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i don’t care how deep you planted them You could have planted them a foot or two in the ground but when they get a foot and a half tall What’s up Lazy Dog fam hope all you are having a wonderful day It is Friday April 18th here in South Georgia and I was just out here working in the garden this afternoon planting a few pepper plants and I’m pretty pleased with how things are looking around here so far And so as I was piddling around in these different garden plots out here I got to thinking about some of the videos we’ve done over the last few months We’ve done a lot of videos recently you know tips for growing this don’t do this when growing this particular veggie And we’ve got some really nice liveaction examples of those tips being executed out here right now So in this video we’re going to revisit six completely random garden tips that we’ve mentioned on previous videos but that now you can see kind of executed live out here right now So let’s jump right in with random tip number one When your onions are in the home stretch when they’re in that bulbing phase very important to water them well to maximize your onion size So we’ve documented fairly well that we’re not going to have the best onion year ever because after we planted these things back in November they just kind of sat there for a couple months and didn’t grow That means we didn’t get as many leaves on these plants as we would like We’re not going to have as many rings on our onions as we would like And so once our onion plants start bulbing like this one obviously has we can’t do anything to grow more leaves or rings on our onion It’s done growing leaves It’s just bulbing now But what we can do is maximize that onion size with the leaves that we got And we do that by watering well in the home stretch Watering well in that bulbing phase Considering the amount of leaves we were able to produce which wasn’t a whole lot I think we ended up doing all right So these are the DP sweet onions I’ve already pulled This was a earlier variety It matures faster than those that are still in the ground Not Goliath onions by any means but I’m pretty happy considering the amount of leaves we had to work with So even if you don’t think you did a very good job growing enough leaves water them well in that home stretch and you might be surprised with what you get Random tip number two when you’re growing ters or potatoes like our friends up north like to say you got to feed and water them well That is the trick to success when growing ters So our raised bed ters here are looking fantastic And you got to remember here these still have another month to go We planted these in the middle of February Here we are little past the middle of April So still another 30 days to go on these These plants are going to be huge come harvest time And then our ingground ters here are looking phenomenal as well Really nice consistent growth along the rows there Couldn’t be happier with how these are looking right now And the formula there is pretty dang simple This is not calculus folks You put down some balance fertilizer when you plant the spuds and then you feed them two more times preferably when you’re also healing Feed them two more times with a balanced fertilizer And then you want to make sure if you’re not getting any rain water those jokers every other day If you do that you should have a really bountiful tater harvest Not only should you have a bountiful harvest of ters you really shouldn’t have to spray them for anything I can’t tell you the last time I’ve sprayed any ters around here It’s been years ago when my soil wasn’t as fertile when I didn’t have a good fertilization plan and when I didn’t understand the importance of frequent watering with ters Now it’s fair to note we don’t really deal with the tater beetle down here but as far as diseases and any other insects that could attack tater plants we really don’t have any issues here We keep those plants nice and healthy We keep them happy and they grow so fast nothing’s really bothering And random tip number three a good way to counteract squash vine bores is by increasing your planting density And by that I don’t mean grow more squash I mean plant more squash So let’s take this golden glory zucchini here for example I planted a whole seed pack in this little half a row right here Obviously that’s way too thick for squash We don’t want them that close together but we plant that many so that we can eventually thin them out And if a squash vine board does get one or two of them we’ve still got plenty So we’ll continue to let these plants get a little bigger Once they get you know 2t tall or so we’ll start thinning them out But this way we ensure we have some here It’s a lot better than just having three plants and crossing your fingers So increasing your planting density is not going to make you impervious to squash vine board damage but it will increase your chances Play the numbers game and the probability of you having some plants to make it to the production stage will increase Random tip number four and I can’t even count how many times we’ve mentioned this on past videos but heal your tomatoes H I L L your tomatoes I don’t care how deep you planted them You could have planted them a foot or two in the ground but when they get a foot and a half tall get your garden hoe out and pull some soil around those plants right there Get some of that nice fertile soil on top Pull it up around those plants and they will explode with growth And if you don’t believe me if you think that’s hogwash look at these two tomato plants right here that haven’t been healed that were planted shortly after those over there Look at the stark contrast These right here they don’t look bad They’re just kind of hanging out a little bit Those over there have definitely popped So don’t try to come up with a bunch of reasons why you shouldn’t heal your tomato plants or why you don’t need to heal your tomato plants Just do it Trust me on this one In addition to making those plants pop it also helps you kind of kick the can down the