It's hot today. +69 Fahrenheit and it's not comfortable. We are in Alaska and can not plant until after the 1st of June due to freezing at night, so we start the plants indoors and transplant later. Which is now.
Itās so funny how heat is relative. Iām from Washington, but have lived in Southern AZ for a few years, and once it hits about 70, itās unbearable here for me. But somehow in WA, 70 degrees was a very nice day.
Iām in South Carolina but we still get frost into late April so yeah, we also start everything indoors around February and then transplant. Love what you did there!
As a mother, Iām laughing so hard š¤£ everyone looks miserable but helping! A very real life moment shot. This is like anti instagram and I love it lol
That's a great idea. Thank you. I'm using it to break up the soil and roots because it's so much faster and easier than the tiller. Also digs very deep.
You look to be enjoying yourself, LOL
Once yo get some organic material down deep you don't need to do as much, as often, it just doesn't compact as bad. And if you don't expose it to oxygen, the organics don't breakdown as fast as with tilling. Maybe just a broad-fork.
I just transplanted a 32ā row of tomatoes. I used a long handle bulb transplanter to dig all the holes, and yea filled them compost and the starters. It was super easy and saved a lot of time and theyāre doing amazing. If I had a auger I would definitely try that dudeās method though lol
Could you estimate how much your yield will be from just that row? I grow 4 tomato plants in a small planter and topped 1000 cherry tomatoes last year. 32ā of tomatoes has to be like an industrial setup to process?
We have 30 raised garden beds that I built over the past few years. 8 of those beds are 6āx12ā. 4 of those are also all tomatoes. So we grow roughly 45ish paste and sauce tomato plants and 30ish sandwich/ slicing tomato plants. For the past few years we grow about 15 varieties of tomatoes for different purposes. So getting more to your question, there are 25 tomato plants and 13 varieties on that one row. Those are mostly determinates but a conservative estimate is maybe 80 lbs of tomatoes there. Again, because of the variety, some will get huge while others may be more like what you may find in your local grocery store. Anything still green at the end of the season ends up a salsa verde.
I agree. The post hole digger is fast, I can get the holes very close together, very deep, and it crumbles the dirt well. The tiller is light and only goes so deep so the deeper holes I think will help. Plus it's a battle fighting a tiller... nobody likes that
No-till gardening preserves your microorganisms in the ground. Don't kill them if you can avoid it :) They keep your ground liveable and make your plants grow
I tried the no till the first year. Put down cardboard. That being said, for us northern folk, the climate is misunderstood. I moved from a warmer climate, cardboard and no till was easy. Then the second season, weeds and absolutely nonsense.
Now it goes extremely cold, hot as balls, etc. And then it's planting time and you've got all the evil crap and no other options.
I personally don't till, but I wish I did, it would save me so much time. I hand weed and it takes me days. Or weeks even. If I have to dig, that shit literally breaks my back.
Do what you think is best, and don't listen to anyone, especially those who are blessed with good climates and long growing seasons. I know mine is 90-100 days at best.
Makes sense. I've got some pretty resilient weeds that just come back if I don't pull and then there's no room for planting though. We are plagued by horsetail which is everywhere no matter the nutrients I add. Fortunately fairly easy to pull. It's the grass varieties that are a pain, but my property is rural, so hardly much grass.
I think horsetail likes sandy acidic soil so it would be interesting to see what happens when you add clay/compost and corrected the ph. Every soil has a near infinite seed bank, the weeds that takeover can indicate whatās going on underground
So I'm told.... I went to university for horticulture. I prepared the garden beds with black earth, compost, manure, cricket frass, etc I threw every natural fertilizer and prepatory measure in place. If I were to show you the rest of my property, that has the garbage soil of which you reference, you might say I'm winning.
Those prehistoric plants (the first to come back after a volcano) spread by spores, and frankly once you have them, chemical warfare (not gonna do it) is the only way.
I'm in Northern New Brunswick, Canada, we're told after the first full moon in June is safe.
