Author Topic: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017  (Read 105644 times)

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #200 on: May 05, 2017, 05:39:16 AM »
Do you other DIY-growers plan your holiday around the harvesting season?  For work reasons we often need to take vacation in mostly July, and often the first week of August, and these are exactly the weeks that our strawberries need harvesting. Luckily the spinach went better and could be eaten on time.

Blissful Biker

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #201 on: May 05, 2017, 08:37:05 AM »

My biggest problem has been aphids getting the kale by July every year.  I heard marigolds would prevent aphid infestations so I planted lots of them with the kale last year.  They looked beautiful but did not seem to be a deterrent for those darn aphids.  :(

I had the same issue with my kale last year Blissful.  I guess not enough predator insects?  I see in some of my seed catalogs that they sell packages of ladybugs.  If it happens again this year I might give that a try.

That is a good idea!  Thanks

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #202 on: May 05, 2017, 08:51:07 AM »
Do you other DIY-growers plan your holiday around the harvesting season?  For work reasons we often need to take vacation in mostly July, and often the first week of August, and these are exactly the weeks that our strawberries need harvesting. Luckily the spinach went better and could be eaten on time.

Yes!  We've done this.  In the past we have planned our vacation travel around the garden.  Tried to squeeze it in between the busy planting time and the busy harvesting time.  Our biggest worry then was making sure we had our watering system (drip irrigation) set up to run while we were gone.  We had a neighbor check every few days to make sure that went ok.   

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #203 on: May 07, 2017, 07:26:08 PM »
This Prior, how do you like our Chicago weather? I put the thermometer outside last night, it showed 29.8F as low. WTF?????

Linea_Norway

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #204 on: May 08, 2017, 01:23:11 AM »
I removed all weeds from the flower garden and vegetable patch. We have sown spinach. We have put the chili pepper plants to bigger pots. They are doing really well. The first strawberry bushes are getting flowers.
Quite a few flowers in the flower bed are coming up. A couple are already showing flowers.
The herbs in the kitchen window are still growing, but not yet big enough to eat. The remaining spring onion cuts are having high greens again and can be eaten again. I will have to put a new garlic fed in the pot as the old one died.
2 Yearlings from the grape bushes are starting to grow leaves. This was a difficult process.

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #205 on: May 08, 2017, 03:45:49 AM »
Great weekend in the garden! We had some brisk overnight lows in the 30s, but everything came through it ok.  I had my new little pepper plants (only 3" tall) under row cover, so they did ok.  Sowed kale. 

Worked in the orchard for hours yesterday. We have a five year old apple tree named Bob that has a cool story.  Bob started out as a seed inside an apple my husband was eating. As he finished the apple DH noticed that one of the seeds was sprouting.  He gave it to me and I put it in a pot. That seed took off, and a year later was a foot tall seedling.  I planted him outside, and his first two years were rough.  Twice-- twice! -- the rabbits got to him and ate him down to the ground, every leaf and twig.  And twice -- twice! -- he grew back. Talk about a survivor.   Last spring, when Bob was four years old and about 18 inches tall we moved cross country.  We dug him up and took him with us in a pot.  We planted Bob in the orchard at our new place, and he took off.   He is now almost six feet tall.  He has survived one deer munching last fall which took off most of his branches, but he is looking pretty good now.  He has lots of branches and leaves, and we have him well fenced. Damn deer.  Spent some good time on Bob yesterday -- pruning, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, making sure his fence is secure.   

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #206 on: May 08, 2017, 04:02:59 AM »
Barring further herbivore attacks, when will Bob likely make fruit?

We have a dog we've nicknamed Bob , Bob Barker 😀

ooeei

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #207 on: May 08, 2017, 06:04:04 AM »
Great weekend in the garden! We had some brisk overnight lows in the 30s, but everything came through it ok.  I had my new little pepper plants (only 3" tall) under row cover, so they did ok.  Sowed kale. 

