Steve Clausen

Susan Boyce wrote:Why do you like living or being in the woods?

I find it peaceful like coming home again.

It is literally coming home. Our ancestors evolved with the woods and savannas, and all the nature and soil within; it's part of our DNA. Spending time in nature increases one's health: it's been proven to increase serotonin, oxytocin, and dopamine levels- the feel good, and mood stabilizing hormones. Most of what ails people in modern times is a disconnect from nature.

The Japanese have take to "Forest-bathing" to reconnect their people that live in cities with the natural world in which we came from. There is some evidence that forest bathing can increase our natural killer cell activity, and potentially provide an anti-cancer benefit, thanks to inhaling cedar mists.

 

I am in zone 5b, a little warmer than you at 5a, so this may not work for you. I mostly use winter rye, winter peas, and hairy vetch in beds that are targeted for warm season crops, like tomatoes, peppers, or squash. I plant the winter cover crop in October, the earlier the better in Oct. It doesn't do too much until late March and April, then it takes off like gang busters. I aim to terminate it by mid May. Some years, by mid-May the rye is not in the milk stage yet (that's the growth stage where crimping or cutting it will not regrow.) In those times I cut it, and then cut up the roots. I aim to plant my tomatoes/peppers by 3rd week in May. I use the cover crop I cut for mulch.

I also have some dedicated beds just for cover crops. I plant winter rye in those and then harvest the rye for mulch the following May. I then turn right around and plant a multi-species cover crop, with legumes added to the mix, to regenerate the soil before the rye get's planted again in the fall.

"*What's your secret to amazing tomatoes?"

I think I grow amazing tomatoes; I get a good harvest for fresh eating and can a ton of sauce for the winter, so I'm happy with my results.

I grow only from seed. I start them indoors around April 15th, and plant them out around the 3rd week of May.

I prune some to a single leader and some to a double leader, depending on space. I prune lower leaves up to near the first fruit set. I do this to keep soil splash off the lower leaves-this helps keep fungal diseases, like Septoria, at bay. I also mulch the ground around my tomatoes with winter rye straw I grow; this helps with the soil splash, and keeps the soil moist and cool during the hot summers. Also breaks down and return nutrients to soil.
I am constantly pruning suckers.

I water when Mother Nature doesn't supply. I also fertigate with diluted urine water and compost drippings, which I hope, is rich with humic acid, amongst other nutrients. I usually only fertilize with compost that I make myself. I might add a little bone meal in the hole I dig for the seedling for calcium if I have it on hand.

I trellis my tomatoes with the 7 foot t-posts and conduit system. The t-post are driven in the ground one foot, so a six foot high trellis. When the tomatoes reach the top I run a twine line horizontally across the top to a six foot fence the tomato plot is near and continue growing them horizontally, maybe another six feet. If they reach the fence I continue training them down the fence. By this time it's usually late September/early October and they are heading into senescence anyways.

My plots are 3-4 wide and the tomatoes are planted in a row 2 feet apart on one side of the plot so I can trellis them. This leaves room for planting other things in the rest of the plot. Right now I have various lettuces planted there, with the occasional basil or parsley plant. When the lettuces go to seed due to the heat of summer, I'll plant something else for a fall harvest.

I don't spray aspirin. I will spray Epsom salts if magnesium deficiency is indicated, but that seems to be rare for me. I am doing something different this year in an attempt to keep Septoria fungus at bay. I am doing proactive (prophylactically ) spraying of EM1 and SCD probiotics on the leaves and stems once a week. Sometimes I mix some diluted homemade yogurt in the mix. The idea is to "over populate" the phyllosphere ( the biome of the above ground -leaf and stem- portion of the plant ) with "good" microbes. When pathogenic microbes land on the leaves/stems they'll use a process called Quorum Sensing to see if others of their kind are near by so they can launch an attack. They'll also use quorum sensing to see what other microbes and their numbers have already populated the plant's phyllosphere. The good microbes can also potentially stop or degrade this signaling of the pathogens using a technique called quorum quenching. Anyway, I'm just getting into all this stuff and I'm not an expert by any means. I am trying it for the first time this season, and hopefully it will help.

Here's a picture of my trellis system I just this week set up.

I never met anyone who didn't like fresh ripe tomatoes from the garden. No judgement, just interesting how we all have different tastes--literally in this case.