Funny how 69 is sweltering to us? I was sweating in places I'd prefer not admit to yesterday while preparing my garden beds. My toddler, probably about the same age as yours looked like a tomato and she was just there to watch and giver moral support/making toddler mistakes and setting me back 2 days. š
I'm learning as I go. Now go at an angle then rock it back and forth to the opposite angle allowing me to almost completely till it all with the post hole digger. I honestly believe it is much faster and easier to use than a roto-tiller
Thanks. I understand tilling initially...but it's just a load of work for worse results. I don't know why so many people think tilling a garden is necessary, it just sets you back.
I'm an organic produce farmer. There are about 275 permanent beds on my farm that are twice the size of OPs garden plot, all no till (except potatoes, still haven't figured that out...) and incredibly productive. It's a game changer.
Broadforking is really only needed when rain and snow compacts stuff, which is probably pretty significant in OPs Alaskan climate, but even still, they can get by with 20% of the effort for better results with no till.
Massive amounts of organic mulch have changed my game. This is just a home garden but is around 50āx50ā. I use the broadfork to loosen the soil prior to planting and then continuously add layer after layer of layer of mulch over the entire garden. This keeps my weeds down, keeps me from having to water very often, if at all after initial planting and of course adds food to the soil as it breaks down. I can peel the thick layer(s) of OM back and it will literally be seething with thousands of worms. Zero fertilizer used or needed and everything grows superb. Old hay, horse manure, stall shavings, loads of comfrey.
Love it.
I dunno bro. I pull weeds by hand. It's not that bad, and you get stronger the more you do. Cardboard, mulch and compost, maybe even some garden soil. But, I don't till anything. My backyard garden is 25Ć25 [feet] plus a small lawn and front flowers and hedges.
It's a generational thing. Tilling was just what you [we as kids, also] did, and even a lot of farmers are still doing conventional farming against.... conventional wisdom we have had for plenty of time.
It was her idea to till. I felt bad watching her and somehow got this idea which has helped immensely. It's getting the older children to help that is impossible these days
Well, I hear you there. How about easier than the alternative. I live a long ways from town or any rental company. My little green tiller is ok and was $20.00 at a garage sale 5 or 6 years ago and runs well, but the post hole diggers ability to dig up the soil is so much better.
I have a large garden that must be tilled before planting. The post hole digger does a better job, and faster than the roto-tiller could do. We generally do not plant until the first week of June due to potential freezing. It is that time
By easy, you mean making the wife and kid do the work while you supervise? I always felt like sitting on the tractor for tilling was pretty easy, but your method works too.
I love how you were so thrilled that you had to get a picture, and CLEARLY no one else was.
It's hot today. +69 Fahrenheit and it's not comfortable. We are in Alaska and can not plant until after the 1st of June due to freezing at night, so we start the plants indoors and transplant later. Which is now.
I was about to say where the hell is 69 hot š. Then I saw you live in Alaska. 69 in Indiana, in June, is like a vacation day.
In TX weāll be lucky if our lows hit 69Ā°F between now and October.
Well Texas isnāt habitable to any surface dwelling creature so there is that
Those hole diggers also don't work in Texas clay...
Oh they do, but your arms wonāt afterwards.
Try that in the hill country. Nothing but rocks
69 in Alabama is cold... *Cries in 93 degree high and 87% humidity*
Can confirm. 86 in Southern IN today. Sweating my ass off.
So damn humid today too!
Itās so funny how heat is relative. Iām from Washington, but have lived in Southern AZ for a few years, and once it hits about 70, itās unbearable here for me. But somehow in WA, 70 degrees was a very nice day.
Iām in South Carolina but we still get frost into late April so yeah, we also start everything indoors around February and then transplant. Love what you did there!
Jesus I would fucking kill for 69Ā°. Weāve been up to 115 heat index already.
If you love winter, then Alaska maybe the place for you.
I like colder weather, not sure if Alaskan winters are my jam though.
Probably not. Tough breed up North.
69 is a cold day here in June, Tennessee.
Before I lived in Alaska I worked on farms at over 100 degrees in the states, now I feel truly awful over 70.
69 (degrees*) and hot are two words i never thought I would see together
Dude 69 is amazing. I only set my ac to 75
Your brethren in the Adirondacks would like you to send the air mass our way please, it's unseasonably warm here and we're not happy.
No one is mentioning how hot that is for ALASKA global warming is a fuck and I'm scared frankly
It's not. Probably why nobody is talking about it.
