The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Throw Down the Gauntlet => Topic started by: RetiredAt63 on December 22, 2018, 08:08:10 AM
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I know we are not quite into 2019 yet, but I got my first seed catalogue in the mail, so it is officially the 2019 growing season! You know, like cars, the 2019 models are already out.
Last year I got my overgrown garden under control. This year I want to grow more food for storage, since I now have more space. That means things like winter squash.
I also want to do more of my own seed saving, which means buying open pollinated and non Plant Variety Protected seeds. I have also been reading about OSSI (Open Source Seed Initiative) and plan to buy some OSSI seeds.
Anyone else thinking about next summer's garden yet?
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Me! Me! I got my first seed catalog this past week too (Territorial)! I love looking at all the varieties. Although I do buy a few new varieties of things each year, I find I have sooooo many left over from previous years, and the seeds keep quite well that I try to restrict myself from only buying a few each year. Last year my new things were kohlrabi and sprouting purple broccoli, and corn! This year who knows! Maybe redventure celery? Thinking about doing some fun potato too, which would be a first for me. Possibly sunchokes. I like to grow things I can't easily get at the grocery store (if at all). I am thinking about getting a couple of dwarf cherries this year too. :O
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Me! Me! I got my first seed catalog this past week too (Territorial)! I love looking at all the varieties. Although I do buy a few new varieties of things each year, I find I have sooooo many left over from previous years, and the seeds keep quite well that I try to restrict myself from only buying a few each year. Last year my new things were kohlrabi and sprouting purple broccoli, and corn! This year who knows! Maybe redventure celery? Thinking about doing some fun potato too, which would be a first for me. Possibly sunchokes. I like to grow things I can't easily get at the grocery store (if at all). I am thinking about getting a couple of dwarf cherries this year too. :O
Mine was William Dam. Founded by immigrants from Holland, so they have quite a few European vegetables.
I also have lots of seeds left over, but since I didn't do much gardening for a few years most of them are not great for germination rates. I had been buying off seed racks the last few years because I was ordering so few seeds, but I find the quality isn't as good even at a garden centre. I'm back to catalogue orders. I also want to try ISSO seeds, which means hunting out really small seed companies, the kind that operate out of the kitchen.
I moved my cherry trees last fall, and they were a bit big for moving, so I am just hoping they survive the move and the weird winter we are having. Cherries will be a bonus. Gardening is always a gamble.
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Yes! I did a lot of work on my garden last month, so I should be able to grow a lot more in 2019. I'm also interested in growing more for storage (onions, spaghetti squash, corn for cornmeal, maybe have another go at growing dried beans). I planted about 200 garlic cloves around the edge of one of the new beds.
Seeds already ordered from Pinetree and Baker Creek. I will probably begin the seed-starting process in February.
In the winter I like to make "seed mats" by gluing carrot, beet and radish seeds to single-ply paper towels with Elmer's glue. Makes succession planting easy in the spring when I'm otherwise too busy to be bothered.
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Following.
2018 was great for tomatoes and cucumbers! A complete disappointing disaster for jalapenos and bells - bushes were strong (topped them after 3rd knot) but almost no peppers.. WTF? Any ideas what could have happened?? Bells - don't even want to talk about it. Banana peppers were OK, but also on low side
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Following!
I bought a house this year, so have a brand new gardening space to whip into shape. Rehabilitating two 4x8 beds and one 4x4 bed, as well as deciding where all my potted perennials are going to go come spring. Really enjoying the planning process.
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Following.
2018 was great for tomatoes and cucumbers! A complete disappointing disaster for jalapenos and bells - bushes were strong (topped them after 3rd knot) but almost no peppers.. WTF? Any ideas what could have happened?? Bells - don't even want to talk about it. Banana peppers were OK, but also on low side
I don't know why I even bother growing bell peppers. I always swear it's the last time, then I find seeds and start them the next spring anyway. I get peppers, but they are mostly small, and only a couple ripen just at the time they're dirt cheap in the store. Some of the pointed sweet peppers seem to fare better than the bell types.
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Following.
2018 was great for tomatoes and cucumbers! A complete disappointing disaster for jalapenos and bells - bushes were strong (topped them after 3rd knot) but almost no peppers.. WTF? Any ideas what could have happened?? Bells - don't even want to talk about it. Banana peppers were OK, but also on low side
I don't know why I even bother growing bell peppers. I always swear it's the last time, then I find seeds and start them the next spring anyway. I get peppers, but they are mostly small, and only a couple ripen just at the time they're dirt cheap in the store. Some of the pointed sweet peppers seem to fare better than the bell types.
