It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => Hobbies & Crafts => Topic started by: Pandora on April 20, 2012, 06:01:27 PM
-
We put in tomatoes, cukes, red bells, eggplants, basil, radishes and Gunsmith wanted to try a row of corn. Two different beds.
Oh, and some Marigolds for bug-repellent purposes.
-
I've planted onions and peas but it's still WAY too early to get my "outdoor" garden planted. Have tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, etc. starting in my little greenhouse. Hoping for the best. We have a very short growing season so it's basically gonzo gardening on a hope and a prayer. But we do persist.
-
The Fiat destruction unit is about to swing into action and build decking and raised bed in our greenhouse and then fill them with good dirt, and then MichelleO can start planting.
I then need to finish the Solar install ( Still? Yeah, I know I know!) and get the electric run so we can run pumps, watering zones, and start on the aquaponics. I suspect we won't get to do an experimental outdoor patch this year, but its early yet. There might be time.
-
The Fiat destruction unit is about to swing into action and build decking and raised bed in our greenhouse and then fill them with good dirt, and then MichelleO can start planting.
I then need to finish the Solar install ( Still? Yeah, I know I know!) and get the electric run so we can run pumps, watering zones, and start on the aquaponics. I suspect we won't get to do an experimental outdoor patch this year, but its early yet. There might be time.
I take it you are "the Fiat destruction unit"? Have you solved the greenhouse sealing issue?
-
I think I'm gonna send my dirt to Kansas this year for summer vacation and hope it comes back without washing out it's ears. Maybe something will grow in it while it's there.
-
I take it you are "the Fiat destruction unit"? Have you solved the greenhouse sealing issue?
I believe I do know how to do it properly if I build another one, or go into making them as a side business (vs. "working for the man", which as we have discussed, gets you nowhere)
But man I am not happy with the hippies that designed the one we put up. Really. Really. Cheap. I don't know if I could beat them on price but I KNOW my product would be better made, and easier to assemble. IN the end I think sealing is going to involve crawling all round the thing with a caulking gun. Dumb. Dumb . Dumb. You can't waterproof with tape. and it looks crappy besides.
-
First starting season with my little greenhouse so I got a start on Carrots, Tomatoes, Squash, Zucchini, and some herbs. I've got the first batch of Potatoes in the ground as well as Onion and Garlic. I tried Pole Beans and Peas in containers last year and they didn't do so well so this year I'm putting them in the ground along one fence-line. I'm also trying Asparagus for the first time.
I laid out another 6x8' raised bed garden with timbers that I got from a local business and once I get the soil set right will be putting in the 2nd crop of Potatoes in there. I took the planters (6" by 30" cedar) and redid them as containers for herbs.
Now grow dammit!
-
I don't garden down here.
-
It rained like the dickens here this evening and broke some of the tomato plants that had overgrown their cages. Damage = one pretty big branch, two small tomatoes and a flower cluster.
Crap.
Gunsmith was out there, poncho-ed, staking, to minimize further breakage.
How's your stuff doing, Soup?
-
I planted the corn, had to mix in 6 big loads of fresh black dirt and aged cow manure to give it a good chance at thriving. My brother planted tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, lettuce, carrots, red & white spuds (wheeled in several loads of dirt in those beds too), and a few other things I bet I am forgetting. Also have the existing strawberry and rhubarb plants still in place. My father does the watering and we are trying to get my nephews the help with the weeding, but that usually falls to the adults. I'm at the lake more than most so I guess I get most of the fun. Sprouts are up and I guess we'll see what kind of growth we'll get. I convinced my borther to back of the experimental stuff and grow the stuff we know does well so hopefully we'll have a better overall yield this year.
ETA - Don't forget to pluck those suckers off your 'mater's! ;)
-
I held off from moving some "grown from seed" plants out of the greenhouse and good thing as we've had a few gully-washers too. (most) Everything is growing albeit kinda slowly. For a while it was looking like I might lose the 'maters - they got pretty pathetic looking, but now they've bounced back.
Only one of the Asparagus plants survived. Don't know why (it would help if I had a clue what I was doing).
I've been feasting on fresh Strawberries and Peas (weird combination I know) and if I can keep the slugs out I'm on course for a bumper crop of Zucchini, Cucumber, and Squash. All the herbs are thriving and I've been able to clip a bit here and there for cooking already.