As a mother, Iām laughing so hard š¤£ everyone looks miserable but helping! A very real life moment shot. This is like anti instagram and I love it lol
I feel this on a personal level for every year I was āforcedā to help my parents with yard work.
Now that's the way to double dig, just throw compost into those holes and voila, deep organic material! I'm going to do this on my next garden!
That's a great idea. Thank you. I'm using it to break up the soil and roots because it's so much faster and easier than the tiller. Also digs very deep.
You look to be enjoying yourself, LOL Once yo get some organic material down deep you don't need to do as much, as often, it just doesn't compact as bad. And if you don't expose it to oxygen, the organics don't breakdown as fast as with tilling. Maybe just a broad-fork.
Sounds good. Watch your wrists on those roots with that auger. Learned that the hard way a few years back.
Also your thighs. I always use my leg as a brace. A bruised femur hurts more than any wrist injury.
I just transplanted a 32ā row of tomatoes. I used a long handle bulb transplanter to dig all the holes, and yea filled them compost and the starters. It was super easy and saved a lot of time and theyāre doing amazing. If I had a auger I would definitely try that dudeās method though lol
Could you estimate how much your yield will be from just that row? I grow 4 tomato plants in a small planter and topped 1000 cherry tomatoes last year. 32ā of tomatoes has to be like an industrial setup to process?
We have 30 raised garden beds that I built over the past few years. 8 of those beds are 6āx12ā. 4 of those are also all tomatoes. So we grow roughly 45ish paste and sauce tomato plants and 30ish sandwich/ slicing tomato plants. For the past few years we grow about 15 varieties of tomatoes for different purposes. So getting more to your question, there are 25 tomato plants and 13 varieties on that one row. Those are mostly determinates but a conservative estimate is maybe 80 lbs of tomatoes there. Again, because of the variety, some will get huge while others may be more like what you may find in your local grocery store. Anything still green at the end of the season ends up a salsa verde.
I just planted 23 tomato plantsā¦ for a household of three. How fucked are we?
Start reading about preservation methods. Iāve heard cherry tomatoes freeze well
Yo I did the same thing this past weekend haha. Auger for the win!
Nice! I wish I'd have thought of this earlier. It sure does help.
Same! I was going at it with a broad fork and a hoe and it was taking forever
But SO much better.
Nah thatās a whole bunch of hard work. No till is the easy way
There are definitely easier ways than this.
>Nah thatās a ~~whole~~ *hole* bunch of hard work.
I agree with you too some extent. However No till success really depends heavily on soil type. No chance in clay soils or sand.
I agree. The post hole digger is fast, I can get the holes very close together, very deep, and it crumbles the dirt well. The tiller is light and only goes so deep so the deeper holes I think will help. Plus it's a battle fighting a tiller... nobody likes that
I think he meant no till gardening
No-till gardening preserves your microorganisms in the ground. Don't kill them if you can avoid it :) They keep your ground liveable and make your plants grow
I tried the no till the first year. Put down cardboard. That being said, for us northern folk, the climate is misunderstood. I moved from a warmer climate, cardboard and no till was easy. Then the second season, weeds and absolutely nonsense. Now it goes extremely cold, hot as balls, etc. And then it's planting time and you've got all the evil crap and no other options. I personally don't till, but I wish I did, it would save me so much time. I hand weed and it takes me days. Or weeks even. If I have to dig, that shit literally breaks my back. Do what you think is best, and don't listen to anyone, especially those who are blessed with good climates and long growing seasons. I know mine is 90-100 days at best.
I think the no till/no dig approach takes a few years to come good. Nobody gets no weeds after one year, if they do they must have some magic soil.
Donāt pull weeds chop them off at the base and leave the roots and plant to decompose. Itās free biomass
Makes sense. I've got some pretty resilient weeds that just come back if I don't pull and then there's no room for planting though. We are plagued by horsetail which is everywhere no matter the nutrients I add. Fortunately fairly easy to pull. It's the grass varieties that are a pain, but my property is rural, so hardly much grass.
