both have a quick turn around with cucumbers only falling ten days behind the squash. Bush beans came in at number four because of their lack of disease and insect pressure. They also get ready to harvest pretty quickly. Now Greg’s fifth choice was left up to the viewers to see what they knew about this highly confidential crop known as vine okra.

Show and Tell Segment

These weeks show and tell segment started with a little snack after lasts week pickled cucumber recipe Travis brought his sliced pickles for Greg to try. This simple recipe calls for flavored olive oil, salt, pepper, and a heavy dose of Cavender’s Greek seasoning. Travis then talked about how he is going cucumber crazy! He showed one of his Diomede cucumbers out of his garden that some commercial guys would have considered a cull. They discussed even though the cucumber might look different; it still eats well. That conversation led to Mr.Greg explaining that he is trellising his cucumbers with a hog panel this year and how you have to kind of train your cucumbers up the board compared to the Hortonova Trellis. Two new cucumber varieties were uploaded to the site this week that will be great for our urban gardeners, Mercury and Olympian. One neat thing about Mercury is that it is a parthenocarpic, meaning it only produces female flowers. These varieties will be awesome for our gardeners with no pollinators or a lack of pollinators nearby.

Viewer Questions Segment

In this week’s viewer question segment, our first question asked about last week’s episode. The guys were asked their opinion on planting through plastic mulch. Travis explained if you have a way to lay it, that would be great. Our garden tips center around smaller-scale gardens. The second question asked for suggestions on what to plant for first-time fall gardens. They both talked about if you aren’t planting a fall garden. You are missing the boat. Their suggestion for plants were cabbage, beets, collards, mustards, and lettuce. One viewer then asked about what plants in their garden do they burn after harvest, Travis went on to give this list of plants to burn, burning helps get rid of diseases and insects as you get ready to plant your next crop.

• Squash
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Eggplant
• Potatoes
• Cucumbers
• Pumpkins

The Bradford watermelon was brought up by a viewer asking Greg if he knew anything about it. Greg went on to say that he read up on it a few years ago and how it is an interesting crop because it has been around since the 1850’s originating from the Bradford family in South Carolina. The next viewer asked Greg and Travis how do they know when it is too late to plant something? Travis was excited to talk about an app Hoss Tools has been working on that helps all gardeners answer that specific question. To help out the viewers until then, he gave this list of what they would still plant here in zone 8b.

• Peppers
• Egg Plant
• Cucumbers
• Summer Squash
• Winter Squash
• Okra
• Corn
• Sweet Potatoes
• Flowers

Our last subject in the viewer question segment was all about cover crops and their importance even in the north. Though we stress the importance of cover crops a lot more here in the south because we don’t have the freezing winters that kill out most of the insects and weed-like in the north, Travis and Greg explained it still can be beneficial for our northern gardeners.

Product of the Week

• Hortonova Trellis Netting

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Benefits of No Till Gardening

No-till gardening can have its advantages and disadvantages, and as Greg put it in this week’s episode, it would work out great in a perfect world. Though Greg nor Travis use this Back to Eden style gardening, they discussed the benefits it may have. The first one they discussed was how no-till gardening builds up the earthworm population that could then lead to natural aeration and drainage. The second benefit is that it can save water, the reason behind this is because if you have some mulch covering your garden, you are going to have less evaporation. The third benefit of no-till gardening is that it helps soil retain carbon. Retaining the carbon is an undeniable benefit of no-till gardening because as you cultivate the soil, you can smell the carbon in the atmosphere. Many other bloggers say that no-till gardening also saves time and energy as well as reduces the need to weed. Travis and Greg both disagreed when they compared it to their gardens in which they do. They disagreed because of the fact you have to plant by hand if you don’t cultivate your soil, and no-tilling also appears to add weed pressure.

Benefits of Tilling a Garden

After explaining the benefits of not cultivating your soil Travis and Greg went on to explain the reasons they choose to do so. The first reason was how they saw fewer weeds with tilling, and if they did have weeds, it was easier to get rid of them. The second reason is that it provides oxygen to the soil, cultivating that plot is going to remove that crust and aerate that soil. Another benefit of tilling is that when you are adding compost or manure, it works better if it is integrated within the soil, really getting it mixed within. With tilling, you also don’t have to plant everything by hand, but instead, you can go in there with a seeder since you don’t have wood chips or another type of mulch over the beds. One last benefit is that with tilling, you can turn-over your beds a lot quicker, and here in South Georgia, this is very important. Down here, we are turning beds over every 30-50 days meaning that to get the most efficient production tilling works best for us.

So Which One is Better? Till or No Till Gardening

Overall, deciding which method of gardening is all about knowing your climate, the scale of your garden, and the resources you will have at hand. Resources and the size of your garden will differ with every gardener, so there is no right or wrong. We all want to be good stewards of our soil, and if we are growing our food, we are doing just that.

Show and Tell Segment

Exciting things happened in this week’s show and tell segment as we discussed a surprise Greg had show up in his garden for his 55th birthday. Greg then shared one of his favorite Mrs.Hoss recipes for the Calypso Cucumber. The procedure insisted on cutting the cucumbers up long ways, putting them in a zip lock bag, and adding some dill, elephant garlic, and salt. Then let it sit overnight, and they will be delicious come morning. Travis then explained an exciting competition that is taking place now until July 31st between Hoss Tools and some fellow gardening channels that will all be trying to grow the biggest American Giant Sunflower. There may even be some friendly father-son competition.

Viewer Questions Segment

This week’s viewer questions answered a wide array of problems. One focus was on squash plants and if Travis and Greg thought they were better grown through transplants or direct seed. After a great fall winter squash harvest Travis had through transplants, he discussed how he might even do that with his summer squash though they germinate fine with just a seed. Another question centered around squash bugs and how to get rid of them without any chemicals, a tip was shared about using duct tape to remove them manually. One viewer than asked what do they do in regards to weeds, use the “Chop and Drop” method, or do they burn them? It all just depends on the type of weed. If a certain weed seed quickly, then it is best to get that thing out of there. Our last question asked about the multiplying of onions and what kind of permanent bed to use. Greg explained that he is running trials with that currently and that he is still learning something new every day, even as many years as he has been gardening.

Product of the Week

• 3 Tine Cultivator

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Row by Row Garden Show

To celebrate the 100th episode of the Row by Row Garden Show, Greg and Travis share some of their favorite most memorable moments from the show. Travis mentions that his first moment was when Greg harvested some Honey Select Sweet Corn that tasted terrible however Greg ate the entire bowl of corn. Another moment was when Greg and Travis did their tomato taste test show which is when they tried different tomato varieties and compared them to one another as well. While another memory was when the power all of a sudden went out during the garden show and the guys had to come back the next day to shoot the show. The last favorite memory was during this fall/winter when Greg and Travis had a debate on who grew the biggest and tastiest cabbage in the vegetable garden.

Giveaway Questions

For the 100th episode of the Row by Row Garden Show, Greg and Travis are giving away a box full of goodies to the three most loyal viewers that can answer all five questions correctly. The first question is how far apart in years and days are Greg and Travis. The second question is what year was Hoss Tools started and Travis gives a little hint that it’s an even number. The third question is what is the name of the heirloom winter squash that the guys are growing a seed crop of this year. The fourth question is what is the title of the most viewed Row by Row episode on YouTube. The last and fifth question is what is the name of the book that we carry that has Greg’s favorite pickled okra recipes in it.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys celebrate the 100th episode of the Row by Row Garden Show. Greg has the prettiest crop of sweet corn he has ever grown, however, his field corn seems to be struggling right now in the garden. Travis showcases some of his Gold Star Squash which is a crookneck type and some of the Goldprize variety which is a straigtneck type of squash. He also mentions the new patty-pan varieties that are available which are Total Eclipse, Partial Eclipse, and Moonbeam Squash.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about trellising certain crops, growing gourds, finding good quality compost, and when to harvest garlic from the vegetable garden. Although there are several different ways to trellis such as the Florida weave or Hortonova it can vary depending on what crops you are growing. Greg mentions that gourds are really fun to grow in the garden and we have multiple varieties to choose from such as Birdhouse Bottle Gourd, Bule Gourd, etc. Travis suggests the best way to find good quality compost in your area is by simply talking to other gardeners to see what they use in their garden. When it’s time to harvest garlic, Greg says the garlic leaves will start to turn yellow or a little bit brown meaning it’s time to dig them up.

Product of the Week

• Austrian Crescent Potato

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Determining the Best Fertilizers for Your Garden

When discussing what the best fertilizers are to use on certain crops and how much to use on plants there are so many variables that can play into this decision. Depending on what type of soils you have in your own garden can help indicate what type of fertilizer is the best for you to use on vegetable plants. For example, if you have sandy type soil and somebody else has clay-like soils the recommend fertilization program is gonna change drastically because of the different nutrient requirements in those different soil types.

Best Fertilizers to Use on Certain Crops

The first type of fertilizer that they discuss is the organic fertilizers that you can put down at pre-plant in the garden. The first one is our Complete Orangic Fertilizer which is pelleted hen manure that can be added at pre-plant and then four weeks after in the garden area because it is more of a slower release process. The recommended rate on this is one and a half cup per square feet, for example, could be about five-row feet depending on what you have planted. The next fertilizer that is suggested is the Liqui-Fish which can be used to feed the soil by either soil drench or injecting it through a sprinkler system. However, this fertilizer works better in warm weather than it does it cool weather. The third fertilizer discussed is the 20-20-20 Garden Fertilizer which is used on almost everything grown in the vegetable garden. If you prefer to hand water you should put about one to two cups in a five-gallon bucket and then pour it alongside your plants. Travis has a 64-ounce mixing cup that is basically a half-gallon that he will fill up 3/4 of the way with the 20-20-20 and then take a cup or two of Micro Boost on top and that’s what he puts in his injector every time he runs it. The 20-20-20 is ideal for spoon feeding which means just giving the plants a little bit at a time with the injector. Another great fertilizer is the Calcium Nitrate which works well on all your nightshades such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. There two grades to this nitrate which are soluble and non-soluble which means it can either be water-soluble or not. The only one we carry is the water-soluble Calcium Nitrate which works great in the injector as well. The rate on this fertilizer is a pound per hundred-row feet or if you are injecting on a big plot put out five pounds per thousand square feet. When it comes to organic calcium like Gypsum Soil Conditioner it is great for helping in clay-like soils that need a quality soil conditioner in the area. Then, we have Chilean Nitrate which is a go-to fertilizer for corn that adds a natural source of nitrogen into the vegetable garden. The rate on the Chilean Nitrate for side dressing corn is a whole 10-pound bag per thousand square feet. Next, is our go-to Allium fertilizer known as Ammonium Sulfate which is used on plants like onions, garlic, leeks, or shallots. This fertilizer has a recommended rate when side-dressed of one cup per 20 feet row and when injecting it’s one cup per 40 feet. Lastly, one of our most popular fertilizers is the Micro Boost which is a blend that is specifically designed to improve the yield in your vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys compare their SunBurst Squash varieties to see just how well they grew in the vegetable garden. Travis mentions that we have several new colors of the patty-pan type squash such as MoonBeam, Total Eclipse, Partial Eclipse, and Bennings Green Tint. Greg shows off some purple asparagus that he harvested from the garden. Since a lot of customers have been wanting some half runner beans, we finally got some Mountaineer Half Runner Beans which is an old heirloom that is supposed to be the best variety out there. The guys also discuss the difference between crowder and pink-eyed pea types.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about momentum beans, growing small onions, and days to maturity. Travis mentions that his momentum beans are doing just fine, they experienced a little windburn from last week’s storm but have recovered nicely and has a little bit of a pest control program to keep them clear of any pest issues. Here in zone 8, Greg says we like to plant our onions around the 1st of November or around the time frame. A couple of important factors when it comes to planting onions is to keep in mind the row spacing and fertilize them well until the bulbing process starts happening. When it comes to days to maturity it can be a variable factor because weather conditions can affect the growth of certain crops.

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Small Beginner Gardener

If you are a small beginner gardener that only has room for a 20×20 vegetable garden, what can you plant in that area? Although that seems like a simple question to answer there is actually a couple of different factors that play into that like weather temperatures, soil types, certain crop nutrients, etc.

Small Beginner Gardener with 20×20 Area

The 20×20 small beginner gardener diagram that we discuss is subject to change depending on what vegetables you like to eat or plant in the garden. However, this plan is designed to get the most out of the area you have and we suggest planting thick and incorporating some vertical gardening to achieve maximum space. In the 20×20 garden area, Travis sectioned it into 4 foot wide quadrants for row spacing. Along the first row in the diagram, we suggest pole beans because they can be grown vertically on a trellis and easy to maintain along the edge of the garden in that beginning row. If you are planting one row of pole beans we recommend planting Kentucky Blue which is extremely productive and has sweeter flavor profiles than traditional pole beans. On the second row, is where we can plant some nightshades such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Within a 20-foot row, you can get about 10 plants in the area that are 2-feet apart. Therefore, you can plant five tomato plants of the Brickyard variety, three pepper plants like a Bell Pepper or Cubanelle, and two eggplants of the highly productive Purple Shine variety. Next, along the third row a great crop to grow is Jambalaya Okra. However, if you do not like picking okra every other day the jambalaya variety may not be for you because it is best picked at around three to four inches long. If you prefer to pick okra every three to five days choose a variety like the Perkins Long Pod, Cowhorn, or Red Burgundy to plant in the garden. Then, on the fourth row, you can plant some squash and zucchini along that garden row. Although there’s several good varieties if you just had to pick two to grow we would recommend Goldprize Squash and Pascola Zucchini. On the last row, we suggest planting cucumbers specifically the Stonewall variety, but that can vary depending on if you prefer pickling or slicing cucumbers.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss a little information about the Row by Row Garden Show and little insight into what gardening all involves if you are new to the gardening world. Travis has some mulberries that were harvested this year from his mulberry trees. After a heavy storm this past weekend, the guys talk about the importance of getting in the garden as soon as that rain is over to cultivate the area and let that soil breathe. The new South Anna Butternut Squash is a hybrid that grows excellent in the heat and is disease resistant. The guys also compare their different sized onions and how they grow onions in the vegetable garden.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about controlling thick crabgrass, dependable tomato variety, removing bermudagrass, and hilling potatoes in a raised bed. Travis mentions the best way to remove crabgrass is to control it when it is small and remove the whole thing. You can also plant a cover crop like Sorghum Sudangrass or Sunn Hemp to help block or cover the soil from sunlight, therefore, you are able to break up that crabgrass seed from germinating. When discussing the three most reliable tomato varieties out of the cherry, salsa, and sandwich-type tomatoes which one is the best to plant. Greg says for the cherry type tomato he recommends the Yellow Pear which produces smaller yellow fruits that have a tangy, almost citrus flavor profile. For the salsa type tomato, the Amish Paste is the best type which is an excellent open-pollinated variety as well. While the best sandwich-type tomato is the Bella Rosa which is one of our popular tomato varieties. Travis suggests the best way to remove bermudagrass from the vegetable garden is to use a silage tarp to bake the area for a couple of weeks until everything is dead under the tarp. Then remove the tarp and till the area and place the tarp back over the area for two more weeks and continue to do that method for at least three or four times to get rid of the bermudagrass completely. Greg says in a raised bed situation you can take a hoe and pull dirt up on the potato plants or if you have room to add soil and compost that works too.

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Variety of Wheel Hoe Attachments

Our popular Single, Double, and High Arch Wheel Hoes are known to make gardening easier and with our variety of wheel hoe attachments, it makes working in the garden more manageable than ever. All three wheel hoes come with a set of cultivator teeths which is used for breaking up the soil to do preventative weeding in the garden. You can use up to five cultivator teeth on the wheel hoe, however, we have found that using less is better because if there are too many it tends to clog up. The most popular wheel hoe attachments that we have are the plows that have a left and right plow. To use the plows in the hilling position, you must put the right plow on the left and the left plow on the right to ensure they hill vegetables correctly. The second wheel hoe attachment that makes it easier to garden is the oscillating hoe which is available in a 6, 8, and 12-inch. If you have harder garden soils to work in this attachment is one of our strongest weeding attachments to use for managing the vegetable garden. Another great wheel hoe attachment is the sweeps which have a few limitations. The sweep blades are zinc-coated and made to overlap one another so you can control the size of the desired weeding path. Depending on your soil type and the amount of weed pressure you experience you should go with the sweeps if you’ve got softer soils and tend to stay on top of weed pressure a little more. However, go with the oscillating hoe iff you’ve got heavier soils and lots of weed pressure in the garden. Another advantage of using the sweeps is you can get super close cultivation next to plants that are in the ground. The fourth wheel hoe attachment is the winged sweeps which are similar to the sweeps but have a little bit different shape. The ideal setup for the wheel hoe is to have two or three-winged sweeps to ensure they work properly. Next, is one of the most misunderstood implements that we carry which is the disk harrow. This disk harrow is made for seedbed preparation, incorporating compost in the soil, and close cultivation when moved in a different position. The last attachment that the guys mention is the spreader bar which is more of an accessory that is used to extend the wheel hoe toolbar for adding more attachments.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discussed watermelons on last week’s show and forgot to explain the watermelon fertilization program. Greg mentions that watermelons are a long-term crop that takes around 80 to 90 days, therefore, you need to split up fertilization as much as you can and not apply them all at one time. The ideal amount is no more than 120 units per acre of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It’s best if you spoon feed it and bust it up while using a well-balanced fertilizer like 20-20-20 and alternate with calcium nitrate. Watermelons also need zinc, boron, and magnesium that is available in Micro-Boost.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about spraying leaves and heat-tolerant lettuces. Travis mentions when spraying anything on the garden it’s important to have a nice nozzle or sprayer that will atomize what you are spraying so you don’t spray too much and have it running off the leaves. When growing lettuce the Cherokee and Tehama have been proven to be the most heat-tolerant varieties that we carry on the site.

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Watermelon Varieties

Since Hoss Tools has started selling seeds, Greg has decided to try a new variety of watermelons every year. In the past, he prefers growing watermelons such as Crimson Sweet before he started trying new watermelon varieties. Last year, he grew the Moon and Stars variety and this year he has decided to plant the Sangria Watermelon. When discussing the heirloom or open-pollinated watermelon varieties the few that we have available include Charleston Gray which is a more elongated, smaller sized watermelon that contained a thick rind and a very popular variety back in the day. The Moon and Stars variety consist of oblong fruits that average around 25 lbs but can get as large as 40 lbs. Another popular variety is the Sugar Baby which is a smaller sized watermelon that averages 10 to 12 lbs. Then, the last two heirloom varieties we have available are the Tendersweet Orange and Crimson Sweet which is great tasting watermelons as well. A hybrid variety is the Baby Doll which has a bright yellow interior that has an exceptional flavor profile. While the all sweet type watermelon varieties include Dulce Fantasia, Sangria, and Jamboree.

Tips for Planting Watermelons

When it comes to growing watermelons you can direct seed or transplant in a seed starting tray. Another factor of growing watermelons is they require drip irrigation to ensure you supply enough water directly to plant roots and control fungal diseases. It’s also very important to have pollinators to get higher production yield. For plant spacing, Greg recommends a foot or two with row spacing around five feet in the vegetable garden. All the fertilization should be done before fruits start to set in the area.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys try out the first batch of sauerkraut that Travis made using his cabbages harvested from the vegetable garden. Greg discusses the ideal time to plant potatoes so you don’t experience rotten potatoes in the next growing season. The guys also touch base on some products that are being restocked in the next couple of days.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about sowing onion seeds, storing seeds, spinosad effect on bees, healing potatoes, mixing B.T. and Spinosad, and treatment for aphids. Travis mentions last fall he started sowing onion seeds as early as last August and early September all the way through October. In sowing onion seeds this way he found that he can succession plant onions in the vegetable garden. Greg recommends storing seeds anywhere where you can get a constant temperature or environment such as a refrigerator. When spraying spinosad you should either do it right before dark or after dark when the bees are not in the garden pollinating. When it comes to mixing B.t. and Spinosad, Travis mentions they pretty much do the same thing so either use or other in the garden. Greg suggests using either Neem Oil or Pyrthine to control aphids and keep after them regularly to maintain a decrease in the population.

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• Complete Organic Fertilizer

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Types/Tasty Sweet Corn Varieties

The three major types/tasty sweet corn are known as standard, sugary extender, and supersweet. The standard is a su gene that is mostly your old-time favorite varieties including Silver Queen, Stowell’s Evergreen, and Jubilee. The standard type will germinate in cooler soils better than the supersweet and once they are harvested you have to do something with them quickly because they normally last about 3 days in the fridge. While the sugary extender or sugary enhance type is where you will find the majority of the most popular varieties such as Silver King, Bodacious, Incredible, Peaches & Cream, Ambrosia, and Argent Sweet Corn. Typically the sugary enhance gene can store a little better than the standard type and needs a little warmer soil temperatures to germinate. Lastly, the supersweet type is known for storing the longest once harvested and requires even warmer soil temperatures to germinate in the garden. Also, the supersweets require a little more maintenance than the standard or sugary enhanced type. Now an uncommon type is known as triplesweet corn which actually contains all three of the major genes such as the standard, sugary enhance, and supersweet. One thing about having the triplesweet contain all three of the major genes is that you don’t have to isolate when planting. Therefore, if you want to grow two different varieties of sweet corn you should plant whichever variety of the standard, sugary enhanced, or supersweet then wait two weeks and plant you a triplesweet in the vegetable garden.

Planting/Growing Tips

The main factor about planting sweet corn is it should be planted in blocks, not rows. Corn is pollinated by the wind so if you experience corn cobs that are half-filled at the end of the growing season it is most likely due to pollination issues. Therefore, planting in squares that are larger and blockier the better your pollination will be throughout the growing season. Another important factor about pollination is ensuring that your fertilizer is delivered right to your corn to help with the coincide of the tassel and silk development. When it comes to spacing, corn has a standard row spacing of 36 inches. Travis has tried growing corn with two-foot spacing but was not successful because there is too much foliage and your pollen can’t fall to the silks. For seed spacing along the row, it can vary a little bit depending on what irrigation you have, however, the most ideal is 6 to 8 inches apart. When dealing with fungus and disease on corn we suggest using Liquid Copper Fungicide, Complete Disease Control, or Spinosad.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis discuss a little bit about the pandemic that is happening right now. Travis has some Pak Choi that he has harvested from the garden. This variety of cabbage is a fast producing crop that creates steady production and excellent flavor profiles. Next, he has a variety of Gold Nugget Carrots that were grown in the garden for the first time this year and they are similar to the Bugs Bunny type carrots. The guys also compare their onion varieties that were harvested from the garden area.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about when to plant tomatoes and planting watermelons. Travis mentions that he just has a feeling when it’s time to plant tomatoes in the garden. He kinda knows when the frost is done and the temperatures start warming up it’s time to plant. Greg says he still has to get drip tape in the ground, but it is time once the true leaves start coming up in the greenhouse.

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Tips for Cross-Pollinating

When it comes to saving seeds the most important factor in keeping that seed pure to its genetics is ensuring you aren’t cross-pollinating with other varieties in the vegetable garden.

