Wheel Hoe Blog

Best Potato Varieties

The most popular variety of potatoes is the Yukon Gold which is a versatile potato variety that produces heavy yields, has an excellent flavor profile, and makes consistent medium to large-sized potatoes. Similar to the Yukon Gold the German Butterball produces medium to large-sized potatoes. This variety contains a buttery-yellow flesh with an excellent flavor profile and longer storage life. While the Adirondack Blue is a purple-fleshed potato that is rich in antioxidants and provides maximum yields. It has a unique color that remains the same when cooked and has great flavoring profiles too. Finally, the Red Norland is known for having exceptional storage and is great for boiling or roasting. It also has better disease resistance to scab, potato virus, and Rhizoctonia, unlike other potato varieties.

Harvesting Potatoes

On this week’s episode, Greg is explaining the best ways to harvest and store potatoes from the vegetable garden. Recently, here in the South, we have received rain just about every day or at least two to three times a day. Due to all the rain, Greg can’t spray anything and the weeds have pretty much taken over the garden which has caused a major issue. He has even experienced the best crop of potatoes that he has ever grown, but hasn’t been able to harvest them. So for the first time ever, he is going to dig wet potatoes from the garden. Since he is digging up the potatoes while it is still rather wet it is important that he lets the potatoes air-dry underneath the barn before storing them. Our favorite tools to use when it comes to harvesting potatoes is the Garden Fork and TubTrug containers. A garden fork is a handy tool that is great for digging potatoes or cultivating the soil. We recommend using the Tubtrugs because they are great for harvesting multiple vegetables and for a variety of uses on the homestead as well.

Storing Potatoes

When storing potatoes the best way is to place them on a storage rank underneath a barn that is dry and has plenty of aeration. While placing them on the storage rack, Greg suggests inspecting all the potatoes for soft spots, mold, and pest damage. Similar to several other crops that are harvested from the garden, we do not wash the potatoes until we are ready to use them which allows for longer storage life. The storage life of potatoes is typically around 2 to 3 months with proper storage conditions.

Why Plant Sweet Onions?

According to Travis, planting onions are one of the most valuable crops in the vegetable garden. They generally don’t take up a lot of room and the storage life is great for multiple months. Another benefit of growing sweet onions is they provide plenty of beneficial vitamins and minerals. When using sweet onions in the kitchen there are a variety of ways that it can be cooked and used in recipes on the homestead.

Harvesting Sweet Onions

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing ways to harvest and store sweet onions from the vegetable garden. When growing sweet onions the best time to plant is November through December in warmer climates. You will know when to harvest sweet onions because the necks will get soft and start to fall over in the garden. Travis recently harvested his Texas Legend and Red Creole onions from Dixondale Farms that he planted in November. Since onions are heavy feeders which means they need plenty of water or fertilizer we like to plant our onions on double rows with drip tape running through the middle. When planting double rows, Travis will plant on either side of the tape which allows for saving space in the garden and maximizing yield. When growing onions, Travis mentions that depending on the amount of water added to them throughout the growing season the sweeter they will become. Once Travis has pulled all of the sweet onions, he likes to lay them on the ground beside the garden to ensure they get plenty of sun for curing or drying out for a few days before storing them underneath the barn. However, during the onion curing process, it is important to keep an eye on the weather because rain can be an issue.

Storing Sweet Onions

In the South, most people don’t have storage cellars or basements to store vegetables. However, most people with homesteads do have old open-air barns with a dirt floor that is used when storing sweet onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squash. Travis recently built a storage rack for keeping vegetables up off the ground and to keep them drier underneath the barn. The storage rack was made with 4×4’s on the end while in the middle it’s about 6 inches tall and 10 inches long. He also has 4 different racks that are all 1.5 inches apart which allows him room to stick his head in the comfortably while sorting through the vegetables. For the shelves, Travis used 1/2 inch squared hardware cloth and simply stapled that to each of the shelves. When Travis goes to store his sweet onions, he prefers to lay them out instead of stacking them on top of one another and leaves the tops on them because it keeps the onions from rolling around on the hardware cloth. Typically underneath the barn on this storage rack, the sweet onions can store for up to 6 six months or even longer.

What is a Weed Seed Bank?

The weed seed bank is the amount of weed seeds you have stored in your garden soils. However, we want to eliminate the weed seeds in the soil because they can cause some serious issues in the garden. The contributions that we can’t control when it comes to weed seeds are wind, water, and animals such as birds. In other words, we can’t control the wind blowing around seeds from outside the garden into the garden, weed seeds getting added to the garden by water runoff caused by rainfall, and birds that eat plants then come into our garden adding the weed seeds to the area. However, the one thing we can control is maintaining the weeds that are growing in the garden to eliminate them from developing more seeds.

4 Simple Solutions

On this week’s episode, Travis talks about reducing your weed seed bank in the vegetable garden soils. Once you start seeing weeds pop up in your garden that is the best time to start removing them so they do not overpopulate your garden. If you have a new garden area the weed seed bank will be much higher than a garden that has been growing vegetables for a couple of years. Over the years of growing vegetables in a garden and removing weeds properly from the area, your weed seed bank will lower the amount of pressure every year. The first solution to keeping the weed seeds eliminated is through frequent shallow cultivation. In order to do this, we suggest using the Single Wheel Hoe which allows you to cultivate the top layer of the soil enough to disturb the small weeds from continuing to grow and keep the new weeds from germinating. We also recommend using the wheel hoe at least once a week or every time it rains so your garden does not crust over and it is easier to cultivate in the following weeks. Travis also alternates between two different wheel hoe attachments such as the cultivator teeth and winged sweeps to ensure he gets the best cultivation in the garden. The cultivator teeth will help lift the small weeds to the top of the soil so ultimately the sun will be able to bake them and kill them. The winged sweeps will do a good job of cutting through any of the weed roots underneath the soil layer. However, if you harder clay-like soils instead of using the sweeps the oscillating hoe will be a better attachment to use in those soil types. The second solution is to reduce the amount of overhead watering going on in the vegetable garden. If you use drip tape you are able to provide an accurate amount of irrigation directly to the plants and avoid watering unnecessary spots that can cause weed germination. Another solution is to keep the grass cut around the garden. Keeping the grass cut eliminates a weed seed reservoir on the outside of the garden where wind, birds, and water can move weed seeds into the garden. The last simple solution that Travis mentions is to avoid letting your garden get away from you when you aren’t using it. There are a few ways to avoid letting this happen such as grow plants year-around, grow cover crops, or use a silage tarp to prevent weed germination. By establishing these practices in the garden you should be able to remove the weed seed bank and overall have a better vegetable garden throughout every growing season.

Importance of Trellising Tomatoes

When it comes to trellising tomato plants there are many advantages that improve the overall health of these plants. The easiest Florida weave trellis technique is used for determinate tomatoes, while tomato cages are typically used for indeterminate tomatoes in the vegetable garden. We use the tomato cages for indeterminate tomatoes because they have continuous growth and will grow a lot taller than determinate tomatoes. We use the Flordia weave technique for determinate tomatoes because they tend to grow smaller and have earlier harvesting times in the vegetable garden. The advantages of trellising tomato plants include more exposure to sunlight, improve the quality of foliage, and reduce disease pressures. With better exposure to sunlight, the tomato plants will continue to grow and increase productivity. Another benefit of adding the trellis technique is it makes pruning, fertilizing, and harvesting easier when it comes time. Also, the plants are growing vertically so there is a decrease in soil-borne disease pressures due to the plants not growing on the ground in the vegetable garden.

Florida Weave Technique

On this week’s episode, Travis is going over the easiest way to trellis tomatoes using the Florida weave technique. He currently has both indeterminate and determinate tomatoes growing in the garden. For his indeterminate tomatoes like the Brandywine variety, Travis is using his tomato cages to help support the growing plants. Now it is time to run the Flordia weave technique on the determinate tomatoes like the Bella Rosa and Brickyard varieties. To begin setting up the Florida weave, you will need t-posts, wooden stakes, and Gro-Tie Garden Twine. Travis prefers to use T-posts and squared wooden stakes because they tend to work better than the stakes that are round because do allow for enough friction like the wooden stakes. So by placing the T-posts on each end of the row and one in the middle, this ensures plenty of stability for the tomato plants as they continue to grow. Then, in between each plant, he will add a wooden stake to provide additional support. Before, Travis runs his twine along the rows he likes to prune the bottom lateral stems of the plant to ensure the first line of twine is clearly at the base of the tomato plant. With the Gro-Tie twine, you are able to put the box on your belt loop and then with a piece of pipe, he is going to guide the string throughout the garden row. By weaving the string through one plant and around the stake a couple of times then weaving through the next plant along the entire row. Then once you reach the end of the row you should go back through to the opposite side of each plant to provide support on both sides of the plant. As the plants continue to grow and get a little taller you should add more twine to ensure the tomato plants get plenty of support in the vegetable garden.

Importance of Hilling Corn

Some of the important reasons we like to hill corn is for weed control, to prop the corn up, and to create more brace roots at the bottom of the plant. Greg doesn’t like to use any herbicides on his corn, therefore small weeds will begin to pop up around the corn plants which is not good. To gain weed control, Greg simply goes down the row with his wheel hoe and throws soil to the plants and in return smothers the weeds out of the area. Another reason we will hill corn is to keep the plant from sulking out down at the bottom which is not needed. It can also make your corn stalks stronger because when we throw soil to the plants we will develop healthier root development in the garden.

Process of Hilling Corn

On this week’s episode, Greg is demonstrating how to hill corn using the High Arch Wheel Hoe. He is currently growing bloody butcher field corn to make grits and corn mill once it is ready to harvest. However, he also is going to try the Jimmy Red variety which is rare red corn that he has not grown before in the garden. When Greg’s corn gets up to about 12 inches tall that is when he likes to hill the corn. When preparing to hill corn, Greg is going to side-dress the corn using Chilean Nitrate because it is a natural form of nitrogen that hits the plants quickly when water reaches it. For hilling corn, we suggest using the High Arch Wheel Hoe that has a 15-inch clearance that ensures we get plenty of room that allows us to straddle taller plants. Another advantage of using this wheel hoe is the ability to adjust the furrows in and out depending on spacing needed to hill the plants. After you hill the corn once and it grows taller it will create a higher shade canopy that will almost eliminate the number of weeds germinating in the soil.

Planting Field Corn

The best time to plant field corn is during the spring and can be grown throughout the warmer months up until fall. We recommend planting field corn using our Hoss Garden Seeder to provide accurate spacing in the vegetable garden. We also suggest using drip tape irrigation because corn is a heavy feeder and requires plenty of water and fertilizer for growth. When growing corn it is best to avoid overhead watering because the plants grow so tall that the irrigation will not reach the roots effectively in the garden. In order to lay drip tape quick and easy, we prefer to use the Double Wheel Hoe with the Drip Tape Layer attachment. In the garden, we can succession plant field corn to get maximum productivity and save space. We can get two succession plantings of field corn when planting in early spring and late summer. Another important factor when planting corn in the garden is to plant in square plots or blocks to ensure the corn receives the needed amount of pollination it requires to develop productive quality ears of corn in the vegetable garden.

Benefits of Beets

There are several health benefits when it comes to eating beets. The first benefit to growing beets is they can detoxify your blood and liver. Also, lower your blood pressure and provide lots of antioxidants to fight free radicals. While providing Vitamin C and fiber which is going to help with your digestive system. The last benefit is they can boost your stamina and give you good healthy energy needed for your body.

Growing Beets

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting beets in the vegetable garden. Travis’s favorite beets to plant are the red and gold beets that both have outstanding taste profiles. He is currently on his third succession planting of beets which means he has already harvested some from the garden and is continuing to plant more to get maximum yield of beets throughout the growing season. When dealing with raw beet seed it has a crinkly look that is uneven and looks similar to chard seed. If you plan to plant raw seed using a mechanical planted it is not going to work well so you will need to direct seed instead. However, with the pelleted beet seed, it works much better when planted in our Hoss Garden Seeder. We recommend transplanting beets in our seed starting trays to ensure we get better plant growth once they are planted in the garden. If transplanting in the ground the preferred spacing is 4 inches along the row. While direct seeding beets can be done it can also be a little tricky because beets do not germinate as well in certain soil conditions. You can direct seed beets with multiple rows close together and spaced as close to 6 inches apart. When planting beets in the garden, Travis likes to plant them on double rows to ensure he gets maximum spacing and yields during the growing season. In the episode, Travis is using our new Dibble Wheel attachment on his Single Wheel Hoe to mark the plant spacing for the beets going down the garden rows.

Multigerm vs. Monogerm Beets

Beet seeds are naturally multigerm varieties which means that each seed contains more than one embryo. Multigerm seeds happen when flowers grow in clusters which in return produces multigerm seed balls. When the seed balls germinate they produce 2 to 5 seedlings at once. So when planting you will end up with more than one seedling or plant per seed which requires some form of thinning of the plants. The thinning is important to ensure we get large production and uniform beet seeds. For instance, with our beet seeds, we want the same size round beets all along the row in the vegetable garden. In order to get these results, the beets should be evenly spaced along the garden row so we have to thin those to ensure they are 4 to 6 inches apart in the vegetable garden. Monogerm means that each seed contains one seedling per seed or one plant per seed. Therefore if you prefer to direct seed in the ground you should go with a monogerm hybrid variety like our Solo Beet variety.

Varieties of Beets

There are several different beet varieties that contain all the health benefits we mentioned earlier. The first variety is the Detriot Dark Red Beet which is an heirloom that is perfect for baby beet production or for pickling in jars to store for later. The Early Wonder Beet is an early-maturing variety that produces harvestable beets around 5 to 10 days quicker than most of the other standard beet varieties. While the Kestrel Beets are a productive hybrid variety that produces consistently shaped beet roots. It also has an excellent disease package against downy mildew, powdery mildew, and Rhizoctonia. Another variety we offer is the Merlin Beets which contain high sugar content which means it’s one of the sweetest beet varieties you can grow in the garden. A different beet is the Touchstone Gold Beet contains orange to gold skin with a bright yellow flesh interior. This beet retains its unique gold color after harvesting and when cooked with around the homestead.