Worked in the orchard for hours yesterday. We have a five year old apple tree named Bob that has a cool story.  Bob started out as a seed inside an apple my husband was eating. As he finished the apple DH noticed that one of the seeds was sprouting.  He gave it to me and I put it in a pot. That seed took off, and a year later was a foot tall seedling.  I planted him outside, and his first two years were rough.  Twice-- twice! -- the rabbits got to him and ate him down to the ground, every leaf and twig.  And twice -- twice! -- he grew back. Talk about a survivor.   Last spring, when Bob was four years old and about 18 inches tall we moved cross country.  We dug him up and took him with us in a pot.  We planted Bob in the orchard at our new place, and he took off.   He is now almost six feet tall.  He has survived one deer munching last fall which took off most of his branches, but he is looking pretty good now.  He has lots of branches and leaves, and we have him well fenced. Damn deer.  Spent some good time on Bob yesterday -- pruning, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, making sure his fence is secure.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but apples don't grow "to type" from seed.  It's literally a lottery every time you plant an apple seed.  Bob could have the tastiest fruit in all of the world (in which case, you can probably sell branches to a few orchards to graft onto their trees), or he could be king of crabapples.  Kind of cool to wait and see what happens.

Roots&Wings

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #208 on: May 08, 2017, 06:18:00 AM »
Do we get to see a pic of Bob, the-most-determined apple tree? :) And how do you mulch/fertilize your fruit trees, curious what you use?
« Last Edit: May 08, 2017, 06:19:54 AM by step-in-time »

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #209 on: May 08, 2017, 06:19:48 AM »
Great weekend in the garden! We had some brisk overnight lows in the 30s, but everything came through it ok.  I had my new little pepper plants (only 3" tall) under row cover, so they did ok.  Sowed kale. 

Worked in the orchard for hours yesterday. We have a five year old apple tree named Bob that has a cool story.  Bob started out as a seed inside an apple my husband was eating. As he finished the apple DH noticed that one of the seeds was sprouting.  He gave it to me and I put it in a pot. That seed took off, and a year later was a foot tall seedling.  I planted him outside, and his first two years were rough.  Twice-- twice! -- the rabbits got to him and ate him down to the ground, every leaf and twig.  And twice -- twice! -- he grew back. Talk about a survivor.   Last spring, when Bob was four years old and about 18 inches tall we moved cross country.  We dug him up and took him with us in a pot.  We planted Bob in the orchard at our new place, and he took off.   He is now almost six feet tall.  He has survived one deer munching last fall which took off most of his branches, but he is looking pretty good now.  He has lots of branches and leaves, and we have him well fenced. Damn deer.  Spent some good time on Bob yesterday -- pruning, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, making sure his fence is secure.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but apples don't grow "to type" from seed.  It's literally a lottery every time you plant an apple seed.  Bob could have the tastiest fruit in all of the world (in which case, you can probably sell branches to a few orchards to graft onto their trees), or he could be king of crabapples.  Kind of cool to wait and see what happens.

Interesting!  I don't know much about fruit trees, but it's high time I learned because we have a bunch of them on our new property.  Plus I have Bob to care for.  I don't even know what kind of apple Bob came from!  I think he was probably Fuji, but not sure.   It's a total crapshoot.  :)

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #210 on: May 08, 2017, 06:30:40 AM »
Great weekend in the garden! We had some brisk overnight lows in the 30s, but everything came through it ok.  I had my new little pepper plants (only 3" tall) under row cover, so they did ok.  Sowed kale. 

Worked in the orchard for hours yesterday. We have a five year old apple tree named Bob that has a cool story.  Bob started out as a seed inside an apple my husband was eating. As he finished the apple DH noticed that one of the seeds was sprouting.  He gave it to me and I put it in a pot. That seed took off, and a year later was a foot tall seedling.  I planted him outside, and his first two years were rough.  Twice-- twice! -- the rabbits got to him and ate him down to the ground, every leaf and twig.  And twice -- twice! -- he grew back. Talk about a survivor.   Last spring, when Bob was four years old and about 18 inches tall we moved cross country.  We dug him up and took him with us in a pot.  We planted Bob in the orchard at our new place, and he took off.   He is now almost six feet tall.  He has survived one deer munching last fall which took off most of his branches, but he is looking pretty good now.  He has lots of branches and leaves, and we have him well fenced. Damn deer.  Spent some good time on Bob yesterday -- pruning, fertilizing, weeding, mulching, making sure his fence is secure.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but apples don't grow "to type" from seed.  It's literally a lottery every time you plant an apple seed.  Bob could have the tastiest fruit in all of the world (in which case, you can probably sell branches to a few orchards to graft onto their trees), or he could be king of crabapples.  Kind of cool to wait and see what happens.