I'm still investigating the possibility of capturing rainwater. It's illegal in the county but fck them. I just don't see the payoff in spending a bunch of cash to catch water. So, ifI can find the drums for free then I'll do it. I'm averaging about 75 gallons a week in water that I've captured using garbage cans (the garbage collector now requires us to their their containers). I know that usage will increase as the weather gets hotter and the crops larger but if I can offset consumption with rainwater then I'll feel better about the efficiencies.
So basically it's keeping me off the streets ;)
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
-
Still getting mine put in.
Between working a ton of hours and weather, I'm a little behind.
I was able to get a good bit of garden #3 in over the weekend.
Got @150' of sweet corn, 50# potatoes, some peppers, squash and a little bit of watermelon.
Finished out garden #1 yesterday with a little zucchini and cukes.
I still have room in garden 2. Wife is picking up 1/2# of green beans and peas and maybe a little more corn
-
Geez, compared to you guys, we're a couple of pikers over here!
Yes, Libertas; Gunsmith has been keeping up with the suckers.
-
Geez, compared to you guys, we're a couple of pikers over here!
Big gardens don't always mean big harvests, Pan.
Wish I would have paid more attention to my dad when I was a kid.
So far this year (knock on wood) it seems to be a little better.
Got some rain which I didn't have last year.
Weeds are still under control but worried about the 5 or 6 days around the 4th.
When I go in Tuesday, July 3, I'm nonstop until Monday 7/9.
If I'm lucky I'll get to sleep 20 minutes here and there with one eye open.
Same thing happened last year and lost the gardens to weeds
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
Yes, the libs believe that they own the water that comes from the sky.
And I have the slug traps out but they keep attracting every liberal in my neighborhood ::laughonfloor::
-
Re: Rain water - That is pathetic 'Soup, I'd like to see them try to prosecute a case. Or is it just one of those fee-generating laws? Libnuts! ::gaah:: At the lake we're going to hook up some downspouts into a covered rain barrel and capture water we can use for gardens and such. Might not get it up till July though.
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
Yes, the libs believe that they own the water that comes from the sky.
And I have the slug traps out but they keep attracting every liberal in my neighborhood ::laughonfloor::
::laughonfloor::
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We've been very fortunate as regards rain. If I remember correctly, we've had to water only once since we put the garden in, it's rained that often.
We've two rain barrels gathering dust in the crawlspace under the house.
-
Re: Rain water - That is pathetic 'Soup, I'd like to see them try to prosecute a case. Or is it just one of those fee-generating laws? Libnuts! ::gaah:: At the lake we're going to hook up some downspouts into a covered rain barrel and capture water we can use for gardens and such. Might not get it up till July though.
Right now we're just supposed to obtain a permit. I imagine that they are working their way toward requiring an environmental impact statement. The plain truth is that by capturing the water and diverting it to specific distribution around my property I an minimizing the amount of water that crashes into the storm water system.
By my reckoning they should be thanking me...or giving me a Starbucks card or something :D
-
Re: Rain water - That is pathetic 'Soup, I'd like to see them try to prosecute a case. Or is it just one of those fee-generating laws? Libnuts! ::gaah:: At the lake we're going to hook up some downspouts into a covered rain barrel and capture water we can use for gardens and such. Might not get it up till July though.
Right now we're just supposed to obtain a permit. I imagine that they are working their way toward requiring an environmental impact statement. The plain truth is that by capturing the water and diverting it to specific distribution around my property I an minimizing the amount of water that crashes into the storm water system.
By my reckoning they should be thanking me...or giving me a Starbucks card or something :D
.... or leaving you the hell alone.
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
Yes, the libs believe that they own the water that comes from the sky.
And I have the slug traps out but they keep attracting every liberal in my neighborhood ::laughonfloor::
How do you stand it? I would be out of my mind.
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
Yes, the libs believe that they own the water that comes from the sky.
And I have the slug traps out but they keep attracting every liberal in my neighborhood ::laughonfloor::
How do you stand it? I would be out of my mind.
I know, right?! I'm running out of places in the garden to bury the, er, compostables ::evil::
-
It's ILLEGAL to catch rainwater where you live? Oh, fer crissake! On what grounds? From whom do they think you're "stealing" if you collect rainwater on your property?