Last summer was the first year I had good red sweet peppers. It was super hot and we had no rain for a month (I watered), I think that helped. They came in waves, I think there was a long period where it was too hot at night and the pollination didn't take. That let the first batch ripen, and then the second batch of babies also did well. It may also have been the variety - I got these at a garden club plant sale and don't what variety they were. Most years planting them is a triumph of optimism over experience. The basil in the same bed also did really well, I have enough dried basil to easily get me through the winter and spring.
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Its mid summer here, and in spite of life happening, I have a modest vege and herb garden, currently yielding a trickle of beans, lettuce, silverbeet, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and a small variety of herbs.. The parsley, shallots and leeks have all gone to seed. I'm hoping 2019 will see a major increase in production.
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Its mid summer here, and in spite of life happening, I have a modest vege and herb garden, currently yielding a trickle of beans, lettuce, silverbeet, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and a small variety of herbs.. The parsley, shallots and leeks have all gone to seed. I'm hoping 2019 will see a major increase in production.
Are you in a warm enough area that you can have a winter garden and a summer garden? Or far enough south that winter really is winter? I read about southern American (US, not the continent of South America) gardeners and pacific coast gardeners who can have both, and feel a bit of envy. But then I realise my nice cold winters kill a lot of garden pests and mean a lot of others only have one generation a year, so maybe my garden situation is not so bad. ;-)
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I put together a seed wish list, but I have more than I need so I'm making myself wait. I am debating on trying winter sowing again, but I can never seem to get it together.
Following.
2018 was great for tomatoes and cucumbers! A complete disappointing disaster for jalapenos and bells - bushes were strong (topped them after 3rd knot) but almost no peppers.. WTF? Any ideas what could have happened?? Bells - don't even want to talk about it. Banana peppers were OK, but also on low side
Do you fertilize at all? If so, don't. Peppers thrive on neglect and the nitrogen will make them grow like weeds, but produce nothing. I stopped using seaweed fertilizer on my peppers and I finally got a good harvest.
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I'm in! Got my first seed catalog the other day -- Seed Savers Exchange. My favorite -- love those guys.
Major plans this year include an 8 foot deer fence around our vegetable garden. Last year we focused on perennials, including berries, grapes, and fruit trees. This year, with the help of that deer fence I will go full steam ahead on vegetables again, including some fennel and beans from my friend @Indio. :)
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PTF for ideas. I have a serious case of black thumb, but I want to start growing some of my own veggies/herbs (just in case the zombiepocalyse happens ;) ). I'm looking into purchasing an indoors kit (Aggressively Organic looks good), rather than something outside though.
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Has anyone used LED grow lights?
I'd like to get one more fixture for seed starting. I like my T5 fixtures, but the price on LEDs has come down, so thinking they may get be a good option.
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Has anyone used LED grow lights?
I'd like to get one more fixture for seed starting. I like my T5 fixtures, but the price on LEDs has come down, so thinking they may get be a good option.
Not yet. I did switch from the old tubes to the newer ones, basically because you can't get replacement ballasts for the old ones anymore. I researched K values and got ones that seemed appropriate, now I forget what they were. But the plants like them.
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Me! Me! I got my first seed catalog this past week too (Territorial)! I love looking at all the varieties. Although I do buy a few new varieties of things each year, I find I have sooooo many left over from previous years, and the seeds keep quite well that I try to restrict myself from only buying a few each year. Last year my new things were kohlrabi and sprouting purple broccoli, and corn! This year who knows! Maybe redventure celery? Thinking about doing some fun potato too, which would be a first for me. Possibly sunchokes. I like to grow things I can't easily get at the grocery store (if at all). I am thinking about getting a couple of dwarf cherries this year too. :O
I got the same catalog and placed an order today. It’s my annual birthday gift to myself. I did order some of that sprouting purple broccoli seed!
I’ve tried the redaventure celery before and wasn’t pleased. It takes forever to grow and is very demanding in terms of water. I have lovage now instead- it’s stronger flavored and a perennial. I use it in cooking so the stronger flavor is just fine.
I try to add an edible perennial or two each year. This year’s picks included the small kiwi and two huckleberry plants. I have the perfect spaces for both. Oh and I did buy asparagus crowns- the ones at the local nursery always look like moldy crap. So I guess that’s three for this year.
New seeds this year include butterbaby squash and a collard variety. Last year I started some cardoon and those are overwintering just fine in pdx.
I’m already growing greens in the basement- tired of the lettuce recalls! I have lights set up already anyway so I figured I’d start a few trays every 2 weeks. The mustards, kale and chard from a few weeks ago is not quite baby size yet- definitely well past micro but not quite but enough to harvest much.
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PTF for ideas. I have a serious case of black thumb, but I want to start growing some of my own veggies/herbs (just in case the zombiepocalyse happens ;) ). I'm looking into purchasing an indoors kit (Aggressively Organic looks good), rather than something outside though.
I looked up the aggressively organic. Didn’t look for the price but they are using a growth medium and fertilizer, which they presumably sell you at some amount of $.