Different Types of Pollination

The three main pollinating types of crops are self-pollinating, wind pollinating, and insect pollinating. The self-pollinating crops include beans, peas, okra, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant which do not require beneficial insects to pollinate them. To ensure you do not experience cross-pollinating of the self-pollinating crops there are isolation distances to help with keeping the seeds you are wanting to save true or pure for future growing seasons. The isolation distances recommended for beans or peas is 20 feet, okra is 1500 feet, tomatoes is 10 feet, peppers is 100 feet, and eggplant is 50 feet between varieties in the area. When it comes to wind-pollinating, corn is the only crop that is wind-pollinated. When growing corn you have a male flower which is the tassel and the female flower which is the silk. Wind-pollination allows the pollen grains on the tassel to fertilize the silk and every little silk represents a kernel on the ear of corn. Another important type of pollination is our insect-pollination where we need bees to help us make fruits during the growing season. The insect-pollinated crops include cantaloupes, watermelons, cucumbers, pumpkins, summer squash, winter squash, and gourds.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has a handful of Viper Carrots that he recently harvested from the vegetable garden. Greg grew the Yellowstone variety that was rather small and more personal-sized carrots. The guys also discuss their composting technique for different plots and vegetables this growing season. According to Greg, it may be the year for planting potatoes, however, Travis is a little worried that the weather temperatures have struck hot quick for potato growing. Travis shows off a seed starting tray full of tomato transplants that are ready to be planting in the garden. The several different tomato varieties he plans on planting are Bella Rosa, Celebration, Brickyard, Red Snapper, Chef’s Choice Orange, Homestead, and Black Krim.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about planting sweet potato slips, using cotton gin trash compost, and squash succession planting. Travis likes to wait and plant sweet potato slips in June or sometimes even July that way he can dig them towards November. Although there as been concern about using gin trash compost, Travis and Greg are getting their compost from a gin trash company that is taking the right measurements to ensure they are creating quality grade compost that can be used in the garden area. Greg mentions when succession planting summer squash he always direct seeds and moves them over a row or two so he doesn’t plant in the same exact row.

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Planting Summer Squash

When it comes to growing summer squash in the garden, there are many factors such as climate temperatures, irrigation, soil quality, and insect or disease pressures that must be controlled. Summer squash is usually the first warm-weather crop the guys recommend to plant in the vegetable garden.

Guide to Growing Summer Squash

Here in South Georgia, we are located in Zone 8B, therefore we plant summer squash typically as soon as temperatures become warm. Another reason behind planting summer squash early is to ensure we get around three to four rounds of squash before the squash bug pressure gets too bad in the garden. A few different varieties that we recommend growing is the patty-pan types like the Sunburst and Bennings Green Tint. When it comes to the more traditional summer squash types like the crookneck and straightneck we have varieties such as the Early Crookneck, Gentry, and Goldprize. Along with the summer squash, we have zucchini varieties such as Golden Delight, Golden Zebra, Spineless Beauty, Spineless Supreme, and Pascola. Next, the guys discuss the general rule of thumb when it comes to summer squash fertilization which is add a complete fertilizer like 20-20-20. To maintain disease control over the powdery and downy mildews we suggest Liquid Copper Fungicide or Monterey B.t. The number one factor when dealing with pests such as pickle worms, squash bugs, and vine borers is you have to control them early on to ensure they don’t become a larger problem in the vegetable garden. For pest control, Travis suggests mixing the B.t. with the Neem Oil one week and then the next week the Take Down Garden Spray. Overall, when growing summer squash you must get rid of plants when production begins to decline to ensure you don’t create a host for pest to live and feed off of.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has a heap of Brussel sprouts that he has harvested from the vegetable garden. The different Brussel sprout varieties that he shows off is the hybrid, Jade Cross and productive open-pollinated Red Bull. The guys also discuss what crops they plan on planting coming soon in the garden. Greg is exterminating with using perlite on top of his seed starting trays after he dibbles in potting soil. The commercial growers use this perlite method to cover the top of seeds instead of using more Pro-Mix.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about when the payoff stage of onions begins, tips on growing corn on a smaller scale, planting winter squash, and the cause of having a hole in the center of potatoes. Travis mentions that you will know when the onion bulbs have begun the payoff stage because the base will start to enlarge. Greg recommends when growing a smaller scale of corn you need to make sure the corn is hilled well to help ensure strong weather conditions do not ruin the plot. When you experience having a hole in the center of potatoes, Greg mentions that it is a physiological problem that is known as a hollow heart and is most likely caused by too much or lack of irrigation.

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Best Potato Fertilization Schedule

Unlike heavy feeder crops such as corn that requires lots of fertilizer, potatoes are a little different and need a certain range of fertilizer in the vegetable garden. When discussing the nutrients that potatoes need to have successful growth Travis talks about the maximum amount and you can scale it back to the desired amount you need for your garden area. The potato fertilization schedule starts with major three nutrients which is nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. On the higher end of the scale, nitrogen is 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet, phosphorous is 1.5 pounds per 1,000 square feet, and potassium is 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet. For the home gardener or small market farm, it is recommended to use a complete fertilizer like 20-20-20 or 10-10-10 to ensure you get all the required nutrients. Overall, if you had a 1,000 square foot of potatoes in the garden area you would need about 25 pounds of 20-20-20 throughout their lifetime growing span. Next for the fertilization schedule, we don’t need to give all the nutrients at one time in the area. Therefore, the first application should be when planting potatoes, you need to put 1/3 down which can be sprinkled along the furrow. The second application of 1/3 fertilizer can be applied at emergence or around the first hilling process. The final application of the 1/3 should be applied at your last or second hilling assuming you hill potatoes at least two times. Along with the three major nutrients, potatoes also need micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, and boron. We recommend using Calcium Nitrate Fertilizer to ensure you get all the calcium you need and use the Micro-Juice for the other needed micronutrients.

Indeterminate vs. Determinate Potatoes

When talking about determinate and indeterminate potatoes it is rather different than discussing types of tomatoes. Indeterminate potatoes are described by having a later maturity date than most other varieties. While the red potatoes like Red Norland, Red Pontiac, or Red Lasoda are all early varieties, therefore, known as determinate potatoes. Some people also believe you don’t need to hill determinate potatoes in the garden. However, in order to have a successful bumper crop, you will need to hill potatoes whether they’re determinate or indeterminate.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss not plucking the greens off rutabagas to help get a large size crop in the garden. Travis shows off a Texas Legend Onion that he grew in early November that has excellent flavor and great storage life after harvesting. Travis also talks about some new flower seed varieties such as Marigold Sparky Mix, Bachelor Button Polka Dot Mix, Cosmos Bright Light Mix, Snapdragon Tetra Mix, and Zinnia Cactus Mix.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about where to get vegetable bags, mixing sand with soil for growing carrots, tips for growing squash. Travis mentions when doing his weekly produce bag operation he recommends buying produce bags from Amazon which tend to hold vegetables a little longer than other bags. Greg mentions that instead of mixing sand in the soil he suggests adding a good compost to improve the nutrient value for growing vegetables in the garden. Travis and Greg suggest that the number tip when planting squash is plant them early in the spring to ensure you avoid harsh disease and insect pressures. They also recommend applying some pest control like Spinosad, Neem Oil, or Monetery BT.

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Let’s Talk Drip Irrigation

On this week’s episode, the guys answer some of the most popular frequently asked questions about drip irrigation in the vegetable garden. Although some people are intimidated by drip systems, however, it is rather simple and really a gamechanger in the garden area. The first question they answer is whether or not you can use drip tape irrigation with a gravity-fed system. Travis mentions that you can use drip tape with a gravity-fed system, but it is unfeasible overall. The second most popular question about drip irrigation is should it be buried or laid on top of the soil. Greg says you can really do either, but drip tape was designed to be buried under the soil to prevent it from being harmed by other elements. There are two ways to bury drip irrigation using our wheel hoe either with the plow set attachment or the drip tape layer attachment. Once the drip tape is in the ground, people often wonder how to know where the emitters are located after it’s buried in the area. The best way that Travis determines where the emitters are once it is buried is by turning the irrigation on and around 10 to 15 minutes depending on how dry the soil is, little water spots will develop where the emitters are located. They also mention that you can plant crops in between the emitters along the drip tape irrigation. The next question that is asked often is can you save drip tape and reuse it again in the garden. The guys mention that it can be reused depending on how conservative or frugal you want to be. Travis typically pulls tape up out of the area and then cultivates the area and lays it right back down, he never pulls it completely up and tries to store it. He normally uses the same drip tape four to five times and then replaces it with new tape. Another question the guy’s answer is you can certainly leave the drip tape in the garden over winter because it decompresses when it is not in use so you will never have to worry about it freezing during the winter season. The major difference between 8 mil and 15 mil tape is the 15 mil tape is almost twice as thick as the 8 mil tape. The 8 mil tape is designed for annual vegetables, while the 15 mil tape is better for perennials in the garden. When watering individual rows, you can use the drip tape row start valves which basically allows you to turn off or on individual rows that need irrigation. Another popular question is how long do you let drip irrigation run in the vegetable garden. Which is rather a hard question to answer because it depends on factors such as the climate, weather temperatures, soil type, the crop you are growing, and so much more. Greg mentions that you will get the feel for how wet it is the soil real quick and once plants start growing larger it may take longer to water, however, it all just depends on certain factors. You can also use drip irrigation in a raised bed situation it just may need more what we call tee and elbows for the mainline. When direct seeding in the garden, Greg recommends planting crops directly on top of the drip tape while planting transplants on either side of the emitters. The last question the guy’s answer about drip irrigation is how to avoid hitting it with the wheel hoe. Overall, by burying it and putting it out of the way we can avoid messing it up in the vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss the different types of carrots growing in the vegetable garden. They also discuss potato planting since it has been super wet in the garden. The guys also discuss some okra varieties that have excellent flavor profiles such as Red Burgundy, Star of David, Silver Queen, Cowhorn, Perkins Long Pod, and Clemson Spineless.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about growing crops against tradition, controlling tomato spotted wilt virus, warm-weather cover crop, and growing collard greens.

Travis mentions that sometimes they try to push the limits of what crops they grow in certain seasons. However, he never tries to flip the seasons of crops around. Greg says that you can control tomato spotted wilt virus by either planting a virus-resistant tomato variety or treating insects with an insecticide early on in the vegetable garden. Travis recommends planting warm-season cover crops like buckwheat if you tend to have a shorter growing window or if you have a longer window the sorghum sudangrass is perfect. Greg recommends growing the Top Bunch variety because it will outperform all other varieties in the garden.

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• Drip Tape Irrigation Kit

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Planting Different Tomato Varieties

Since it’s time to plant potatoes in the garden area, it’s also the perfect time to start planting tomato varieties in the greenhouse. Here in Zone 8, the ideal time to start planting tomato seeds in the seed starting trays is around February 15th. Typically, the tomato seedlings will take six weeks to germinate which puts us planting tomato transplants in the soil right around the 1st of April.

Heirloom, Indeterminate

• Amish Paste
• Brandywine Pink
• Cherokee Purple
• Black Krim
• Jubilee
• Mortgage Lifter
• Sweetie Cherry
• Yellow Pear

Heirloom, Determinate

• Homestead

Hybrid, Indeterminate

• Black Cherry Zebra
• Chef’s Choice Orange
• Sun Gold

Hybrid, Determinate

• Mountain Glory
• Celebration
• SummerPick
• Tachi
• Red Snapper
• Brickyard
• Bella Rosa

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some watermelon radishes that typically have more of a bite than a normal traditional radish. The next crop that he has to show off this week is the Chioggia Beet variety. As the most visually appealing beet, this variety offers a less earthy flavor and a more sugary content profile than other red beets. As well another large cabbage variety, known as the Rio Grande which probably weighs around 15 to 20 pounds. The guys also do a little show and tell on the new seed varieties coming soon. The four new varieties on the site include Gentry Squash, Gold Star Squash, Pascola Zucchini, and Spineless Supreme Zucchini. As well as three new watermelon varieties which are supposed to be sweeter than our popular Crimson Sweet variety. These varieties include Dulce Fantasia, Sangria, and Jamboree watermelon.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about pelleted seeds, preserving corn seed, preventing mildew on cucumbers, and the best way to grow corn in the vegetable garden. Travis mentions that he thinks with pelleted seeds they may need a little bit more water than non-pelleted seeds. Also, with pelleted seeds, they don’t have a shelf life that will last nearly as long as unpelleted seeds. Greg says when preserving corn seed for next season it is recommended that you keep the seeds at least 1600 feet away from other varieties to ensure they do not cross-pollinate. Once you gather the seeds you want to save you will need to place them in the freezer for at least two weeks to keep the weevils out of them. If you are trying to prevent mildew on cucumbers, Travis recommends growing powdery mildew resistant varieties. The two varieties we have available that offer this disease package resistance is the Diomede and the Max Pack. When growing corn, Greg mentions that you know when there is enough fertilizer because you can see where you’ve burnt the edge of the leaf a little bit. The way he likes to add the fertilizer in the garden is by putting down a balanced fertilizer and every other time hit it with a nitrogen source.

Product of the Week

• Tomato Varieties

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Gardening Questions

On this week’s episode, Greg and Travis answer several gardening questions that are asked by multiple customers.  The first question the guys answer on this week’s episode is whether to use two or three-foot row spacing when planting corn. Travis mentions that he has made the mistake of planting on two-foot row spacing which results in poor pollination and unhealthy crops. The second question they discuss is the difference in fertilization methods between raised beds and ground gardening. Greg indicates that it depends on the type of medium you have in the raised beds, however, they do drain better and you will experience more water leaching in a raised bed. The fertilization method that Greg recommends using as Complete Organic Fertilizer to ensure you the get needed amount of fertilizer. Next on the gardening questions list is there any sweet corn varieties that grow well without irrigation. Although all sweet corn loves water, the one variety that can grow without irrigation is the Stowells Evergreen. When discussing a shift in growing seasons using a high tunnel greenhouse, the guys recommend moving crops up a couple of weeks according to your planting zone to coordinate with the growing conditions in the high tunnel. The three crops that do wonders when starting out in a high tunnel greenhouse are summer squash, lettuce, and indeterminate tomatoes. The fifth question is rather different and interesting to think about which was what did the pioneers do for fertilizer before they could just run down to the hardware store and buy it. The guys suggest the most ideal way they think the pioneer’s used fertilizer is by establishing a grazing program with their livestock and a fallow ground program to let the soil rest and build up the nutrient levels by using the livestock manure. The guys also give their best advice for growing artichokes and asparagus around the homestead. However, Greg mentions that if you love asparagus you should be growing it on the homestead. Travis shows off a couple of shallots and needs some help to determine why some are splitting off and others aren’t in the garden. They list off a couple of recommendations for growing winter squash such as give them plenty of room to grow and plant early to avoid disease pressures. Another common question is how to rotate different crops in a single plot garden area. Greg has experienced this issue before in the garden if you aren’t able to rotate crops you can just move 10 feet over and the vegetables should be fine. Travis mentions that the best way to grow beets is by transplanting to ensure you get them uniformly spaced. If you have trouble growing all greens instead of beets that most likely means you have too much nitrogen and not enough phosphorus and potassium. When it comes to traditional gardening beds, it is recommended that watering ornamentals should be one inch per week. The last question that has been asked is whether or not we can build an attachment for the wheel hoe that would allow you to side-dress your plants. Once the guys started using the injection system the need for a side dressing attachment is kind of on the back burner right now but may come available in the future.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys talk new pepper seed varieties such as Touchdown Bell Pepper, Mama Mia Giallo, Mama Mia Rosso, Cinder Jalapeno, Lola Banana Pepper, and Santa Fe Grande.

Product of the Week

• Hoss Hat

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Most Popular Seed Varieties

The guys discuss the 15 most popular seed varieties that were chosen by customers as bestsellers. All of these seed varieties are excellent for growing in the vegetable garden and offer some of the best production and flavor profiles throughout the growing season.

Jambalaya Okra

The most popular seed variety that we have available at Hoss Tools is the Jambalaya Okra. As the most productive okra crop, this variety has heavy yields of green pods with excellent flavor profiles. We recommend transplanting in okra in early spring to get a jump start on the growing season.

Red Burgundy Okra

Not the most productive okra variety that we have available the Red Burgundy Okra is one of the best pickling varieties according to Greg. This okra variety produces deep red pods that will remain tender at even longer pod lengths.

Tiger Collard

Once we sell out of the Tiger Collards variety it will soon be replaced with the Top Bunch 2.0 collards. The Top Bunch 2.0 is the newest generation in the Top Bunch collard line. This is a hybrid variety that is great for early-maturing and will grow fast in the vegetable garden.

Bella Rosa Tomato

The Bella Rosa is an heirloom variety that performs best in hot and humid climates. Out of all the popular seed varieties, the Bella Rosa is the top performer for continuing to set fruits once temperatures become warmer in early summer.

Brickyard Tomato

As the most comprehensive disease-resistant package the Brickyard Tomatoes do best when planted in seed starting trays. Tomatoes can produce heavy fruits and will require some form of trellising system to support the plants throughout the growing season.

Goldprize Squash

As a highly productive squash, the Goldprize variety is a straightneck that offers excellent flavor profiles, texture, and storage potential. Throughout the growing season, squash is a crop that will require multiple harvests within the garden area.

Stonewall Cucumber

The Stonewall Cucumber is a hybrid slicer variety that offers improved yields, great disease-resistance, and exceptional consistency. It does best when direct seeded in the garden area and is a vining plant that will need a strong trellising system in place as it grows throughout the season.

Green Magic Broccoli

Out of all the popular seed varieties, the Green Magic Broccoli is one of the most popular broccoli varieties. This heat-tolerant broccoli can be grown in spring and earlier in the fall than other varieties. We recommend transplanting broccoli to ensure you get maximum production and better plants.

Calypso Cucumber

Another popular cucumber variety is the Calypso cucumber which is gynoecious meaning it produces all-female flowers for increased productivity and higher yields. This hybrid variety offers a strong disease package and early production within the vegetable garden.

Jimmy Red Corn

If you are looking for a variety of corn to grind for making grits and corn mill the Jimmy Red is the ideal variety for just that. We recommend planting corn using a walk-behind planter like our garden seeder that makes planting easy and allows you to customize your planting to meet your exact needs.

Rattlesnake Pole Beans

A very popular variety of beans to grow in the vegetable garden is the Rattlesnake Pole Beans. This heirloom variety has vigorous plants that grow up to 10 inches when trellised and produce around 6 to 7-inch pods that can be harvested frequently throughout the growing season.

Spineless Beauty Zucchini

The Spineless Beauty Zucchini is another hybrid variety that provides an exceptional production, increased storage, and disease package in the garden. The variety has spineless petioles which mean there is no itching sensation during and after harvesting zucchini.

Benary Giant Zinnia Mix

Along with growing vegetables in the garden, it is also great to plant cut flowers in the area. The Benary Giant Zinnia Mix contains a bountiful assortment of colorful flowers throughout the entire warm growing season. The following colors are included in the mix: orange, deep red, coral, lime, bright pink, carmine rose, purple, wine, salmon rose, white, golden yellow, and scarlet.

Bolero Carrot

The hybrid Bolero Carrot variety offers an excellent disease resistance package with great flavor profiles and storage capacity. This variety produces large heavy tops that make them easy to pull up from the ground during harvesting. Once harvested, carrots can hold in cold storage for several weeks and can also be blanched, frozen, and retain texture and flavor in the freezer.

Lacinato Kale

Out of all the most popular seed varieties, the most productive crops grown in the garden this year was the Lacinato Kale which is ideal for producing throughout the entire year. It can be planted in the fall months and will produce throughout the winter and into spring. We recommend transplanting kale at least 3 to 4 weeks before the desired outdoor planting date in the vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss growing and eating leeks from the vegetable garden. It has been a busy week in the warehouse with the packing and shipping of potatoes. The Austrian Crescent Fingerling Potato is a popular variety that is hard to come by this year so be sure to get it before we sell out. A couple of new varieties that are now available on the site is Diomede Cucumbers, Max Pack Cucumbers, Athena Cantaloupe, and Black Zebra Cherry Tomato.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about starting winter squash transplants, growing Cherokee Tans or Seminole pumpkins on a cattle panel, tilling cover crops, and planting cold crops in the ground a little early.

Product of the Week

• Potato Varieties
• Spineless Supreme

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Transplanting Crops vs. Direct Seeding

When comes to transplanting crops and which are best for direct seeding it can vary depending on the several different plant varieties. For transplanting crops like beets you can either transplant or direct seed in the garden. Travis mentions in order to get consistently sized beets you must thin them and he prefers to do this in the greenhouse rather than on his knees inside the vegetable garden. The three other transplanting crops that are without a doubt better transplanted are broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and cabbage plants. Another crop that can be transplanted or direct seeded is cantaloupes and it is beneficial to transplant if you like in a climate where the warm growing season isn’t as long. When it comes to collards you can direct seed or transplant depending on how and what variety you are planting in the garden. Another crop that can be transplanted or direct seeded is okra because it does not like cooler soils you are able to get a head start on growing if you transplant okra. When direct seeding crops such as beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, greens, peanuts, radishes, etc all do better direct seeded in the vegetable garden. The advantage of transplanting crops is you will get a head start on planting which is really effective for areas that experience really high disease or insect pressures. Another advantage of transplanting is you get a head start on the weed pressure, especially with slower germinating crops.

Transplant Crops

• Brocolli
• Brussel Sprouts
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Eggplant
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Onions
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon

Direct Seed

• Beans
• Carrots
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Greens
• Peanuts
• Field Peas
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Summer Squash

Direct Seed + Transplant

• Beets
• Cantaloupes
• Collards
• Gourds
• English Peas
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Okra
• Pumpkins
• Rutabaga
• Winter Squash
• Swiss Chard
• Turnips

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has grown some of the Mr. Big English Pea variety for the first time in the garden. The guys address the comments about the egg in the hole feedback on last week’s garden show video. Greg shows off some of his Cheers and Jersey Wakefield cabbage from the vegetable garden. Greg also has his ghost pepper seeds in the freezer so he will get a better stratification process and quicker germination when he gets ready to plant them. The guys give an update on potatoes and hope to get them in and ready to ship next week.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about rotating in a small garden, advice for growing watermelons, and amending pH for every crop. Travis mentions that can be more difficult to manage crop rotation in one small garden, however, you just have to be more mindful of what crops you are planting in the area year after year. He also mentions that it is really beneficial if you are utilizing cover crops that will help with incorporating nutrients back into the soils. Greg gives three tips for growing watermelons which is to give them plenty of room, use drip irrigation, and attract natural pollinators to the area. Greg mentions the ideal way to control your pH for planting is to plant new seeds in a new spot every year and work it into your rotation.

Product of the Week

• Cherokee Lettuce

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Crop Rotation Strategies

If you fail to incorporate effective crop rotation strategies in the vegetable garden, you can experience recurring pests and disease problems that will become greater year after year. It is crucial to establish the right crop rotation strategies to eliminate these problems. Our goal is to not plant the same family of crops in the same spot in consecutive years.

Crops in the Same Family

Travis shows a comprehensive list of vegetables and their respective families. The first family of crops is Solanaceae, commonly known as the nightshades. This family includes popular vegetable crops like tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and potatoes. Most folks don’t realize that potatoes are closely related to the other crops in the nightshade family. As a result, you wouldn’t want to plant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant in the same spot as potatoes in a given year. If you are not careful to rotate these crops, you will almost certainly experience some blight issues that will intensify over time.

