Tennessee 2020 Garden

[Gary350]

I sifted 14 buckets of wood ash to separate the ash from the charcoal. I sized the charcoal in 3 different sizes. I put a 5 gallon bucket of small charcoal pieces on my chickweed crop. I also put a 5 gallon bucket of wood ash on my chickweed crop. The 3'x10' bed is suppose to be 150 garlic but it turned into a chickweed crop.

[Vanisle_BC]

... That youtuber I referenced regarding peas has an innovative design for short rows that he’s used for years, but he uses materials for the hoops that are hard to find/obtain in the usa.

@applestar, I couldn't find that reference. do you still have it?

[Vanisle_BC]

.... The 3'x10' bed is suppose to be 150 garlic but it turned into a chickweed crop.

But isn't that the garlic I see, growing up through the chickweed?

[Gary350]

.... The 3'x10' bed is suppose to be 150 garlic but it turned into a chickweed crop.

But isn't that the garlic I see, growing up through the chickweed?

Yes some of the garlic tops can be seen. There was a lot of volunteer cilantro in there but it can no longer be seen.

[applestar]

... That youtuber I referenced regarding peas has an innovative design for short rows that he’s used for years, but he uses materials for the hoops that are hard to find/obtain in the usa.

@applestar, I couldn't find that reference. do you still have it?

There’s a video embedded in this post. I think I talked about it some more elsewhere but will have to look. Some of the other posts in the thread including pepperhead’s might be of interest.
Subject: Late Fall to Winter Gardening with protection

I really don’t know what the best mode of winter protection is for your area. In my area, the winter is much more severe.

[...]
You might want to try watching some of this vlogger’s videos even though captions are in Japanese and there is no dialog. I estimate he is in Zone 8b. In this video, he puts low tunnels of vented poly over his onions and garlic which are planted in raised rows covered with plastic mulch with planting holes. In an earlier video — few days ago? — he sprinkled rice hulls at the base of each onion and garlic.

菜園だより191111冬支度
Vegetable Garden Diary 2019-11-11 Preparing for Winter

[Vanisle_BC]

... That youtuber I referenced regarding peas has an innovative design for short rows that he’s used for years, but he uses materials for the hoops that are hard to find/obtain in the usa.

@applestar, I couldn't find that reference. do you still have it?

There’s a video embedded in this post.

There's nothing in that video about short rows, or about peas. I have my own way of growing them, but thought someone else's innovative design might be interesting.

[applestar]

Vanicle_BC — so that was the video showing his low-tunnel Design.
Pea-transplant video if that’s what you are asking about was in this post —> Subject: Whats your favorite vegetable?

[Gary350]

I found a Youtube video where people grow peas to eat the plants. As usual no one ever tells their geographical location all they say is, we can't grow peas so we eat the plants they taste the same as peas.

Some people grow short peas plants that are only 2 ft tall. They sow seeds like a person sows grass seed, 1000s of plants grow in a small area in a tangled wad the plants climb on each other the whole crop looks like 1 big bush. They pull all the plants up then pick off the pods.

When you start watching youtube videos youtube finds lots of related videos for you to click on and watch. I found a hand crank thing you drop in pods then peas come out 1 side & pods come out the other side. I even found pea plants that grow pods 12" long with about 30 peas per pod. I wonder if those are really peas or beans people call peas.

Lots of youtube videos people claiming they have a very good crop but pictures show tall skinny plant with only 10 pods with 5 peas in each pod. 50 peas does not seem like a good crop unless you eat the pods too like you do green beans.

My idea of a good pea crop is to plant 1 lbs of peas then harvest 20 gallons of shelled peas. I see nothing like that on YouTube.

I have not found video of commercial pea growers.

All other commercial growers harvest BIG crops like 500 acres in 1 day, potatoes, beans & tomatoes. That is why commercial growers like determinate plants they want them to all be ready to harvest the same day.