I think it depends on what you want to grow inside, and how much you want to spend. I buy a few new seed packets each year (those last for at least 5 years, since I’m not growing the whole packet at once) and reuse my pots. Some stuff like tomatoes and peppers I start indoors but it all gets shifted outdoors as spring progresses. Other than an occasional bag of soil and a few packets of seed, my annual costs are pretty small. It rains a lot here, so water is less of a concern. I also keep chickens, which provide an amazing fertilizer if you don’t mind waiting for it to compost for a year. (I am adding a couple of edible perennials each year, but I’m really talking about the cost of annual veggies!)
Anyway, lots of folks on this thread could help if you give us an idea of what you want to grow!
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Mr. krmit got me a seed warming mat for Christmas! I had been concerned about the ability of seeds to germinate well in an unheated garage, so I'm very excited to try it out in a month or two.
More advanced gardeners, would you say that kohlrabi or cabbage is more challenging to grow? Trying to finalize my seed order...
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I've not grown "head" cabbage (if that's what you mean?) but kohlrabi and cabbage are the same species, just different varieties selected for different things. I have grown kohlrabi and it is fun because I rarely see it in the store. You can eat the leaves of kohlrabi just like other cruciform crops, I usually saute them. I didn't find it difficult, and you don't have to worry about getting it to "head" before it bolts.
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I’ve tried the redaventure celery before and wasn’t pleased. It takes forever to grow and is very demanding in terms of water. I have lovage now instead- it’s stronger flavored and a perennial. I use it in cooking so the stronger flavor is just fine.
I knew celery took forever (like 270 days or something ridiculous!) but I hadn't thought about water. If lovage can be substituted in cooked things, maybe I will try that instead!
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@CalBal Thanks! I've attempted fall cabbage in containers with somewhat disappointing results, especially considering how cheap it gets at the farmer's market this time of year. Might be a more rewarding use of space to attempt the unusual.
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Lovage does get reallllly tall. It produces seeds but here in the maritime PNW the seeds won’t grow new plants so it stays in one place and doesn’t tend to get much larger around once it’s mature.. They need cold treatment to sprout and it just doesn’t get cold enough. I’ve successfully propagated from seed, but really most folks don’t need more than one plant.
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@CalBal Thanks! I've attempted fall cabbage in containers with somewhat disappointing results, especially considering how cheap it gets at the farmer's market this time of year. Might be a more rewarding use of space to attempt the unusual.
That's what I figure. :) One thing I learned is you don't want to wait too long to harvest for the actual "kholrabi" part of the plant (the bulbous part of the plant at the base) or it will get woody. I've been told softball size is good. You can eat the leaves after that though still if you miss it, until it bolts.
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I tried the Redventure celery once several years ago and was also disappointed. Maybe I didn't water it enough, but it was bitter and stringy. This year I'm trying Chinese pink celery. (https://www.rareseeds.com/chinese-pink-celery/) Sounds promising - it will go in the part of the garden that gets the overspray from the lawn, so watering shouldn't be a problem.
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Last year, we had our best crop yet, but I want to do better this year with what I've learned. I ordered equipment to do my own canning so we should be able to make jam from our strawberry patch and blackberry plants. I want a lot more carrots, onions, and peppers for stews and I want to grow a lot more of my own herbs. The garden will be significantly larger this year, so hopefully I can make this happen.
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One new thing I'm trying this year is a 'tea garden' -- plants for herbal teas. So far I've got on the list: various mints including catnip, lemon balm, chamomile, and stevia. Maybe lemon grass? I was surprised to read that lavender can be drunk as tea -- interesting. I would think it would smell like you were drinking soap? (I associate the smell of lavender with soap or dishwashing detergent). Anyway I've grown lavender before and it's beautiful, so I'll include it.
I'll set aside a section of the garden and just plant a bunch of things -- see what's what. if anyone has any ideas let me know!
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One new thing I'm trying this year is a 'tea garden' -- plants for herbal teas. So far I've got on the list: various mints including catnip, lemon balm, chamomile, and stevia. Maybe lemon grass? I was surprised to read that lavender can be drunk as tea -- interesting. I would think it would smell like you were drinking soap? (I associate the smell of lavender with soap or dishwashing detergent). Anyway I've grown lavender before and it's beautiful, so I'll include it.
I'll set aside a section of the garden and just plant a bunch of things -- see what's what. if anyone has any ideas let me know!
I have a lavender earl grey tea and it is *lovely*. Not herbal, I know, but a data point for lavender in tea.
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One new thing I'm trying this year is a 'tea garden' -- plants for herbal teas. So far I've got on the list: various mints including catnip, lemon balm, chamomile, and stevia. Maybe lemon grass? I was surprised to read that lavender can be drunk as tea -- interesting. I would think it would smell like you were drinking soap? (I associate the smell of lavender with soap or dishwashing detergent). Anyway I've grown lavender before and it's beautiful, so I'll include it.