The next family is Cucurbitaceae, also known as the Cucurbits. This family includes crops like summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupes, and gourds. All of the crops in the Cucurbit family can have issues with powdery mildew and downy mildew, so rotating these crops ensures those disease problems will not increase year after year. Cucurbits also tend to have high insect pressure with pests like squash bugs, squash vine borers and pickle worms.

The next family is the Brassicas, which is one of the most popular families of crops grown in the vegetable garden. The brassica family includes mustards, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, bok choy, rutabagas, turnips, and radishes. Brassicas can have recurring pest issues if not rotated properly, especially with worms that will chew and eat the plant leaves.

Below is a list of all the important crop families for a vegetable garden:

Nightshades:

• Tomatoes
• Eggplants
• Peppers
• Potatoes

Cucurbits:

• Summer Squash
• Winter Squash
• Pumpkins
• Cucumbers
• Watermelon
• Cantaloupes
• Gourds

Brassicas:

• Mustard
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Turnips
• Kohlrabi
• Radish
• Rutabagas
• Boy Choy

Alliums:

• Onions
• Shallots
• Leeks
• Garlic
• Scallions
• Chives

Legumes:

• Beans
• English Peas
• Winter Peas
• Field Peas
• Peanuts
• Clover
• Sunn Hemp
• Hairy Vetch

Umbellifers:

• Carrots
• Cilantro
• Celery
• Parsley
• Dill
• Parsnips

Amaranth:

• Beets
• Chard
• Spinach
• Pigweed

Grasses:

• Corn
• Wheat
• Barley
• Sorghum Sudangrass

Mallow:

• Okra
• Cotton
• Hibiscus

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys sample a few varieties of raw greens including Tatsoi, Arugula, and Savanna Mustard. Greg provides an update on his multiplying onions and guinea nest onions from the garden. He also discusses the Ghost Peppers that are now available. He mentions they are limited and will sell quickly. The guys also mention that 20 more seed varieties will be added by the end of January.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about seed starting schedules, cleaning seed trays, favorite tomato varieties, and moving plants from the greenhouse. Travis mentions that his ideal seed starting schedule is to plant early spring crops such as lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, etc., now. And he’ll start planting peppers in late January or early February. In mid-February, he will start planting tomatoes and eggplants, and towards the end of February start planting okra, watermelons, pumpkins, zinnias, and sunflowers. Greg says that he never really cleans his trays using bleach or anything. However, he does let his trays dry completely for a few days or weeks before planting again. The guys mention that their favorite tomato for flavor is the Sun Gold variety and the Bella Rosa variety for bigger tomatoes. When moving plants from the greenhouse to outside, Greg prefers to place them in a full sun area.

Product of the Week

• Rio Grande Red Cabbage

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Guide to Seed Starting

During the seed starting process, there are many aspects that can control the success or failure of growing quality vegetable transplants. The first thing that people sometimes question is why can’t they simply dig up soil out of the yard and place it in seed starting trays. Greg explains you can do this but it’s not going to work out well and is highly not recommended. Therefore, we recommend using a Pro-Mix Seed Starting Mix to ensure you get the needed amount of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite when growing transplants. While applying the mix it also needs plenty of water initially to get the seeds wet in the tray cells. The guys recommend using a Dramm wand which is included in our Premium Seed Starting Kit. After the mix is nice and moist, you can start to prepare the tray for planting seeds. When using your fingers to create indentions they should be in the middle of the cell to improve seed planting. When it comes to planting depth it is ideal if you plant on average twice as deep as the diameter of your seed. If you live in an area similar to us in the South and you are growing crops such as beets or radishes you will not have to worry about using a heating mat underneath the trays because those crops will germinate in coolish type conditions. However, for summer crops like peppers or tomatoes, it’s important to provide a heat mat underneath the trays to help with the temperatures. When growing indoors the trick to providing the ideal amount of light is to get led shop lights with a natural daylight bulb color and place them over the plant you are trying to grow. The guys also recommend watering at least 2 to 3 times a day until the roots reach the bottom of the cells. Once the plants start to get their true leaves or second set of leaves become more prominent that is the ideal time to start spoon feeding at least 1 to 2 times a week with fertilizer. There are several different ways to add fertilizer to the growing plants, but Travis recommends using 20-20-20 in a watering can and sprinkling along the top of the plants. However, the plants are really delicate so you have to be sure and not over-fertilize them which can cause them to burn.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss the weather conditions that are currently happening in the garden and how it can affect some vegetables and fruit trees. Travis also announces that he will be attending Deep South Homestead Gathering on March 21st in Perkinston, Mississippi, so be sure to stop by and see him.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about ball zucchini, treating cut potato pieces, and the recommend amount of 20-20-20 that is equivalent to 10-10-10. We currently have one variety of ball zucchini known as Eight Ball Squash which contains a darker green exterior with excellent texture and flavor profile. Greg mentions that in the past he has used fir bark dust as a fungicide on potato seed pieces, but he cannot see any difference from when he does and doesn’t use it in the garden. Greg mentions when using 20-20-20 you would want to use half as much as you would 10-10-10 because it is twice the strength. However, if you are using a water-soluble liquid or granular form it can change the recommended amount.

Product of the Week

• 338 Seed Starting Trays

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Garden Seeder vs. Seeder Attachment

The major difference that sets the seeder attachment apart from the garden seeder is it can attach to the Single Wheel Hoe and Double Wheel Hoe, while the garden seeder is a stand-alone unit that is used strictly for garden planting. However, both seeders have the same innovative seed plate design, hopper, and brush assembly. Having a customizable seed plate allows you to match your seed size and your desired seed spacing when planting in the vegetable garden.

Garden Seeder

The Hoss Garden Seeder is the most durable and versatile planter mechanism that ensures accurate planting in the vegetable garden. It contains a rolling disk as a furrow opener that rolls along the soil and leaves an opening for dropping a seed which makes it more forgiving in a wide variety of planting situations. This seeder is constructed with Amish-crafted hardwood handles and 15-inch steel wheels with a powder-coated steel frame that can last a lifetime.

Seeder Attachment

When it comes to planting with the Seeder Attachment it attaches to the wheel hoes to easily plant in the vegetable garden without wasting seed or over-planting along the rows. It contains a furrow opener that consists of a solid plate of metal known as the shoe that helps push through the soil and open it up when going along the garden rows. This seeder attachment is design to work in firmer, clay-like soils or non-tilled seedbeds.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis harvested some nice big Tehama Lettuce from the vegetable garden. He also shared some tips for what not to do when harvesting the different lettuce varieties. Currently, Greg has a test garden of onions where he has planted many different onion varieties to compare and contrast. When comparing the Warrior Bunching Onion and the Natsuguro Bunching Onion it seems that the Natsuguro variety has a little bigger bulb size than the Warrior variety. However, the Warrior variety seems to be more consistent in size compared to the Natsuguro variety. The guys also discuss several varieties such as English peas, Fordhook Lima Beans, and Savanna Mustard.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about planting in previous 10-foot walkways, growing under cover, planting sampler packs of potatoes, and determining pH in the soil. Travis mentions that normally if it was previously grass in the walkways, then it will grow back in the area. The guys also mention that they keep the walkways mowed in the garden as well. Travis highly recommends not adding wood chips to the walkways because they tend to make a mess and will require maintenance every day. Greg mentions that when growing under a hoop house it can be really beneficial if you live up North. However, we do not experience harsh cooler temperatures, so he recommends reading the Four-Season Harvest book by Eliot Coleman which can provide plenty of advice for growing up North. Travis mentions that we offer two sampler packs of potatoes which are the Homestead and Gourmet potato packs. He recommends a 30 to 40-foot row for planting a 10lb, sampler pack of potatoes. However, it’s important to consider the different types of potato varieties and their maturity dates when planting in the vegetable garden. Greg explains the best way to determine the pH of your soil is by sending a soil sample off to a university that will in return send back a detailed report that tells you everything you need to know about your soil conditions.

Product of the Week

• Lacy Phacelia

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New Year Resolutions of 2019

Since it is officially a new year that means it is time to go over the 2019 resolutions and see what was achieved and what did not do well throughout this past year. One of Greg’s 2019 resolutions was to do a better job maintaining soil health and use more cover crops in the garden. He mentions that he did a lot better with growing more cover crops and reduced his tillage drastically over this past year. However, Greg did not do well in adding in compost or chicken manure during pre-plant on a couple of occasions and he saw first hand how it impacted his vegetable garden compared to other gardens around his homestead. One of Travis’s resolutions for 2019 was to create his dream vegetable garden which he did achieve on his homestead. Greg’s second resolution for 2019 was to do better at succession planting which means being ready to plant the next crop once one crop is done maturing in the garden. He mentions that he has done extremely well with succession planting this past year and reminds gardeners of the importance of doing this succession planning throughout the growing seasons. When it comes to Travis growing more cover crops this past year, the cover crop that did extremely well for him during the warm season was the Sorghum Sudangrass and mowing it every couple of weeks. Another resolution that Travis had was to plant more multi-harvest crops and plant more winter squash in the spring. He mentions that he did plant more winter squash during the early stages of growth in his dream garden but they were not as productive as he hoped in the area. He also states that he did well with growing more multi-harvest crops, just wants to fine-tune it a little bit and stick to growing what crops work best for his soil type and weather conditions.

New Year Resolutions for 2020

After going over their 2019 resolutions it is time for the guys to discuss their New Year Resolutions for 2020. The first resolution that Travis mentions is to eat more from the garden. Greg agrees with Travis and he wants to make a conscious effort to just eat vegetables a couple of nights a week instead of having meat at every meal. Travis’s second resolution is to grow more beans especially the newer varieties in the vegetable garden. Greg’s second new year resolution is to allow some garden area to rest and instead of growing vegetables, he is going to plant cover crops to add more benefits back into the soil.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has a purple Cauliflower known as Graffiti which he demonstrates how he likes to cook it. He has also grown the biggest Snow Bowl Cauliflower ever in the garden weighing in at five and a half pounds. Greg has a dual purpose cover crop of mustard greens and daikon radish that has done extremely well in the vegetable garden. It’s also that time of the year for all the winter crops to be mature and ready for harvest. Travis has harvested a huge Cheers Cabbage that weighed around seven and a half pounds from the garden. The guys discuss a couple of new seed varieties that they have started growing in the greenhouse as well.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about mustard gases in the soil, planting pumpkins, and recommend plants to start now in zone 8b. Travis mentions that the gases in mustard are converted to what is known as isothiocyanates which is a natural fungicide and natural nematicide which helps kill harmful funguses and nematodes when incorporated into the soil quickly. In the South, Greg mentions that the best time to plant pumpkins is within a week to two weeks after Easter and growing it off in the springtime. For zone 8b, Travis recommends planting cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, beets, and lettuce.

Product of the Week

• New 2020 Seed Varieties

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New Seed Varieties for Cool Weather

The guys discuss a few of their favorite seed vegetables that do best in the cool weather conditions. Some of these new seed varieties include tomatoes, winter squash, watermelon, broccoli, and cauliflower. The first new seed variety Travis mentions is the Red Snapper Tomato that is resistant to the spotted wilt virus and the tomato yellow leaf curl virus which both cause very dangerous issues in the vegetable garden. In the South, if you have failed at growing tomatoes in the past, you definitely need to try a virus-resistant tomato variety instead. The second new tomato seed is known as Tachi which is another spotted wilt virus-resistant variety, but also a nematode-resistant variety. Next, Greg talks about the Sugar Baby Watermelon which is an older variety that produces smaller personal sized watermelons. The fourth cool weather vegetable mentioned is a winter squash known as the Sweet Dumpling variety. This variety is the top of the line when it comes to flavor profile in winter squash. Another excellent broccoli variety is the Emerald Crown which is a hybrid that is grown more during the cool weather season. The fifth top cool weather vegetable is the Godzilla Broccolli variety that grows large heads at the top of the plant, making it easier to harvest. Next, is a traditional Early Crookneck Squash variety that has been around forever that produces golden-yellow fruits in the garden. Then, we have a new Twister Cauliflower variety available that produces upper leaves that actually twist and wrap around the plant to protect the cauliflower throughout the growing season. The guys explain a little tip about growing beans and talk about the new Gold Wax Bean, Royal Burgundy, Scarlet Emperor, and White Emergo varieties.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has all kinds of vegetables maturing in the garden. He has a Matejko Leek variety that had a few problems when it came to planting them deep enough in the soil. Greg and Travis show off a variety of beets, rutabagas, and Feng Qing cabbage. The guys also discuss a few varieties that will become available in the next year.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about a squash variety known as North Georgia Candy Rooster, where to get a Kohlrabi slicer, the spacing of pole beans on a trellis, seed longevity, fertility storage, and green magic broccoli heads. Travis mentions that they do not currently carry North Georgia Candy Rooster because it has been difficult to find a seed producer that has them, but he will continue to look until he finds some. Greg has had his Kohlrabi slicer for years, his particular brand is known as a King Kutter. Travis mentions that when planting pole beans vertically he likes to plant them tight such as 3 inches apart and on a double row. However, this planting method will take a little longer to harvest because of the dense foliage, the reward will be getting maximum productivity of pole beans. Greg explains that proper seed storage is to place them in an area where temperatures remain the same this ensures that they will remain stable. When it comes to fertilizer storage, as long as it does not get heavy amounts of moisture that cause it to start melting it should be fine. If the fertilizer starts to melt and get mushy, then it should be discarded. Travis has harvested some Green Magic Broccoli that produced heads weighing about a pound on average.

Product of the Week

• Premium Garden Seeds

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Top Ten Gift Ideas:

These gift ideas are the ideal perfect gifts for all types of gardeners whether you are a beginner or advanced vegetable gardener. As well as, they all are reasonably priced under $100, made in the USA, and quality products that will last you a lifetime.

1. Hoe Dag Tool Kit

This tool kit has everything you need to plant, weed, and cultivate your raised garden beds. The Hoe Dag Tool Kit includes a hoe dag, hand shovel, and hand rank that are all made with high carbon steel blades. Each tool has a riveted-socket design that attaches the implement to the handle to ensure it will remain attached through the toughest soil debris.

2. Seed Collections

There are three different themed seed collections that are excellent gift ideas that we have available which are the Pollinator Garden Collection, Heirloom Garden Collection, Fresh Salad Garden Collection, and Cool Season Garden Collection. With each collection, you get a variety of seeds that are all perfect for growing throughout the vegetable garden.

3. Garden Fertilizer

Another gift that you wouldn’t ever think about giving is 20-20-20 garden fertilizer. However, anybody, that loves to grow a garden would need this fertilizer in their next growing season. It has a balanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that is great for fertilizing plants at all growing stages in the garden.

4. Complete Fermentation Kit

If you are shopping for someone that loves to preserve food from the vegetable garden the Complete Fermentation Kit is the perfect gift. This kit includes a pickle packer jar tamper, pickle pipe fermentation lids, pickle pebble fermentation weights, and an instructional booklet which is everything you need to start fermenting vegetables expect the jar.

5. Small Garden Tool Kit

Another great set of tools is our Small Garden Toolkit which contains three of our most popular hand-made tools for maintaining your garden bed. This kit comes with a garden trowel, crows foot cultivator, and batwing hoe that ensures you get maximum planting in the soil of your raised garden bed.

6. Micro-Boost

A product that has received multiple good reviews from customers is our Micro-Boost. It contains all the micronutrients that the plant could possibly need to grow throughout the season. It also works great in our EZ-Flo Injector to accurately fertilizer where plants need to uptake the most.

7. Harvesting Bucket

A long-time product of ours that has been an all-time favorite is our Over-the-Shoulder Harvesting Bucket. This garden tool is ideal for harvesting all types of vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, etc. Even fruit varieties such as apples, muscadines, figs, and berries.

8. Garden Gloves

The most comfortable gloves around is our Hoss Garden Gloves. For working all around the homestead these garden gloves remain durable and allow for maximum dexterity no matter what job you are doing. Some of the features it contains is padded palm cushion, stretchy nylon material, and extra reinforcement on fingertips for more durability.

9. Garden Hod

Another product that has been around for a long time that has been a favorite by many is our Garden Hod. This is a multifunctional harvesting bucket that allows you to harvest your vegetables and simply rinse them off all in the same container.

10. Pruning Shears

Our pruning shears have a lifetime warranty that contains a heavy-duty Savoy steel blade that provides the most high-quality pruners. The blades are very tough and are guaranteed to hold an edge that will last better than other shears at your local hardware store.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis show different ways to prepare and cook the strange-looking vegetable known as Kohlrabi. Greg has grown kohlrabi for around 5 to 6 years and loves to grow it because it is insect resistant, easy to grow, and quick to mature in the garden. When growing kohlrabi it has roots that grow right above the ground and Greg simply shears it off at the root. Next, he will take his knife so he can cut all the leaves off and then peels it like an apple. As the guys prepare it for cooking they like to use it as a substitute for cabbage and make coleslaw out of it. Travis mentions that it has a flavor profile similar to cabbage with the texture of a cucumber. The guys also discuss a little about the different cool flower varieties coming to the site next year.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about using the seed trays to sow seeds, selling the products in the seed starting kits separately, and cedar rust issues on apple trees. Greg mentions that if you are having problems with seedlings growing it might be a fertility problem. Once you reach the leaf stage, you need to start applying a little bit of fertilizer to the plants. Travis explains that the additional items that are placed in the seed starting kits such as the soil and garden labels are bonus items that were added to the kit to make it complete. If we removed those items from the kit it would not change the cost or shipping price of the kit itself. Greg says that when cedar rust is on your apple trees the main host is if you have a cedar tree close around and it should be removed to help control the rust on your apple tree. However, if you can’t remove the trees you can also use Liquid-Cop to control the cedar rust on the trees.

Product of the Week

• Calendula Prince Mix

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Growing Your Own Transplants

The major benefit of growing your own transplants is you are able to get a jumpstart on the growing season. This means you will have plants ready to go in the ground as soon as the weather conditions and soil temperatures are just right in the vegetable garden. Another benefit is you are able to grow a wider variety of vegetables because you aren’t limited to just the plants that are at the big box stores. Growing your own transplants can also be a much more affordable solution in the long run because you aren’t buying new plants from the store every growing season and hoping they make it once you establish them in your personal vegetable garden.

New Seeding Starting Kits

With the three new seed starting kits, the main difference is the size and overall components of each. The first seed starting kit that the guys discuss is the 24-Cell Seed Starting Kit. This kit includes two 12-cell trays, bottom trays, domes, pro-mix seed starting mix, complete organic fertilizer, and garden labels. With two 12-cell trays, you can grow up to 24 plants of any kind of vegetables. Next, is the 48-Cell Seed Starting Kit, which is basically double what you get with the 24-cell kit. The 48-cell kit includes two 24-cell trays, bottom trays, domes, two bags of pro-mix seed starting mix, two bags of complete organic fertilizer, and garden labels. The last new kit they discuss is the Deluxe Seed Starting Kit which includes two 24-cell trays, larger bottom tray, dome, 16-quart pro-mix seed starting, and the garden labels. They also discuss the Premium Seed Starting Kit which has been out for a while but is the ultimate seed starting kit to grow the most vegetable transplants. The Premium kit includes our 162-cell tray, the heavy-duty bottom tray, pro-mix seed starting mix, a Dramm rain wand, garden labels, and four premium garden seeds such as Arcadia Broccoli, Tiger Collard, Parris Island Romaine Lettuce, and Lacinato Kale. Depending on how many vegetables you want to grow and need that can help determine which seed starting kit would be the best fit for you.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis and Greg have several different fig varieties to show, discuss, and taste test. They give a small update on the new studio and adjustments that are continuing to be made. Greg talks about what plants are quickly growing in his vegetable gardens such as collards, onions, Brussel sprouts, and mustard greens. The guys also discuss the two common mistakes that people make in the fall and winter garden which includes not watering plants and adding enough fertilizer to the plants.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about wearing sunglasses on the video last week and their opinions on adding charcoal or biochar to the garden. Travis mentions that he does apologize for wearing his sunglasses in last week’s video it is just a healthy precaution to protect his eyes from the new studio lights. Greg mentions that biochar is a carbon product that makes this charred organic matter that looks like ground-up charcoal. It has been primarily used to help take away contaminants such as pesticides from the garden soil. If you are experiencing contaminated soil then biochar is the best option. Another factor of using biochar is it can be used as a sponge to basically hold nutrients in the soil. However, Greg believes that adding good quality compost is a more economical way of adding nutrients to the soil.

Products of the Week

• Seed Starting Supplies

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Wheel Hoe Comparisons

This week, Greg and Travis discuss a popular question they get from customers that are wanting to buy a wheel hoe but don’t know which one to choose. When comparing the Single and Double Wheel Hoe the main comparison is the toolbar is identical on both models. However, on the Double, the arms are flipped and it has a longer axle with an extra wheel. With these two models, you can convert from Double to Single and Single to Double because all the components are the same. While the High Arch is a completely different piece of equipment compared to the Single and Double. That being said you cannot convert the Single and Double to the High Arch and vice versa.

Single Wheel Hoe

The first model that we made available was the Single Wheel Hoe, which was based on the old Planet Jr. Wheel Hoes that have been around for over 100 years. If you’re a beginner gardener and have a small garden that’s around 30×40 or 30×50 in size, the Single is the perfect tool for you. It also comes with a set of three cultivator teeth that can be moved around the toolbar and up to five teeth can be used at once. With cool weather crops like lettuce, the Single Wheel Hoe allows for a narrower footprint when planting in the garden.

Double Wheel Hoe

There are a couple of advantages when it comes to choosing the Double Wheel Hoe over the Single Wheel Hoe. The first advantage is you are able to straddle smaller plants between the two wheels. This works great for planting potatoes because you are able to straddle the seed potatoes and cover them up using the plow set in the hilling position. Another big advantage of the Double is every attachment that we carry at Hoss Tools works on this Wheel Hoe.

High Arch Wheel Hoe

Similar in concept to the Double, the High Arch Wheel Hoe allows you to straddle plants as well, but much taller plants like corn and potatoes. It also contains adjustable wheel spacing meaning the wheels can move in or out depending on your desired spacing in the garden. So basically you have three different settings on the wheel spacing which includes the innermost being 4 inches apart, the middle being 6 inches apart, and the farthest being 8 inches apart. Another difference is the High Arch has two toolbars instead of just one, which provides many more possibilities for planting within the garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis introduce the brand new studio for the Row by Row Garden Show. The guy’s show off the new bottom trays that fit our 162 cell seed starting trays for growing better transplants indoors. Travis has some Lacinato Kale that he harvested from the vegetable garden. They also discuss different varieties of figs and flavor profiles of each type.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about extending carrot life after harvest, tips for growing giant pumpkins, and direct sowing in the winter after harvest. Travis mentions when harvesting carrots, he normally either pulls them with the tops on them or pulls them and twist off the tops. Then, he rinses them off, lets them naturally dry off, and places them in a grocery bag to put in the refrigerator. Greg has some experience trying to grow giant pumpkins in the past. Greg created a little teepee to keep the sun off of them but the pumpkins ended up not doing well and exploding on him. However, Greg has some advice that he learned from his failure at growing giant pumpkins which includes applying drip irrigation, spoon feed them fertilizer, shade them out, and watch your downy and powdery mildew. Travis mentions that when direct sowing in the winter the best vegetables to grow include turnips, radishes, mustard, and spinach.