Best pea crop I ever grew was in fall. I planted 50 seeds under 7 tomato cages. Plants had only about 50 pods total then a few weeks later 1 to 3 peas per pod. After a lot of work there was barely enough peas for 2 people to eat. I would have been better off to eat the 50 seeds.

Every crop has its on challenges. I like easy to grow, easy to pick, big harvest crops. Maybe I should stop buying seeds from local garden store. I hate places that sell 100 seeds for $10, grocery store peas are 68 cents per can.

[TomatoNut95]

It is true that it is cheaper and much less work to buy store food instead of growing it. But then again, you don't always find what you want in the store. Plus, so much store food gets recalled for this or that. When you grow your own food, you know what's in it. Especially lettuce. I've heard some yucky stories of what people find in those plastic tubs of lettuce. (Dead bats and frogs) Not to mention salmonella poisoning. Or E.Coli. In my lettuce I know what's in it: Aphids, little worms, spiders and ants.

[Vanisle_BC]

I know that people eat pea shoots and they taste fine but I can't imagine the plant matter havimg anything like the marvellous sweet flavor of the seed - the taste of freshly shelled garden peas.

It's been years since I had peas from a can; don't they usually have added sugar etc.? When we have to buy peas I get the frozen ones.

One pea plant doesn't provide much food but I grow them spaced 1.5" in double rows. That's 50 plants in a 6" strip across my 3.5ft raised bed. (Some sources even suggest planting them as close as 1 inch apart which would give me 80 plants in the double row). I repeat these crosswise 'pea strips' at 4ft. intervals along the beds, with most of my other crops in the 3.5' square 'plots' between them.

And there's nothing more pleasantly no-brain relaxing than shelling peas (and scoffing a few) on a warm sunny afternoon.

So - I'll keep growing peas !

[Gary350]

I think I will throw all my saved pepper seeds in the trash they seem to be cross pollinated with other things. Mexican chilies never got 7" long & pointed shape they were short and fat like they were crossed with sweet bell peppers. 2 of this years jalapeno peppers looked normal but the others 2 were fat like they were crossed with sweet bells peppers. 2 sweet bell peppers grew normal but the other 2 sweet bells were shaped like large jalapeno peppers. None of the odd shaped peppers were hot and spicy we saved them all in the freezer like sweet bell peppers. After planting 4 other kinds of peppers in the garden this year saved seeds could be very unpredictable what they will grow. Next year I buy new plants and same no seeds. I think saved tomato seeds might be crossed with other tomatoes too.

I could buy seeds $2 per pack and grow plants but 6 pack plants are $3. Growing my own plants is not worth saving $1.

[applestar]

Most grocery store peppers are hybrids and saved seeds won’t grow true. Peppers are also notorious for easily crossing in the garden, and said to be best saved by "bagging" blossoms and/or flower trusses while still unopened buds. Organza drawstring gift bags sold in party/wedding section works well to mark and protect blossoms from insects as long as climate is not too humid/rainy. Get seeds from reputable sources who take appropriate precautions.

(I save seeds but I’m never sure if mine are saved properly... not a problem for personal use since I’m willing to take the chance and accept results, though.)

[Gary350]

Bird house Grave Yard. I did have 42 bird houses but had to take down 21 from the 21 trees I cut down. I made a lot of pieces then trashed all the bad wood. Now I will see if I can build houses with these pieces, it ls a puzzle to make pieces fit together. In the past I built a lot of bird houses from online plans but birds never liked them. I will experiment with inside dimensions of, 3x3, 3½x3½, 4x4, square that are only 3 & 4" deep. Many online plans say houses are 7" deep for small birds like, chickadee, titmouse & wrens. Tiny birds will need & elevator to get out of a 7" deep house. All bird house information say, mount houses 8' to 10' above the ground, in the shade, door facing away from the wind, houses need good ventilation holes. Wife wants me to paint beautiful cute houses but that is too much work & I am no artist & I'm sure birds will like it. I will probably flunk 1st grade art class I can barely draw stick people. I know how to paint boards. LOL I cheated & looked at online painted bird house pictures.