As to the slugs, beer in a shallow pan on the ground will take care of 'em.
Yes, the libs believe that they own the water that comes from the sky.
And I have the slug traps out but they keep attracting every liberal in my neighborhood ::laughonfloor::
How do you stand it? I would be out of my mind.
I know, right?! I'm running out of places in the garden to bury the, er, compostables ::evil::
Can you keep the water that collects in the kiddy pool?
-
Plenty of dill this year, so I put in a cucumber. The zucchini are now grabbing dogs and small children off the street. The thyme and oregano are doing just fine, the rosemary seems a little gnarly, but tastes good, and the chives are duking it out with the rosemary. The basils are arguing about who really invented pasta...the Thai claiming it was an oriental thing, while the Genoa is claiming it for Europe. The spinach is beginning to poke out a little bit, and the vinca are back as volunteers for the third year in a row. Moved the irises up from the back to see how they'll do in the bed with the vincas. The orchid I picked up the other day at Home Depot had been held captive in the store too long...had to cut the container from around its little feetsies...and the philodendron is thinking about puberty.
-
Plenty of dill this year, so I put in a cucumber. The zucchini are now grabbing dogs and small children off the street. The thyme and oregano are doing just fine, the rosemary seems a little gnarly, but tastes good, and the chives are duking it out with the rosemary. The basils are arguing about who really invented pasta...the Thai claiming it was an oriental thing, while the Genoa is claiming it for Europe. The spinach is beginning to poke out a little bit, and the vinca are back as volunteers for the third year in a row. Moved the irises up from the back to see how they'll do in the bed with the vincas. The orchid I picked up the other day at Home Depot had been held captive in the store too long...had to cut the container from around its little feetsies...and the philodendron is thinking about puberty.
Excellent report!
-
Plenty of dill this year, so I put in a cucumber. The zucchini are now grabbing dogs and small children off the street. The thyme and oregano are doing just fine, the rosemary seems a little gnarly, but tastes good, and the chives are duking it out with the rosemary. The basils are arguing about who really invented pasta...the Thai claiming it was an oriental thing, while the Genoa is claiming it for Europe. The spinach is beginning to poke out a little bit, and the vinca are back as volunteers for the third year in a row. Moved the irises up from the back to see how they'll do in the bed with the vincas. The orchid I picked up the other day at Home Depot had been held captive in the store too long...had to cut the container from around its little feetsies...and the philodendron is thinking about puberty.
Excellent report!
Oh, and the rainwater is running down the street into the sea, so I tend to grab some in buckets when I think about it. And if the town code enforcement officer were to try to give me any sh*t about it, I think I'll introduce him to the child eating well in the back where the rain forest is.
-
Plenty of dill this year, so I put in a cucumber. The zucchini are now grabbing dogs and small children off the street. The thyme and oregano are doing just fine, the rosemary seems a little gnarly, but tastes good, and the chives are duking it out with the rosemary. The basils are arguing about who really invented pasta...the Thai claiming it was an oriental thing, while the Genoa is claiming it for Europe. The spinach is beginning to poke out a little bit, and the vinca are back as volunteers for the third year in a row. Moved the irises up from the back to see how they'll do in the bed with the vincas. The orchid I picked up the other day at Home Depot had been held captive in the store too long...had to cut the container from around its little feetsies...and the philodendron is thinking about puberty.
"...... grabbing dogs and small children off the street."
::rolllaughing::
Best garden tale I've heard in quite some time!
-
Plenty of dill this year, so I put in a cucumber. The zucchini are now grabbing dogs and small children off the street. The thyme and oregano are doing just fine, the rosemary seems a little gnarly, but tastes good, and the chives are duking it out with the rosemary. The basils are arguing about who really invented pasta...the Thai claiming it was an oriental thing, while the Genoa is claiming it for Europe. The spinach is beginning to poke out a little bit, and the vinca are back as volunteers for the third year in a row. Moved the irises up from the back to see how they'll do in the bed with the vincas. The orchid I picked up the other day at Home Depot had been held captive in the store too long...had to cut the container from around its little feetsies...and the philodendron is thinking about puberty.
"...... grabbing dogs and small children off the street."
