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Damn, that’s a lot of fish heads! Good work. Jake. You deserve a great smoke and an adult beverage.

Put the last 7 rows in before the thunderstorm.

35 rows total of 38 to 40 seeds, gives us 1,330 to 1,400 seeds planted.

Was thinking...so that's 1/25th of an acre. Multiple the above numbers by 25 and that's 33,250 to 35,000 seeds per acre.

It would take me almost a month to plant an acre of corn if I worked 8 hrs a day everyday. Not happening.

Is there some type of machine that small scale farmers use that doesn't cost 10's or 100's of thousands of dollars??

Ok I will definitely look into that for next season. Even if I only build that 50x50 garden, a tool like that would help me.

I have a couple riding mowers. They make attachments for my Cub Cadet Xt1 Lt50. I know they make snow plow attachments for example, but I don't think they have anything for gardening. I can check OEM and aftermarket...

Thanks.

Good idea. I'll check FB Marketplace too when I have the time.

Since we've been up here I got my 75 gal aquarium and my plow from Marketplace.

Just for the heck of it I run a kinze 3660 12-23 planter if anyone is curious you can google it. They’re good planters lol

At 75% germination and average of 3 ears per stalk you’ll end up with at least 2,000 ears. Probably more unless a storm or some other disaster destroys your crop. You’re gonna be eating homemade Doritos every day.

I think I may have passed through your neck of the woods a time or two. Seems like I came out of New Jersey once or twice and picked up chicken in Delaware then headed back northwest towards the Baltimore area to catch I-95 then onward to who knows where.

That's really cool, Jake.

^ yeah processing is the issue but damn sweet corn hits hard when you have it frozen or canned around February when nothing fresh is available. I put a little bit in my planter and grow enough to share and eat

The oak trees in the yard drop several different things. Majestically beautiful, but something falling from them is killing my lawn. Live in a woody area.

What is it and how do I counteract it?

My lawn has been the lesser of many subpar yards on my street. Some neighbors do all sorts of chemicals with has a marginal inpact for half the summer, then revert a level similar to mine.

I’ve been told that grass won’t grow under an Oak tree. From the trunk, you should start seeing grass before you get to the drip line. I keep my Oaks mulched about halfway to the drip line. I start the mulch approximately 1 1/2 - 2 foot from the trunk. I keep the little circle between the mulch and trunk raked and clean and I keep the top roots there exposed. This little area is a terrific place to water your tree in drought conditions and a good place to put fertilizer if you do that. Neem oil root soak method seems to keep most of the bugs and ants out of my trees and it’s hard to mess up on the root soak. This little maintenance trench is also a good place to grow herbs. Just about any herb will benefit your trees root systems. I’m no expert, this is based on trial and error of internet tips. I wish you luck.

Planted vegetables for 7 hrs today. Made a lot of progress but not even close to being finished. I'd say another 5 to 7 hrs of work...

Plus the grass needs cut again. Busy time of year. Burn a lot of calories and a lot of 2 stroke oil.

Over and out.

l^

Sounds like you have a beautiful yard, Fenster. Ours is a work in progress.

We have some Iris plants in our yard. They are purple with some yellow and white on the inner part of the flower.

Lol I'll do my best...

Bought a gallon of Echo Red Armor 2 stroke oil in January 2023. Still got about half of it left.

Used a lot more last season, because I ran a 1991 Lawnboy 5hp 2 stroke. They take a 32:1 ratio and guzzle the gasoline. Switched to a new Cub Cadet 4 stroke push mower for trim work this season.

Run my trimmers, chainsaws and water pump at 50:1 per the OEM specs, and still use quite a bit of Red Armor.

Red armor is very very good air cooled 2 stroke oil. I run it myself. I’ve taken a few 2 stroke chainsaws apart. I’ve got 10 or so top notch husqvarna saws. It’s another weird hobby of mine. Do not recommend lucas 2 stroke at all or stihl silver. Use anything but those

Most of that, if not all, could be planted a little bit earlier, especially if you’re planning to do two plantings next year.

Don't know the type of grass. 150 years ago, this was simply a woods. Grass doesn't grow well in the woods. That said, it use to grow a lot better, getting worse YOY.