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Cog Hill Farm

Traveling around Salem and Valley Grand, Alabama, Travis recently stopped by to see his good buddy Jason at Cog Hill Farm. Travis and Jason talk a little bit about his philosophy on homesteading and gardening. Jason began his homesteading on his current property around 14 to 15 years ago and the gardening just evolved from there. He now has livestock such as chickens, goats, geese, and even a peacock. However, his favorite homesteading activity is gardening because that’s how it all began for him personally. When talking about the garden, one of Jason’s favorite crops to grow at Cog Hill Farm it would probably be everybody’s favorite crop which is tomatoes. Jason gave some advice for people potentially wanting to start a homesteading lifestyle that includes gardening and livestock. His biggest piece of advice is not to be scared and don’t be scared of making mistakes. A lot of times when people are getting started in gardening, sometimes they are influenced by experienced gardeners to do everything a certain way. However, at the end of the day, everyone’s gardening style is a little different and you should do the best you can with the resources you have available for your own vegetable garden. Jason’s two favorite products that have really helped him out this past year within the garden was the Wheel Hoe with the plow set and winged sweeps attachment. He has seen a significant decrease in his weed pressures since using both of these attachments in the garden. When discussing a little bit about Jason’s future plans for Cog Hill Farm, he hopes to expand his garden area and even dive into a little bit of market gardening within his community.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some Blue Knight Kale which is an improved variety of the curly leaf kale type. This is a productive variety that works great for making a kale salad in the kitchen. The guys discuss the cold weather and some vegetables that may not make it because of the weather conditions this year. If you have drip irrigation, make sure to keep the soil nice and moist to insulate the garden soil during cold spells. They also have around 15 different varieties of figs rooting in the greenhouse and we will be coming soon to the site. The guys also mention that the new studio is coming along and hopefully will be ready to show off in next week’s video.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about the flavor profile of onions, growing onions from seeds, and Greg’s cornbread recipe. Greg currently has multiplying onions, bunching onions, and regular onions all growing in the garden and will be doing a taste test later on to determine the differences of each. Travis mentions when growing onions and leeks, you can either transplant seeds or buy plants. However, you can do either it’s just all based around timing. For example, growing leeks in the ground takes a longer time than it does in the seed starting trays. When it comes to shallots you can plant them from seed, sets, or from plants. Greg mentions that the ideal way to grow onions, shallots, and leeks is in the seed starting trays or raised bed garden. When discussing he mentions that he always uses his cast-iron cornbread griddle to cook cornbread. However, he is still in the process of trying to perfect his cornbread recipe, but as soon as it does he will share it with everyone.

Products of the Week

• Heavy-Duty Bottom Trays

What’s Growing in the Fall Vegetable Garden?

There is currently a lot happening not only in the garden but in the greenhouse as well. Travis has some Rutabaga greens that he harvested from the garden. Which rutabaga greens taste can vary depending on the person eating them, but they typically have a taste profile similar to turnips or mustard. While Greg is in the process of perfecting his own recipe of cornbread from scratch in the kitchen. Travis has onion transplants growing such as Texas Legend and Sweet Harvest varieties in the greenhouse. When putting the onion transplants in the ground it’s best to go ahead and hit them with some 20-20-20 fertilizer for improved growth. Rutagbages, collards, and cabbage are all doing well in the fall vegetable garden. While in one area of Travis’s dream garden his Early Wonder beets are not doing so well and it may be caused by to much chicken manure when amended in the ground. Another issue in the fall vegetable garden was Travis’s carrot germination. When planted the weather conditions were just right, but then the temperatures dropped down to the ’40s which slowed carrot germination down quite a bit. However, they are doing better now and starting to make growing progress in the vegetable garden. Lastly, the guys discuss the really nice pin potatoes they had growing in the fall vegetable garden. A pin potato basically means when the vine crawls up by itself and pins down to make a potato.

Planting Cover Crops

The guys discuss a little bit about all the warm cover cropping they did this past growing season. He recommends planting Sorghum Sudangrass and Sunn Hemp if you are really trying to build the organic matter in the soil. Once it reaches around two feet tall, then go in and mow it down to incorporate back into the soil. For the cool season, Travis just planted a cover crop cocktail of Tillage Radish, Austrian Winter Pea, and Hairy Vetch.

New Varieties

As we are getting prepared for 2020, Travis is busy adding tons of new varieties for next year’s growing seasons. He currently has some powdery mildew resistant cantaloupes, well-known peppers, lots of new pumpkins, winter squash, summer squash, tomatoes, watermelons, beans, corn, gourds, and many new flower varieties coming to the Hoss Tools site soon.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about starting fertilizer in seed trays, what vegetables can be grown all winter long, have they ever bought garlic to break up and plant in the garden. The next question they answer is whether it is good to crop the leaves on the premier green mix in order for it to grow back. The last question they discuss is what they recommend when controlling Colorado potato bugs in North Texas. Greg mentions that you want to wait till your onion transplants get to be around an inch to an inch and half tall before you start to apply fertilizer to the seed starting trays. Travis states the vegetables that he recommends growing during the winter which includes broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage, beets, carrots, onions, leeks, garlic, mustard, rutabagas, turnips, radishes, and shallots. Greg says that he has never bought garlic and broke it up to plant from a big box store, but he has with potatoes before. Travis mentions that when cropping the leaves he suggests grabbing a handful and cutting level with it once the premium greens mix reaches around six inches tall. Greg recommends using either Neem Oil or Spinosad when trying to control Colorado potato bugs.

Products of the Week

• Loppers

Cool-Season Gardening

When it comes to gardening during the cooler months you have to consider planting vegetables that will thrive in cool weather conditions. Some of the best vegetables to grow during the cool season months are cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, onions, shallots, leeks, and lettuce varieties. To grow these different types of vegetables you should transplant or direct seed. When transplanting in the greenhouse our seed starting trays are the best option due to the internal vertical root training ribs that provide better aeration and root ball drainage. If you prefer to direct seed you can use our walk-behind garden seeder to accurately plant seeds without overplanting. It also comes with six seed plates that can be customized to fit various different seed sizes depending on the vegetable being planted in the garden.

Top 10 Vegetables

There are several types of vegetables that should be grown in the garden that many people don’t during this time of year. The first top 10 vegetable that you should be growing is Kohlrabi. A pretty cold-tolerant vegetable, Kohlrabi is a fast-growing crop that typically is ready to harvest within 40 to 45 days. We offer two varieties of Kohlrabi such as the White Vienna and Purple Vienna. The next variety to grow is the Premium Greens Mix which includes Mizuna, Tatsoi, Arugula, and Red Russian Kale. Another top 10 vegetable to grow is the Swiss chard which does best when grown in the Fall and Winter. The Bright Lights variety of swiss chard are resistant to early bolting and contains a wide color variation. The next varieties to grow are the Matejko and Tadorna Leeks which work great for succession planting until around May. Lastly, the guys talk about Chinese cabbage which is a broader category that several things fall under. This variety is a Spring Crisp Chinese Cabbage that makes elongated heads that are extremely good for sauteing. Then, we also have a Joi Choi Chinese Cabbage that has a lighter color stem. While the Feng Qing Pak Choi has a darker colored stem. However, they both have a similar taste profile as Chinese cabbage varieties.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some Peaches and Cream sweet corn he has been growing in the vegetable garden. While Greg has some Tiger collards and explains ways to grow them and harvest them from the vegetable garden. The guys also have a seed starting tray of Cherokee Lettuce transplants growing in the greenhouse. Travis also discusses a little bit about how he used the Dibble Wheel attachment to plant shallots earlier in the week.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about if the silage tarp will kill off cogon grass and have we filmed vlogs of hand tool maintenance. Travis mentions that although he hasn’t had any experience with killing off cogon grass, he does have experience with bermudagrass. When dealing with bermudagrass the best method the guys have found to use is in use tarp and till technique. This technique is basically putting the tarp on the area for two to three weeks, next remove the tarp to till the area, and then place the tarp back down to repeat till all the bermudagrass is eliminated. The two tools that Greg mentions to be a necessity for good tool maintenance is the farmers file and linseed oil. The importance of keeping your tools maintained and sharpened will help provide well-kept tools for all your needs in the garden.

Products of the Week

• Dibble Wheel Attachment
• Double Wheel Hoe

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Best Raised Bed Garden Tools

When planting in a raised garden bed you can tools that allow you to get a little closer to the plants. The first tool the guys discuss is the short single tine cultivator. This garden tool allows you to rake across the weeds and get in between the drip tape in the vegetable garden. Travis mentions that the single tine cultivator works great for making mini furrows to prepare for planting in raised beds. The next best-raised bed garden tool is the garden trowel. It contains a high carbon steel blade with a hand-welded shank and hickory handle. The Crows Foot Cultivator is the perfect tool for amending and preparing the garden soil for planting. The steel tines allow you to break up the hardest soils to prepare them for future planting in the raised bed. While the Small Batwing Hoe is best for pulling up soil on to plants or covering planted seeds. The next tool is the Cape Cod Weeder which is designed to skim across the soil and you can basically control the depth at which it digs into the soil. It is also handy for weeding up close to plants that way you don’t have to worry about damaging the plants. Another quality short handle gardening tool is the Scuffle Weeder which works great for shallow weeding to remove the small surface weeds that come up in the garden. Then, we have the Digging Tool which is great for breaking up soil in the raised bed or even pots and containers in the greenhouse this is a handy tool to use for gardening. The Small Section Hoe is another handy tool with a triangular-shaped blade that allows you to make little furrows for planting in raised beds. Then, an all-around general tool that is great to have for lightweight and heavyduty planting is the Hoe Dag. It is another high carbon steel tool that contains a sharp edge on both sides. Another great quality about all of these tools is they are made in the USA and have a guaranteed warranty.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis and Greg got an unexpected jumpstart in the garden. Travis went ahead and planted some onions in October that needed to be put in the ground. While Greg went ahead and planted some nesting onions, elephant garlic, and shallots in the garden.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about storging turnip greens and the difference between insecticidal soap vs. horticultural oil. Travis goes into Mrs. Hoss’s raised bed garden to demonstrate how to pick and store some Tiger collards. He begins by picking a hand full of collard leaves off the bottom of the plant. Then, trims the stems and places them in a bag kind of similar to the produce bags at your supermarkets. Next, tie a knot at the top of the bag, poke some holes for airflow, and they will store away in the fridge for at least a couple of weeks. Greg mentions that the difference between insecticidal soap and horticultural oil is that the oils are heavier and work better on a wider array of insects in the garden. However, the oils do have issues when used in the hot weather conditions whereas the soaps do way better in these certain conditions. So the key take away is to use horticultural oil during the cooler weather months and insecticidal soap during the hot weather months in the garden.

Products of the Week

• All Top Turnips

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Fall Pests to Deal With

In the South, some of the fall pests that we deal with are whiteflies, cabbage loopers, cabbageworm, flea beetles, and aphids. Whiteflies are known to live underneath the leaves of plants causing problems in the garden. In order to control many of these fall pests, you should spray early in the morning at daylight or late in the afternoon before sunset to effectively manage the pest problems.

Fall Garden Spraying Program

In order to control fall pests in the garden, we recommend using organic solutions to eliminate pest problems. The first solution we recommend is to use B.t. and Spinosad when dealing with worm problems. The spraying program for B.t. is you mix one ounce per gallon and start spraying early at least once a week in the vegetable garden. If you have a huge outbreak of worms, then you need to use a more powerful solution like Spinosad. When dealing with aphid problems the best solution is Horticultural Oil. The Hort oil also works great on ornamentals surrounding the yard. Similar to the Horticultural Oil, our Neem Oil is another solution that should not be sprayed during the summertime or when it’s very hot during the day. The Neem Oil works great for controlling non-worms such as aphids and flea beetles. The Complete Disease Control is another OMRI registered fungicide that works great with any general diseases that you may experience trouble within the vegetable garden. When you start experiencing serious problems with diseases the Liquid Cop is your go-to fungicide to use in the garden. Travis suggests having a spray day in order to ensure you are applying the pest controls at least once a week in the vegetable. This can vary depending on the amount of pressure you are needing to maintain, but Travis explains his rotation program for fall pests control. So one week, he will mix the B.t., Horticultural Oil, and the Complete Disease Control together and apply the mix to the garden. Then, the following week, he will mix together the B.t., Neem Oil, and Liquid Cop. This rotation program allows the fungicides and insecticides to not become susceptible inside the vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and collards starting to grow in the garden. As well as, he just put kohlrabi, beet, and Brussel sprout transplants in the ground this past weekend. Greg and Travis also discuss the difference between packs and quarter pounds of the All Top Turnips, Purple Top Turnips, Florida Broadleaf Mustard, and Southern Giant Curled Mustard seed varieties.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about Vidalia onions, give an update on sweet potatoes, planting onion transplants in November, and are red onions short, long, or intermediate day. Greg mentions that in a specific area around Lyons and Vidalia, Georgia they produce Vidalia onions. However, the Sweet Harvest and Savannah Sweet onions that we carry are Vidalia type onions meaning they are grown similar to the Vidalia onions grown in those areas. Travis says his sweet potatoes are doing good in the dedicated plot, but the ground has been too hard to dig them up. When planting onion transplants, Greg explains you should start the seeds in the greenhouse six weeks prior to planting in the garden. For example, if wanting to plant in the garden around the first of November then the transplants should be started towards early to mid-October. The guys mention that there are red onion varieties for short day, long day, and intermediate day lengths.

Products of the Week

• Mustard Seeds
• Turnip Seeds

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Onion Varieties & Types

The three types of onions are intermediate day, short day, and long day. They are separated based on the regions of the country they can be planted and it has to do with the amount of day length at which they start the bulbing process. The two phases of onions are the vegetative stage and the bulbing stage. During the vegetative stage, your goal is to maximize the leaves you are getting on the onion plant. Each of the leaves on the plant represents a ring on the onion. For root development, we supply the onions with a 20-20-20 fertilizer to ensure the plants get the phosphorus and potassium they need. Once the roots are established we will give the onion plants ammonium sulfate to ensure they get plenty of nitrogen. Then, during the bulbing stage, each of the rings is filling up with water and producing a nice big onion. When they reach the bulbing stage we do not need to apply any more fertilizer to the plants, just plenty of water using drip tape.

Short Day Onions

When preparing to grow short-day onions, the best time to plant is in November if you are in zone 7 and 8. We recommend planting in November because the onion plants will have a nice stand of vegetation before the cold weather comes and then be able to survive it. While in the long run, you will produce healthier and bigger onions in the vegetable garden. The short-day onions will start the bulbing process once day length reaches between 10 to 12 hour days. If onions are planted in November, then the bulbing process will typically start in February and last a month or two which means harvesting will happen in mid to late April or early May depending on the weather conditions. The three varieties for short day onions that we have available are Savannah Sweet, Sweet Harvest, and Texas Legend.

Intermediate Day Onions

With the intermediate day onions, the best time to plant is around late January or early February and the bulbing stage will happen around mid-April or early May when day length reaches 12 to 14 hours. The only intermediate day onion variety we offer is known as Candy which is a very popular variety to grow in the vegetable garden.

Long Day Onions

If you live in the northern region the long-day onions are the type of onions that you would need to grow in the vegetable garden. These onions start the bulbing stage once the day length reaches 14 to 16 hours. Therefore, planting short day onions happen around early April so the bulbing stage is around either May or June. The only long day onion variety we have available is Walla Walla which is a widely grown onion that produces really well in northern climates.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis are waiting on the fall crops to germinate and weather temperatures to be just right in the vegetable garden. However, Travis has a good crop of Stonewall cucumbers coming out of the garden as of right now. Greg has got a few crops planted such as cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, and Tiger collards. The guys also discuss a couple of new varieties of vegetables. Three new varieties of radish such as Purple Plum, Helios Golden, and Cherry Belle. Then, the new okra varieties available are Cowhorn, Star of David, and Silver Queen. As well as, carrot varieties that include the Chantenay Royal and Black Nebula.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about how many carrot seeds to plant on a 40-foot double row and growing carrots in a raised bed. Travis mentions that he probably uses 3 to 4 packets when planting a 40-foot double row of carrots. Greg says growing carrots in a raised bed is a great idea, keep an eye out for a potential video soon.

Products of the Week

• Single Tine Cultivator

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Carrot Varieties & Types

There are four different types of carrots that all have unique characteristics known as Nantes, Danvers, Chantenay, and Imperator. The first type is known as Nantes, which has a cylindrical shape with the same width and is perfect for storing in jars after harvesting. The next type is Danvers which is known as being the Bugs Bunny carrot that has broad shoulders and fairly sharp taper towards the bottom. While the Chantenay is the short stubby carrot that works the best in hard or clay-like soils in the garden. Lastly, the Imperator is the really long slender shaped carrot that works perfectly in sandy soils. The Viper variety of carrots which is an Imperator type is known for producing the baby type carrots that you commonly see in grocery stores today. If you want more of a Danvers type carrot, Travis recommends growing the Danvers 126 variety. For the Nantes type, there are several varieties such as Bolero, Scarlet Nantes, and our new Gold Nugget carrot. The most carrot varieties that we offer are Imperator types that include Deep Purple, Purple Haze, Yellowstone, Viper, and a new variety coming soon is Black Nebula. The Chantenany type carrot that we have coming very soon to the site is called Royal Chantenay which will work great for people with harder soils.

Planting Carrots

Similar to planting onions, when planting carrots they should be planted on double rows with drip irrigation in the middle along the row. This allows us to not only save and maximize space in the garden, but it also helps with weed suppression. Travis recommends placing the drip tape anywhere between 2 to 3 inches apart and using the drip tape layer attachment to create a little furrow on each side. Then, you can simply plant the carrot seeds in the furrow along the garden row. Greg mentions when planting carrot varieties, be sure to plant them thick. In order to grow carrots, you also need plenty of patience and a good stale weed seed bank to ensure they germinate. The fertilizer system the guy’s like to use on carrots is place a little chicken manure in the furrow before planting the drip tape. Then, use 20-20-20 and Micro-Boost every 2 to 3 weeks throughout the growing season in the vegetable garden. If you set up your garden using the double row planting method, you can use the single wheel hoe between the middles to control any weed problems in the garden. When removing the weeds that are closer to the plants and near the drip tape, the guys recommend using the Single Tine Cultivator.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis try out some elderberry jelly and cowboy candy that a loyal viewer sent them. Travis has planted his first set of cool weather crops in the garden and more to come towards the end of the week. At the end of the show, the guys give a little hint about the topic they will be discussing on next week’s show.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about dealing with pest problems and using gravity feed with drip tape. Greg mentions that when planting fall sweet corn, you are more than likely going to deal with pest problems in the garden area. The best products to use when dealing with worm problems is Spinosad and Monterey B.t. Travis talks about using gravity feed drip tape in the garden. Although it could be done, it’s not overall feasible and you will face many obstacles in return.

Products of the Week

• Hoss Garden Seeder

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Viewer Questions Answered

Since several of our viewers have questions about growing shallots, leeks, onions, and garlic the guys decided to answer all your questions on this week’s episode. The first question the guys answer is when to plant Vidalia onions in the garden. According to Greg, if you are direct seeding go ahead and plant them in the garden. If you are transplanting Vidalia onions, you can transplant anytime in November. The next question is should elephant garlic seed be cold chilled or stratified for 8 to 10 weeks before planting? In the South, our temperatures never get cold enough to vernalize it so the hard neck garlic or soft neck garlic will stratify. With elephant garlic, you do not have to place into cold temperatures before planting because it will stratify whether we get a cold winter or not. The third question mentioned is what size plots do the guys have in their gardens. In Greg’s garden, he has a couple of different plots that range from 20×15, 30×40, and 40×60. Travis mentions that the garden plots are typically average around 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. The next question is wondering the best time to plant English peas and sugar snaps in the garden. Travis says that as soon as the weather conditions stop being higher than 90 degrees, he will begin planting English peas for the Fall. Another question a viewer has is whether or not garlic has any pest problems when growing in the garden. Greg has only experienced aphid problems on garlic, but no tremendous problems where it affects the garlic. He mentions that he has never treated elephant garlic or onions with a pesticide in the past. The sixth question is how many plantable cloves of the elephant garlic per pound and can you plant on double rows. Travis counts the cloves and normally between 10 to 12 cloves come per pound and he does plan to plant them in double rows in the vegetable garden. In the past, Greg has planted shallots using the dibble wheel and he plans to do it again this year. Travis mentions you can plant shallots and onion transplants using the dibble wheel. The next question the guy’s answer is if mustard plants will kill off root-knot nematodes. According to Travis, mustard plants will kill root-knot nematodes due to the release of glucosinolates. However, the spicier the mustard the better off it will kill the nematodes, so he suggest using Florida Broadleaf. The ninth question talks about how to cut cover crops in so they won’t come back in the garden. Greg says the only cover crop that is invasive and you could have problems with reseeding is Buckwheat. Just make to cut the seed pods and incorporate it back into the garden before they bloom and mature. Another question related to removing cover crops from the garden is can animals eat them down. Travis mentions that you can certainly get animals such as goats, chickens, pigs, and cows in the area to help remove cover crops from the garden area. The last question the guys discuss is whether they are using any nitrogen-fixing inoculants with the cover crops. Greg mentions that if you have a situation where you have been planting legume varieties for a long period of time the beneficial bacteria is already present in the soil. If it is a new area that you are planting a legume, then he would add a nitrogen-fixing inoculate to the garden soil.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg and Travis try some garlic dill pickles and jambalaya pickled okra that a viewer sent them from George Farms in Texas. This week, Greg has planted Sweet Harvest onions in his onion bed.

Products of the Week

• Drip Tape Irrigation Kit

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Shallot Varieties

The three varieties of fall shallots that we currently offer are Ambition, Monique, and Roderique. The Ambition variety is a traditionally shaped round shallot that contains a red to copper skin color and white flesh interior. The Monique variety is a semi-long shape that has a great disease-resistant and longer storage window. The Roderique is another elongated variety that makes it easier for slicing into smaller pieces for cooking.