::rolllaughing::
Best garden tale I've heard in quite some time!
Thought for awhile that perhaps an octopus had crawled up out of the sea and taken residence there by the sidewalk, but I've never seen one that bright green before. And the "eyes big as plates!" turned out to be flowers.
Not sure what happened to the preying mantis I hired last year to protect the crops, but a little feller showed up claiming to be from the agency. I'll keep him on, but I think he might be replaying some of those scenes with Henery Hawk trying to predatorize Foghorn Leghorn if we get any raiders bigger than a Louisiana sized flea.
-
Well, my advice is to see if you can lure some wasps into hanging around (I hear they like the Lady-spiders) the tomata plants; they have a tendancy to plant their seed in the horned 'mater worms for incubation. Prolific reproductive species, wut?!
-
Well, my advice is to see if you can lure some wasps into hanging around (I hear they like the Lady-spiders) the tomata plants; they have a tendancy to plant their seed in the horned 'mater worms for incubation. Prolific reproductive species, wut?!
Makes those sci-fi movies seem not quite as alien as I'd like.
-
Status report.
Garden doing well, although there's always another pest or "condition" to ameliorate. We had to scrap about a dozen small 'maters because of end-blossom rot; cause, calcium deficiency. Off to the store for lime.
Same for the cukes. We were harvesting regularly and the really teenies started, then withered. Cure = calcium. And perhaps they weren't being pollinated properly. Turns out the plant has male and female flowers -- with particular and unique characteristics -- and what we thought were teeny cukes were really .... cucumber penisii. Hand-pollinating with a watercolor paintbrush will probably fix that. Hey! I don't make the rules, I just abide by 'em.
Just took two nice regular "Italian" type eggplants and we'll be frying them up within the next couple days.
Basil's doing well, tomatoes are doing a lot better and the red bells are coming along nicely, too.
The corn is interesting. Neither of us never grew it, so it's a trial by learning, and so, we'll see. Appears okay; we're novices, so what do we know?
We regularly do the "grow, GROW" chant, and ask, and thank, The Big Gardener for his assistance.
My Obama-voting neighbor has been blessed with a green thumb. This year we gave him an leftover pepper and leftover eggplant plants. He doesn't see the point in growing food because, he says, the amount of work is pointless when one can just go to the grocery store. He doesn't seem to be able to segue from ornamentals to food, and doesn't understand that what we're doing here is trial and error and PRACTICE for the day we may need these skills and this knowledge to survive.
-
We're not a couple of Luther Burbanks but we've got tomatos coming off and cucumbers coming on .
-
Calcium, you say, wot?
Hmmm....
-
Calcium, you say, wot?
Hmmm....
There's a spray, too, EW; goes right on the foliage, the little fruits and the flowers for almost instant take-up. We did that, and the following day, watered the base with the lime mix.
-
Calcium, you say, wot?
Hmmm....
There's a spray, too, EW; goes right on the foliage, the little fruits and the flowers for almost instant take-up. We did that, and the following day, watered the base with the lime mix.
I'll look for it. First time I grew any squash here was last year, and I had the same problem: didn't occur to me that it was Ca deficient, but that would explain it.
-
Calcium, you say, wot?
Hmmm....
There's a spray, too, EW; goes right on the foliage, the little fruits and the flowers for almost instant take-up. We did that, and the following day, watered the base with the lime mix.
I'll look for it. First time I grew any squash here was last year, and I had the same problem: didn't occur to me that it was Ca deficient, but that would explain it.
Cut the nitrogen fert. to as low as you can; the nitrogen encourages greenery not fruitery.
-
Calcium, you say, wot?
Hmmm....
There's a spray, too, EW; goes right on the foliage, the little fruits and the flowers for almost instant take-up. We did that, and the following day, watered the base with the lime mix.
I'll look for it. First time I grew any squash here was last year, and I had the same problem: didn't occur to me that it was Ca deficient, but that would explain it.
Bone meal, long lasting. This fall when everything is out prep the soil with a dose of line and a couple of hand fulls of bone meal that way it has all winter to start to disolve. If you have any grass clippings or leaves till them under too and give them the winter to rot in/ Come spring you shpould be resdy to go but add a little more lime to it the bone meal should have done it's job .