road a little bit as far as needing to get your trellis up So I wasn’t quite ready to get my trellis up on mine I do have my tost in place now but healing them mounding that soil around those plants kept them nice and stable until I get ready to run some string on them next week Additionally don’t even worry about that soil touching those leaves as you’re mounding it around those tomato plants No need to prune those leaves that would be covered with soil Don’t worry about it Just heal them and you’ll be glad you did Random tip number five very very important in the off season whenever you take a break from gardening to work on your weed seed bank Try to reduce the number of weed seeds you have in your soil because it’s going to make gardening so much easier Now you can do that with a variety of methods You could do it with cover cropping You could do it with frequent shallow cultivation You could do it with tarping or a combination of any of those But you got to reduce the amount of viable weed seeds you have in your soil That’s going to make gardening a lot more enjoyable Prime example with this plot where we have our squash cucumbers peppers and tomatoes planted We had this plot tarped for a significant amount of time this past winter and even into the spring a little bit Then we put a nice heavy layer of this bed mix on top And believe it or not since I took the tarp off this plot I have not touched it with any kind of weeding tool I have not weeded it once Now we got some volunteer pea sprouts out there I probably do need to weed it pretty soon but you can see just how nice and clean it is without any interference by me This is what I mean by making gardening easier We’re not out out here every day fighting weeds we can just fight the weeds maybe once a week instead And as I told you on that video when we were discussing all these different techniques to reduce your weed seed bank before planting I told you the last thing you want to do what you don’t want to do is go out and teal your garden then plant directly after You are asking for a disaster So don’t delay your planting too long You still want to be timely with your planting but take the time to work on that weed seed bank Try to reduce the amount of viable weed seeds you have before you plant and you’ll be a lot happier You’ll enjoy your garden a lot more And lastly random tip number six Still talking about weeds a little bit here Drip irrigation is going to drastically reduce the amount of weeds you have to fight in your garden Prime example with this sweet corn we have planted here planted rather thick We got five double rows Got this on drip tape And you can see not a whole lot of weed activity going on out there I have cultivated this one time since I planted this corn But that is it So with that 15 mil drip tape and a 6-in emitter spacing I can run it for about an hour and a half at the time and keep this corn nice and happy that space between my double rows It can stay powder dry for all I care I just want where those corn rows want that soil to stay nice and moist so our corn can be happy So not only are we taking less time to water we’re using less water And I can promise you if I had been overhead watering this plot we would have pig weed all over the place right now So there you go six random completely unrelated garden tips but ones that we can show in action in our spring garden right now to show you that they work And as always you can find seeds for a lot of the varieties we grow around here on our website at lazyogfarm.com And if you’re thinking “Hey this drip stuff sounds pretty good but I don’t know how to install it.” Watch this video right here We’ll do a complete breakdown piece by piece how to install it in an ingground plot So check that out and we’ll see you next time right here at Lazy Dog
50 Comments
Dont hill potatoes but do hill tomatoes? What kind of mungo magic do you speak ? next thing you'll be sayin is bury a fish under tomatoes 😂 just messin with you !
TRAVIS, WHERE U BUYING COVER CROPS NOW? Thanks
boy I ordered mine and had them delivered in December. Short day for central Tx. Even though we had a few bad weeks of weather in February and March they pulled on through. Starting to bulb an rase up. enjoyed the video. I have figs and muscadines too.
Awesome information.
What are your top 3 figs purely from taste standpoint?
Surprised you don't have any issue at all with Colorado potato beetle. They are worse on eggplant than potatoes in north Florida. It's not a big deal, but they do show up from time to time.
Great video, thanks for the info! We got our first ripe tomato (an Early Girl) yesterday, 4/20, with lots more to come (TX Gulf coast, zone 9b). We have a Wisconsin 55 that's loaded with green tomatos, and was before the Early Girl even set fruit. Hoping it starts ripening soon.
Travis, I have a German Johnson tomato plant that I started from seed, as I do every year. It is approximately 2 feet tall and is already blooming. German J. tomatoes are large and heavy. I don't think this small plant can support a tomato at this stage. Should I pinch the bloom?
Northern here and I enjoy the channel. I also enjoyed the way that you enunciated po-ta-toes 😂
Can you use a bag of top soil to hill around tomato 🍅 plants??
So dry here in Leesburg Ga. Need Rain😮
I have a tomato plant that I shouldn't hill. Hilling would cover the graft union.
POE TOT OHS …. Yankee style 😅. I'm a transplant yank.
The squash vine borer hits my squash when they are mature and producing.
Has anyone tried just letting the tomato plants run along the ground? I was thinking of trying it. Wanted some input though.
Yeah. Overhead watering mostly a thing of the past. Delivering water & nutrients close to roots & Hilling (tomatoes!) keeps soil cooler too. As said, top soil likely to go sun-dry; root-line matters most. *Scalping of vining tomatoes within an inch of their life into a burnt leaf tree. Seems all wrong to me, esp these days. Never seen hilled tomatoes before, but gotta change methods to match our crazy weather. Thx muchly. — 💌🍒
What is your fertilization schedule for tomatoes?