Yes, apples are interesting that way. Some varieties have even come from a sport (~ side branch) of a tree that produced better fruit.

Bob may be a great find - "The Red Delicious apple variety was discovered in 1875 as a chance seedling growing on Jesse Hiatt’s farm in Peru, Iowa. Thinking it was a nuisance, Hiatt tried to chop down the seedling, but the tree grew back repeatedly. On the third time, Hiatt allowed it to grow and produce apples."

I think the original Red Delicious was likely a tastier apple than we see today. We may have selected for production, shipping, and handling characteristics that inadvertently selected against the best flavor and texture.

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #211 on: May 08, 2017, 06:33:37 AM »
Do we get to see a pic of Bob, the-most-determined apple tree? :) And how do you mulch/fertilize your fruit trees, curious what you use?

Ha ha -- sure.  I will try to take a pic tonight when I get home.  :) He is tall and thin.  Hoping he "fills out." 

I pulled out all the grass to about a three foot diameter around his trunk.  I bought some 19-10-5 fruit tree fertilizer at the garden center and sprinkled it on the ground around him. (The folks at the garden center said ideally I should have fertilized earlier this spring, but still fine to do it now, as he is not flowering). Then I put down composted grass clippings and shredded wood as a mulch to keep the grass down.
 
If any of you know about apple trees, please feel free to give me pointers!  I don't know much. 

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #212 on: May 08, 2017, 06:36:09 AM »
Barring further herbivore attacks, when will Bob likely make fruit?

We have a dog we've nicknamed Bob , Bob Barker 😀

Bob Barker -- love it.  :)

Don't know when Bob will make fruit.  He hasn't flowered yet.  And honestly, after the deer attack in the fall, he needs to work on growing his branches back before he should think about fruit. 

RetiredAt63

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #213 on: May 08, 2017, 07:58:29 AM »
A friend gave me some garlic from her garden last fall.  I ate the bigger cloves and planted the smaller ones.  I have masses of garlic up.  And so far it hasn't drowned, I love raised beds.

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #214 on: May 08, 2017, 08:04:51 AM »
It stopped raining in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  Glorious sunshine.  Even though the soil was heavy I planted five asparagus roots to add to the five I already have.  I made a mental note that this asparagus bed needs a heaping helping of manure.  Only two of the existing plants are really producing. 

I am also trying Tayberries.  I had never heard of them before.  They are a cross between a raspberry (like 'em) and a blackberry (like 'em too).  I got three plants.  They won't get full sun all day as my neighbour's pine trees cast a shadow over them late in the day but these trees are about five years past their prime and planted way to close together.  I can't see them being around for five more years. 

I have two rhubarb roots to plant.  I have rhubarb in my front garden but it doesn't get enough sun so I haven't been able to harvest it yet.  I am thinking of planting these two new ones in the shared part of the community garden.  It is full sun. 

The other big job I did was plant the potatoes.  The dandelions just started blooming in the lawn so it was time to get that job done. I got my free wire cage set up in a good sturdy circle.  This year I made a watering tube.  Last year it was very difficult to get the water into the tower.  I used three pots of decreasing size partially filled with rocks and soil.  The pots are right in the center of the tower stacked in a pryamid. I also had a short piece of scrap downspout that I placed into the stacked pots so that I can put the hose in the top and fill the pots deep within the tower.  I emptied the kitchen compost bin from last year and the yard waste composter from three years ago into the wire cage.  I planted the seed potatoes about 8 inches from the outside edge.  There are five layers of potatoes in total so it works out to about 6 inches between each layer of potatoes. I used some of the old leaves that were still on the gardens to hold the lovely light compost in the wire.  I topped it off with a 10 gallon pot of manure and another of soil from a trenching project three years ago.  I will likely need to add more material over the summer as the compost and leaves compact down quite a bit.  I think there might be more warmth with a little decomposition still happening but am not sure if that causes some nitrogen deficiency.  Last year the crop was disappointing but that might just be drought related.  Hopefully the design modifications improve the yield.