-
I have 3 gardens.
Work schedule put me behind where I wanted to be. #1 wass planted primarily the week before Memorial Day; #2 Memorial Day and the next weekend and #3 the first weekend in June
#1 is approx 40X45. Little bit of heirloom corn, sunflowers, peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, eating tomatoes (2 kinds,)yellow beans, pinto beans, jalapenos, little bit of cabbage.
Small heads on the cauliflower, corn in tassel, beans and peas in blossom. Tomatoes in blossom with some small green ones a little bigger than golf balls right now.
#2 is approx, 50X 70
Different kind of corn, paste tomatoes 50# potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupes, pumpkins and a few yellow hungarian (I think) pepper plants I started from seed. Romas are starting to form tomatoes
#3 is approx 30X80. 2 different kind of peppers, silver queen corn, 50# of later tomatoes, more green beans, squash and a different kind of watermelon.
This one is farthest from the house and something is eating my corn (deer?)
Because I work so many hours, it is a challenge to keep the weeds back. Right now, we're at a draw but good enough that I won't lose my crop to weeds.
I bought a bunch of heirloom seeds and tried starting most of my garden from them.
My results were a little less than successful
-
That garden sounds delicious.
-
They do!
-
Slow coming.
But my daughter and I found our first teeny-weeny little Sugar Baby watermelon while weeding today.
I think it will start producing goodies in about 2 weeks.
Can't wait for tomatoes to start the annual AP tomato diet
-
That garden sounds delicious.
That garde sounds like there will be a hell of a lot of freezing and canning going on.
-
t garde sounds like there will be a hell of a lot of freezing and canning going on.
I hope so.
My wife is sometimes a weak link in this.
We have a spare refrigerator in the basement.
I tell her that's where we put stuff to rot.
Not this year.
She may not love me after this.
Hell, there's probably times now that she wonders if she loves me.
::)
-
I have to see what horror awaits me at the lake, with all the health stuff and car stuff going on the gardens have been largely unattended for almost two weeks.
::facepalm::
Looks like the weather is breaking to the north, time to ready the bike and scoot on out of here!
::whoohoo::
-
This is the first year that I have raised lettuce (previous attempts were feasts for the bugs). I harvested some earlier this seek.....tastes like crap. Off to the compost pile with it!
>:(
-
Slow coming.
But my daughter and I found our first teeny-weeny little Sugar Baby watermelon while weeding today.
I think it will start producing goodies in about 2 weeks.
Can't wait for tomatoes to start the annual AP tomato diet
I started another raised bed this season and inaugurated it with squash, zucchini, watermelon, and roma tomatoes. The plants look healthy enough and with plenty of blooms, but they start to bear little fruit and then each one dies. It has me scratching my head.
The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great, as are the peppers (after a rocky start).
The asparagus is a real mystery to me. I studied cultivation on the 'net until I was reasonably sure I wouldn't kill 'en outright. I planted them according to best practices. I built up the bed for them exactly as described. And waited. and watched. And waited some more.
Finally one meager sickly little stalk crept up out of the ground. I watched for days but there was only the one. It grew about 8-10" tall and then seemed to stop. Several weeks went by without any discernible activity.
Then one afternoon after work I went out to water and there were six more stalks poking up out of the dirt (I had planted 8). In very short order they grew to around 30" tall and fanned out with spindly stalks. They now look like they are thriving and may even grow stout enough to survive the winter.
I sure wish I knew WTH I was doing.
;)
-
Slow coming.
But my daughter and I found our first teeny-weeny little Sugar Baby watermelon while weeding today.
I think it will start producing goodies in about 2 weeks.
Can't wait for tomatoes to start the annual AP tomato diet
I started another raised bed this season and inaugurated it with squash, zucchini, watermelon, and roma tomatoes. The plants look healthy enough and with plenty of blooms, but they start to bear little fruit and then each one dies. It has me scratching my head.
Has it been hot there? If not, the soil needs something, maybe calcium (at least for the maters).
The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great, as are the peppers (after a rocky start).
Yay!!!
The asparagus is a real mystery to me. I studied cultivation on the 'net until I was reasonably sure I wouldn't kill 'en outright. I planted them according to best practices. I built up the bed for them exactly as described. And waited. and watched. And waited some more.