How are your chickens, we aint seen them in a while!
I’m going to have the worst onion harvest in 3 years I have been trying. I think they were in a dryer bed and I did not keep up with watering or fertilization. Determined next year I will nail it. Potatoes and tomatoes looking good! I enjoy seeing your seasonal progression as it provides me a guide as to where I should be time-wise.
We had Colorado Potato Beetles…on our eggplants!
I am experiencing about the same things you are, big potato plants, onions didn’t grow well in the winter, my tomatoes are growing fast!
How come you never have hoss on the show?
This year I am on a quest to lower my soil temps dramatically to try and extend some things and reduce stress once late May/June hit. I am deep mulching with chips in beds and bags, something I've never done before. I can already see way less evaporation and of course the top layer of soil is not a scorched hell scape. Shade cloth will go up soon. I am covering my squash with Agribon 15. It's thin and lets almost all light through. I can uncover it and hit all the flowers with a paint brush.
Why don’t plant after tilling? Thx.
Morning from Texas, Great advice on hilling your tomato plants. I've done that with my pot plants for years and I must say they LOVE it. Peace and Happy farming.
If you are limited on where you can grow potatoes, and end up needing to do so in the same spots over and over again? Get in the habit of starting (at least a portion of ) your potatoes from seeds instead of spuds. This allows the plants to adapt and evolve to their environment, and build some defenses against the soil pathogens. Otherwise the soil pathogens and fungus will out-compete the potatoes if you just keep cloning them through spuds… and eventually they will get the upper hand and devastate your whole crop (who are all of too similar genetics).
Anyone worrying about poisonus potatoes, know that this is pretty rare… and those potatoes taste BITTER and nasty, so there's not risk of you accidentally eating a plate of toxic potatoes and not knowing!
I got skunked on onions too. Mine sat the same. Its comforting to know that yall had a similar harvest. Makes me know its nothing ive did.
Can you tell me what the secret is to spray copper fungicide on plants when necessary? Mine continues to clog my sprayers to the point that I have to just buy a new one. I’m certain there’s something that I’m not doing correctly and I’m hoping for some input there.
Ty good advice ❤❤❤❤
Great tips.
Beautiful onions
I do plant my tomatoes deep. What’s stopping you from not keep adding even more soil if it works so good? Keep hilling them. Or should we plant them shallow and then just hill them?
I tried planting them sideways, but that doesn’t work out with cages.
Great tips! At the end of the season we put our Fall leaves in the beds and cover with tarps for the winter. Soil turns into black gold in the Spring and no weeds!
What sort of string do you use for your Florida weave? I have my T posts in the ground and need to run my string ASAP.
Ants give me hell on potatoes,onions, and okra!! Oh my….SMH 😫
At this moment , my tomatoes are 3 1/2 ft tall and hilled about 18" …they looking great!
Epic Gardening did a video showing various planting techniques. The best success he had was planting the tomato shallow. The worst was planting it deep. Planting it sideways was in the middle. Can you show the impact of hilling versus non-hilling? I'm wondering if the benefits depends on the growing season and tomato type, determinate vs indeterminate.
4:48 one or two? When my squash get vine borers move in, there’s no plant left standing. The only thing I’d found that sorta works is planting Hubbard squash as sacrificial on the other side of the garden. The borers seam to prefer those to summer squash.
Totally agree on the numbers game with squash and the hilling of maters!!
I like to add about 1/8 cup of fresh worm castings around base of maters right before hilling
Really helps a lot
Thx Travis happy gardening
Thanks for the tips. Now what about beets? I get lots of beet TOP, but no beets, what’s your advice on beet.
I'm glad to have finally found someone who posts good regular content in my area. Hello from Hahira! I look forward to learning from and with you as we battle the elements in South Georgia.
What type of cover do you recommend to suppress the weeds before you plant a crop. I'm looking for a tarp type cover
Oh trust me I know you’re right! Hilling tomatoes will make them explode with growth!
NPK OF EVERYTHING ORGANIC
All the benefits you get by hilling your tomatoes I can get more easily, plus more benefits by using red plastic mulch. I use red for tomatoes and peppers as it has been proven to increase yeilds by 20-30%, and I use green plastic mulch for melons and cucumbers for 30-40% more yeilds. Keeps the weeds down, retains moisture, stronger more healthy roots, better pollination, and warms the soil for earlier ctops. Clemson University approved!
❤❤❤
If you have grafted tomatoes , can you bill them?
Great tip on the squash. Them borders always get me so I'll plant more to see if I can finally get squash!!
Do you have any problems with late blight? I have to mulch heavy to keep the rain from splashing dirt up onto the plants causing blight. I try to keep the dirt as far away from my tomatoes as possible. Maybe hill them then cover with mulch?
Love the tips 🙂 Great video!