Fall Shallots

Shallots are best known as a cooking onion and can be used in several different recipes when cooking on the homestead. If you combine the flavor of garlic and onion, that is pretty much the flavor profile of a shallot. When it comes to planting fall shallots, there is a proper way of planting them in order for them to be successful in the vegetable garden. Travis mentions that you can take our Single Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment and create a little trench for the bulbs to be planted in. When placing the shallots in the trench, the root end has to be planted downward with the stem end facing up in the vegetable garden. The guys mention that there rule when it comes to planting alliums is to plant two weeks before your first frost date. For example, our first frost date on average is towards the end of November, so back up two weeks and our ideal planting time would be mid-November. Since the onions, shallots, and elephant garlic are all heavy-feeders they need at least an inch of water each week. Drip tape irrigation is the best way to ensure that these crops are getting all the water they need directly to the plant roots. The fertilizer requirements for the fall shallots is to start off with a complete fertilizer to help with root development. Then, once the plants start growing will switch over to just applying nitrogen. Overall, when planting fall shallots making sure you plant them properly in the garden and apply an accurate amount of irrigation and fertilizer will ensure that you get a successful planting throughout the growing season.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis currently has a few onion transplants planted for the fall growing season. However, Greg is going to try transplanting the Savannah Sweet variety in a little onion bed in the vegetable garden area. Most of the transplants in the greenhouse have started developing their true leaves, so the guys plan on applying a little fertilizer like the 20-20-20 to the plants soon. Travis also explains that he is no longer going to do the two-minute tip videos, but will still upload longer videos on Tuesdays instead.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about how much fertilizer to put along a row and how to create a row garden in an unestablished area for the Spring. Travis explains that according to whatever recommended fertilizer you are using and the size of your garden area you simply do a little algebra to figure out the correct amount. Greg mentions when making a new garden area the first step is to get the soil worked in and kill off the vegetative that is currently growing there. Next, take a soil test in order to adjust the soil and get the garden soil in the right range usually between 6 to 7.0. Then, during the wintertime, grow a cover crop of rye until you are ready to work in it again and get it ready for planting.

Products of the Week

• Brass Siphon Mixer
• Hortonova Trellis Netting

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No-Till vs. Tilling the Vegetable Gardening

There are several different opinions when it comes to no-till or tilling the garden area. When discussing the difference between tilling and no-till, it all depends on your personal preference whether you want to do it in your garden or not. No-till gardening means no disturbance of the garden soil except for when you place the seeds in the garden. While tilling in the vegetable garden means you are preparing and cultivating the soil for planting with tools such as a tiller, the Double Wheel Hoe, or Hoss Stirrup Hoe.

Benefits vs. Downsides of No-Till Gardening

The first benefit of no-till is the overall moisture conservation. Since you are not cultivating the soil the soil layer is not broken which provides the garden area with the ability to hold water better. Another major benefit of no-till gardening is erosion control. During heavy rainfalls, the no-till allows for a decrease in losing soil layers. The third benefit is the preservation of soil biology in the vegetable garden. However, this can be more important in certain climates that have areas with richer organic matter in the soils. The last benefit of no-till gardening is no burying of weed seeds in the vegetable garden. When tilling in the garden weed seeds get cultivated into the soil, but with no-tilling, the weed seeds stay on top of the garden soil. Although, along with benefits comes a few downsides to no-tilling in the garden area. The first downside when it comes to a no-till garden is the increase in weed populations. Weed pressures like nutgrass can cause serious problems because they have to be frequently cultivated in order to eliminate them completely from growing in the garden area. Another probably with weeds in a no-till garden is the limited ways to handle and control them. The second downside is during rainfall it does not stick to the soil meaning the water does not absorb into the soil without cultivation. The next major downside is the decrease in good seed germination in the garden soil. In the garden, when the area has been tilled the soil can then provide better seed to soil contact which is needed for good germination. Along, with poor seed germination, no-till takes much more time and energy. This can be an issue caused by mulching because you have to remove it to replant and it can tie up nutrients in the soil. The last downside of no-tilling in the garden area is the reduction of soil compaction. For some crops in the garden like carrots, it can be harder for roots to penetrate in the soil.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the greenhouse is full of transplants for the fall garden. The guys taste test some cob jelly from a viewer. They also discuss a little bit about the varieties of onions that are coming very soon.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about the spacing and fertilizer needs for tiger collards and all top turnips. As well as, whether or not they experience nitrate buildup in their garden soils. Travis mentions that the fertilizer requirements for both collards and turnips are similar which is one pound per a hundred feet pre-plant. With collard transplants, Travis spaces them one-foot apart and on double rows with drip irrigation in the middle. Greg mentions that in order to avoid having nitrate buildup in the soil, you should apply no more than what you need and place it directly where the plant needs it.

Products of the Week

• Drip Tape Irrigation
• Ammonium Sulfate Fertilizer

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Fertilizing Brassica Varieties

When discussing brassica varieties like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts are all heavy feeder crops. In other words, this means they need more nutrients through fertilizer applications than other crops in the vegetable garden.

Cabbage

When planting cabbage we recommend injecting around 1.2 pounds of the 20-20-20 per 100 feet to help encourage root development. Then, we will apply 1 pound per 100 feet of Chilean Nitrate at two and fives weeks after transplanting to encourage a straight nitrogen source to the cabbage plants. Cabbage also likes a boron supplement as a micronutrient in the garden. To fulfill the needs of the cabbage we use Micro-Boost to ensure all the nutrients are available for the plants. The cabbage varieties Travis plans to grow this fall is Charleston Wakefield, Cheers, and Rio Grande Red.

Broccoli

To fertilize broccoli it is best to inject one pound per 100 feet of the 20-20-20 garden fertilizer. Then, the Chilean Nitrate with 1 pound per 100 feet at three and five weeks. Another recommendation that Travis mentions is to hit the broccoli with some calcium nitrate once the heads reach about a quarter size and it will do wonders for your plants. Just like cabbage, broccoli needs boron as a micronutrient, so applying micro-boost every one to two weeks will help in the vegetable garden. The two varieties of broccoli Travis plans to grow this season is Arcadia and Green Magic.

Cauliflower

To grow cauliflower the garden needs to contain healthy soil that is full of organic matter. The ideal soil range for these brassica varieties is a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Almost identical to growing broccoli, cauliflower needs one pound per 100 feet of the 20-20-20 and one application of Chilean nitrate at four weeks. The three main micronutrients that cauliflower needs are boron, magnesium, and molybdenum. Our micro-boost will take care of all three micronutrients, so apply it weekly to the cauliflower plants to encourage strong growth development. Travis is planting the Flame Star, Snow Bowl, and Graffiti Cauliflower varieties in the vegetable garden.

Brussel Sprouts

In order to grow, Brussel sprouts in the garden we need to have cooler weather conditions. Out of all the brassica varieties, Brussel sprouts can be the toughest to grow in the vegetable garden. Since Brussel sprouts take around 100 days to grow, you may experience insect problems such as flea beetles or worms. The ideal time to plant Brussel sprouts is in the fall, but you can plant them in late winter too. The fertilizer requirements for Brussel sprouts is 2.5 pounds of 20-20-20 per 100 feet and 1.5 pounds of calcium nitrate every 4 weeks. The two varieties of Brussel sprouts we have started growing is Jade Cross and Red Bull in the vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys are filling up the greenhouse with transplants for the Fall growing season. Travis has varieties of broccoli, cauliflower, beets, mustard, cabbage, turnips, collards, and a little bit of it all planted currently. While Greg has decided to direct seed his mustard and turnips in the vegetable garden. The guys discuss the most popular item for transplanting seeds which is our seed starting trays. Travis is happy to mention that his sweet corn is growing fast in the garden. Greg still has time for cover crops in the garden before fall. He currently has Buckwheat, Sorghum Sudangrass, and Mustard planted and will have plenty of time to turn them back into the soil.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions if the silage tarp becomes a mosquito breeding ground during rainy periods and whether our seeds are only sold for the southern states or can they be grown in the northern states too. Travis mentions that the tarp does hold a little bit of water after a heavy rain, but it usually evaporates quickly and he has not noticed any mosquitos on top of his tarp. Greg mentions that all the seeds that we carry can be grown anywhere, you just have to change your planting date.

Products of the Week

• Florida Broadleaf Mustard

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Why Plant Pelleted Seed Varieties in the Garden

Due to the various amount of seed varieties, certain crops have seeds that are irregularly shaped. The irregularly raw shaped seeds can in return cause problems when trying to plant them using mechanical equipment like a direct seeder or vacuum seeders. The vacuum seeders are typically used by larger greenhouse companies in order to seed their transplant trays a lot faster. In order to use the mechanical equipment to plant the various seed varieties, we need round shaped seeds instead of the irregular shaped seeds. For example, carrots have really small oval-shaped seeds that contain a naturally papery texture which makes the seeds hard to plant in the garden. However, when you have pelleted seed varieties they contain a round-shaped seed that works great in mechanical equipment like the seeders. Having round-shaped seeds allows for easier planting for transplants and direct seeding with our garden seeder. Along with easier planting, you are able to plant faster and save seeds when using pelleted seeds in the vegetable garden. The process of pelleting seeds is they coat the seeds with an inert ingredient which is a clay particle. Then, they put the seeds and the particular type of clay into a tumbler and roll it around until all the seeds reach a certain size. When pelleting seeds you are increasing the weight, size, and shape of the seed depending on the desired characteristics that is needed.

Pelleted Seed Varieties

The guys go over the pelleted seed varieties that we offer at Hoss Tools. Starting with pelleted lettuce varieties which includes Calshot, Cherokee, Coastal Star, Skyphos, Starfighter, and Tehama. We also carry pelleted carrot seeds which include varieties like the Viper, Yellowstone, Scarlet Nantes, Deep Purple, Gold Nugget and Danvers 126. As well as two pelleted beet varieties such as Early Wonder and Kestral Beets. While a few more beet varieties are going to be released soon in pelleted form. Some other seed varieties that are available are the Candy Onion and Tadorna Leeks.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has some Cherokee Tan pumpkins that he has harvested from the vegetable garden. The Cherokee Tan variety was a winner in maximum yield and flavor profile during the growing season this year. Greg also needs a little help from our viewers in finding out information on the old-timey multiplying nesting onion variety. Travis’s mentions that he currently has cucumbers, pole beans, and lots of okra growing in the vegetable garden. He also has planted peaches and cream sweet corn for the fall growing season in the vegetable garden.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about planting carrots on drip tape and cut flower cover crops. Travis recommends growing carrots on a double row of buried drip tape. He simply scatters the carrot seeds thick along the furrow in the vegetable garden. The trick with growing carrots in the vegetable garden is keeping the carrot seed bed wet until germination happens. The best tool to use when applying drip tape in the vegetable garden is our Drip Tape Layer Attachment on our Double Wheel Hoe. Greg mentions that the only cut flower variety that works as a cover crop is Sunflowers. They work the best as a cover crop because they grow quickly and shade out weeds when planted thick in the vegetable garden. Sunflowers have a dense root system which allows them to help with soil erosion in the vegetable garden area as well.

Products of the Week

• Hoss Garden Seeder

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New Fall Garden Seed Varieties

Not only are these seed varieties great to grow in the Fall garden, but a lot of these new seed varieties are exclusive and can only be found here at Hoss Tools.

Cabbage

The first new seed variety that offers an excellent disease-resistant is Cheers cabbage. Cheers can produce large heads that can usually grow to an average size of 5 lbs. The next variety is the Rio Grande Red which has been studied by Louisiana State University as being the largest red cabbage producer. Then, the Charleston Wakefield is the best-storing cabbage that produces conical heads in the vegetable garden. While the Savoy King provides crinkled-leaves and a crisp texture that makes this variety excellent for eating raw.

Carrots

When it comes time to planting carrots we recommend direct seeding in October. Unlike the Purple Haze, the new Deep Purple variety has a purple color that is throughout the entire core of the carrot. The next new seed variety we offer is known as Viper. This exclusive variety produces long slender carrots that average around 12 to 14 inches long. Another seed variety that is not necessarily new but we now offer in a new pelleted form for planting in our garden seeder is the Yellowstone carrot variety. Then, we offer the Gold Nugget variety which is a Nantes type carrot meaning that it is blunter on the end as opposed to sharp like the imperator type carrots. Lastly, the Scarlet Nantes is another Nantes type variety that produces carrots that have little tapering from top to bottom and blunt ends.

Greens

The only new seed varieties of greens we offer is the Southern Giant Curled Mustard. Known as an All-American Selection winner, this variety produces large curled leaves that contain the traditional “mustard green” flavor profile. It is an heirloom variety that has been a staple crop in the South for many years.

Leeks

Here in the South, leeks can be grown during the Fall, so we now offer two varieties of leeks to grow in the vegetable garden. The Matejko is a hybrid variety that is heat tolerant and rust tolerant, which is a disease that can sometimes be an issue with leeks. While the Tadorna leek is a cool weather variety of leek and can be transplanted in our seed starting trays in the early Fall as well.

Lettuce

A popular crop to grow in the garden is lettuce varieties. The first new lettuce variety the guys discuss is the pelleted Cherokee variety. The Cherokee variety is known to be the most heat tolerant red lettuce on the market. The next variety is Tehama which is another pelleted variety that is heat tolerant and slow for bolting. Then, we have the Coastal Star romaine variety that produces dark green leaves and full-size heads of crisp lettuce. The last lettuce variety is the Baby Leaf Lettuce Mix. This variety should be planted densely in a garden area and can be harvested several times throughout the growing season.

Onions

The most popular onion variety to grow in the vegetable garden is the Candy onion. The Candy Onion is an intermediate-day variety that grows well in many regions except for the far north and deep south areas of the country. The next onion variety that we recommend growing in the Fall garden is the Savannah Sweet Onions. The Savannah Sweet is a short-day onion that produces a flattened, granex shape much like the popular Vidalia type onions. Another short-day onion that is similar to the Vidalia onions is the Sweet Harvest variety. However, it produces jumbo to large bulbs, unlike the Savannah Sweet. Lastly, the Natsuguro Bunching variety is a spring onion that is excellent for harvesting several at a time in the vegetable garden.

Radishes, Rutabaga, & Turnip Seed Varieties

The Easter Egg Radishes are a colorful mix of red, white, and purple radishes to grow in the Fall garden. Another new exciting seed variety that we offer is the Laurentian Rutabaga. This variety has a nice sweet flavor profile that works great in soups and stews. Then, the All Top Turnip is another heavy producer of greens and will continue to have maximum production all throughout the growing season in the vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has just finished planting his flowers for this growing season. He is also getting his fall garden ready for the upcoming growing season. In the next couple of weeks, Greg plans to go full force with growing transplants in the greenhouse and getting everything ready before the first of October.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions GMO cabbage seeds and when to plant onion seeds for November planting. Travis mentions that there is no such thing as GMO cabbage. The only GMO vegetable crops that gardeners have to worry existing is corn, sugar beet, squash, potato, and eggplant. Greg explains that when planting onion seeds for November planting he recommends planting six weeks prior. For example, if you want to plant during the first of November, you should go back six weeks which would be the 15th of September.

Products of the Week

• Crocodile Spinach
• Swan Spinach

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Fall Planting Schedule

It is no secret that the most popular growing season for gardeners is the Fall. When deciding on a fall planting schedule there are several crops that can be planted due to the weather conditions being not too cold or hot. This is the perfect time to get maximum production of crops to last you on into the colder months.

Best Fall Crops to Plant

When direct seeding in August we recommend planting with our garden seeder to plant sweet corn, pole beans, and cucumbers. However, when it comes to transplanting we like to use our seed starting trays to plant crops such as green magic broccoli, tiger collards, kale, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, and kohlrabi. In September, we recommend direct-seeding crops such as English peas, all top turnips, mustard, premium greens mix, and Easter Egg radishes. For transplanting in September we prefer to plant Calshot Romaine lettuce, beets, and Calendula Prince Mix. In October, the guys plan to have a Fall planting schedule of direct-seeded crops like carrots and cool-season cover crops. Then, lastly in November is the best time to plant onions, shallots, and leeks.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some muscadines which are a staple in the South. While Greg shows off some Blue Bayou Pumpkins that he has harvested from the vegetable garden. The guys taste test the pumpkins in the form of sliced wedges, pumpkin soup, and pumpkin muffins. Travis also discusses the till and tarp technique he has been using at his consultant farm. This method is being used in a newer garden plot area that is covered in Bermuda grass. He has covered the area with a silage tarp and has left it to sit there for 2 to 3 weeks. After a couple of weeks, he has folded the tarp back and tilled it at one end, then covered the area again. This repetitive method is creating a weed-free environment because you are tilling the weed seeds to the top of the soil then killing them off with the silage tarp that is covering the garden area.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about curing pumpkins, the start-up area for a market garden, controlling the pest in the garden, and how their shallots did this season. Greg has just finished harvesting his Blue Bayou and Cherokee Tan pumpkin varieties from the vegetable garden. He likes to cure them by placing them underneath the barn and in the shade. As long as they stay in the shade and dry they can cure for around three to four weeks. Travis currently has around 10 to 12 thousand square feet of area that he works in for his market gardening. If you are doing the market gardening part-time, 10 to 12 thousand square feet is the perfect size for a startup gardening area to work in. When it comes to pest control in the garden, our most popular products are Neem Oil, Monterey B.t., and Spinosad to name a few. In the Spring, the guys had an okay growing season of shallots. The guys are planning to plant them again according to their Fall planting schedule because they are similar to onions so they hope to get a better crop this coming growing season. The last question they discuss is when will the new fall seed varieties be available on our website. The guys mention that we are currently working hard to get them packed and available on the website every day. If you want to get updated when new seeds are available, you can be added to our email newsletter and be the first to know all about what’s new at Hoss Tools.

Products of the Week

• Cheers Cabbage
• Savoy King
• Rio Grande Red
• Charleston Wakefield

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Market Farming Strategies

There are a few different methods when it comes to small scale market farming. The two most popular models are the community-supported agriculture strategy and the farmers market strategy. However, many factors play into which model would work best for you in your location and what you prefer for your vegetable garden.

Small Scale Market Farming Model

Travis uses a little different market farming strategy than the normal community-supported agriculture or farmers market strategies. He uses a weekly bag model strategy which requires no upfront money and he takes bag orders from week to week. Each bag is $20 and contains five items each week for the customer. However, for the most part, customers do not get to customize their orders due to the vegetable garden variance and it can be a time-consuming process. When it comes to the quantities of how much is in the bag based on each item Travis likes to put enough for a family of four to have a side dish for supper. Travis shows off an example of what typically comes in the weekly bag model. The bag contains a set of four slicing cucumbers, four Goldprize squash, three Nubia eggplants, two small wonder spaghetti squash, and one hai kabocha squash all from the vegetable garden. There are a couple of differences between buying a weekly bag instead of buying vegetables from the grocery store. Travis mentions that most the vegetable varieties that if he offers in his weekly bag model you cannot get in the grocery store. Another benefit of buying the weekly bag of vegetables is the taste. With green vegetables like collards and kale, the taste is a lot better than in the grocery store because they tend to be healthier and the home gardener watches what products he uses in the vegetable garden. Another advantage you can add to the weekly bag model is by branding the bag and making recipe cards to go along with the vegetables inside the bag. Due to some of the different varieties of vegetables, recipe cards will help people learn how to cook these unfamiliar varieties like the Kabocha squash. Travis main marketing strategy is done through Facebook and a little email to customers.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg talks about his Cherokee Tan Pumpkins that he tried out in the garden this year. Although they turned out smaller than he anticipated, the disease resistance was excellent during the growing season this year in the vegetable garden. He also has a Blue Bayou Pumpkin variety that has a great disease resistance as well. It is a hybrid variety that improves production and contains a high sugar content that makes it great for eating. Travis shows off a new fertilizer product that we now carry called Ammonium Sulfate. This fertilizer comes in handy when growing onions, garlic, elephant garlic, leeks, and shallots. The guys also share a little information on what is going to be available soon in the new seed lineup for this year.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about cut flowers and planting a fall garden. When it comes to selling cut flowers at a market, Greg mentions that his cut flower expert friend Lisa Ziegler recommends using a CBVN tablet in order to preserve cut flowers for selling at the market. Travis mentions the first thing to get started in the garden is transplanting Tiger Collards, Lacinato Kale, Cheers Cabbage, and Green Magic Broccolli. These four varieties grow maximum production and are easy to grow in the vegetable garden.

Products of the Week

• Ammonium Sulfate Fertilizer

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Small Scale Market Farming

There are a couple of different models that small scale market farmers use when it comes to growing your own food. The first model of market farming is CSA which is Community Supported Agriculture. This system is the process of buying shares upfront at the beginning of the season that the farmer delivers throughout the growing season. So if there is crop failure and the farmer cannot deliver the crops then you do not get your money back. Another small scale market farming model is selling at the farmers market. Nowadays, farmers markets have become a sometimes weekend-long event in several different towns or cities. From the guys experience the best farmers markets they have been to has been in higher populated areas. The last model, the guys discuss is the wholesale model or larger scale selling of produce. This can be for people that like growing produce and then sell it to country stores, restaurants,  or other local markets. Out of all three small scale market farming models, it can vary which one would work best for you as an individual and your personal preference.

Popular Techniques & Common Problems

Depending on certain areas in the North compared to the South, not every gardening technique works best. For example, a popular technique in some gardening areas is the use of 30-inch raised beds. Due to the guys growing so many different varieties of vegetables throughout the growing season the raised beds do not work for them personally. Another popular technique is heavy composting in the North. However, living in the South, we believe in providing good compost to improve soil structures for healthier plants, but heavy composting will burn out and leave our soils looking like sand. A method that is popular in the North and South is intensive growing. The meaning behind intensive growing is growing as much in the garden as you can in a given space. Some common problems that people have when getting started on small scale market farming is no experience growing in a garden, focusing too much on schematic details, and finding individuals that will buy on a consistent regular basis.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys do not have too many vegetables growing in the garden due to the weather conditions. Greg is currently cleaning out his garden, but he still has some ProCut Sunflowers and Zinnias growing. In the greenhouse, he is starting to grow some Cockscomb. Travis has been growing cover crops in his garden. He recently planted Top Millet and Buckwheat that helps with improving the soil structure and weed suppression. The guys discuss some new seeds that will be coming very soon to the website.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about when they are going to start growing collards and kale plants and where they get all of there knowledge from. Travis says if planting kale and collards by transplant start those at the end of August to early September. Greg says if you direct seeding plant them around the beginning of October. A lot of the knowledge that the guys have accumulated over the years is through informal and formal studying. Greg has done a lot of studying on insects, diseases, and received some certifications in agronomy and horticulture. As well as, experienced a lot of hands-on learning through various jobs in the industry. While Travis has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Biology and studied at the Ph.D. level for four years. Overall, a lot of the knowledge comes from getting in the garden and trying new growing techniques all year round in the vegetable garden.