Finally one meager sickly little stalk crept up out of the ground. I watched for days but there was only the one. It grew about 8-10" tall and then seemed to stop. Several weeks went by without any discernible activity.
Then one afternoon after work I went out to water and there were six more stalks poking up out of the dirt (I had planted 8). In very short order they grew to around 30" tall and fanned out with spindly stalks. They now look like they are thriving and may even grow stout enough to survive the winter.
Woohoo!
I sure wish I knew WTH I was doing.
;)
Yah. Join the crowd.
I'm always on the 'net looking for best practices and solutions and when I go to the store, I pick brains. Some of the 'maters got blossom-end-rot again this year -- not enough calcium -- and the older gentleman at Ace Hardware pointed out a spray-on that the plant takes up faster than when watering the base. So, we got the lime AND the spray and staggered the application, with the spray first. It worked.
We have learned that too much nitrogen in fertilizer will grow nice, lush leaves and no fruit. Each plant requires something in addition to, in greater ratios. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, though.
Oh, and one other thing; it does make a difference where you get your plants. Every previous year, we got ours at Lowes/Home Depot and nothing did very well (it could have been our learning curve, too); this year we went to a well-known and reputable gardening center for our plants and they have done immensely better (again, maybe it's the learning curve because every year we say, "okay, next year we have to remember to do THIS first ...).
Now, it's the damn tree rats. They like the "perfect" tomato, so we have to pick 'em before they're fully ripe or the squirrels will sample them.
-
Thanks - all good points.
I try to be careful about where I buy plants/seeds and keep a journal on everything (can't trust my memory).
We haven't broken 85 yet and most days are in the low 60's with either clouds, mist or showers. Another "Summer that never was" in the making around here.
The greenhouse was one of my better investments.
edit: speling for dummies :D
-
Slow coming.
But my daughter and I found our first teeny-weeny little Sugar Baby watermelon while weeding today.
I think it will start producing goodies in about 2 weeks.
Can't wait for tomatoes to start the annual AP tomato diet
I started another raised bed this season and inaugurated it with squash, zucchini, watermelon, and roma tomatoes. The plants look healthy enough and with plenty of blooms, but they start to bear little fruit and then each one dies. It has me scratching my head.
The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great, as are the peppers (after a rocky start).
The asparagus is a real mystery to me. I studied cultivation on the 'net until I was reasonably sure I wouldn't kill 'en outright. I planted them according to best practices. I built up the bed for them exactly as described. And waited. and watched. And waited some more.
Finally one meager sickly little stalk crept up out of the ground. I watched for days but there was only the one. It grew about 8-10" tall and then seemed to stop. Several weeks went by without any discernible activity.
Then one afternoon after work I went out to water and there were six more stalks poking up out of the dirt (I had planted 8). In very short order they grew to around 30" tall and fanned out with spindly stalks. They now look like they are thriving and may even grow stout enough to survive the winter.
I sure wish I knew WTH I was doing.
;)
you're fine just leave them alone and if you can load them up with compost or composted manure and let them go till winter kills the tops off,at that point cut them flush to the ground and if toy can hit them again with composted manure and let them bee. It's the first year in and they are just settling in next year it you can help it don't pick any and let the roots get stronger but the third year pick and eat but leave some on there to give the roots what they need to make them stronger again and then after that pick all you want and they'll take care of themselves for the most part but remember to let them grow tops so they and keep on building strong roots.
-
Slow coming.
But my daughter and I found our first teeny-weeny little Sugar Baby watermelon while weeding today.
I think it will start producing goodies in about 2 weeks.
Can't wait for tomatoes to start the annual AP tomato diet
I started another raised bed this season and inaugurated it with squash, zucchini, watermelon, and roma tomatoes. The plants look healthy enough and with plenty of blooms, but they start to bear little fruit and then each one dies. It has me scratching my head.
Has it been hot there? If not, the soil needs something, maybe calcium (at least for the maters).
The cucumbers in the greenhouse are doing great, as are the peppers (after a rocky start).
Yay!!!
The asparagus is a real mystery to me. I studied cultivation on the 'net until I was reasonably sure I wouldn't kill 'en outright. I planted them according to best practices. I built up the bed for them exactly as described. And waited. and watched. And waited some more.