Why Hill Potatoes?

On this week’s episode, Travis is demonstrating how to hill potatoes in the garden. Here in the south, we have experienced a good bit of warm weather which has caused our potatoes to grow quickly and they are around six inches tall. Since the potatoes are around six inches tall it is time to hill the potatoes in the vegetable garden. The two main reasons we hill potatoes is quantity and quality. On a plant, there are three main organs the root, stem, and leaves. The actual potato is a modified stem, not a root, that is used by the plant for storing energy and nutrients. In other words, the more plant we cover leads to the more stems we bury, and that in return gives us more potatoes (modified stems) to harvest at the end of the growing season. Another factor is if we do not hill the plants then the potatoes get exposed to sunlight which causes a buildup of chlorophyll and decreases the greenness of the plants. They can also build up a chemical known as Solanine which is a toxin that can be poisonous if you consume it. Therefore, the quality of potatoes is best when kept buried or underground in the garden.

Hilling Potatoes in the Garden

When planting potatoes they do best when planted in late winter or early spring while the temperatures are relatively still cool. They should be harvested before the heat of summer becomes relevant in the garden area. To begin the hilling potatoes process, the first step is to use the Single Wheel Hoe and cultivate the pathways between the rows to ensure we have plenty of soil to throw on the plants. Once, the pathways are cultivated it’s now time to the potatoes using the High Arch Wheel Hoe. As opposed to the Double Wheel Hoe which has a clearance of around 5-inches, the High Arch has a clearance of 15-inches which allows the potatoes to become bigger before we have to hill them. Another, reason to use the High Arch over the other wheel hoes is your ability to adjust the spacing on your row or plants. For example, if you wanted narrower cultivation on corn or wider cultivation on lettuce. Using the plow set attachments allows you to throw the soil directly to the plants while working along the rows. After, hilling the potatoes this week, Travis mentions he will probably hill them again in another week or two. However, he will move the plows out even wider to create a wider hill onto the potatoes.

Potato Varieties

We currently have four different varieties of potatoes that all do great in the vegetable garden. The German Butterball produces medium to large-sized potatoes that contain a buttery-yellow flesh with an excellent flavor profile. The Adirondack Blue is a purple-fleshed potato that is rich in antioxidants and provides maximum yields. Its unique color maintains when cooked and has exceptional flavoring profiles. The Red Norland is known for having exceptional storage and is great for boiling or roasting. It also has better disease resistance to scab, potato virus, and rhizoctonia, unlike other potato varieties. Lastly, Yukon Gold is the most popular and versatile potato variety around the world. It is another variety that produces heavy yields, excellent flavor, and makes medium to large-sized potatoes.

Pollination of Sweet Corn

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting ambrosia sweet corn in the vegetable garden. Previously planted was crimson clover and Travis decided to let his chickens graze on the spot in order to clean out the area. When planting sweet corn or field corn you always want to plant it in a square plot for better pollination. Corn is a wind-pollinated crop meaning that once the tassels start forming on the tops the male flowers with the pollen will begin to pollinate the female flowers on the ears or silks of the corn. This allows for maximum pollination by planting in a square plot instead of a long row in the garden.

Planting Ambrosia Sweet Corn

To start planting Ambrosia Sweet Corn in the garden we begin by laying our drip tape. Corn is a heavy feeder crop meaning it needs lots of irrigation and fertilizer to get the best growth. However, Travis is not going to add compost in the garden since the crimson clover previously planted and grazing chickens added a lot of amending in the soil. We are going to create a furrow using our Double Wheel Hoe and the plow set attachment. Then, to add drip irrigation in the garden we are going to use our Drip Tape Layer attachment to effectively lay the drip in straight rows. Now, Travis is going to plant six rows of Ambrosia Sweet Corn using the Hoss Garden Seeder. With the seeder, it has a disc furrow opener and we can plant right on top of the drip tape without puncturing the drip tape that is already buried in the garden. Before we plant, we always want to test to make sure the seeds will fit the correct seed plate and modify the plate if they do not fit the sweet corn variety. When planting six rows of corn, Travis recommends planting with 30 or 36-inch spacing. Next, he will plant his Ambrosia sweet corn along the rows in the square plot of the vegetable garden. Finally, after planting he will ensure that his drip irrigation is running effectively and wait for the germination of sweet corn to begin in the garden area.

Three Levels of Sweetness

There are three categories when it comes to sweet corn varieties. They are broken up into levels of sweetness and length of storage capacity after harvest. The first level is Su which is the standard type that is typically the older sweet corn varieties such as Silver Queen or Stowell’s Evergreen. The second level is a sugary extender known as Se which tends to be sweeter than the Su type and can store a little longer after harvest. The sugary extender type includes varieties like Ambrosia, Incredible, and Peaches and Cream. Lastly, the Sh2 is a supersweet or triplesweet type that is the sweetest of corn varieties and has the longest storage rate after harvesting from the garden. We have one variety that is Sh2 which is the Honey Select hybrid variety that has the perfect combination of corn flavor and sweetness.

Planting Tomatoes

On this week’s episode, Travis has the complete guide to planting tomatoes in the garden. The first step to preparing the garden for planting tomatoes is to set up the drip irrigation. Travis went ahead and laid the mainline tubing down the day before planting to allow the newly laid tape to stretch out and lay flat. He ran four rows of drip tape for not just tomatoes, but eggplants and peppers as well. Once the drip irrigation system is set up, then we allow water to fill the tape to ensure we get accurate planting where the drip emitters lay along the rows. With the drip emitters laying every 12 inches which allow a good indication for spacing if you prefer to plant every other emitter for two-foot spacing or every third emitter for three-foot spacing. Travis prefers to plant tomatoes in the seed starting trays to get more productive plants for growing in the garden. When planting tomatoes, they require some form of support to keep the plants growing upright. With the indeterminate tomatoes, Travis is planting with tomato cages on a three-foot spacing to allow plenty of room for growth all season long. While planting determinate tomatoes on two-foot spacing with stakes and twine to use the Florida Weave Trellis technique. When planting, Travis likes to apply a little pelleted gypsum at the base of the plant to help with preventing blossom end rot from destroying the tomato plants. After adding the gypsum, we plant the transplants real deep to allow the roots to form out from the stems and provide an anchor for the plant. Once, the plants have started growing and get a little taller then Travis will add the tomato cages to the indeterminate tomatoes. To add the tomato cages you simply put it square around the plant and push into the ground. When using the Florida weave technique we need T-post, wooden stakes, and twine. Travis starts by adding the T-post to each end of the row and one T-post in the middle of the row. Next, he will add the wooden stakes between the T-post and every plant. As the plants grow, Travis will add the twine to provide plenty of support for the heavy yields of fruits in the vegetable garden.

Harvesting Tomatoes

The best time to harvest tomatoes is once you have reached the end of the growing season, which is typically late summer. When tomatoes have reached there full mature green stage, you know they are ready to pick. If you watch the bottom of the larger tomatoes, typically that is where it begins to ripen as well. You can also test the firmness of the tomato by lightly squeezing it. After, all tomatoes have been harvested it is very important to remove the plants and clean the area to avoid pests and diseases from taking over the garden. To properly remove the tomato cages after harvesting, Travis takes his pruning shears and cuts the stems around 10 inches above the soil to allow him to pull the cages out of the ground. For tomatoes that were on the Florida weave trellis, he simply uses his knife to cut the twine, and remove the T-post/wooden stakes. Then, Travis will remove the tomato plants by the root mass and place them in a burn pile. We place the plants in a burn pile in order to kill off all the fungal spores and insect eggs that remain on the plants after harvesting to ensure they do not cause any future pest and disease issues in the garden.

Planting Transplants

On this week’s episode, Greg decided to plant some beet, bok choy, and broccoli transplants using the new Hoss Dibble Wheel. Back in the day, Greg just cut a stick to his desired spacing and used it to determine the spacing between each plant in the garden. However, with the new dibble wheel, it lays off the desired spacing perfectly for planting transplants. When planting the broccoli, he adjusted the dibbles to turn in every other one which makes the spacing around 10 inches between plants. The seed starting trays make perfect plug transplants for the dibble wheel indentions made into the soil. To ensure the transplants are ready for planting they will simply pull out of the trays with a breeze making them ready to plant in the ground. If you have sandy-like soils the best time to use the dibble wheel is when there is a little moisture to help hold that opening you punch into the ground using the dibble. With clay-like soils, the dibble wheel should do fine leaving an opening or indention in the soil. If you use drip irrigation you can still see where it lays if buried because there is a split in the soil where it lays and you need to straddle that split using the dibble wheel to ensure you don’t puncture the drip tape. You can basically plant any kind of seeds, transplants, or bulbs using our dibble wheel attachment to ensure you get the perfect amount of spacing, straight rows within the vegetable garden, and efficient planting is done.

Benefits of Planting Transplants

There are a couple of benefits to planting transplants instead of direct seeding. The first benefit is a quicker jumpstart to the growing season. By having plants growing in the greenhouse you can start prior to the desired growing season allowing you to plant the transplants as soon as the weather conditions are just right. Another benefit of planting transplants is more productive crops. Due to the transplants starting their early life stage in the greenhouse, they are reduced from being affected by pests, diseases, and inaccurate weather conditions that could ultimately harm them if they started in the garden. In other words, starting transplants in the greenhouse will allow you to have stronger and healthier plants that create maximum yields in the garden.

Hoss Dibble Wheel Attachment

The purpose of the Hoss Dibble Wheel is to make indentions into the soil for planting transplants and seeds in the garden. With the Dibble Wheel Attachment, we offer a single, double, or triple wheel kit. Each wheel has adjustable dibble spacing and wheel spacing to fit your desired planting needs in the vegetable garden. Each dibble wheel has 12 holes and may be arranged for plant spacing of 4″, 8″, 12″, 16″, 24″, and 48 inches. This attachment works on the Single Wheel Hoe, Double Wheel Hoe, and the High Arch Wheel Hoe. However, when using on the High Arch we suggest getting two of the Single Dibble Wheel Kits, to ensure the unit is stable and equally balanced on the wheel hoe. With the Single Dibble Wheel, the wheel sits inside the attachment bracket and is secured using the should bolt axle. The standard axle length is 15 inches long, but we can make a 30-inch axle or easily cut one for whatever size you need. With each multi-wheel kit, we include lock collars that allow you to lock the wheels in place along the axle.

Potato Varieties

On this week’s episode, Greg is planting the best potatoes in the garden. When planting potatoes he likes to plant them around the end of February. Some of the potato varieties that he plans on growing this season are Jelly, Blue Belle, and Red Pontiac potato. The Jelly variety produces a large potato that has a nice yellow color that contains a buttery flavor profile. The next variety is known as Blue Belle which contains a little bluish color outside and produces a smaller potato but is very productive in the garden. Lastly, the Red Pontiac variety is an old standard potato that is really accessible anywhere. Along with Irish Eyes potatoes, we also carry several varieties of potatoes that are really productive such as Red Norland, Yukon Gold, Adirondack Blue, and German Butterball.

Preparing Potatoes for Planting

When cutting up seed potatoes, Greg recommends cutting at least two or three eyes off at a time, which ends making little slices of potato. If you have a potato that does not have well-defined eyes you can just cut the potato in half. After you get done cutting the seed potatoes, then we use fir bark dust fertilizer which is used to heal newly cut seed potatoes so you can basically plant them the same day you cut them. The fir bark dust is also slightly acidic which in return helps as a fungicide, keeping diseases out of your seed potatoes. Greg just pours the fir bark dust over the freshly cut seed potatoes and stirs it around to get good coverage. Once the fir bark has been added to the seed potatoes they are ready for planting in the garden. If you do not plan on using the fir back dust to heal potatoes, you should allow a couple of days for the seed potatoes to “heal” or suberize before the desired planting date.

Planting the Best Potatoes

As a cool-weather crop, potatoes do best when planted in late winter or early spring when temperatures are still relatively cool. When planting the potatoes, Greg uses the High Arch Wheel Hoe because of its many adjustable abilities for whatever you need in the garden. The first adjustment, Greg will make with the high arch is a position for digging a furrow for the plants. Next, he will adjust the plows to turn out and create a hilling position so he can cover them up in the garden. When planting potatoes be sure to plant with the “eyes” facing upwards in the vegetable garden. Greg ended up planting four rows of the different potato varieties. After the potatoes start to come up and it’s time to hill them, we will take the high arch and move the spacing out to create a wider hill with our plow attachment in order to throw more soil to the plants. Potatoes tend to not do well once temperatures begin to warm up, so they should be harvested before the summer heat conditions.

Biggest Con of Too Much Rain

The biggest problem with accumulating too much rain in the garden is disease pressure. Some of the diseases that could overtake the garden include powdery mildew, fire blight, and anthracnose. However, if you monitor the garden and have a prevention plan set in place to eliminate these disease issues you could save your plants from becoming completely ruined in the garden.

Vegetable Garden Update

On this week’s episode, Travis mentions ways to deal with too much rain in the vegetable garden. Here in South Georgia, we have recently dealt with the coldest and wettest winters thus far which has caused us to overcome some challenges when dealing with our crops that are planted in the ground. One area of the garden has been established for around four years which means it has accumulated a good amount of organic matter and been able to reduce the weed seedbed in the ground. In other words, this area of the garden is extremely manageable when it comes to growing vegetables in the plot.

Greens Mix

Travis currently has a Premium Greens Mix that has done well considering the amount of rain we have experienced in the garden. He planted the mix with the Hoss Garden Seeder on a 30-inch bed and squeezed in as many rows has he could to get a maximum yield of greens mix. Typically, we can harvest this crop at least three times along the garden bed.