Products of the Week

• Winter Harvest Handbook
• The Market Gardener
• The New Organic Grower

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Question & Answers Segment

On this week’s episode, the guys answer viewer questions about a couple of different cover crops grown in the vegetable garden. The first question is trying to determine if growing Austrian Pea for the honeybee population in the garden is good or not. Greg mentions that the Austrian pea is a wintertime pea so it can extend the season but it would not be his first choice for pollinators. The second question is all about the guy’s thoughts about allelopathic plants. For example, allelopathic qualities of cover crops such as peas or vetch help with nutgrass problems. While Buckwheat is allelopathic to pigweed. Thirdly, the guys discuss the issues causing deformation in melons. Greg explains the two main causes of deformation in melons is due to infrequent watering and poor pollination. Next, they discuss various vegetables that work best when planted on drip tape irrigation. Travis mentions that he uses his drip tape on almost everything except Irish potatoes. Using drip tape will save you time, conserve water, and reduce weed pressures greatly. Recently the guys talked about figs that have a closed-end and keeps the bugs out. Due to some research that LSU has done in the past, this type of fig variety is called the LSU Purple variety. The guys then discuss whether the silage tarps control nutsedge or not. Travis explains the silage tarps will help the nutsedge a little bit but not like the other weeds. You basically just have to aggravate the soil with the Wheel Hoe or incorporate some cover crops like Austrian pea into the garden. Next, the guys talk about how heavy silage tarps are and ordering bigger tarps. Greg says the silage tarps weigh about 60 pounds and are heavy depending on your size. It can be carried by one person but it’s more ideal for two people. When discussing fig trees Greg recommends planting fruit trees in the fall because it gives them a chance to get started without stressing. He also says amending the soil before planting and keeping it watered will help the fig trees as well. Then, they discuss the most productive pepper variety in the garden. The Aruba Cubanelle peppers are a hybrid variety that is the front runner in maximum yield when it comes to all the other pepper varieties we carry. The next question deals with how to treat Japanese beetle damage on flowers and vegetables. Greg says rotating between Neem Oil and Pyrtherin early on and keeping the garden clean will help control those pest issues. The last question that the guy’s answer is for new garden spots whether or not you should add a tarp first then grow a cover crop or grow a cover crop then tarp. Travis explains if you have a way of cleaning or tilling the garden spot to prepare it to plant cover crops then tarp. However, if you don’t have a tiller or a way to clean the garden area tarp it during the summer and plant fall cover crops.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, with the summer weather getting hotter and hotter the guys discuss a couple of different hot pepper varieties such as the Serrano, Cayenne, and Brazilian Orchid. Greg is about done growing for this season. However, he still has a few sunflower and zinnia varieties planted that have been the prettiest crop thus far in the garden. The only vegetable producing he has going on in the garden is okra. The guys are both in the cleanup phase to prepare it for fall planting season. The guys also talk a little bit about the seed line up coming out soon.

Product of the Week

• Hoss Hats

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Occultation vs. Solarization

Occultation basically means blocking something from view. For example, when studying Astronomy, when we experience an eclipse and the moon is blocked from the sun that is occultation. There are two forms of silage tarps that are used for solarization and occultation in the garden. For solarization, the clear tarps heat up the soil and are used if you want to sterilize your soil due to either nematode, fungal, or bacterial pressures in the vegetable garden. For occultation, the black tarps are used for maintaining soil structure, organic matter, and promote bacterial activity in the garden soil.

Using Occultation in the Garden Soil

On this week’s episode, the guys explain how occultation is used in the garden. When we block the garden soil from the sunlight this known as occultation. To use this technique in the garden we take Silage Tarps to cover the soil area. The main purpose of occultation with the black tarp is you create this moist environment that starts weed germination but they end up dying off as soon as the germinate because there’s no life to feed off of. This method is perfect for creating a stale weed seedbed or weed seed bank. The occultation is used to prepare your soil without using any kind gas-powered equipment such as a tiller, tractor, or harrow. So if you want to start a new garden area, but have no form of gas-powered equipment, add this Silage Tarp to that area. It works great when laid down for three to four weeks in the summertime or maybe up to six weeks in the wintertime. Then, just pull it up and go to planting vegetables in the garden area. Travis recommends to mow it down as low as you could then apply the silage tarp. If you are like Greg and have a longer existing garden spot that has high weed pressure these Silage tarps work great to suppress this weed seed bank. Another great benefit of Silage Tarps is it maintains the integrity of the garden soil. With the tendency of overworking our soils, this tarp method allows us to not overwork which maintains the proper tilth that we need to have for a successful vegetable garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has a Tubtrug colander full of Jambalaya and some stragglers of Red Burgundy Okra. Both productive okra varieties, but Jambalaya is top-notch when it comes to maximum production in the vegetable garden. Travis brought some of Greg’s favorite Brown Turkey Figs. He also has a Stonewall cucumber that was harvested off his Hortonova Trellis Netting. Growing on a trellis allows for higher yields and more growing space because vegetables are growing vertically in the garden. The guys also show off the different color Hoss Hats that we carry in Charcoal, Red, and Camo.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about what they learned from this growing season that they wouldn’t like to do again and squash bug pressures during the Fall. Although they had a good garden season due to the dry weather they both found one thing that they learned to not do in the garden again. For Greg, he prefers not to grow southern peas in the garden again. He did well growing the peas, but he cannot control the Southern pea curculio. Travis agrees that he can’t grow them as well. During late Fall and September, the squash bug pressures are probably the highest during the Fall months. Travis says to avoid even trying to grow any kind cucurbit vegetables during those months. The guys recommend planting any kind of cucurbits early in the garden to avoid those harsh squash bug pressures.

Product of the Week

• Silage Tarp

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Hybrid vs. Heirloom

When deciding between different hybrid and heirloom varieties to plant you should really weight out the benefits and flavor profiles that both varieties have to offer. More importantly, differentiate and decide which type of variety you prefer to plant in your personal garden. One major advantage that heirlooms have is they are open-pollinated meaning that the pollen is carried naturally through wind or pollinators. While hybrid varieties are hybridized meaning they have to be pollinated by human intervention to carry out the characteristics in the plant.

Taste Testing Hybrid Tomato Varieties

On last week’s show, Greg had the opportunity to taste test some heirloom tomato varieties and rank them based on most productive flavors. The guys were both unsurprised that Sun Gold came out on top with the most flavor profile out of all the varieties tested. This week Travis is taste testing three different determinant hybrid tomato varieties. When discussing these varieties, Travis explains that Bella Rosa and Brickyard tend to be hardier than the Mountain Glory in his garden that is surrounded by commercial farming. According to Greg, the Mountain Glory does better in the northern cooler climates where the disease pressures are not as high like it is in the southern climates. The guys recommend testing out all these varieties to see which one works best for you because it is all based on climate temperatures and disease pressures in the area that you live in. The first tomato that Travis taste tested is the Brickyard which he says to be more acidic in flavor and compared it to a store-bought tomato. The Bella Rosa was next in the taste test which came out less acidic and more of a fruity flavor than the Brickyard. The last tomato, Travis tries is the Mountain Glory. He describes it has being less complex and plainer than the first two he tasted. Overall, the Bella Rosa came out on top with the taste testing with Brickyard and Mountain Glory close behind it.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss everything that is popping up and blooming in the garden. Greg has some succession planting sunflowers from his garden. With hardly any tend to them at all, his ProCut Orange sunflowers bloomed to the perfect size and left him very impressed. For easy and quick planting these ProCut sunflower varieties work like a dream in our garden seeder. Travis has some Ageratum Blue Horizon cut flowers to show off from his garden. This is his first time growing this variety and the native bees have been all over this type of cut flower variety. Travis has experienced the best pepper crop in several years. He has a Merlot Purple Bell Pepper that has great flavor and yields. However, the Bayonet is the leading bell pepper when it comes to maximum production.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about their planting schedule and can you still plant sunflowers in Ohio. To keep track of what Greg and Travis have going on in the garden it is best to watch all our YouTube videos when they come out. This will help you know what to plant and when to harvest crops in the garden if you live in the same growing zone (8a). However, they recommend getting a garden planner which is helpful for any growing zone that offers plant and row spacing as well. Greg says depending on what part of Ohio you live in if you get the ProCut Sunflowers in the garden before August 1st you should be in good shape.

Product of the Week

• Tomato Varieties

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Indeterminate/Heirloom Tomatoes

Tomatoes are always a favorite and popular crop to grow in the garden. Whether they are heirloom/hybrid or determinate/indeterminate they all offer many different growing characteristics and flavors. The guys like to transplant their tomatoes in seed starting trays. Indeterminate tomato varieties are known to continue growing and producing all throughout the growing season. The heirloom varieties are described as your older varieties that have the same characteristics that have been passed down from generation to generation. These indeterminate tomatoes can be both heirloom and hybrid.

Taste Testing Tomatoes

On this week’s show, Greg does a little taste testing and rates several different indeterminate tomatoes. To start off the taste testing the guys begin with the goldish/orange, Jubilee tomato which is an heirloom variety. The second variety he tries is the open-pollinated, Amish Paste variety. This is a great variety for canning and preserving after harvest. Another heirloom variety that Greg tried was the Mortgage Lifter tomato. The fourth taste test was an extremely flavorable hybrid variety, Sun Gold. The next variety is the Cherokee Purple that is an old heirloom that originated back to the Cherokee Native Americans in Tennessee. To finish up the taste testing, Travis has a little surprise for Greg. Overall, Greg ranked the Sun Gold as being the best tomato out of these different indeterminate varieties. The Sun Gold offers the best citrusy flavor out of any other tomato variety. According to Greg his least favorite one was the Mortgage Lifter variety. The guys both agree that this variety grows really nice size tomatoes, but they do not offer a lot of flavor.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some ProCut sunflowers that he harvested. These beautiful sunflower mixes were the Lemon, Orange, Red Lemon Bicolor, and Plum. Greg talks about planting some more sunflowers with the garden seeder. They guys also taste test a Beaver Dam Hot Pepper that is more sweet than hot. They agree that it has more of a sweet heat or citrusy heat, but not hot at all. Greg has some productive Blue Bayou and Cherokee Tan pumpkins growing in the garden. They guys talk about one thing in the garden that has left them pleasantly surprised thus far in the growing season. Travis recently added bees to his garden and he has been surprised at how much more squash and zucchini production he is getting since adding these pollinators. Greg is surprised at how well his Brickyard tomatoes are doing this growing season. The guys also mention a little bit about Silage Tarps which is a new product that will be on the website soon. Greg is currently doing a trial with one in his garden right now. Silage Tarps are a great companion to the cover crop system in your vegetable garden.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about the difference in bean varieties, pickled okra recipes, and what seasoning do they like to put on their potatoes. Travis says that whenever they discuss bean varieties they mainly talk about pole beans and bush beans. When talking about pole beans they should be grown on a trellis because they grow vertically and they work best in smaller garden areas. Greg likes to use the “Pickled Pantry” book to get some of his pickled okra recipes. The guys mention that the seasoning they love to use so much is called Cavender’s Greek Seasoning. They like to use it to season many different vegetables in the garden and you should definitely try it out if you can get your hands on some.

Product of the Week

• Hortonova Trellis Netting

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Okra Varieties

Classified in the Malvaceae family, okra prefers warm-weather which makes it perfect for the summer growing season. The guys have tested several okra varieties over the years including Star of David, Cowhorn, Red Burgundy, Clemson Spineless, and Jambalaya. In their trials the Red Burgundy and Jambalaya varieties were the most productive. They do plan on adding more okra varieties in the future. These could include Candle Fire, Louisiana Velvet, Emerald and the Dwarf Green Long Pod okra.

Growing Productive Okra

The recommended row spacing for okra is 26 to 38 inches. Okra may be transplanted or direct-seeded. Rows should be spaced 28″ to 36″ apart, although the guys prefer the wider 3′ spacing. Plant spacing along the row should be 8-12″. Transplanting will require fewer seeds than direct-seeding. When transplanting, you can expect to use about 2 lbs of seed per acre. When direct-seeding, plant seeds 3-4″ apart and thin to 8-12″. This will usually require about 12-15 pounds of seed per acre.

The preferred soil pH for okra is 5.8 to 6.5, which is slightly acidic. Okra prefers a balanced fertilizer at planting. Something like a 20-20-20 or 10-10-10 formulation would work well. The recommended amount is 600-800 pounds per acre, which equates to 13 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft.

Aphids and ants can be a major pest issue on okra plants. If you are experiencing ants in your okra, you more than likely you have an aphid problem. Aphids produce honeydew which attracts ants to okra crops. Also, okra is susceptible to parasitic nematode damage. To reduce nematode issues, practice proper crop rotation and plant cover crops like Sunn Hemp, Sorghum Sudangrass, or Mustard.

Okra is commercially harvested based on three pod-length classifications: Fancy, Choice, and Jumbo. Fancy pods are around 3.5 inches long, Choice pods are 3.5 to 4.5 inches long, and Jumbo pods are over 4.5 inches long. Fancy and Choice okra pods must be harvested daily to prevent pods from getting too large. Okra plants may be pruned as they are harvested. This will make the area cleaner and easier to harvest in the future.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis discusses his tomato struggles this year. It was a rough start, but he now has them producing well. The guys perform a taste test two heirloom varieties. They try the Cherokee Purple and the Jubilee varieties. The Cherokee Purple is a dark red, almost purple tomato, while the Jubilee is a yellow to orange tomato. They discuss the primary differences between determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties. Indeterminate tomato varieties will have a slow, steady production over a long period of time. Determinate tomato varieties will produce more tomatoes in a short window.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about planting fall corn and lowering soil pH. Travis explains that he likes to plant fall sweet corn anywhere from late August to mid-September. If you live in zone 7A, Travis suggests planting at the end of July to early August. It is a good idea to also plant the corn on drip tape to make sure it has plenty of water in the late summer temperatures. Greg says it is easy to raise soil pH, but can be really difficult to lower it. The only option for lowering soil pH is to use elemental sulfur. It is best to always perform a soil test before adding lime to elevate soil pH levels. This will ensure that you don’t add too much and over-adjust the pH.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Hortonova Trellis Netting
• Spinosad Garden Insect Spray

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Sweet Potato Planting

There are over 6,500 varieties of sweet potatoes in the world. Sweet potatoes are a member of the Morning Glory family and will typically mature in 90 to 120 days. Unlike Irish potatoes which prefer cooler soils, sweet potatoes are a heat-loving crop that grows well throughout the summer. Sweet potatoes are usually grown from slips, which are sprouts that are plucked from the sweet potato.

Growing Sweet Potatoes

The guys have tried several varieties over the years including Beauregard, Centennial and Covington. Thus far the Covington variety has been the most productive one for them. This year they will be growing the Georgia Jet which was recommended to them by their friends at Steele Plant Company. Sweet potatoes prefer sandy or loamy soils that are well-drained and not too rich in nitrogen. The optimal pH for growing sweet potatoes is between 5.8 to 6.2. When planting this crop, you should avoid growing them in newly-established gardens, especially areas that were covered in grass. They will grow better in well-established garden plots that have been farmed for several years. It is also important to avoid growing sweet potatoes in garden areas where you experience parasitic nematode problems.

The three major nutrient requirements for sweet potatoes are nitrogen, phosphate, and lots of potassium. The recommended rate for nitrogen and phosphorous is 60 lbs per acre or 1.4 lbs per 1,000 square feet. The recommended potassium rate is much higher at 200 lbs per acre or 4.5 lbs per square feet.

Nutrient applications are recommended per cultivation. At the first cultivation, you should apply all of the recommended phosphorous (1.4 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft.) and half of the recommended potassium (2.25 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft.). The other half of the recommended potassium (2.25 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft.) should be applied before the second cultivation. Nitrogen (1.4 lbs per 1,000 sq. ft.) should be applied in the third and final cultivation. This is the ideal fertilization cycle for sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes need adequate water when slips are young and roots are establishing. Drip tape can work great for this, as long as you don’t overwater when plants are older. Hilling sweet potatoes will help to reduce weed pressure along the row, but doesn’t necessarily increase harvests. You can also prune the vines as they grow to keep the area more neatly managed.

• Steele Plant Company

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis shows new variety of lettuce called Calshot. This is a red romaine variety which is available in pelleted seed form. Even with the dry and humid weather the guys have experienced lately, they were able to salvage a couple of heads. However, the flowers in the garden have been loving the warm weather. Travis has  been harvesting many of his Benary Giant Zinnias, including the lime, white, and the mixed varieties. Greg provides an update on his honey select sweet corn that Travis wanted him to grow this year. Greg explains that it is much sweeter than the varieties he grew previously.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about nematodes and buckwheat. Travis explains that nematodes are microscopic roundworms and they are present in every type of soil. They can damage crops by destroying the root systems. You can control nematodes by growing cover crops like Sorghum Sudangrass and Sunn Hemp. Greg says buckwheat attracts pollinators, especially bees, to your garden. Each cover crop can have a slightly different benefit and each one has a different maturity date. When selecting a warm-season cover crop, one should consider the window in which they expect this crop to grow and mature.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Micro-Boost

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Warm-Weather Cover Crops

Growing cover crops can be just as important as growing vegetable crops in the garden. Cover crops will restore your garden soils by increasing organic matter and feeding the soil biology. Warm weather cover crops are a great option during the warmer months when other vegetable crops may not grow as well.

Sorghum Sudangrass

Sorghum Sudangrass is monocot that contains a fibrous root system similar to corn. Sorghum Sudangrass will aerate and provide a significant amount of biomass for your soil. This cover crop is taller compared to other warm-season cover crops, and looks much like corn. It also provides a solid ground cover which will outcompete weeds and reduce further weed pressure. It can be broadcast or easily direct-seeded with our Hoss Garden Seeder.

Brown Top Millet

Brown Top Millet is another monocot, warm-season cover crop that works great to prevent soil erosion and suppress weeds. Many people like to use this cover crop as a livestock forage. Others will use it to create feeding plots for doves and other wildlife. Much like Sorghum Sudangrass, it is a taller cover crop and performs very well in the heat. It usually matures in 60 to 70 days.

Buckwheat

Buckwheat is a dicot, warm-season cover crop with a taproot system. It is the fastest-maturing warm-weather cover crops that we offer. Buckwheat will mature in four to six weeks. This crop is great for attracting pollinators such as bees because they absolutely adore this crop. It is an ideal plant to scavenge the phosphorus in the soil as well.

Sunn Hemp

Another dicot that adapts well in hot and dry climates is Sunn Hemp. This is also a fast-growing crop that only takes eight to twelve weeks to mature. Sunn Hemp works well on overfarmed soils like sandy soils that are nutrient-poor. It is also can be a nitrogen fixer and can be used to suppress parasitic nematode populations in the soil.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss the dry and humid weather they’ve experienced lately. Travis has tomatoes, winter squash, and cucumbers planted on drip tape, but cannot seem to cool them off from the heat. Much to his disliking, he has had to use an overhead sprinkler on his tomatoes and winter squash to cool the plants during the heat of the day. However, the Jambalaya and Red Burgundy okra are growing perfect in this warm weather. Another heat tolerant crop is the Tiger Collards. The guys have been harvesting quite a few of these lately. Greg has some Honey Select sweet corn that is almost ready to harvest. He explains that the brown silks are the primary indication of maturity with sweet corn.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about dry storage vegetables and transplanting sweet corn. Their Irish potatoes and Texas Legend onions will store for four to five months. On average, winter squash and spaghetti squash will last about six months. Seminole pumpkins will last about a year, making them one of the longest-storing crops. In summary, many of the dry storage vegetables will store for several weeks if given a dry area with good airflow and shade. Greg explains that he has transplanted sweet corn in the past, but it may be a little more difficult to transplant than crops like okra, tomatoes, and peppers. You can transplant sweet corn, it will just be more time-consuming.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Seminole Pumpkins

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Storing Vegetable Gardens

There are many ways to store your vegetable crops once they’re harvested from the vegetable garden. Whether you store them in the barn or under the carport, creating a storage area for your vegetable crops is important. Aspects like good airflow, shade, and temperature should be considered to keep your crops stored for their maximal lifespan.

Dry vs. Cold Storage

Dry: When it comes to storing crops like onions, garlic, shallots, winter squash, Irish and sweet potatoes, you want to make sure they are in an area that has good airflow and that is shaded and dry. Here in the South, most people have pole barns which are open-air, covered barns. For these areas, many people build a storage rack with hardware cloth or chicken wire to place their dry storage vegetables.

Cold: Other vegetable crops should be stored in a cool environment to preserve their longevity. These would include crops like greens, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, peppers, okra and many others. In addition to having a cooler temperature, airflow is also important. Travis prefers to use plastic produce bags, much like you would find at the grocery store, to store his cool-storage crops. He places the vegetables in the bag, ties a knot in the top and pokes a few holes in the top for airflow. This creates a similar environment to a plastic clam shell, which is also great for storing cold vegetables. Greg explains that it’s best to not wash vegetables until they are ready to be prepared or consumed. This will decrease the risk of introducing bacteria and spoilage. He also suggests washing squash and cucumbers in a dilution of baking soda as this will help to preserve them longer. Once washed with the baking soda solution, allow them to air dry and then place in cold storage. If allowed to dry, many vegetables like carrots, squash and cucumbers will store for up to two weeks in the fridge.

Tomatoes are a crop that doesn’t fall into either of the above categories. When storing tomatoes, the guys like to pick them during the pink stage. They will then lay the fruits on a towel-covered table under the carport. It is important to lay them in a single layer to prevent spoilage. The carport will provide shade and keep them shaded from direct sunlight, but will not provide a drastic temperature change while they continue to ripen. As soon as they ripen, they will take them inside and lay them on a table in the cooler, indoor climate. The ideal temperature for tomatoes is 60 degrees, so take them inside where it is 68-70 degrees. Here they will store nicely and be ready to eat.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys discuss how they have both been experiencing perfect gardening weather recently. As a result, all the crops in the garden have been growing nicely. Greg has some indeterminate Sun Gold tomatoes that have been really productive this year. Initially these fruits will be green on the vine, but they will quickly turn yellow to orange. They like to harvest them at the yellow to orange stage as that seems to provide the peak flavor. Travis has dug all of his potatoes except his German butterballs, which have a couple more weeks before harvesting. This is Greg’s first year growing shallots and he is growing three different varieties. His favorite variety that he grew is the Banana shallot. Greg prefers to use shallots for cooking instead of eating them raw like his he does with onions.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about drip irrigation filter setups, watermelon fertilization and nutgrass problems. Travis suggests using a separate filter/regulator setup for each subplot in the vegetable garden. This is much easier than trying to move the filter/regulator setup each time you water a different plot. Greg explains that watermelons require about 120 units of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium per acre. Watermelons need a well-balanced fertilizer to help with decreasing the risk of blossom end rot. Every 10 to 14 days, Greg likes to inject either the 20-20-20 or Chilean Nitrate and add the Micro-Boost each time. Travis has had good luck with eliminating nutgrass, but it is not easy. You can aggravate it to death by using our wheel hoe with the oscillating hoe and cultivator teeth. Rotate them and use them at least twice a week and it will eventually go away.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• 8 mil Drip Tape Irrigation Kit

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Improving Your Summer Garden

Not sure what to plant in the summer garden? Instead of allowing the vegetable garden to become covered with grass and weeds, grow heat-loving summer crops and keep the garden healthy for fall plantings. A summer garden is a great way to include succession planting and crop rotation. A solid crop rotation will help to promote soil health, plant health and reduce insect/disease pressure.

Succession Planting & Crop Rotation

During the fall and winter seasons, crops like lettuce, beets, and brassicas such as kohlrabi or bok choi are excellent for crop rotations because they all have similar dates to maturity. This is a great three crop rotation for the fall, winter and spring garden. This rotation will provide plenty of food in the cooler months if succession planted properly. To have successful cool weather crop rotations, you should consider choosing crops that require the same amount of time to grow. Succession planting in late spring and early summer is a great way to extend the harvest into the warmer months. We suggest succession planting squash, cucumbers and okra to get multiple crops within a given spring/summer period. We usually plant okra three to four times from spring through fall. This will ensure that we always have productive plants in the garden. As older plants become taller and produce less, we will always have younger plants that are starting to heavily produce.

