Wheel Hoe Blog

Best Potatoes to Plant

Potatoes are one of the easiest things to plant in your garden as they do not need much uptake to produce, but fertilizing potatoes is the way to go if you want to take your yield to the next level, and that can get a little tricky. As the days in South Georgia are getting longer, it is getting into tater time, and Hoss Tools wants to help you navigate through growing and fertilizing your potatoes. Nothing beats going out and scratching you a potato to take inside and boil up for dinner. So how do you get your crop to that point?

First, we need to talk about getting them in the ground and what should be in your soil. There are many different varieties you can grow, everything from All Blue potatoes to a general Yukon Gold. Your method of planting is going to be around the same for all Irish Potatoes. In regards to your soil, potatoes like to live anywhere from 5-6.5 pH level, so you want to make sure you have plenty of that organic matter in there. When planting potatoes, we suggest you plant them four to six inches apart with a 36-inch row spacing. The spacing will give them ample room but also keep them close enough together, so your rows aren’t too spread apart.

With all crops, it is imperative to have you a good crop rotation so that you don’t soak all that nutrients up out of the soil. Figure out a plan for what you are going to plant before and after your potatoes to make sure you are a good steward of your soil. Make sure to remember that potatoes are in the nightshade family, meaning it isn’t healthy to plant where other nightshades have been like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. Look out for sandy soil to know that you may not have suitable growing soil anymore and figure out how you can add nutrients back into it.

Fertilizing the Potatoes

It is essential to fertilize your potatoes once they are in the ground and throughout the weeks. Though potatoes don’t have many pests, they do struggle with a little bit of Blight and the Colorado Potato Beetle here in the south. That Colorado Potato Beetle, you have to look for eggs that might be waiting to hatch under the leaves. One way to fight against that is to alternate between Spinosad and Neem Oils, which are both insect sprays. Rotating weeks and starting while their young as well as making sure that you are spraying under the leaves and getting good coverage will help you see success in your potatoes.

Once your plants are in the ground, there are a few things you can do to make sure that you are getting the most bang for your buck. In a cup, you are going to want to mix a 10-10-10 synthetic fertilizer and pour it down in the roots of the plant. The benefit of this fertilizer is that it will help boost your yield to the next level as well as gain that resistance to pests and diseases. Once you do that once with the cup when it is young, you should go in there again, but wait until they are at your desired height of four to eight inches tall. That will continue to help the plant as it matures.

Though potatoes aren’t expensive in the grocery store, we want everyone to be encouraged to grow their food! Gardening is a family activity everyone can enjoy and reap the benefits. If you have any questions, check out the video below to see more.

Differences in English and Field Peas

Everyone has their preference on which pea they prefer; if you are a northerner, you may like the English ones better. If you are raised in the south, black-eyed peas may be your favorite, either way, there is a type for everyone. What is even better is when they are fresh out of your garden instead of from the grocery store. Here at Hoss Tools, we want everyone to be able to grow their food, and in this blog, we are going to talk about some different varieties of peas as well as what is the best way to grow them and store them. We hope this encourages you to go out and start your garden.

Our two main categories with peas are English peas (Mr.Big, Green Arrow, Oregon Sugar Pod), and Field peas (Summertime Pinkeye, Dixie Lee, Zipper Cream). There is all kind of seeds out there, and here at Hoss Tools we have many varieties of both, and it just comes down to your preference. Field peas have more of the bean taste, whereas the English varieties are the traditional sweet green ones. We have started to enjoy growing the Summertime Pinkeye field pea, though, because the crop grows at the top, it is effortless to harvest also, this variety is easy to shell. They are a purple pull, but its a green pea that creates a clear broth. In the south, we grow our English peas in the early spring, and once those get harvested, we switch over to the Field peas.

So How do I Grow Them?

Growing the perfect pea takes many different steps, but what we have found to work best isn’t too tricky. With any pea, you are going to want to plant them four inches apart and one inch deep. This spacing tends to work out well. We suggest planting with a walk-behind seeder like our Hoss Garden Seeder and usually using the number five seed plate. Looking at the size of your seed and seeing which seed plate you are going to use is critical because if the hole is too big, you may end up wasting seed or jamming the plate. Planting on drip tape is also very beneficial with peas in helping to conserve water. You want to harvest your crop when they look full and like they could be shelled easily. Depending on the variety, they will be anywhere from four to eight inches in length. Most varieties have an average of about 60 days until maturity. Meaning that in about two months after you plant, you will be ready to have some black-eyed peas for dinner.

Ways to Preserve

After harvesting your crop, there are going to be way more than you can eat, if you plant a lot as we do. Though we always suggest sharing with your friends, there are also many ways to make sure they don’t go bad. A couple of different ways you can preserve the pea itself is to freeze them, salt them, dry them, or canning. You can also maintain the whole pod by freezing or salting. Dried beans store very well and can get rehydrated for those special occasions. Black-eye peas are also a great addition to fresh salads and soups. These different ways will help you keep your crop good and fresh until you are ready to cook them!

If you want to know more about the Hoss garden seeder or growing your food, even if it is not peas, check out the video below!

Selecting the Sweet Corn

Planting corn can be very intimidating to a beginner gardener, but with these few sweet corn tips, your garden will be popping up in rows in no time! Well, in no time, we mean at least 80 days. As always, the first step in planting anything is choosing which variety you want to work. There are many seeds out there, and Hoss Tools offers many different varieties that meet the wants of every sweet corn eater. Some of the top three here are the Silver Queen, Ambrosia, and this year even the Honey Select Sweet Corn.

The Honey Select is a triple sweet variety and is an All-American winner. The ears grow to be around eight inches, which is a giant ear. Honey Select Sweet Corn is a triple sweet hybrid that contains the perfect combination of 75% sugary-enhanced and 25% super sweet kernels. Many people enjoy this variety because of its big window, for when you have to harvest it, this is due to its field holding ability. It also stores very well in the freezer, giving you many options when it comes time to cook it. Some of our favorite ways to cook it are eating it off the cob, making cream corn, and as always sharing it with our friends.

Sweet corn does best when planted in the spring after the last frost date. Sweet corn can be grown throughout all of the warmer months as long as you have time to harvest it before the first frost. Hoss Tools recommends succession planting with sweet corn, and what that means is after you gather it, you go in and plant you some more rows where you just had it. Most small scale farmers do at least two plantings first in the early spring, then in the late summer.

Garden Seeder Tips

When it comes time to planting the sweet corn and getting your plots ready, it is essential to remember to plant in blocks and not long rows. We suggest planting corn in a square plot with rows on 30-36″ spacing. Planting a few long rows will result in poor germination and the absence of kernels on the cobs. The reason behind this is because unlike most plants, corn pollinates by the wind and not by the bees.

After you have your plots ready, we suggest you go in with a walk-behind planter like the Hoss Garden Seeder using the number 4 seed plate so that your seeds are 4 inches apart and you want to plant one inch deep. Another beneficial tip when planting corn is doing it on drip tape. The drip tape helps get the water throughout the roots avoiding diseases on the foliage. If you do decide to lay drip tape, then you are going to want to plant right on the lines of the tape to make sure the water reaches it. Doing the seeder at a one-inch depth will make sure it doesn’t puncture the drip tape.

Once your seeds are all planted, you want to go in and give it a good watering immediately. If you are on drip tape, leave it turned on for about an hour. This water will help the seed to lock in good. Now that you are all set with your plant, keep a good eye on them for the next 80 days, and soon you will start to have some groceries out in the field.

If you found this blog helpful, tune in to the video below to see these tips on growing Honey Select Sweet Corn in action on Gardening with Greg!

All about the Seed

When growing watermelons there are many things to consider, so where do you start? There are many watermelon tips out there, so we need to start from the beginning, the seed. With almost all plants, there are two choices, Hybrid or Heirloom. An heirloom seed is one that has not been altered but past down many generations. Most Heirlooms originate from families in the 1800s including some of Hoss tools favorite watermelon varieties such as

• Charleston Gray 
• Georgia Rattlesnake
• Moon and Stars
• Sugar Baby
• Tender Sweet Orange

The other option when choosing a seed is Hybrid varieties, and many people choose these because of there likelihood to produce a higher yield. The cross-pollination of the same plant produces a hybrid seed but different varieties. Hybrids are one of the main contributors to the rise in agricultural output in the last century. Not only do they usually produce a higher yield, but they can also have other benefits such as being sweeter. It all just depends on your style of gardening and what you like to eat. Hoss Tools also offers many Hybrid varieties, including Crimson Sweet, which is an All American variety. The other Hybrids include,

• Baby Doll
• Sangria 
• Dulce Fantasia
• Jamboree 

Watermelon Tips

After you have selected your seed, the next step is planting, and again we have two options here. You can either direct seed or transplant, and there are benefits to both, but here at Hoss Tools, we recommend transplanting, and here is why. Watermelons take about 85-95 days to mature and starting them off in a seed tray, and then transplanting is going to give you about a two-week head start of everybody. Transplanting can be vital if you are a small scale market farmer because you can get to selling them before everyone else does. Also, for out friends up north that have a smaller growing season, this transplanting method will make sure you have plenty of time to harvest your watermelons. When you see your seeds have started to get nice good leaves on them and are strong enough to pull up the roots, then you know it is time to put them in the garden.

When you are planting your transplants into the ground, you want to make sure they are far enough apart to give them plenty of room. Watermelons grow in a vine-like structure, making them spread out on the ground needing plenty of room to grow. Another thing to consider with watermelons is the dense cover they create, making it harder to get water down to the root system. You want to make sure you are watering under the leaves to prevent diseases on the foliage. Deciding to use drip irrigation could take your crop to the next level.

One last tip to make sure you are getting the most out of your crop is to make sure you have plenty of pollinators. Lack of pollinators is usually the reason for many problems in people’s home gardens if you can’t get bees nearby plant you some cut flowers in your garden to draw you some insects to get the flower turning in to fruit.

Hopefully, these simple watermelon tips will help take your garden to the next level, check out the video below to find out some more tips!!

How to Know if your Garden Needs Help

Soil is the main ingredient in every great garden, and you have to understand the tillage of your soil to be able to help your garden. So what is good tillage? Tillage is the suitability of your soil to grow. Characteristics of good soil are that it will crumble in your hand while also having large pieces. It will have lots of organic matter and hold nutrients and water well. You will know if it is bad soil or not suitable to grow in if it has a powdery look or it doesn’t hold nutrients and water well.

Another thing to look for when trying to spot lousy tillage is if there is an impacted or crusted layer on top. That layer will cause water not to soak in, making the nutrients die down.

We all want to be good stewards of our soil, and growing a garden is doing just that. If your soil is not suitable to grow, then how can we be good stewards? These next few steps will help your soil become nutrient-rich and help you produce the most amount of fruit.

Tip 1 to Help your Garden- Make it Organic.

The first important step in helping your garden has good soil is making sure it has plenty of organic matter in it. The main way many people do this is by adding compost. Compost can be any organic matter that has decomposed, you can start your compost pile, or you can get manure. Both of those ways will help boost your soil nutrients and the overall tillage of your soil. We take and take from our garden, but we have to remember that we must feed our earth as well to make sure we get the most out of it.

Tip 2-Change it Up

Crop rotation is significant in all scales of gardening/farming. Another way to add nutrients to the soil is by having those cover crops before you plant. Do your research on what type of cover crop will be best for your soil. For a garden that is still really lacking that nutrients, we suggest that you do a mix of Rye and Buckwheat. Those two will add the most organic material back into the soil. All soils are different, though, and a lot of it depends on your weather. There are many cover crops out there, and if you mix the right ones, you can get the most out of your soil.

Also, know what crops you planted in that plot the season before to make sure you’re not planting the same species. If you continue to plant the same family in the same place, it will use all of those specific nutrients that family needs leaving the next ones to die. That is why it is essential to have a cover crop in between two crops. Doing that will make sure your soil is getting replenished. 

Tip 3-Do Not Beat your Soil.

When we say don’t beat your soil, we mean it. One big thing that hurts your garden that many people don’t realize is over tilling it. When you continue till after it is needed, it continues to break up the soil making it harder for the soil to hold water and the nutrients it needs. After you cut down your cover crop, you can till it in one good time then use your wheel hoe to get the soil ready. You don’t want to cultivate your soil with the tiller but with something else instead of the wheel hoe. That over tilling is where you get the powdery look, and when you are continuing to break it up after it’s needed, it will cause long term problems.

Check out the video below to see the effects of over-tilling!!

Tips for the Perfect Potato

Nothing beats the taste of a potato that has been grown in your backyard. Though potatoes aren’t that expensive, digging up the perfect potato straight from your garden to take inside to wash and throw in the pan is not only a great taste but a great memory and feeling of accomplishment.

