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Old October 5, 2018   #16
rhines81
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Originally Posted by cjp1953 View Post
Farmers around here plant winter rye.It can be planted late fall as it will continue to grow come spring.Just till in weeks before planting.Check with local farmers and see what and how late they can plant around your area.
I've always thought that cover crops needed to be sown about a month before 1st frost ... I've already had 1st frost on my deck, but not on the ground yet .. any day now. I'll contact the co-op to check, something I haven't thought of. They are just now planting cover crops about 2 hours south of me (and 1500 less elevation).
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Old October 5, 2018   #17
Cole_Robbie
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I think a black plastic tarp for 3 to 4 weeks in the spring would be the way to go. It also softens the soil, enough for me to not even have to till. Everyone has different weeds. I have johnson grass and mares tail. Tilling makes them grow faster.
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Old October 6, 2018   #18
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I also have a remote garden used for garlic and a few other crops. Irrigation and electric are on site but are not used much. This is a mix of reclaimed mine land and some decent timber soils. It has taken decades to bring this ground up to what I call carrying capacity. In other words planting and harvesting along with a buckwheat and grain rye rotation.
Go slow on your implement purchases. An older tractor with enough HP to spin a 4-5 ft. gear drive tiller is a good start. Add a loader bucket and mower down the road. If you can find a farmer in the area to rough disc the ground this fall would be helpful. You can still get a decent stand of grain rye up this year. It's so cheap you have nothing to lose.
You will have weeds forever if you till. Cover crops and good cultural practices will minimize their impact. Breaking new ground is a blast, have fun.
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Old October 6, 2018   #19
PureHarvest
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117A612C-75ED-47F1-BA35-E0405500D846.jpg

50x100 silage tarp for the win
That sucker is heavy though, and you could do two smaller ones.
Weigh down the edges with sandbags.
Leave it as is for now, assuming it is covered in green growth of whatever nature provided this year. Considering mowing the top to eliminate weed seeds if they haven’t set and dried yet.
If you would have to rip, till, etc to get a cover crop in now, the benefit of the cover crop would be outweighed by the damage done by filling up the spot and exposing the soil.
Cover with tarp 4 weeks before you want to plant in spring. Uncover and just strip till, which is only tilling the strips you want to plant in. You do not need a tractor at all for a garden this size!

Last edited by PureHarvest; October 6, 2018 at 08:29 AM.
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Old October 6, 2018   #20
Worth1
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Johnson grass can be eliminated by mowing and tilling but it takes time perseverance and a ton of energy.

It grows from rhizomes and these rhizomes store energy.
They collect energy by way of sprouts what we see as the grass.
If the grass is continually cut and the rhizomes not allowed to sprout and or tilled they will run out of energy and die.

This takes some time and as I said a lot of energy.

Here in Texas it is most effectively killed off by way of parking lots, strip centers and concrete slabs for urban sprawl.
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Old October 6, 2018   #21
brownrexx
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There is not a lot of research on water collected from shingle roofing but Rutgers University Dept of Ag. did a study and came to the following conclusion

Based on study results, rain barrel water can be safely utilized to irrigate a vegetable/herb garden. Pathogen treatment should be conducted and best practices utilized when applying the water. Testing rain barrel water is not a practical method for the average homeowner or community/school garden for determining water quality but may be necessary based on state guidelines.

You can read the entire article here:
https://njaes.rutgers.edu/fs1218/

They mentioned that one concern was e.coli from birds or squirrels that may visit the roof but those same animals visit or fly over my garden so I am not worried. In addition I can add the recommended amount of Clorox (6 oz) to my rain barrel tote monthly to deal with any potential e.coli.
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Old October 6, 2018   #22
Cole_Robbie
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Maybe it has to do with local soil type, but I think you could till every day and never get rid of my johnson grass. The rhizomes look like king crab legs. The only time I have seen them die was on ground that was flooded for some time by a slow and undiscovered leaky water hydrant. My idea here would be to make ponds out of the gardens for a year or two before planting. I have also been told that pigs do a good job of digging it out to eat, but have not tried that either. Cattle will eliminate it, too, but I dont know how long it would take.
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Old October 6, 2018   #23
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I believe in pigs. Fence an area for them to live in and let them go at it. Next year you have the bonus of clearing the roots plus the manure, not even to mention the meat! Well worth it if you are up to handling an intelligent 200 lb animal that you intend to eat. I would do it in a flash but for the intelligent 200 lb animal part. I have never had much luck with animals that outweigh me.
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Old October 7, 2018   #24
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Pigs are great tillers,and eat up all sorts of stuff. Mine loved the entire Poke plant and every time some would come up, if I could bear my ex MIL there, I'd take the pot bellies to it and watch them clear it out in no time!


