Finished Processing the Organic Compost!

I finished hand turning the rest of the back yard tomato growing area!

It took two or three days to hand turn the approximately 10 x 13 area. Because I left this dirt in place I only went down a few inches -- say 4 to 6 inches -- versus the other digging where I made a large dirt pile to the side -- going down 6 to 12 inches or more. There were sprinkler pipes criss-crossing the remaing area so I didn't feel comfortable using the Mantis. I applied a liberal amount of compost over this area on Wednesday night and turned the dirt a second time on Thursday.

Overall I pulled out about two gallons of rock and asphalt and about one gallon of roots...not much at all in the grand scheme of things. As noted previously, I didn't dig as deep as other areas. However, I did find three full bricks about one inch under the ground laid end to end. What's surprising about this is that I didn't find these bricks earlier through the years while planting seedlings.

This still left a significant amount of compost. I put a small cart full of compost into one of the raised beds and another cartful onto the "South Garden". I put out another dozen or so cartfuls of compost all over the back yard growing area. After some point I was able to move the compost pile off of the south side over toward the center of the growing area by pulling the bottom tarp. We have been covering the compost with tarp, but this last time the pile got small enough that we laid down one of the tarps on the ground, placed the compost on top, covered the compost with the rest of the tarps and anchored it with bricks and cinder blocks.

I evened out the compost piles using the bow rake, then watered it down. For all practical purposes, I am done with this project!!

There still are other offshoots planned. My wife wants me to turn the "South Garden" so sooner or later I'll get around to that. I need to move a hay bale and the wood pile sitting on top of it (This pile got moved around just like the compost pile) back to east of the lemon tree.

The other item I have relevant to tomato growing is to process our own passive compost pile. We have a huge pile of decaying organic matter in a roughly seven foot in diameter chicken wire fence. My goal is to pull all of it out and make three piles. The piles are (1) Matter that still needs to decompose (2) Matter that shouldn't be in there (think pine needles from our ponderosa pine) and at the bottom (3) Good self-made compost!

While I'd like this good compost to be on the tomato growing area, I really don't care. I'm more interested in getting it distributed anywhere on our property. Only our ponderosa pine is benefiting from this compost and it doesn't need the help. 

The South Side Area is Done

The south side area of the back yard tomato growing area is now complete.

I had taken out some of the encroaching grass previously (I think it was a week ago Friday) and expected it to be relatively easy to pull out the rest. Wrong. The remaining grass was thicker. It took me parts of three days to get all the grass.

Yesterday (Sunday) I dug out the south area using the shovel. Originally I had the thought of just turning the dirt but I decided there were too many underground roots to simply turn the area. So I dug it out and made a long dirt pile in the "Middle East".

The area was roughly 4 feet by 13 feet. That's a rather large area and took me five or six hours. I pulled out approximately 8 gallons of asphalt, roots and some rock. Our disposable trash can is pretty heavy from these materials. Fortunately, most of this dreck was larger chunks of asphalt -- easier to accumulate and handle. The dreck in the "Middle East" and the "Far East" was mostly smaller rocks.

In spite of the above, this area was much easier to dig than the "Middle East" or the "Far East". My wife speculated that this was because the sprinklers hit this area and not the other two. I believe she's exactly correct.

I was expecting to finally hit a sprinkler pipe while hand digging and I did. It was very near the western border of the roughly 13 foot area, maybe two inches inside the rectangle. I put a board down to mark the location.

I put the dirt pile back on the south area late Sunday afternoon. It was too windy to apply compost.

Today my wife put on amendments. I added compost and used the Mantis over a vast majority of the area. Then I moved the remaining compost onto this south area.

Based on my slowness in taking out the grass in this south area, the 9 x 9 area (which is really more like 6 x 6 with an additional area to the north, making it roughly a 6 x 8 foot area) will take much too long to process for tomato growing. I just don't have this type of time.

The remaining area (around 100 square feet or so? I didn't look closely) may just need hand turning with a shovel. If so I can have it ready in a day or two. But I'll make that judgement when I start digging. After all, I had the same idea with the south area but decided to override that based on roots underneath the ground, as mentioned previously.