[Gary350]

WHAT is this green stuff growing inside this bird house in the dark under a bird nest? How can it be green in the dark? Yesterday I had a bird house the exact same size totally full to the top of this same green stuff. I thought green is chlorophyll. I also found about 20 eggs what are these? This green stuff looks like green threads. It must be some type of a parasitic plant. I smashed eggs with a board a horrible smell made me sick at my stomach for 20 seconds.

[applestar]

Those kind of barrel-shaped eggs look like stinkbug eggs — I didn’t know they stink when smashed. I usually put them whole in my soapy water cup (universal bug death catch all).

I’ve seen the green stuff in birdhouses before — typically chickadees — I always thought that was moss or lichen? Soft and cushie bed for the babies. In your case, could they be those hanging tree moss? ... oh what are they called? We don’t have them here, but I’ve seen them in Virginia, so probably they grow in Tennessee, too.


...around noon FoxNews reported that internet and cell phone in your area is down due to that bombing in Nashville. I hope you are all doing OK and enjoying your Christmas despite it all.

[Gary350]

Those kind of barrel-shaped eggs look like stinkbug eggs — I didn’t know they stink when smashed. I usually put them whole in my soapy water cup (universal bug death catch all).

I’ve seen the green stuff in birdhouses before — typically chickadees — I always thought that was moss or lichen? Soft and cushie bed for the babies. In your case, could they be those hanging tree moss? ... oh what are they called? We don’t have them here, but I’ve seen them in Virginia, so probably they grow in Tennessee, too.


...around noon FoxNews reported that internet and cell phone in your area is down due to that bombing in Nashville. I hope you are all doing OK and enjoying your Christmas despite it all.

We don't have tree hanging Spanish moss in TN. When we travel we see it near the ocean in warm humid places south/east coast area and Gulf area.

I hope taking about bombing & internet is not considered politics. Wife was up a little after 6 am she heard a boom but did not know what it was. I was awake but don't hear anything until I put on my hearing aids. Down town Nashville is about 35 to 40 miles from us. Internet is working. I have not heard anything about internet being out of order. Traffic cam has picture of the RV & the Driver on TV channel 4 Nashville. Police said, there are cameras every where there are probably lots of pictures of the RV we have not seen yet. I turned TV off after lunch and went outside, wind makes it feel much colder than 25°. Cabbage plants are looking ok so far. It was 18° at 6;30 am.

[Gary350]

It has been 18°F for 2 days, it only warmed up to 25° yesterday. All the cold weather plants are frozen hard, leaves are solid & feel like potato chips. Boc Choy, Russian Red Kale, broccoli, cauliflower, savoy, red chard, all appear to be alive. It needs to warm up above freezing for me to know for sure if any plants are dead. I have markers on some of the plants I am not sure which plants are Green round head cabbage & purple round head cabbage. Black marker has washed off of some of the white color plastic spoons. Most of the information online says these plants should freeze to death at, 28, 25, & 20°F. Plants all survived the last 18° freeze a week ago. When it warms up to 50° during the day plants all slowly grow a tiny bit larger. 50 mph gusty wind was no problem for plants a few days ago. Chickweed, garlic, parsley, fennel, thyme are all doing good. I wish chickweed would freeze to death.

At 3 pm it is 47° and all the plants look good.

[Gary350]

It seems to me freeze temperature information online about winter crops is wrong. It has warmed up to 53 degrees today & all the winter plants are doing good after the freeze. Nothing was killed by 3 nights of 18° F temperatures. No one in my family grew winter crops and I never learned how to grow them. I typically grow high food value crops and few luxury items. WHY do garden stores only sell winter plants in spring??? I need to plant winter crops from seed Aug 1st & no later than Aug 15. I have had these same Napa seeds for 4 years they never grow heads so maybe seeds need to be replaced with different seeds that grow heads. Next years I want to plant a whole 40 ft row of, broccoli, boc choy, cauliflower, red chard, carrots, from seeds Aug 1st, if they can survive bugs we might get a good harvest Nov. I am still not convinced I want to grow peas next year they are too much work for such a tiny harvest. But I might plant peas to see how they do & if they don't do good or tiny crop worthless I can abandon them and let them die. It would be nice if we have some colder weather, 15,12, 10, 8, 5, degrees I would like to know what temperature each plant freezes and dies.

