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Post by chrysanthemum on Dec 18, 2022 17:16:40 GMT -6
heavyhitterokra, I thought you’d like to know that when my husband and I were working in the garden yesterday, I noticed that one of those little volunteer tomato plants that you spotted in my pictures earlier was actually flowering. That made me burst out laughing. I don’t know if the tomatoes even made it through the night last night since we dropped to thirty. I haven’t been out to the garden to look today since I’m needing to limit my exposure to cedar pollen when I can. I don’t expect them to make it through the week, though, since we’re forecast for the teens for a couple of nights. I’m hoping that my Austrian winter peas and my crimson clover are well enough established and hardened that they’ll be able to survive. My more recently seeded brassicas are still awfully small to be facing the cold, but I’ll see how they do.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 7, 2023 7:00:08 GMT -6
We have a string of sunny days in the forecast. I’m going to trying establishing some Austrian peas following the beds I double dug. I’m a pincher on seed. Cover crops don’t produce seed if planting in the active beds and that always bothers me. But having roots in the ground is important.
When I put the tomatoes in I don’t need to remove every pea plant, I remind myself.
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Post by amyinowasso on Jan 7, 2023 12:16:22 GMT -6
I found Austrian winter peas slow to establish. When I grew them I followed some advice to mix in some annual rye grass. I always wanted to try hairy vetch, because I read when that is tilled in before tomatoes it reduced disease. But, I don't have a tiller. How long do the peas last? Can they be a living mulch?
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 7, 2023 18:32:15 GMT -6
I’ve held onto seed peas for five years before I had to replenish. And those were not in frozen storage. I saw no reduction in germination, some were slow to come in. I like to pre soak my seeds. Helps a quicker stand but I’ve always had them come up. Sometimes it gets too cold and the seeds stall, but come up if they don’t rot and I remember to water. Keeping them alive once they sprout isn’t hard but has proven problematic if the timing is off, notably early bloom as Ron experiences. Of course, my plot is smaller so I can easily snap the blooms off.
Years back I was picking turnips from one of Johnny Coleman’s plots out in Coyle. He had a couple stands of flint corn growing. We were three yard away and I noticed one stand taller than the other, so I asked. He had tilled under hairy vetch prior to planting that taller stand. Impressive.
I’ve had plenty of volunteer Austrian pea plants and have never seen any issue with companion planting if there’s enough space in the root zone. I don’t till them under, but cut and leave the roots in the ground. I’ve seen good results.
I have a diverse system and, for clay, extremely good soil. I actually don’t need the benefits of certain cover crop, just the roots in the ground to keep the soil active. Eventually, my entire back yard will be managed and at that time I will begin looking into cover crops for other reasons.
They die back after bloom or excessive heat.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jan 7, 2023 20:11:22 GMT -6
I don’t have pictures, though maybe I’ll try to snap some and add them in. I just thought that since this thread popped up again, I’d add that my Austrian Winter peas and my Crimson Clover both suffered a little damage from our sudden and hard freezes before Christmas. By and large, the crops survived, however. I was thrilled with that because so much else died in the hard freezes (all my brassicas, not just newly seeded dailkon and cabbage and the like but also well established kale, cauliflower, and broccoli), rhubarb, artichokes, parsley, and snow peas. My lettuce was protected and survived. That bed and the cover crops are my only green in the garden for the most part, so they’re a very cheering sight.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jan 14, 2023 15:00:32 GMT -6
I grabbed a shot of my cover crops today after I filled the ollas in the garden. The two square beds are the Austrian Winter Peas. They got hit a little by the cold, but all in all they’re doing their thing. In the very back of the picture is the bed that has the crimson clover in it.
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Post by woodeye on Jan 14, 2023 17:42:29 GMT -6
Nice! That's why green is my favorite color...
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 14, 2023 18:53:12 GMT -6
I grabbed a shot of my cover crops today after I filled the ollas in the garden. The two square beds are the Austrian Winter Peas. They got hit a little by the cold, but all in all they’re doing their thing. In the very back of the picture is the bed that has the crimson clover in it. They look great and will bounce back. The healthy tips and shoots are remarkable in stir fries or eaten fresh. It doesn’t even stunt them.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 16, 2023 8:17:08 GMT -6
Those peas will be 2' feet tall before you know it. I love Austrian Winter Peas!
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 21, 2023 10:13:46 GMT -6
Ron, how is your field growing now? Peas? Turnips? My turnips just popped up, but they are on top of the frig. I cheated.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 21, 2023 11:28:54 GMT -6
Frosty,
I should have cheated. I don't see any turnips springing up yet. (Those might have been old seeds though). They were the dregs from the seed bin at the Farmers Coop. They have 15 pounds more on order, but they don't expect them in until the 1st of February. They told me this morning that they were ordering a variety called "Seven Top" that just grow greens, rather than bulbous roots. I might get some of those when they come in. I enjoy the greens more than the root, plus, I end up tilling most of them under for green manure come early Spring.
There are a few winter peas springing up here, there, and yonder. Ironically, the ones around the edges, where I didn't till them in seem to be doing better than the ones where I took special care to cover them with dirt.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jan 21, 2023 11:35:28 GMT -6
Yeah, I’m not an expert at all, but you didn’t rearrange the microbes in the soil there. I’m not dissing plowing at all. In fact, I was sitting here with the new arrival of tens of pounds of seed potatoes realizing that I only have room for the potatoes in the main garden and that everything else must be put in new ground. I could use a tiller!
Sometimes, my edge plants do well because of the activity and stimuli coming off the base root of the grass or weeds nearby.
Ron, you still seeding out potatoes about Valentines? Or are you waiting for another freeze? I’m not steady with original planting times and this weird weather makes it hard for me to decided. Two years of failure has struck a nerve.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Feb 9, 2023 9:28:30 GMT -6
I had my camera in the garden yesterday, so I took a picture of my cover crops. They came through the ice last week with no protection, and they were looking particularly happy yesterday after a cold front blew in a half in of rain.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Feb 9, 2023 10:32:29 GMT -6
So beautiful and heart warming in the winter. They’ll probably be big and juicy in another month. Mine are just now coming up. Hard to believe I planted them a month ago. I double dug the bed before seeding, so they’ve been resting in clay loam.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Mar 11, 2023 21:54:43 GMT -6
I don’t have a picture, but I wanted to say that I saw my first bud on the crimson clover this morning when I was watering the asparagus. I just saw one, but it was an exciting sight. I’m looking forward to seeing flowers.
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