So how do you get your potato to that point? With these few tips in just a couple of short months, you will not need to go to the grocery store to make your next batch of mashed potatoes. Also, while you are becoming a pro try growing some Adirondak Blue Potatoes and make your family blue mashed potatoes, I promise it will be a hit!

Preparing for the Crop

With any crop, preparation is crucial, and potatoes are no different. Irish Potatoes are in the nightshade family along with tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Having a good crop rotation is vital, and you need to remember not to plant your potatoes where these were before. Being cautious of this will make sure your soil stays nutrient-rich for many years to come.

Another way to help your crop rotation is to plant cover crops in your offseason. Mustards are a great cover crop to prepare your soil for potatoes. About three or four weeks before you are ready to plant your potatoes, you are going to want to go into that mustard plant and cut it down and till it in the soil, so it has time to decompose before you plant your potatoes.

To know when you want to plant your potatoes you are going to have to check your local weather station and see when they predict the last frost to be, once you get that date go back and plan to plant two to three weeks before that. For us in South Georgia, that usually means late February will be ideal planting time for our Irish Potatoes, but it can vary every year.

Growing the Perfect Potato

There are many different varieties of Irish Potatoes you can plant for beginner gardeners trying to figure out which plant works best for you, and your soil is a challenging task. Try planting three or four different varieties in one row each right by each other and compare which ones do best in your soil. Remember, you want to plant potatoes in the highest and driest part of your plot to avoid rot.

When you have your variety, and it is about four days out before you want to start planting, get your potatoes and an excellent sharp-bladed knife ready. You are going to want to cut three to four eyes per piece, this does not have to be perfect, but we find having around three or four eyes do the trick. As you are cutting and determining how many pieces to cut, think that about every 40 foot you will need around ten pounds of potato pieces.

As you finish cutting your pieces, you are going to want them to sit out for about three to four days. As they sit out the flesh will seal over and prevent moisture from going in or out, doing this again will help you from getting rot in your potatoes. After those few days pass, you are all ready to plant your pieces in the ground!

Irish Potato Varieties

• Yukon Gold Potato
• German Butterball Potato
• All Blue Potato
• Adirondack Blue Potato
• Kennebec White Potato
• French Fingerling
• Austrian Crescent Potato
• Red Norland Potato

Check out the video below to answer some of your questions and to see this process in action!!

What is a Cover Crop?

In the most basic definition, a cover crop is a plant that covers the soil while you are not using it. Growing a cover crop is going to lead to healthier soil and a more productive garden. Because of its many benefits, some farmers/gardeners like to mix two cover crops in a field and call it a cover crop cocktail. Whether you are using just one crop or a cocktail, it is crucial for your soil and the future of your crops.

There are many cover crops, with each one having different benefits for your soil, for example, Hairy Vetch. Hairy Vetch is a cool-season crop as well as a legume, meaning that it stores up nitrogen and phosphorous in its roots, so it helps make the soil rich for your next crop. Another example is Rye, which is also a cool-season crop, and it is a cereal grain. Rye works well in soils where erosion and weeds are a problem because it helps fight both of those. These two cover crops, Rye and Hairy Vetch work well together because they differ in what they do. Planting these two as a cocktail will help keep your soil flat with no weeds and continue to stay rich in minerals underneath.

In South Georgia, specifically, we push our soil almost all times of the year, we can do this because of our weather conditions. We have to keep up with our crop rotation and understand the importance of taking care of our soil. That is why it is so imperative to plan out what you will be planting and where each crop will be at so you can know what cover crops will benefit your land the most. Planning is essential in every stage of gardening to get the most out of your crops.

Cool Season Types of Cover Crops

• Broadleaf Mustard
• Austrian Winter Pea
• Crimson Clover
• Tillage Radish

Warm Season Types of Cover Crops

• Brown Top Millet
• Buckwheat
• Sunn Hemp
• Sorghum Sudangrass

What do I do Now?

Once you have figured out what cover crop seed will work best for your soil, and you know where and what will be going in the garden after the cover crop, then you go in there and direct seed them into the same plot. If you decide to do the cocktail of two crops, you can plant the two seeds at the same time and then rake them in together. This mixing will help spread the benefits of both crops across the plot.

Next, you are going to leave your cover crops growing until right before they start to seed. You will know they are beginning to germinate once you see it forming. When they are about to drop the seed, that means it is time to work that cover crop back in. If you have a flail mower, you can cut it down, and it will incorporate the crops back in but no worries if you do not you can do it with a regular lawnmower as well.

Before it is time for you to plant your garden, you are going to cut it down and till it all in together as you plant your garden and watch it grow to pay attention to how your garden benefited before and after using a cover crop. Hopefully, your garden will be the most fruitful it has ever been.

Check out our cover crops seed page to see a break down of all the crops, if you are still on the fence about planting them check out the video below!

Best Way to Irrigate the Garden

The most effective way to maximize garden production is by using drip tape irrigation that will be applied to plant roots and you can use water-soluble fertilizers directly through the drip to supply plants better with needed nutrients. 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.

Simplest Way to Install Drip Tape

The first component to setting up the drip tape irrigation in the garden is to layout the mainline tubing which will help distribute water to each drip line effectively along the desired rows. Then, to feed the mainline tubing we use a filter regulator combo which has a filter to trap any particulate material from entering the tape and the pressure regulator that reduces the pressure of water entering the low-pressure drip tape system. We recommend placing this filter regulator in the middle of the drip tape irrigation to ensure you get equal amounts of water distributed along each row in the garden. The next step is to bury the drip tape for a couple of different reasons. The first reason is during the hotter months your surface evaporation is going to greatly reduce meaning your plants will be able to use more of the water that is being put out if you have buried drip irrigation. Another reason to bury the tape is to simply just get it out of the way so you don’t have to move it around every time you cultivate the soil. When it comes burying drip tape the best tool to use is our Drip Tape Layer attachment. When hooking up the row starts and row ends this will complete the setup of the drip system. The row start is designed to connect the drip tape along the rows to the mainline tubing and the row ends are the easiest way to seal the end of the tape. Overall, we recommend using drip tape to ensure you supply your plants with the needed nutrients and irrigation directly to the roots throughout the growing season.

Planting Fall Transplants

In the 30 by 35 garden plot, Travis has 11 rows that are ready for fall transplants. To prepare the garden for fall planting, he had to first clean the area from any previous crops. The next step is to add in some chicken manure and till it in to help improve the structure or tilth of the soil. Instead of adding in a new drip tape manifold, Travis saved the previous setup to use again for fall transplants. Then, he added in furrows by using the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment in the furrowing position in order to push soil outward and create a nice little furrow for the drip tape to be laid in. Once the vegetable garden is set up perfectly for fall planting it’s now time to plant the transplants from the greenhouse. The first two crops that he is going to plant several rows of are the Tiger Collards and Lacinato Kale which are very productive producers in the vegetable garden. Then, in the remainder of the plot, he is going to plant some Green Magic Broccoli which is a nice heat-tolerant variety as well as, some Snow Bowl Cauliflower which is another excellent crop to plant in the fall. The best way to plant the transplants in the garden is by walking along the rows and drop a plant by every water spot from the drip tape. Then, once the majority of the rows have plants Travis will get on his knees and scoot along the rows to plant the transplants in the garden soil.

Transplanting vs. Direct Seeding

When it comes to transplanting or direct-seeding it is simply up to the gardener which method they prefer in their vegetable garden. However, there are benefits to both methods, and some crops do better transplanted while others do better direct-seeded. Transplants offer bountiful benefits when it comes to growing vegetables in the garden. Not only do you get to control when you plant seedlings but you also get better germination rates which will produce healthier growing plants. Another example, for transplanting instead of direct seeding is if you have warmer weather vegetables that you would like to get a headstart on growing this allows you to prepare those vegetables before the growing season starts. Therefore, when the growing season begins and weather conditions are ideal you already have germinated plants that are ready to go in the soil in the fall garden. Transplanting also reduces weed pressures due to them having limited time in the garden area. Since the transplants are already germinated they provide a stronger immune to weeds that will have a little amount of time to germinate in the garden. Another benefit is improved and faster crop turnaround. By starting the vegetables in transplants it can speed up the amount of time it takes them to germinate meaning less time in the garden area. With less time in the garden, more production is harvested and it allows for another crop to be planted in the same spot. Overall, transplanting allows for healthier and more productive vegetables while saving us time, money, and energy in the garden.

Benefits of Quality Manure

There are several benefits to adding quality grade manure to create bountiful vegetable garden soils. Some of these benefits include increasing the productivity of crops, improved growth, and overall healthier plants in the area. By adding the best soil amendment it will leave your soil structure with increased benefits that are ideal for future growing seasons. Using great compost contains four key components — organic matter, moisture, bacteria, and oxygen. The organic matter provides the needed nitrogen and carbon sources for plant growth. While the moisture allows the compost to not dry out and the oxygen supports the breakdown of plant material. Then, the other microorganisms like bacteria will break down all the components and plant material into the useful compost material needed for the vegetable garden. When incorporating the compost in sandy soils it can increase the water-holding capacity, while in the heavier clay soils it can improve drainage. Another advantage of adding compost to the soil is the decrease in using lots of fertilizer in the area.

Bountiful Vegetable Garden

One of the most important factors to growing a bountiful vegetable garden is adding a quality grade chicken manure compost. Travis picked up some excellent manure compost that is relatively dry and broken down which will spread in the garden effectively and till into the soil well. This compost is ideal for the fall garden when getting ready to plant some heavy feeder crops like cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. As mentioned early we won’t have to add as much liquid or granular fertilizer because the compost will feed the soil pretty well. Travis has already prepared the first 2 plots that he is going to plant in for the fall garden. After broadcasting the compost on the two plots it’s now time to till in the garden in order to incorporate it into the soil. Most of the time we do the fad system in the garden which means furrow, amend, and drip. Instead of using the fad system and applying compost only in the furrow where plants are going to be planted we make an exception and broadcast the compost throughout the vegetable garden. Since this is a new garden area it will need a little more help when it comes to amending and conditioning the entire plot to make the soil more workable and increase nutrients throughout the plot. Another factor to remember is that fall crops will be planted close together so you might as well compost the entire area because it really won’t affect the vegetables negatively if you broadcast it throughout the vegetable garden plot.

Winning vs. Losing in the Garden

If you’ve ever heard the saying you win some you lose some that couldn’t be any more true when growing in the vegetable garden. When losing plants in the garden it doesn’t mean you should give up or quit taking chances when growing plants. Gardening is a variable thing because we have no control over weather temperatures or conditions that may happen throughout the growing season. Sometimes we plant as soon as we think we can plant a certain crop and it can work out wonderful or fail other times in the vegetable garden.

Why Are We Losing Plants?

In the past, we have planted Kentucky Blue Pole Beans around early September to late August to get a headstart on germination before the cool weather comes through. However, this season the weather has not cooperated like normal, and it has turned out hotter than usual. With hotter temperatures, we have experienced a decline in production while also losing plants in the vegetable garden. Our pole beans started off with really good germination, and everything was growing fine until the hot temperatures began to stay around longer than expected. Although a few of the plants thrived a bunch of them look pitiful and have experienced disease pressure problems.

Winning in the Vegetable Garden

Although we may be losing plants we are also winning with a few plants in the garden. On the same day of planting pole beans, we also planted a row of Stonewall Cucumbers. We have gave both crops the same amount of treatment but the cucumbers seem to be thriving better than the pole beans. This variety of cucumbers is gynoecious which means they produce predominantly female flowers. These cucumbers have a few white specks on the leaves that indicate insect issues that will need to be dealt with which whitefly eggs. To help control these insect pressures we will start a spray program using Horticultural Oil for whiteflies and B.t. to take care of pickle worms. By growing on a Hortonova trellis we are able to keep plants off the ground and provide a strong structure to climb. These cucumbers continue to produce and we are excited about getting a bountiful crop this year.

Planting Fall Sweet Corn

When it comes to planting fall sweet corn or any kind of corn variety it should be planted in blocks or squares for better pollination. Planting in blocks instead of long rows ensures that once the crop starts tasselling the wind 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 planting sweet corn is it needs plenty of drip irrigation to grow throughout the growing season. Since corn is a heavy feeder it needs plenty of water and fertilizer to get healthy producing plants in the vegetable garden. We suggest using 20-20-20 around four times throughout the growing season. The garden previously had a silage tarp over the area to help improve the garden soils before planting fall sweet corn. Once the tarp was removed we used the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment to create furrows where our desired rows would be and a place to bury the drip tape.