Onions

A positive of a lot of rain is that the onion plants are completely loving it. In the garden, there are six double rows of Red and Texas Legend onions planted. The Red Onions seem to be growing quicker than the Texas Legends so far, but Travis has been keeping them fertilized and is really excited about harvesting these crops soon.

Carrots

Next to the onions plants, Travis has different multicolored carrots such as purple, red, orange, and yellow plants growing that should be ready to harvest around late spring or early summer. We also have five double rows of carrots that are getting overrun with weeds due to the amount of moisture in the soil. Travis can’t really do too much about the weeds since he planted them as intensively as he could, but the carrots are still doing well overall.

Crimson Clover

Travis has a cover crop of crimson clover still being worked on by some chickens. He has a chicken tractor and poultry netting placed in the area that allows the chickens to freely roam within the netting allowing them to graze and provide good manure in the area.

Toscano Kale

The kale that is currently planted, Travis has harvested around five or six times and will continue to harvest throughout the growing season. To harvest a few, he just pulls off the bottom leaves and allows the top leaves to remain on the stalk to keep growing taller.

Empty Garden Plots

For the remaining plots in the garden that have not been planted yet, Travis has tons of transplants growing in the greenhouse that will be placed in the ground as soon as they are ready. Some of the early spring transplants that are growing are kale, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and lettuce. He also has an area planned for planting potatoes as soon as he gets them in the mail from Irish Eyes. Travis also shows off a brand new garden plot that he has added to his homestead. This area has been tilled once and he plans to till it once a week until spring to help eliminate weed pressures in the new garden.

Why Should You Have a Sustainable Farm?

The three main objectives of sustainable farming is to create a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social/economic equity. This way of farming is to seek techniques that will promote farming practices that will help improve the soil environment and are economically good for the community. Unlike commercial farming, sustainable farming focuses on producing crops that have not been sprayed with harsh chemical pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers. This makes for a safer growing environment and healthier producing plants in the vegetable garden. Along with having a healthy environment, a sustainable farm allows you to save money around the homestead. By producing your own food you are saving the amount of money you spend in supermarkets and increase your supply of healthier crops grown in the garden.

Methods of Sustainable Farming

There are a couple of different methods or techniques when it comes to sustainable farming. The first method is crop rotation which is the process of rotating crops to avoid planting the same crop in the same area every year. If one crop is planted in the same area every year you will cause pest problems and reduce soil nutrients in the garden. Accurate crop rotation helps eliminate the reproduction cycle of pests and will replenish soil nutrients because of the different crop benefits being planted. Another technique of sustainable farming is planting cover crops to improve soil build-up. With warm-season and cool-season cover crops such as Sunn Hemp, Sorghum Sudangrass, Crimson Clover, and Tillage Radish there are plenty of benefits that ensure improvement is being incorporated back into the soil. The third effective method of sustainable farming is the use of good compost for soil enrichment. Travis and Greg are believers in the FAD system which is furrow, amend, and drip. When creating a furrow this allows for a destinated place to plant the crops. Once the furrow is created, you can amend the furrow with a good quality of compost which will improve the overall garden soil. Then, by adding drip tape we can effectively supply the growing plants with the needed amount of irrigation in the vegetable garden. We recommend using quality compost such as cow manure or chicken manure to get the best results in the garden. One more method of sustainable farming is integrating livestock to help with the garden. Allowing livestock such as cows, chickens, goats, or pigs to graze on crops after harvesting can create organic matter in the soil, feed the animals, and allows the garden to be worked in different ways depending on each animal.

The Lazy Acres Family Farm

On this week’s episode, Greg is at The Lazy Acres Family Farm in Marianna, Florida talking with Ryan Ziglar about leaving his everyday desk job for sustainable farming. Ryan used to own a video production company but wanted to leave this to pursue a healthier lifestyle and spend more time with family in the future. Ryan showed off his garden area where in the winter he planned to plant wheat, rye, and oats. He also planted a cool-season cover crop known as Hairy Vetch to improve his nitrogen within the garden soil. Before it was a small garden, Ryan mentions that the area where his garden is now used to be farmed for row crops meaning four to five rows of different crops. Along with compost, Ryan has livestock such as cows, goats, and pigs to help forage the garden. His favorite animal to use in the garden is cows because they supply the ground with lots of manure in a quick amount of time.

Building Up Soils in the Vegetable Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis shows how he uses the chicken and cover crops to improve soils in the vegetable garden. He set up the poultry fence and added the chicken tractor inside the fencing to allow the chickens to cover more area in the garden than just inside the coop. The poultry fence comes with a solar panel charger to provide an electric charge net to keep predators away and chicken inside. You can adjust the angle of the solar panel based on the growing seasons to help with keeping the panels charged and working correctly in the vegetable garden. Travis plans to let the chickens forage on the crimson clover till they basically knock it all down, then he will move the fence and chicken tractor to the other side of the garden. He will move the fence and tractor back and forth for about a month till it’s time to prepare the garden for planting.

Chicken Tractor

A chicken tractor is usually a mobile chicken coop that contains wheels, it is small enough to move around from one spot to another as well as rotate around certain areas. There are several different designs of chicken tractors available online, but Travis built one for himself that is 4 inches wide by 12 to 13 inches long. It has a 4×4 enclosure that is shaded allowing them to cool off during the hotter days and it contains nesting boxes and food/water boxes. Some benefits to using a chicken tractor in the garden include providing natural fertilization, chickens will eliminate overwintering insects, and they can shallow till garden beds. Overall, the chicken tractor is a really good way to utilize what livestock you have on the homestead to improve garden soils for planting in the future.

Cover Crop: Crimson Clover

Travis has planted Crimson Clover to help eliminate weed pressures, add nitrogen to the soil, improve soil workability, and supplies feed for the chickens on the homestead. This cool-season cover crop is a legume that fixes nitrogen and adds in back into the soil which improves the overall soil quality in the garden. It should be planted in the fall at least a month or two before the average frost date. Planting ahead will ensure that the cover crop can germinate and establish in the garden before cold temperatures arrive. The clover should be incorporated into the soil or livestock can graze on the crop to remove it from the vegetable garden.

Other Cover Crops

There are various different cover crops that offer plenty of characteristics that help improve the garden soil. Some popular cool-season cover crops include Broadleaf Mustard, Hairy Vetch, Austrian Winter Pea and Tillage Radish. While some well-known warm-season cover crops include Buckwheat, Sunn Hemp, Sorghum Sudangrass, and Brown Top Millet. You can also make a cover crop cocktail with some of these varieties to obtain different benefits in one area. Most of these cover crop characteristics help with nitrogen fixation, erosion control, weed suppression, pest control, and improve soils. In order for these cover crop characteristics to really work in the soil, they must be mowed down or tilled in and incorporated back into the ground. If they are not incorporated back into the soil they can cause reseeding and weed issues in the future growing seasons.

Benefits of Removing Weeds

There are several benefits of removing weeds from the vegetable garden such as improved plant growth and garden soil. Weeds can cause restricts on plant growth due to them competing for nutrients, soil, water, and space that the plants you are trying to get growth development. One more issue with weeds in the garden is they may even smother smaller plants that are trying to germinate or prevent them from growing at all. Also, some invasive weeds can destroy a habitat and damage all the native plants that grow there. To avoid these harsh and invasive weeds it is best to remove them quickly before they become a bigger problem and destroy the plant growth in the vegetable garden.

Weeding Carrots and Onions

On this week’s episode, Travis is using two tools to demonstrate for weeding carrots and onions. In the garden, Travis has five rows of carrots that are planted on double rows with drip tape buried in the middle. He recommends planting on double rows because we get the most utility out of drip tape and once the carrots get bigger they will help shade out in the middle area where the drip tape is buried. The first tool that Travis suggests using when weeding carrots and onions is the Single Wheel Hoe. Since the single wheel hoe is smaller it has an advantage over the double wheel hoe when it comes to weeding in the vegetable garden. With the cultivator teeth attachment, it makes weeding carrots and onions easier and quicker between tight rows of planted plants in the garden. However, when needing to weed on top of the beds and in between the plants along the double row the best tool to use is the Single Tine Cultivator. When using this cultivator, Travis turns it sideways to skim across the area to remove weeds in tight spaces and avoid damaging the drip tape that is already buried in the garden.

Additional Way to Remove Weeds

If you experience a serious problem with weeds in the garden another way to suppress those weed pressures is by growing cover crops in the garden. Some cover crops like Buckwheat, Sunn Hemp, Daikon Radish, and Brown Top Millet all have characteristics that grow faster in order to outpace weed growth. When planting cover crops we prefer to use our garden seeder to get precise planting in the vegetable garden. When growing cover crops the key to making them succeed in the garden is they should be incorporated back into the soil before going to seed to prevent reseeding problems.

Carrot and Onion Varieties

There are a couple of popular carrot and onion varieties that are known to be the best to grow in the vegetable garden. Some of the carrot varieties include Danvers, Scarlet Nantes, Bolero and Viper. The best way to grow carrots is by direct seeding in a think band along the rows in the vegetable garden. The well-known onion varieties include Texas Legend, Candy, Savannah Sweet, and Warrior Bunching. When growing onions they should be planted on drip tape to ensure they get an accurate amount of irrigation in the garden.

Growing the Best Onions

It’s that time of year to be thinking about growing onions in the vegetable garden. When growing the best onions we recommend either transplanting or direct seeding. If you prefer to transplant plants you can grow onions in our seed starting trays for improved germination. The trays contain internal vertical root training ribs that improve aeration and root ball drainage that ensure properly germinated and growing transplants. When direct seeding you can use our walk-behind garden seeder with the #1 seed plant and modify the hole size to accommodate the onions seed size properly when planting. The seeder makes it quicker and easier to plant seeds without worrying about overplanting along the garden rows.

Planting the Onions

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing different ways to grow the best onions in the vegetable garden. In the garden, Travis is getting ready to plant the Red Creole and Texas Legend variety of onions. Before planting onions, Travis has prepared the vegetable garden by using the drip tape layer attachment to lay tape along the garden rows and create a nice little furrow for planting onions. He plans on planting six rows of onion plants on a double row system in the garden. This means that along the drip tape he will plant on either side of the tape where the little furrows were established when laying drip tape in the garden. Another benefit of planting on double rows is you get better efficiency by saving space in the garden and maximizing yield. Travis is planting the onion plants around six inches apart to ensure they get plenty of room for growth. Once a week, Travis will use the Double Wheel Hoe down the middle of the rows to help control the weeds from being an issue in the vegetable garden. He also likes to use his Single Tine Cultivator to run in between the onion plants until they get big enough to shade out the area of weed germination. Since onions are heavy feeders they need plenty of nutrient inputs to continue productive growth in the vegetable garden. We recommend using the 20-20-20 and Ammonium Sulfate fertilizer to maintain solid root development and vegetative growth of onion plants in the garden.

Different Onion Varieties

There are several onion varieties that are hands down the best onions to grow in the vegetable garden. The first variety is the well known Texas Legend onions. This variety produces uniform yellow bulbs that have a mild to sweet flavor profile. Another well-known onion variety is Candy which is a hybrid that does well in a wide range of conditions. This variety produces a sweeter tasting onion that has round bulbs that are slightly flattened in the garden. The Warrior Bunching onions are a fast-growing variety that produces crisp nice green tops and overall easy to grow. This variety does really well when left in the garden to grow in return allowing us to get a longer harvesting window. Next, is the Savannah Sweet onions that are a Vidalia-type variety that has early maturity dates than other varieties.  While the Walla Walla variety performs great in the northern climates and contains a milder or sweeter flavor profile similar to Vidalia type onions. Another variety is the Sweet Harvest onions that contain higher sugar content and low pungency. This variety produces larger to jumbo size bulbs that are fairly bolt resistant during the late spring. Lastly, the Natsuguro Bunching variety has an extreme heat-tolerance into the warmer months and can be planted throughout the spring months while harvesting happens in the summer months.

Benefits of Using Drip Tape

The easiest way to maximize garden production with effective irrigation and steady water-soluble fertilizers is through the use of drip tape. Most people believe that drip tape can be used either on top or buried in the soil. However, drip tape was really made to go underneath the soil in the garden. This allows the irrigation tape to stay in place, decrease disease pressure and reduce damage caused by natural causes. It also provides plenty of needed nutrients for plant growth and healthier plants in the vegetable garden. Not only does it apply equal amounts of irrigation to the plants, but it conserves water by going directly to the plant roots in the vegetable garden, unlike overhead irrigation systems.

How to Reuse Drip Tape

On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining how to reuse drip tape in the vegetable garden. Since we like to plant in the garden year-round, we reuse our drip tape for multiple growing seasons at a time. Travis currently has red cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussel sprouts planted. As well as, harvested some broccoli and swiss chard from the vegetable garden. There is currently an empty spot where he had his bok choy variety planted, but now it’s time to plant another vegetable variety. When reusing drip tape we simply clean up the area and lay the drip tape back down to plant more in the garden. In order to reuse the drip tape, Travis is going to leave the drip tape attached to the mainline of tubing and pull the buried drip tape out of the ground in order to lay that piece of tape out the garden area. Then, he will take his Single Wheel Hoe to cultivate and remove any weeds from the area before replanting. Next, Travis is going to use the F.A.D. system to lay the drip tape back into the vegetable garden. Which the F.A.D. system stands for furrow, amend, and then drip. So first he will create a little furrow using the plow set attachment which will establish a place to lay the drip tape in the garden. Then, we will amend the furrow by laying good compost in the area. Finally, we will lay the drip tape back in the garden with the emitters facing upward for planting. However, Travis wants to move the drip tape that is attached to the mainline tubing over around five or six inches for planting lettuce. In order to move the tape over, he will take a goof plug to fill the existing hole and move the tape over a little bit then punch a new hole in the mainline tubing. When the drip tape is laid in the garden where it needs to be then we will simply cover it up for burying. Normally, Travis would use the double wheel hoe with the plow set in the hilling position to straddle and cover the rows up. However, since he is only covering one line of drip tape he will just take the dura rake and cover it up in the garden. Once the drip tape is buried, we suggest turning the water on and letting the emitters seep out to indicate where we should put our lettuce plants. To ensure the lettuce plants receive the needed amount of irrigation and spacing, Travis likes to plant them right on top of the drip tape emitters.

