I may need to till my no-till garden

[Chuck]

Yeaaaa sooo these were seedlings I planted a while ago when I was stubborn and planted regardless of the time of year lol. They are indeterminant black cherry and I’m well aware of them not fruiting. Man I just don’t have the heart to toss them . Might as well have something growing since there’s not much else. My cucumber plant in the front started setting fruit for the FIRST time after putting a shade cloth over the bed!! Complete game changer.


What about green beans? (Tendergreen garden beans). My mom burnt me out on purple hull peas a little lol. But for the good of the garden I’d be willing to sacrifice. I’d like to get a zucchini/cucumber/array of peppers/indeterminate tomato seedlings started soon. I’ve been thinking about spreading random bean plants around the whole garden just for the nitrogen benefit. But do these work the same way as peas?

You can still plant okra although it is getting a little late. But, in all reality I think I would get my raised beds ready for a fall and winter crop and forget about trying to grow anything this summer. You can start tomato seedlings around mid July to around the first of August and put them out around mid Sept. You can start broccoli and cauliflower seeds about mid August and set them out mid Sept. And this winter you can grow all kinds of stuff. About your tomato plant. Just get a 5 gallon bucket and transplant into that. It will probably survive this heat and start putting on fruit as soon as the highs are in the high 80's low 90's.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

You can still plant okra although it is getting a little late. But, in all reality I think I would get my raised beds ready for a fall and winter crop and forget about trying to grow anything this summer. You can start tomato seedlings around mid July to around the first of August and put them out around mid Sept. You can start broccoli and cauliflower seeds about mid August and set them out mid Sept. And this winter you can grow all kinds of stuff. About your tomato plant. Just get a 5 gallon bucket and transplant into that. It will probably survive this heat and start putting on fruit as soon as the highs are in the high 80's low 90's.

Awesome. So do you think I need to try to sift out as much of the wood chips as possible from this compost? They’re completely black, but def not broken down completely. I’m afraid of doing all this tilling labor and STILL leaving in those nitrogen leaching chips…

 

[Chuck]

Awesome. So do you think I need to try to sift out as much of the wood chips as possible from this compost? They’re completely black, but def not broken down completely. I’m afraid of doing all this tilling labor and STILL leaving in those nitrogen leaching chips…

No. Leave in the chips. They will continue to break down and help aerate the soil. This is why I said to not incorporate more than about 30% of the compost into the soil. Here is how I would tackle making your raised beds. Shovel all of the compost into a big pile. Then dig out the soil to a depth of about 10 inches. You don't have to remove the soil, just turn it over and break up the big clods of soil. If you wish you can now add your organic fertilizer. Then shovel about 3 inches of your compost on top of the soil you have just turned over, level it out and then re-dig by turning the compost into the soil. Do this a couple of times. When this is done get a gallon of molasses from a garden center and a big watering can. Mix 2 oz of molasses into a gallon of water and pour it over what you have dug and turned. Do the molasses and water about every 2 weeks. Within a month or two you soil will be easily workable. A gallon of molasses may seem like a lot but later on you will continue to use it frequently. When you want to plant a seedling get your shovel and remove a big shovel full of soil, put it into a wheelbarrow, mix in your organic fertilizer and add what ever soil amendments you want. Put you plant in the hole and fill it back up with the soil you have just fertilized. When your plants are planted you can then use your compost as a mulch around the base of the plant.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

So I don’t even need to add any bagged garden/potting soil? I was just about to grab maybe 6 bags of organic raised bed mix just to get it going and reach the height of 6inches above where the level ground is currently.

EDIT: I should’ve mentioned this earlier, this neighborhood is brand new, and when I dig down it’s literally that orange dirt they used to build houses on top of and level the ground, and then a few inches deeper it’s clay. So there’s literally nothing below.

 

[Chuck]

So I don’t even need to add any bagged garden/potting soil? I was just about to grab maybe 6 bags of organic raised bed mix just to get it going and reach the height of 6inches above where the level ground is currently.

EDIT: I should’ve mentioned this earlier, this neighborhood is brand new, and when I dig down it’s literally that orange dirt they used to build houses on top of and level the ground, and then a few inches deeper it’s clay. So there’s literally nothing below.

Yes, add it if you have it.

 

[Meadowlark]

What about green beans? ...I’d like to get a zucchini/cucumber/array of peppers/indeterminate tomato seedlings started soon

Are we focusing on soil improvement or food for the table at this time?

From now through August in the Houston area I concentrate on soil improvement. Green beans don't do well in temps above 85 deg and you won't see many (any) 85 deg days in the near future...unless we get a hurricane/tropical system. The others mentioned will pretty much burn up as seedlings until the temps relent some.

Further, when you harvest from a legume intended for nitrogen fixation and soil building you detract significantly from the nitrogen fixation. Green beans are not a big nitrogen producer anyway and harvesting them means even less.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

Yes, add it if you have it.

