Weeds Attacked Our Tomatoes Until Now

Hey, you wanted it this morning. Cold broccoli snack. Is it good? We built our turkey shaw yesterday, although I think we're going to keep them in another week because I think it's going to rain all week and they're not a big trouble in the brooder, so Let's just not push it. Oh well, we've had this almost built for a year. What's another week till we get them in it? I'm looking underneath my row covers, my insect netting. It's working. We're gonna have mucho cabbages to kiss this year. Mucho, like dozens. In the instant chicken garden, the kale, absolutely— well, everything's jamming. Even the Swiss chard has taken off. It was a little slow at first, but now it's taken off. This is where I want to be. Hopefully the boys can help me with some chores this morning. And we've— beautiful one has planted watermelons, I believe 2 rows. We're going to continue shaping these beds and planting this today. It is supposed to rain, but we just can't completely stop. We got to take advantage when it's actually not raining and get it in. So hopefully It'll hold off this morning.

We're butchering tomorrow.

No, it's in 3 days. We're butchering the pigs on Thursday. Thank you. Let's take— no, let's put it back in the house. Come on. There he is. All you gotta do is go in and get a leash. Oh snap. Yeah, they crashed down. All right, we'll get him. You got to get him on his leash. Should I tell you? I heard a friend saying this. I don't know if it's 100% true. I wish I would have never known, especially if it's true. But smell, you're actually taking in physical particles. Thankfully I haven't smelled that yet. Oh, I'm just thinking about it though. So if I smell this, it would be like I'm taking in poop particles. Smell particles. I hope that's not true. Let's ask Siri. Not available.

Alright.

Let's ask Mr. Google Pants. I've typed in, "Is smell physical particles?" Oh no. A smell is created when a substance releases molecules, particles, into the air. Ugh. Smell gets worse. For us to detect the smell, these molecules need to enter our nose. These receptors then send signals to an area of the brain called the olfactory bulb, and the chemical composition of the mix of odors is determined. Change the way I view smell, buddy. All right, you got Teddy? Let's go. Hey, are you guys moving the luchadors? Sweet! I didn't expect them to move the luchadors, but they are. Hey, get in, that frees us up. We don't have to do— well, they might need help moving the fat hens. This is an area we mowed several weeks ago. It's recovered well. We're ready. I mean, we could use a little bit more tippage on the grass. Like, we want that— can y'all see that? Well, yeah, we want that blade as opposed to that chop. It's almost there. I'm gonna say by the end, by the time we get to the end, we're ready to go over. Guys, thanks for moving the luchadors. Hey, do you need help moving the fat hens, or can I go start working on the garden? Okay, well, I'll tell you what, get the pig stuff and get it all ready. I'll go start working on the garden and then we'll go together.

It wouldn't make sense to just go to the garden for 2 minutes and then have to get pulled away because—

yeah, so what does that mean?

Could you help us?

Do you think you can do the fat hens then? Yeah, I think you sure that it's a, it's a big, it's a big pull. It's pulled up the hill. You can do it?

Okay.

Look at this. You like playing in the tall grass?

He's soaked.

You look like a totally different dog. Take his leash off if you're gonna have him run. That's better, that's better. Get in, you and Teddy, going with your son Jonah.

Yeah.

Okay, Lily, you want to go with me?

Yeah.

Okay, let's do it.

Take off my boots and take off my sweater.

Okay.

Can I change my, my pants? Sure.

Look who's come back, Beck.

Oh my gosh, he's a mess!

Oh, he's a mess. Well, he was having fun running in the grass. Let's get him.

See me, he says.

All right, she's going with. We're all going out. We're all going out.

It's okay, buddy. I'm right here.

I'm coming. Tail slapping. Slap to touch him.

You think he's excited? He acts like he hadn't seen you in 2 weeks. What's the plan, Beck?

Um, I think that bed's made.

Yeah, we were 3 down and 3 to go.

Yeah, let's just do them.

Mom, you got the master broadforker right there. You got the helper. You got a pattern. He comes through, jumps on, he's your weight. You wiggle it slightly.

There you go.

You just do it a couple of inches wiggle, he won't get unbalanced, and then he helps you drop it. Rebecca, that's our last row for this, this spot. Okay, extra motivated now. We did it, Rebecca! At least that part. What else you got me doing before I milk?

Um, I'd like to get the landscape fabric on two of the—

okay, two of the things so that we could, um, which involves my tomatoes, which involves blow torching, which is going to be interesting to see if we can blow torch a nice hole. Teddy is messing up your nice job.

You just I cut—

these are file folders.

Yep.

Cut them in half, cut them in strips.

Yep.

I have a whole bunch here.

And then don't we tape them shut?

Well, I was gonna try to maybe try to not tape them. No, Teddy, you underdid my thing.