Hilling and Side Dressing

In the garden, we have seven rows of Peaches and Cream Sweet Corn that is around a foot or a little over in height and is ready to be hilled. The hilling process basically means we will throw soil on top of the bottom structure of plants in order to provide a strong base stalk, kill off germinating weeds, and help retain soil moisture. However, before we hill sweet corn we need to side-dress alongside the stalks. By side-dressing, we are able to add a good quality granular fertilizer which helps add a slow-release action to the corn plants. We recommend using a side-dress fertilizer such as Chilean Nitrate and the general rule of thumb is to put around ten pounds per thousand square feet of corn. When side-dressing the fertilizer you need to place it close enough to the plants for the plow set to cover and bury it but not so close that it burns the plant. When going to hill the corn plants we suggest using the High Arch Wheel Hoe which allows us to go along the row of plants and easily hill in one pass through. Another advantage of using the high arch is you can adjust the distance between the wheels to either narrow or wider hilling position. Overall, hilling and side dressing fall sweet corn allow us to make our garden rows more manageable and increase our production in the vegetable garden.

Cover Cropping Garden Soils

The main benefit of cover cropping the garden is the many beneficial nutrients that they can incorporate into the soils. Not only can they improve your garden soils but they can also control weeds, increase yields, and reduce soil erosion. Cover cropping soil also allows you to plant year-round keeping your garden manageable and workable for future growing seasons. When picking the right cover crop for your area keep in mind what your soil needs to improve on for the next growing season. As with all cover crops, remember they should be cut or mowed down before going to seed in order to prevent reseeding issues in the future.

Planting Sorghum Sudangrass

When planting a warm-season cover crop such as Sorghum Sudangrass this is a fast producing crop that quickly outpaces the growth of competing weeds. Some of the benefits that sudangrass adds into the soil is outstanding “green manure” that adds a significant amount of organic matter to increase soil health and tilth once incorporated into the garden soil. Also, with the addition of organic matter through cover cropping, we are able to suppress nematode populations. The ideal time to plant sudangrass is once soils reach around 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit and can be broadcasted or planted with a planter like our Hoss Garden Seeder. Although it can be planted in the Spring we recommend using it as a transition crop between Spring and Fall crops to get the best results. Currently, in the garden, we had a nice thick stand of sudangrass vegetation that we laid or crimped in the area. Once the area was crimped then we laid a silage tarp over top to help kill off all the vegetation. After a couple of weeks of the tarp being on the area, it is now time to remove it to see how the soil is doing in the garden spot. The tarp did an excellent job of killing off all the vegetation and we are able to see just how great the cover crop was broken down throughout the area. Now, it’s time to add some good quality compost that we can broadcast all throughout the soil and then either re-tarp it or till it until we are ready to plant in the area again.

Germinating Garden Seeds

In the greenhouse, we currently have a lot of garden seeds that are being germinated for fall transplanting. In the first seed starting tray, we have the Savannah Sweet onion variety that has a few seed germinating but not a full tray. In the next tray, there are four lettuce varieties such as Cherokee, Butter Crunch, Skyphos, and Calshot that have just been added to the greenhouse so no germination quite yet on those. In the third tray, we have Calendula which is a cool flower that produces colorful blend of yellow and orange blooms. The two varieties of beets that are growing are Kestral and Early Wonder which are both excellent beet varieties. The fifth seed starting tray has some Matejko leeks which is a hybrid variety of leek that has really good germination right now in the greenhouse. Then in the last few trays, we have some Cheers Cabbage, Charleston Wakefield, and Rio Grande Cabbage. Along the other side of the greenhouse, there is a tray of Southern Giant Curled Mustard which can be direct seeded into the garden, but Travis decided to try transplanting for this growing season. The next tray is some Scarlet Kale which is an open-pollinated variety that produces deep red plants. Beside the kale flat, is some nice germinated Touchstone Gold Beets which are multigerm so each seed will give you two to three little sprouts. Then, two flats of Green Magic Broccoli and two different varieties of cauliflower which are Snow Bowl and Purple Cauliflower. Next, in the greenhouse is a flat of Jade Cross Brussel Sprouts and a flat of Red Bull. While in the last two flats that are currently growing is the famous Tiger Collards that is one of the most productive crops you can grow in the vegetable garden.

Three Factors to Why Seeds Are Not Germinating

Within the greenhouse, there are three factors that can help determine why your garden seeds may not be growing. The first factor that is important for germination is moisture. The seed starting mix that we use is Pro-Mix which is a quality grade mix that promotes excellent root development. For water to drain really well through the tray, you must soak the soil to ensure you are watering throughout the entire seed starting tray. The second factor that is important is heat during the fall this really isn’t an issue because of our weather temperatures in the South. However, during the spring, we have to use a heat map that will give the soil the desired optimal germination temperature. Typically the garden soil needs to be around 75 degrees to germinate well. While the third biggest factor in why you may experience bad germination is poor quality seeds. If you buy cheap seeds more than likely, you will receive poor germination. However, here at Hoss, we believe in excellent germination rates and high-quality garden seeds. We test our seeds every six to nine months to ensure you are getting fresh seeds with excellent germination rates when you order from us.

Factors of Planting Sweet Corn

The three most important factors when growing the best sweet corn are pollination, irrigation, and fertilization. When it comes to planting our Peaches and Cream sweet corn it should be planted in blocks or squares because corn is pollinated by the wind, therefore planting in blocks instead of long rows ensures that once the crop starts tasselling the wind can effectively pollinate the sweet corn. Since 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 the wind and that will be used to pollinate the female plant located on the stalk of the plant. 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 in the vegetable garden. Also, corn is a heavy feeder that needs plenty of fertilizer to grow healthy producing plants. Before planting the corn, we recommend at pre-plant to add a good amount of compost down in the garden soil. Then, once the corn gets around knee-high, you can start fertilizing using a fertilizer injector through the drip system. We recommend injecting 20-20-20 fertilizer and Chilean Nitrate which both add the needed nutrients for healthy and productive sweet corn plants.

Growing Peaches and Cream

As we prepare to plant our fall corn variety, Peaches and Cream Sweet Corn is our go-to variety this growing season. This variety is a se or sugary extender type of sweet corn which means it matures a little quicker than some of the other standard varieties. Peaches and Cream is a bicolor that produces yellow and white kernels on the same cob and tends to have a little sweet flavor profile. Before we begin planting sweet corn we have to ensure our seed plates for the garden seeder are calibrated correctly and runs freely through the seeder. To prepare the garden for planting we will incorporate the F.A.D system which means furrow, amend, and drip. Using the Double Wheel Hoe, we are able to add a small furrow within the garden that provides a space to plant the sweet corn. Then, we will amend the soil within that furrow we created and add drip tape for better irrigation. By planting seven rows of sweet corn we are able to get as much production as possible in the garden area. The maturity date on the Peaches and Cream sweet corn is around 80 days, however, with warmer temperatures in the growing cycle, we will be able to harvest the corn around 65 to 70 days. There are several great sweet corn varieties that we have available, but we are excited to try the Peaches and Cream in the Fall vegetable garden this year.

What is No-Till?

The meaning behind no-till gardening is the process of turning over around 6 to 10 inches of soil that will loosen and remove any plant matter for planting new crops in the area. While tilling sounds ideal it can actually harm the soil by striping the rich organic matter and insects that form healthy soil biology. Therefore, by using the no-till technique we are able to leave the garden soil intact and improve the soil using better practices such as cover crops and silage tarping the area.

Growing Corn in the Garden

Currently, in the garden, we have a silage tarp that has been on our future fall corn plot for about six weeks and is ready to be removed for planting. Once the tarp is removed we are able to see the nice soil that is ready to be worked and prepared for fall planting. To begin preparing the garden for growing corn we need to start with the Double Wheel Hoe and plow set attachment to help us make furrows for laying drip tape in the garden. We recommend using the drip tape layer attachment to easily bury and effectively lay drip tape in straight rows. Now that we have seven rows ready to plant fall corn we will start with the Peaches and Cream variety. This sweet corn variety is a hybrid bicolor that is known for being a sugary extender which means it can store longer than standard varieties once harvested. By using a cover crop and silage tarp to increase the nutrients the overall cultivation is minimal. Another factor of planting corn is the crop is wind-pollinated which means you always want to plant in a square plot for better pollination. Therefore, wind pollination allows the tassels to start forming on the tops of the male flowers where the pollen will begin to pollinate the female flowers on the ears or silks of the corn. Another major factor of growing 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. Also, since corn is a heavy feeder it needs plenty of fertilizer to grow healthy plants. Some fertilization products like 20-20-20 or Chilean Nitrate are great for feeding the plants. While using Spinosad Insect Spray is great for controlling worm pressure which is important when corn starts tasseling 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.

Preparing Healthy Garden Soils

There are many aspects that factor into getting healthy garden soils in your desired planting area. When starting out the best way to see what type of pH level you have in your soil is by testing to see what nutrients need to be added and what does not. Another factor in achieving healthy garden soils is by adding organic matter to help improve the structure or tilth of the soil in the ground. Also, by incorporating a good quality compost we can increase the water, air, and nutrients that the plants need in the vegetable garden. In addition, adding cover crops after you harvest a crop can help bring nutrients back into the soil before planting a new crop for the next growing season. By preparing the soils to best of our ability we are able to improve our nutrients, production, and overall ability to grow healthy plants.

Getting the Garden Ready for Fall Planting

Since planting pole beans and cucumbers for the fall garden they have started to come up and get really good germination. Now it’s time to get some other plots ready for some cool weather crops in the next few weeks. We’ll be starting transplants in the greenhouse, therefore the plots need to be ready once the transplants are ready to be planted. There are a couple of plots in the garden that have cover crops that need to be extinguished so we get those areas ready for fall planting. Currently, we have a dense crop of Sorghum Sudangrass that is starting to go to seed so we need to take care of it before it goes any further in the garden. Travis is going to try something new like crimping the sudangrass which means he is going to lay it down using the riding lawnmower with the deck laid down as low as it will go in order to run over the cover crop and fold it over in the area. Once it is folded over or laid down he will take the silage tarp to help kill all the vegetation in the garden plot. When the tarp is laid down the plan is to let the sorghum die down which should take around two weeks and then remove the tarp in order to add compost and lightly till it in the soil. During the tilling process, a few weed seeds will probably pop up so we will put the tarp back on the area for another couple of weeks to kill any of the weed seeds that are in the garden soil. Then, when you pull the tarp off for the second time around four to five weeks when it’s time to transplant the healthy garden soils should be ideal for fall planting. Now in the Brown Top Millet plot, the cover crop is going to seed and needs to be taken care of before it continues seeding. Travis is going to add the silage tarp on this plot but there is a different plan before tarping the area. Since this cover crop only got around knee-high we are able to just mow it down with the push mower that has a mulching deck that won’t blow it around and will leave it right in the area. Once the millet is mowed down now it’s time to tarp the area to allow the green manure to decompose nicely into the soil and ready for fall planting. When dealing with cover crops they don’t require a lot of equipment to maintain and build up the soils. Therefore, cover crops are ideal for preparing garden soils with little to no hassle.

Preparing for Fall Planting

When getting ready for a busy fall planting it’s important to prepare the garden soil to the best of your ability before the future growing season. By using good compost manure to replenish the vegetable garden soil with the needed nutrients for crops you are able to ensure the soil is ready for fall planting.

Currently in the Vegetable Garden

Travis currently has his garden broken into 10 subplots to help make a better rotation of crops and manage the gardens better. In the first subplot, he has a warm-season cover crop Sorghum Sudangrass that provides excellent ground coverage throughout the garden. Instead of chopping it up and laying it on the soil, Travis is thinking about crimping it then using the silage tarp to cover it up. On the second subplot, he has a nice stand of jambalaya okra but they are not producing okra pods because we might be giving them to much fertilizer. When growing okra you have to be careful not to give them to much fertilizer, otherwise, you will get all vegetation and not a lot of okra production. On the third plot, we have four rows of peppers and two rows of eggplant throughout the garden area. They are supported using the Florida weave technique and are producing well in the heat as we continue to give them plenty of irrigation and fertilizer them about every two weeks. The two different eggplant varieties that are growing are Purple Shine and Striped Italian Eggplant. Then, as far as pepper growing we have a variety of hot and sweet varieties. Next, in plot number four we have tomatoes planted from the spring and took the advice from our viewers to use wheat straw mulch around the plants and till it into the soil to help add organic matter. Since planting tomatoes, Travis has come in the area and planted a cover crop of Sunn Hemp that has been growing fast and will help add nitrogen to restore the soils for fall planting in the area. In two more subplots of the vegetable garden, there are Millet and Buckwheat cover crops planted to help prepare the plots for fall planting. Then, in plot number seven this is the oldest plot we have in the dream garden and we have more okra growing that’s around seven to eight-foot-tall. Instead of pulling the okra plants, Travis has decided to take his loppers and cut it clean to the soil so he can leave the root structure there and just cover crop on top of it. In a couple of other subplots in the vegetable garden is Lacinato Kale that is ready to harvest and Stonewall Cucumbers that did really well but ready to be cleaned from the area as well. Also, some flowers that were used to bring in pollinators in the area will just be mowed down before planting another cover crop to help prepare for fall planting even more. In plot number nine, Travis has an entire plot of Georgia Jet potatoes that has created a great dense mat of vegetation that will help prevent a lot of weed growth and allow the potatoes to thrive in the area. In the last plot of the dream garden, there is a crop of Tiger Collards that are still producing and two more rows of transplanted jambalaya okra to hopefully make up for the other okra that is not producing. Once the Tiger Collards are done producing he hopes to plant pole beans and maybe a fall crop of cucumbers in the entire plot.

