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New Castle, Indiana

Yeah so I lost my only fruit at about 14 DAP and the plant has begun to deteriorate. I would speculate the dozen or so squash bugs I pulled out caused a disease...maybe yellow vine. All things considered I suppose I was lucky it set a fruit at all because the seeds were probably from Rural King and had been sitting my garage over the winter.

In any case I'm planning a larger garden for next year..roughly 2400sqft. Going to get it tilled up in October, run a basic soil test, get a drip system(Toro), and take preventative measures against pests. I'm also going to try to make it to the Indiana auction and get some actual AG seeds. If I can't get something going with all that, I will probably consider myself cursed.

8/3/2022 11:53:10 AM

Lodi, California

Wish you the best of luck next year. Sorry you couldn't make it to scale, but at least you were able to give it a go and hopefully you learned something along the way

8/3/2022 12:40:38 PM

Grittyville, WA

I hear ya.

I want to try the Langley soil balancing next year. I have learned a lot, but in terms of competing at the podium level, there was too much out of my control this year.

8/3/2022 1:00:31 PM

Grittyville, WA

Ps... solarizing now... might carry over to next year??

8/3/2022 1:17:28 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

till now plant mustard

8/3/2022 1:25:17 PM

New Castle, Indiana

Gridiot - Don't really have the means to do that as I haven't finalized where the patch will be and the sod won't be ripped up for a couple months. Although it isn't a bad idea for sure.

8/3/2022 3:06:50 PM

Grittyville, WA

Brush hog, chainsaw and a couple sheets of used greenhouse plastic = done in a day. ...or maybe not, idk. Well, I do understand there are many challenges, just pointing out we've got some tricks our ancestors didnt have. Travis went at it with a skidsteer or little backhoe machine, I forget which exactly and then hit 2350. I thought that was cool.

8/3/2022 6:02:45 PM

New Castle, Indiana

So to be more specific; I have a little over an acre of flat field that I just mow right now. My brother in law is bringing a tractor with some kind of tilling implement in October to till up the area where I'm putting the garden. I'm obviously going to grow a number of other things besides the pumpkins. I'll probably put onion sets next to the patches since I understand squash bugs don't like those. Other than that, I don't have affordable access to the equipment needed to handle big of an area.

He did mention something I questioned though....he told me to kill the grass in the area we were goin to till. Now...it may not have any affect next year but I have reservations putting vegetation killer in an area where my garden will be.

8/4/2022 10:23:37 AM

Central NY

You want round up or mad dog to kill the weeds, not the real deal vegetation killer…that stuff kills everything for awhile. I would get him to come now and to till and plant mustard. Clean up the soil and add some biomass. Good luck and make sure you get good seeds for next year.

8/4/2022 11:59:22 AM

Torrance, Ca.

What the BORER said. Once it just starts to flower, cut down, till deep and water in very, very heavy. Let sit for three weeks and it will be about planting time.

8/4/2022 9:38:34 PM