Prep work for spring planting

13 years ago

Today I started to clean out the high tunnels to make room for the spring plantings. Most of the crops were gone or dying. The quality started to slide, so it was time to go.

Once they were cleaned, I decided to till them up. I finished 3.5 beds in one building and 2 beds in another one. Hopefully I can finish the other two beds and clean out the third tunnel. Two weeks from really early direct seeding. We still need to put down some compost, sulfur (help lower pH) and fertilizer.

The soil temps are in the low to mid 40's depending on the location with-in the building.

One funny from today. I did get the tiller stuck in a two foot snow drift. I had to pick it up and carry it out. I thought I could "till" through it, guess I was wrong.

What are you doing to get ready for the spring?

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Comments (10)

cowpie51
13 years ago
Slick, it might be cheaper to lay a big sheet of plastic over your whole yard then you can grow year round. Nick
myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
Just starting seeds and trying to wait patiently. You have the same tiller that we used for years.

Marla
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randy41_1
13 years ago
i expect to be starting seeds in a couple of weeks in the small heated greenhouse. i also expect a big growth spurt with the lengthening days from the spinach, lettuce, arugula and chard still going in the hoophouse from the fall.
spogarden
13 years ago
"tiller stuck in the snow", is that extreme gardening or what? I love your hightunnels.
It is still too cold and wet here but I have been out when I can doing cleanup. I have that same tiller too, love it. I just bought mine last year, the old one was not holding up so I gave it away and got the bronco.
myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
my seeds are started inside the house.

Marla
brookw_gw
13 years ago
Jeez, I haven't seen bare dirt in a month or 40 degrees for over two!! I'm ready to take up ice fishing again, but as fat as I've gotten this winter I'd probably just fall through. Jay, I'm surprised you don't have geothermal yet for your hoops!! It was -2 here Friday morning. I'm cleaning and sharpening tools, playing with some dried gourds, taking inventory on everything, exhausting the catalogs, spending too much time on line, and baking too many pies. The lengthening daylight is encouraging.

Brook
skatcon
13 years ago
Spring? Spring? Two nights ago we had -45. Yes that is 45 below 0. I'm getting really crabby!
jrslick (North Central Kansas, Zone 5B)
Original Author
13 years ago
Brook, Geothermal, don't temp me. I have seriously looked at adding some wood heat especially to my new big tunnel, but I am a long way from that.

I do like my tiller, starts first pull during the season then 2-3 pulls after sitting all winter. It needs some new fuel lines, oil change and the seals leak on the tines. I will get that all fixed and it will be ready for another few years. I wish it had the counter rotating tines. It really can pull you down the row if you aren't careful.

Jay
myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
Jay, I'm sorry. Our tiller is not the same one, ours has the counter rotating tines. Ours is just a GardenWay by Toro. Our repairman had a Horse and he liked ours better. I haven't seen one like ours lately. Those Toro/BS engines are great for starting easily. We even had a Toro generator that started like that. If it didn't start within 3 pulls, we knew we needed to either check the gas or oil. We used that generator for our main power for our house for 3-4 years with very little repairs.

Marla
myfamilysfarm
13 years ago
Sorry, It's by Troy-bilt.