Jen, try this roasted tomato sauce recipe it's easy and good.   https://anoregoncottage.com/roasted-tomato-sauce/

If you want a water bath canning recipe of this same sauce check out this link. It's a slightly changed variation that's safe for canning, and the water bath method is super easy.  https://anoregoncottage.com/water-bath-safe-canned-roasted-tomato-sauce/

I use a variety of cover crops, including just letting the weeds feed the soil for a while. But the one I use the most, so it must be my favorite, is Winter Rye.  I grow winter rye for hay/straw mulch for garden annuals that can be mulched; tomatoes, peppers, squash, etc... For garden beds that I know I'm going to rotate those plants into next season, I'll plant winter rye, and sometimes with harry vetch or winter peas, the fall before. About mid May, the rye is in the milk stage and I can crimp it to kill it if it's just rye. If I have vetch or winter peas with it I'll have to cut it. I wait a week or so and will then  plant the tomatoes/peppers/squash right into the crimped or cut rye. Thus, I get a soil conditioner ( living roots in the ground all winter ) and a nitrogen fixer, plus a mulch all in one. The rye mulch keeps the soil soft and moist all summer, and it slowly breaks down and returns nutrients to the soil.

I also plant winter rye as a green manure and for dried straw for making compost. Again, it's cut at the milk stage so the seeds are not viable, so I can use the whole plant seeds and all. I just let it dry and when I need carbon for my compost I have it.

I have garden beds set aside for just cover crops. After the rye I'll but in a quick round of buckwheat, and then oats and peas for summer to rejuvenate what I have taken out with harvesting the rye.      

I don't have a scientific paper reference at hand for you, but I've read and listened to a lot of podcasts and such on the subject from soil scientists and plant experts. Apparently plants are lazy, like humans, and perfectly happy to grow on junk food ( synthetic NPK ). This leaves out the microbs feeding them and in the process secondary metabolites, minerals, flavonoids, etc... are lacking, and apparently water is takes up the space where these nutrients would be in the plant.

I don't know if this is what you're looking for?

Here's Dr. Christine Jones talk on the negatives of using artificial N. Around the 7:00 minute marks she addresses plants lacking nutrients.





Also google Dr. James White and the Rizophagy cycle on how plants harness microbs to get all the nutrients they need without artificial inputs.

John Kempf and Dan Kittredge are other good ones to look up.

It's been all out war with pests this year for me also. I've had a fenced in kitchen garden for about ten years now; it's about 40x40 feet. It started with a six foot deer fence, and then I soon needed to add a hardwire cloth fence to keep the bunnies out. That, along with the occasional need to deal with a woodchuck that setup residency on my property--and before he dug his way into my fenced in garden, has served me well until recently.

This growing season I had voles galore setup up shop in my garden, whiteflies attacked my kale ( along with the usual cabbage moth caterpillars and the ilk ), the squash vine borers stooped to new levels of wickedness, chipmunks raiding my tomatoes, cutworms ravishing my seedlings, and I had to deal with five woodchucks. Oh, and something attacked my peach tree with about 30 peaches one night just before they were ripe enough for me to pick them. I'm suspecting racoons; they not only stole all the peaches, they wrecked the tree by breaking the main leader branch.    

I plant a lot of flowers along with my veggies to attract beneficial insects, but the whiteflies were so prolific that they didn't even put a dent in them. Never had a whitefly problem before, and supposedly they don't overwinter, so I'm hopeful that I don't see them next year.  

Back to the vole problem. I have really been giving the voles more and more rope to hang me with over the past few years. Voles don't like to run over open expanses of ground, because their predators are mostly from above; owls, raptors, fox, coyotes, etc... When I first put my garden fence up I mowed the grass close near the fence. The weeds between the deer fence and the shorter ( 3 ft ) rabbit fence were always a problem. So I planted comfrey along the fence on the north side, and that has taken off like a house-a-fire. But this comfrey weed blocker also makes a nice cover for the voles to nest, and make their shallow tunnels under my fence and into my garden. On the south and east side I added a black plastic ground cloth  under and along the fence one foot in and out, and covered it with woodchips. This kept the weeds from growing between the two fences, but made a nice spot for the voles to run under the plastic, as cover from predators. Last year almost all of my wintering over parsnips, and half of my winter larder rutabagas were eaten by said voles. This growing season half of my winter squash was eaten by voles before the squash was ready to pick. So I just finished a huge project of removing the rabbit fence, and then digging an 18 inch trench, by hand, all around my garden right next to the deer fence and then burying a portion the rabbit fence to keep the voles at bay.    

So yes, gardening is not for the faint of heart. Esp. a small kitchen garden where growing more to feed the critters is not necessarily an option. But, keep up the good fight, Jen; it's worth it.