I did not go to my allotment garden to see what happened with all the rain.

I think I found yellow morels growing in the front garden near the tayberries.  Pretty cool if I can forage on my own property! 

Fruit tree growers:  I haven't had time to check out the videos at orchardpeople.com but someone recommended this site.

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #215 on: May 08, 2017, 08:12:28 AM »
Try pouring the water left from cleaning and soaking morels into your yard. A friend did this and has morels coming up in her yard! Easiest foraging ever!  Not sure if she picked spots with specific characteristics - like shade or west side or...)

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #216 on: May 08, 2017, 09:52:44 AM »
Planted two pomegranates, four figs and a red fleshed apple in half wine barrels plus two persimmons in the ground all while being scolded by a nesting pair of wrens as I was too close to the birdhouse - sorry!  Next year that birdhouse is getting moved to somewhere away from the patio. 

Anyhow, see how these all do in our pacific northwest climate and if they do well paw paws are up next.  I am also definitely planting a lemon and lime tree next week after watching this and visiting the experimental farm:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX-R8sq6-vg

Also moved around a bunch of strawberry runners and am almost ready to plant the wild strawberry seedlings although I fear the slugs.

This is what the apple is supposed to look like:

http://www.freshplaza.com/2014/1218/moon1.jpg

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #217 on: May 08, 2017, 10:01:06 AM »
This Prior, how do you like our Chicago weather? I put the thermometer outside last night, it showed 29.8F as low. WTF?????

I HATE IT. HATE HATE HATE HATE.

At least I am at the lakefront so we didn't get frost. I think we were in the high 30s. And at least it is sunny.

I keep telling myself that last frost date here is 5/15 so technically these temps are "normal" for us. But it's still making me really cranky. Although my greens are really enjoying the cool weather. Yum, spinach!

I'm now going to have my yearly whine about how hard it is to harden off warm-weather seedlings when one is at work all day while the sun is shining and cannot run the plants inside if it gets cold or starts violently storming or they seem unhappy. My tomatoes and peppers get sunburn every year when I plant them because I only have 2 days a week that I can set them out in the sun for a couple hours and baby them. They actually spent a lot of time outdoors this weekend since it was sunny, if cold, and they tolerated it OK. Too bad I won't be able to do that again until Saturday.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2017, 10:15:38 AM by Tris Prior »

jlcnuke

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #218 on: May 08, 2017, 10:45:56 AM »
Third year of gardening for me. The garden is done/for myself and local family (parents, brother). This year we probably have too many of somethings, but here's the list right now:

~ ?? Strawberries (~4'x6' worth right now, haven't counted plants as plants from the shoots last year and the year before are probably 1/2 of that).
5 pickling cucumbers
2 grape tomatoes (Tami G's, they were very prolific last year).
5 roma tomatoes (various)
11 slicing tomatoes (various)
12 bush beans (first time doing these, we'll see how that works out)
5 mammoth jalapenos
4 green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
2 pepperoncini peppers (just planted seeds about a week ago, hoping they come up).
3 cayenne peppers
2 chili peppers (1 Fresno and I can't remember the other one's name right now)
some yellow onions
and a bunch of carrots.
also
Genovese Basil, dill, thyme, rosemary, oregano, hot and spicy oregano, leaf parsley, curly parsley, some romaine lettuce, and a bunch of cilantro

SisterX

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #219 on: May 08, 2017, 11:25:32 AM »
Tris Prior - this year my method of hardening off my heat-lovers was to keep them in the garage by a sunny window all the time. I brought them out on a couple of decent weekend days, then put them back in the garage. Then I pulled them out one sunny evening and completely forgot that I had them outside until the next day when I was at work. :) They lived, and actually they seem to be doing pretty well, despite the cool spring we're having in the NW. I planted them in buckets so that they wouldn't get root bound, and so I can move them to our new place, but that's been it so far. I can't believe I didn't kill them with my neglect.

The strawberry bed at my parents' house has overflowed and now there are plants growing outside of the bed. I'm going to dig them up and take them with me when we go. Free strawberry plants!

