For months, I've read the Aussie's threads and drooled over their pictures but hey, they are in the other hemisphere. Then, AJ, TX and others are talking about their transplants, but they are hundreds of miles south. Know, members in Tennessee and even Kentucky are starting to talk about leaving plants - lots of them - outside until this fall. Here in Cincinnati, we base a lot of stuff on May Day. By then the ground needs to have been plowed and disced (or tilled) up at least once. So I have devised a schedule, since there is so much to do and not much time to do it.
The winter wheat I sowed is getting taller, and the 70 degree weather we are suppose to experience toward the end of this week (after a couple days of decent rainfall) means it will experience a big growth spurt. The shortest blades are at least 8" tall, the tallest double that. Next Wednesday/Thursday, it gets mowed and saved for the compost pile.
Speaking of compost, I don't have room to add anymore, so my present piles get spread over the mowed wheat area of the garden, whether it has completely composted or not. I may have to deal with some seeds that have not been cooked later this summer, but that's okay - more fodder for this year's pile!
I also have about 150 sq. ft. of what has been dead garden space that I want to reclaim. It was sowed in wheat also but has not been very productive. But before I sowed it, I removed the top six inches of soil and piled it. This dirt gets spread back over the area, mixed with compost and a couple bales of peat moss. Unless someone advices otherwise, I will let the wheat roots stay without tilling them - they should help retain moisture and provide nitrogen this summer.
That's my plan for 4/22 and 4/23.
On 4/29 and 4/30 I want to till the ground. If it rains enough and then dries, the entire garden. If I don't get enough rain, only the part that isn't trying to be reclaimed.
May 6 & 7, I will spread fertilizer and nitrate on the garden - all of it, and till it again. I've seen, in just a few weeks this spring, how much difference fert can make. I had maybe two pounds left over from last year that I threw on some of the garden about three weeks ago. Where it landed, the wheat is 50% taller than the places next to it that didn't get any.
May 13 & 14 is another tilling.
May 20 & 21 are planting days!
I always heard to plan your work then work your plan. This is my plan!
Mike
The winter wheat I sowed is getting taller, and the 70 degree weather we are suppose to experience toward the end of this week (after a couple days of decent rainfall) means it will experience a big growth spurt. The shortest blades are at least 8" tall, the tallest double that. Next Wednesday/Thursday, it gets mowed and saved for the compost pile.
Speaking of compost, I don't have room to add anymore, so my present piles get spread over the mowed wheat area of the garden, whether it has completely composted or not. I may have to deal with some seeds that have not been cooked later this summer, but that's okay - more fodder for this year's pile!
I also have about 150 sq. ft. of what has been dead garden space that I want to reclaim. It was sowed in wheat also but has not been very productive. But before I sowed it, I removed the top six inches of soil and piled it. This dirt gets spread back over the area, mixed with compost and a couple bales of peat moss. Unless someone advices otherwise, I will let the wheat roots stay without tilling them - they should help retain moisture and provide nitrogen this summer.
That's my plan for 4/22 and 4/23.
On 4/29 and 4/30 I want to till the ground. If it rains enough and then dries, the entire garden. If I don't get enough rain, only the part that isn't trying to be reclaimed.
May 6 & 7, I will spread fertilizer and nitrate on the garden - all of it, and till it again. I've seen, in just a few weeks this spring, how much difference fert can make. I had maybe two pounds left over from last year that I threw on some of the garden about three weeks ago. Where it landed, the wheat is 50% taller than the places next to it that didn't get any.
May 13 & 14 is another tilling.
May 20 & 21 are planting days!
I always heard to plan your work then work your plan. This is my plan!
Mike
