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Year of the Patriot: Gardens
bjrogg:
This is first field of Navy Beans. This field can be very challenging to get beans up in. Heavy ground . I don’t think I ever got them to come up this even in this field before. They are off to a good start.
Bjrogg
HH~:
Wet here and cool. Wet and cool is no good for some garden stuff. Our wheat wiill some out soon as we get some dry weather. Our corn is behind a a bit but with all this rain we are catching up.
Was at Pappys on Friday and it rained like monsoon season in Laos. Next thing ya know a wall of water came down the hillside. Thought we was gonna lose the pik-a-nic tables under the over head. Was nuts. Had dive in a save some hide tanning stuff going down the gully. Almost slipped into the gully. Water was doing 40 mile per hour prolly. It tore chit up purty gud.
We've had feet of rain this year. Was dry early but lately rivers are way up. Hope we dont get two months of no rain. That would be bad.
Them some flat fields, cept for color of dirt looks like the west bank of the mighty Mo in Iowa BJ.
HH~
bjrogg:
Yup definitely flat landers here. Although we do have a lot of fall towards the big lake. The water really moves fast towards the lake here to and can really wash stuff out.
The field with the Navy Beans is really flat. One of the things that makes it so challenging to farm. It was my grandpa’s farm. It’s really good dirt but you just don’t get away with farming it even slightly on the wet side. If you do get everything perfect and then get a big rain it likes to have water laying over entire field and most crops (especially Navy Beans) don’t like that. So far so good.
We have been using a lot of cover crops for several years now and it is changing our soil structure. They do cause several problems and add a lot of extra challenges of their own. We are pretty dedicated to using them now though and they are really gaining popularity in this area.
Bjrogg
bjrogg:
This is my Rye cover crop seeded after harvesting sugar beets late last October. The picture was taken late February as soon as snow was gone.
I let it get about a foot and a half tall then kill it before I plant my Navy Beans. I plant my sugar beets right into it while it is still growing. It is a good way to keep wind erosion from blowing off my small sugar beets. I also plant my corn and soybeans into it. Sometimes killing it prior to planting and sometimes after.
The wildlife love it. I saw deer, Fox, coyote, turkey, pheasant, rabbit and of course groundhogs enjoying it.The soil loves it. It captures nutrients and holds soil in place. The residue incorporated into the soil helps the ground perk.
It does take a lot of management though. Getting it planted. Deciding when to terminate it. I’m glad I killed it when I did this year. If it’s dry it uses up your moisture if you leave it to long. If you terminate it and it gets wet it makes a mat that stops your ground from drying enough to plant.
It’s just another challenge in a already challenging job.
Good Luck with all your gardens. I always enjoy seeing your work.
Bjrogg
bjrogg:
Forgot the picture
Bjrogg
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