If you plan on having a year-round garden like we do here at HOSS, drip irrigation is the obvious solution in your vegetable garden. But what happens to your drip tape after you've harvested your crops? Spending the money and time replacing your drip tape is not only costly but wastes hours that could be spent in the garden...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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As many gardeners know, crop rotation is important for having healthy soil in your vegetable garden. For example, if one season you plant tomatoes, you don’t want to follow it up the next season with tomatoes because the soil will be missing the specific nutrients those tomatoes need because the previous crop has already...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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There is a common misconception that you need to have acres of land to be able to be successful growing your own food for you and your family. But what happens if you live in an apartment, only have a back porch, or just a small window ledge? Or what if your dedicated garden is already full of rows and rows of vegetables and...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The first and arguably most important reason to plant flowers in your vegetable garden is to attract pollinators. A pollinator is an insect or animal that carries pollen from male plants to female plants to aid in fertilization. These critters are attracted to the flowers in your garden and will subsequently help to pollinate your...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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So you want to grow strawberries in your garden. That's great news but we know that deciding the best way to start can be overwhelming. Fear not, HOSS Study Hall is here to help. The two methods we explored were starting with a strawberry plant plug and bare root plant. Lucky for you, we've done our research...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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When growing watermelons there are many things to consider, so where do you start? There are many watermelon tips out there, so we need to start from the beginning, the seed. With almost all plants, there are two choices, Hybrid or Heirloom. An heirloom seed is one that has not been altered but past down...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The best time to plant sweet corn is during the spring after the last frost date has happened. When it comes to planting sweet corn or any kind of corn variety it should be planted in blocks or squares for better pollination. Planting in blocks instead of long rows ensures that once the crop starts tasselling the wind...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The weed seed bank is the amount of weed seeds you have stored in your garden soils. However, we want to eliminate the weed seeds in the soil because they can cause some serious issues in the garden. The contributions that we can't control when it comes to weed seeds are wind, water, and animals...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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According to Travis, planting onions are one of the most valuable crops in the vegetable garden. They generally don't take up a lot of room and the storage life is great for multiple months. Another benefit of growing sweet onions is they provide plenty of beneficial vitamins and minerals. When using sweet...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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There are several health benefits when it comes to eating beets. The first benefit to growing beets is they can detoxify your blood and liver. Also, lower your blood pressure and provide lots of antioxidants to fight free radicals. While providing Vitamin C and fiber which is going to help with your digestive system...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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Some of the important reasons we like to hill corn is for weed control, to prop the corn up, and to create more brace roots at the bottom of the plant. Greg doesn't like to use any herbicides on his corn, therefore small weeds will begin to pop up around the corn plants which is not good. To gain weed control...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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When it comes to trellising tomato plants there are many advantages that improve the overall health of these plants. The easiest Florida weave trellis technique is used for determinate tomatoes, while tomato cages are typically used for indeterminate tomatoes in the vegetable garden. We use the...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Travis is planting ambrosia sweet corn in the vegetable garden. Previously planted was crimson clover and Travis decided to let his chickens graze on the spot in order to clean out the area. When planting sweet corn or field corn you always want to plant it in a square plot for better...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to hill potatoes in the garden. Here in the south, we have experienced a good bit of warm weather which has caused our potatoes to grow quickly and they are around six inches tall. Since the potatoes are around six inches tall it is time to hill the potatoes...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Greg decided to plant some beet, bok choy, and broccoli transplants using the new Hoss Dibble Wheel. Back in the day, Greg just cut a stick to his desired spacing and used it to determine the spacing between each plant in the garden. However, with the new dibble wheel, it lays off the...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The three main objectives of sustainable farming is to create a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social/economic equity. This way of farming is to seek techniques that will promote farming practices that will help improve the soil environment and are economically good for the community...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The biggest problem with accumulating too much rain in the garden is disease pressure. Some of the diseases that could overtake the garden include powdery mildew, fire blight, and anthracnose. However, if you monitor the garden and have a prevention plan set in place to eliminate these disease issues you...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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The easiest way to maximize garden production with effective irrigation and steady water-soluble fertilizers is through the use of drip tape. Most people believe that drip tape can be used either on top or buried in the soil. However, drip tape was really made to go underneath the soil in the garden...