Summer Planting

It is around the peak of warm temperatures for the summer growing season this year. With this kind of warm weather conditions, there’s not a lot of vegetable crops that will produce in the garden area. However, some crops like okra, sweet potatoes, and zinnias can continue to grow in these temperatures. This is why we recommend building up your soils during the summer to prepare them for planting in the fall. Using a summer cover crop is not only great for shorter growing windows but you also maintain the garden and improve the soil tilth in the vegetable garden.

Summer Cover Crop

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting a beneficial summer cover crop to help build up the garden soils. He currently has two subplots in the dream garden that he is going to plant Buckwheat and Brown Top Millet. Before planting the summer cover crop, Travis used the tiller to help get the soil nice and fluffy to ensure the area gets good seed to soil and better germination in the vegetable garden. The Buckwheat is perfect for smaller growing windows because it grows very fast compared to other cover crop varieties. It also breaks down quickly in the garden which will allow for faster turnover and replanting of vegetables in the following growing season. Buckwheat is ideal for maintaining weed suppression since it grows so fast it is able to outpace the growth of weeds, therefore, making it easier to control. Another benefit of this cover crop is it provides a significant amount of organic matter that will loosen and improve the topsoil this ensures the garden soil will be more workable and increase soil drainage in the area. The Brown Top Millet is an excellent cover crop for livestock forage and green manure for adding organic matter to the soils. Typically millet is a tall, bunching grass that can reach up to 12 feet high which adds a “mat” over the soil that provides complete ground cover in the vegetable garden. The millet cover crop is also ideal for soils that have low moisture and low fertility with areas in high temperatures. Some of the benefits of planting millet is it can add significant amounts of organic matter to depleted soils which can improve soil tilth and quality. Travis recommends planting these two cover crop varieties with a precision planter like the Hoss Garden Seeder. With our seed plate design, you are able to customize the plates according to what seed varieties you are planting in the vegetable garden. Like all cover crops, they should be mowed or cut in order to incorporate back into the soil before going to seed. By incorporating them back into soils you will ensure that all nutrients is getting added into the garden soil and preventing weed issues in the future.

Difference Between Fertilized vs. Unfertilized Plants

On this week’s episode, Travis is showing the difference between fertilized vs. unfertilized plants in the vegetable garden. When discussing whether you should fertilize plants or not, it has been experimentally proven that we need to fertilize plants in order to successfully grow crops. Fertilization plays a major role that can alter a lot of factors when planting and growing vegetables in the garden area.

Comparing Fertilization Plants

Travis some evidence on why fertilizing plants in the garden is needed to have a successful growing season. He currently has around a 40-foot row of Stonewall Cucumber plants that has been able to continue production well into the late summer months. Not only is harvesting solid cucumbers but overall the plants are healthy with vegetation, leaves, and vegetables to show from the fertilization they have received. Across the garden on another plot, Travis has planted the same cucumbers that have experienced the same amount of irrigation but he left them as unfertilized plants. These unfertilized plants are having a harder time with production and not nearly as successful as the fertilized plants. When comparing the leaves between the two plants the fertilized plant has dark green leaves that are as big as a lily pad. While the unfertilized plant has yellowish leaves that seem to be experiencing a nutrient deficiency. With the fertilized cucumbers we are able to use our EZ-Flo Injector to not only supply enough irrigation but fertilizer as well directly to the plant roots. Travis recommends fertilizing the plants by mixing 20-20-20 and Micro Boost into the injector. He suggests using about two pounds of the 20-20-20 and two cups of the micro boost to supply enough fertilizer to the cucumber plants. Whether you should fertilizer your plants or not all depends on your soil type conditions in the vegetable garden. Here in the South, we have sandy soils that are great for growing in because it’s easy to work in and plant in. However, the downside of having sandy soils is it doesn’t hold nutrients well which is very important for growing vegetables. If you have clay soils you don’t have any problems with holding nutrients, therefore, it’s not necessary for you to have frequent fertilization in the garden. Although for sandy soils we must fertilize our plants often to ensure we obtain enough nutrients to make healthy producing crops. Overall, to understand whether or not you should fertilizer, you should determine what soil type you have to help you grow the best vegetables you can in the garden.

Cover Cropping with Sunn Hemp

On this week’s episode, Travis and Greg have a patch of Sunn Hemp which is a warm-season cover crop in the vegetable garden. This cover crop variety is a legume which means it is related to crops like beans, peas, peanuts, and hairy vetch. This is a beneficial cover crop that allows you to add a significant amount of nitrogen, suppress weeds, and quality organic matter back into the garden soils. However, compared to other warm-season varieties the Sunn Hemp is the only nitrogen fixer cover crop. As a nitrogen fixer, it is able to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into your garden soil. This fixer is important in the garden because when you get rid of the cover crop you will gain lots of available nitrogen for the next vegetable crop you plant in that area. Some recent studies have shown that Sunn Hemp can fix up to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre which is excellent when planting heavy feeder crops like onions and corn. Sunn Hemp should be planted when soil temperatures are around 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. When planting it can be broadcasted or with a precision planter like the garden seeder. It ultimately grows extremely fast and typically reaches maturity in 8 to 12 weeks. This cover crop variety is pretty much maintenance-free and does not take a lot of effort to grow in the area. Since it grows so quickly it suppresses weed pressures by outpacing weed germination which is a major benefit in the vegetable garden. Like all cover crops, Sunn Hemp should be cut or mowed before it reaches seed to prevent reseeding issues in the future growing seasons. The guys mention that the best time to cut or mow it into the soils is during the woody stage.

Benefit of Using Silage Tarps

However, Travis is going to try to extinguish this cover crop in the garden using silage tarps. Before adding the silage tarp to the area, Greg will take his flair mower to mow down the cover crop. Once the Sunn Hemp is laid flat it is ready to add the new silage tarp on top. Depending on the size of your garden, we offer a 30′ x 40′ and a 40′ x 50′ Silage Tarp. Using silage tarps as a garden technique is called occultation which essentially means that the tarp is blocking the sun from touching the soil. Therefore, the lack of sunlight penetrating the soil creates a warm, dark, moist environment in the vegetable garden. This environment facilitates the germination of weed seeds that quickly die due to the lack of sunlight. It also creates a dynamic soil life with abundant earthworm and beneficial bacterial populations. Another benefit of using silage tarps is when creating a new vegetable garden spot. The tarp can be used to kill existing grass and create a virtually weed-free garden area.

Benefits of Cover Crops

The many benefits of growing cover crops are the increase of organic matter, nematode suppression, weed control, reduce soil erosion, and increase yields in the vegetable garden soils. 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.

Repairing Vegetable Garden Soils

On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining the easiest way to repair vegetable garden soils. Currently growing is a nice patch of Sunn Hemp which is a warm-season cover crop that will provide a significant amount of biomass back into the soil. Since this cover crop is in the legume family it has the ability to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and transfer it in garden soils. Once it starts blooming, he will cut it down and place a silage tarp on top to help incorporate the nutrients back in the soil. Travis is going to plant another cover crop in the garden which is going to be Sorghum Sudangrass. This is a great addition to soils that have been heavily farmed or that have been depleted of nutrients and organic matter. Before adding the cover crop into the area, he first uses a tiller to make the soil more workable for planting. Since the seeds are uniform and round it makes easier to plant using the Hoss Garden Seeder. The seeder ensures accurate planting along rows without wasting seed by overplanting in the vegetable garden. Travis mentions that the recommended rate for sudangrass is one pound per thousand square feet. He is planting the warm season cover crop in an area that is 30 x 35 which is around the recommended rate. Travis is going to broadcast the seeds a little bit thicker in the area to ensure he gets a complete ground cover in the garden spot. Once the seeds are broadcasted he will take a landscape rake and just drag it along the soil to ensure the seeds are nice and covered up in the area. Finally, he will add an overhead sprinkler to the area to get some water to the seeds and allow them to start growing in the vegetable garden soils.

Beneficial Cover Crop Varieties

Two other beneficial warmers season cover crops are Buckwheat and Brown Top Millet. The Buckwheat variety 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. When it comes to the Brown Top Millet it can provide excellent ground cover that will work well for weed suppression in the vegetable garden soils. Another benefit of the millet is it can be used as livestock forage and green manure for adding organic matter which will improve soil tilth and quality back into the garden area.

Importance of Trellising Vegetables

When it comes to trellising cucumbers, pole beans, or other vegetables there are several important reasons for doing this in the garden area. The first important reason for trellising plants is the ability to maximize space in smaller areas. For example, by trellising crops like pole beans you are able to plant on narrower rows that maximize production and productivity. The second reason behind trellising vegetables is the ability to add more stability to the growing plants. By adding additional stability to plants that are continuing to grow taller you are able to support the plants better and also increase productivity. Another important reason is the ability to monitor and control pests from trellised vegetables. When keeping plants off the ground and planted vertically we are able to control or reduce the amount of soil-borne diseases and other pests from taking over the vegetable garden. Overall, trellising vegetables can make harvesting much eaiser.

New Trellis Netting

On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining the ideal way for trellising cucumbers, pole beans, and more vegetables. Previously in the garden, he has used 16 foot long galvanized cattle panels to trellis vegetables. However, the cattle panels are large which means they can take a long time to set up and are hard to move around the garden. This year, Travis is going to use the new Hortonova Trellis Netting which is what most commercial cucumber growers in the South use for growing. The synthetic mesh material can be used for trellising cucumbers and other vegetables either vertically or horizontally. To install vertically, use t-posts or wooden posts every 10-15 feet and to adequately secure the mesh to the stakes we use zip ties. To install horizontally, you can use 1 to 2-inch tall posts on the outside of the vegetable bed and simply stretch it across the posts to secure the mesh using zip ties. The trellis netting comes in many different sizes for all the various garden areas, but Travis just likes to get a big role and then cut it to the exact length he needs.

Trellising Cucumbers

Travis currently has a 40-foot row of cucumbers that are placed along the trellising netting. These cucumbers are just starting to climb the mesh netting in the garden area. Since cucumbers are a vining plant by establishing a stable structure like Hortonova netting we can ensure the plants will receive plenty of support throughout the growing process. In order to obtain a good stand of cucumber plants, we recommend planting seeds every 6 to 8 inches and thinning to one seed per foot in the garden spot. Overall, by trellising cucumbers not only can we maximize productivity but also reduce plant diseases by keeping them off the ground.

Importance of Attracting Pollinators

The reason behind attracting bees or other beneficial pollinators is the many different benefits they can provide the vegetable garden. The first benefit of attracting pollinators is the better production of plants. By transferring pollen from one flower to another flower can help plants produce healthy fruits. For crops that are self-pollinating such as corn, pollination is still very beneficial in order to help increase bountiful yields of crops for harvesting. The second advantage of attracting bees or beneficial insects is they help control pest pressures in the garden area. When pollinators are available in the garden not only are they transferring pollen but they are also eating unwanted insects that will overall reduce pest problems from the vegetable garden.

Planting Flowers That Bees Love

On this week’s episode, Travis has planted many different flower varieties that is helping when attracting bees in the vegetable garden. When attracting bees or pollinators, Travis has a designated flower area that has three different species planted on a double row to ensure he achieves maximum pollination. The first species of flowers planted is the Cosmos Versailles Mix which is a cut-flower that is a brightly-colored blend with strong stems that consistently bloom throughout the warmer months. The second species planted is the Benary Giant Zinnias Mix which has a variety of different colorful flowers that is known for being one of the easiest cut flower varieties to grow. The third species variety is the Ageratum Blue Horizon that creates tall, sturdy bloom clusters of vibrant blue or purplish cut-flowers. The reason behind planting these flowers on double rows is Travis is able to get maximum production in small space and he is able to suppress weeds that would otherwise take over the garden area. Travis also has a patch full of Pro-Cut Sunflowers that bees love and attract to in the vegetable garden. He recently planted a mix of several different sunflowers such as the White Nite, Lemon, Joker, Orange, Red Lemon Bicolor, and Plum all together and planted them using the garden seeder. When you direct seed these varieties you are able to get a nice stand of thick sunflowers or flowers in the area. Another benefit of planting the sunflowers so dense is you are able to get a nice stratification which means you achieve blooms that come out at around 5 or 6 inches tall and some at 8 or 9 inches tall.