Sweet potatoes are also a great heat-loving summer crop that can be used to follow several other warm-season crops. We like to plant sweet potatoes behind our Irish potatoes or onions. Because they’re in different families, we can follow either of those crops with sweet potatoes in late spring/early summer. We usually plant sweet potatoes in late May to early June, but they may be planted as late as August in warmer climates. We plant slips from Steele Plant Company in Gleason, TN. Warm-weather cover crops are another great option for summer plantings. These would include buckwheat, sorghum sudangrass, sunn hemp and brown top millet.

Steele Plant Company: https://www.sweetpotatoplant.com/

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis brought some Sunburst patty pan squash and explains his preferred method of preparing and cooking them. This is Greg’s first year growing Rattlesnake pole beans and he has been surprised by the shape of the beans. They are not as flat as he thought they would be. For an heirloom variety, they are very productive and easy to grow. It has been a month since Travis has transplanted his peppers and they are not doing good. To fix resolve that issue, he decided to put some Epsom salt, some Gypsum to prevent blossom end rot and soil drench with Micro-Boost. After adding those elements to the peppers they are doing great now. Greg’s Honey Select corn is almost ready to harvest, while Travis’ Incredible Sweet Corn is growing fast but not quite ready to harvest.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about injecting micronutrients and spraying tomatoes for pests. Travis uses the Micro-Boost in his EZ-FLO Fertilizer Injector. The recommended rate is 1/4 cup per thousand square feet. For his garden, he adds two cups to the 2 gallon injector per injection. The Micro-Boost supplement may be mixed with any other fertilizer like 20-20-20, Chilean Nitrate or Liquid-Fish. Greg mentions that he does not spray his tomato plants while growing them in the greenhouse. But he does begin a spray program as soon as he transplants them into the vegetable garden. As soon as those transplants make contact with outside, non-sterile soil, it is a good idea to start a pest control program.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Micro-Boost
• Chilean Nitrate

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How Can We Control Pests?

We cannot always expect to fully eradicate pests, but we can control them in our vegetable gardens. By eliminating larval and younger individuals of the insect populations, we can break that life cycle and prevent further reproductively mature adults from being added to the population. It is also important to only plant certain crops when success can be expected. If pest pressure is extremely high during a given portion of the year, don’t try to grow certain susceptible crops during that time. It can be different for everyone depending on your climate and local biology.

Organic & All-Natural Pest Controls

Insecticides:

The most popular organic insecticide is Neem Oil, which will work best on insects in the nymph or immature stages. They even use Neem Oil in conventional farming because insects do not build a resistance to it. Another great organic insecticide is Pyrethrin, which is a contact insecticide. This means that it will kill whatever it touches. Because of this, it should be sprayed or applied late in the evening when the pollinators have gone to bed. Our Take Down Garden Spray includes pyrethrin and canola oil for a more residual control. The Take Down Garden Spray is not OMRI certified because the canola oil is not organically sourced. However, our Bug Buster also has pyrethrin as the active ingredient and it is OMRI registered. Horticultural Oil is a great option for controlling insects on fruit trees. Use it before bud break to help control insects that can attack any type of fruit trees. Our Fruit Tree Spray is a combination of both Neem Oil and Pyrethrin, which has a synergistic effect. All these products are concentrated and they will help control any of your soft-bodied insects. If you have any problems with worms or caterpillars in your cucumbers, you should definitely use B.t. B.t. is a naturally occurring bacteria and will kill the worms when they try to eat a plant that has been sprayed with it. This will break the pest cycle and prevent those larval forms from becoming reproductively mature adults. Spinosad is another treatment for worms, and it is a little more powerful than B.t. Spinosad is a naturally fermented product that can kill an insect either by contact or ingestion. For slugs and snails, we have a product called Sluggo, which is spinosad in a pelleted granular form. Sluggo works as a bait for slugs and snails in the vegetable garden.

Fungicides:

An OMRI registered option like our Complete Disease Control can be used for your fungal problems in the vegetable garden. You can use it either by soil drench or foliar spray as a protectant. When used as a soil drench, it can help with some of your soil-borne diseases. When used as a foliar spray, it covers the plant and protects it from disease pores. A widely used agricultural fungicide, Liquid Cop is great for controlling powdery mildew, downy mildew, and blight issues. Used especially for powdery and downy mildew, Bi-Carb is a great product to protect against those mildews on roses, vegetables, fruit trees, and ornamentals.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg brought some of his Calypso Cumcumbers, which is a hybrid pickling variety that is really productive in the vegetable garden. The guys taste test and compare the Calypso and Lemon cucumbers. Greg definitely recommends growing the Lemon Cucumbers in your garden. Travis talks about one of the most productive crops in the entire vegetable garden — Tiger Collards.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about their relation and their Hoss seed selection process. They also provide information on succession planting and vertical growing. Yes, Greg and Travis are related but they are not brothers. They choose seed varieties based on what they have tried and been recommended by seed and variety experts. They are always looking to provide new seeds and try new varieties that are easy for the home gardener to grow, but that may be difficult to obtain from another company. Greg explains how vertical growing is a great way to save space in the garden. He suggests vertically growing crops like rattlesnake pole beans, running butterbeans, and cucumbers.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Liqui-Fish Garden Fertilizer
• Micro-Boost

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How Hoss Tools Got Started

Hoss Tools began about nine years ago when Greg and his friend decided that there was a need for quality gardening tools that were made in the USA. They also wanted to be able to offer excellent customer support for those tools. At the time they were both working other jobs when they started Hoss Tools, so they were not able to completely focus on the new business. As the business grew, they both realized that it would require more of their time. Greg bought his partner’s portion of the business and started to create an online presence for the company. Since then, Greg has sold his other business and is now concentrating on Hoss Tools full-time. Travis joined the team around 2013 when the business really started evolving. Now Hoss Tools is completely direct-to-consumer so that we are able to provide better customer service and support.

Row by Row Garden Show: One Year Anniversary

The Row by Row Garden Show is a weekly gardening talk show where Greg and Travis discuss what is happening in their gardens, discuss a certain topic for the week, and answer viewer questions. For the one-year anniversary show, the guys decided to do a big giveaway for their viewers to thank them for showing so much support for the show thus far. The guys did a drawing for several collections of seed packs which included ProCut Sunflower, Lettuce, Peppers, and Summer and Winter Squash packs. They also gave away some of their fertilizers such as Chilean Nitrate, 20-20-20, and Micro-Boost. Finally, they drew names for some of their most popular garden tools like the short single tine cultivator, long single tine cultivator, 8 mil drip tape kit, and the new Hoss Stirrup Hoe. The two biggest products at the end of the giveaway were the Single Wheel Hoe and the Double Wheel Hoe.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has some freshly harvested Golden Delight Zucchini and Goldprize Squash that were really productive this year. Also, his cucumbers are about ready to harvest in the next couple of days. Travis shows his Starfighter lettuce that is looking really good and productive. He also talks about the productivity of his jambalaya okra and how tall they are growing. Greg also brought a huge bulb of green Kohlrabi and mentions that Travis may be envious because he doesn’t know his secret. He recently harvested all of his onions and laid them on the ground to cure for a couple of days before he stores them in the barn.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about yellow squash/zucchini issues, “banding” fertilizer, fish emulsion, and organic solutions for phosphorous and potassium. Travis explains that garden soil pH can become too acidic over time if you grow the same crops year after year in the same spot. This will also start to create some fertilization problems, because plants cannot uptake nutrients in soils with an incorrect pH. To help resolve these issues, you should practice better crop rotations and build the organic matter in your soils. To “band” fertilize, Greg takes his two-gallon sprayer with the tip-off and uses either some 20-20-20 or Chilean Nitrate. He then applies it in a band about 3 to 4 inches beside the plant or plant foliage. The fish emulsion products available in stores are not ready for uptake by plants. Any organic fertilizer will have a much slower uptake because it has to be broken down to those smaller chemical forms like ammonia or nitrate. Greg says that some good organic solutions for phosphate are soft rock phosphate and bone meal for phosphorous.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Micro-Boost

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Fertilizing Tomatoes

Tomatoes are one of the most popular crops grown by the backyard vegetable gardener. Providing the correct amount of nutrients is an important part of solving the tomato-growing puzzle. Having an effective fertilizing schedule or program will greatly improve your success when growing tomatoes in the vegetable garden.

When To Fertilize Your Tomatoes

Here are some things to consider when thinking about fertilizing tomatoes. The optimal soil pH range for tomatoes is 6.2 – 6.8. In order to achieve the proper soil pH, you can apply lime three months ahead of planting to adjust the soil pH and provide some calcium for your tomatoes. A soil test should always be conducted before applying lime. It is very easy to raise the pH using lime, but very difficult to lower the pH if too much lime is added.

Tomatoes will benefit from a balanced fertilizer which includes equal parts of the three big macronutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium. The recommended use of phosphorous is to apply all of it before planting, because it help the plants to establish a solid root system and phosphorous will not leach out of the soil. When applying phosphorous at pre-plant, you should apply 3.5 pounds of phosphorous per thousand square foot.

As opposed to phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium will need to be “spoon-fed” to the tomato plants. The recommended rate is 3.5 pounds of nitrogen and potassium per thousand square foot, but both of these nutrients should be administered differently than phosphorous. Only around 1.5 pounds of nitrogen and potassium per 1,000 sq. ft. needs to be applied at pre-plant. Then 0.3 pounds per thousand square foot will need to be applied on a bi-weekly basis. This is the “spoon-feeding” part. The best way to apply these fertilizers is through an injector that works in conjunction with the drip tape irrigation system.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis brought a bundle of one of the most productive crops in his garden — Lacinato Kale. He also brought some of his Texas Legend onions on which the tops have fallen. Once he harvests all the alliums (onions, leeks, elephant garlic) from this plot, he plans to go ahead and plant his sweet potatoes. Greg is thinking about planting a cover crop like Buckwheat before he plants his potatoes in June. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top with sweet potatoes this year.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about planting rattlesnake pole beans and reusing drip tape. Greg plants his rattlesnake pole beans directly on top of his drip tape. Once they emerge from the soil, he installs the cow panel trellis directly on top of the plants. He places the panel trellis about 3-4″ off the ground so that plants can easily grow on the trellis as they get larger. Travis does not save drip tape from one year to the next. But he does reuse it multiple times in a given year. So it can definitely be used for multiple seasons. He mentions that they have four seasons that they can grow food, so they will reuse the tape four times. You can also reuse the mainline by plugging previous holes goof plugs. There is not really a great way to store and put away drip tape, so it is best if you just use it in the four seasons and replace it.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• 20-20-20 Garden Fertilizer
• Micro-Boost

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Breaking Down the Forbes Article

We all know that everything written on the internet may not be completely true. When reading an article, it is important to understand the intention of the article and the background of the author or writer. You should always give yourself the freedom to make informed decisions. Building your own facts and knowledge on a topic is much better than assuming a person or media source is completely right all the time.

Setting The Facts Straight

In this Forbes Article entitled “Why I Don’t Buy Organic, and Why You Might Not Want to Either,” the writer has the position that there is not much difference between organic and conventionally-grown food. His first point includes the argument that there is no difference between the conventionally grown food vs. organic food. This is probably the biggest myth of the entire article. Commercially-grown food that you buy in the grocery store has often been over-fertilized and injected with pesticides that are completely different than what the organic farmers use on their food.In his second point, he makes the preposterous statement that conventional pesticides are non-toxic to humans. In reality the suffix “cide” in the word pesticide means to kill something. Any kind of pesticide can be harmful whether they are used for conventional or organic, but you have to understand and know the proper ways to use those pesticides.

The third point the author makes is that just because organic food costs more does not mean it is safer. Organic food costs more because it is more costly to produce. Organic farming usually occurs on a smaller scale and can be more labor intensive than commercial farming.The fourth point of the article is that conventional farming requires less land and is more eco-friendly. Organic farming was built on the premise of building the soil. Since then, the government has gotten involved with organic certification and the emphasis on building the soil has not been as strong. Conventional farmers are not interested in building soils, they’re interested in maximizing profits on a given piece of land.

The last point made by the Forbes Article is more truthful than any of the other points made. He states that the marketing of organic products is unethical and fear-based. This is somewhat true because so many companies exploit certain terms to comply with the demand for all-natural or organic products. In summary, it is important to understand how things are produced and know both sides of the conventional and organic farming argument. Then you will be able to make informed decisions based on what you believe, not what others tell you.

2016 Forbes Article: “Why I Don’t Buy Organic, and Why You Might Not Want to Either”

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has some red onions that are coming along pretty good, but are not quite ready to harvest. Travis recently planted two varieties of his winter squash in his new dream garden. He planted half in the Hai Kabocha and the other half in Small Wonder Spaghetti.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about side dressing corn and when to stop hilling potatoes. Greg usually side-dresses corn plants using some Chilean Nitrate and puts it about 3 inches from the plant. Travis says the time to stop hilling potatoes will depend on the variety. For early to mid-season crops such as our Yukon Gold or Red Norland, you would hill them around a 1′ – 1.5′ tall. With a later-maturing variety like the German Butterball, you can continually hill the plants as they grow for more potato production.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• German Butterball Potato

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How Much Water Does Your Garden Need

Knowing how much to water your garden can be rather tricky because there are so many variables at play. In general, vegetable crops in the garden need about 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. If an entire acre was to receive an inch of water, that would equal 27,154 gallons of water. If you convert that to a smaller scale, that would equate to 0.6 gallons per square foot per week. Our 8 mil drip tape has an output rate of 0.4 gallons per minute per 100 feet. In other words, it would take 1,000 minutes or 16 hours for a single emitter to output 4 gallons of water. A common mistake is watering more than the holding capacity of the soil. The more dense the soil, the better the holding capacity and the longer you can water at one time. For sandy soils, the holding capacity will be lower and you should only water a maximum of 1.5 hours at a time. For clay soils, the holding capacity can be double and you could thus run the water for up to 3 hours a time before wasting water.

Factors That Can Affect This

One major factor is whether you are using subsurface or surface drip. Subsurface drip tape is buried below the soil surface and is the most efficient and conservative way of watering the garden. Surface drip sits on the soil surface and will result in loss of water through evaporation. This will require longer watering times because the water is not being delivered directly to the plant roots. Another factor is the placement of your crops. If your plants are directly on top of drip emitters, you will need less water compared to plants that are located between drip tape emitters. Crops like tomatoes and peppers are typically planted directly on top of emitters whereas corn and beans are planted between emitters. Two additional factors, which we cannot control, are wind and temperature. These will also affect how much water is needed.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg brought a kohlrabi bulb and explored some of his diverse language skills. After doing some research, Greg discovered that Kohlrabi in German means “cabbage turnip.” Not only do they eat Kohlrabi in Germany, but they eat them in Vietnam and Bangladesh too. In Vietnam, they call them “su hoa” and in Bangladesh, they’re called “ol kapi.” Kohlrabi has a mild turnip taste and most people prefer to eat them roasted, although they are great raw as well. Some people also like to make coleslaw with kohlrabi. Greg has added that to his to-do list this year. Travis just finished adding some stakes to his determinate tomatoes in the garden. The guys discuss different methods on why and how they like to add their twine around the tomato plants.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about organic pesticides and lettuce germination tips for non-greenhouse owners. Greg explains that any pesticide with the suffix “cide” designates that it was designed to kill something. The safest and best insecticide for preserving beneficial insect populations is Neem Oil. Another great organic pesticide is B.t., which works pretty much only on worms. As always, the best time to apply these pesticides is late in the afternoon in your garden. Travis gives some tips to help with germination for non-greenhouse gardeners. If you have any kind of problems with germination, it is a good idea to use pelleted and primed lettuce seed. Pelleted seeds offer wonderful germination rates, they’re easier to seed in the seed trays and they’re quick to germinate.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Calshot Romaine Lettuce
• Starfighter Lettuce
• 8 Mil Drip Tape Irrigation Kit

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Improving Your Garden with Cut Flowers

Do you want some vibrant, eye-appealing crops in your vegetable garden? Interplanting flowers in your vegetable garden will leave you astonished by how it can attract more pollinators and beneficial insects, which will subsequently improve your garden production. When thinking of planting during the summer months, interplanting cut flowers are a great choice because they can survive the summer heat much better than most vegetable crops.

Cut Flower Varieties

All of the cut flower varieties we carry can be direct-seeded or transplanted. We prefer to grow most of them from transplants because it makes it a little easier and it conserves seed. The great thing about growing cut flowers in the summer season is that they absolutely love the heat and do not have hardly any insect issues. All of our cut flower varieties have really nice long stems which makes them very appealing to the eye. A purple colored flower variety such as Ageratum Blue Horizon is a great pelleted seed that grows in these beautiful purple clusters. A brightly colored Cosmos mix called Versailles is great for attracting pollinators such as butterflies, birds, and bees. An older variety of Celosia, which you may remember as a child, is Chief Mix, also known as Cockscomb. The ProCut line of sunflowers is popular in the garden providing very manageable flower height. Another great thing about the ProCut Sunflowers is that they are pollenless. So when you harvest them and place them in a vase, they will not drip pollen and leave a mess. Our ProCut Sunflower selection includes colors like red, lemon, orange, plum, and white nite.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis brought a head of Skyphos Lettuce and shows how to make a healthy little snack using his lettuce and chicken salad. Greg calls it the Chicken Salad Lettuce Taco. The guys talk about a new variety of lettuce called Starfighter Lettuce, which is a pelleted seed that they have transplanted in a 162 cell seed starting tray. This Starfighter lettuce is ready to go in the ground and will get planted later in the week. Greg shows some of his Banana Shallots and was a little concerned on how well they were doing because he was late planting them. The ones he has pulled thus far were a little bit on the spicy side, but he thinks the taste is subject to change if he waits longer to harvest them.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about side dressing potatoes and they discuss whitefly problems. Travis explains that his preferred way of side dressing is using chicken manure compost. If you do not have access to quality manure compost, you can use some granular fertilizer such as 10-10-10. According to Greg, whiteflies can be tough to manage in some years. If it is a wet year and we receive plenty of rain, the whiteflies are really no issue at all. If it is drier year, the whiteflies are much more of a problem. Whiteflies can be tough because they are nearly impossible to control when they come into your garden. Greg does note that he’s had success using an insect growth-regulator called Knack, but that it can be hard to find.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Cut Flower Seeds

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Growing Winter Squash and Pumpkins

Winter squash are not planted in the winter months. They are planted in the spring, much like summer squash, but they will store well into the winter. That is why they are called “winter squash”. Winter squash should be planted in the spring after the chance of frost has passed. They are typically planted a few weeks after one would traditionally plant summer squash or zucchini varieties. One of the most under-recognized food sources for the home gardener, winter squash is a valuable crop that should be grown by more people because of the long-lasting shelf life without refrigeration.

Winter Squash Varieties

There are three primary species of winter squash, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita pepo, and Cucurbita moschata. Cucurbita maxima include species like kabocha squash that are very sweet and widely considered one of the best-tasting squash types. Cucurbita pepo includes varieties like Delicata and Spaghetti Squash. Cucurbita moschata includes varieties like Butternut, Seminole Pumpkin, Fairytale Pumpkin, and our Blue Bayou Pumpkin. The moschata tends to include more heat tolerant varieties and are a little more resistant to insect pressure. The recommended area of spacing to grow winter squash is at least a 20′ x 20′ or 30′ x 30′ area due to their extensive ground cover, much like watermelons. Most of these squash have 90 days to maturity which is about 40 days longer than summer squash. That being said, it is important to keep this winter squash on drip irrigation to reduce your chances of having issues with downy and powdery mildew.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some okra transplants that are ready to be planted. Growing okra from transplants has always been successful for the guys. Greg talks about how excited he is about his shallots that are looking healthy and growing well. Travis mentions that he may have to do a little research on when exactly he should harvest his leeks. However, they seem to be growing and doing just fine. So he will wait to harvest his leeks at a later time. The peppers are ready to “step up” into a 4″ pot once they start getting the second set of true leaves. So the guys are busy stepping up the peppers and getting those acclimated to the bigger seed trays in the greenhouse. The guys also share a new tool called the Hoss Stirrup Hoe which is a long-handled version of their Oscillating Hoe attachment for the Wheel Hoe.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about planting green beans and using fruit trees to attract pollinators. Travis says that pole beans need a panel or some type of trellis because they are climbing beans. Greg says it takes 50 days to maturity on pole beans and to definitely plant before the end of May. Greg states that trees are great for pollinators, but you should think several years ahead of time because they take longer to grow than flowers. With flowers, they are quicker and easier to get them in the ground and blooming if you need something quick. Some tree varieties that are wonderful for pollinators include native oaks or any trees that bloom in the springtime. Greg suggests that you should stay away from trees that are not native to your area because you will have difficulty growing those types.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Rattlesnake Pole Bean
• Kentucky Wonder Pole Bean

 

 

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Improving Your Garden Harvest with Pollinators

Pollinators are essential for producing fruits in the vegetable garden. Crops like squash, cucumbers and watermelon will require pollination in order to make fruits. The more pollinators present, the more fruits you will have to harvest. In order to improve your garden harvest, you must understand the importance of providing a healthy and safe environment for pollinators. You should always be cautious when spraying insecticides so that you do not harm the pollinator populations. Even some organic insecticides like pyrethrin and spinosad can be detrimental to pollinators if sprayed during pollination hours. So it’s always a good idea to spray insecticides late in the evenings, when the pollinators are no longer pollinating. You certainly want to avoid harsh chemicals like neonicotinoids. These are systemic insecticides that are inside the plant and will kill whatever eats or pollinates the plant. Neonicotinoids have been known to cause complete colony collapses in bees.

Special Guest: Gary from BEE-LIEVE

Today we had a special guest — Gary from BEE-LIEVE Farms. Gary spends the majority of his day working with bees. Greg and Gary discuss how poor pollination can cause fruits to be distorted or rotten on the ends. They also provide helpful tips to start and maintain a beehive in your garden. According to Gary, the best pollinating insect for a vegetable garden is the European Honeybee. He calls these the “true working bee.” If you do not have access to a beehive, you can increase pollinator presence by planting flowers and other plants that will attract native bees. Planting flowers such as zinnias, sunflowers and cosmos will help because those flowers have easily accessible nectar for the bees to feed. If you do decide to purchase a beehive for your homestead or garden, Gary suggests doing adequate research to educate yourself on how to maintain and care for the bees.

Check out BEE-LIEVE Apiaries & Farm: https://bee-lieveapiaries.com/

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis shows some of his Purple Haze carrots that he recently harvested. Greg tries dipping carrots in honey which he appropriately names “honey carrots.” Greg has rattlesnake pole beans, squash, cucumbers, and potatoes growing well in his garden. Travis explains that his potatoes are growing extremely slow this season. Also, he made a little mistake in his new dream garden. He thought it would be easier to plant his taters at one end of his subplot, but it ended up being the hardest dirt that he has in the new garden. This might cause a small issue because potatoes like soft, well-drained, sandy soil. And this dirt is the complete opposite.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about growing tomatoes in the fall and using drip tape for multiple seasons. Greg explains that growing tomatoes in the fall can be more difficult than growing them in the springtime. However, you can be successful if you plant your tomatoes early and use a disease-resistant variety such as Brickyard or Mountain Glory Also, have a consistent pest control spray program using Neem Oil or B.t. Travis talks about the best drip tape thickness if you intend to use it for multiple seasons. Travis always uses the 8 mil tape over the 15 mil tape because it is just much more flexible and easier to use, especially if you are reusing it for multiple harvesting seasons.

