Hey everybody, I'm really looking forward to start planting my garden. I'm trying something a little different from last year for my pumpkins. Can't wait to see how they come out. Thanks for watching.
Hi, this weekend I will start sowing the first summer plants into pots (tomatoes, pepper, pepino, kohlrabi, cotton and more), and spring plants into my greenhouse and some patches with a canopy (maybe it will snow again). The rising moon is good for germ buds. Like the tidal range the moon's gravitation also affects the plant's fluids and helps grow.
Reading your comment really brings home that planting our gardens will be here very fast. Before long, I'll be doing the same with tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, etc. From your comment, would I be correct in assuming you plant by the sign of the moon? I've always found this interesting and have done it myself. Thanks for sharing another great comment.
@@jonbussey5353 Yes, I try this year to follow the moon signs. I also follow mixed crop and permaculture rules for years. My soil is improving constantly. The tomatoes and fruits are very delicious. Wild herbs are also tolerated. And my garden is full of insects and birds. I harvest and dry the powerful seeds of the stinging nettle. I add that power food in salads.
@@jonbussey5353 Thank you. I guess you will also see a wonderful garden year. Please prepare plants which are full of nutrients like potatoes, corn, beans and other. There is so much war preparation and alarming in many countries. That does not feel good.
I’m excited to see how well this works out! I’d say you’ve done a fine job of amending that area. Those roots will be able to go as deep as they want. I agree about potential pathogens-the good bacteria always win out when conditions are right..with plenty of air and moisture. I’m actually in the process of harvesting clay from the woods to add to my sandy soil. Much different here 😊…
Hey Bill, I can't wait to start planting. I really curious about how you plan to mix the clay with sand. I don't know if I've ever heard of anyone doing this but it sounds very interesting. Thanks for another great comment.
@@jonbussey5353 I guess it’s not exactly like it sounds. I have a friend with lots of woods, and he lets me harvest rotted logs and forest soil. I just find a log, take a trash can, and a milk crate, and sift that soil/leaf mold/compost that’s under the log. His property is on the Chickahominy River, so there are deposits of clay everywhere. In the sifting process, the clay gets mixed in with the compost. I bring that back by the truck load to add to my beds, containers, grow mounds, etc…
That's really cool, and it sounds like a great way to get organic matter for the garden. I had a lot of crazy ideas about what you were doing to mix clay with your soil.
Hi, my garden is also full of heavy clay. In hot summer, earth digging is not possible. I try something different. I mulched the patches and I use green manure like leguminouses (beans and pease). I avoid destroying the work tunnels. I do not switch the live levels of the soil upsidedown. Compost is given on top of the soil also in summer. That feeds the living soil constantly. With intact work tunnels the heavy summer storm rain could easily be stored in my garden soil. Also use some plants with deep roots to ease the soil. Plants in winter feeds the soil with sugar and the family too. There are lots of vegetables for winter. A little protection could be helpful against heavy snow. The symbiosis between plants, microbes and fungi is fascinating to me. 🌿🤩
Wow, that was an amazing comment. I love planting green manures, but I use alfalfa and clover. I planted some last fall where I'm going to put my sweet corn this spring. I also love the way bacteria, microbes, and all the other stuff we can't see work to make great soil. That was a wonderful comment. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for watching.
New subscriber here. Keep us posted. I have been wanting to try planting pumpkin for a few years now but I don't have the space for them because they take up alot of space.
Thank you very much for subscribing. I will definitely keep everyone updated on how this turns out good or bad. You are right that's the bad thing about pumpkins they take up a lot of room. If possible look into the three sisters method, I don't know if it would help but it does save space. Thanks for the comment. I appreciate it.
That's good to hear. I've never tried perlite before, but what little I know about it is that it sounds like it would break up clay soil really well. That was an excellent comment. Thanks for sharing.
We use alpaca poo in our gardens. We have heavy clay soil and the worms really help to turn the manure into the clay and work the area really good for us
If you have the time, consider planting a bed of sorghum sudangrass. Nothing beats it for below ground root mass & above ground green mass. You can do multiple cutting of the above ground green mass (at least 2x) forcing the roots deeper. Good for earthworms. The plant does the gound tilling for you. It should terminate in the winter with cold temps. If not dead in early spring, cover it with manure, leaves, dried matter from 2x cuttings & black ag tarp. The ground will be perfect. I use this method on clay when I create long crop beds.