Finally one meager sickly little stalk crept up out of the ground. I watched for days but there was only the one. It grew about 8-10" tall and then seemed to stop. Several weeks went by without any discernible activity.
Then one afternoon after work I went out to water and there were six more stalks poking up out of the dirt (I had planted 8). In very short order they grew to around 30" tall and fanned out with spindly stalks. They now look like they are thriving and may even grow stout enough to survive the winter.
Woohoo!
I sure wish I knew WTH I was doing.
;)
Yah. Join the crowd.
I'm always on the 'net looking for best practices and solutions and when I go to the store, I pick brains. Some of the 'maters got blossom-end-rot again this year -- not enough calcium -- and the older gentleman at Ace Hardware pointed out a spray-on that the plant takes up faster than when watering the base. So, we got the lime AND the spray and staggered the application, with the spray first. It worked.
We have learned that too much nitrogen in fertilizer will grow nice, lush leaves and no fruit. Each plant requires something in addition to, in greater ratios. I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, though.
Oh, and one other thing; it does make a difference where you get your plants. Every previous year, we got ours at Lowes/Home Depot and nothing did very well (it could have been our learning curve, too); this year we went to a well-known and reputable gardening center for our plants and they have done immensely better (again, maybe it's the learning curve because every year we say, "okay, next year we have to remember to do THIS first ...).
Now, it's the damn tree rats. They like the "perfect" tomato, so we have to pick 'em before they're fully ripe or the squirrels will sample them.
Air rifle cure that.Wipe the rodents out.
-
Now, it's the damn tree rats. They like the "perfect" tomato, so we have to pick 'em before they're fully ripe or the squirrels will sample them.
I have a Plum tree near the garden and put out old CD's tied with fish lure to the branches to discourage the birds. Seems to make the tree rats nervous too.
Winner! ::thumbsup::
-
Now, it's the damn tree rats. They like the "perfect" tomato, so we have to pick 'em before they're fully ripe or the squirrels will sample them.
I have a Plum tree near the garden and put out old CD's tied with fish lure to the branches to discourage the birds. Seems to make the tree rats nervous too.
Winner! ::thumbsup::
Oh, I am so going to try that.
And the air rifle.
-
Chicken fried squirrel, mmm!
-
Here's an update on mine.
Just had a couple days rain. (Just in time,too)
Peas didn't come out too good. Only got a few.
Green and yellow beans are ripe. (I didn't plant near enough) I do have a second batch coming on in a week or so.
Lots of blossoms on canteloupes but none yet.
Sugar baby watermelons-quite a few baseball sized.
Pumpkins have lots of blossoms
Plants are full of Roma tomatoes. Eater tomatoes are just beginning to color
Zucchini is in blossom.
Cauliflower and broccoli are so-so
A few cabbages starting to form heads.
Peppers are a disappointment so far but starting to come on. Somehow, I missed getting bell peppers. Have a few sweet yellow, hungarian wax, cayennes and my son's jalapenos
The rain brought tassel to my small patch of heirloom corn. My bigger patch of silver queen was planted late and still pretty small.
Tops of the first batch of potatoes are starting to die off. I'll dig up a hill or two and see what I have.
Weeds are having a bumper season and the rain really helped them.
Wish I didn't work so much. I think the garden would do a little better.
Each year is different and a new learning experience.
I tried some different things this year and results are fairly positive
At least now, I'm just starting to eat out of the garden
-
It has been a hot and wet summer for us, 95 today, and when we get rain it comes in buckets. All I gotta say is between the water and the chicken poop the tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, green beans and spuds are going wild...unfortunately so are the weeds!
Don't know much about asparugus, my brother does, and what JF said seems to have jarred a memory in my head because waht he said sounds right to me. Corn bombed, not sure how I blew planting seeds, thier fricken seeds fer crying out loud! I did what the instructions said to the letter, soil was well prepped...
::gaah::
Good thing other folks in my clan are not so inept!
-
Even though I grew up as the son of corn growing farmer, I could never grow corn.
Then I learned the secret!
I never planted my seeds deep enough. Now, I plant them at least 2" deep and the real secret (if you're not hung up on organics).