No other advice, but am happy you are getting such a lovely spot to have a terrific garden on.
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Old October 7, 2018   #25
rhines81
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PureHarvest View Post
Attachment 84487

50x100 silage tarp for the win
That sucker is heavy though, and you could do two smaller ones.
Weigh down the edges with sandbags.
Leave it as is for now, assuming it is covered in green growth of whatever nature provided this year. Considering mowing the top to eliminate weed seeds if they haven’t set and dried yet.
If you would have to rip, till, etc to get a cover crop in now, the benefit of the cover crop would be outweighed by the damage done by filling up the spot and exposing the soil.
Cover with tarp 4 weeks before you want to plant in spring. Uncover and just strip till, which is only tilling the strips you want to plant in. You do not need a tractor at all for a garden this size!
Yea, silage tarps are very heavy and I would plan on having 2 or 3 instead of 1 large one. The garden alone does not justify buying a tractor, but there are so many things I could use it for besides that. Adding all of those things up, a compact tractor is almost a necessity instead of having/maintaining multiple machines.

Settlement has now been pushed back to on or before Nov 16th because the title agency has a large backlog, but still hoping to close by the end of this month. Tires and trash were supposed to be cleaned up this weekend and water testing is supposed to be tomorrow. Just a waiting game now as the weather turns colder.
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Old October 7, 2018   #26
Worth1
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If you dont use a tractor very often it is sometimes more economical to just rent one.
They are expensive and it takes years to recover the cost of one.
Plus if it breaks down it is on the people you rent from not you.
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Old October 7, 2018   #27
rhines81
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If you dont use a tractor very often it is sometimes more economical to just rent one.
They are expensive and it takes years to recover the cost of one.
Plus if it breaks down it is on the people you rent from not you.
I'm looking for a used low hour machine, like the JD 2038R or equivalent Kubota. The cost of a new one (with all the attachments I want) is close to 45K so common sense needs to prevail. Used machines can be had at better than 1/2 the price and then resold again without taking too much of a loss.
My ATV with plow is on its last leg and my lawn tractor is also not fairing well. They are 15 years old and will need to be replaced in the next few years which will eventually set me back a pretty penny, the compact tractor could step right in to those tasks. I could use the tractor at my current house and the new land.
I'll have several foundations to dig, 100s of posts to set, numerous stumps to dig, no doubt some boulders to move, tons of logs to split, etc., so I think for the first couple of years it will see high usage - after that it will be limited to mostly lawn & garden chores plus snow removal.
I've rented an excavator before and the $600 cost for the weekend was well worth it as hiring a contractor would have cost me triple. With this new land, there are just too many things to do (on my schedule) that renting would not really be an affordable option.
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Old October 7, 2018   #28
Worth1
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I was figuring you would need something for snow removal.
Unless a person has shoveled snow before they have no idea how valuable one is.
I have removed my share of it by hand in 30 below weather.
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Old October 7, 2018   #29
PhilaGardener
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Glad to hear you have bounced back from the accident and have great new developments ahead. Looking forward to hearing more about your project!
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Old October 8, 2018   #30
rhines81
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
I was figuring you would need something for snow removal.
Unless a person has shoveled snow before they have no idea how valuable one is.
I have removed my share of it by hand in 30 below weather.
Almost every Winter, I run out of places to put the plowed snow and the driveway just gets more narrow until we have a longer spurt of sunny (above freezing) weather to melt it down ... having a loader attachment would certainly help cure that. Plus the notorious "plow guy" that never fails to put a foot wall of packed snow at the end of the drive after I thought I was done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33o9lvMKnLA
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