Planting Mixed Greens

On this week’s episode, Travis is demonstrating how to easily plant mixed greens in the vegetable garden. We recommended using the wheel hoe and garden seeder to create these productive elevated green beds in the garden. You can use either the Single Wheel Hoe or the Double Wheel Hoe and attach one plow blade to help throw dirt to the middle. Then, Travis will take a rake to smooth out the area and apply compost to prepare the beds for planting mixed greens. Once the beds are prepared for planting, it’s time to plant with our garden seeder. The seeder has six seed plates that ensure accurate planting of various seed size varieties. Travis is using the number one seed plate for planting mixed greens meaning we will get a little over 1-inch spacing which would be good and tight for the beds we are planting in. Travis planted the mixed greens about a quarter-inch deep in the garden and allowed the weight of the garden seeder to compact and press the seed down for great seed to soil contact for germination. Another important key to planting mixed greens is they need to be hand-watered about twice a day in order to get excellent germination until they come up and get established in the garden. If you prefer to transplant the mixed greens we recommend using our seed starting trays. This ensures the plants will develop solid root balls that will make germination and productivity better when planted in the garden.

Mixed Green Varieties

The premium greens mix that we offer has a combination of popular greens that are used in salads, stir-frys, or any other lettuce substituted dish in the kitchen. When harvesting this mixed greens variety use a sharp knife and cut the leaves off once they have reached your desired size. If you want a little more milder flavor green, you should harvest when the leaves are rather small. If you prefer a bolder flavor allow your leaves to grow larger before harvesting from the garden. The mixed greens will continue to grow all throughout the growing season for a productive repeat harvesting. The different varieties that the premium greens mix includes are tatsoi, mizuna, arugula, and red Russian kale. The Tatsoi greens are an Asian style mustard variety that makes really productive smaller leaves with excellent flavor profiles. Then, the Mizuna greens contain a milder flavor profile, excellent texture, and bright green appearance. While the Arugula produces the longer darker leaves that do best when planted during the cool season growing months. This variety of green is known to be easier to germination and have maximum production in the vegetable garden. Lastly, the Red Russian Kale contains flat leaves that have purple veins that will intensify when encountered with frost.

Other Green Varieties

Along with the greens varieties, we offer a few productive mustard varieties for the vegetable garden. The Southern Giant Curled mustard is known as a southern favorite and produces larger yields for crisp and curled leaves that have the traditional “mustard green” flavor profile. Another popular mustard variety is the Florida Broadleaf that produces light green smooth leaves that can be harvested early as baby leaf or left in the garden to grow to full size for a larger harvest. The Red Mustard Green is another variety that contains a rather bolder flavor profile that will intensify as the greens become larger in the vegetable garden. This variety works well for multiple harvestings throughout the growing seasons. It also does well in any salad mix or stir-fry recipes around the homestead.

Preparing for Fall Planting

On this week’s episode, Travis is demonstrating how to prepare for fall garden planting. He recently has added on a new plot for gardening and it is a 20 foot wide by around 35 feet long area. Originally this plot was just grass and in order to prepare it for planting, Travis tilled the area during the summer and since then has tilled it about once a week for a month to break up all the grass. Then, after that, he started to use his single wheel hoe to maintain the weeds until it comes time to plant in the garden. Travis is planning on planting five different vegetables such as green magic broccoli, Denali cauliflower, Toscano kale, rainbow swiss chard, and bok choy. To begin preparing the garden for planting, Travis is going to start by using the wheel hoe and cultivate the area to get rid of any small weeds. Next, we laid off our five rows to be three feet apart in the garden. Then, Travis uses the plow set attachment to begin preparing the garden with furrows where the drip tape will lay. Once, the drip tape is laid then it is time to set up the drip irrigation system such as the Filter Regulator Combo and Mainline Tubing. When everything is set up we turn the irrigation system on and let it run for a while to let the water start seeping up out of the soil where the emitters are for planting. Travis is going to plant right on top of the emitters to ensure that each plant is effectively getting the needed amount of irrigation right to the plant roots for overall better production.

Green Magic Brocolli

A heat-tolerant variety of broccoli the Green Magic does best when grown during late spring and early fall. This broccoli produces uniform heads that are slow to bolt and go to seed which allows for excellent texture and flavor when harvested from the vegetable garden. It is time to harvest broccoli once the crowns become dark green before any seeds or flowers develop on the crowns.

Snow Bowl Cauliflower

This hybrid variety is known for having bright white cauliflower heads that are uniform and well wrapped producing great flavor and tender texture in the garden. The Snow Bowl variety does best when planted during the fall so you are able to harvest in the winter. We suggest transplanting cauliflower to ensure you get consistent planting spacing, effective germination, and better production.

Lacinato Kale

One of the most productive crops to grow in the garden is the Lacinato Kale. This is an Italian heirloom variety that produces long and slender blue to green leaves year-round in the vegetable garden. It is a cold-tolerant crop, but it is also resistant to bolting during the warmer months too.

Bright Lights Swiss Chard

A colorful blend twist of swiss chard is the Bright Lights that works great for baby leaf or full leaf production. The different leaf colors include shades of orange, pink, red, and green. An All American Selections winner, this swiss chard variety has excellent bolt tolerance for extended harvests into the late spring and early summer growing seasons.

Pak Choi

A popular Chinese cabbage variety that produces darker leaves and stems with upright heads is the Pak Choi. This is an excellent heat and cold tolerant variety that does well throughout the spring and fall growing seasons. You can either direct seed this cabbage variety with our garden seeder or transplant with our seed starting trays.

What is a Chicken Tractor?

A chicken tractor is basically a mobile chicken coop that does not have a floor. Usually containing wheels, it is small enough to move around from one spot to another and rotate around certain areas. There are several different designs of chicken tractors available online, but Travis built one for himself that is 4 inches wide by 12 to 13 inches long. It has a 4×4 enclosure that is shaded allowing them to cool off during the hotter days and it contains nesting boxes and food/water boxes. In order to expand the possibilities of our chickens and the chicken tractor, we have looked into getting a poultry fence kit that will allow the chickens to fertilize and cover more area in the vegetable garden. Some benefits to using a chicken tractor in the garden include providing natural fertilization, chickens will dispose of overwintering insects, and they can shallow till garden beds. Overall, the chicken tractor can prepare the garden soil and minimize the inputs you have to supply when you start growing your own vegetables.

Fertilizing the Garden with Chickens

On this week’s episode, Travis is incorporating his chicken tractor to fertilize the vegetable garden. In the vegetable garden, Travis has an area that normally gets planted on year-round causing the soil to get depleted quickly. Along with getting planted on year-round the heat temperatures in the south cause the organic matter to burn up leaving the soil depleted of nutrients as well. In return, we have to come up with ways to add more nutrients back to the soil to fulfill our plant needs. So Travis decided to use a chicken tractor to effectively have a way to get rid of leftover crops and move fertilize around the garden area allowing us to incorporate the nutrients back into the soil. In the garden, the chickens have been grazing on the leftover zipper cream peas which in return adds lots of nutrients back into the soil instead of Travis pulling the peas up and placing them in the compost pile. So Travis puts them on the plot which contains four rows or two double rows of peas and basically move the chicken tractor up and down the rows. The chickens remain on a certain spot for around five to seven days then move the tractor down a little bit where fresh vegetation is located. In addition to using the chickens to remove old plant debris, we also like to use them with our cover cropping in the fall as well. For example, we can plant crimson clover in the garden and rotate the chicken tractor around the plot to keep the clover mowed down.

Cover Crops for Improved Garden Soils

On this week’s episode, Greg is discussing how to build up the soil by using cover crops. The many benefits of growing cover crops are the increase of organic matter, nematode suppression, and weed control. When building up your garden soils you have to supply the best cover crop that fulfills the characteristics you are wanting to replenish in the soil.

Warm vs. Cool Cover Crops

When deciding which cover crop variety to grow in the garden you also have to think about the weather temperatures in your area. The warmer cover crops we have available are Brown Top Millet, Sorghum Sudangrass, Buckwheat, and Sunn Hemp. The Brown Top Millet variety provides excellent livestock foliage and green manure for adding in organic matter in the garden soils. It is a variety that is ideal for weed suppression, improving soil tilth, adding nutrients to the soil, and improves water retention. When it comes to planting Sorghum Sudangrass it contains deeply penetrated roots that help loosen the compacted soil which in return provides better soil aeration and soil drainage. If you struggle with nematode problems in your garden this sudangrass is an excellent variety that helps suppress nematode populations. Another warmer cover crop is the Buckwheat variety that is known for being fast-growing which allows for quick turnover in the vegetable garden. It can be squeezed in smaller windows such as spring and fall plantings when you want to break off pest and disease cycles to improve future plantings. Sunn Hemp is another popular warm-season cover crop to grow in the vegetable garden. This variety works well in sandy soils or nutrient-poor soil types and is another cover crop that adds improved organic matter and suppresses weed pressures. There are several cool-season cover crops such as Broadleaf Mustard, Crimson Clover, Winter Rye, Hairy Vetch, Austrian Winter Pea, and Tillage Radish. The most popular cooler cover crops that we recommend are the Broadleaf Mustard, Crimson Clover, and Tillage Radish. The Broadleaf Mustard is the top crop to plant if you are needing to suppress nematode populations, weeds, and soil fungi problems in the vegetable garden. It contains a chemical compound known as glucosinolate, which helps eliminate many common pests and diseases. While the Crimson Clover does better at adding the soil nutrients back into the garden soil. The best time to incorporate clover in the garden before you plant heavy feeder crops such as corn, okra, or peppers. Lastly, the Tillage Radish contains long slender roots that will penetrate the hardest garden soils allowing for increased aeration and soil drainage within the vegetable garden. Another benefit of the longer roots is this cover crop can absorb nutrients from the deeper soil layers in the garden.

Planting Cover Crops

The best time to plant warm-season cover crops is during the spring and fall plantings. While the cooler-season cover crops do best when planted in the fall and left to “overwinter” throughout the cooler months in the vegetable garden. When planting cover crop varieties we suggest either broadcasting or using our garden seeder. The most important aspect to understand when growing cover crops is they must be mowed down or cut before they go to seed in the garden. This will eliminate reseeding problems in the future growing seasons. Greg likes to use a flail mower to cut the cover crops and incorporate them back into the garden soil. The green manure that is left in the garden is great because in the south we struggle with organic matter because the temperatures during the hotter months tend to burn it up.

Planting & Growing Field Corn

The best time to plant field corn is during the spring and can be grown throughout the warmer months up until fall. We recommend planting field corn using our Hoss Garden Seeder to provide accurate spacing in the vegetable garden. We also suggest using drip tape irrigation because corn is a heavy feeder and requires plenty of water and fertilizer for growth. When growing corn it is best to avoid overhead watering because the plants grow so tall that the irrigation will not reach the roots effectively in the garden. In order to lay drip tape quick and easy, we prefer to use the Double Wheel Hoe with the Drip Tape Layer attachment. In the garden, we can succession plant field corn to get maximum productivity and save space. We can get two succession plantings of field corn when planting in early spring and late summer. The benefit of succession planting is we are able to extend harvest supplies throughout the growing seasons. Another key aspect of planting corn is instead of long rows, it should be planted in square plots or blocks. This ensures that corn gets the needed pollination it requires to develop quality ears of corn. Without pollination, the tassels and silks will have poor germination and have trouble producing kernels on the ears. Planting in square plots also allows for better crop rotation of plants in the vegetable garden. Crop rotation is important because not only are you avoiding planting the same crop year after year but you are able to replenish the soil with the nutrients that different vegetables need in order to grow in the garden.

Own Corn Meal and Grits

On this week’s episode, Greg and Travis are showing how to make your own corn meal and grits from corn grown in the vegetable garden. This year, Greg grew the Bloody Butcher variety of field corn which is similar to the Jimmy Red variety. In order to shell the corn, Greg is using a sheller that he found at a flea market several years ago. Before making our own corn meal and grits, we place the corn in the freezer in order to kill off any weevil eggs. Then, we take the corn out of the freezer to grind it and then make corn meal and grits. When you grind it the meal will turn out a white type of meal but with red specks in it. Travis grew the Truckers Favorite Yellow Corn variety in the vegetable garden. He also plans to make corn meal and grits out of his variety he planted in the garden as well.

Field Corn Varieties

Along with the Bloody Butcher and Truckers Favorite, there are a couple of different field corn varieties that also work great for making your own corn meal and grits. The most popular variety of field corn is the Hickory King White Corn. This variety has been around for several years, producing 12 to 13-inch tall plants and two larger ears per plant reaching around 9 to 10 inches in length. The Blue Hopi Corn is a variety that produces unique deep royal blue ears in the vegetable garden. This heirloom variety has an excellent flavor and texture profile making it great for homemade corn chips, cornbread, and tortillas. The Wapsie Valley is an heirloom variety that contains bicolor ears such as copper red and yellow kernels. When ground the corn meal has a yellow tent with red flakes. It is a variety that is highly adaptable to several weather conditions and produces well-formed ears of corn in the vegetable garden.

Summertime Problems

On this week’s episode, Travis describes the top vegetables to grow during the warmer summertime growing season. During the summertime, the weather conditions are not ideal to grow many vegetable varieties in the garden. Along with the harsh weather conditions, pest and disease pressures are unbearable to manage as well. Therefore, growing healthy and productive vegetables is completely impossible due to the heat and humidity that causes an increase in pest and disease pressures. Some vegetables that you should definitely avoid growing during the summertime include cucumbers, squash, zucchinis, peas, and tomatoes.