In my mind, this remaining area should be the easiest to dig outside of the area underneath and to the east of the lemon tree. That's my perception...but reality could be different. Let's hope for the best.

There will be compost left after this area is complete. 

Finished Preparing the "Middle East"

I made more progress on the back yard, just not the expected progress.

Monday I went out to pull some grass from the 9 x 9 area turned last year. But it was mud. The sprinklers went off that morning and rewatered the whole area. The sprinklers went off on Thursday as well. It rained Thursday and we didn't turn off the sprinklers in time. On Saturday I finally shut off the sprinkler head within this 9 x 9 patch of dirt. Now this area might dry out but it still looks like soup...

So instead of pulling out this grass, I started on a rectangular area just west of the "Far East", an area we've dubbed the "Middle East". I finished turning a roughly 3 x 6 foot area on Wednesday, my wife added soil amendments, I added compost and used the Mantis to turn it in.

Tuesday I did some shovel work for my wife, turning a raised bed and adding holes to "Alongi Row" for some ficus nitidas.

As mentioned, it rained on Thursday. It was too wet to dig on Friday so I pulled out some grass that had started to encroach on our tomato growing area. This is different than the 9 x 9 patch of grass that we hope to clear out for an additional growing area. The patch of grass I removed on Friday is easier to handle. I pulled out about half of the encroaching grass.

On Sunday we completely processed a 3 x 8 area to the south of the area completed on Wednesday. This patch of dirt was relatively easy to turn.

I pulled out four or five gallons of rocks and asphalt over the week in the "Middle East".

I'm happy that the "Middle East" and the "Far East" are completed. I think these are the two hardest growing areas. I had become somewhat disenchanted with my slow progress so far but the relatively fast Sunday work renewed my spirits.

The next patch of dirt to turn will be the southern area of the back yard growing area not previously turned. This was an excellent suggestion from my wife. I was going to move the compost pile somewhere else, but my wife suggested I can do this area without moving much of the compost pile. She's right.

But first I need to complete pulling out the encroached grass in the southwest area of our back yard tomato growing area. 

Finished Turning The "Far East"

Wednesday we put the finishing touches on the soil in the "Far East" in the back yard. It took about a week to prepare about a 5 foot by 15 foot section of the back yard.

That's slow progress, too slow if it remained that consistent. But the "Far East" was the worst area for rocks and asphalt. I do not expect such slow progress in the future.

I didn't find as much asphalt as I had expected. That's great news. It shows that all the hard work digging out the asphalt and stuff was providing dividends. I did empty out the one gallon bin used for plants six or seven times. Also I dug out one complete red brick, two half bricks and the broken pieces of the two half bricks. I also found two large round decorative stones with these bricks.

Here's a picture of my wife using the Mantis on the "Far East"...

The blue tarp covers the remaining compost.

On Thursday I turned an area of about 9 feet by 9 feet filled with grass. I had turned this area last year and the grass was plucked out of it. After that, nothing happened except the grass came back. So we're starting over with this new plantable area once my wife picks out the grass.

I moved some materials (wood, a hay bale and such) that were east of the lemon tree to the recently turned "Far East". This will be the next area I turn. This area does have a few rocks but not nearly as much as the "Far East" had. While we didn't plant in this area last year I still don't think turning it will be too bad.

I added a small wheelbarrow full of compost to the "South Garden". I didn't turn it, I just laid it on top.

Nothing was done with the back yard today. 

I Couldn't Remove The Rock. Planted Kentucky Beefsteak

This morning I only spent a few minutes on the rock left by last night's digging. No luck.

My wife was too busy to plant or prepare any tomatoes. So when I got home from work I continued working trying to get the rock out.

As you'll see I was unsuccessful.

You can see the shovel next to the rock or concrete structure that I simply could not remove. To the right is a one gallon container filled with rocks and asphalt. Laid out in front of the one gallon container are several asphalt pieces that couldn't fit into the container. On one hand it's good to get the rocks and asphalt out of the ground. But it's a pyrrhic victory. The area where this dreck was removed isn't much of a plantable area.