Also, this is the first year my daughter (3 1/2) has started to really understand growing food. We've been checking on the strawberry blossoms frequently and I've been explaining that they'll turn into strawberries soon. She's waiting anxiously. :)

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #220 on: May 08, 2017, 03:06:54 PM »
Yeah, my mom keeps hers in the garage - sometimes inside the car which is in the garage if it's particularly cold or windy. Unfortunately, no garage here - but I'm grateful that my new apartment has a back deck that gets sun. At my last place I was running plants up and down 3 flights of stairs to the tiny scrap of yard that the building had. It was a huge pain, given the large quantities of plants I start from seed every year.

G-dog

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #221 on: May 08, 2017, 03:48:24 PM »
Harvested some of the lettuces and spinach today - grown in containers on the deck.

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #222 on: May 08, 2017, 09:26:24 PM »
The weeds are so awful this year I'm about to cry uncle.  Actually, progress has been made, but it seems like each time I resolve to garden, I just deal with another section of weeds, and never get around to planting anything. 

Eight tomato seedlings survived my neglect and were rewarded with roomy gallon pots in the greenhouse, where they're growing rapidly.  None are cherry tomatoes, so I sucked it up and paid $3.99 for a black cherry tomato.  I have 20 or so pepper seedlings and too many eggplants.  Really need to get my cucurbits started, but just haven't gotten to it.  My cole crop seedlings are all stunted and root bound in their cups, and I'm not sure if it will even be worth it to transplant them.  I might just chuck them and focus on some fall crops instead.  I don't know what is going on with the things I direct-sowed in March.  The peas are thriving, but the radishes and lettuces have just finally started to grow.  A few carrots have come up, but are barely growing.  The spinach made the 4 leaf stage and promptly bolted; I think I'm done with spinach.

On the up side, I have lots of overwintered leeks, a few beets, and in excess of 100 garlic plants growing nicely.

Frugal Lizard

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #223 on: May 09, 2017, 07:29:41 AM »
I have had pretty good results hardening plants off with putting them outside late afternoon the day before a cloudy day in a fairly windless location.  If they get used to the wind first to strengthen their little stems before having to deal with full on sun and rain, they seem to be fine.

I have one more night of frost so one more day of everything being light deprived.  Tomorrow am everything goes into the greenhouse again.  I need to cut back a curly willow tree that blocks the greenhouse and get the replacement vent lifts installed but I don't know if I can have time tomorrow to do that.


Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #224 on: May 09, 2017, 08:20:27 AM »
Has anyone used a vitamin B supplement on their plants? I was volunteering with my community garden org on Sunday, and mentioned that my pepper seedlings, while they don't look unhealthy, seem to have stopped growing. One of the garden leaders recommended that I visit this hydroponic garden supply store (which of course is only open when I'm at work so I can't go until Saturday) for a vitamin B supplement, which solved this problem for her. This supposedly jumpstarts seedlings that look OK but just aren't getting any bigger.

Has anyone heard of this? She couldn't remember the name of the supplement, and the store's far enough away that if I could order online instead, that'd be good.


FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #225 on: May 09, 2017, 08:38:54 AM »
@This Prior.
Exactly same situation with my peppers. They just stagnated

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #226 on: May 09, 2017, 09:46:55 AM »
Yeah, must be the cold weather. This is the place my garden org sent me to: https://www.brewandgrow.com/ Maybe it's this: http://www.brewandgrow.com/grow/b-772.html

But YOW, that is expensive. Cheaper to just buy new starts, if my peppers don't make it. Yikes!




Roots&Wings

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #227 on: May 09, 2017, 02:46:24 PM »
^ Awww, it's no wonder Bob is now flourishing, what a great spot!!! Very nice protective barrier too. And great job posting the pic...no idea why they go sideways sometimes :)

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #228 on: May 10, 2017, 05:25:02 AM »
So -- this involves a different kind of 'gardening', but here goes.   This summer our kids and I are going to try to rehab this old water/rock garden on our property.  It must have once been beautiful, but now is just overgrown and hidden.   It's a ~15 ft long artificial 'streambed' which runs downhill to a small artificial pond that is about 6 feet across and about 3 feet deep.   We would like to clean out the pond and get the waterworks running again, then landscape around it to make it a nice place to spend time.   This past year of living here we noticed the pond is heavily used by the tree frogs in the spring to lay their eggs and hatch out their babies.  We would not want to take that away from them.   It is also used by the bears, who stop by on hot summer nights to take a dip and cool off.  Kind of like a big bathtub, haha. I'm kind of curious what the liner is made of on the bottom of this little pond, and if the bears' claws have done it any damage over the years.   It's still holding water, so I guess it can't be too bad . . .