It says online, I need to plant strawberry seeds inside now to have plants to transplant to the garden March to have a crop of strawberries in MAY. Strawberry plants would be nice but I have no place to grow plants inside and no sun inside either. Strawberry plants at the garden stores are always $5 per plant, I will never buy plants at that price.

Online says, Its not a 1 or 3 night hard 15°F freeze that kills cold weather plants, its a long 1 month hard freeze that kills cold weather plants.

[Gary350]

I picked some Napa leaves for lunch. Leaves are, tough, chewy, bitter. I though cold weather makes greens taste good? OH well I let it continue to grow I want to see when it freezes to death. I will buy new seeds.

[Gary350]

I have been researching onions for almost 2 year, in the past few days I finally found the missing details that I need to grow very large onions.

1. You must start onion plants from seeds inside 6 weeks before last frost. Your goal is to grow as much green foliage as you can in 6 weeks so each plant have 15 to 16 leaves on each onion plant in another month. Fertilize with 15-15-15 or 20-20-20 fertilizer & sunlight & water every day inside with 70° temperature.

2. If you live south of latitude line 35° you should grow Short Day Onions. If you live north of latitude line 40° you should grow Long Day Onions.

3. Genetics are important, you must grow onions that can get large if you want large soft ball size onions.

4. Seeds germinate in about 6 days at 70°F. Water & fertilize every day in real sunlight.

5. Transplant your 6 week old onion plants outside the day of your last frost.

6. Onions do not like competition with, grass, weeds or other onions. The genetic size of your onions will determine if onions should be planted 6" or 8" apart.

7. To maximize garden space plant onions in a 3' wide row, 6 rows of plants side by side spaced 8" between rows & 8" between plants.

8. Onions like soft soil so roots can grow fast and deep. When you remove plants from plant trays plant them in the garden so the top of the roots are flush with the garden soil top surface.

9. Your target is to make sure each plant grows 15 to 16 leaves in 1 month. Example, if last frost is April 20 you want 15 to 16 green leaves by May 20 if possible. The longest day of the year is only 1 month away.

10. As soon as plants have 15 to 16 green leaves and bulbs are about the size of ping pong balls it is time to use a different fertilizer. Now you use Ammonium Sulfate fertilizer 21-0-0. Irrigation as before 1 pint of water every day with fertilizer. When weather gets hotter increase irrigation to 1½ pints of water per plant every day.

11. Plants should be in full sun all day. Remove all grass & weeds. As bulbs grow larger remove soil from around each bulb so there is no soil on the top 1/2 of each onion bulb.

12. Very few onions grown from seeds will produce flowers, if they grow flowers cut them off.

13. When tops get heavy and fall over on there own cut the tops off at the fold. Keep tops long and straight you want plants to get as much photosynthesis as possible to grow large bulbs. Check plants morning and evening for folded leaves that need to be cut off. Any leaves that wilt or die cut them off.

14. When plants reach the end of there grow cycle about 110 days the whole top will fall over. It is harvest time.

15. Water plants well so soil becomes very soft so root will pull up and not be broken off very short. Do not cut roots short that allows onions to dry out. Do not cut off tops let them dry naturally. When tops are dry cut them off 1" from the green part of the stem so onions do not dry out from water loose through the stem.

If you don't have irrigation then fertilize by hand 2 times every week and make sure each onion gets 1 pint or more of water every day 1 hour before sun goes down.

