StoneCarver 2026

[StoneCarver]

I tried to start this grow blog last summer. I edged a bed, scraped the sod off and solarized the soil. Then forked it using a broadfork with 16inch tines. Edging the bed makes it easier to keep the grass from growing into the bed. After forking the bed, I piled on weeds I pulled up out of my pond, grass clippings, and brown leaves that fell this fall. All winter it decomposes, attracts earthworms, breaks down from rain and freeze/thaw cycles. Soon, I'll be throwing on algae from my pond. This is where I'll be trying to grow my tobacco this year. Since it is a new bed, I'm not expecting much. Hopefully, the deer and woodchucks won't eat it.

Using my smartphone, I took pictures of the process. But my smartphone and computer aren't on speaking terms by corporate decree. So, I dug out the old digital camera which after 15 years is still on speaking terms with my computer. So here's the bed; I haven't actually measured it yet but I'd estimate 10ft x 25ft. On the right frame of the image, you can see the edge of my compost pile. That compost isn't for the tobacco. Its for the rest of the garden.

 

[StoneCarver]

Here's a pic of my pond. I'm standing up hill from the spring. You can see how it feeds into the pond. On the far end, is the embankment which is at least 4ft higher than the water, to give you a perspective of scale. The water flows out from the pond through an 18inch culvert which is out of sight off the right edge of the picture. About 5-10gallons per minute flows out of the culvert below the embankment. Its a very reliable spring keeping the pond from going stagnant. This pond is where I gather up algae each spring. The algae growth is seasonal. Once the water warms up in summer, the algae stops growing. I find this algae to be an excellent fertilizer. I just throw it on top of the garden beds between the plants. It takes a while to dry out, die and decompose though. By then its early to mid summer.

Also, I draw buckets of water from the spring to water my seedlings/plants with. The water is actually too acidic as is, pH 4.5. So, I use a bit of pH Up to get it around 5.5 to 6.0. That way I'm not using chlorinated tap water on the tobacco plants.

 

[StoneCarver]

Whilst preparing this bed, I happened upon some astounding archaeological finds as you can see in this photo. Clearly, I've unearthed an effigy of a god who was worshipped by past inhabitants of this land. Nearby the effigy in its in situ context, I found a building unit, as seen in the photo, which must have been a part of the temple in which the effigy would have been housed. You may find it interesting to know, this particular effigy has its tail intact.

 

[StoneCarver]

Correction: I did not add brown leaves from this fall. They were actually brown leaves that I had been composting for at least 2 years.

Hopefully, the weather this weekend will be agreeable enough for me to begin harvesting algae out of the pond. I have a little boat and a pool skimmer that I use to scoop the algae out. One year when I was scooping up algae, somehow I scooped up a 2# bass. I was wondering why the scoop felt so heavy. What kind of bass just lets itself get picked up out of the water? Once I got the scoop up out of the water, the bass began flopping and got back into the water. Perhaps it was sleeping?

That reminds me of another time, I was using a compost fork to rake up debris from the pond bottom to compost. Every now and then I'd hit a rock and try to get it up out of the muck. I try to save any rocks I find on my property since I don't have much and they are useful. Well, there was this one "rock" that I hit with the compost fork and attempted to pull up. Except this one was being rather difficult. It seemed to easily roll off the fork; I struggled to keep it on the fork whilst lifting it up. Eventually, I got this rock up to the surface when a head lifted up out of the water and hissed at me. Turned out, it wasn't a rock but a snapping turtle instead. Its always a surprise when a rock hisses at you.

 

[StoneCarver]

Seedlings have sprouted and grew some a bit.
I sowed seeds for Jaffna, RedRose, Nostrano del Brenta, Vuelta Abajo, Scantic, some random N. rustica, and the same Hopi N. Rustica that I grew last year. Everything except the Jaffna sprouted readily. Jaffna eventually sprouted a week or later than everything else, had the lowest germination rates, and the seedlings that came up were the smallest. I took these pictures right before thinning them out. I made the mistake of also sprouting tomatoes and peppers in the same trays. I knew not to do something like that but didn't really think about it. I'm hoping no tmv makes its way onto the peppers and tomatoes. I should have 6 of each variety to transplant outside in a couple weeks if all goes well.

 

[StoneCarver]

About three weeks ago, I thinned out the seedlings to one per cell and later gave them a hair cut after they grew a bit. Then the next day, I decided to plant them outside in their permanent location. I took pictures of it but my camera doesn't seem to have recorded them. It did record this picture of the bed after I laid some algae on it. The green rows in the pics are the algae. I planted the tobacco in between the rows of algae. Some of the green patches on the margins of the bed are cilantro. I broadcast seeded the bed margins with lettuce, purslane, cilantro, and dill. I'll be planting okra and popcorn in between the tobacco (maybe).

 

[Wombat_smokes]

When I tried to maintain a home pond, I also noticed that the scummy, green algae worked well as a weed mat. While not the prettiest, it does a good job and adds to the organic matter in your soil. Looking good.

 

[StoneCarver]

green algae worked well as a weed mat.

It does dry into a hard crust but when it breaks down I find it makes good fertilizer.
Since this is a new garden bed, I'm not expecting much this year regardless of fertilizer treatment.

