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Hand Hilling and Black Plastic Mulch

Spicy Chicken said:
You did more than look, I thank you and my daughter thanks you for the donation. very kind of you, your a good man wildfire.
I was able to briefly check out your site as well, very very busy right now but your icon is on my desktop and will look into more when I get a chance!

Thanks again. SC
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Hey Spicy chicken

Was just looking at your site again and in the About us section, the number of visitors and donations doesn't seem to be updating. Just thought you might want to know so you can fix it. ;)
 
What did you use for this step? [see photo] - how did you square up the edges so beautifully after raking it together?

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Thanks.
 
Quickstrike said:
What did you use for this step? [see photo] - how did you square up the edges so beautifully after raking it together?

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Thanks.
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First Post. Well for starters......... Welcome!:)

To answer your Q I just use the rake to flatten the top and the dirt falls over the edge in a lava flow action, so what you see in that pic is the end result with no other steps,

Enjoy the site, SC
 
Spicy has magical hands! whatever he touches, becomes perfect! touch me! touch me! oh wait... that doesn't sound right. :lol:
 
Spicy, first off amazing setup. I definitely want to do this (but on a much smaller scale) next year. I was wondering how wide are your rows? Also, I am guessing that is not just normal soil, what (if you can divulge the secret) do you do for prep? Thanks!


Matt
 
Spicy Chicken said:
Don't have an exact count yet but all together just under 2000 plants, Had some mother nature issues early on but hoping to harvest around a quarter million pods.

I do sell some fresh other wise they get dried and sell them as whole or powder, this year I have a contract with festival foods grocery stores so really looking forward to that endeavor.
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Now that the season is over, do you have any Idea as to What your total Harvest was this year?

Martin
 
MGOLD86 said:
Spicy, first off amazing setup. I definitely want to do this (but on a much smaller scale) next year. I was wondering how wide are your rows? Also, I am guessing that is not just normal soil, what (if you can divulge the secret) do you do for prep? Thanks!


Matt
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Hi Matt!

Last year my rows were about 16 inches across the top not including the tapered sides and a single row of plants.

This year I went with about 30 across the top with 2 rows of plants staggered.

Normal soil is dependent upon you geographical area and even 100 yards in any direction can be different, so I guess to answer your Q, My land is low quite rich black top soilish with about one third sand, most of it was cow pasture about 25 years ago with the land being vacant since then till I purchased it.

I do add cow manure every year but not a lot, the all plant and no fruit thing, leafs for growing peppers as well as other veggies will be one of your best mulches to till in both fall and spring,

key elements and benefits of black plastic mulch, heats the ground in the spring, retains water by not allowing top evaporation, and of coarse weed control.

I hope I answered your Q's and wish you luck with your endeavor! If you have any other Q's don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers, SC


XLNT said:
Now that the season is over, do you have any Idea as to What your total Harvest was this year?


Martin
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Sadly Martin just over 150,000. A real disappointment, but looking forward to next year and maybe we will have a warmer spring, warm nights all summer and no frost till October, ya right, wishful thinking right?

Thanks SC
 
Spicy Chicken said:
Hi Matt!

Last year my rows were about 16 inches across the top not including the tapered sides and a single row of plants.

This year I went with about 30 across the top with 2 rows of plants staggered.

Normal soil is dependent upon you geographical area and even 100 yards in any direction can be different, so I guess to answer your Q, My land is low quite rich black top soilish with about one third sand, most of it was cow pasture about 25 years ago with the land being vacant since then till I purchased it.

I do add cow manure every year but not a lot, the all plant and no fruit thing, leafs for growing peppers as well as other veggies will be one of your best mulches to till in both fall and spring,

key elements and benefits of black plastic mulch, heats the ground in the spring, retains water by not allowing top evaporation, and of coarse weed control.

I hope I answered your Q's and wish you luck with your endeavor! If you have any other Q's don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers, SC
Click to expand...


Thanks SC! You said this year you went with about 30 across the top and staggered them. What did you space them at, and is this something you would use again? I like the idea of staggering to give more room to the plants as well as maximizing your space.
 
MGOLD86 said:
Thanks SC! You said this year you went with about 30 across the top and staggered them. What did you space them at, and is this something you would use again? I like the idea of staggering to give more room to the plants as well as maximizing your space.
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On a small scale I would do this again if you are hand watering, If you are using drip tape manufactures suggest that their tape be with in 10 inches of the plant and in the case of double rows my side to side spacing was a 20 inches so it did fit with in those guild lines when ran down the middle. At the early stages the plant roots may only be down about 4 inches at best requiring the water to wick up to the plant after the soil becomes completely saturated. not a good thing in my book. I only mention this because next year I will be running drip tape with a single row of plants.

Like I said side to side 20 inches and down the row every 24 so the plants are actually every foot but the 20 plus inches apart because of the angle. worked very well.:cool:
 
I tried it this year for my second year. I went with the fabric that allows breathing / moisture in and out. I like it. I did go high density, as I am an urban gardener, and I wanted to see what would happen. Many pros and cons to this. They do have the furrows to spread into, which they did to a degree. For me it was a win. The thing I notice most, is the accelerated growth in the beginning, due to the heat buildup. I am in Maine. I will do more of this in 2014.
 
 
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This is the same method I use, except I also put a low row cover of 4 mil. sheet poly over the black plastic mulch to trap the heat radiating from the soil at night and hold it down next to the plants. It's a passive system, so it doesn't work too early in the season when the nights are too cold, but it gives me a 4 or 5 week jump on the start of the season. I don't have any irrigation tape, soaker hoses or similar in my community garden plot, but I plant my chiles in a double row in the mulch and set a half-liter water bottle upside-down in between each two plants with the cap and bottom of the bottle removed and an inch showing above the soil surface. When I come through with the garden hose to water, I just fill each bottle and let it perk into the soil at the root level. I had great results with that method last year.
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JohnT said:
I tried it this year for my second year. I went with the fabric that allows breathing / moisture in and out. I like it. I did go high density, as I am an urban gardener, and I wanted to see what would happen. Many pros and cons to this. They do have the furrows to spread into, which they did to a degree. For me it was a win. The thing I notice most, is the accelerated growth in the beginning, due to the heat buildup. I am in Maine. I will do more of this in 2014.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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stickman said:
This is the same method I use, except I also put a low row cover of 4 mil. sheet poly over the black plastic mulch to trap the heat radiating from the soil at night and hold it down next to the plants. It's a passive system, so it doesn't work too early in the season when the nights are too cold, but it gives me a 4 or 5 week jump on the start of the season. I don't have any irrigation tape, soaker hoses or similar in my community garden plot, but I plant my chiles in a double row in the mulch and set a half-liter water bottle upside-down in between each two plants with the cap and bottom of the bottle removed and an inch showing above the soil surface. When I come through with the garden hose to water, I just fill each bottle and let it perk into the soil at the root level. I had great results with that method last year.
 
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Thank you JohnT and stickman for the posts, great information and technique, great learning tools !! 
 
Feel free to post your technique's an experiences here.
 
In the end; it's whatever works for you. :party:
 
Cheers - Jeff
 
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