Well, that was a good supper, now I am as full as a tick and find it almost uncomfortable sitting erect. I am afraid that I over-did it a tad. Anyway...The gardening has continued and the next thing that needed to be done was to get the corn in the ground. The bed had been covered with debris to protect it during the winter and the soil was nice and soft, moist and full of worms. The tools and plants germinated in root trainers: First of all the mulch was raked-away and the bed was then exposed. Next I made furrows with the furrow-making tool and then holes were made in the bottom of the furrow to accommodate the plants. Here you can see the roots of the corn plants in the root trainers. You can see that it has worked perfectly. I have tall plants with a more than adequate root ball to get a good, strong start. Finally all the plants were planted in seven furrows of seven plants each. A nice square of plants according to Hoyle. The New Garden was now full except for two wigwams that must still be planted with the germinating Cobra french climbing beans. I am purposely planting them later so that when the Rakkers have finished the Cobra's will kick-in and be ready to harvest. It gives me a longer harvesting period. Good for me and good for the Food Bank. Back over in the "Old Garden" there were brassicas to be planted. However before doing that, a protective tent had to be constructed. The bed had been prepared over in the eastern side of the lottie right up against the canal siding. Step one was to remove the mulch from the bed and level it. This was followed by the actual planting of the purple sprouting broccoli. Types were, "Redhead" and "Rudolph". They were well watered-in to help the tender plants deal with the trauma . Next the poles were sunk at each corner and in-between. Twine was strung between all the poles. Once the structure was made, the enviromesh was thrown over the structure and secured at the bottom. Just to the side of the broccoli bed is the greenhouse. It was heavily laden with all manner of plants waiting to be introduced to the out of doors. The toms had to be planted inside the greenhouse, though to prevent Phytophthora from destroying them utterly. The toms were germinated at home on top of a heating pad and planted on to ever larger pots. Then they were allowed to become leggy. This is so that there would be a long section of stem underground which would produce more roots. More roots = more water uptake and more ability to feed. They have developed excellent roots to give them a good start in life in the rich greenhouse soil. A long furrow is then scooped-out (deeper at the root ball end and becoming shallower as it reached the climbing stick). All the leaves were removed along the foot long stem except for the top leaf set. I then laid the plant horizontally in the small furrow and watered it in. A cut-off bottle was then placed directly over the root ball and the plant was then covered with soil. In the foto above, you can see that there are red willow switch segments places directly above the buried stems to help remind where they are. ** A tip here, should you decide to try this method, is to not attempt to curl the tops upwards-- they may snap off if you do. Simply allow them to lie flat on the ground and by the next morning they ought to be standing vertically all on their own. These two postings have covered much of what I have been doing here and now it is largely a matter of regular weeding, giving water and feeding what requires extra food. Time will take care of the rest.
Well, was all of that just today Sjoerd? My goodness, it sure is looking beautiful there in your garden. I've learned a lot from you these past couple years, now today, a great idea for making a protective tent. By the way, did I miss Let's Garden #1?
Excellent post as always Sjoerd. I was trying to explain why to plant tomatoes so deep to my young assistant just today, but you have said it so simply "More roots = more water uptake and more ability to feed". I will quote you tomorrow when we talk again
You make it sound so easy! Looking even better than last year... and I thought that couldn't be topped!