Competition size onions are grown in the smallest RING of a wire tomato cage. The wire ring is used to hold up the green onion tops so they don't bend over too soon. When tops finally bend over let them hang over the outside of the wire ring. Competition size onions should be grown 12" apart for 5" diameter onions.

If you want to irrigate onions manually with your garden hose put a raised bed wooden frame around the onion but do not raise the soil level above the normal level of your whole garden. Use the wooden frame to hold water like a dam.

I wish I had pictures with out making my own drawings.

If you do not want to grow onions from seeds then buy starts. Starts are small 6 week old plants grown from seeds.

You can not grow 5" diameter onions from sets, they are already 1 year old and they may not be genetically suited to be large onions and they may not be the correct day length onions that you need.

Buy the correct seeds or the correct starts and you should be able to grow very large onions.

[Gary350]

After several days of 40 mph wind and temperatures in the 60s garden is dry enough to till chickweed. If we have another mild winter bugs & chickweeds will be bad again next garden season.

[Gary350]

Today I cleaned up 10 gallons of the sawdust on the workshop floor then mixed it with 10 gallons of wood ash. I mixed in 1 quart of urea and 1 pint of 15-15-15 fertilizer. I poured the mix in this odd size barrel it must be a 30 gallon barrel, it is 2/3 full. Plastic trash can lid to keep 3" of rain out. So far only a sprinkle of rain before lunch. This is a test to see if saw dust will become good compost. I will be making more saw dust soon. This works good with tree leaves & grass in warm summer weather but not sure what will happen to saw dust in cold weather. Soon as barrel is full I will leave off the plastic cover.

Today I remember why I don't like those expensive water hoses that never wear out. 40° temperature nose is so stiff it won't bend, I can't use it to wash dog poop off my boots. Water hose is as stiff as a bamboo pole.

Speaking of bamboo. I found a warning online that says, be careful using new cut bamboo for bean poles they will grow roots then it is nearly impossible to kill. I wonder if that is true?

[Vanisle_BC]

I have been researching onions for almost 2 year ......

@Gary350 : Here's something I'd copy/pasted & saved a while ago. Don't know where I found it. (I have few Daikon in the ground now.) .....

"Here’s a little tip a long time onion grower gave me – plant Daikons in the fall where you want to grow onions next spring. Let them mature, die and decompose just like with using them as tillage radishes. Next spring, plant an onion seed or slip in each hollow left by the Daikons. The onions won’t spend extra energy in pushing the soil out to grow, and the extra organic matter acts as compost, feeding the onions. He said he will never sell those onions as they are too big and tasty!"

[Gary350]

I bought spanish onion seeds & wallawalla onion seeds, 200 seeds $2 no postage. I need catalogs with good prices to look for onion starts. I will try both.

OH NO I just realized AD does not say short day onions. I know WallaWalla is short day. I bet spanish onions are short day to if grown in Mexico.

[Gary350]

I have a very good crop of chickweed. If someone would cross a tomato plant with chickweed we could all grow tomatoes in 0°f weather. It is 27° this morning & lots of frost. I saw a science show 20 years ago someone put DMA from a Samon fish into tomato plants they were growing tomato plants in 3 ft of snow. WHY are those cold weather tomato plants not for sale yet, I want some as long at tomatoes don't taste like fish?

[Vanisle_BC]

I bought spanish onion seeds & wallawalla onion seeds, 200 seeds $2 no postage.

@Gary350 you probably know this, but onion & leek are plants with very short seed life - often quoted as just one year. I try to save my own seed but I like to grow 2 onion varieties (short day around here), a red and a white. Keeping them from crossing is a bit of a pain so I often end up buying new seed from a source I trust. I could buy sets locally but they are seldom labeled as to variety - just 'red' or 'yellow.'

'Ailsa Craig' is supposed to grow very large - I know you want to grow BIG onions - but from its name (a Scottish island) I assume it would be short-day type.

By the way just one onion flower makes hundreds of seeds.

I like your idea of crossing something invasive with tomatoes!