Should be an interesting project!   

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #229 on: May 10, 2017, 10:18:51 AM »
In my experience, bell peppers take a long time to sprout, especially if it is not warm in your house. (In my last apartment, where we could not control the heat and it was always 85° in there, the pepper seedlings did great.) I know they sell heat mats that you can put under your seed-starting cups or pods or whatever. I haven't tried this, but I may next year as my seedlings did not really enjoy my much colder new apartment this spring.

Anyway, don't give up, and if you have a warmer spot in your house, maybe try moving them there?

horsepoor

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #230 on: May 11, 2017, 06:58:55 AM »
So -- this involves a different kind of 'gardening', but here goes.   This summer our kids and I are going to try to rehab this old water/rock garden on our property.  It must have once been beautiful, but now is just overgrown and hidden.   It's a ~15 ft long artificial 'streambed' which runs downhill to a small artificial pond that is about 6 feet across and about 3 feet deep.   We would like to clean out the pond and get the waterworks running again, then landscape around it to make it a nice place to spend time.   This past year of living here we noticed the pond is heavily used by the tree frogs in the spring to lay their eggs and hatch out their babies.  We would not want to take that away from them.   It is also used by the bears, who stop by on hot summer nights to take a dip and cool off.  Kind of like a big bathtub, haha. I'm kind of curious what the liner is made of on the bottom of this little pond, and if the bears' claws have done it any damage over the years.   It's still holding water, so I guess it can't be too bad . . .

Should be an interesting project!

That sounds really lovely!  You may want to do some research on frog habitat - I'm not sure if they'll appreciate the moving water, but you could probably create a more still area in the pond for them to lay their eggs.

jlcnuke

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #231 on: May 11, 2017, 07:40:47 AM »
Thanks for the tips!  We are in the shoulder season where it's warm enough to shut off the heating system, but the inside temp is in the low 60s.  I can see the peppers not wanting to sprout at these temps.

Pepper seeds "can" germinate in soil temps from 60-90F, but do much better towards the high end of that spectrum (85F being about ideal). Low 60's *may or may not* be warm enough for any given seed. They can also take up to 3 weeks to germinate.

At ~75F, my pepperoncini seeds took right at 3 weeks to germinate in my Aerogarden, in which most things germinate at the lower end of their germination time estimates (herbs that said 5-8 days to germinate were germinating in 3 days for instance).

You may need to use a heat pad or other similar method to raise the temps to get them to germinate.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #232 on: May 11, 2017, 08:30:50 AM »
My carrot seeds have sprouted! Finally! So has almost all of the lettuce/greens. The only thing that didn't come up were the Asian greens, which I was curious about. Oh well. I should have plenty of lettuce otherwise.

It looks like it's going to warm up next week - high 70s?!? so I'm contemplating putting some of my tomatoes in. Do I dare tempt fate, when a few years ago it snowed on May 19?! Meh. They're probably OK in their pots for a while, but Boyfriend is eager for the plants to be out from under the grow light. (due to the way our apartment is configured, his office is the only room with a door where the grow light will fit, and behind a door is essential so the cat doesn't eat the plants.) Hmmm.

Maybe the warmth will also help the stunted pepper seedlings?

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #233 on: May 12, 2017, 03:47:17 AM »
So -- this involves a different kind of 'gardening', but here goes.   This summer our kids and I are going to try to rehab this old water/rock garden on our property.  It must have once been beautiful, but now is just overgrown and hidden.   It's a ~15 ft long artificial 'streambed' which runs downhill to a small artificial pond that is about 6 feet across and about 3 feet deep.   We would like to clean out the pond and get the waterworks running again, then landscape around it to make it a nice place to spend time.   This past year of living here we noticed the pond is heavily used by the tree frogs in the spring to lay their eggs and hatch out their babies.  We would not want to take that away from them.   It is also used by the bears, who stop by on hot summer nights to take a dip and cool off.  Kind of like a big bathtub, haha. I'm kind of curious what the liner is made of on the bottom of this little pond, and if the bears' claws have done it any damage over the years.   It's still holding water, so I guess it can't be too bad . . .