Triple 19 fertilizer. ::beertoast::
Around here there's a saying about corn. "Knee high by the 4th of July"
My first corn was waist high ::danceban::
-
Even though I grew up as the son of corn growing farmer, I could never grow corn.
Then I learned the secret!
I never planted my seeds deep enough. Now, I plant them at least 2" deep and the real secret (if you're not hung up on organics).
Triple 19 fertilizer. ::beertoast::
Around here there's a saying about corn. "Knee high by the 4th of July"
My first corn was waist high ::danceban::
Lol. Yah, I was, a little bit, until we started actually trying to grow things. Soon as anything is put in the ground, Mother Nature and her cronies conspire to get at it all; pests, disease, birds, rodents and whatever the soil is lacking, which could be almost anything the plant may get the vapors over not having.
So, to hell with "organic"; I'm going to use whatever is available -- that doesn't do dire damage to the bees and the water supply -- to win!
Thanks for the tip about the corn. We planted our first two short rows ever this year, so .... we'll see.
-
Oh, and don't have the fertilizer in direct contact with the seed.
You can put the fertilizer down and cover with a little dirt then the seed.
I put mine on top of the row after I covered it.
-
Thanks AP, I'll have to try that next year.
-
The red Bell peppers and the eggplants have gotten their second wind. ::danceban::
We've 18 eggplant approaching harvest; the Bells haven taken a lot longer -- next year we'll plant them earlier -- but we're going to have to give 'em away or come up with a way of putting them up.
They and the tomatoes have outgrown the largest "cages" available; we've taken to staking them (outside the cages) which is what we meant to avoid by using the cages in the first place. We're going to have to come up with something better next year, because anything not staked is at risk of breakage from rain.
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
Oh rats! Did we miss spud-planting season? I thought that was done end of summer/fall?
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
Oh rats! Did we miss spud-planting season? I thought that was done end of summer/fall?
I dunno, we didn't plant till late spring and got a good crop. Could have left them in a bit longer and maybe increased some sizes, but we got a pretty good haul, some were bigguns too.
-
It rained like the dickens here this evening and broke some of the tomato plants that had overgrown their cages. Damage = one pretty big branch, two small tomatoes and a flower cluster.
Crap.
Gunsmith was out there, poncho-ed, staking, to minimize further breakage.
How's your stuff doing, Soup?
Hang the broken branch upside down and the tomatoes will go ahead and ripen. If you can get it in sunlight it will go even better.
-
Thanks. Now we know what to do from now on.
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
Oh rats! Did we miss spud-planting season? I thought that was done end of summer/fall?
I just planted my 3rd crop of taters. First two were tasty! Container growing them seems to affect their size (they're smaller) but I'm continuing to try diferent stuff to learn more about them. The main thing is that container growing them has eliminated damage from the moles and slugs.
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
Oh rats! Did we miss spud-planting season? I thought that was done end of summer/fall?
I just planted my 3rd crop of taters. First two were tasty! Container growing them seems to affect their size (they're smaller) but I'm continuing to try diferent stuff to learn more about them. The main thing is that container growing them has eliminated damage from the moles and slugs.
What kind of container did you use and where and on what surface did you place it?
-
Out 'maters went wild too, have to get a better staking system next year, but it has been a bumper crop year, folks are dehydrating stuff like crazy. Lots of red & white spuds this year too, those really came in. Hoping strawberrys come in like gangbusters next year and we get a good corn harvest going too. Live and learn.
Oh rats! Did we miss spud-planting season? I thought that was done end of summer/fall?
I just planted my 3rd crop of taters. First two were tasty! Container growing them seems to affect their size (they're smaller) but I'm continuing to try diferent stuff to learn more about them. The main thing is that container growing them has eliminated damage from the moles and slugs.
What kind of container did you use and where and on what surface did you place it?
Plastic 30 gal garbage cans cut off @ 24" and placed on top of some pallet boards.
-
Hmmm .... not much diameter there at the bottom. Do they need drain holes?
How do you think one of those really big, rectangular Tupperware-type storage containers would do?
-
Hmmm .... not much diameter there at the bottom. Do they need drain holes?
How do you think one of those really big, rectangular Tupperware-type storage containers would do?
It's scalable depending on how many tubs you set up. Yes, I drilled drain holes and yes, any tub will work - I've even done this with kiddie wading pools ;D