The Top Vegetables to Grow

One of the top vegetables to grow during the summertime heat is sweet potatoes. When the vines are full they create a great foliage canopy that keeps the weed pressure down in the garden. Another great crop to grow during the heat is okra. Some okra varieties that we have available are Star of David, Jambalaya, Silver Queen, Red Burgundy, and Cowhorn. When growing okra, we suggest succession planting throughout the spring, summer, and fall to get maximum productivity. The third vegetable to grow during the summer months is eggplants. We have four different varieties of eggplants such as Nadia, Nubia, Purple Shine, and White Star. The last vegetable, Travis mentions has ideal to grow during the warmer growing season is peppers. We carry several pepper varieties that are all productive and contain excellent taste profiles. Some of these varieties include Beaver Dam, Anaheim, Gold Rush Banana, Bayonet, Jalapeno, and Aruba Cubanelle to name a few.

Other Crops to Grow in the Summer

Flower varieties such as Zinnias do wonders in the garden during the summer. We have several colorful varieties available such as White, Lime, Orange, Scarlet, and Coral. The trick to growing zinnias is to prune once every two weeks in order to continue having beautiful blooms until the frost comes in the garden. The zinnias also attract beneficial insects that in return helps with pest control pressure. Another popular crop that we recommend growing during the summertime that will also benefit your garden soil is cover crops. The warmer season cover crops such as Buckwheat, Brown Top Millet, Sorghum Sudangrass, and Sunn Hemp are perfect to grow in the vegetable garden. The Buckwheat provides benefits to the garden such as weed suppression, increases soil drainage, and provides a significant amount of organic matter in the soil. Compared to other cover crop varieties, the buckwheat grows the fast which allows it to be incorporated back into the soil for quick turnover and replanting of vegetable crops. The next variety to plant if you have sandy loam soils is Brown Top Millet. This cover crop is best known as “green manure”, this millet can improve soil tilth, water absorption, and soil quality. Another warm-season cover crop is the Sorghum Sudangrass, which creates a dense mat of vegetation within the vegetable garden. The sudangrass contains deeply penetrating roots that loosen the soil which provides an increase in aeration and soil drainage in the vegetable garden. The last cover crop that does best in the summertime is Sunn Hemp. The Sunn Hemp is another cover crop that provides weed suppression and an increase in organic matter. As well as, an increased supply of nitrogen into the soil which is beneficial when growing several vegetables during the fall, winter, and spring. All of these cover crops can be either broadcasted or planted with our Hoss Garden Seeder. Along with all the cover crops, they should be incorporated back into the soil before they go to seed in order to prevent any reseeding issues in the future growing seasons.

Step by Step on Growing Okra

On this week’s episode, Travis is growing the easiest crops in the vegetable garden. Being apart of the Mallow family, okra is related to cotton or hibiscus and they all share similar flowers as well. It is pretty much a maintenance-free crop meaning it hardly needs any water or fertilizer to grow in the garden. The ultimate guide to growing okra is planting during the warmer weather months such as spring, summer, or fall. Travis mentions that okra does better when transplanted rather than direct-seeded. We recommend starting the transplants, 4 to 5 weeks prior to the desired planting date. You should start the okra transplants in the spring to ensure you get a headstart on the growing season. Since okra plants prefer warmer temperatures for seed germination, transplanting allows you to have them in the ground before the soil temperature warms up enough to direct seed. Okra plants require a soil temperature of at least 70 degrees to germinate in the garden. To effectively grow okra transplants we like to use our seed starting trays. The seed trays contain internal vertical rooting training ribs that help aid in aeration and root ball drainage of the plants. This in returns allows for better transplants that experience less transplant shock and faster production. If you are direct seeding, you can use our garden seeder to accurately plant without wasting seeds by overplanting. When planting okra, Travis likes to plant them on double rows to get the most production and save space in the garden area. Most okra plants should be harvested once they reach around 3 to 4 inches long in the vegetable garden. If you let them get longer than that they will begin to lose their eating quality and become tough. Okra pods usually need to be cut or picked at least once every other day in the vegetable garden. As the warmer growing season progresses the okra plants will get rather tall in the garden. Many of the old-timers believe in cropping the lateral stems which makes the plants taller and harder to harvest okra pods. However, we don’t believe in cropping the lateral stems. Instead we believe that the more leaves the okra plants have, the more photosynthesis and fruit production can take place in the vegetable garden.

Most Popular Varieties

In the South, the ultimate guide to growing the most popular okra varieties is the Jambalaya, Red Burgundy, Clemson Spineless, and Cowhorn. Out of those four varieties, Travis’s favorite varieties to grow are Jambalaya and Red Burgundy. The ultimate guide to being the first one to harvest okra pods before anyone else is planting the best variety known as Jambalaya. It is known for producing okra pods faster than any other variety in the vegetable garden. Therefore, they will produce pods when they reach about a foot tall which means it does require you to do some bending over to harvest them until the plants get taller. However, the Red Burgundy contains eye-catching deep red pods that make it more noticeable than traditional okra pods in a market farm setting. This variety has a little more slender pods than other okra varieties and works great for pickling, frying, or stewing in recipes around the homestead. The Clemson Spineless is more popular amongst the South Georgia farmers. It contains a rounded pod with no spines on the external layer. The heirloom variety, Cowhorn allows you to grow a little longer pods before the okra loses the taste quality and becomes too tough.

The Best Harvesting Tool Around

The Over The Shoulder Harvesting Bucket is by the far the best tool to use when harvesting fruits and vegetables around the homestead. It allows you to easily cut crops with one hand then harvest with the other hand. The harvesting bucket contains adjustable straps that won’t cut into your skin and a padded area on the back for extra comfort. Another benefit of using this harvesting bucket is it has an 18-quart capacity and a kidney-shaped bucket to comfortably fit against your body. Overall, the best harvesting tool for picking crops such as okra, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, apples, etc., is the Over The Shoulder Harvesting Bucket.

Other Harvesting Tools

The garden hod is a multifunctional harvesting bucket that makes harvesting fruits and vegetables quick and it allows you rinse them off all in one container. The heavy-duty mesh wire with weather-resistant wood will last for multiple harvestings in the vegetable garden. A popular harvesting container is our Tubtrugs that come in various sizes such as the Mini Shallow, Small, Small Shallow, Medium, Large Shallow, and the Colander. These Tubtrugs are virtually indestructible containers that are UV-resistant and lightweight making it easier to carry around the homestead. Another handy tool to have when harvesting vegetables in the garden area is our Handy Twine Knife. The twine knife contains a blade on a ring that is supposed to be worn on your finger. It can fit either below or above the knuckle of your finger and is only sharp on the inside making it safe to use and carry. This allows you to quickly harvest trellising tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cut flowers, and other vegetables. Some must have harvesting knives such as the Cabbage knife, California knife, and Asparagus knife. A great combo that includes the cabbage knife and the California knife is the Garden Knife Combo that also includes a Farmers file.

Best Tool for Harvesting Okra

The best tool for harvesting okra in the garden is our Handy Twine Knife. This tool is a vinyl-coated ring that slides onto your finger that makes it easier to harvest vegetables and cut twine when using the trellising technique. When harvesting okra this twine knife can be worn either above or below the knuckle of your finger. It also comes with a protective sheath making it safer to store when not in use. The blade is fixed and only sharp on the inside making it safer to carry and use around the garden. The handy twine knife comes in five different colors that vary based on your finger size. There are five sizes ranging from 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14.

Growing Okra in the Garden

When planting okra the best time to plant is during the spring, summer, or fall months. Due to these plants loving the warmer weather temperatures they need to be planted in an area with plenty of sunlight. We recommend transplanting okra in the early spring to get a jumpstart on production and early germination of plants during the growing season. When transplanting using our seed starting trays this will ensure you develop a solid root ball because of the internal root training ribs that help the plants grow properly and reduce transplant shock when placed in the garden area. If you would rather direct seed okra plants the best time is either late spring or summer using our walk-behind garden seeder. It comes with six adjustable seed plates that allow for a variety of different seeds to be planted in the seeder. Another benefit of growing okra is they work great for succession planting throughout the warmer months. When picked regularly you are able to get multiple harvests off one okra plant. The best time to harvest okra pods is when they reach around 3 to 5 inches in length. However, once okra plants get so tall they become less productive and harvesting will be more difficult. A major pest that can harm the growth of okra plants is root-knot nematodes. These nematodes cause knots on the roots of the plants that can drain the nutrients from the plants leaving them wilted in the garden. There are a couple of different ways to control these nematode problems in the garden area. We recommend using a cover crop like Broadleaf Mustard that will release chemicals to help suppress nematode, fungi, and insect populations and increase organic matter which will improve soil tilth and quality of the soil structure in the vegetable garden area.

Okra Varieties

There are several different okra varieties that we have available that are not only productive but have excellent flavor profiles. The Jambalaya okra is a hybrid variety that produces green pods that have heavy yields that are great for pickling, frying, or stewing. While the Red Burgundy is a highly-productive heirloom variety that has dark red pods that stay tender at longer pod lengths. Another heirloom variety is Cowhorn which is an earlier producer that has long tender pods that reach up to 10 inches long. Unlike traditional varieties, the Silver Queen variety has less ribbing which means the pods remain tender at 6 inches long. This variety also produces light green to almost white pods that make them unique from other okra varieties. The Star of David produces shorter and thicker pods that are excellent for frying in the kitchen. It is another heirloom variety that got its name based on its origin in Isreal. All of these varieties work great when used for pickling, frying, stewing, or boiling in recipes on the homestead.

Growing the Best Sweet Corn

On this week’s episode, Greg is discussing all the essentials needed to grow the best sweet corn in the garden. The three most important factors when growing the best sweet corn are pollination, irrigation, and fertilization. When it comes to planting corn it should be planted in blocks or squares because corn is pollinated by the wind. Planting in blocks instead of long rows ensures that once the crop starts tasselling the wind can effectively pollinate the corn. Corn is a self-pollinating plant that produces a male flower, which is commonly referred to as a tassel, and a female flower, which is commonly referred to as the silks. In order for kernels of corn to be produced by the plant, the male flowers must pollinate the female flowers. The male flower is located at the very top of the plant whereas the female flower is formed along the stalk of the plant. The male flower contains the pollen, which is primarily spread by wind, that will be used to pollinate the female plant in the garden. Another major factor of growing sweet corn is it needs plenty of irrigation to grow in the garden. We recommend using drip tape because it ensures all the water is going directly to the plant roots where they need it the most to grow in the vegetable garden. Since corn is a heavy feeder it needs plenty of fertilizer to grow healthy plants. Before planting the corn, at pre-plant Greg likes to add a good amount of compost down in the garden. Then, once the corn gets around knee-high, he starts fertilizing with the fertilizer injector through the drip system. Greg recommends injecting 20-20-20 which is a water-soluble fertilizer through the injector. As well as, Chilean Nitrate which is a 16% soluble nitrogen that is a great source for corn in the garden. When growing the best sweet corn these three important factors such as pollination, irrigation, and fertilization can all ensure that you produce the most productive and healthiest sweet corn in the vegetable garden all throughout the growing season.

Sweet Corn Varieties

There are several different varieties of sweet corn that are all productive and have a great flavor profile. Greg’s favorite variety is Silver Queen which has been a popular old-fashioned sweet corn variety that has been grown in the vegetable garden for years. It usually grows 8 to 9 inches tall and produces ears that are 8 to 9 inches long. Another well-known variety is the Honey Select Sweet Corn. This variety is an All American Selections winner and is a sugary enhanced hybrid that has an excellent flavor profile. The sugary enhanced Peaches and Cream variety contains bicolor ears that are white and yellow kernels that have two different flavor profiles. While the Stowell’s Evergreen is an heirloom, open-pollinated variety that produces consistent 8-inch white kernels that have a great flavor profile and stores well after harvesting from the vegetable garden.

Why Should You Maintain Weeds?

It is important to maintain weeds in the vegetable garden because they can ultimately overrun the entire garden area if they are not controlled. The major issue with weeds in the garden is they compete for nutrients, water, soil, and space against plants that strongly need it for growth. If the plants do not get all the necessary nutrients they need then the plants will not be productive and overall become unhealthy in the garden. Weeds can also become a hiding place for diseases and pests that will end up destroying plants from growing throughout the season. To maintain the pesky weed pressures from taking over the garden, we prefer to grow cover crops. The cover crops contain different traits that will help improve not only the garden soil structure and erosion control but it will also suppress weed and pest pressures. We recommend using cover crops such as Buckwheat, Sunn Hemp, and Brown Top Millet for suppressing weeds in the vegetable garden. These cover crops are all warm-season crops so they work perfectly during the warmer months when it’s harder to grow other vegetables. We also like to use drip irrigation in the garden to reduce weed pressures. When using drip tape we can accurately supply water to the plant roots directly and decrease unnecessary watering where plants do not need it like between rows and along the edge of the vegetable garden.

Best Garden Hoe for Your Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis is testing out the difference between a standard garden hoe and our push-pull hoe. In the garden, Travis has pigweed that has grown up pretty bad between his sunflower plants. In the South, pigweed is very prevalent and will grow in any kind of weather condition. The pigweed currently is about 8 to 12 inches tall and pretty thick in the garden. Travis is going to test which garden hoe is the best when it comes to removing the pigweed from the vegetable garden. With the traditional garden hoe, he has to lift the hoe and basically hack away at the ground. While this does works to displace the weeds, it also displaces a large amount of dirt that covers the weeds and we will end up having to come back in order to level the area out. However, with the push-pull hoe, it stays almost level with the soil and all Travis has to do is slide it back and forth. This garden hoe provides a smoother and more effective way to remove pigweed from the vegetable garden. Then, we simply take that dura rake and clean the area of any leftover weeds.