Should be an interesting project!

That sounds really lovely!  You may want to do some research on frog habitat - I'm not sure if they'll appreciate the moving water, but you could probably create a more still area in the pond for them to lay their eggs.

Thanks, Horsepoor. I think you may be right about that.  I'll do a bunch of research before we do anything! 

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #234 on: May 12, 2017, 07:02:32 AM »
My carrot seeds have sprouted! Finally! So has almost all of the lettuce/greens. The only thing that didn't come up were the Asian greens, which I was curious about. Oh well. I should have plenty of lettuce otherwise.

It looks like it's going to warm up next week - high 70s?!? so I'm contemplating putting some of my tomatoes in. Do I dare tempt fate, when a few years ago it snowed on May 19?! Meh. They're probably OK in their pots for a while, but Boyfriend is eager for the plants to be out from under the grow light. (due to the way our apartment is configured, his office is the only room with a door where the grow light will fit, and behind a door is essential so the cat doesn't eat the plants.) Hmmm.

Maybe the warmth will also help the stunted pepper seedlings?

Put my tomatoes out yesterday. Could not wait any longer... and bam.. 44F overnight 

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #235 on: May 12, 2017, 08:36:38 AM »
Ferrum, it's going to be in the 80s next week, apparently?! I'm considering putting some of the bigger tomatoes in, if that really happens. I'm just so paranoid from that one year when it snowed in late May. I should probably locate my frost blankets.

starjay

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #236 on: May 12, 2017, 08:44:36 AM »
Ferrum, it's going to be in the 80s next week, apparently?! I'm considering putting some of the bigger tomatoes in, if that really happens. I'm just so paranoid from that one year when it snowed in late May. I should probably locate my frost blankets.

Would a water wall (or whatever the brand name is) help protect your tomatoes when the temp drops? My mom used them a lot when we lived in upstate New York State, near Lake Erie, because we had a fairly long winter and similarly variable temperatures in the spring. Something like this product, to insulate the plant a bit.

For all I know, you've already tried this kinda thing and it didn't work, but Mom swore by it, so I thought I'd mention.

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #237 on: May 12, 2017, 09:37:57 AM »
Those look awesome! What a great idea. But I've got around 20 tomato seedlings, and at $30 a pop for those Wall o'Water things.... yeah, not in the budget. The frost blanket works ok, it's just a pain in the ass to get it looped around the tomato cages and secured so that it doesn't blow away in the wind (which actually happened one year, taking a branch of a tomato plant with it.)

starjay

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #238 on: May 12, 2017, 10:08:46 AM »
Oh geez, I didn't realize how many seedlings you have. Gotcha!

Ha, and I didn't even look at the price, I just found a link to illustrate what I was talking about.

jlcnuke

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #239 on: May 12, 2017, 11:50:49 AM »
Herb garden planted in the self-watering cedar planter boxes I built and installed on the deck railing.

Basil, parsley, dill, cilantro x 5, spicy oregano in this one.


Regular oregano, some lettuce, and other stuff from seed in this one.


Planted some that were already grown/growing, other stuff from seed.

I moved the basil outside because holy fuck does that grow fast. If left in the Aerogarden it would overshadow everything else if I didn't cut it back daily.

sisto

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #240 on: May 12, 2017, 03:23:11 PM »
We have a dwarf Fuji apple, a dwarf nectarine, and a dwarf peach tree. I love the fruit it provides, but we are all organic and fairly lazy gardeners so it sometimes has bug bites and irregular fruit etc. Then we have 2 blueberry bushes, 2 strawberry plants, and a raspberry bush. We also have some herbs that seem to stay year round, rosemary, sage, and oregano and a year round artichoke/s. Then we plant a garden in the spring. This year we have zucchini, straight neck yellow squash, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, peas, kale, lettuce, cilantro, thyme, and parsley.

horsepoor

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #241 on: May 13, 2017, 09:35:25 AM »
Love the planter, Starjay!

