Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 11 Entries. Sunday, January 11 View Page BEWARE, THERE'S ICE OUT THERE! Patch-wise, I made good use of the frozen soil and the moderate layer of snow on top: Two days ago I added boron and molybdenum to the patch. HOW and WHY did I do that... Well, B and Mo should be added homogeneously...one should avoid creating spots with excessive B- or Mo-content. In principle, I could add them during fall patch prep, just before roto-tilling the patch. However, B and Mo get leached out rather easily, and I want the water to wash them in (...to the patch) rather than wash them out (into deeper layers of subsoil). Therefore, I took a barrel of water, added the amendments into a good load of water and sprinkled everything more or less homogeneously across the patch using a watering can (16 cans in total). The frozen soil was great for walking across the patch, the first layer of snow was great for further diluting the amendments, and the new snow from the past two days will also help to wash them in (as soon as it melts....probably over the course of the next two weeks, according to the forecast). Wishing you all a great start into a great pumpkin year, stay safe! Sunday, March 8 View Page Today I dug a pit in my patch, not trying to find gold but to see the probably precious soil. About four years ago, I dug over the entire patch two spades deep, turning it upside down, moving the upper half (topsoil) a spade lower and the lower half (the sandy loam) on top, ready for being amended with compost and other good things. Now, about four years later, I was curious to see how things had developed. Good thing #1: As expected, I have found a layer of topsoil that is about two spades deep (50 cm). On the bottom you can see where the sandy loam starts. Good thing #2: The lower half is still pretty dark, even though it has not received any addition of compost over the past five years. Interesting thing #3: The lower half is still darker than the upper half. Apparently, there is a difference between 12 years of patch prep and 4 years of patch prep. Monday, March 9 View Page One thing about spring that I really like: A green pumpkin patch. This year I will wait for another few weeks before patch prep will continue, I love to see that there are less weeds than the years before, so I will let the rye grow some deeper roots in the meantime. Also, soil temperature is still pretty low. Good enough for rye to grow, but not at a reasonable level as it would made any sense to sow another cover crop right now. Monday, March 9 View Page Almost as good as a lush green pumpkin patch: Some first spring flowers :) Monday, March 9 View Page Back to the green side of life: The wild garlic, which is growing in a shady corner next to my home, is making me look forward to having the one or the other yummy meal with that great stuff :) Saturday, March 21 View Page Patch today :) In spite of the many frosty nights and the rather cold soil (5 deg. Celsius), the rye keeps growing. Saturday, March 21 View Page Today, I decided to dig another hole in the patch and extract some rye plants, wanted to see how and where their roots are going. Well, I am pretty sure the longest roots fell off the plants just by the weight of the soil attached, but at least some roots were friendly enough to tell me that the plants are digging their way down by more than 1 ft. For the next two weeks, the rye can continue to produce root mass, but then I need to do some next steps...prepare the planting sites and sow another cover crop (mustard) in some places. Saturday, March 28 View Page Oh well, last week I thought I would let the rye grow for another two weeks, but now we have had such a nice sunny weekend and then a forecast of some rain, which sounds like the perfect time for getting the cover crop sown, and then the rain may give it a good start. Hence, my Saturday started with some mowing, followed by many many hours of further patch prep... Sunday, March 29 View Page ...and one day later, the cover crop (mustard) is sown in all the places where you can see the dirt, can-watered for just in case that there will not be as much rain as I am hoping for, and some prep of the planting sites has also begun. Sunday, March 29 View Page So, here is my plan for my 2026 patch layout. This year I want to grow 4 squash plants, and each plant will be contained in one of the four orange rectangles. The mustard-areas inside the rectangles will be free of mustard after beginning of June, so that the squash plants can use that space as well. The other cover crop areas will then grow another cover crop (tagetes, zinnias, and some other stuff). The long rye strip will be rye for another two weeks, and then there will be three rows of potatos. Last but not least, the rye leftovers inside the orange areas will be shaved off (1 - 2 inches thick) and will be piled up inside the blue rectangles. The blue-framed areas will then be covered with clear plastic for some weeks, they will be the planting sites this year. Monday, March 30 View Page Next step accomplished :) (On top of the mounds, I have added some of the rye clippings as well as some alfalfa pellets.) Last step, the addition of a thin soil cover and clear plastic sheets, will be done during the next two weeks, I guess.