Push-Pull Hoe

With this v-shaped garden hoe, it allows for a quicker and more effective way to weed in the vegetable garden. The push-pull hoe contains a hardened steel blade that’s sharp on all sides which allows you to cut the weeds in backward and forward directions. To effectively use the garden hoe, we push the hoe forward to cut the weed from the soil and backward to completely displace the entire weed in the vegetable garden. The push-pull hoe is perfect if you use drip irrigation because you can weed close to the lines without worrying about cutting into the drip tape. Overall, the push pull hoe is the best garden hoe because you can effectively get rid of all the weeds more fast and simple than a regular garden hoe.

Why Grow Sweet Potatoes?

This warm-weather crop can be planted as late as July or August, but Travis is planting them in May this year because he wants to harvest them a little earlier in the garden. The sweet potatoes typically take around 100 days to harvest. There are several health benefits to growing sweet potatoes such as they provide a variety of vitamins and minerals. Once sweet potatoes are harvested they can be cooked and used in various recipes. When growing sweet potatoes, not only are they easy to grow, but they bring unique varieties to the vegetable garden.

Planting Sweet Potatoes

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting one of the easiest crops in the vegetable garden, In late February, Travis planted red potatoes and the Blue Belle variety in the garden. Since regular potatoes are in the nightshade family and sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family they can be planted directly behind each other in the same spot. When planting regulars potatoes, we should wait till the little buds grow off then cut the potato into pieces and plant those pieces. However, with planting sweet potatoes, we aren’t planting the actual potato we are planting what is known as slips. When you leave the sweet potato out long enough it will begin to grow shoots off of it kind of like the regular potato with buds. With the sweet potato slips, you simply pluck them off the potato put them in water and they will start to develop roots when placed in the vegetable garden. Travis’s favorite company to get sweet potato slips from is Steele Plant Company in Gleason, TN. The two varieties he is going to plant this year are Covington and Centennial. When preparing the garden for planting sweet potatoes, at Hoss Tools we strongly believe in the fad system which stands for furrow, amend, and drip. So first we create a furrow along the garden row using the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment. Next, Travis will take his good compost and amend the furrow that he just created. Then, he will add the drip tape system to ensure we get an accurate amount of irrigation directly to the plant roots. When placing the drip tape in the garden for sweet potatoes you can simply lay it to the side of the plants until we hill the potatoes. The sweet potatoes will be planted on three-foot row spacing in the vegetable garden. Due to our drip tape having emitters on 12-inch spacing this allows us to dictate where to place the sweet potato slips. Since sweet potatoes are vining plants they will grow vines on both sides of the row. To control the vines, Travis likes to take the dura rake and rake the vines back into the plants along the row. This will help create a dense foliage canopy that reduces weed pressures and allows a clear path to walk down the middles of the garden area. Once the sweet potatoes are fully mature, you can simply dig them out of the ground like regular potatoes.

Why Organic Disease Controls?

When growing your own food in the garden the overall goal is to produce the healthiest vegetables. In order to achieve this goal using organic disease controls and pest controls help eliminate applying harmful products on our vegetable garden area. To produce the healthiest vegetables, we need a garden that is not overrun with weeds, diseases, and pests that develop major issues in the garden area. We use organic controls to help reduce these problems because we don’t have to worry about harmful chemicals being applied to our vegetables and fruits in the garden. Having organic controls not only improves our environment and garden soils, but our food is being produced in the healthiest way possible for consumption.

Fighting Off Disease Problems

On this week’s episode, Greg is discussing the organic disease controls to use in the vegetable garden. During late spring and early summer, we begin to start seeing many disease problems pop up in the garden area. For example, tomatoes can get early and late blight, squash is prone to powdery and downy mildew, and other vegetables are susceptible too. In order to reduce these disease problems, we start by using drip irrigation and rotating our crops around in the garden. When using Drip Tape Irrigation this allows us to feed the plant roots exactly where they need it the most. In return, this takes care of overhead watering on unnecessary areas and allows the water to be directly underneath the plant instead of leaving moisture on the leaf foliage for a prolonged time causing severe issues in the garden. It is also important to have a crop rotation schedule because you can never plant the same family of vegetables in the same plot for two consecutive years. This reduces soil-borne diseases from living in the same area year after year in the vegetable garden. As well as, a variety of organic disease controls can be used to eliminate these harmful diseases from causing serious damage in the garden. The first disease control Greg talks about is Liqui-Cop. The Liquid Copper Fungicide is a conventional method that controls many diseases that attack fruits, citrus, vegetables, nuts, and ornamentals. This fungicide is weather-resistant and sticks to plant and woody surfaces once it dries which in return leaves long-lasting control in the vegetable garden. It can be used as both a foliar spray and dormant spray in the garden. If used as a dormant spray it can be mixed with Horticultural Oil to provide a good combination treatment on the plants. The next solution that he recommends is Bi-Carb which is made from an active ingredient of potassium bicarbonate. The Bi-Carb fungicide works best for controlling powdery mildew on vegetables, roses, and fruit trees. The Complete Disease Control is a broader preventative that helps with bacterial and fungal plant diseases in the vegetable garden. When used as a foliar spray application it can control powerdy mildews, gray mold, leaf spots, anthracnose, and other above-ground plant parts in the garden. The last organic control, Greg talks about is the Fruit Tree Spray Plus. This is an insecticide, fungicide, and miticide that contains neem oil which works perfectly as a contact for disease control. To get the best control this spray needs to be applied at the first sign of insect or mite issue in the garden. It works in controlling aphids, mites, fungus gnats, stink bugs, thrip, tomato hornworm, and many other insect pests. All of these organic disease controls are OMRI certified meaning they are organically produced. Every time you spray an insecticide be sure to mix in one of these disease solutions to help fight off all the pest and disease problems in the garden.

Growing Tomatoes in the Garden

When planting tomatoes they do best transplanted instead of direct-seeded in the vegetable garden. Transplants should be planted in the garden, 4 to 6 weeks before the intended outdoor planting date. If weather conditions are just right the tomato transplants can be planted directly into the garden. However, if the weather is still too cold, then transplants should be stepped up into larger pots to allow more room for tomato growth. Once tomato transplants are planted in the vegetable garden they will begin producing heavy yields of fruits quickly. Tomatoes also need a support system to help the fruits stay upright in the garden. Greg recommends using the Flordia Weave Trellis technique with twine and stakes to ensure the plants stay off the ground, reduce the possibility of diseases, and keeps the fruits clean in the vegetable garden. Another way to support the tomato plants is by using tomato cages which help with taller plants that are much heavier in the vegetable garden. The trellising systems can also help when growing peppers and eggplants as well in the vegetable garden. Providing plenty of calcium to the root systems will also help reduce blossom end rot and produce the healthiest tomatoes. After harvesting, the best way to store the healthiest tomatoes is to place them underneath a barn or carport that has a well-shaded area with good airflow.

Tomato Varieties

Some of the heirloom variety of tomatoes we offer are Mortgage Lifter, Jubilee, Cherokee Purple, and Yellow Pear. These heirloom varieties produce popular tomatoes that have the best flavor profiles and are a go-to for growing on any homestead. The hybrid variety of tomatoes we have available are Bella Rosa, Brickyard, Mountain Glory, and Sun Gold. All of these hybrid varieties have excellent flavor profiles, disease-resistant characteristics, and maximum yields in the vegetable garden.

Avoiding Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes

On this week’s episode, Greg explains the best way to grow the healthiest tomatoes by eliminating blossom end rot in the vegetable garden. A major issue during the growing stages of tomatoes is blossom end rot which occurs typically when the plants are stressed due to a lack of calcium. Calcium is soluble which means it moves readily throughout the plants in the vegetable garden. It commonly leaves the tomatoes with brown and yellow water spots on the end or bottom of the fruit where the blossom once was. The lack of calcium can be caused by poorly drained soils that cannot apply calcium fast enough to the growing tomatoes. In order to prevent blossom end rot, Greg applies pelletized gypsum soil conditioner to get the calcium to the plants effectively. Greg simply takes the tomato plant out of the seed starting tray and adds 8 ounces (1 cup) of the soil conditioner to the bottom of the desired hole you are planting the tomato transplant. He also mixes the pelletized gypsum in with the garden soil, then plants the tomato deep in the vegetable garden. It’s important to add the calcium to the roots of the tomato plants in order to fight off the blossom end rot. Once the tomatoes start blooming, Greg recommends applying two more cups of the gypsum soil conditioner around the top of the plants and really close to the root system. When the water hits the tops of the plant it will move the calcium we applied into the soil and the plant roots will absorb it up to develop the fruits. Overall, avoiding blossom end rot problems will allow you to grow the healthiest tomatoes in the vegetable garden.

Growing and Fertilizing Corn

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing the best way to fertilize corn in the vegetable garden. When planting corn in the garden it is known to be a heavy-feeder that needs lots of water and fertilizer in order to produce healthy plants. Earlier in the Spring, Travis planted Truckers Favorite Yellow Corn in the garden using the Hoss Garden Seeder. The best tool for planting seeds in the garden is our garden seeder because it has six different modified seed plates that are adjustable for a variety of seed sizes. Since corn is a heavy-feeder, Travis highly recommends burying drip tape irrigation to feed the plant roots effectively all throughout the growing season. There are two different ways to fertilize corn in the garden such as side-dressing or with a fertilizer injector. Side-dressing means you make a furrow down the side or along the row and put granular fertilizer in the furrow. Then, once water enters the soil it leaches the fertilizer and makes it available to the plants in the garden. However, the best way to fertilize corn according to Travis is using the EZ-Flo fertilizer injector and the drip irrigation system. It can be hooked up to any of your water sources such as a water hose or faucet and quickly adds fertilizer to your vegetable garden. The EZ-Flo works with any kind of water-soluble fertilizer like fish emulsion, Chilean nitrate, 20-20-20, and many others. Travis demonstrates using the 20-20-20 fertilizer which is made up of 20% nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. To set up the fertilizer injector you simply attach it to either a water hose, water faucet, or drip irrigation system. Then, you have a line going in and out of the tank that pumps water into and out of the tank. This also pumps the fertilizer out of the tank into your drip tape or another water system you’re using. The fertilizer injector has four different ratio settings that determine the pressure that the fertilizer is coming out in the garden. Travis prefers to use the fast setting because it takes about two hours to empty all the fertilizer in the injector tank. He usually adds anywhere from two to four cups of the 20-20-20, then dissolve it in a large container, and add it to the fertilizer injector. Overall, the fertilizer injector makes it quick and easy to apply the accurate amount of fertilizer to the garden area. Keep in mind when growing different corn varieties they can all be succession planted meaning you can get two plantings in the garden. Also, when planting corn to get better production it should be planted in a square plot instead of long rows in order to increase pollination purposes. During the warmer months, if you experience corn ear worm pressures, apply Spinosad Garden Insect Spray to the silks and tassels to help reduce further problems in the vegetable garden.

Heirloom & Hybrid Corn Varieties

There are several different varieties of corn that we have available at Hoss Tools. We offer older heirloom varieties such as Jimmy Red, Silver Queen, Hickory King, Truckers Favorite, Stowell’s Evergreen, Wapsi Valley and Blue Hopi. These varieties typically are known to be a favorite to many for there excellent flavor profiles and are used as a staple ingredient when cooking a variety of recipes on the homestead. The hybrid varieties of corn include Ambrosia, Honey Select, Incredible, and Peaches and Cream. These varieties tend to have excellent flavor profile, disease/pest resistant characteristics and have more production than heirloom varieties in the vegetable garden. Depending on your preference between heirloom or hybrid varieties they both offer great benefits in the garden.

Benefits of Growing Asparagus

There are a couple of different health benefits to growing asparagus in the vegetable garden. Like other vegetables, asparagus provides nutrients such as protein, fiber, potassium, phosphorus, folate, and a few other vitamins. As well as, a good source of antioxidants which helps protect cells from oxidative stress and free radicals. Another health benefit of asparagus is it can improve digestive health in the body. Also, helps reduce blood pressure which is a major risk factor for multiple people in the world. There has been several kinds of research done that suggest that increasing potassium intake and reducing salt intake is an effective way to lower high blood pressure.

Planting & Harvesting Asparagus

On this week’s episode, Greg demonstrates the best way to harvest asparagus in the vegetable garden. When growing asparagus they do best when grown in lighter soils that warm up quickly and drains well in the springtime. It typically takes around three years for asparagus to get established well and have full production in the vegetable garden. However, if you maintain the garden beds that they are growing in you can easily get 10 to 15 years of good asparagus production. To prepare an asparagus bed, you should get rid of grasses and weeds to eliminate weed competition from the garden spot. To maintain asparagus beds, you simply cut them back to the ground during the wintertime, apply good compost, and then add wheat straw on top. Greg mentions that we add wheat straw to help insulate the bed and control weeds in the asparagus bed. In the springtime, when harvesting asparagus spears they start coming up through the wheat straw in the bed, Greg likes to take his asparagus knife and cut it right below ground level. When using the asparagus knife, you simply take the v-shaped blade and push it against the asparagus stalks for a quick and easy harvest. After harvesting asparagus, the best way to store asparagus is by placing them in the refrigerator in a sealed bag. Asparagus should only be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

Cooking with Asparagus

When cooking asparagus, most people prefer to either grill, roast, or eat it raw from the garden. It is great vegetable to incorporate into salads, soups, or as a dip. Whether you are sauteing or eating asparagus raw it is vegetable that has many health benefits to offer and easy to grow in your garden area.

