Doug McEvers

I think the straw mulch is a great plan regardless of the application time. You are conserving moisture and giving the soil life something to feed on. I will be mulching my garden with grass hay that I have recently cut. If you look under the mulch you may find earthworms coming to the surface for lunch. Mulchless in the spring is good in our cool climate as we want the garden soil to warm as quickly as possible. I have my neighbors' cattle on our grassland this summer and the 2 years of mulch (duff) accumulation is really paying off in moisture conservation. We are at about 60% of normal precipitation for 2026 and our warm season (prairie) grasses are green and lush.

Mine was more a stroke of luck. We have a garden tractor with a tiller attachment that would not start a few years ago. This led me to a minimum tillage, soil building method of gardening and the results have been fantastic. I now do cover crops between plants and rows and build soil. Churning soil into a fine powder with a tiller is the worst thing possible, the garden tractor sits quietly today.

Nancy,

This what I feed tomatoes. Pelletized chicken manure, 4-3-2 NPK plus about 8.5% calcium and there may be some trace elements that are fed to the chickens as a supplement. I also put on gypsum (calcium sulfate). We have a good magnesium level in our soil so that fertility element is something I do not think about. Our soil gets very hard with frequent waterings so when I plant the transplants I dig a fairly generous hole and mix the dirt with about 1/2 organic potting soil. This allows the roots to expand more freely and the fertilizer (every 2 weeks) will get to the roots quickly with each watering. We have high calcium levels in our soil but the additional available calcium I feel is essential.  In good years there may be 50 to 75 nice WI 55 tomatoes per plant. May put on a bit of Soil Biological a couple times per summer just to make me feel good and maybe the tomatoes too.

As the summer progresses the bottom leaves do dry up on the WI 55 tomatoes. They are also very good at sending out new branches (low runners) very near the ground. They will form all kinds of new tomatoes if left alone. I cut off the low runners except for maybe a cluster or 2 near the main plant. As time goes on I will clip off new blossoms and the ends of the new growth to concentrate all efforts towards the ripening tomatoes. The tomato is quite a plant, from a tiny papery seed comes all of the production, the miracle of photosynthesis.

I would suggest a plant tissue analysis, very affordable and will show you what is normal, deficient or excessive. Would not be without this test, is part of my fertility decision making.


https://midwestlabs.com/agronomy

Plant Tissue Analysis Nitrogen, Sulfur, Phosphorus, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Sodium, Iron, Manganese, Copper, Boron, Zinc Call for sample size * Results, 3 Days $24.20

Showing an adequate level of calcium in the soil does not mean extra (available) calcium should be overlooked. Many soil nutrients are complexed for various reasons and I believe calcium is high on the list. The eggshells sound like a good soil amendment as the calcium was available to the chicken to make the shell. I think they feed calcitic lime right from the mine to the chickens. I like gypsum on my garden as an available calcium and sulfur source. Two key nutrients and gypsum does seem to help loosen and dry waterlogged soil.

This link explains the lime amendments.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/should_i_use_dolomitic_or_calcitic_lime

If it has not been mentioned, we had leaded gasoline in the past. Property next to busy roads may show a higher level of lead. Sulfur is now a needed amendment for some areas as diesel and coal have been scrubbed of this element.

Someone said recently, maybe here, that spring (last frost) seems to come later and the first frost in fall comes later. The records (Fargo) show the first frost in fall is quite a bit later than 20 or 30 years ago. We had 32 degrees on May 20 of this year, colder in some areas. 6 days later we broke a record at 96. For gardening I think you would want to work around the typical frost dates for both spring and fall. I have been planting tomatoes (WI 55, 75 day) later and have had good results. Will put in my transplants this weekend, my latest tomato transplant date. Last year I had to rely on volunteer tomatoes as my transplants were a bust. They were likely just coming up in the middle of June. We had an early frost last fall, September 7, I believe. It did not kill the tomatoes (they produced) but there was frost on the leaves, it did kill the cucumbers a bit farther away from the trees. It was cold as the dew point was very high and the grass was covered in ice. This is where you need to think about Brix and the higher nutrient levels in plants as being kind of an antifreeze.

We may have a shorter growing season in the northern US but we also have some very long daylengths in summer. Garden with this in mind. You can do a lot in a short time with nearly 16 hours of daylight.


THE FARGO HECTOR INTL AP ND CLIMATE NORMALS FOR TODAY
                        NORMAL    RECORD    YEAR                    
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE (F)   78       101      1893                      
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE (F)   55        38      1927                      


SUNRISE AND SUNSET                                                    
JUNE 12 2026..........SUNRISE   532 AM CDT   SUNSET   922 PM CDT    
JUNE 13 2026..........SUNRISE   532 AM CDT   SUNSET   923 PM CDT

https://blackearth.com/

I use humic/fulvic acid on my garden and farm crops. I have used the liquid in row and use granular for the garden and also on my MN 13 heirloom corn plots. Most of the noted soil experts speak very highly of humates and what they do.

Thekla,

You are correct that conventional wheat is most often sprayed before harvest.

AI Overview              

Wheat desiccation is a pre-harvest practice used to kill the crop and any green weeds, promoting uniform drying and earlier combining. While true desiccants (like glufosinate) are fast-acting, systemic herbicides (like glyphosate) are commonly applied in northern climates to dry down the field and manage perennial weeds.

I do not think wheat has been genetically modified, the reason is explained here.

https://www.mofga.org/stories/farming/martens-farm/

Used to be a lot of purslane in our garden. With soil improvement it has all but disappeared. Not saying it is a poverty weed but it does not seem to flourish in better soil. I believe it favors soil that has little structure, over tilled.