After all my hard work, a lot of time, and a bunch of beers ............... I got my spring/summer buckwheat plot in, now to pray it rains and actually grows! I did this with nothin but hand tools, no rototiller or anything. Its 120' long by 23'-25' wide (wider in some spots)
That is impressive. I'm now about 8 inches of water away from seeing the dirt in my food plot. Snow is said to be all but gone.
That's very nice I hope all your hard work pays off. I'm curious to see what my plots look like. I'm hoping the snow is off when I get up to the cabin this weekend.
Nice fuzz! You have to lime it any? Can't wait to see your hard work pay off, lot of folks don't believe one can do what we do with no power tools but very possible...although I'll admit I do use a garden tiller at least now at a lot of spots.
Thanks man! Nope no lime, everythin I read said it wasn't necessary. Please don't tell me I messed up An yeah nothin but a shovel and a pitchfork type hoe. Between the roots an the rocks I think I put on 5lbs of muscle hahahah never will I ever do it again without a rototiller! Was an awesome learning experience doin it the old school way!
Did you do a soil test? If not don't worry, but going into either a fall planting it would be worth soil testing and possibly liming if the PH is low. The better the PH the more your time and effort will pay off. I foresee great buckwheat plot this spring no matter what, it isn't nearly as picky to produce well as other plantings...but just remember the better the soil the better the plot.
I'm gonna do a soil test in mid to late July to get ready for a mid August planting of clover an chicory for my fall kill plot choice. I have a feelin it's gonna need some lime for sure. So as long as this buckwheat starts growin I will be happy. This was basically my test run to see if I could 1.)create a plot 2.) work the ground correctly 3.)establish an actual plot (still to be confirmed) hahahahah
Looks great. Lots of hard work I know!. Shows you can create a plot with minimum tools. Buckwheat should do fine there. How much sunlight does this plot get? Keep us updated.
It gets a decent amount of direct sunlight. it's more broken up sunlight on the far end from like 3-4pm till dark so I'm expecting it to be less growth then this side that's closest to you in the picture.
Love the approach and GREAT blend idea for fall planting. It takes a pounding but keeps going once established. Chicory has been reported to last a few years and if established well this plot could thrive for years to come with just some fertilizing here and there and mowing if needed (weedeater or push mower )
Well thank you! I appreciate the positivity! I wanted to give up on it a few times but just kept pushin on, an have to say its given me an awesome feeling of accomplishment !
Fuzz_27, Have you ever used chicory before? I haven't. It sure does seem to grow in some of the roughest, nastiest conditions you could find. I would think it will grow like crazy even with minimal effort.
First time with a plot let alone chicory hahaha From what I've read, clover seems to be more picky then chicory for sure. So I'm hopin it will do well