Benefits of Organic Pest Control

When using organic pest control the most important step in eliminating the pest problems is to be proactive in the garden. Greg recommends having a spray program early on to ensure that you reduce the pest issues before they over populate the vegetable garden. The benefits of using organic pest controls include an overall better garden area and harder resistance for pests. Every gardener desire is to have a better garden area for planting when using natural pest controls you reduce the risk of damaging the garden soils. Also, pests have a harder time resisting the organic pest controls because these sprays are developed with biological chemicals or traits rather than artificial which makes the insects less resistance to them in the garden. Another benefit of using natural pest controls is the ability to produce healthier vegetables. When growing your own food the overall goal is to create healthier food and apply the best natural products effectively in the garden. By using natural products we don’t have to worry about our vegetables being sprayed with harsh chemicals and unsafe to consume. Overall, having healthier sprays being applied to the plants can in return allow for better vegetables to be produced and consumed from the garden.

Varieties of Organic Pest Controls

On this week’s episode, Greg explains the best organic pest control to use in the vegetable garden. One way that Greg likes to use pest control is with a combination of Neem Oil, Take-Down, and B.t. The organic pest control, Neem Oil is naturally derived from the Neem tree and be used on a variety of pests such as aphids, whiteflies, beetles, spider mites, and a few other insect pests. Neem Oil can also be used to control fungal diseases like downy mildew, black spot, powdery mildew, tip blight, anthracnose, etc. The Take-Down Garden Spray is a combination of pyrethrin and canola oil which allows for a quick knockdown with residual control. Take-Down will eliminate pests such as aphids, caterpillars, thrips, whitefly, mites, leafhoppers, etc. The Monterey B.t. is a bacteria that worms ingest that ends up killing them internally. B.t. should be applied at the first sign of infestation and then repeated weekly to maintain pest control in the vegetable garden. To apply these pest controls in the garden, Greg mixes the B.t. in with Neem Oil and spray that seven days apart. Then, the next week he will spray Take-Down and Neem in the vegetable garden. Which allows you to eliminate all the pest problems you may be experiencing in the vegetable garden. All of these pest controls should be mixed with water in order to make them spray. For the Neem Oil, Greg mixes one ounce per gallon and the Take-Down mixes one to two ounces per gallon. No matter what organic pest control products you decide to use in the vegetable garden, make sure to apply a spray program to ultimately eliminate insect populations from taking over the garden area.

Growing Blue Lake & Green Crop Beans

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting two different varieties of beans on double rows in the vegetable garden. The first variety of bush bean is Blue Lake which is great for canning and eating fresh from the garden. The second variety is known as Green Crop Bush Bean which contains a flattened appearance with heavy yields of stringless pods. The best time to plant beans is in the spring after the last frost date has occurred. Depending on the soil temperatures, seeds can typically germinate between 8 to 16 days. To get more production, beans can be succession planted every couple of weeks throughout the spring and early summer. Succession planting allows for a steady amount of production throughout the entire growing season and maximizes our space in a small garden area.

Planting Double Rows

Planting on drip tape has many benefits for the garden area. A couple of these benefits is the reduction of soil erosion, improved plant health, less water waste, and saves time in the vegetable garden. Unlike overhead watering, drip tape penetrates directly to plant roots where the water and nutrients are needed the most which in return produces healthier plants. As well as, save water because you are not wasting water on unnecessary areas in the vegetable garden like the walkways where plants are not planted. Another benefit of drip irrigation is you are able to maintain weeds from taking over your entire garden area. To set up drip tape irrigation in the garden we recommend using our Double Wheel Hoe with the Drip Tape Layer Attachment. This attachment makes laying drip tape easier and turns a two-person job into a one-person job. We also highly recommend burying drip tape to ensure the emitters stay upright and prevent animals from ruining the tape in the garden. To easily bury the drip tape, you can attach the plow set attachment on the double wheel hoe to bury the drip tape and make furrows along the garden row. When planting on double rows, we place the drip tape buried in the middle of the crops to equally distribute water and fertilizer to plants. Planting on double rows allows us to maximize yield in the limited space we have in the garden area. We suggest planting double rows with 3-inch spacing and as close to 6 inches apart along the garden row. If you prefer single row spacing instead you can plant them with 2 to 3 inch spacing in the vegetable garden. Travis recommends direct seeding beans, but you can use the garden seeder with the #6 seed plate adjusted to fit the seed size. When planting beans they should be planted thick along the garden row and thinned to the desired spacing.

Other Bush Bean Varieties

The other bush bean variety we offer is known as the Provider. The Provider variety has heavy-yields that can be planted earlier than traditional bush bean varieties. It makes uniform-sized pods that are normally 5 to 5 1/2 inches long and round. Unlike other bush bean varieties, this provider variety produces better in cooler soils and tends to continue production into the warmer months. This ensures that we have a longer harvesting window that maximizes production in the vegetable garden throughout the growing season as well. Another benefit of planting this provider variety is the disease tolerant characteristics it contains especially for downy mildew, powdery mildew, pod mottle virus, and common bean mosaic virus. Having a disease tolerant plant variety helps us control diseases/pests and allows us to have healthier plants in the vegetable garden. Overall, bush beans are

Bloody Butcher Corn

On this week’s episode, Greg is planting bloody butcher in the vegetable garden. Greg typically plants his corn with 36-inch spacing. However, in today’s video, he narrowed it down to around 30 inches to get the most out of this rather expensive variety of corn. When planting corn varieties in the garden, you need drip tape irrigation to ensure the plants are getting all the water and nutrients that are needed for growth throughout the growing season. Drip tape irrigation works best when buried underneath the soil and plants. This ensures that several varieties of plants can get accurate amounts of water and fertilizer directly supplied to their plant roots for overall easier takeup. When planting bloody butcher and other corn varieties, they need plenty of room for growth and pollination. However, you also do not want to waste any room and plant them too far apart in the vegetable garden.

Jimmy Red Corn

Very similar to the Bloody Butcher variety is our Jimmy Red Corn. This variety was originally cultivated by the Native Americans and has become a popular ingredient for grits, cornmeal, and cornbread. Similar to other field corn varieties, Jimmy Red contains a yellow color while in the milking stage but matures to a deeper red color. The Jimmy Red contains a flavor profile that has a rich sweet taste that has a gold standard for red corn. When planting the Jimmy Red variety we recommend using our walk-behind garden seeder. The garden seeder comes with six adjustable seed plates that are made for a variety of crop seed sizes. Once plants start to emerge, Greg likes to go in the garden and thin plants to 8 to 12 inches depending on drip irrigation. Corn varieties should be planted in a square plot instead of long rows to improve pollination and better germination. The square plot allows for the plants to efficiently pollinate the silks and tassels that helps produce the kernels on each set of corn ear. Corn can be succession planted meaning we can get two plantings, one in early spring and one in late summer/early fall. During the warmer months, using Spinosad on the silks and tassels will help control the corn ear worm pressures in the vegetable garden.

Other Field Corn Varieties

Along with planting Bloody Butcher and Jimmy Red, Greg likes to plant other field corn varieties like Hickory King, Silver Queen, Truckers Favorite, and Wapsie Valley. The largest field corn variety is the Hickory King that produces up to 12 to 13-inches tall and two large ears on each plant that are around 9 to 10 inches in length. Although, the Silver Queen is the most popular field corn variety to plant in the vegetable garden for many years. This standard (su) variety contains a sugary gene that is responsible for the sweetness and creamy texture of the kernels on the corn. The Truckers Favorite is another popular variety that produces 9 to 10-inches tall that grows well in many climates, but especially warmer climates. This corn variety produces better in cooler soils, making it great for early plantings in the garden. Another open-pollinated variety is the Wapsie Valley that produces kernels that are high in protein. This variety is highly adaptable to several growing conditions and has the ability to produce huge stalks with well-formed ears.

Planting Field Corn

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting a popular variety of field corn in the vegetable garden. The best time to plant corn is during the warmer months up until the fall. When growing field corn it is nearly impossible without drip tape irrigation. Since field corn stalks grow tall in the garden the overhead irrigation will not water the roots as effectively as the drip tape. Using our Double Wheel Hoe with the Drip Tape Layer attachment is the perfect tool for laying drip tape fast and effectively in the vegetable garden. With drip irrigation buried and compost laid down in the trenches, we are ready for planting field corn. The compost is used as a soil amendment in order to help develop the field corn in the vegetable garden. To begin planting the Truckers Favorite field corn we recommend using our walk-behind garden seeder. The garden seeder allows us to accurately plant without wasting any seeds by overplanting. Another benefit of using our garden seeder is the six seed plates that are modified for a variety of different seed sizes. The truckers favorite variety of field corn that Travis is planting works great with our #6 seed plate. The seed plate has four holes so around a four and a half-inch spacing will work great for the field corn. With the garden seeder depth adjusted to one inch, Travis can plant field corn directly on top of the drip tape without worrying about puncturing or cutting into the drip tape. During the warmer months, to avoid corn ear worm pressures we prefer to apply Spinosad Garden Insect Spray to the silks and tassels to control these insect problems. The silks and tassels are important for pollination because they make the kernels on the corn produce. Without good pollination of plants, you cannot have a good harvest of field corn in the vegetable garden.

Succession Planting & Squared Plots

It is recommended to succession plant field corn because you can maximize yields and utilize space in the garden area. With field corn, two succession plantings are available in the early spring and in late summer/early fall. This extends harvesting times for crops and allows for a constant supply to harvest in the garden. Instead of planting field corn in long rows along the garden area, they should be planted in square plots or subplots. The squared plot ensures pollination is happening for the silks and tassel to produce kernels on the cob. When growing field corn in long rows this will result in poor germination and absence of kernels on the cob from insufficient pollination. Another benefit of planting in square plots is the ability to incorporate crop rotation in the garden. Crop rotation is important for several crops because when planting in the same area year after year it can cause many problems in the vegetable garden. One issue of not rotating crops is the reduction of soil nutrients and causing crops to be less fertile. When planting the same crop in the same area every season it can cause the garden soil to be drained of the same nutrients needed for plant growth leaving the garden unable to supply nutrients and produce healthy plants. When alternating between different crops the supply of nutrients can be replenished based on the varieties of crops being grown in the area. Crop rotation helps establish improved soil stability by alternating between deep and shallow roots of different crops in the garden. Overall, good crop rotation can produce healthier plants and improve the maximum yield in the vegetable garden.

Preparing Potatoes for Planting

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting potatoes in the garden area. This year, when planting potatoes he has a few different varieties from Irish Eyes Garden Seeds to try out. The varieties we are going to try out in the garden are Jelly, Blue Belle, and Russian Banana. In order to plant potatoes, Travis recommends cutting the potatoes up to only one or two eyes on each piece to get more yield. Once you cut the potatoes up the skin needs time to heal before planting in the vegetable garden. This ensures that the potato pieces do not become susceptible to soil fungus and rot in the garden. The process that the potato goes through when healing is known as suberization. Travis typically lets the potato pieces sit and heal for around three days to a week before they are completely healed over. To help with the suberization process it is recommended to use Fir Bark which is a fine dust that helps speed up the healing of the potato pieces. Travis prefers to scatter the Fir Bark dust on the potatoes kind like battering something up to fry and then shake them around in the bucket.

Planting Potatoes in the Garden

To prepare the vegetable garden, Travis used his Double Wheel Hoe with the cultivator teeth attachment to break up the garden soil. Then, with the wheel hoe and the plow set attachment, we can make a furrow to plant potatoes in. When the potatoes are placed along the garden row, we can adjust the plow set to fit on the outside of the wheel hoe to cover up or hill the potatoes in the vegetable garden. Since Travis has three different varieties to plant, he is planting one in each row. He is placing the rows about two and half feet apart in the vegetable garden. In order to get straight rows in the garden, Travis prefers to use stakes and string for each row. Once each row has a furrow ready we should add some soil amendments before we plant potatoes. Travis has some worm castings from a local dairy that he is going to line at the bottom each furrow in the vegetable garden. When the worm castings are added then we can add the potatoes on top and hill it over with the Double Wheel Hoe. To plant the potatoes, Travis is planting them with the eye facing upwards and around 6 to 8 inches apart down the row in the garden. The reason we place the eye upward ensures that the potato plant can sprout and form leaves once it grows out of the soil. Travis mentions that we should not have to add water until they sprout from the ground. Once they begin to sprout, that’s when he recommends laying the drip tape irrigation in the garden. After, laying the drip tape Travis will hill the potatoes again because they prefer a lot of soil on top of them.

Potato Varieties

There are a few different potato varieties that we have available at Hoss. The first variety is known as Adirondack Blue which contains a purple flesh potato that is rich in antioxidants. Usually taking around 85 days to mature this unique potato variety offers exceptional yields and excellent flavor. Another popular potato variety that provides the best flavor is the German Butterball. This variety is a late-season plant meaning it takes between 110 to 135 days to mature in the vegetable garden. The Red Norland is a newer variety that has disease resistant to scab, late blight, and potato virus. This is another variety that has great yield, storage, and flavor profile. The Yukon Gold is another popular variety that has been a favorite for gardeners for many years. All of these varieties work great for roasting, frying, baking, mashing, and so much more.

Adding Lime in the Garden

On this week’s episode, Greg explains the benefits of adding lime in the garden. The two different forms of lime are regular agricultural lime and pelletized lime. The major difference between the two forms is that the regular lime is a powder and the pelletized lime can be used in a spreader. The agricultural lime is nearly impossible to put out by hand. Therefore, when using lime in the small garden area the best solution is to use the pelletized lime. The pelletized lime provides a natural source of magnesium and calcium that improves soil health. The pelleted form of lime makes it easier to spread, dissolve quickly, and improve fertilizer effectiveness in the garden. Some crops such as corn, lettuce, cabbage, beans, peas, and other greens all do well in limed soil.

When To Add Lime in the Vegetable Garden?