[Gary350]

I bought spanish onion seeds & wallawalla onion seeds, 200 seeds $2 no postage.

@Gary350 you probably know this, but onion & leek are plants with very short seed life - often quoted as just one year. I try to save my own seed but I like to grow 2 onion varieties (short day around here), a red and a white. Keeping them from crossing is a bit of a pain so I often end up buying new seed from a source I trust. I could buy sets locally but they are seldom labeled as to variety - just 'red' or 'yellow.'

'Ailsa Craig' is supposed to grow very large - I know you want to grow BIG onions - but from its name (a Scottish island) I assume it would be short-day type.

By the way just one onion flower makes hundreds of seeds.

I like your idea of crossing something invasive with tomatoes!

When I say I want to grow BIG onions I mean, onions larger than golf balls, I sometimes get 2" diameter onions. It takes 4 to 6 little onions to equal a bigger grocery store onion. 6 small onions are a lot of work to peal vs 1 larger store onion but we love all the green tops from 200 small onions. I ordered onion seeds. I also want to buy, starts. I need several seed catalogs to see what I can buy & prices. Garden stores use to sell starts but they were generic no name onions that only grew tops. I will try several experiments to see what works best this year.

[Gary350]

I made a quart jar of mixed garden vegetables during the summer then it was lost in the pantry for 6 months & I found it a few days ago. Jar contains, onions, garlic, green beans, yellow squash, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, red & green sweet bell peppers & a few small sticks of celery. I decided to taste the vegetables today, green beans, yellow squash & broccoli are the best. It needs 1 small tabasco pepper for a small amount of spicy flavor. Tabasco has good flavor. Vegetable jar was filled with Bread & Butter pickle juice.

[Gary350]

I drove 60 miles to buy, 2 apple trees, 2 peach trees, 2 pecan trees. Ash tree near house has 9 bird houses. It is starting to snow very tiny snow flakes. Tree stumps need to be gone before I plant 6 trees. Pecan tree tags say they get 60 feet tall now I'm having second thought about planting pecan trees. My mothers pecan tree grew 25 feet tall in 3 years it made 3 bushel baskets of pecans the 3rd year then she cut it down. Cilantro has survived 3 nights of 18° weather and it is growing taller than chickweed. Fast till through the garden is not killing chickweed it only makes it disappear for a week then it grows back. Soil needs a very slow till to beat chickweed plants to death.

[Gary350]

Last week of Oct I picked all the garden peppers before first frost. I was lazy and put all the Mexican chili peppers in 2 cardboard trays to dry to about 1/2 their original volume. I was planning to slice peppers open so they don't mold inside but I never did. Today I see peppers are dry so I take them outside and break off the stem ends with the seeds then throw seeds & stems away. About 50% of the peppers are lost to mold inside & about 25% lost from breaking off the end with the seeds. I ground up the peppers in a kitchen blender very high speed for several minutes. I could not grind chili powder in the house it choked us very bad so I went outside. I had about 75% lost to, mold, stems & seeds then I spilled some chili power that makes total loss about 80%. I have 1/2 cup of nice looking chili powder. New Mexican Chili Pepper seeds are saved seeds from last year volunteer cross pollinated with 6 jalapeno plants and 1 cayenne plant. After chili powder is ground into very fine power it looks like very good chili power but it is very spicy hot to be Mild New Mexico chili peppers. New Mexico Peppers should be about as mild as sweet green bell peppers without the sweet bell flavor. Saved seeds all go in the trash.

Many years ago I ground hot pepper seeds into powder, it was the color of cardboard and very hot. Weird looking chili powder.

[imafan26]

I saw the bottles in the garden and silly me, I thought they were to deter cats, but I forgot it gets cold there.

[Gary350]

I found a lot of our garden potatoes growing today. Sweet potatoes were in a tray on a shelf near a window leaves are green. Wife wants to plant some sweet potatoes in a pot in the living room they make nice house plants. When I was in 8th grade I planted a sweet potato in a pot after Christmas 3 months later we had 25 foot vines growing across the top of the sofa & chair & up over top of 2 windows. I'm not planting any more sweet potatoes in the garden we don't eat them.