Sjoerd, When you plant your corn do you worry about haw many leaves it has produced yet? We germinated corn in the greenhouse this year for the first time, but we were advised to not have more than the third leaf out, otherwise we were wasting our time to try this. What variety do you plant, also? We also plant ours in black plastic mulch. to help warm the soil and to keep down the weeds. (we are planting in a neighbors field that he doesn't use due to equipment size restrictions in this area. so there are many weeds germinating in the late summer. Lots of foxtails .Thanks carolyn
Sjoerd, your garden and explanations provide an excellent glimpse into the mechanics of garden preparation and plant development. Thank you. Jerry
Hi DAISY--No, not all of this was done in one day...I may be energetic, but this is a bit more than even I could manage in a 24-hour period. hahaha. Thanks for liking the appearance of the garden...you say the nicest things. I am so glad that you could learn a new thing or two now and then. God luck with your protective tents. Yes, I reckon that you may have missed the "....Let's Garden (1)". Hello there, NETTY--Hey! How nice that you could use the words to explain to your young helper. I will say though, that I do not plant my toms deep. I plant them shallowly and horizontal to the soil's surface. The root ball is deeper than the rest, though. The reasons for this are that tom plants feed from the shallow roots, and take their water from the deep ones primarily. I may be mad--but there's a method to my madness. Ahhhh, CHERYL--What a kind thing to say. Hello CAROLYN-- I do not worry about how many leaves the corn plantlet has produced before planting it out into the garden. What I DO pay attention to is the root ball and the plant's height. The root ball: For me this is the most essential thing when germinating and planting-out of my plants, whether they be veg or flowering plants. My philosophy is that if the roots are well developed and healthy, then the plantlet will also do quite well. The height: I like for the plantlets to be ± 30cm (12 inches) tall. This is because of the manner in which I plant my corn and because I do not want jackdaws or crows to pull them out of the ground. I always germinate my corn in the greenhouse to avoid the weather fluctuations and various pests that roam over my plots. I am really jealous that you and your man are able to have access to and use all that land of your neighbour's. That's a really nice option, having said that--the weed problem is less attractive because keeping the weeds down is something I view as very important. How are you planning to deal with the foxtails? You asked about what type of sweetcorn I planted this year--it is "Conqueror F1 Hybrid". **I will add that the conventional wisdom about transplanting corn plantlets is in strong disagreement with the way that I do things. It is commonly thought that corn plants are very sensitive about having ANY sort of root disturbance what-so-ever, and thus it is recommended that the seeds be planted directly into the ground to avoid this. I will tell you right now that I am hard-headed and like to garden my own way, so I recognize that "they" may be completely right about this, but my experience is different from the scary warnings that I have read. I have no complaints with my harvests Thank you for reading and complimenting my posting, JERRY--it is always good to get feed-back.
i couldn't agree with you more sjoerd about the corn roots being able to handle some tusseling! i start mine in flats in the greenhouse and one year the weather was so bad that their roots got pretty thick and mangled by the time i could put them in the ground. some of the roots got a bit torn up when i separated them, but all the plants produced just fine. i was shocked, after reading all the 'no you can't' warnings! i really love using those root trainers sjoerd. i like your explanation for the roots to be large and in good shape to access water. great idea!
Thanks Sjoerd, I appreciate the information. I totally agree that the roots need to be well developed for any plant to establish itself in the garden successfully. This is the first time we have planted corn plants, so, we went ahead and planted the plants in black plastic. for the rest we bought a 3 row cultivator to deal with the weeds.(thankfully, my husband found a deal on a used one.) We also cut the "hay" in the field with our lawnmower and catch the grass to use as mulch. I have collected appliance boxes from the dumpsters to use as another layer under the grass.
BUNKIE--I forgot to put in one fiot showing how I layed the tom in the scooped-out furrow with only the tips out. if you want to look up there you can see the long stem lying in the shallow furrow. It sounds like you have things well in control, CAROLYN. I am hoping that you have a really good harvest. Good luck with that tilling and cardboard.
Wow!!! That's a lot of work done! I had corn for dinner tonite and I grew them all by myself. Thanks Sojerd, they are just as sweet as the first time.
one other thought, sjoerd. last year a friend told me she puts her potted tomato plants on their sides, or a little bit at a slant a day or two before planting. this way they have the 'bend' in them when you plant them laterally. i'm going to try that this year!
Oh boy, KK! That sounds great. You must to be very proud of your corn accomplishments. Yes BUNKIE-- that is a good technique. I often do that myself, but I noticed that it wasn't necessary because within two days, the plant bends upwards (vertically) by itself. Of course it never hurts to get it to develop a 'bend' before planting. I suppose that it is a question of preference.