That is a great comment. Most people ( myself included ) could always use more organic matter for their gardens, and green manures are perfect for this. Do the roots on sorghum grow deeper than alfalfa or clover? I planted clover last fall, but sorghum seems like it would give you more organic material. You have definitely given me something to try next summer/fall for a cover crop. That was a very good comment. Thanks for sharing.
Tried 2x to reply, but RU-vid apparently rejected both due to web links in replies. Sorghum Sudangrass roots can grow up to 16 in underground w/ 2x cutting of above ground mass...leaving 6 in stable for re-growth. See/web search- Sorghum Sudangrass SARE covercrop guide.
Thanks for the information. I'm always looking for something to help amend my soil, I might try to plant some as a cover crop this summer for my potatoes next year. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate the comment.
Lol, most of what you're is wrong and you shouldn't be giving advice on growing thing. The reason your rough compost hasn't decomposed quickly into the soil is because your soil temperature is too cold. Also, inverting/tilling soil deeply when the top soil layer is cold only helps to cool the naturally warmer deeper layer that you are claim to be helping through aeration. The best time to do your deep soil prep is the first day after harvest, then put a thick layer of mulch (leaves are best) to insulate the warmer soil that you incorporated with deeply with compost which will enable the soil microbes to work all winter long. Two week prior to planting out pumpkins you need to take the mulch off the soil, put that in your compost heaps, then allow the bare soil to warm naturally in the sun. On planting day you flame weed, plant out pumpkins, and install row cover to acclimate transplants. That's how you grow 120 day pumpkin varieties in a 100 day grow season with 40lb/pumpkin averages. Bonus pro tip: spread gypsum at 25% the suggested application rate after removing mulch, top dress with compost then harrow soil 2 weeks prior to planting. This will bolster cation exchange in clay soils, which will super charge pumpkin growth.
His pumpkin trenches will be just fine. If it were me, I wouldn't bother turning at this point, but layering-up into mounds...assuming he's market gardening v field farming pumpkins.
I'm sure your system works really well, but I think you're missing the point of my channel. For over 30 years, I've dealt with efficiency and production at my job. Gardening should not turn into a job. If getting pumpkins to grow quickly makes you happy, then kudos to for being successful. I want to share with everyone that gardening should be fun and relaxing and to try new things. If it takes longer, then it takes longer. I'm not going to turn my garden into a job. I'll let the viewers decide if that makes me not worth watching. For what it's worth, I think your system probably does work pretty good.
Clay doesn't have enough organic matter in it to be called soil, literally clay by definition doesn't have nutrients. Clay holds too much water, which will rot your roots long before you have to worry about the plants not having nutrients. Clay is mostly silica, which plants don't really use much of. You should honestly go talk to your local college and get some information about what you're doing. Remember kids, just because a person is doing something on video, it doesn't mean they know what they are talking about.
If that is your opinion, I'm not going to try to change it, but everything I've read says clay soil does have a lot of nutrients. Maybe we're talking about different kinds of clay. I have grown plants in my soil without adding any amendments, and they produced vegetables, and the roots didn't rot. Some root crops are very hard to grow because clay soil does hold water, but I have to respectfully disagree with what you're saying. As long as we're all trying to get better at gardening, having disagreements in a civil manner is fine.
The solum of soil, sand, silt & clay, generally doesn't have a charge. Some clay soils that have aluminum will hold a weak positive charge (correction: weak negative charge) which is good. This rarely happens (if at all) with sand or silt. I'd much rather condition clay soil than have to deal with a soil solum with a high percentage of sand or silt.
I guess we're going to have to disagree on this. After gardening in clay soil for years, I can't believe clay soil doesn't have any nutrients. The information I used as a basis for the video came from Purdue University.
@nh251 So, you got a degree in horticulture without understanding anything about Cation Exchange Capacity or clay colloids? I suppose, back in the day that info may have not been considered necessary. You can get up to date with a simple web search. Example- Factor Affecting Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC): There are various factors that affect the ion-exchange also affect the cation exchange capacity of the soil namely texture of the soil, organic matter content, amount and kind of clay etc. As for example, soils with large amounts of clay and organic matter will have higher cation as well as anion exchange capacities as sandy soils low in organic matter. Also, soils with predominately 2: 1 colloids will have higher exchange capacities than soils with predominately 1: 1 mineral colloids. Soil reaction or pH of the soil also affects the cation exchange capacity of the soil. Generally with the increase in soil pH, the cation exchange capacity increases. The exchangeable aluminium and other polymeric hydroxy-aluminium also affect the cation exchange capacity of the soil by changing the soil reaction or pH.