 

[StoneCarver]

Growth update. Most are doing pretty well with a high survival rate in spite of me planting them the day after I gave them a hair cut. The Nostrano del Brenta is struggling the most. Two of them remain as runts and haven't grown any and one died leaving only 3 survivors but those 3 are growing well. The Redrose is doing best; those are the pic in the middle. I also included a pic of the Hopi rustica. As you can see, those are suckering like mad even more so than the generic rustica right next to them which suggests they are indeed different varieties. I'm not going to pinch off the suckers. I'll just wait till they start trying to flower then harvest them. I'll color cure them on the stalk. To the left of the Hopi, you can see some jewel weed that volunteered in the garden. They got munched a bit likely by deer. Obviously, the deer didn't show much interest in the Hopi right next to it. I can see a couple bite marks on a leaf on one of the Hopi but the deer quickly realized that wasn't something it wanted to eat. You can just barely make out the bite marks on the leaf furthest into the lower right corner of the pic.

I'm leaving the jewel weed because I find it makes very good forage for hummingbirds. I never mow the patches of jewel weed that pop up on my property for that reason. I always struggle to keep jewelweed alive because it gets attacked by dodder.

 

[StoneCarver]

Growth update. Finally got some good rain last weekend. Here's how every thing's doing.
N. rustica Hopi - started budding prolifically as expected. I pinched all the buds I could find. After the next round of buds come out, I may pinch those too and then harvest for stalk curing.
N. rustica generic - The leaves of these are bigger than the Hopi but not by much. Plants are the same height as Hopi. These aren't suckering or budding as much as the Hopi
Vuelta Abajo - Began bolting and pushing suckers out everywhere. I pinched all the suckers and strung them on wire in my basement to see what happens. Will they color cure or even be any good? Who cares?
Red Rose - These plants look nice. They are compact with bigger leaves than anything else.
Nostrano del Brenta - 2 of these look nice like the Red Rose. 2 died and 2 are runts. These have potential but are struggling
Jaffna - These also began bolting. 4 look nice. 1 is a runt and 1 died. One was diseased so I pulled it out and have it hanging in the basement to see what happens.
Scantic - 3 are bolting. 2 are runts. 1 died.

What else is going on? Cilantro is bolting. Lettuce is perky after that rain we had. Corn and okra are sprouting.

I would have provided a picture but it really doesn't look much different from the picture above.
I planted the rows far enough apart but did not plant the plants in the rows far enough apart.

 

[StoneCarver]

Addendum: I should have included this but the Scantic appears that it should have been staked. The bases of the stems look like a J. Any opinions on determining when plants should be staked? Everything else has straight stems.

 

[StoneCarver]

These pictures are from today 6/1/2026. I placed a 6inch metal ruler on a leaf of Redrose. The Redrose is the most visually impressive plant in my patch. You can also see cilantro leaves in the right and lower margins of the image.

Here's how the Hopi N. rustica is doing. I've been pinching buds daily.

The Vuelta Abajo is bolting. I've been pinching suckers off of these almost daily too. I can see the flower bud coming up in the meristem.
On the right margin of the image, you can see corn sprouting up. Its a Cherokee variety of popcorn. Very colorful kernals of course.
On the left margin, you can see the yellow flowers of an alfalfa volunteer. I think I'll keep it.

Of course I have to include a picture of the whole patch. Scantic is in the front row. At this time, I don't think they need staking.
The rain last week really pumped the plants up. Near the far end, you can see the Vuelta Abajo poking up above everything else. In front of that, you can see the Redrose. You can see the differences in leaves and growth habit. Yeah, the Redrose is planted too close together. Just behind the Scantic is the Jaffna which almost rivals Redrose in leaves and growth habit. You can't really see the Nostrano del Brenta. Everything else is doing better than it but its between the Jaffna and Redrose.
On the far end of the bed, you can see my compost bin.
On the upper left margin, you can see muscadyne growing on the top of the fence.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Not to be too much of a plant nerd, but I beleive your alfalfa is Sweet clover (Melilotus sp.). Alfalfa tends to have a purple flower. Bothe are related as nitrogen fixing legumes.

Melilotus species are known to have a good amount of coumarin, the active flavor compound of tonka bean. I have plans to harvest my Tall Sweet Clover (Melilotus aalisimus) at its most fragrant point (just after flowers bloom) to make a coumarin casing/topping to replicate Capstan Blue.

Everything is looking amazing.

 

[StoneCarver]

I beleive your alfalfa is Sweet clover

You might be right. I've scattered seeds of both sweet clover and alfalfa in other parts of the yard but not here. So I couldn't be sure which it was. I tend to broadcast seed and see what grows. Now you have me curious about making a topping from sweet clover.

 

[Wombat_smokes]

Just imagine that sweet, heady must wafting from jar of VA l tobacco. It's grassy, mild sweetness complimenting the sweet, hay/grass notes in young, minimally aged VA's.

 

[StoneCarver]

I just noticed in the last picture of the patch, near the bottom margin of the picture hiding behind some bolting cilantro, is a lump of clay. It shows you how the soil in the bed was nothing more than hard packed clay up till last summer. It also gives you an idea of what lurks under the layer of mulch and compost you see on top. I've only fertilized the plants once after transplanting into the bed. Otherwise, all they are getting is what comes from all that mulch/compost decomposing into the soil.