Before adding lime to the vegetable garden, you should first take a soil sample test to ensure that your garden area needs it. You can get soil sample bags from your local extension office and then send them off to labs to test your soils. Once you receive your soil sample results, then you are able to accurately apply the right amount of lime to the garden soil. Adding lime in the vegetable garden will raise your pH levels in the soil. Once you raise the pH levels it is even harder to bring them back down. If you apply too much pH in an area that does not need it, then other nutrients will become tied up and crops will not be able to grow healthy in the vegetable garden. The only way to lower the pH is by using elemental sulfur. The issue with using sulfur is it is soluble meaning it will have to be applied year after year in order to eventually bring the pH level back down. In order to ensure you have a nice and healthy garden area, make sure to do a soil sample before applying elements that will affect your nutrients that are needed for plant growth. Once you have applied the lime to the garden soil, you may see a difference in four weeks, but it will take around 6 to 12 months for it to completely dissolve in the soil.

Taking A Soil Sample Test

When taking a soil test they can provide accurate information on the garden soil nutrients. The best way to collect the soil for testing is to determine which area you plan on gardening. Then, you should take at least 8 or 10 different samples from each area to ensure you get accurate information about the area. The sampling depth depends on which plants you plan on growing but for gardens, we recommend getting a sample depth of 6 inches. Keep in mind that the soil sample test should be done well in advance of the desired planting season. This will ensure you have plenty of time to get the test information back and you can prepare adjustments to the soil before the growing season in the vegetable garden.

Preparing the Garden Area

To begin planting pelleted carrots in the high tunnel greenhouse Greg must first prepare the garden area. The first step in preparing the garden for planting pelleted carrots is to use the Oscillating attachment on the Wheel Hoe to work the garden soil. Then, after working the soil we laid out compost exactly where we are planning to plant in the greenhouse. Greg mentions that we do not add compost to the entire area because we want to avoid weeds growing up in the walkways and we save compost by only applying it where it is needed. Once we work the compost in the soil we are ready to add drip tape to the garden soil. Since we are planting the pelleted carrots in the high tunnel greenhouse the only way to provide irrigation to the roots is through drip tape. Drip irrigation allows for the plants to be fed with water directly to the plant roots where it is needed the most for growth and allows you to conserve water. Another benefit of using drip irrigation is it allows us to plant crops on a double row spacing. When planting on a double row spacing we can get more plants planted in a row and more production of crops available for harvesting.

Setting Up Drip Irrigation

Greg has the drip irrigation kit which comes with a filter regulator combo that he is going to place in the middle of his five rows. It is highly recommended to place the regulator combo in the middle of your row in order to have an equal amount of volume and pressure coming out of either side. Then, he will take his mainline tee and attach it to the brass fitting of the regulator combo in order to connect two separate lines of drip tape on either side. In the greenhouse, Greg has the rows spaced 4 feet apart and is going to use where he placed the compost as a line to lay the drip tape along the row. For root crops, like carrots, there is no need to make a furrow and bury the drip tape deeper in the area. Greg will just lay the drip tape using the drip tape layer attachment right on top of the soil and mound up the soil with the plows attachment behind it and cover it up just a little bit. Once the drip tape is laid in the rows we take our mainline tubing and lay it along the border of the garden to feed the individual drip tape rows. We will also add our drip tape row starts to the mainline tubing to connect the individual tape in the greenhouse.

Planting Pelleted Carrots

Greg is going to plant a couple of different varieties of pelleted carrots such as Purple Haze, Romance, and Rainbow. With pelleted seeds, we highly recommend using our Hoss Garden Seeder to make planting quick and easy in the greenhouse. Since we are planting in the high tunnel greenhouse, Greg wants to plant the pelleted carrots thick and a little over 2 inches apart. Using the garden seeder allows us to customize the seed plates to fit the pelleted carrots perfectly for planting. Once the garden is prepared and the seed plates have been adjusted for the garden seeder we are able to plant the pelleted carrots in the greenhouse. When planting, Greg will plant the carrots around 5 to 6 inches away from the drip tape on each side. Overall, pelleted carrots are easy to grow and store well after harvesting from the garden.

Why add Compost to the Vegetable Garden?

There are many beneficial benefits when it comes to adding compost to the plants growing in the vegetable garden. The major reason for adding good compost to the vegetable garden is to improve our soil structures with nutrients. When we increase the nutrients we are able to improve the ability to hold nutrients within the soil for plants to grow. During the decomposition process, organisms are broken down into microorganisms and macroorganisms which are essential for healthy soils. The compost will add properties such as potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other elements that are very important for plant health. Another benefit that compost adds to the vegetable garden is the reduction of soil erosion. When dealing with compost it loosens properties in soil structures like clay or silt in order to spread plant roots. This will in return improve the soil structure to retain water and provide a healthier root system. Along with good compost comes good soil microbes that help fight off diseases in the vegetable garden. The soil microbes will prevent issues with root rot and other diseases that can affect your garden in the future.

Avoiding Contaminated Compost

On this week’s episode, Greg explains ways to avoid contaminated compost from entering into the garden. When talking about whether to use manure, wheat straw, or regular straw in the garden in the past that was the most common composting methods. However, now we have herbicides that have evolved and developed that have more contaminated properties that are being used in the vegetable garden and around the homestead. The two herbicides that cause problems in the compost and manures nowadays is Clopyralid and Picloram. For example, Clopyralid is used primarily in the turfgrass industry to kill weeds. However, those clippings that were contaminated with Clopyralid properties can be carried out in the compost and eventually end up in our vegetable garden. While Picloram is used mainly as a herbicide in pastures and hayfields to kill off broadleaf weeds and keep the fields weed-free. Those can also be carried over because if you buy hay from a farmer that has sprayed Picloram on his field and you have livestock that consumes that hay. In return, you will receive that manure from the livestock to supply nutrients to your garden and you will end up with contaminated compost in the vegetable garden which will cause a serious problem during future growing seasons. The problems you will begin to see in your garden if the plants get affected by these contaminated compost is known as the cupping effect. This cupping effect will cause your leaves to form upwards which will in return wither away, die off, and not produce. Some crops like tomatoes, peppers, and several others are extremely sensitive to these contaminated properties if released in the vegetable garden. Overall, to avoid spreading contaminated compost in the vegetable garden make sure they are free of any harsh chemicals.

What is Elephant Garlic?

Closely related to leeks, elephant garlic has a couple of similarities and differences when compared to regular garlic. Similar to leeks in appearance it contains a tall flowering stalk with flat leaves but has a bulb that forms large garlic-like cloves. Much like onions, the immature elephant garlic plants can be topped off or cut off in order for more plant energy to focus on the bulbs. However, the flavor profile of elephant garlic is much more similar to regular garlic than leeks. The elephant garlic contains a milder flavor than garlic and can sometimes taste better when used raw in salads and other dishes.

Growing Elephant Garlic

On this week’s episode, Greg is explaining how to grow elephant garlic in the vegetable garden. In the South, we struggle with growing garlic because of our harsh weather temperatures. Due to these temperatures, we have better success growing elephant garlic in the vegetable garden. We recommend planting onions about 4 to 6 inches deep and around 16 inches apart between rows. This allows for plenty of space to easily manage weeds in between the rows using our Single or Double Wheel Hoe. It is important to manage the weeds in the garden because they will compete with the elephant garlic roots for nutrients in the soil that is needed for growth. Greg is going to plant his elephant garlic on 22-inch rows using his row maker. Once the rows are marked off, he will take his Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment and make furrows to plant the elephant garlic. When planting elephant garlic he will space them about 8 to 12 inches apart and they should always be planted with the blunt end down and the pointy end in the upright position in the vegetable garden. After all the elephant garlic has been planted in the furrows, Greg takes the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow attachment in the hilling position and covers them up along the vegetable garden. The elephant garlic will take around 90 days before it is mature and ready to harvest in the vegetable garden.

Harvesting Elephant Garlic

When it comes time to harvest elephant garlic you are able to get a one time harvest in the vegetable garden. The elephant garlic is normally twice the size of regular garlic when it comes time to harvest in the garden. Once the bulbs on the leaves begin to die back and bend over that is a key indication that the elephant garlic is ready for harvest in the vegetable garden. After harvesting all the elephant garlic from the garden they should be stored away to cure in an area that is shaded and dry like underneath a barn. To maintain the best storage life and flavor profile, elephant garlic should be kept in a cool area with no sunlight until ready to be used for cooking. Elephant garlic has a shorter storage life than traditional garlic so it should be used within a couple of weeks for optimal flavor. Along with storing away elephant garlic, we are able to save cloves for the next growing season in the vegetable garden.

Preparing the Garden for Planting

On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining how to plant downy mildew resistant pumpkins in the vegetable garden. In order to clean up the garden area from a previous harvest, Travis likes to use the Double Wheel Hoe with the Sweeps attachment. This makes uprooting larger weeds and cleaning everything out the garden quick and easy. Then, Travis took two posts and placed them at either end of the row and ran a string between them. He used this in order to make a straight row to create furrows where he planned to lay his drip tape irrigation. The pumpkins were planted on about 5-foot spacing to ensure they had enough room for the growth stages in the garden. After making the furrows, Travis added some good compost to lightly side dress the bottom of the trenches in order to give the plants a good amount of nutrients to start off within the vegetable garden. Once that is done, he uses his Double Wheel Hoe with the Drip Tape Layer Attachment to lay the drip tape in the furrows he has created. As well as, add all the fittings he will need for the drip tape and check to make sure they are all working correctly in the vegetable garden. Once the furrows and drip tape has been layed and set up we are ready to plant downy mildew resistant pumpkins in the garden area.

Importance of Drip Tape

When planting crops such as pumpkins, drip tape irrigation is an important component for the success of planting and growing pumpkins in the South. Due to our weather conditions, we have several problems with downy mildew because of the humidity and moisture levels that we experience throughout our growing seasons. Since drip irrigation applies water effectively to plant roots and reduces moisture on leaves this is the perfect solution for decreasing downy mildew problems in the vegetable garden. Overall the benefits of having buried drip tape is the ability to conserve water, feed plants effectively, reduce disease pressures, and have a more manageable garden area.

Downy Mildew Resistant Pumpkins

In the South, we benefit from planting downy mildew resistant pumpkins because we do not have to struggle with downy mildew pressures destroying our plants and we can overall get better production from within the garden area. The first downy mildew resistant variety is a pumpkin and butternut squash hybrid. This crossed variety is made between an heirloom Seminole Pumpkin that contains a resistance package and the Butternut Squash which has the taste profile in order to get a good combination of the two to grow in the garden. The next downy mildew resistant variety is the Chinese Tropical Pumpkins which is similar in appearance to the Fairytale Pumpkins. On the second row, Travis is planning to plant the Orange Bulldog Pumpkins which was a variety developed by the University of Georgia. When planting these varieties he is going to direct seed in two rows and plant them about a foot apart because that’s how the emitters on the drip tape are spaced along the garden row. Once the seeds are placed on the drip tape emitters, Travis will simply take the Dura Rake and cover the seeds and pack them along the row in the garden area. After around 90 days the pumpkins are ready for harvest once the plants die back, fruits have reached full color, and the stems have hardened. If you struggle with growing pumpkins in the garden because of your weather conditions try giving these downy mildew resistant pumpkins a try during your next growing season.

Growing & Harvesting Watermelons

The best time to grow watermelons is during the warmer growing seasons. Watermelons can either be transplanted or direct seeded in the vegetable garden. When direct seeding we recommend planting seeds every 12 inches along the row and thin plants once they emerge to one every 2 foot. In the spring, we recommend transplanting in our seed starting trays that have internal vertical root training ribs in order to get a jumpstart on the growing season. This will allow for plants to go in the ground before the soil is warm enough for direct seeding in the vegetable garden. Since watermelons are susceptible to plant diseases if leaf moisture is present we prefer to use drip irrigation to reduce these problems and feed the plants more effectively in the garden. If you have heavy amounts of rainfall using a fungicide like Liquid Copper will help reduce disease pressures as well. Watermelons are ready to harvest when the tendril or curly Q which is located between the fruit stem and the fruit has completely dried up. The tendril is typically curly and green but will become dry when the fruits are ready for harvest in the vegetable garden.

Watermelon Varieties

While there are several different varieties of watermelons in the world we carry some of the best that we have found to grow in the vegetable garden. Greg’s favorite watermelon variety that he has grown in the vegetable garden is the Crimson Sweet. The Crimson Sweet variety is known for its deep crimson flesh, high sugar content, and is an All American Selections winner. This is a seeded variety that tends to be a little larger than some of the other watermelon varieties that are grown in the vegetable garden today. Another popular variety that we carry is the Moon and Stars Watermelon. This heirloom variety is known for its rather unique coloration pattern containing a dark green skin and yellow spots on the exterior of the watermelon which resembles moons and stars. Along with the Moon and Stars variety, we also carry a Yellow Moon and Stars Watermelon. Similar to the traditional moon and stars watermelon exterior the Yellow Moon and Stars contains a yellowish-meat variation interior that has a sweet flavor profile. Two other excellent heirloom varieties we offer is the Georgia Rattlesnake Watermelon and Charleston Gray Watermelon.

Tips for Ripe Watermelons

On this week’s episode, Greg discusses how to determine when watermelons are ripe in the garden. Over the years there have been many different ways to tell when a watermelon is ripe such as how green the exterior is or how yellow the belly is. However, Greg is going to explain the easiest way to determine when watermelons are ripe. The best way to determine if the watermelons are ripe is by the sunspots on the watermelon exterior. When there a little sun exposure on the watermelons it can be a good indication that the watermelon is ripe. Along with this indicator, the curly Q that’s attached where the stem meets the vine is completely dried up all the way to the back of the mainline stem. Greg shows an example of a watermelon that is almost ripe and we can tell this because the curly Q is dried up about halfway on towards the mainline stem. Along with another watermelon that is a few weeks off till becoming ripe. The easiest way to know if a watermelon is ripe is by checking the curly Q or tendril to determine if it is completely ripe and ready for harvest in the vegetable garden.