Teddy, Teddy. All right, that's a nice way to store it and know what size carp you got. Next up We've got weed fabric. We're going to try this for our tomatoes. Weed-free. Can we be weed-free with our— with this little, uh, inorganic— is that what you would call this? Doesn't degrade. Indegradeable. Anyway, we got to mark every 2 feet for our holes. We'll use this every year. We've, we've cut this to 50 feet. That's the length of our beds. We can use this again and again, and we're going to try to blowtorch the holes. We're going to get that hot, turn it off, and then see if we can't poke a perfect little hole through this. But first, let's mark it. I've marked all my spots. We ended up going a foot off of each end, at each end. Yeah, mull up our tape because we don't need them to be burning it.

I know, right?

So the idea is to get the Red Dragon hot, turn it off, and we're going to hope we'll be able to just kind of cut it because that's going to be so hot. Other people do templates. I mean, we might have to do a board template with one hole, uh, but maybe we're going to try this first. You up for it?

Yeah.

Okay, I am.

Letting it warm up.

We're We're gonna turn it all off now. Let's hope and pray this, this method is, is gonna work. Whose idea was this?

Yours.

I think it's gonna work. Boom!

Almost.

Nice. This is gonna work, Beck. I was doubtful of you.

Thanks.

Yeah, well Okay, it needs to be a little hotter. So, but that's good because it phrases it, because if you cut this, you have to fray the edges. So that both phrases it, frays it, and cuts it. Now, do you think our tomato will fit through that?

That's the concern. Can we try the blowtorch and see what that looks like?

Okay, let's try it.

Let's try this. I would try it.

That worked splendidly. Rebecca has seen people do it with this too. We're just not sure how, so maybe she's gonna look into that. We don't know if this is big enough for our tomato plant. Most people are using like 2-inch soil blocks into that, like salad or something, uh, not necessarily tomatoes. So hold on, Gideon, don't rip that because then we'd have to fray it. We must stop. We just must milk and find out what's going on and revisit it.

And this ring is getting really hot.

Doing some research.

See, that hardiness approach is using a hole saw with a Template. Okay, you vote for the big hole saw?

Especially if—

is your mom going to town today?

I think she is. I need to call her.

Actually, we could look it up at Lowe's, get the biggest hole saw they got. Yeah, we just finished milking. Let's get you guys out. Come on, you got a little spider web on your horn. Come on, Phyllis, let's go, let's go. Why aren't we coming out, honey? Come on, come on. Wrong way. Come on, bless your hearts. Let's go, let's go. Where are you going? Really, really, do not Oh my gosh, come on. There we go. Didn't we just do this? Now we're going. Hey guys, you been string trimming the lanes? Yeah. Good boys. You done? Nice. John has been over the weekend getting ready for our pig butchering. What you got here, buddy?

Uh, I got the scalded and filling up, and I got the, um, scraping table. Okay, I don't know if that'll work, but all right, seem like it would work really good.

Is that it?

Uh, well then we— I just set the gambrel up and just set it up back there.

So we have the— we have the gambrel set up. It's really not that much, is it? We need some dry wood up here, kindling and all that, kindling and starter logs. Let's think, you got a chain? You got a chain for bringing the pigs out of the woods, and then we dip them. So we need dry wood under there. Can you get us some dry wood?

Here's some dry wood. It's a stack of dry wood.

I don't know if that table is going to work. That's a trough. Is that going to be strong enough to hold up 175 pounds? Yeah, maybe. Well, it'd be me.

All right, and plus me.

I think maybe it'd be all right. I'm thinking it might be slippery though, might slide off. We'll see. And then from there it gets hung there. Do we have something to catch our guts in? Yep. Yeah, sweet. You got a little table back there. Oh, you even took some time to set up a swing. Good. We've pulled up the netting from the broccoli and this— then the cabbage. And you have some amazing broccoli.

It's kind of little, but oh well.

Are we a little late in getting it?

That one we are.

Oh wow. Totally. But nice, you're gonna have a whole colander.

We might.

Nice.

We've got— there's a lot out here.

Hey, what is this, a chidler shaw?

No, it's a turkey something.

It's looking more like a chidler shaw right now. Looky there.

I know, that's good. I need to figure out though a variety that grows bigger heads. Yeah, these are kind of small.

This is the biggest. Okay.

I am going to get the— I'm gonna— I'm trying to find a mallet and hope— Justin said there was two down in the basement. So I'm gonna try to find a mallet so that I can put the landscape fabric on and then when we get our template, then we'll just burn them in place. So here we go. I'm gonna look for the mallet. Hopefully I will find one. I found one! On the ground next to the 2x4s where I guess we like to keep it. I came out here to do this, and as you saw, as soon as I was about to put a staple in or an anchoring pin in, it blew away. Now I had to fix it, and then I went to put it in, and then I thought, well, I don't know if I know what I'm doing, so I'm gonna go make sure that I do it right. So I'm gonna go research that, and then I'll be back. Okay, so I went in, I talked to Justin, and he told me what to do, which is to put the pin in the fabric. I didn't know if you're supposed to do like half on, half off, or what, so I'm gonna do that now. So I am going to be direct seeding some cucumbers. And some green beans. And, um, I am going to get out my grader that I got from Johnny Seeds. It's a Never Sink tool, but I'm gonna get that out and we're gonna use it today. I tried and I couldn't do it, so I'm just gonna go get Justin and he can help me. Hey, can you help me? Yeah, you need to put the gridded together.