Products Mentioned in the Show

• Yellowstone Carrot
• 8 Mil Drip Irrigation Tape

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Summer Squash and Cucumbers

On this week’s episode, we discuss growing summer squash and cucumbers. Summer squash and cucumbers are in the cucurbit family. These plants have a relatively fast maturity date, but can be susceptible to fungal diseases as temperatures increase. Diseases like powdery mildew and downy mildew can cause problems on squash plants once humidity levels increase in early summer. Drip irrigation drastically helps to alleviate those pressures by reducing leaf moisture. Summer squash and cucumbers are also susceptible to insect pressure from cucumber beetles, squash bugs and more. These insects are easily controlled in the larval stage, but can be difficult to manage once adult populations bloom. Using B.t. early can help to prevent large adult populations. Crop rotation and proper removal of crop debris are also extremely important when growing cucurbits. Fungal spores and insect eggs can overwinter in the garden soil and cause problems in future years. Therefore, it’s important to move these plants from year to year to prevent recurring issues. Some of our favorite varieties of summer squash include Sunburst, Golden Delight and Goldprize. Some of our favorite cucumber varieties include Calypso and Stonewall. Both of these varieties are gynoecious, which means they only produce female flowers and are extremely productive.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys taste a sample of yellow carrots that have recently been harvested from Travis’ garden. This variety is called Yellowstone and has always performed well in fall and spring. It produces very large, bright yellow carrots that are sweet and delicious. Greg also has some asparagus that he enjoys raw or cooked on the grill.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about tomato cross-pollination and “topping” peppers. Tomatoes are self-pollinating, but natural cross-pollination can occur, although rare. Most people, including us, have had no problems with planting multiple varieties of tomatoes in the same row. Greg mentions that he’s never heard of “topping”, or removing the apical meristem, on peppers. He says that he doesn’t see any benefit to doing that.

Tool of the Week

Yellowstone Carrot

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Pepper Varieties You Should Be Growing

On this week’s episode, Greg and Travis discuss techniques for growing peppers and pepper varieties to plant in the vegetable garden. Pepper seed germination can take a while and will require some patience. Some varieties will take up to 2 weeks for germination. Hot pepper varieties usually take longer to germinate than sweet pepper varieties. Pepper transplants grow well in our heavy-duty seed starting trays when placed on a heated germination mat. Because pepper seedlings can be quite fragile, we recommend replanting them in 4″ pots before transplanting into the ground. This will allow the stem to become stronger and more durable. Large pepper plants will need some form of support to keep them upright and keep fruits off the ground. For just a few plants, we recommend using our smaller Tomato Cages. For many plants or an entire row of peppers, the Florida Weave trellising technique works great. You can use cotton twine or commercial-grade, poly twine for this technique. Our current pepper varieties include Bayonet Bell Pepper, Gold Rush Banana Pepper, Tiburon Poblano Pepper, Beaver Dam Hot Pepper, and many others. Bayonet Bell Pepper is a hybrid variety that produces blocky, consistently-sized fruits. The Tiburon Poblano Pepper and Beaver Dam Hot Pepper, although not very hot at all, are some of our favorites for grilling and stuffing.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys talk about green onions or spring onions. Greg has some green onions from his garden that are just starting the bulbing process. At this stage, it is important to provide the onion plants with plenty of water, but not to fertilize them anymore. Once the vegetative stage has ended, the plants will require no more fertilizer and just need ample amounts of water to produce large, sweet onions. Travis shows some of the hybrid varieties that he transplanted such as the Bella Rosa, Mountain Glory, Brickyard, and Sun Gold tomatoes. The guys had pretty good germination on the Bella Rosas and Sun Gold varieties. However, the rats got into the Mountain Glory and Brickyard this year and did not have great success with the germination on those varieties.  They guys show the difference between transplanting tomatoes versus peppers. They transplanted both the tomatoes and peppers at the same time, but the tomatoes are ready to go in the ground and the peppers are not. The peppers are just now popping up in the seed trays because they take longer to germinate than the tomatoes.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about heat-tolerant lettuce varieties and storing seed potatoes that have been cut. Cherokee and Muir lettuce are varieties that have been highly acclaimed by many market farmers and are known to be very heat-resistant. We hope to carry both of these varieties in the near future in pelleted form. Travis says that he does not put lettuce on a seed mat because it germinates fine in the greenhouse during the winter without a seed mat. Greg says when cutting seed potatoes up, he simply puts them in a bucket and leaves them in a dry, cool place. They could be spread on a table or other surface, but we haven’t found that to be necessary. Sometimes Travis will dump his into another bucket every other day so they don’t get too much moisture at the bottom of the bucket and that will allow them to be equally distributed. Although, not really sure if it truly works it may just be all in Travis’s head.

Tool of the Week

• Bayonet Bell Pepper

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Vegetable Seedlings in the Garden

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about growing vegetable seedlings in a greenhouse. Greg explains how this can be tough for someone who is at work all day because the greenhouse and the plants inside it will need repeated supervision. Unless some automated systems are used, it’s not very realistic for those who are away from home during the day. They discuss how vegetable seedlings need a constant environment and to avoid sudden changes in temperatures. In their greenhouse, this is done by opening the windows based on the outside temperature. They talk about grow lights and how they should be put directly on top of the seed tray initially and slowly elevated as the plants grow. This will prevent plants from becoming leggy as they attempt to climb to the lights. Travis explains that they don’t use an automatic watering system, but that those are extremely handy if you’re going to be away for a prolonged period of time. He also suggests having a spigot at the greenhouse to better utilize a fertilizer injection tool like their Brass Siphon Mixer. This tool allows you to easily water and fertilize vegetable seedlings simultaneously.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has some English peas that are maturing in his garden. He mentions that the plants are loaded with blooms and he’s been harvesting the pods as they are ready. They explain that English peas from the home garden taste so much better than those bought at the store and that they are also great to eat raw. Travis brought a few Bolero carrots from his garden. They are not as large as he would like yet, but they are slowly getting there. They also discuss the taste difference between homegrown carrots and those purchased at the grocery store. Greg has had a little bit of a worm problem on his collards so he sprayed them with some B.t. fertilizer.  The guys are about to start pulling onions in the vegetable garden. When the onions get big enough it can sometimes be hard to get in the garden to clean the area up. However, the guys like to use the Short Single Tine Cultivator which allows you to weed and cultivate in between the onions easily. The guys also look forward to carrying a good supply of elephant garlic and shallots coming this Fall.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, they answer questions about corn earworms and suggested crops for a first-year vegetable garden. Greg explains that planting early is one of the first keys to success against corn earworms. Travis also mentions that applying Spinosad Garden Insect Spray to the silks and tassels a couple of times a week will also take care of the earworm problem. For a first-year vegetable garden, Travis recommends using the KISS principle — Keep It Simple Stupid. He explains that one should strive to do 3-5 crops really well versus doing 10 crops unsuccessfully. Once you perfect those crops then you can move on to other crops. He suggests growing potatoes, okra, beans, cucumbers, or squash that are relatively easy to grow to start for your first-time growing in the garden.

Tool of the Week

• Short Single Tine Cultivator

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Corn in the Vegetable Garden

As part of the Poaceae family, Corn has been a staple crop from generation to generation. Pollinated by wind, corn is a heavy feeder and needs lots of space, water, and fertilizer to grow good during the warm season. When growing corn it prefers to grow in well-drained soil that has a pH of 6.0 to 6.8. Depending on the heat temperature and varieties of corn it can take anywhere from 60 to 100 days to harvest in the garden.

Sweet Corn Categories and Varieties

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about different corn varieties for sweet and field corn. They begin by discussing the different types of sweet corn which are indicated by the genes present. There are three main sweet corn categories based on the genes they have which are su (standard), se (sugary extender) and sh2 (supersweet). There are also varieties with combinations of these genes, which is the case with the Honey Select variety. The su, or standard, varieties include those older cultivars such as Silver Queen, Silver King and Stowell’s Evergreen. These varieties have more starch and less sugar as compared to the se and sh2 varieties. The se, or sugary extender, varieties include cultivars such as Ambrosia, Peaches and Cream and Incredible. The sh2, or supersweet, varieties have the highest sugar content and store the longest, but are the most finicky when it comes to germination and planting depth. Greg recommends that beginner gardeners go with one of the su varieties, but that he has grown many of the se varieties in the last few years with great success. They also talk about their field corn varieties which include Jimmy Red, Blue Hopi, Truckers Favorite and Hickory King — all of which are great for grinding into corn meal and grits. Greg is feeling generous today and gives away some South American Popcorn seed to the first 10 viewers that send us an email.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment this week, the guys sample a couple of beets from Travis’ garden. Travis mentions that a customer recently asked him about the taste difference between red and golden beets. To help answer the question, he brought a Merlin beet and a Touchstone Gold beet from his vegetable garden. After sampling, the guys both agreed that the Merlin beet has a sweeter flavor and higher sugar content, but that they are both delicious and fun to grow. Greg has lots growing in the garden right now. He has kohlrabi, tiger collards, English peas, onions, and shallots all growing really good in the vegetable garden this season. Greg and Travis also hope to get some of there potatoes in the garden this weekend since potato planting season is right around the corner.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about pickling okra and planting asparagus or strawberries in their garden. Greg brought a book called “The Pickled Pantry” and agrees to send it to the viewer who asked the question. He mentions that the book contains several great pickled okra recipes that he’s tried that have had great success. He has liked one of the sweet and one of the spicy recipes in the book. Travis explains that they have several beds of asparagus growing behind the warehouse for a long time. They guys also have a couple of asparagus growing videos on their YouTube Channel. Greg has been doing some research on strawberries so maybe we will add those to our seed lineup in the near future.

Tool of the Week

• Premium Corn Seed
• Mockmill Stone Grain Mill

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:14 — 55.8MB) | Embed

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Vegetable Garden Designing

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about their vegetable garden designs and what they plan to plant, how much, and where they plan to plant crops for their spring gardens this year. Travis has a sketch of his new 1/4 acre garden plot that they prepared using a tractor harrow and chisel plow last weekend. He mentioned that he will still need to till the area once and get the soil pH tested, but once he does that it should be ready to plant for the spring. Greg and Travis discuss the importance of having a garden design that is broken up into subplots, as opposed to having one large continuous garden. The subplot design makes it easier to compartmentalize certain crops and makes it easier to practice proper crop rotation. Travis mentions that his new garden area consists of six subplots that are each 30′ x 35′ and his pathways are 10-foot wide. He prefers square plots because it is easier for crop rotation and to attract pollinators. Greg shows a sketch of his garden area where there are 7 subplots that vary in size slightly. He has a slight problem with the walkways being 6-foot which in hindsight could have been a little bit longer. As of right now, he has cover crops in this garden plot that he will soon be incorporating into the soil to help build soil nutrients and prepare the plot for the spring crops. They both talk about the importance of having walkways between the plots, and they prefer grass walkways over wood chips. Overall, the subplots make for a more manageable garden which allows you to have proper crop rotation and breaks up your fertilizing and watering to different sections in the garden.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, the guys share a bulb of raw kohlrabi from Travis’ garden. Travis mentions how he prefers to eat the kohlrabi raw, but that it also tastes great when cooked. You can eat the leaves on Kohlrabi, but the guys have not tried that out yet. Greg is having a little problem in the greenhouse with mice eating on his pepper seeds, but he plans to take care of those this afternoon. They discuss how they’ve recently started pepper, tomato and eggplant seedlings for spring. Travis talks about some of our Gardening Gloves that are extremely comfortable and will fit your hands nicely unlike any others you can find at the store. Greg also talks about a new product in their seed line, Wynne Peanut. He explains that this is an improved variety with excellent disease resistance, high oleic acid content, and great storage potential.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about tomatoes splitting and tomato trellising stakes. Greg mentions that tomatoes will split as a result of excess moisture or irregular watering. Also, some newer varieties are not prone to split as bad as the old heirloom varieties. He suggests picking a newer variety that is not prone to splitting. Also, apply a drip irrigation system that allows for more consistent watering, but if the excess water is a result of rainfall, there’s not much you can do. He does explain that the hybrid, round varieties are less susceptible to splitting as compared to the heirloom varieties. Travis states that he prefers t-posts and wooden stakes for his Florida Weave tomato trellising. While the t-posts are a bit of an upfront investment, the wooden stakes can be easily found and will last for several years before needing replacement.

Tool of the Week

• Hoss Gardening Gloves
• Hoss Garden Seeder

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Tips and Tricks for Tomato Growing

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about growing tomatoes in the vegetable garden. They mention that tomatoes are one of the most popular crops in vegetable gardens across the world, but that they can also be one of the most challenging to grow. They like to plan they’re planting just right so the tomatoes start in the seed starting trays and then go directly into the garden. They first discuss the different varieties that are available, including heirloom and hybrid variations. Heirlooms, while beautiful and delicious, can be highly susceptible to diseases. Meanwhile, the hybrids provide a more consistent appearance and are resistant to troublesome diseases like tomato spotted wilt virus. They suggest growing tomatoes like Bella Rosa, Mountain Glory and Brickyard for disease-resistance and improved yields. They explain why growing your own plants is a much better option than purchasing them at a store. They also explain that the size of the transplant has nothing to do with how well the plant will do once planted in the ground. They discuss trellising techniques including cages and using twine to do the Florida Weave. Some of the tomato varieties can get huge so having a trellis technique will help the crops stay off the ground. Travis suggests using cages for indeterminate varieties and the Florida Weave for determinate varieties. We have several videos on the Florida Weave Trellis on our YouTube channel. Finally, they explain the importance of adequate calcium when growing tomatoes. Supplementing calcium by adding Pelletized Gypsum will help to prevent blossom end rot, which is caused by a calcium deficiency. Travis likes to add the gypsum when he plants them in the ground, but Greg likes to do it a week or two before the first bloom set.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has some Butter Crunch Lettuce that has a nice large head on them and says that they have great field holding ability in the cooler months. He also talks a little bit about the new hybrid variety, Harmony Butterhead Lettuce which has excellent production and is a pelleted seed. Greg has a Watermelon Radish that he grew in the vegetable garden. The guys cut into the radish to taste test and observe the bright pink to purple coloration on the inside of the radish root. Travis mentions that watermelon radish, also called red meat radish, tends to be less spicy than traditional radishes. They also take longer to grow but are less susceptible to splitting as they get larger. The weather is starting to warm up a little bit and the cover crops are paying off. Travis also shows a sneak peek of the final prototype of our new Hoss Stirrup Hoe.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about lunar planting and the difference between ammonium nitrate and Chilean Nitrate. Travis explains that the concept of lunar planting is a myth or “old wives’ tale,” and that potatoes will grow regardless of the moon phase. He suggests planting potatoes as soon as your climate or soil conditions will allow, and not wait on the moon for planting. Greg explains that Chilean Nitrate is an organic product that is naturally mined in Chile, while ammonium nitrate is a chemically produced fertilizer. While they have a very similar action in the soil, one is naturally-derived and the other isn’t. Ammonium nitrate is a lot more powerful so they are apt to burn more than the Chilean nitrate in the garden.

Tool of the Week

• Watermelon Radish
• Skyphos Butterhead Lettuce

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:22 — 63.3MB) | Embed

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Increasing Your Potato Harvest

On this week’s episode, the guys discuss their favorite tips and practices for growing a huge potato harvest. They walk through the four varieties of seed potatoes that they now carry, which include Yukon Gold, Red Norland, Adirondack Blue, and German Butterball. They mention how some varieties are early-maturing and others are late-maturing, and that this should be taken into consideration when planting. They suggest planting potatoes 3-4 weeks before the last frost date in spring. For their planting zone, which is zone 8, the ideal planting time is Valentines Day throughout the end of February. They talk about cutting potatoes to get more from the seed potatoes purchased. They suggest cutting the seed potatoes so that there are 2-3 eyes on each piece. Seed potatoes should be cut several days before the intended planting date, because they need time to suberize or heal. This will prevent the potatoes from rotting in the ground, making them less susceptible to fungal disease in the soil, and provide a better potato harvest in the end. They mention that the Hoss Double or High Arch Wheel Hoe with the Plow Set attachment is the perfect tool for planting potatoes. The Plow Set allows you to make a planting furrow and cover the potatoes easily, just by pushing the wheel hoe along the row. Hilling, or covering the plants with soil, will also ensure a large potato harvest. This should be done every 2-3 weeks as the plants grow, leaving just a few leaves uncovered. To decrease issues with blight causing problems with foliage on your potato plants you should apply a fungicide. Greg recommends using Liquid Copper Fungicide to help with your blight problems. It is very weather resistant and sticks to the plant once it dries out leaving lasting control.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg shows the preferred size that he likes when harvesting his Skyphos Butterhead Lettuce, which is an open-pollinated variety. He also brought some Daikon radishes that he grew as a cover crop in his vegetable garden. Although these were grown as a cover crop, they are also great to eat and are considered a high-demand crop in some markets. Travis explains why Tillage Radish works so well as a cover crop. The long roots penetrate deeply into the soil, providing aeration and reducing soil compaction. The roots also sequester nutrients from deep and store them so that they are available to the upper soil layer when they are incorporated or tilled into the soil.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about harvesting peppers and growing onions from seed. Travis suggests two techniques to help when you are adding trellis to the plants get the string on the main stem of the plant so it won’t smush all the leaves together. The other suggestion is growing peppers in cages to provide more airflow, allow leaves to spread, and decreases disease problems in the garden. This will also help to prevent fruit from being stuck in the middle of the plant and being inaccessible for harvest. Greg explains that onion plants can be grown from seed in the greenhouse, but that it is much easier to just purchase plants from companies like Dixondale.

Tool of the Week

• Tillage Radish

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Tips for Succession Planting Year Round

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about succession planting crops in the vegetable garden for continual harvests throughout the respective growing season for a particular crop. Succession planting is an effective strategy for one-time harvest crops or crops that are continually harvested throughout the growing season. They first discuss succession planting with cool-season crops like lettuce, kohlrabi, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. All crops that mature fast so around 50 days or less. Travis mentions that he likes to succession plant these on 1-month intervals. This means that he will start seeds for these crops every 4 weeks and always have them in the garden throughout the fall and winter growing seasons. In the cooler seasons, crops are less likely to bolt and will hold better in the field. This allows one to harvest vegetables as they need them, instead of having to harvest the entire crop at one time. They also talk about succession planting warm-season crops that decline in production as the plant’s age. They specifically mention okra and squash, which tend to be less productive once the plants reach a certain age. To keep that continual high-productivity in their gardens, they will succession plant okra and squash every couple of months to ensure that they have those crops producing throughout the warm growing season.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Greg has a head of Skyphos lettuce from his garden. Skyphos is a variety of red butterhead lettuce that does really well for them. They have it available in a pelleted seed form which makes it easy to singulate when planting in seed trays. They also show some seed potatoes that they are now carrying on their website. They have four different varieties which include Yukon Gold, Red Norland, Adirondack Blue, and German Butterball. Greg shows several different varieties of shallots. Shallots are a part of the Onion family but have a different species which is allium. They show off a Banana variety that is long and slender. Most people cook this variety by roasting them. Greg is going to plant a few different varieties and test which ones he likes best. When growing shallots they are believed to be less dependent on daylength, unlike onions. However, when storing shallots they store away just like onions do. After testing these shallots out this year, we hope to carry them along with some more seeds in the near future on the website. The guys also show off their new favorite Hoss Gardening gloves which offer comfort, durability, and flexibility. They come in two different colors: Hoss red and kind of pastel green color. We also have different sizes of these gloves for everyone to use in the garden.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys talk about some upcoming seed varieties that will be posted on the website soon. These include a couple of new varieties of beets. One of the beet varieties called Solo and it is a monogerm variety, which means it does not require thinning like the multigerm varieties. They also have a new beet variety named Kestrel which offers superior disease-resistance and uniformity. Also, some more cucumber and lettuce varieties like the Stonewall and the Calypso and pelleted lettuce seed like Harmony and Calshot. Travis talks about a new variety of sweet corn called Temptress which is what they call a “quad sweet”. The “quad sweet” means that it has the heirloom flavor with the modern corn sweetness. Overall, lots of great productive varieties coming to the Hoss Tools website soon.

Tool of the Week

• Skyphos Butterhead Lettuce

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Hybrid vs. Heirloom Seeds

On this week’s episode, the guys talk about vegetable seed and the differences between hybrid, heirloom and GMO seed. They first define heirloom seed as those that have been passed from generation to generation back in the early 1900s. Heirloom plants are open-pollinated, which means that seed can be saved and used for the next year’s crop. Some heirlooms are locally adapted to handle certain disease or pest pressures, which is certainly an advantage. Greg is a big believer in that heirloom corn has more disease, insect, and drought resistance than the hybrid varieties. One misconception about heirloom seed is that they have better taste or flavor than hybrid varieties. They say that the hybrid varieties were made for more production than taste, unlike the heirlooms. Greg and Travis believe that this is not 100% true. While the heirlooms may have a more unique shape, many of the modern-day hybrid seeds offer superb flavor comparable to that of heirlooms. Artificial and natural selection has two different meanings. Artificial selection or hybridizing means that humans have been involved and they had control in selecting things to happen. Natural selection has to do with nature taking its own course of action without any human interaction with it. They talk about hybrid seeds being the result of a cross-breeding between two related varieties. With hybrids, all of the first generation (F1) plants are the same. However, hybrid seeds cannot be reliably saved because the F2 individuals will not be true to variety. Hybrid seeds are great because they usually offer increased disease or pest-resistance and increased productivity. Hybrids allow you to get a certain selection done that have a particular outcome of the varieties. Finally, they discuss how GMO seeds are manufactured and address the ecological ramifications of seeds that allow the widespread use of non-selective herbicides. Genetically modified organism (GMO) is when you take a gene from an unrelated species or nonplant organism and isolate that gene based on the trait you are looking for. Then, you take that gene and insert it into the plant so that plant carries the same trait.

Show and Tell Segment

On the show and tell segment, Travis has a head of Butter Crunch Lettuce that he harvested earlier that day. He mentions the butterhead lettuce is his favorite because it has such a smooth texture and rich flavor. Butterhead lettuce is great for making wraps with shrimp, chicken or pork. Greg has been harvesting some radishes out of his vegetable garden. If you do not like the radishes spiciness a lot of people like to saute them instead of eating them raw. He has a watermelon radish that has a little split which can be caused by too much water or they have grown too large. A tip when storing away radishes you can snap the leaves off of them and place them in a little bag and they will store in the refrigerator nicely. Travis has some Joi Choi Chinese Cabbage that grows nice little heads and has great taste.

Viewer Questions Segment

On the question and answer segment, the guys answer questions about knife sharpening and the cost of hybrid seeds. Greg mentions that a leather strop is his favorite device for sharpening a knife. As long as the blade is not extremely dull, it can work to shape fairly easily with a leather strop and sharpening compound. Travis mentions that hybrids seeds are usually more expensive because they are more costly to produce. They are also usually better quality seed because they have been bred for disease-resistance or high productivity.

Tool of the Week

• Butter Crunch Lettuce