Garden Seeder

The Hoss Garden Seeder is the ideal tool for planting various different seed sizes and accurately plant seeds without overplanting. This tool is constructed with Amish-crafted hardwood handles that contain 15-inch steel wheels and a powder-coated steel frame. It includes six different plates that vary in size for different seed varieties. The first seed plate works great for crops like broccoli, cabbage, mustard, turnips, and cauliflower. The second seed plate is ideal for crops such as onions or small coated seeds. The third seed plate is for okra and pelleted carrots, beets, or lettuce. While the fourth seed plate is made for smaller sweet corn seeds and the fifth is ideal for small beans or peas. The sixth seed plate that is used with the seeder works best for medium size beans and peas or large corn varieties. The seed plates should lay flat in the hopper to ensure they flow through the seeder properly.

Perfectly Spaced Rows

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting perfectly spaced rows of okra using the garden seeder. He has a 30 x 35 area that is one of the six subplots that has been established in the dream vegetable garden. When preparing the garden for perfectly spaced rows of okra plants, he is not going to use drip irrigation and is planning to direct seed. Before planting you will need to make sure the seed plate is calibrated correctly for planting and the seeds are flowing properly through the seeder. When using the third seed plate for planting okra it contains six adjustable holes and based on the seeder gearing the seed spacing should be a little over 3 inches. Then, Travis can thin them out around 8 or 12 inches to allow for plenty of room during the growing process. The planting depth for okra should be about half an inch which can be adjusted on the depth gauge located on the seeder. Travis is going to use his row marker accessory for the seeder to ensure he gets straight planting lines in the vegetable garden. The row marker has several different spacing options and it can extend out to 36 inches or 3 feet. The row marker is going to fit and slide inside the groove that is located on the back of the garden seeder frame. Travis uses the row marker for the first row to achieve a perfectly spaced row and the rest of the rows should be straight following the first. When planting with the garden seeder a slow and steady pace is the best to ensure you get accurate seed planting. Overall, summer planting is the ideal time to grow a maximum crop of okra that is able to withstand the hottest temperatures.

Okra Varieties

The several different okra varieties that we have available are all excellent in production and flavor profiles. The first variety is the Jambalaya which is a hybrid that produces the most productive okra in the vegetable garden. Next, is the Red Burgundy which is another excellent variety that produces deep red pods that remain tender when growing longer pod lengths. The Silver Queen is an heirloom variety that creates light green pods that are almost white. Another heirloom variety is the Cowhorn Okra that makes slender pods that remain tender even when grown at 6 to 10 inches long. However, the Star of David variety is the go-to okra for frying because of it’s thicker pods and the Clemson Spineless produces pods that can reach 7 to 9 inches in length and be harvested between 3 to 4 inches long. The newest okra variety that is now available is the Perkins Long Pod which is an heirloom that creates elongated pods that tend to produce early in the vegetable garden.

Summer Planting: Sweet Potatoes

On this week’s episode, Travis is talking about how to plant and take care of sweet potatoes throughout the growing process. As a warm-weather crop, sweet potatoes are ideal for growing during the summer months because they love the hotter weather and don’t mind when it is dry. In the South, summer planting sweet potatoes can be anytime in May till late August. They typically take around 100 to 120 days to mature, therefore, you will need a 3 to 4 month window of time for summer planting. Once you harvest some of the spring crops from the garden we recommend to follow up the area by starting summer planting with sweet potatoes. Unlike Irish potatoes, we plant sweet potatoes from slips which are basically a sprout from the potato that you plunk off. It contains roots on the side that once planted in the ground it will start growing leaves and start bushing out from there. You can grow your own slips from sweet potatoes that were harvested previously in the garden. However, Travis recommends buying sweet potato slips from Steele Plant Company based in Gleason, Tennessee. When choosing a spot for planting sweet potatoes they will need plenty of room because they are a vining crop and tend to sprawl all around the soil surface. If you happen to plant the potatoes to close to another crop they will start to climb on the other crops and end up smothering them out. Once the rows are laid off using the wheel hoe, Travis will add good compost along the planting furrows before summer planting. When planting the slips they should be spaced about a foot apart in the vegetable garden. Instead of planting the slips up and down, Travis is going to plant them in the furrow horizontally and cover up almost the entire slip, leaving only a little bit sticking out. Another factor when planting sweet potatoes is they do not have to be planted on drip tape since they do not need a ton of irrigation throughout the growing season. Instead of using drip tape, Travis is going to use overhead watering to ensure he provides the plants with the needed amount of irrigation. For the first couple of days, the plants will look rather pitiful and will begin to perk up once the roots are established in the soil. Once the vines start to become more prevalent in the area you can begin to hill the sweet potatoes or throw soil to the middle of the plant rows. Travis has not found where hilling the plants makes a significant difference, but it is a great technique for weed suppression or smothering out the weeds in the garden. Another technique that he has tried is trimming back the vines as they continue to grow during the summer planting months. Travis found that when trimming the vines back it makes it easier to harvest the sweet potatoes from the vegetable garden.

Sweet Potato Varieties

There are several different sweet potato varieties that do well in the vegetable garden. Travis has grown a couple of different potato varieties such as Beauregard and Centennial. He mentions that the sweet potato variety that does the best in production in his garden is the Covington. However, upon recommendation from Steele, Travis is going to plant the Georgia Jets which is supposed to grow really well in the south. All of these sweet potato varieties have excellent storage life and are ideal for summer planting.

Benefits of Replenishing Garden Soil

To have improved garden soils using cover crops can help replenish the area by increasing organic matter, suppress nematode populations, control weed germination, and improve overall soil tilth. When building up the garden soils you should supply the best cover crop that fulfills the characteristics you are wanting to replenish in the soil and incorporate the needed compounds back into the soil properly to better fulfill the vegetable garden.

Cover Crop: Sunn Hemp

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing the best cover crop to use when you need to replenish the garden soil. The best warm-season cover crop that adds many benefits to the garden soil is known as Sunn Hemp. This variety is a legume which means it is related to crops like peas and peanuts. This cover crop allows you to add a significant amount of nitrogen, suppress weeds, and quality organic matter into the garden soil. However, compared to other warm-season varieties the Sunn Hemp is the only nitrogen fixer cover crop. As a nitrogen fixer, it is able to grab nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into your garden soil. This fixer is important in the garden because when you get rid of the cover crop you will gain lots of available nitrogen for the next vegetable crop you plant in that area. Some recent studies have shown that Sunn Hemp can fix up to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre which is excellent when planting heavy feeder crops like onions and corn. Sunn Hemp should be planted when soil temperatures are around 65 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. When planting it can be broadcasted or with a precision planter like the garden seeder. This warm-season cover crop grows extremely fast and typically reaches maturity in 8 to 12 weeks. This cover crop variety is pretty much maintenance-free and does not take a lot of effort to grow in the area. Since it grows so quickly it suppresses weed pressures by outpacing weed germination which is a major benefit in the vegetable garden. Like all cover crops, Sunn Hemp should be cut or mowed before it reaches seed to prevent reseeding issues in the future growing seasons.

Warm Season Cover Crop Varieties

Along with Sunn Hemp, there are three other cover crop varieties that we have available that beneficial characteristics for the garden soil as well. The Brown Top Millet provides ideal ground cover for weed suppression and for adding organic matter back into the soil. This tall bunching grass can reach up to 12 feet high and usually matures within 60 to 70 days. As a millet, this green manure can add a significant amount of organic matter to depleted soils which can improve soil quality and tilth. Next, is Buckwheat which is another fast-growing cover crop that is ideal for planting in small windows between fall and spring plantings. It works best for weed suppression and provides organic matter that helps loosen up the topsoil making it more workable and increases soil drainage for planting. The best warm-season cover crop for reducing nematode populations is Sorghum Sudangrass. As a bunching grass, the sudangrass creates a dense mat of tall vegetation similar to corn, but with smaller leaf blades. When mowing down or decomposing the cover crop vegetation it releases natural compounds that are suppressive to nematode populations. We recommend using the sudangrass as a transition crop between spring and fall planting.

The Dream Vegetable Garden

Every gardener imagines having a dream vegetable garden that is designed and laid out to fit your ideal gardening needs on the homestead. This past year, Travis has established a new area on his homestead that is designed as his dream vegetable garden. The dream garden is designed with six subplots that are all around 30 x 35 in size. The subplots are important to ensure that the area can be more manageable and workable. Another benefit of subplots is the ability to move crops around the plots to establish a steady crop rotation system and avoid harsh pest and disease pressures.

Producing Any Crops in the Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis is doing a walk around the dream garden to show whether any crops are growing or working well in the area. Since the dream vegetable garden is a new area that is being managed and worked on the soil is harder to work with because it has never been used to grow any crops on. To get the area more workable, Travis will need to grow some beneficial cover crops, add some organic matter, and adjust the pH levels in the soil. The first subplot that was planted on in the vegetable garden was potatoes. Since it was the first crop to be planted he has already harvested and stored all the early varieties of potatoes such as the red potatoes, purple, and the Yukon Gold. However, in the garden area, there are still three rows of German Butterball potatoes to be harvested. As the potato varieties are harvested, Travis comes in with the tiller to level out the soil after digging potatoes so it will be prepared for the next crop to be planted soon. On the second plot, all of the cucurbits are planted such as summer squash and cucumbers. The summer squash is planted in the middle, while the cucumbers are planted on the cattle panels along the outside of the plot. In the garden, there is one row of the Calypso pickling cucumbers and one row of the Stonewall variety which is slicing cucumbers. The summer squash have done well in the plot except for a few that were lost due to disease problems that need to be controlled better in the future. However, Travis has been able to harvest a pretty good amount of summer squash and cucumbers from the vegetable garden. In the next plot, he has Rattlesnake Pole Beans on a trellis as well as indeterminate and determinate tomatoes. The Sun Gold tomatoes are producing an excellent cluster of tomatoes at the base of the plant and are continuing to produce along the rows. Travis has three rows of determinate tomatoes such as Mountain Glory, Brickyard, and Bella Rosa varieties all on the Florida Weave trellis. In the south, it can be kind of tough to grow tomatoes because of the high disease pressures, but they are producing really well so far in the vegetable garden. In the fourth plot, Travis is growing peppers and eggplants which are part of the nightshade family. He just established new stakes for trellising and added wheat straw to help manage the weed pressures. While in the fifth plot there is Incredible Sweet Corn growing and the six plot contains winter squash which includes the Small Wonder Spaghetti and the Hai Kabocha.

Wheel Hoe Handles

On this week’s episode, Travis explains how to adjust wheel hoe handles to fit you perfectly. The new accessory that makes it easy to adjust the wheel hoe handles is the offset handle brackets. The handle bracket kit allows you to shift the wheel hoe or garden seeder handles to the left or right so you don’t have to work directly behind the tool. This offset handle kit works with the Single Wheel Hoe, Double Wheel Hoe, High Arch Wheel Hoe, and the Garden Seeder. The first step to installing the offset brackets you simply remove the handles that are already on the wheel hoe or seeder by using a 7/16 wrench. Once the handles are off we can install the offset brackets by aligning them with the slotted groove that is already established which allows us to move the handles up and down and still have the functionality needed with the tool. Travis simply takes the bolts that are included with the kit and installs the offset brackets so they can either kick out to the right or left. It is important not to tighten the bolts all the way down because he still wants to figure out where his handle height needs to be. Then, once the handles are installed we can adjust the handles to our desired height and tighten the bolts on the offset brackets. Another important thing to remember when installing the offset handles is to make sure the brackets are kicking out in the same direction to ensure the handles are going to match up. When the offset brackets are installed it is time to add the handles in the top slots of the brackets. Travis is going to use the two square spots because he does not want the handles too far back on the wheel hoe or seeder. However, if you do want the handles farther back you can use the diamond-shaped spots on the bracket. Once the handles are added to the brackets and tight, then he can tighten down the bolts to set his handle height. When everything is set up it is time to place it in the garden and get to work along the rows.

Handle Types

The three different types of wheel hoe handles that we offer are the pistol grip, steam-bent, and stock plow handles. The Pistol Grip Handles are designed with a fat end so the handle fits directly in the palm of your hand for pushing the tool through the garden soil. However, the Steam Bent Handles have a design that features a curved end to the handles that lets you grip and squeeze the entire handle in your hand. While the Stock Plow Handles are used to maneuver or fit into most horse-drawn implements and other gardening equipment such as a disk harrow cultivator. All of these handles are Amish-crafted and made out of hardwood ash that will last a long time on the homestead.

Incredible Sweet Corn Variety

On this week’s episode, Travis explains the many different tasks of growing sweet corn. Travis previously planted a sweet corn variety known as Incredible which is sugary enhanced that has a higher sugar content than other standard varieties allowing it to have excellent flavor profiles. Another benefit of this variety is it contains a great disease package and improved storage than older heirloom varieties. He planted the sweet corn using the Garden Seeder and spaced them about 4 to 6 inches apart since they were planted on drip tape.

