2024 Garden!

[Gellar]

I did take advantage of abnormal wi twr to get another truck load of horse manure in. Had to dump some of it onto snow

Won't get stuff into the ground til memorial day, but will have stuff I. The cold frame before that

I do bury fileted fish bodies near plants, seems to help

Do you have a picture of your cold frames? I have egress windows that have a clear plastic cover in on them, I have been wondering if those would work for cold frames.

 

[Nick87]

I have been thinking the same thing. Looking at our 14-day forecast there are more seasonal temperatures on the way, but nothing terribly cold or snowy. Our last frost is May 5 on average and I have seen blizzards in April so I think I will wait a while to plant any early stuff outside like potatoes and garlic.

I wish we could have a normal winter and early spring for once. Last few years have killed me with a late start back to work.

 

[buckbull]

I know there was a push in southern Illinois to make fish fertilizer plants to give commercial fisherman a reason to go after Asian carp. I don’t know if it caught on.

There was a processing plant in Grafton, IL located at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi River. About 30 minutes north of where the Missouri dumps into the Mississippi so it was in the perfect spot. Town folks revolted and had the place shut down due to the smell. It is believed that the smell was coming from the guys bringing in the fish and not the actual plant. The plant had zero waste, everything was converted to something. They had contracts to sell the meat to China. Too bad really since the rivers natural species have been replaced by the Asian carp.

 

[marshman]

El Niño has it's grip now, don't expect a lot more cold now on the west coast. Has me thinking about planting peas, I'll give it three weeks.
Bare root fruit tree time though. A new grafted plum tree for 2024. Pruning the orchard next weekend.

 

[Gellar]

There was a processing plant in Grafton, IL located at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi River. About 30 minutes north of where the Missouri dumps into the Mississippi so it was in the perfect spot. Town folks revolted and had the place shut down due to the smell. It is believed that the smell was coming from the guys bringing in the fish and not the actual plant. The plant had zero waste, everything was converted to something. They had contracts to sell the meat to China. Too bad really since the rivers natural species have been replaced by the Asian carp.

They built one in Pearl, IL too. That would be about an hour north of Grafton on the edge of Pike and Calhoun County.

 

[buckbull]

They built one in Pearl, IL too. That would be about an hour north of Grafton on the edge of Pike and Calhoun County.

For some reason I don't remember that one. Not even sure its still in business. Not much in Pearl anymore except for the gas station that strangely doesn't carry diesel fuel. Used to be a chicken factory years and years ago. I'm right on the pike/calhoun line but hardly ever travel north, trip to Sheels in springfield or visit the kids at UIUC or ISU would be the only time. Work in St. Louis so always traveling south.

 

[Gellar]

For some reason I don't remember that one. Not even sure its still in business. Not much in Pearl anymore except for the gas station that strangely doesn't carry diesel fuel. Used to be a chicken factory years and years ago. I'm right on the pike/calhoun line but hardly ever travel north, trip to Sheels in springfield or visit the kids at UIUC or ISU would be the only time. Work in St. Louis so always traveling south.

Maybe they never built it, I know they were talking about it when I was at WIU. Pearl was always the armpit of West Central Illinois. I found this article from 2012. https://powerknot.com/2012/11/28/big-river/

 

[buckbull]

Pearl was always the armpit of West Central Illinois.

The best thing Pearl has is the Vin Fiz road that gets you out of there.

 

[Sask hunter]

I planted some fall garlic. That’s as close as we have to a garden going so far

 

[IDFireLass]

I was thinking along those lines too 48 hours ago. Seven new inches of snow in the last 24 hours. Temps going back to single digits of a night for a while. Just figure June is the time to plant here (outside) and don't try to push it. Had a killing frost last year in the middle of June. I'll start seeds at the end of the month. Have a new greenhouse to build this spring when we can see bare ground again.

 

[Gellar]

I planted some fall garlic. That’s as close as we have to a garden going so far

I’ve never done fall garlic. I should try.

