Things have been super busy here on the homestead, but the good news is; the sweet corn, pumpkins and mums are growing.
Check out some of the pictures below:
This year was much better than last year as far as getting everything planted on time. Last year we had so much rain that it was June 1st before we was able to plant any sweet corn and pumpkins, which made them yield less and late.
Many other projects going on here at Pin Oaks Farm that I will do my best to share very soon as time allows. Those projects are our cabin, grounds improvements, raised bed gardens, rerouting a drainage ditch from pond, and much more.
Below are some of the pictures of this years planting of sweet corn, pumpkins and mums…
Steps for our planting of sweet corn:
- Sprayed the ground for weeds and grass.
- Allowed spray several days to work.
- Planted the sweet corn between 1″ to 1-1/2″ deep.
- Used John Deere 7000 2 row planted and planted with the “no till” method to allow the cover crop from last season to help with weed and grass control for this year.
Pumpkin planting method:
- Switched over to pumpkins on one row of planter by removing seed bin and adding plywood platform with pvc pipe and funnel going into seed tube for that row.
- Pulled chain drive off of other row and headed to field.
- Used bright color spray paint and painted a large strip on tire which indicates when to drop seed into funnel. Each revolution of tire equals 5′ and that is our goal in between seeds planted.
- Rhonda walked beside planter dropping seed into funnel each time stripe on tire came to top side.
- I prefer to use the unused planter row track as my marker for when I turn at the ends and start back down the field. My goal is to have at least 5′ in between rows and as much as 6′ is ok too.
Once we first noticed the sweet corn, pumpkins and mums growing, that is when we realized our seed depths and application methods were good.
We prefer the more organic methods for weed and grass control rather than spraying a whole bunch of herbicides on each time weeds pop up.
One method that works great is Burning unwanted grass and weeds as they pop up, using a large base propane torch. This will stop weeds and grass for months and will not harm your crop, unless you torch the crop. Lol 😆
Below is Rhonda’s raised bed Gardens:
In the next blog post I will share some pictures and helpful ideas of things we are doing here, as well as cheap or even free to get and use…
Remember to visit our Facebook page @ “PinOaksFarm”, follow us and hit the like button so that you get all of our updates, event dates, and also discounts for upcoming harvest days.
Yes, the Sweet corn, pumpkins and mums are growing, and more pictures will follow as they continue to grow and develop.
Always do your best,
-Mike and Rhonda Pilcher
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