Hilling, Side-Dressing, & Fertilizing Sweet Corn

The first major reason behind hilling sweet corn is for weed suppression. By using the Double Wheel Hoe and cultivating between the rows of corn you are able to keep the weeds down. By smothering out the weeds between the plants you are reducing weed pressures because they cannot get sunlight or continue to grow and will end up dying in the garden. The second reason for hilling sweet corn is for better plant stabilization. By throwing soil up around the sweet corn it ensures that the plants are stabilized and it will be less likely that harsh wind or rain will cause your crops to lean over. It also allows the roots to grip into the soil a little bit better throughout the growing sweet corn process. The third reason for hilling is for better side-dressing and applying granular fertilizer to the sweet corn. When it comes to side-dressing corn the first step is to simply apply granular fertilizer to the side of the plants along the garden row. Then, take a wheel hoe and cover the fertilizer up while throwing soil to the corn for plant stabilization and weed suppression. The ideal tool for hilling is the High Arch Wheel Hoe with the plow set attachment in the hilling position. The high arch has a gap or space between the two toolbars and the wheels which allows you to easily straddle the rows to throw soil to both sides of the plants in one pass through along the rows. Another benefit to this wheel hoe is the 15-inch clearance that allows you to straddle even the taller plants as they continue to grow. When it comes to the fertilizer or mainly nitrogen requirements for sweet corn it is recommended that 250 lbs per acre of nitrogen is needed throughout the life of the plant. However, since most gardeners are growing sweet corn on a smaller acre, Travis suggests about 5.7 lbs of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. Travis recommends spoon-feeding throughout the entire life of the plant, therefore instead of giving them five and a half pounds of nitrogen at one time he will break that up and give them around half increments about 4 to 5 times. Travis uses three sources of nitrogen when growing sweet corn which is chicken manure, Chilean nitrate, and 20-20-20 garden fertilizer. He places the chicken manure compost down beside the plants for his first nitrogen application. For the second spoon-feeding he will use the Chilean Nitrate as a side-dress because it is a natural source of high nitrogen and it has a little granulated form that makes it easier to sprinkle around the plants. For a 1,000 square foot plot if the entire bag of Chilean nitrate is used it will give the area 1.5 pounds of actual nitrogen which is just the right amount for spoon-feeding sweet corn. All that’s left is to provide three pounds of nitrogen using the 20-20-20 garden fertilizer. Travis simply uses the 20-20-20 in the fertilizer injector which runs through the drip system in the vegetable garden. Overall, when growing sweet corn is very important to hill, side-dress, and fertilize throughout the growing stages of corn to ensure you get maximum production and healthy plants.

Why Plant Cut Flowers in the Vegetable Garden?

There are a couple of different benefits behind interplanting cut flowers such as sunflowers in the vegetable garden. The first benefit is it will increase the presence of beneficial insects which helps control harmful pests from taking over the area. However, the most important reason for interplanting flowers is it will increase the presence of pollinators and maximize the number of healthy plants producing along the rows. This will in return give us a bountiful harvest of healthy crops in the vegetable garden.

Planting Sunflowers in the Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis explains the best way to plant sunflowers in the vegetable garden area. Travis has grown ProCut sunflower varieties for around 4 to 5 years. When planting sunflowers the best tool to use is the Hoss Garden Seeder which comes with adjustable seed plates that make planting different seed sizes easy along the row. To get the perfect seed plate for planting ProCut varieties Travis simply takes an existing seed plate and modifies it to match the seed size of the sunflower variety. The seed plate he is using to plant has 6 holes which are a little over 3 inches in spacing since Travis prefers to plant sunflowers thick. Once the seed plate is customized to your preferred hole spacing and seed size it is time to ensure the seeds are running through the seed plate properly within the seeder. Before planting with the seeder, Travis must take the Single Wheel Hoe with a 12-inch oscillating hoe to cultivate the area a couple of inches and make the area more workable prior to planting sunflower seeds. When planting the seeds he places them around 2 to 3 feet apart and is going to use overhead watering instead of drip tape in the garden.

Sunflower Varieties

ProCut sunflowers are the preferred variety of sunflower that is used by all the professional cut flower gardeners. These sunflower varieties will reach around 6 to 7 feet tall and each plant produces a single stem or one flower in the garden. Another benefit of the ProCut varieties of sunflowers is they are pollen-less which means they don’t have any pollen. Therefore, when you harvest the sunflowers and place them in a vase they will not deposit pollen all over the place like traditional sunflowers. There are 6 different color variation varieties that we have available this year. The first variety is the ProCut Orange which produces bright orange petals with dark brown disk center. Next, is the ProCut Lemon which creates beautiful lemon-colored petals similar to the traditional yellow sunflower. Another unusual pretty variety is the ProCut Red Lemon Bicolor which is a bicolor that has red to yellow petals. The White Nite produces solid vanilla-colored petals that make the vegetable garden pop with color. The fifth variety we offer is a ProCut Red which contains deep burgundy petals. While the last variety we have available is the ProCut Plum which is another bicolor that creates plum to cream-colored petals.

Dream Vegetable Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis shows off the finished dream vegetable garden. Travis has designed and laid out a new area on his homestead that is his ideal dream vegetable garden. He is going to go over every variety that he planted in the area today.

Irish Potatoes

He started off in February planting Irish potatoes such as the Adirondack Blue, German Butterball, Red Norland, and Yukon Gold. The Adirondack Blue contains a purple flesh potato that is rich in antioxidants that offer exceptional yields and excellent flavor. Unlike other potato varieties, the best flavor profile is the German Butterball which contains a buttery-yellow flesh. The Red Norland is a newer variety that has disease resistant to scab, late blight, and potato virus. This is another variety that has a great yield, storage, and flavor profile. The Yukon Gold is another popular variety that has been a favorite for gardeners for many years.

Summer Squash & Cucumbers

Next, he planted the summer squash and two cucumber varieties which consisted of a pickling and slicing type. The Goldprize Squash variety is a hybrid straightneck that produces bountiful yellow fruits that contain an excellent disease package. The next squash variety is the Sunburst which is known as a “patty pan” that produces bright yellow fruits with scalloped edges and green rings in the center interior. While the Bennings Green was another “patty pan” variety. He planted two varieties of zucchini which were Spineless Beauty and Golden Delight. While the cucumbers that were planted were two of the most productive varieties known as Calypso and Stonewall.

Tomatoes

He planted both indeterminate and determinate tomato varieties in the dream vegetable garden. For the indeterminate tomatoes, he planted the Brandywine variety using the tomato cages to help support the plants as they continue to grow larger. For the determinate tomatoes such as the Bella Rosa and Brickyard, he planted those using the Florida Weave Technique.

Sweet Corn

The outstanding sweet corn variety that he planted using the garden seeder was the Incredible Sweet Corn. This is a sugary enhanced variety that has a higher sugar content than other standard varieties allowing it to have excellent flavor profiles. It contains a traditional yellow corn appearance with a great disease resistance package and improved storage life. The sweet corn has done really well and has reached around 6 to 8 inches tall in the vegetable garden. He also side dressed those recently with chicken manure compost and soon he will hill the plants to ensure they have plenty of stability as they continue to grow.

Winter Squash

Another crop he planted in the garden was winter squash which consisted of planting the Small Wonder Spaghetti Squash and Kabocha Squash. The spaghetti squash variety is a personalized size fruit that is extremely productive and produces around 10 to 15 fruits per plant. While the kabocha squash is the best-tasting squash around it is also known for its texture and visual appearance. Those two varieties have both done extremely well in germinating and all but two seeds didn’t germinate, so almost 100% germination.

Peppers

When it comes to planting peppers in the dream vegetable garden, Travis planted almost every variety that we have available because he loves growing peppers. The Bayonet Bell Pepper is a consistently sized blocky pepper that is really productive and contains an excellent disease package. While the Merlot Purple Bell Pepper is a hybrid that starts growing as green but matures to a deep purple color when ready to harvest. The Aruba Cubanelle Pepper contains a blend of mild heat and sweet flavor that is a very productive variety. The next variety is Gold Rush Banana Pepper which is a popular sweet pepper that matures to an orange and red color variation in the garden. Then, on the more mild heat flavor pepper row, he planted Poblano, Anaheim, and Beaver Dam. Lastly, in the final row, he planted the hotter varieties such as Jalapenos, Serrano, Brazilian Orchid, and Cayenne Peppers.

Why Cut Flowers Before Planting?

On this week’s episode, Travis explains one thing to consider before planting in the vegetable garden. The ultimate goal when growing your own vegetables is to produce the healthiest crops you can. One way to get a maximum crop of healthy plants is to grow cut flowers. For crops such as cucumbers, summer squash, watermelons, and winter squash they all require pollinators. It is important to attract pollinators to ensure you get an increase in productive vegetables. For a couple of years, Travis has interplanted cut flowers along his vegetable garden and it has done extremely well. Another benefit of growing cut flowers is the ability to easily harvest or cut the stems and place them in a vase.

Cut Flower Varieties

The first cut flower variety is Ageratum Blue Horizon which is a bright-colored flower that produces tall sturdy bloom clusters that make the vegetable garden blossom with color. The Cosmos Versailles Mix is another brightly colored blend of cut flowers that produces a mix of pink, white, and red blooms. There are several different ProCut Sunflowers that are the preferred cut flower varieties. These sunflower varieties include White Nite, Lemon, Orange, and Red. However, one of the easiest cut flower varieties to grow is zinnias. We carry the Benary Giant Zinnia Mix that includes yellow, orange, purple, coral, lime and several different red variations.

Growing Cut Flowers

Before planting cut flowers we prepare the garden by using the Double Wheel Hoe in the furrowing position. Next, make a furrow to create a row and bury the drip tape in the furrow. Then, you can go along the tape and scatter the seeds along both sides of the tape to get a double row of plants. If you’re not using the drip tape layer attachment and reusing drip tape to easily cover it up you should let the emitters fill up to keep it in place while burying in the garden. To bury the drip tape, Travis takes the High Arch Wheel Hoe in the hilling position to simply cover the tape along the row. If you prefer not to direct seed, you can also use the seed starting trays to create transplants for cut flowers. When planting the cut flower transplants he places the in-row spacing around 6 to 8 inches apart in the vegetable garden. Once, the flowers start blooming it is important to come in the garden and prune the flower heads that have dried up or started to go to seed. If you properly prune the cut flowers they will continue to produce blooms all throughout the warmer months.

Key Reasons for Growing Winter Squash

On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining the key factors in growing winter squash in the vegetable garden. In the dream garden, he is going to plant one of his favorite crops to grow which is winter squash. The first major reason for growing winter squash is it can be easy to manage because it doesn’t require a lot of weeding or constant care. Once the plants start to germinate and grow they’ll create a nice dense canopy over the entire plot. You might have to weed it a little bit with the Single Wheel Hoe until the plants become large enough to cover the plot with the canopy to shade out the weeds. Overall, it is a great productive crop that needs little to no maintenance in the vegetable garden. The second reason for growing winter squash is it’s a one-time harvest crop. Unlike summer squash, which must be harvested two to three times a week, the winter squash can be harvested all at once from the garden. The third reason behind growing winter squash is the storage life capacity. Once harvesting all the winter squash it can be stored underneath a well-covered area such as a barn and placed on a drying rack to store for up to six months.

Planting Winter Squash

When it comes to winter squash the ideal time for planting is during the Spring and they typically take between 90 to 100 days to fully mature. Therefore, we harvest them in the middle of summer and they store on into the winter months. Similar to summer squash and cucumbers, winter squash is susceptible to diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew. To help alleviate these disease problems you can add a drip irrigation system to ensure water is being added directly to the plant roots instead of using overhead irrigation that can cause excessive leaf moisture. The two varieties that Travis is going to plant this year is Small Wonder Spaghetti Squash and Hai Kabocha Squash. The spaghetti squash variety is a personalized size fruit that is extremely productive and produces around 10 to 15 fruits per plant. While the kabocha squash is the best-tasting squash around it is also known for its texture and visual appearance. Travis is going to plant the crops on four-foot row spacing to ensure he gets a dense canopy by the vegetation and blocks all the weeds. To prepare the garden, he makes a furrow with the Double Wheel Hoe and plow set attachment. Then, he buries the drip tape and plants the winter squash seeds on top of the drip irrigation in the garden area. When winter squash is ready for harvesting they will begin to die back and the fruits will obtain their full color. Once stems harden, this is another indication that the winter squash is fully mature and ready for harvest in the vegetable garden.