Awesome I will. I just want to thank you so much for your time. This has been a really rough couple of months of feeling helpless, and there’s no amount of videos or articles I could watch/read that could match the comfort in talking to a human being. I’m so glad I came here lol. I’ll keep this thread updated as I progress.

 

[Chuck]

You will still have to turn over the existing soil. Just add the bagged soil to the compost and turn both back into the existing soil. And as time goes by just keep adding bagged soil, compost and turning it into the soil. What I worry about most is sunlight.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

Are we focusing on soil improvement or food for the table at this time?

From now through August in the Houston area I concentrate on soil improvement. Green beans don't do well in temps above 85 deg and you won't see many (any) 85 deg days in the near future...unless we get a hurricane/tropical system. The others mentioned will pretty much burn up as seedlings until the temps relent some.

Further, when you harvest from a legume intended for nitrogen fixation and soil building you detract significantly from the nitrogen fixation. Green beans are not a big nitrogen producer anyway and harvesting them means even less.

I see! In the last few days it’s slowly dawning on me that I’m probably not gonna be planting anything in here other than maybe some purple holes like you said and just leaving them in there. I have a ton of plants in my patio garden on the opposite side of the house to deal with anyways. I definitely bit off more than I would like to chew. This may actually be a blessing in disguise to be able to get a little more situated with the lifeguard and I have already. Of course there’s no fruit on it really (except for two monster cantaloupes lol). But it’s still a good opportunity to experiment and just understand how plants grow and what they need.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

You will still have to turn over the existing soil. Just add the bagged soil to the compost and turn both back into the existing soil. And as time goes by just keep adding bagged soil, compost and turning it into the soil. What I worry about most is sunlight.

Yes the sunlight… so the plan for this garden was to be all shade loving crops. I know it’s a thing, but that’s probably gonna be a whole other skill on its own to find plants that can grow with this minimal sunlight.

When this patch of earth was empty, I would leave it for a season and it would be an absolute jungle with weeds, sunflowers and all kinds of BS growing in it. That’s initially what gave me the idea to try and grow SOMETHING there.

 

[Chuck]

Yes the sunlight… so the plan for this garden was to be all shade loving crops. I know it’s a thing, but that’s probably gonna be a whole other skill on its own to find plants that can grow with this minimal sunlight.

When this patch of earth was empty, I would leave it for a season and it would be an absolute jungle with weeds, sunflowers and all kinds of BS growing in it. That’s initially what gave me the idea to try and grow SOMETHING there.

I don't know of any vegetables that will produce in the limited sunlight They all need at least 5 or 6 hours of direct sunlight to produce much of anything. Perhaps, maybe, in the winter you might be able to grow greens with some success but even that is iffy. Some ornamentals and flowers will grow in partial sun but I don't know what they are.

 

[Lmbauer2017]

I don't know of any vegetables that will produce in the limited sunlight They all need at least 5 or 6 hours of direct sunlight to produce much of anything. Perhaps, maybe, in the winter you might be able to grow greens with some success but even that is iffy. Some ornamentals and flowers will grow in partial sun but I don't know what they are.

You don’t think these little ones would produce any fruit if it was a bit cooler? Im not trying to survive off this garden. They get leggy for sure, but they seem to be liking the little direct sunlight they do get? (These are transplants put into amended soil/compost holes 2 weeks ago, the others sticking out of the ground are potatoes).

Zucchini

Black cherry tomatoes (supposedly do ok with less light)

Random Yukon gold potato I stuck in the ground for fun.

What do you think?

 

[Chuck]

You don’t think these little ones would produce any fruit if it was a bit cooler? Im not trying to survive off this garden. They get leggy for sure, but they seem to be liking the little direct sunlight they do get? (These are transplants put into amended soil/compost holes 2 weeks ago, the others sticking out of the ground are potatoes).

View attachment 90857
Zucchini

View attachment 90858
Black cherry tomatoes (supposedly do ok with less light)

View attachment 90859
Random Yukon gold potato I stuck in the ground for fun.

What do you think?

Let's put it this way. Last year I grew 8 cherry tomatoes. Granted they weren't black cherry but cherrys all the same. I grew them where they received about 4 hours of direct sunlight as an experiment and they made maybe, at most, a handful of tomatoes each. I had thought that perhaps I could extend the growing season on them by placing them in a shaded area. They were grown in super rich garden soil that I put into fabric containers. This year I put them into all day sun and before the hail storm destroyed them they had at least a pint of tomatoes on each plant and if had survived would have produced at minimum a half gallon of fruit each. This shows how important sunlight is. You will probably get a few tomatoes but not enough to be worth the costs you have incurred. Is there anywhere else on your property to install a raised bed. If not a raised bed is there room for 5-10 gallon fabric containers?

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I’ve been thinking about spreading random bean plants around the whole garden just for the nitrogen benefit.

Remember the plants don't fix nitrogen for the soil's sake, they use it themselves. If you want it in the soil leave the roots and compost the tops or chop them up in the soil.

 

[Meadowlark]

Random Yukon gold potato I stuck in the ground for fun.

What do you think?

Has about as much chance as a snowball on I45 July 4th.