 

[el unit]

Currently building more large garden boxes for 2 new patio garden areas. We're also building a second greenhouse.
Seed orders were placed 2 weeks ago.

 

[Bam Bam]

You guys are making me jealous! Here in WY we don't plant until after Memorial Day. As a newcomer to WY a couple years ago, I planted a whole garden in early May, and then watched as my garden got buried under 2 inches of snow a couple weeks later.

The fish fertilizer thing is real, and it works wonders-especially in my soil. In 2022, I planted rows of peppers, some with a banana peels and carp under them and some without them. The difference was astounding. I wish I had pictures to show, but the non-fertilized plants grew about 15-20 peppers each, and the fertilized plants gave +60 peppers each. The fertilized plants needed stakes to hold them up, because of their size, and because of the weight of the peppers on the plants. Truly amazing results.

 

[pabearhunter]

Started weeding my beds this weekend. I usually get the spring/early growing stuff in the ground in March. I've been picking and using the carrots I planted in October/ November for the last several weeks.

Well you should not have to water this week !!!!

 

[Gellar]

You guys are making me jealous! Here in WY we don't plant until after Memorial Day. As a newcomer to WY a couple years ago, I planted a whole garden in early May, and then watched as my garden got buried under 2 inches of snow a couple weeks later.

The fish fertilizer thing is real, and it works wonders-especially in my soil. In 2022, I planted rows of peppers, some with a banana peels and carp under them and some without them. The difference was astounding. I wish I had pictures to show, but the non-fertilized plants grew about 15-20 peppers each, and the fertilized plants gave +60 peppers each. The fertilized plants needed stakes to hold them up, because of their size, and because of the weight of the peppers on the plants. Truly amazing results.

Can you elaborate on how you did the fish? It sounds like a good excuse to go fishing! The way I am picturing this is you dig your hole deeper than need be for your plant, place the fish carcass into the hole, cover it with a thin layer of soil and then plant the seed or plant on top of the fish carcass at the normal planting depth. Am I picturing that correctly or do you emulsify the fish and till them into the whole garden?

 

[kwyeewyk]

do you emulsify the fish

I've tried putting a bunch of bluegill carcasses in the food processor after fileting them, wife was real impressed with that one. I've also tried letting salmon carcasses liquefy in 5 gallon buckets, too soft of a gag reflex for me. Best to just bury them in the fall and plant over in the spring so they're not too "hot" for sensitive plants. It can attract scavengers so probably not the best idea in bear country.

 

[Gellar]

I've tried putting a bunch of bluegill carcasses in the food processor after fileting them, wife was real impressed with that one. I've also tried letting salmon carcasses liquefy in 5 gallon buckets, too soft of a gag reflex for me. Best to just bury them in the fall and plant over in the spring so they're not too "hot" for sensitive plants. It can attract scavengers so probably not the best idea in bear country.

That is about how I pictured it happening! We don't have bears in Iowa but we have a surplus of raccoons, skunks, and opossums.

 

[fowladdict]

I have a lot of room for a garden similar to @Gellar. Like him, we had an awesome garden and then went of vacation only to come home to a weedy misery. I'm thinking about doing a bunch of raised beds instead of one giant garden. Am I wasting my time and money or is that a good idea?

 

[Bob-WY]

Do you have a picture of your cold frames? I have egress windows that have a clear plastic cover in on them, I have been wondering if those would work for cold frames.

I have a 2x12 foundation from a green house that the wind took down. The doors where 4 foot by 6 foot "boxes". I built a 2x4 frame with thick plastic and lay that over the "box". Potted plants go in there, I just lift it to water. Stays VERY warm in there and worked great last spring

 

[Keep on]

I find once the soil is worked and ammended with enough organic material, it really doesn't take much effort to run the hoe for 5-10 minutes a few times a week to keep weeds in check, but it does take a steady devotion of time and effort to keep a garden going, raised beds or not.
What I need for a game changer is a fence, groundhogs have the missus' blessing for population control, but shooting rabbits is frowned upon and deer are out of season.