Planting an Okra Crop

On this week’s episode, Travis is growing a productive okra crop in the vegetable garden. You can typically plant around two or three crops of okra from spring to fall. Throughout the warm growing season, it is best to succession plant okra to ensure you can get maximum yields for harvesting. In the Spring, Travis always likes to transplant an okra crop to get a headstart on the growing season. By transplanting you are able to get around a two to four-week head start in the vegetable garden instead of direct seeding. To get the best transplants he recommends planting in seed starting trays to ensure you develop a solid root ball with internal root training ribs that help the plants grow properly and reduce transplant shock. If you are in a tight space in the area it is best to plant okra on double rows so you can easily harvest both rows at once. This year Travis is going to plant on a single row with three-foot row spacing. When going to prune okra instead of cutting it off right below the pod, Travis prefers to cut the pod and the lateral branch because it will keep the bottom of the plant clean and easier to see when it comes time for harvesting. Unlike other crops, okra is not a heavy feeder and does not require lots of irrigation or fertilizer. However, we still suggest planting okra on drip tape because the plants can have a tendency to strike-off when it becomes dry during the summer months. Once the vegetable garden is set up and prepared for planting, all that’s left is to plant the okra transplants and wait for them to grow.

Harvesting Okra

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. Which can cause knots on the roots of the plants that can drain the nutrients from the plants leaving them wilted in the vegetable garden. There are a couple of different ways to control these nematode problems in the garden area. Travis recommends using a cover crop such as 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

The first variety is the Jambalaya which is a hybrid that produces the most productive okra in the vegetable garden. Another excellent variety is known as Red Burgundy which produces deep red pods that remain tender when growing longer pod lengths. The Silver Queen is an heirloom variety that creates light green pods that are almost white. Another heirloom variety is the Cowhorn Okra that makes slender pods that remain tender even when grown at 6 to 10 inches long. When it comes to the Star of David variety it is the go-to okra for frying because of it’s thicker pods. However, the standard okra variety is the Clemson Spineless that produces pods that can reach 7 to 9 inches in length and be harvested at between 3 to 4 inches long. The newest okra variety we have available is the Perkins Long Pod that creates elongated pods that tend to produce early in the garden.

Incredible Sweet Corn

The outstanding new sweet corn variety being planted in the garden is the Incredible Sweet Corn. This sugary enhanced variety has a higher sugar content than other standard varieties allowing it to have excellent flavor profiles. It contains a traditional yellow corn appearance with a great disease resistance package. Another benefit of this variety is it has an improved storage life than older heirloom varieties.

Planting a Sweet Corn Variety

When it comes to planting sweet corn there are three common mistakes that people making in the vegetable garden. The first mistake is planting sweet corn in long rows instead of square plots. It’s important to plant corn in square plots to ensure you get the most wind pollination that will in return give you full ears of corn and the best harvest. The second mistake is not enough water during the growing season. Since sweet corn is heavy-feeders they need plenty of water throughout the entire growing process of the plant. We suggest planting corn on drip tape to provide plenty of irrigation directly to the plant roots where they need it most along the row. The third mistake is corn also needs plenty of fertilizer especially nitrogen. By applying the fertilizer using the drip system and fertilizer injector we can use 20-20-20 or Chilean Nitrate to help incorporate the needed nutrients into the soil. You can also side-dress the Chilean Nitrate or some good compost along beside the plants and incorporate it in that way as well. Travis is planting the sweet corn on three-foot row spacing to allow room as the plants continue to grow. After preparing the garden area, he is going to use the Garden Seeder to help plant the seeds along the row. Before planting with the seeder, he first has to make sure the seed plate is calibrated correctly for the sweet corn variety being planted. This means the holes on the seed plate needs to be the correct size for planting the seeds. Next, we test the seed plate in the garden seeder to ensure they are flowing perfectly through the seeder and into the soil. Once the seed plate is perfect, then it’s time to set the desired planting depth. Once everything is calibrated correctly it is time to plant the Incredible sweet corn variety in the vegetable garden.

Harvesting Sweet Corn

The best time to harvest sweet corn is once the tassels begin to turn brown and the cobs are fully matured. To harvest simply hold the ear firmly, pull down, and twist. When storing corn the best way is in the refrigerator, where it keeps for up to a week. If you prefer to store corn for a longer period, you can place it in the freezer.

Planting Carrots

On this week’s episode, Travis is growing a maximum carrot crop in a tight space in the vegetable garden. When planting a carrot crop on double rows with drip irrigation it has always worked well and we have received a bountiful harvest in the Spring garden for several years. Travis suggests planting carrots in the fall towards the end of October when temperatures are cooler which lets us overwinter and harvest them in the spring. Also, we can succession plant carrots in the spring around February to harvest before the warm weather comes towards May. Unlike other crops, carrots take a long time to germinate, so if you experience heavy weed pressures that can be a major problem when growing carrots. When it comes to heavy weeds in the garden this creates major issues because weeds will compete with carrots for nutrients in the soil. The first step to planting carrots is by using the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set to help create furrows along the row where the drip tape will be laid in the area. Travis recommends using drip tape to ensure the carrots get an adequate amount of irrigation and fertilizer directly to the plant roots where they need it most. Before adding drip tape, Travis likes to add a good quality compost down to help supply nutrients in the soil before planting. To incorporate the drip he runs the drip tape layer attachment along the furrows so he can bury the drip tape and cover it in one pass through. Once the carrot seeds are planted, Travis is going to take a rake and lightly cover them along the row in the garden. Another important key to planting carrots to save space and maximum crops is by planting them thick along the garden rows.

Harvesting Carrots

Different carrot crop varieties can be harvested at various times. Therefore, it is easy to come in the vegetable garden and pick a few as you need them, so you don’t have to worry about gathering them all at once. Another thing about overwintering carrots is they’re going to take a lot longer to mature than the listed maturity date. When storing carrots, Travis just grabs a handful of carrots to place them in a bag with one end open so the carrot tops are free and then place them in a fridge. Once in the fridge, the carrots can store really well for two to three weeks and sometimes even longer.

Carrot Crop Varieties

The Bolero Carrot variety is an exceptional hybrid that is not only disease-resistant but has a great flavor profile. While the Yellowstone is an open-pollinated variety that produces large yellow carrots with vigorous tops. Another variety is the Purple Haze which is visually appealing with a dark purple exterior and orange interior in the vegetable garden. However, the Deep Purple variety is another purple carrot that is present throughout the exterior and interior of the carrot crop. The Danvers 126 is the traditional bugs bunny carrot that has broad shoulders and a strong taper to a sharp tip. The two new varieties of carrots we have available is Black Nebula and Chantenay Royal.

Planting Squash and Cucumbers

On this week’s episode, Travis plants a bumper crop of squash and cucumbers in the garden area. The first step in planting a bumper crop is to mark off the rows and lay the drip irrigation in the desired area. Travis has a 30 by 35-foot wide subplot area and is going to lay six rows that have five-feet spacing. To lay down the rows and drip irrigation, Travis is going to use the F.A.D. system which is furrow, amend, and drip. He will take the Double Wheel Hoe with the plow set and create a furrow in a straight line where the rows will lay. Next, take a good quality compost and lightly sprinkle it along the garden furrows. Then, with the drip tape layer attachment, he will lay the drip tape in the furrows while covering it up at the same time which will give us buried irrigation and compost that will give our plants plenty of nutrients throughout the growing season. For any kind of plant that needs trellising, Travis likes to use galvanized cattle panels that you can get from any kind of hardwood store. He uses t-posts on the ends and middle to help support the cattle panels along the 30-foot row using zip ties. Another thing to remember about trellising cucumbers is to plant them along the edge of the subplot because they tend to sprawl out along the garden. Therefore, if you plant the cucumbers in the middle of the garden they will end up crawling all over your other plants.

Squash and Cucumber Varieties

The first bumper crop of squash that is going to be planted is the Goldprize variety. This is a hybrid straightneck variety that produces bountiful yellow fruits that contain an excellent disease package. The next squash variety being planted is the Sunburst which is known as a “patty pan” that produces bright yellow fruits with scalloped edges and green rings in the center interior. Another “patty pan” variety being planted is an heirloom known as Bennings Green. This is a productive variety that produces light green fruits with scalloped edges as well. The two varieties of zucchini that are going to be planted in the garden is Spineless Beauty and Golden Delight. When it comes to planting cucumbers the two most productive varieties is Calypso and Stonewall. Both of these cucumber varieties are gynoecious meaning they only produce female flowers which makes them extremely productive in the vegetable garden.

Controlling Fungal Diseases

An important aspect of growing squash and cucumbers is fungal diseases such as powdery mildew and downy mildew can become a problem. One thing that will feed these diseases is excessive leaf moisture so to control this moisture he likes to use certain spray treatments such as the Liquid Copper or Complete Disease Control. However, the major key to eliminating leaf moisture is using drip irrigation instead of overhead watering in the garden. When using drip tape you can ensure that the water is going directly to the plant roots where the crops need it the most and not on the leaves caused by overhead watering. In the end, we will have fewer disease problems and healthier plants in the vegetable garden.

Making Garden Rows

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing whether you need to make garden rows or not using the plow set. When the Plow Set attachment is hooked up to the Wheel Hoe will it create an elevated planting surface to plant seeds? Yes, it can make a garden row when they are positioned in the furrowing or hilling position. When it comes to planting on an elevated surface Travis mentions that it does not hurt anything in the garden, but it’s an unnecessary step that we would have to take before planting. If you live in an area with poor soil drainage or a large amount of rainfall throughout the season by building a mound or hill and planting on top of it you’re going to ensure the plants are higher up than the soil which will allow for better drainage and they will perform better. However, if you have a sandy loam soil that drains pretty well, so he doesn’t need to make an elevated surface for planting. Instead of planting on an elevated surface, we like to plant on the flat soil and as some crops grow we will hill them to help with stabilizing the plant and encourage more root development.

Hoss Wheel Hoes

Single Wheel Hoe

The first Wheel Hoe that was made available was the Single Wheel Hoe, which was based on the old Planet Jr. Wheel Hoes that have been around for over 100 years. If you’re a beginner gardener and have a small garden that’s around 30×40 or 30×50 in size, the single is the perfect tool for you. It also comes with a set of three cultivator teeth that can be moved around the toolbar and up to five teeth can be used at once. With cool weather crops like lettuce, the Single Wheel Hoe allows for a narrower footprint when planting in the vegetable garden. However, another thing to keep in mind about this wheel hoe is not all of the attachments work on this tool.

Double Wheel Hoe

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

High Arch Wheel Hoe

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

Best Attachment for Furrowing

The Plow Set attachment is the perfect tool to make furrows for planting or forming beds for hilling or throwing soil to plants to ensure plant stability and better root development in the vegetable garden. Easily attach the plow set individually or as a pair to the Single or Double Wheel Hoe. For example, you can easily place the plow set attachment in the inward position to make a perfect furrow for planting your potatoes and then turn the plows outward to easily cover the planted potatoes in the garden.

Time Frame of Gardening

On this week’s episode, Travis is discussing the needed time frame of growing vegetables in a garden. When keeping everything maintained, growing, and harvested it can all depend on the size of your vegetable garden and what crops are planted. Travis is going to give a personal example of how long it takes him to manage his garden area. He currently has four subplots that all total about 5,000 square feet plus an additional new garden area that has six subplots that will total up to 11,000 square feet of garden area. However, Travis does not always grow food in each of these plots he likes to use some subplots for cover cropping to help build the soil. The time frame that he prefers to use every day is at least 30 minutes a day out in the garden. It can vary from working or just walking around monitoring the plants to ensure there are no pests or diseases that need to be fixed. On the weekends, he likes to spend a little more time in the garden when weather permits to get the garden nice and cleaned for the upcoming week ahead. On average, Travis spends about 10 to 12 hours per week in the vegetable garden.

Maintaining Time in the Garden

Before growing or planting, it’s important to determine how much time frame you will have each week to devote to the vegetable garden. You don’t want to grow to large of a garden where it becomes overwhelming to deal with and you don’t have enough time to work in maintaining the area. In order to break down the garden daily or weekly Travis is going to explain some percentages to help determine what activities take the most time when it comes to growing vegetables. The most common problem that people have when it comes to maintaining the garden is not having enough time to control weed germination. However, contrary to popular belief the time spent weeding in the garden is smaller percentage-wise compared to the time it takes to do other activities. This has a lot to do with having the right tools to control weeds quickly and effectively. Using tools such as the single tine cultivator, push pull hoe, and the diamond hoe are all excellent in providing efficient weed control in the vegetable garden. Similar to weeding, spraying the area will take about the same amount of time as controlling the weeds. It takes Travis about 20 to 30 minutes to mix up an injector tank of Monterey B.t. or Neem Oil and get it nicely coated on all the plants once a week in the garden. Once the temperatures increase and pest pressures get it higher then he will do it at least twice a week. Another task that doesn’t take a lot of time in the garden is fertilizing. By streamlining the fertilizer using the fertilizer injector it only takes about 10 minutes to set it up and flowing through the drip system. When side dressing with Chilean Nitrate he prefers to add that on the same day he plans to weed or cultivate because it saves time by doing both tasks in one pass through along the rows. Using a drip irrigation system is another way to save an efficient amount of time in the garden as well. Not only does it save time, but it allows an accurate amount of irrigation to crops at the roots of the plants. The most amount of time spent in the garden comes when planting or harvesting vegetables. The time spent planting vegetables can vary based on transplants or direct seeding. As well as, what kind of crops you are harvesting in the vegetable garden.