Here's a closeup of the rock:

We planted Kentucky Beefsteak just west of the rock and called it a night. 

Six Cages Made; Yellow Furry Boar Has A Growing Tomato!

Tonight we made six more cages from concrete reinforcement wire and spread them throughout the back yard. By our count, we have four more cages to go.

My wife watered the front yard tomatoes today. She finished spreading out the hay over the back yard tomatoes. There's still a bit more to do, but we're out of hay. She'll get another bundle over the next couple of days.

Clint Eastwood's Rowdy Red looks good. However, Vorlon(2) is struggling and Red Boar(2) has a weak main stem.

Yellow Furry Boar has a growing tomato on it!

And we may be getting a 93rd tomato seedling in the near future.

Here's an image of the largest piece of asphalt I've pulled out of the back yard. I've placed a penny on this piece of asphalt.

 

Made Six More Holes In The Back Yard

My wife pulled out the sweet peas and marked off a few holes to dig.

It turns out that I was ahead by four holes, not three.

After sleeping in and going to the farmer's market, we had breakfast and I went out to dig. The fourth hole was "lost" for a couple of hours (and from the night before) but I was able to find it.

Summary: I dug two holes, took a break, dug two holes, took another break and dug two more holes. I would have dug a third but we ran out of tomato fertilizer. During this time my wife went to a friend's house to plant her garden. 17 plants in all. In heavy clay soil. When she got home she was in no shape to plant tomatoes.

I'm exhausted. It's hard to imagine why based on the text I write.

Maybe a better term for it is "scraping". Most of the time I hit asphalt, though sometime I'll hit an area that was partially cleared before. It usually takes around 45 minutes to get about 2 feet down, maybe a bit further. There's a lot of wedging, getting down on my knees and scooping out dirt, then separating the rocks and asphalt. If it's a "clean" hole, I can dig down straight in about 20 minutes. If it's a "dirty" one, the interior of the hole will flare out as I dig and chip and wedge out the asphalt (or shatter it). I'll flatten the top of the dirt pile and feel out the rocks and asphalt that I missed while pulling it out of the hole.

There's a fair amount of stress on the lower back and right shoulder. Fortunately, I purchased a shovel that is really, really strong and can take a lot of abuse.

After about 45 minutes or so I can work the hole about two feet down. After a couple of holes, I start to overheat and my back needs a break.

But...this will help the seedlings as there's no way the roots can penetrate the asphalt. Beyond that, it's my belief it will help the soil in the long run. But it's hard work!

And that's why I'm exhausted. 

Planted Bloody Butcher and Ramapo

This evening I planted Bloody Butcher in the hole started yesterday. This plant had several tomatoes growing on it. Normally I recommend that tomaotes and buds be removed when transplanting into the ground. In essence this "resets" the plant to focus on root growing. But this plant had a nearly one inch tomato, a half inch tomato and three other tiny tomatoes growing. The nearly one inch tomato convinced me that the plant wouldn't fully "reset" and just go with what I got. But I planted it a bit too deep. Hopefully the plant takes root and grows, at which point we can add soil to the base.

I made another hole in the "Far East" about two and a half feet away. I was still pulling out rocks and asphalt (you know the story, repeated it many times), but this time I decided the hole was deep enough to plant Ramapo. But I know there's rocks and debris below where I stopped. I did a better planting job on this one.

I know it's good for the garden to pull out all the rocks, bricks and asphalt but it will take years and years and years to see the results. 

Planted Black From Tula; Husky Cherry Red(2) Has A Tomato!

In my first hole tonight I planted Black From Tula in an area that abuts the backyard cutout. There wasn't much in the way in rocks or asphalt. The lack of both led me to believe I had cleared a part of this hole previously.

I tried to make a couple of holes next to Black From Tula. The first hole hit a sprinkler line while the second hole hit a wooden divider separating the backyard cutout from the dirt area east of the lemon tree. No go.

So I tried a hole in the "Far East". This area is near our backyard fence opposite our back door to the east. It's known for being quite rocky and containing a lot of asphalt. And this hole didn't disappoint -- I hit a lot of both. I got down about two feet when the sun got too low. I had worked on this hole for over a half hour. I left the shovel in the hole and called it a night. At least I'll have a jump on tomorrow.