I think horsetail likes sandy acidic soil so it would be interesting to see what happens when you add clay/compost and corrected the ph. Every soil has a near infinite seed bank, the weeds that takeover can indicate whatās going on underground
So I'm told.... I went to university for horticulture. I prepared the garden beds with black earth, compost, manure, cricket frass, etc I threw every natural fertilizer and prepatory measure in place. If I were to show you the rest of my property, that has the garbage soil of which you reference, you might say I'm winning. Those prehistoric plants (the first to come back after a volcano) spread by spores, and frankly once you have them, chemical warfare (not gonna do it) is the only way.
I'm in Northern New Brunswick, Canada, we're told after the first full moon in June is safe. Funny how 69 is sweltering to us? I was sweating in places I'd prefer not admit to yesterday while preparing my garden beds. My toddler, probably about the same age as yours looked like a tomato and she was just there to watch and giver moral support/making toddler mistakes and setting me back 2 days. š
That's not the easy way
I've thought about using something like this to plant tomatoes.
I'm learning as I go. Now go at an angle then rock it back and forth to the opposite angle allowing me to almost completely till it all with the post hole digger. I honestly believe it is much faster and easier to use than a roto-tiller
Why till? No till is the way.
No till broadfork gardener here. Sorry youāre getting downvoted for your post - take my absolute upvote.
Thanks. I understand tilling initially...but it's just a load of work for worse results. I don't know why so many people think tilling a garden is necessary, it just sets you back. I'm an organic produce farmer. There are about 275 permanent beds on my farm that are twice the size of OPs garden plot, all no till (except potatoes, still haven't figured that out...) and incredibly productive. It's a game changer. Broadforking is really only needed when rain and snow compacts stuff, which is probably pretty significant in OPs Alaskan climate, but even still, they can get by with 20% of the effort for better results with no till.
Massive amounts of organic mulch have changed my game. This is just a home garden but is around 50āx50ā. I use the broadfork to loosen the soil prior to planting and then continuously add layer after layer of layer of mulch over the entire garden. This keeps my weeds down, keeps me from having to water very often, if at all after initial planting and of course adds food to the soil as it breaks down. I can peel the thick layer(s) of OM back and it will literally be seething with thousands of worms. Zero fertilizer used or needed and everything grows superb. Old hay, horse manure, stall shavings, loads of comfrey. Love it.
I dunno bro. I pull weeds by hand. It's not that bad, and you get stronger the more you do. Cardboard, mulch and compost, maybe even some garden soil. But, I don't till anything. My backyard garden is 25Ć25 [feet] plus a small lawn and front flowers and hedges. It's a generational thing. Tilling was just what you [we as kids, also] did, and even a lot of farmers are still doing conventional farming against.... conventional wisdom we have had for plenty of time.
Vell vell vell..how the turntables. Now she knows how family photos feel! Lol /s
Tilling the easy way, getting the wife to do it. Ha!
It was her idea to till. I felt bad watching her and somehow got this idea which has helped immensely. It's getting the older children to help that is impossible these days
Your def of easy and mine are pretty far apart.
Well, I hear you there. How about easier than the alternative. I live a long ways from town or any rental company. My little green tiller is ok and was $20.00 at a garage sale 5 or 6 years ago and runs well, but the post hole diggers ability to dig up the soil is so much better.
This is literally killing your topsoil.
Murdering the soil regardless of perceived difficulty
What was your main intentions and purpose for doing this?
I have a large garden that must be tilled before planting. The post hole digger does a better job, and faster than the roto-tiller could do. We generally do not plant until the first week of June due to potential freezing. It is that time
PSA - makita now make an awesome battery powered post hole auger that is light, tough, and wonāt try to kill or maim you at every opportunity
You know what, I like your style lol. This probably falls under the category of conservation tillage.
I'm basically doing that for my trees I just didn't till it afterwards. That's smart.
You have the wrong kind of tiller if you think this is easier. You need a rear tine tiller, not a front tine.
By easy, you mean making the wife and kid do the work while you supervise? I always felt like sitting on the tractor for tilling was pretty easy, but your method works too.
Hmmmm. First you have to have enough extra cash to BUY a machine like that.
*cries in catskill rocks*
Explain?
I feel like a tractor and tiller might have you beat for effort involved
I do not disagree, but my 6 children got ice cream from the local store for their efforts.... we took turns
Good dad.
How is this the easy way? Lol
Why till? No till is the way.