It was 33 this morning, and dropping into the 30's again tonight, so I'm not planting out yet.  It was nearly 90 on Thursday afternoon; the weather is giving me whiplash...

$30 for Wall-O-Waters seems high?  The local garden center sells a 3-pack for $15.  Still fairly expensive when you have lots of plants, but they do work well.  One of my co-workers always puts his tomato plants out in them in April, well before our usual last frost date and swears that it allows them to grow a big root system so they take off faster when the weather warms (and he his a PhD ecologist, so I tend to trust his observations on the topic).

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #242 on: May 13, 2017, 10:04:41 AM »
Looks like I have a pretty serious wireworm problem. Might have to unleash some nematodes.

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #243 on: May 14, 2017, 05:48:51 PM »
Transplanted everything out. Just because too tired to move stuff in/out, worry about cold/heat... Chicago, you know

Trifle

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #244 on: May 14, 2017, 06:14:09 PM »
Glorious weekend in the garden.  Direct-seeded more kale, planted out cucumber and tomato starts, planted two new grape vines (Muscadine -- very excited about those), and weeded and mulched the two young fig trees we planted last summer. They look pretty good --  a little winter damage toward the ends of their branches, but plenty of leaves and new growth lower down.  We learned a lot last winter about how to protect figs, so we'll do a better job wrapping them this fall.   Our big fig (was here when we moved in last year) survived the winter but had considerable damage. Will have to give some thought to how to cold-protect something the size of a small tree.

Also bought a few cantaloupe starts.  DH has volunteered to hoe up a new in-ground bed for those guys tomorrow. 

We located a bunch of blackberries in different areas of our property, and we are going to relocate them to a central, organized berry patch.     

Tris Prior

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #245 on: May 14, 2017, 07:15:31 PM »
I hear you, Ferrum. I got a case of the fuck-its and put seven tomatoes in the ground this weekend. Just the ones that were getting tall and really wanted to be in the ground.  I have frost blankets if the weather goes to shit. Hopefully they'll be all right.

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #246 on: May 14, 2017, 09:33:44 PM »
Looks like I have a pretty serious wireworm problem. Might have to unleash some nematodes.

Muah'Dib

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #247 on: May 15, 2017, 08:55:16 AM »
Love the planter, Starjay!

It was 33 this morning, and dropping into the 30's again tonight, so I'm not planting out yet.  It was nearly 90 on Thursday afternoon; the weather is giving me whiplash...

$30 for Wall-O-Waters seems high?  The local garden center sells a 3-pack for $15.  Still fairly expensive when you have lots of plants, but they do work well.  One of my co-workers always puts his tomato plants out in them in April, well before our usual last frost date and swears that it allows them to grow a big root system so they take off faster when the weather warms (and he his a PhD ecologist, so I tend to trust his observations on the topic).

The planter IS awesome, and it belongs to jlcnuke - I can't take credit for that.

I'm sure the wall-of-water thing is cheaper elsewhere; that was just the first link I happened on, and then copied, into my post to illustrate what I was describing. Mom swore by these years ago, and there's no way she would have or could have paid the equivalent money 30ish years ago. We were too poor then...one of the reasons she had a garden was to keep food on the table. Even now, when she gardens more for pleasure than for necessity, she wouldn't fork out that much for them (and she still uses 'em here in the Southeast...just earlier in the year, given how long our growing season is).

FerrumB5

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #248 on: May 15, 2017, 10:34:15 AM »
Put my peppers outside yesterday. A f...g bunny already killed one :(

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Re: Planting / Growing Your Own - 2017
« Reply #249 on: May 15, 2017, 12:02:11 PM »
Ferrum, my sympathies on those GD rabbits. Little fuckers decimated my seedlings.

About the wall-o'-water things, could you not just reuse milk jugs and whatnot as a cheaper/free alternative? I mean, fill old plastic bottles with water and set them around the plants.

Now that I'm writing that out I'm thinking of my own heat-lovers and how they've been rather pitiful since I planted them out. I think I'll do that this afternoon when I get home. I should be able to get roughly 800 seltzer-water bottles from my parents.