There is more sun in the back over the years. One neighbor is a tree assassin, so the mid and late afternoon sun seems to cook it more than in the past. The tree assassin neighbor put in a new lawn last year, so my yard looks even more sickly.

Bought some organic soil for our raised garden beds.
Once those are poured and all the soil mixed, with test to PH level in the hopes of maximizing our next crop.

You can also try Fescue, it has decent shade tollerance.

Before you dump seed down, I might think about core aerating the area. You can do it by hand or rent a machine. You mentioned the grass has gortten worse and worse year over year, so soil compaction may be an issue. It may be making it tough for nutrients to get to the grass roots. If youhave a tiller, you could also till in some manure/compost to loosen the soil and re-invite the microorganisms that make the soil healthy.

In terms of the weed and feed, just make sure it doesn't have any pre-emergent herbicides in it, as they work to prevent new growth (like your grass).

Put the plants out in the containers this past weekend. Went to the farm/garden nursery and bought some of those 6 pack seedling thingies to replace the things that I couldn't start from seed.

Tomatoes: Regular size and cherry size (6 pack of each from the nursery). Planted 3 of each.
Peppers some sweet and some hot: (6 pack of each from the nursery). Planted 3 of eash.
Cucumbers: Started from seed with no poblems, medium size fruit, 6 of each.
Sunflowers: Started from seed with no problems, Qty 6.
Peas: Started from seed with no problems, 6 ish or so.
Pole beans: Started from seed no problems, 6 ish or so.

Herbs - my seeds didn't germinate so got some infants from the nursery.
Chives: From the nursery but also trying again some from seed.
Basil: From the nursery.
Oregano: From the nursery.
Rosemary: From the nursery.
Parsley: From the nursery.
Lavender: Trying another round of seeds.

I want to get some dill, coriander/cilantro going. Probably some green onions/scallions going too.

I probably have a dozen ish of tomato, peppers, herb infants left from the 6 packs that will need to be re homed. Neighbors have nice garden set ups so I'll ask them if thy want them.

My Son and his girlfriend want to do some flowers so that will be the next step. Outside on the front lawn we have a rather large lilac bush. I love the smell of lilacs. Sadly the flowers are all done by the end of June in my area and if you try to clip them and put them in a water container inside, they only last a few days.

I see some posts on the neighborhood chat forums where folks looking to divide their rhubarb and you can take the cuttings for free. I might take them up on that offer but I'll have to plant them in the ground since they are not an item that would work well in containers. I love strawberry and rhubarb pie. Shoot I like straight up rhubarb sticks dipped in sugar as a snack. Maybe I try a smaller cutting and put it in a container for this summer then transplant it into the ground early in the fall. I'll have to look into transplanting rhubarb .

^You can get an aerator from Home Depot... spike aerators are $75-$100 but boy are they a pain in the arse. You may be able to have someone with a machine do it for you. IIRC I had that done on my lawn in CA for $75.

Wife has a few tomato plants... all you folks that grow these, what can she do to help them? They seem to be dying on her.

1 of them is in a small pot. That may be the problem. The other 2 are in a bigger, longer trough style pot... but they're kinda listless, too.

That's a hard question to answer not knowing what cultivars she's growing, what soil she's growing in, what fertilizer and how much, how much watering she is doing and how good is the drainage in the containers.

Small pots, like 1-2 gallon size may be fine for some dwarf or micro-dwarf tomato varieties. I grow varieties like Red Robin Cherry and Sophie's Choice ( a medium-size slicer) in small containers like that and they produce great. Those will have a dense leaf canopy but only get around 1 ft. tall.

The bottom of my corn stalks are yellowing. So is my okra. Suggestions?

Yes. She's using potting soil, mostly, with tomato food. Waters morning and evening. Pots have sufficient drainage.

She might be watering them too much. If it doesn't rain we might water our garden once every 2 or 3 days.

Also, make sure the water is draining out of the holes in the bottom of the pot, they could be clogged up.

Finally, make sure the pot is big enough for a full grown tomato plant. If the pot is too small it could make the plant "root bound".