Edible Gardening » Vegetable Gardening
Vegetable Gardening Tips
Even the experienced gardener can always pick up good ideas from others. The following tips on easier rototilling came from Jerry Parson and Steve George, Extension Horticulturists at Texas A&M.
Tilling the garden will be easier if you leave a row untilled between passes. Reasons for doing this are: wide turns are easier to make with a tiller than "about faces," and the machine won't be pulling itself and you toward the next row (which it will do if you even come close to overlapping rows). In tilling heavy clay soils or breaking up ground for a new garden, reduce the tiller's engine speed so it digs better and bucks and bounces less.
When tilling ground for the first time, don't try to work it to the maximum depth in the first pass. The first time around, set the brake stake half the depth you desire. Then set it to full depth and go over the ground a second time. Till only when the soil is slightly dry and friable.
Tilling when it's too wet leaves large clods that become rock hard when dry. Also, mud clumps clinging to tiller blades upset its balance, causing undue wear on you and the tiller.
Some other good ideas for gardeners include:
To give your seedlings and transplants a "jump start," ensure phosphorus availability in the cold soils of spring by banding super phosphate (0-20-0). To do this, make a 3-inch deep furrow (for seed) or a 6-inch deep furrow (for transplants) in the planting area. Into this furrow, evenly distribute 1/2 pound (1/2 cup) of super phosphate (0-20-0) per 40 linear feet of bed. Cover the band of super phosphate with at least 2 inches of soil since it can damage tender developing root systems.
For best results, select transplants that are about as tall as they are wide, dark green in color, vigorously growing, and free of spots or lesions on the leaves which indicate disease problems. Transplants of this description usually give greater yields than larger and older transplants.
When thinning larger plants, use a knife to cut the stem at ground level. This thins the plant population effectively and does not damage root systems of the remaining vegetables as pulling out unnecessary plants will do.