The other item of note is that Husky Cherry Red(2) has a 3/4 inch tomato growing on it! 

Planted Five More Seedlings

Last night I dug three more holes, one in the backyard cutout area and two holes east of the lemon tree. I continued to hit significant asphalt and rocks, but the chunks weren't as big as around the redwood raised bed. Pesky, but not overwhelming.

In these holes my wife planted Black Krim, Brad's Black Heart and Nebraska Wedding.

She also planted Pierce's Pride and Sweet Baby Girl in pots.

My wife also watered the front yard tomato plants.

We're slowly but surely getting them into the ground. The upside -- the holes are deep and the debris is being removed. The downside -- it takes longer to plant and some of the remaining seedlings are getting very tall and potentially root bound. 

Planted Purple Dog Creek

I worked on planting tomatoes after work tonight. The first hole was about 3 feet to the east of Japanese Black Trifele. This was significant because I hit a lot of asphalt when I made the hole for that tomato seedling.

By the time I planted Purple Dog Creek an hour later, my five gallon plastic container was half filled with asphalt and rocks. And the sun was setting.

So that was it for tonight's planting in our garden.

My wife planted eight tomato seedlings in her mother's garden this afternoon. Here's an image from the garden.

 

Two Tomatoes Were Planted On Saturday

By the time I had posted the last update, my wife had planted two tomatoes. In the area where we cleared out the bricks my wife planted Indigo Rose and Red Boar. Apparently this area was plantable because there was a pile of dislodged soil from fishing out bricks and asphalt.

Also, my wife delivered some seedlings to friends on Saturday. I delivered tomato seedlings to my in-law's house.

No updates on Sunday as my wife, mother-in-law and I spent the day in Newport Beach.

I plan to do some digging tonight. We'll see how it goes. 

3 Planted In Pots, One In The Ground, Five Holes Made

After work I had about 90 minutes of sunlight to make as many holes in the backyard soil as I could. I dug a bunch of holes underneath and next to the lemon tree -- six holes in all. I did hit some significant asphalt on the last hole.

Why the concern? It's our understanding that it will rain Tuesday evening. We wanted to get as many plants in the ground as possible before it rains.

My wife planted Taxi, SunSugar and Tolstoi in pots. She also planted Big Zebra in the first of the holes.

So only four more tonight, but we're prepped for five more tomorrow.

One thing I've noticed is a preponderance of larger tomatoes. We don't have too many cherry or "small" tomatoes. We have containers ready to accept seedlings, but we don't have the right seedlings that do reasonably well in them. 

Planted Five Seedlings In the Backyard Cutout

This morning I got five more tomatoes into the ground in the backyard cutout area. These five tomatoes are Giant Syrian, Japanese Black Trifele, Thessaloniki, Crimson Cushion and Carmello.

Last year I spent a great deal of time digging holes and removing rocks and asphalt from the "Far East" area of our backyard -- the area to the east of our grass area (and grass cutout area) near our eastern fence. The results of hours and hours of digging was dramatic. This area was near spectacular, and I'd argue even slightly better than our signature area, the "koi pond" in the front yard. Prior years in the "Far East" were, at best, mediocre.

So what's the point? I had realized that our backyard cutout area (where we planted today's five tomato seedlings) has done reasonably well, but nothing that has knocked our socks off. But then again, not bad either. It's my supposition that this area may have asphalt in the soil (which I knew to be true already), just not as concentrated as the "Far East".

So I dug as keep as I could go for these five holes. Two were done on Saturday, three today. And my findings were consistent with my theory. There were significant amounts of asphalt to throw away, but the concentration wasn't as heavy as in the "Far East". The soil below Japanese Black Trifele had the biggest pieces -- a couple were as wide (and thicker) than hamburger patties.

So we only planted five new tomato seedlings in this area. But note, it will be harder to plant these five tomatoes than it will be to plant the whole front yard. There's no buried asphalt there and the soil has been previously dug out and replaced.