Garden Sizes?

Well, we have them all. Tree/house swallows, martins, bats, and dragon flies. And, oddly, lots of honeybees. We had lots of mosquitos, especially the big black kind. And those are the worst. They really hurt when they bite and I had welts all over my legs and back. I've noticed that the martins go after those big black mosquitos in a big way. We've got a bit of room for them all and last year we had hardly any mosquitos to speack of. But lots of martins and swallows following me out in the garden and while I was mowing. All swooping and circling. And the blue birds were doing their best to keep up with the pests in my garden. Oh, and meadowlarks. It was almost like a Disney movie with all those birds swooping around while I worked. Quite fun! The martin house is down on the lane. So their job is to cut back on those wicked black mosquitos. There would be a cloud of them down there and when I mowed they would just cover me. The swallows, bats, blue birds and the rest get what is left over. Also, DH loves to feed the hummingbirds, so we had quite a few of those, too. I read that they eat mosquitos also.

Anyway, the point is to attract any mosquito eating creature you can. It is well worth the effort!

terri_emory - you painted a very beautiful mental picture of you, the birds, bats, and bees. I love being outside enjoying all that Mother Nature has to offer.

Fortunately, we aren't pestered by too many mosquitoes as there is no standing water around to attract them. Swallows nest under a bridge about ½ mile away, and bats swoop overhead during summer evenings.

My daughter has a Purple Martin house, but no martins. Sparrows have taken over the martin house.

greenhouse_gal - I hope you get bats soon - they are hard to get to move in. I have a bat house, but can't get hubby up a ladder to hang it on the apex of the garage! From what I have read, they like a southern exposure. I don't know how they stand the heat!

Hard to tell if we ever got bats or not; the house has been up for many years now. It's up by the barn so it's harder to keep track of it.

greenhouse_gal - if you have bats, there will be guano under it. Free manure!

Aha! Then we don't. Never thought of that.

What a shame :(

Wish I knew a way of enticing them.

Shoe,

Which Earthway seeder plate do you use for sweet corn? There is a YouTube video from "WebCajun" about configuring for better seed spacing. He uses the "beet" plate for corn and beans, with half the holes blocked for better spacing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwjKWhPcfg

David R

Edited to fix the plate name...my short-term memory is not so hot!

This message was edited Jan 27, 2011 10:12 AM

Mornin' David...

I use the corn plate for corn. Using the seed plate he says he uses (which by the way was the beet/okra/chard plate, not broccoli) is too small for most sweet corn. I don't think my corn seed would go thru those holes. You should give it a try though, taping some of the holes. You could also just use the corn plate and tape up two of those holes then be assured your seeds are falling through. If you try it out holler back and let us know how it works.

Does this mean you got your seeder already? Congratulations, you'll love it!

Shoe

Ran the tiller for a while today! The new patch is actually 75' x 35'. I guess I drifted a little wider than my original marks when I was plowing. My skill with a moldboard plow is somewhat less than expert. I'm not sure I ever really got it set up correctly. It did at least turn the sod under. I had much better luck with the disk harrow, breaking up the sod. It took several passes, but finally produced something that I could run the tiller through.

I need to finds some cheap compost now. Horse manure compost is $37 a yard plus delivery and turkey compost is $45. A couple of inches of compost would be great...but I can't possibly spend the money for the entire area now. I would need 16 yards for the new section. (A quick calculator for soil amendments, coverage or quantity needed: http://www.math.umn.edu/~white/personal/compost.html )

I can clearly see a difference in the soil that I've worked and amended for the past few years and the quality of the soil that I've just turned. I guess I will just have to add a little at a time.

David

David, I wish I had your calculator three years ago when I was setting up my raised beds for the first time.

Sounds like a good day to me, David. It was a nice warm 62* here today so I was out there all day!

As for the compost, you may have to get what you can afford and just spread it in your rows only, not broadcast it all over the square footage. Or better yet use it directly where you set a tomato plant, a pepper plant, etc, right where the plant can use it. No sense wasting it in your aisles. It'll sure go much further that way. And you can always sow clover or another legume in your aisles to contribute to the soil world.

By the way, I think I'd pay the little bit extra and spring for the turkey compost. It's cleaner, contains more N, P, K than horse and will go a lot further than horse compost will.

Shoe (pleasantly exhausted)

My Earthway planter arrived today! Assembly was a snap, the only thing I did differently was to replace the plastic clevis pin with a metal pin. Added about a dollar to the cost. I have seen a couple of reviews that complained that it was cheap aluminum and plastic, but it seems to be well engineered and well-made to me. The test will be in using, I guess.

The only disappointment is that the row marker bar is slightly less than 30 inches long. I thought that I might make some rows 36" on-center. To do that I will have to mark separately. I guess the other option is seeing if I can find the correct size of square aluminum tube, and use that for a longer marker. The other enhancement I've added is a stick-on ruler. It was intended for a fishing rod, but works great on the row marker.

Of course, we've just had a deep-freeze, so soil temps are in the low 30's. It will be a while before I get to use the planter. I guess that is more time for me to more adequately prepare the seedbeds in the new garden section. I will have to spend some time this weekend potting the first batch of tomato seedlings, starting the second batch of peppers, and possibly starting the second batch of tomatoes.

It doesn't warm up here quite as quickly as it does for you, Linda, but I hope to have some tomatoes out by the end of February. In the "wall o waters", at least.

David