Easiest Potatoes

On this week’s episode, Travis is demonstrating how to plant the easiest potatoes in the vegetable garden. In the South, the ideal potato planting time is around the middle to end of February. Typically, potatoes need to be planted anywhere from two to three weeks before the last frost date. Travis always likes to cut his seed potatoes because not only will they last longer, but they produce bigger potatoes in the garden. For example, if you plant a whole potato you’ll more than likely get smaller potatoes, but if you cut them up and reduce the number of eyes planted in one spot you will get nice big potatoes instead. He also likes to cut the seed potato several days before planting because they need time for the open wound or the skin to heal over or suberize which helps prevent any fungal diseases and rot once we put them in the soil. Another important aspect of cutting seeds is the number of eyes you have per piece. Usually, the cut seeds only need around two to four eyes per piece to help ensure that there is not overcrowding in the area. The first step in planting the easiest potatoes is to mark off the rows in the desired subplot you want to plant them in. When planting potatoes his desired row spacing is three-foot apart to provide plenty of soil to hill the potatoes once they become larger. Using the Double Wheel Hoe and the plow set attachment, Travis created a furrow where the rows were marked off for planting. Then, he laid the little seed potato pieces down in the furrow with around six to eight inches in spacing. Once all the seeds are planted he took his High Arch Wheel Hoe and covered them all up along the row so they can start germinating in the vegetable garden. As they continue to grow you will need to hill the potatoes a couple of times throughout the growing season.

Potato Varieties

Of all the different potato varieties available, we offer some of the best productive varieties that all have excellent flavor profiles. 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.

Creating the Dream Vegetable Garden

If you are a gardener there is no doubt that you have thought about what your dream vegetable garden would look like that you would love to have on your homestead. On this week’s episode, Travis is explaining what his dream garden would like and how he plans to lay it out. Travis has had an area on his homestead that was around 12 rows of planted pines and he plans to change this area into a productive dream vegetable garden. The first step in this process was removing all the pines so he could pile them up and create a burn pile. Once the pine trees are cleaned up, he will take the tractor with a chisel plow and harrow to get the area leveled out, the grass chopped up, and the soil cultivated. This will allow the soil to more workable when it comes to planting in the Spring. The area he is working in is around 125 foot wide by 70 foot long and the first step to laying out the garden is to square off the rectangular spot. To make sure all the sides were even, he figured out what the hypotenuse or diagonal was and ran a string exactly that length to make sure he has right angles on all four sides of the area.

Designing and Layout

Once the area is laid off and squared it is time to divide it off into subplots to provide better crop rotation and manageability. When gardening the entire area in long rows it will end up being harder and you’re restricted when it comes to rotating crops which is very important in having a successful productive garden. However, when incorporating subplots it allows you to work in one desired subplot each day and control the weeds a little bit better in the garden area. Travis took his area and divided it into six subplots that are all 30 by 35 in size which is almost square. He recommends square plots because for planting crops like corn it is better for pollination purposes. Another benefit of subplots is they offer you to plant individual families of vegetables in each plot and rotate those around so, in the long run, you avoid pest and disease problems. In between each subplot, there are walkways that are 10 feet wide to ensure Travis has plenty of room to move his mule around the garden when it comes time to harvest. When the subplots are all laid out, then he can start mapping out what he will plant in each of the individual plots. Travis prefers to map out the garden by sketching it out on a piece of paper in order to have a complete design plan laid out for reference. In this garden plot, he plans to plant potatoes, summer squash and cucumbers, peppers and eggplants, tomatoes, sweet corn, and winter squash in different subplots. Before planting all of these crops Travis plans to till the ground at least one or two more times to ensure he gets good workable soil before the growing season.

Best Wheel Hoe

There are many different advantages to both the single and double wheel hoe. However, when it comes to what you need to do in the vegetable garden this will help determine which is the best wheel hoe for you. Each Hoss Wheel Hoe has a frame made of powder-coated steel, a 15-inch steel wheel and Amish-crafted, hardwood handles that are adjustable to accommodate your height. As well as, a thick steel tool bar that allows you to attach our various different attachments to perform all of your desired gardening tasks.

Single Wheel Hoe

One of the ultimate tools for growing food in your vegetable garden, the Single Wheel Hoe can save you time and energy when doing various jobs in the soil. The best way to use this tool is for cultivating and weeding in your garden. When using the single wheel, you obtain a smaller footprint that allows you to operate in smaller row spacing which is ideal if you have a small garden area. Travis prefers to quickly and easily perform a shallow cultivation to control and prevent weeds from overtaking the area.

Double Wheel Hoe

The Double Wheel Hoe comes with two wheels that provide better stability and enables you to straddle the row when plants are smaller, so you can weed both sides of the row in one pass through. This is an eco-friendly solution for cultivating and weeding in your vegetable garden that works in areas where a tractor or motorized tiller does not. If you plan to use the Drip Tape Layer attachment it can only be used with the Double Wheel Hoe.

Wheel Hoe Conversion Kit

However, we designed these two-wheel hoes to quickly and easily convert from a Single Wheel Hoe into a Double Wheel Hoe, using the Double Wheel Hoe Conversion Kit. By simply switching the arms that extend out to the wheels and adding the longer axle the Single can easily be converted to the Double. Travis explains how to easily make this switch using the conversion kit. The first step to converting the Double is taking off both wheels and the dust caps using two half-inch wrenches. The two arms that extend out to the wheels are bowed out for the double but need to be switched around for the single. Using a socket to remove the arms he switches the arms around so that they are bowed in instead of out. He will place the wheel on the inside of the arms instead of two on the outside then install the shoulder bolt and dust caps. Once this is done the wheel should freely spin around but tight enough so the nuts do not come off. To convert from the single to the double you will need the conversion kit that includes a wheel, a longer axle, and two extra dust caps. To convert from the single to the double you will first remove the wheel and shoulder bolt. Then, switch the arms around so they are bowed out instead of in. Next, run the longer axle through the arms and add the dust caps and the two wheels on the outside of the arms.

Planting Shallots in the Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis is planting shallots with the Hoss Wheel Hoe. Since shallots are Alliums, that means they are related to garlic and onions. Unlike onions, the shallots are planted in sets which is like an immature bulb that we plant and they will multiply out similar to bunching onions. Once they start multiplying they can make anywhere from 8 to 10 shallots in a bunch from each one of the little sets. The ideal planting space for shallot is 6 inches apart along the vegetable garden. After marking off where the rows are going to lay, Travis takes the Double Wheel Hoe and creates a shallot planting furrow. When it comes to shallot planting, he took a pipe and cut it to the perfect length so he could easily drop his sets down the pipe to the desired planting spot while he was walking along the row. Similar to other crops, shallots are heavy feeders and require plenty of water and fertilizer. Shallots should be given at least 1 inch of water per week for best results in the garden. Travis recommends fertilizing with a complete fertilizer like our 20-20-20 initially to promote root development and then switching to nitrogen and sulfur-based fertilizer like our Ammonium Sulfate. When it comes to harvesting shallots, they are ready when the majority of the tops begin to bend and collapse in the vegetable. You simply pull the shallots from the soil and allow them to “cure” in the sun for a couple of days. Once the shallots are cured they should be placed in a cool, dry area that is well-ventilated such as a basement or pole barn. Most shallots can be stored for up to five months in a proper storage area after harvesting.

Shallot Varieties

Travis has four different shallot varieties to try out in the garden. The first shallot variety is an elongated type known as Banana which is similar to our Roderique Shallot Set. These shallots are usually two to three inches long at maturity and consist of copper skin with a crisp white flesh interior. Another elongated type shallot is the Monique Shallot which is a semi-long variety that has excellent disease-resistance and storage life. This shallot variety has rust-colored skin with light pink flesh and produces bulbs that can grow as large as three inches. The last shallot variety is a traditional round bulb that is known as Ambition. This is another variety that has excellent storage life and excellent flavor profiles.

Essential Tools for the Garden

On this week’s episode, Travis goes over the most essential tools needed for growing a vegetable garden. When thinking about the various tools that we have available, Travis narrowed it down to the top five that he believes are necessary and essential to have a successful garden.

Garden Rake

The first essential tool to have is the garden rake which is a popular tool to have in the vegetable garden. This rake is great for leveling out a smooth planting area prior to planting transplants or direct seeding. By using the steel tines on the rake head you can simply cultivate and aerate the garden soil. Bed preparation is important for ensuring you get the best results and the most abundant harvest from your vegetable garden. Not only are they great to use in the garden but also for various tasks around the homestead.

Garden Fork

Another essential tool to have around the homestead and inside the vegetable garden is the Garden Fork. The heat-treated steel tines provide maximum strength for penetrating into the soil for gardens and raised beds. This is a must-have tool for growing potatoes because you can easily lift potatoes and sweet potatoes out of the soil for harvesting. An added bonus to this digging fork is the interchangeable rubber foot pad that provides a wide, firm surface for pushing the fork down into the soil with your dominant foot.

Compost Shovel

When dealing with any kind of loading and distributing compost into your garden for soil amending you will need a quality Compost Shovel to get the job done. The shovel has a comfortable poly-D grip handle that won’t break or slip from your hands when in use. If you have compost on an even surface such as a concrete pad or sidewalk the aluminum blade shovel will work best. While the polymer blade shovel works great on uneven surfaces such as grass or dirt.

Batwing Garden Hoe

Based on the various garden hoes it’s hard to pick just one but Travis suggests that the Long Batwing Hoe is the most essential tool to have in the vegetable garden. Designed with a rounded and sharpened edge it is the ideal tool for removing large weeds or pulling dirt towards or away from plants. The shaft is hand-welded to the blade and the blade is hand-sharpened by a 4th generation blacksmith.

Single Wheel Hoe

As one of our most popular tools to have, the Single Wheel Hoe is ideal for getting into narrow or tight row spacings in the vegetable garden. With the Wheel Hoe, you can quickly and easily perform shallow cultivation to control and prevent weeds from taking over the area. Each Hoss Wheel Hoe is created with a powder-coated steel frame, Amish crafted 15-inch steel wheel, and hardwood handles that are adjustable to accommodate your height.

Two Important Tips

On this week’s episode, Travis explains the important tips for growing the best onions in the garden. When it comes to growing the big softball sized onions there two very important tips to consider during this process. The first important key tip to consider is the time of planting in the garden. When it comes to planting onions, you need to plant them as soon as possible so you are able to get as much growth out of the plants during the growing season window. Onions have two growing stages such as the vegetative stage and the bulbing stage. During the vegetative phase, the key is to get as much leaf growth on the onion as you can because each leaf represents a ring on the onion bulb. Therefore, the more leaves you get the bigger the bulb you are going to get and the better bulbing stage that will occur. In the south, the ideal time to plant onions is in late November. The second important key tip to growing the best onions is proper feeding. Onions are heavy feeders they like plenty of water and fertilizer, therefore Travis recommends planting onions on drip tape to ensure they get equal amounts of both.

Growing the Best Onions

The two onion varieties that Travis is planting in the garden this season is Texas Legend and Red Creole. Before planting, he prepares the area by using the Double Wheel Hoe and the drip tape layer to lay the drip irrigation on two-foot row spacing. He prefers the two-foot row spacing because once the onions emerge this spacing will provide plenty of room to go in between the rows for cultivation and keeping the garden area clean. Travis also plants onions on double rows because he is able to get maximum production off one row of drip tape all while making the most out of spacing in the garden. Along the row, he spaces the onions about four inches apart and they will need some thinning if you want to get really big onions. Once the bulbs get about the size of a quarter, Travis will come in the garden and harvest every other onion along the row to use those as green onions. When it comes to feeding the onions, we can feed them using two different methods. The first way is to use the injector fertilizer with 20-20-20 through the drip irrigation system. When onions are young they require plenty of phosphorus and potassium to help encourage root development, but as they get older they simply just need nitrogen. As the onions continue to grow, he will switch to a primary nitrogen supplement such as Chilean Nitrate that can be injected through the drip tape or used as a side-dress along the rows. For side-dressing, we simply sprinkle it alongside the onion plants and then take the wheel hoe with the cultivator teeth to incorporate it back into the soil. By supplying an accurate amount of irrigation and fertilizer we can ensure that the vegetative stage will get as much growth as possible to fulfill the bulbing stage.