Hmm.

And I'm not—

are there instructions?

There are instructions.

Oh, forget the instructions. We'll do this.

You have to put that handle into that.

All right.

And then you have to pre-drill a hole.

Oh, okay.

And then put the wood screw in that they provide.

All right.

So do you need a mallet?

Uh, maybe.

What? Okay, why didn't I try that?

What?

That's the— is that the other? No, I think that's the wrong end. Yeah, yeah, that's the wrong one.

It's gonna be like—

yeah, no.

Okay, good.

You're having a hard time.

Big problem, I think. These are two lefts.

Yeah, we have the same one. We have two of the same.

They should have sent a left and a right.

Have it, but this should be on the other side.

Yeah, that's jacked up. So, all right, you gonna call them?

I'm gonna go call Johnny Seeds.

All right. Look who's here! No, but it was Big Daddy and Grandma bringing us our tomato stakes and hole saw. You got our hole saw? Oh yes, let me get it. Let's see this whopper of a hole saw. That's a huge— it's a huge hole saw. That'll do it. One.

Oh yeah, serious. That'll do it.

Maybe you think it's too big. Rebecca checking over the edit, getting some work done as we eat the broccoli from this morning. Our salad, Rebecca, more and more of this is going to be off the land. Cucumbers, peppers, all of this cabbage is going to soon be off the land. And that broccoli is so good.

Yeah, everything on the salad besides the sesame, everything.

It looks like a beautiful one. Explosion, she's been up out and at them this afternoon. Got transplants going in, Rebecca.

Well, I have to wait for you to make my thing.

Yes, I have to make her her template. We've got the supplies for our tomatoes. This is amazing. This could be a game changer for your favorite— let's just call it a vegetable, fruit, vegetable. What's up for the tomato? Also America's number one vegetable garden or vegetable plant. This could be huge. This could be a weed-free tomato bliss. Are you ready?

Yeah.

So you've, you've jang seeded, uh, beans. And what are you gonna do while I go make you a template? Are you just waiting on me?

I'm going to plant dill and basil in this row.

Okay.

I have cucumbers going in that row. Like, actually, I have plants. Okay, I'm gonna direct seed some, and then tomatoes, and then I also have peppers that are going to go in this. And then I'm waiting for your template so you can burn and we can move on.

Sounds good.

I heard you were about to do this crazy saw.

Yeah, 6-inch hole saw. Who knew how big Who knew they made them that big? You ready? I don't know.

Well, that's what I was afraid of. What?

Let me make sure it's on the right setting. Oh no. Okay. Oh yeah, it is. All right, ready? Trying to get enough speed. Going to slow.

Is it not working? No, it's working. It's just catches on it.

I wonder— the drill battery.

The drill battery.

All right, the drill battery.

Everybody, I don't think it was a battery, but we'll— maybe it was.

Ready? Yeah. Got it. Are we hitting? I—

no, I think it's hitting Not.

Okay.

Oh, that'd be it.

It could very well be it because it does it and then it floats.

There we go. Nice and smooth now.

How fun. And the hole popped through. Good.

The hole—

yeah.

What is that for?

Yeah, how's that?

There we go.

Okay, ready?

Oh, I'm scared.

Okay, so I'm just going to go high.

Don't burn the grass.

Maybe you should go—

Mike Dixon went in farther. He like stuck it in the hole.

Is that okay?

Yeah, that's what it's supposed to do, I think. All right.

Oh wow, it works!

Well, we'll see if it Oh my God, that is so cool!

See if it worked. See if it did it rounded. How's that, Mom?

Let me see. It's good. You could have been maybe a little bit more aggressive with that one, but that's fine. It was your first time.

Yeah.

You want me to get the blowtorch and just like trim it up?

Trim it up.

You guys are just— they're eating.

They're eager, eager.

Let me get this and eat your beavers, and I'll help you with that one.

Okay, guys, hey, hey, don't, don't get in that bed, please. This is the walkway. This is the walkway.

I'll flame it and then you guys move the board for me. Okay.

I got a lot of tomatoes planted. Not all the ones that I wanted to get done, but I still have another couple of trays that I need to get in. Justin got all my stakes in, so tomorrow tomorrow morning I can just come out here, start planting in the nice coolness of the day. I've got dill and basil in this row, tomatoes, and I'm trying to get them as deep as I can. It was a little hard with these two, I didn't get them very deep at all, but you know, I'm just glad that they're in the ground. And there's just something about this time of year that is so special because the problems haven't started. And so we are super excited about this garden and can't wait for the season to move on.