16 Tomatoes and a company of Guardsman.

DoubleDogFarm · Thu May 19, 2011 12:15 am

I plant the first of many tomatoes today. Eight Golden Nugget and eight Aunt Ruby's German Green. East and west of the tomatoes is a company of Guardsman onions. Lined up like soldiers 4" apart.

A little hard to see with the fresh grass mulch.
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Agribon Row Tent
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Eric

orgoveg · Thu May 19, 2011 1:48 am

Nice. That looks very professional. No disease problems under there? I know those are used everywhere on commercial farms with great success, but I can't figure out why the lack of air circulation isn't a problem. Do you irrigate with a soaker hose or something like that?

applestar · Thu May 19, 2011 7:35 am

Are the Guardsman your very own onion seedlings? They look great!

jal_ut · Thu May 19, 2011 11:38 am

Looking good!

You use fresh grass as mulch?

I have never seen any problem with using fresh grass for mulch.

DoubleDogFarm · Thu May 19, 2011 12:42 pm

Nice. That looks very professional. No disease problems under there? I know those are used everywhere on commercial farms with great success, but I can't figure out why the lack of air circulation isn't a problem. Do you irrigate with a soaker hose or something like that?

orgoveg,
Thank you. My low tunnels are temporary. I will be picking them up and moving them to the next transplants. I don't go through the traditional hardening off process. With my unheated greenhouse plants go through hot and cold cycle. I believe this makes them pretty hardy. The low tunnels gives them a few days of protection from the sun, wind and heavy rain.
Overhead sprinklers again this year. Drip next if it's in the budget.

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That's lovely!
You use fresh grass as mulch? I always thought that I had to let it dry for a day or two before using it. Please tell me you use fresh grass! If so, you just saved me spreading it out, raking it up, and distributing it on the garden. I'm not opposed to work, I just don't like to do too much of it .

Marlingardener,
Thank you. Yes fresh grass, just cut maybe an hour before. The grass was cut with a line trimmer. The grass from the catcher of a lawn mower is easier to work with. Smaller blades. I will have to go back and pull the mulch away from the base of the tomatoes. I like to leave a small ring of bare soil. A no hiding place.

Are the Guardsman your very own onion seedlings? They look great!

Again Thank you.
Apple, Yes these are one of five I started in the greenhouse.
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James, Thank you. Do you mulch around your onions?

orgoveg · Thu May 19, 2011 12:58 pm

Ah. I see. I noticed your deep, wide raised bed. Very, very nice.

DoubleDogFarm · Thu May 19, 2011 1:06 pm

I'm slowly converting to no-till gardening. I mostly rototill the paths and shovel onto the raised rows. 3ft wide, 20ft long. Takes two of my portable low tunnels to cover.

Eric

jal_ut · Thu May 19, 2011 2:15 pm

James, Thank you. Do you mulch around your onions?

No. I just try to keep them weeded.

jal_ut · Thu May 19, 2011 2:25 pm

I looked up your variety Guardsman onion. That sounds like a nice onion to try. Last season I grew some yellow onions for seed, and I ended up with a lot of seed. I have planted quite a bit directly in the garden and it came up just great. I am going to have more green onions than I know what to do with.

Last fall I planted a row of Egyptian onion bulbils and they are already of a usable size. They make great green onions and you can plant them any time. Do you grow Egyptians?

DoubleDogFarm · Fri May 20, 2011 11:03 am

James,

Guardsman are new for me this year and are looking eager to please.

No on the Egyptian onions, another one to try.

Eric

DoubleDogFarm · Sat May 21, 2011 11:27 pm

Meager day at the Farmers Market today. Starting to wonder if it's worth it.

The larger tomato plants get beat up traveling back and forth, so into the garden they go.

I planted 16 more tomato plants this evening. Eight Cherokee Purple and eight Fantastic. I'll being plant more tomorrow along with leeks and onions.

Work, work, work
Eric

tedln · Sat May 21, 2011 11:56 pm

Beautiful Eric!

I tried mulching my onions one year and it didn't work well for me. I've found planting my onions only 1/4" deep works best. I usually purchase the little bundles of starts or seedlings with the dry roots on the bottom. In order to limit the planting depth, I use scissors to remove all the roots from each bundle before planting them. I then plant them so shallow, I have to prop some of them back up after a wind storm until they start developing new roots. When I planted deeper or mulched them, it limited the bulb development.

Ted

DoubleDogFarm · Sun May 22, 2011 12:08 am

James, Ted

Two against mulching the onions, ok Thanks. I will just mulch down the middle around the tomatoes.

Eric

jal_ut · Sun May 22, 2011 10:16 pm

Meager day at the Farmers Market today. Starting to wonder if it's worth it.

I have sold at our local small town market for two years now. I have decided it is more of a social event than a money maker. I get to see people I know that I seldom get to see otherwise. I guess I made enough to pay expenses on the garden and that is about it. Of course that helps but, I don't really need to make money doing it. Honey is my best moneymaker, but I keep that account separate from the garden stuff.

Check It Out

DoubleDogFarm · Tue May 24, 2011 11:42 pm

Planted sixteen more tomato plants this evening. I now have,

( 8 ) Golden Nugget
( 8 ) Aunt Ruby's German Green
( 8 ) Cherokee Purple
( 8 ) Fantastic
( 8 ) Italian Roma
( 8 ) Black Krim

Didn't have time to plant the leeks and the rest of the onions.

Hopefully finish these three rows and mulch tomorrow.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/DSC03404.jpg[/img]
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Eric

tedln · Wed May 25, 2011 9:57 am

Eric,

As always, I love your garden.

Ted

jal_ut · Wed May 25, 2011 2:08 pm

Looking good. Hope you like onions.......

DoubleDogFarm · Wed May 25, 2011 4:26 pm

Thanks guys,

I do like me some onions.

I will probably have to make sauces, salsas, etc with the garlic, tomatoes and onions. I just picked up (6) food grade 5 gallon buckets today.

Eric

DoubleDogFarm · Thu Jun 02, 2011 1:55 pm

I now have 96 tomato plants in the garden. None of them look spectacular. A little yellow. Weather cool and wet. Rained again this morning.

Warmer this weekend?

( 16 ) Golden Nugget
( 16 ) Aunt Ruby's German Green
( 15 ) Cherokee Purple
( 16 ) Fantastic
( 8 ) Italian Roma
( 9 ) Black Krim
( 8 ) Speckled Roman
( 8 ) Cuore Di Bue

Of all my onions Copra looks the best.
[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/Double%20Dog%20Farm%20Vegetable%20Garden%20plants/DSC03430.jpg[/img]

Eric