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New Year Resolutions of 2019
Since it is officially a new year that means it is time to go over the 2019 resolutions and see what was achieved and what did not do well throughout this past year. One of Greg's 2019 resolutions was to do a better job maintaining soil health and use more cover crops in the garden. He mentions that he did a lot better with growing more cover crops and reduced his tillage drastically over this past year. However, Greg did not do well in adding in compost or chicken manure during pre-plant on a couple of occasions and he saw first hand how it impacted his vegetable garden compared to other gardens around his homestead. One of Travis's resolutions for 2019 was to create his dream vegetable garden which he did achieve on his homestead. Greg's second resolution for 2019 was to do better at succession planting which means being ready to plant the next crop once one crop is done maturing in the garden. He mentions that he has done extremely well with succession planting this past year and reminds gardeners of the importance of doing this succession planning throughout the growing seasons. When it comes to Travis growing more cover crops this past year, the cover crop that did extremely well for him during the warm season was the
Sorghum Sudangrass and mowing it every couple of weeks. Another resolution that Travis had was to plant more multi-harvest crops and plant more winter squash in the spring. He mentions that he did plant more winter squash during the early stages of growth in his dream garden but they were not as productive as he hoped in the area. He also states that he did well with growing more multi-harvest crops, just wants to fine-tune it a little bit and stick to growing what crops work best for his soil type and weather conditions.
New Year Resolutions for 2020
After going over their 2019 resolutions it is time for the guys to discuss their New Year Resolutions for 2020. The first resolution that Travis mentions is to eat more from the garden. Greg agrees with Travis and he wants to make a conscious effort to just eat vegetables a couple of nights a week instead of having meat at every meal. Travis's second resolution is to grow more beans especially the newer varieties in the vegetable garden. Greg's second new year resolution is to allow some garden area to rest and instead of growing vegetables, he is going to plant cover crops to add more benefits back into the soil.
Show and Tell Segment
On the show and tell segment, Travis has a purple Cauliflower known as
Graffiti which he demonstrates how he likes to cook it. He has also grown the biggest
Snow Bowl Cauliflower ever in the garden weighing in at five and a half pounds. Greg has a dual purpose cover crop of mustard greens and daikon radish that has done extremely well in the vegetable garden. It's also that time of the year for all the winter crops to be mature and ready for harvest. Travis has harvested a huge
Cheers Cabbage that weighed around seven and a half pounds from the garden. The guys discuss a couple of new seed varieties that they have started growing in the greenhouse as well.
Viewer Questions Segment
On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about mustard gases in the soil, planting pumpkins, and recommend plants to start now in zone 8b. Travis mentions that the gases in mustard are converted to what is known as isothiocyanates which is a natural fungicide and natural nematicide which helps kill harmful funguses and nematodes when incorporated into the soil quickly. In the South, Greg mentions that the best time to plant pumpkins is within a week to two weeks after Easter and growing it off in the springtime. For zone 8b, Travis recommends planting cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, beets, and lettuce.
Product of the Week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPrITkp7eFc