This cardboard tray has Kennebec & Red Pontiac potatoes sprouting. I took them to the workshop they need to stay cold & dark maybe if they keep I can plant Kennebec April. We are not growing anymore Red Pontiac, white potatoes taste better. Red potatoes always out produce white potatoes so I will need to plant extra row of white potatoes April. If keeping garden potatoes in dark cold building all winter works next year I will save all the small potatoes for seed potatoes.

Photo of tractor with 30 ft mower is for cutting tops off of beets & turnips. Keep plants small it makes a larger crop. Cutting potato plants short is suppose to produce larger potatoes, I will try it this summer on Kennebec potatoes.

[Gary350]

NEW onion information says, transplant onions outside 1 month before last FREEZE. These people are in TX there freeze is probably different than Michigan freeze. It is interesting how it all have to learn how to grow the same crop in different geographical locations, different weather, different soil.

Cut onion plant tops off so plants are only 12" tall to make large bulbs.

https://www.dixondalefarms.com/onionguide

[Gary350]

Is there a type Napa Cabbage that never grows heads? 4 years I have planted the same Napa seeds they only make leaves. I trashed my Napa seeds yesterday an ordered new seeds.

I put the fish aquarium over the pot with 3 small sweet potatoes. Wife wants it for a house plant. Maybe in a few weeks there will be enough leaves to be a nice house plant. Aquarium should warm the plants on sunny day and make them grow.

Boc Choy looks good, best boc choy I ever grew. Russian Red Kale & Broccoli are doing good. Red chard is small & growing very slow. Cauliflower & savoy cabbage are small & slow growing too. Cilantro is very slow growing too maybe 54° today will be helpful. I think all these plants will grow better when we start having warmer 60° weather about April. I am learning how to grow winter crops. Getting smarter every day.

[greenstubbs]

Sawdust make and is a perfect compost material, it breaks down quicker then say, woodchips.

[Vanisle_BC]

Is there a type Napa Cabbage that never grows heads?

I've begun to think that's the only kind there is if you grow from seed. Those tight-headed things in the grocery store must have been cloned in a lab.!

[TomatoNut95]

What nutritional value does sawdust have? Somebody told me that stuff wasn't good for plants.

[Gary350]

What nutritional value does sawdust have? Somebody told me that stuff wasn't good for plants.

Saw dust is good after it has been composted a whole other wise it pulls nitrogen from the soil.

The only Napa Cabbage that I ever grew that made heads was plants I bought from the garden store. Seed pictures show plants with heads. I found a video once that said, if temperature is not correct and fertilizer is not correct you don't get heads. I wish I could find that video again.

[imafan26]

Gary, do you test your soil? You use a lot of wood ash in your garden and it works for you, but it would seem like it would make your garden very alkaline in the end if you kept doing that. You must be putting in other things to balance it out.

[Gary350]

Gary, do you test your soil? You use a lot of wood ash in your garden and it works for you, but it would seem like it would make your garden very alkaline in the end if you kept doing that. You must be putting in other things to balance it out.

Yes I tested my soil in 8 places a month ago with PH paper it is 6 ph. Wood ash is alkaline but rain makes it go away fairly quick. I use wood ash on certain plants that need it like, tomatoes & peppers they need potassium & calcium. I like to mix wood ash with 5 gallons of water then use water to water my plants this gives me good fertilizer control. Water & oxygen in the air makes LYE in wood ash neutralize and be gone in about 2 days. We get a lot of rain almost every day this time of the year. I use to take soil samples to be tested but they tell me what I already know from testing it myself. Each plant needs its own specific fertilizer it does not last very long in the soil either. I try to remember to fertilized each plant once a week all summer with the fertilizer that each plant likes. This pack of ph paper was 99 cents on Ebay.