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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There are several benefits of removing weeds from the vegetable garden such as improved plant growth and garden soil. Weeds can cause restricts on plant growth due to them competing for nutrients, soil, water, and space that the plants you are trying to get growth development. One more issue with weeds...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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A chicken tractor is basically a mobile chicken coop that does not have a floor. Usually containing wheels, it is small enough to move around from one spot to another and rotate around certain areas. There are several different designs of chicken tractors available online, but Travis built one for himself that is...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Travis is demonstrating how to prepare for fall garden planting. He recently has added on a new plot for gardening and it is a 20 foot wide by around 35 feet long area. Originally this plot was just grass and in order to prepare it for planting, Travis tilled the area during the summer and since...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Greg is discussing how to build up the soil by using cover crops. The many benefits of growing cover crops are the increase of organic matter, nematode suppression, and weed control. When building up your garden soils you have to supply the best cover crop that fulfills the...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Travis is growing the easiest crops in the vegetable garden. Being apart of the Mallow family, okra is related to cotton or hibiscus and they all share similar flowers as well. It is pretty much a maintenance-free crop meaning it hardly needs any water or fertilizer to grow in the garden...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Travis describes the top vegetables to grow during the warmer summertime growing season. During the summertime, the weather conditions are not ideal to grow many vegetable varieties in the garden. Along with the harsh weather conditions, pest and disease pressures are unbearable...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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It is important to maintain weeds in the vegetable garden because they can ultimately overrun the entire garden area if they are not controlled. The major issue with weeds in the garden is they compete for nutrients, water, soil, and space against plants that strongly need it for growth. If the plants do...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Greg is discussing all the essentials needed to grow the best sweet corn in the garden. The three most important factors when growing the best sweet corn are pollination, irrigation, and fertilization. When it comes to planting corn it should be planted in blocks or squares because corn is pollinated...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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When planting tomatoes they do best transplanted instead of direct-seeded in the vegetable garden. Transplants should be planted in the garden, 4 to 6 weeks before the intended outdoor planting date. If weather conditions are just right the tomato transplants can be planted directly into the garden...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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When growing your own food in the garden the overall goal is to produce the healthiest vegetables. In order to achieve this goal using organic disease controls and pest controls help eliminate applying harmful products on our vegetable garden area. To produce the healthiest vegetables, we need a garden that...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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This warm-weather crop can be planted as late as July or August, but Travis is planting them in May this year because he wants to harvest them a little earlier in the garden. The sweet potatoes typically take around 100 days to harvest. There are several health benefits to growing sweet potatoes such as they provide...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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There are a couple of different health benefits to growing asparagus in the vegetable garden. Like other vegetables, asparagus provides nutrients such as protein, fiber, potassium, phosphorus, folate, and a few other vitamins. As well as, a good source of antioxidants which helps protect cells from oxidative...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Greg is planting bloody butcher in the vegetable garden. Greg typically plants his corn with 36-inch spacing. However, in today's video, he narrowed it down to around 30 inches to get the most out of this rather expensive variety of corn. When planting corn varieties in the garden, you need drip...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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When using organic pest control the most important step in eliminating the pest problems is to be proactive in the garden. Greg recommends having a spray program early on to ensure that you reduce the pest issues before they over populate the vegetable garden. The benefits of using organic pest controls...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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On this week's episode, Greg explains the benefits of adding lime in the garden. The two different forms of lime are regular agricultural lime and pelletized lime. The major difference between the two forms is that the regular lime is a powder and the pelletized lime can be used in a spreader. The agricultural lime...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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Cauliflower is one of Travis's favorite fall crops to grow due to three major benefits. The first benefit is the ability to succession plant it throughout the growing season. This means when growing cauliflower you can plant it at several different times throughout the fall and get multiple harvestings. The second...
Posted on August 22, 2023
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If you are not a big fan of planting in the garden year-round, we recommend keeping the garden area clean and healthy instead of letting it grow up with grass and weeds every year. If you allow the area to grow up with grass and weeds every year you will have a continuous battle of fighting them off once you
Posted on August 22, 2023
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