Same! We're try to inch ourselves away from relying on commercial products to growing / making our own, and coffee is a big area for me to tackle (my husband doesn't care for the stuff, lucky bastard!). I'm hoping that adding some tea plants to our existing garden will help me break the habit. Right now, I'm thinking mint, lemon balm, and chamomile. Maybe lavender too, if we can swing it. Not necessarily for tea, but as a cooking spice. Stevia would be cool too.
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I got the same catalog and placed an order today. It’s my annual birthday gift to myself. I did order some of that sprouting purple broccoli seed!
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Please tell me how you get on with that. I cannot get it to flower.
I’ve tried the redaventure celery before and wasn’t pleased. It takes forever to grow and is very demanding in terms of water. I have lovage now instead- it’s stronger flavored and a perennial. I use it in cooking so the stronger flavor is just fine.
I knew celery took forever (like 270 days or something ridiculous!) but I hadn't thought about water. If lovage can be substituted in cooked things, maybe I will try that instead!
I started to get my celery fix at the grocery store. I purchase one organic celery (bulb attached), eat the celery, plant the bulb uncovered, and I'll get a continuous harvest of celery as long as it has sufficient water.
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I'm in! Last year was my first year gardening. It went pretty well but this year I want to plan my garden better to maximize space and prep my raised beds a little better to hopefully improve productivity, plus try a couple new plants.
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I'm curious whether I can grow a decent garden using only dollar store seeds. Anybody ever tried that? The seeds I've seen are all heirloom varieties.
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I'm curious whether I can grow a decent garden using only dollar store seeds. Anybody ever tried that? The seeds I've seen are all heirloom varieties.
If they grow in your area and you have the right light requirements for the plant, then it’ll work. You might have to do a little googling to figure out when are the right times to plant each seed. For example, you can’t plant zucchini in the midst of heavy spring rains and cool weather and expect them to grow.
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@Trifele a friend just posted her "wellness tea" blend on FB, here are the ingredients she uses: Nettles, oatstraw, mint, lemon balm, rose, chamomile, red clover, and calendula.
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I'm curious whether I can grow a decent garden using only dollar store seeds. Anybody ever tried that? The seeds I've seen are all heirloom varieties.
You can! I get my heirloom tomato starts from my sister & brother in law (free, but I pay them back in homemade jams). I buy squash (zucchini & yellow crookneck heritage) from Dollar tree & direct sow it with some soil amendments (compost from our local recycling facility, free for anyone with a container & a shovel). I have successfully planted Dollar tree version Alaska bush peas and a container of Dollar tree sweet basil & Thai basil.
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@Trifele a friend just posted her "wellness tea" blend on FB, here are the ingredients she uses: Nettles, oatstraw, mint, lemon balm, rose, chamomile, red clover, and calendula.
Thanks @horsepoor! I can easily do nettles, rose, and clover -- I'll add them to the list. I already have loads of roses; they grow like weeds here. I'll have to move some inside the new fence though -- the deer eat roses like candy. I'm amazed that they survive the heavy browsing year to year. Calendula and oatstraw I'll have to research . . .
Thanks for the comment on lavender @CalBal -- good to know! I had no idea.
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I'm on board with this challenge! My husband and I have a 4 x 10 balcony, so pretty limited space, but in the past we've grown tomatoes, hot peppers, lettuce, and all kinds of herbs. We didn't do anything out there this year because the summer was so rainy here, but we're determined to grow some respectable edibles in 2019.
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I'm in! We recently had the contaminated soil in our yard removed so this is the year where we will have clean soil delivered and will finally be able to have our own food garden! It's a huge and daunting task because right now our yard is just rock and rubble. One thing at a time.
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Following!
Just finally got some deer fence up last November, so this year I should be able to plant something without having it instantly eaten. This place was an estate sale so the deer got used to using it as a highway.
I'm looking forward to re-trying the Volovske squash from The Scatterseed Project https://www.scatterseedproject.org/available-seeds (https://www.scatterseedproject.org/available-seeds). It's supposed to be naked seed AND good to eat AND the shell is thick enough to use for bowls.
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Following!
Just finally got some deer fence up last November, so this year I should be able to plant something without having it instantly eaten. This place was an estate sale so the deer got used to using it as a highway.
I'm looking forward to re-trying the Volovske squash from The Scatterseed Project https://www.scatterseedproject.org/available-seeds (https://www.scatterseedproject.org/available-seeds). It's supposed to be naked seed AND good to eat AND the shell is thick enough to use for bowls.
That sounds like a good squash - let us know how it does? And how many seeds you get for your $5? I wonder how easy the seeds are to save.
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In the winter I like to make "seed mats" by gluing carrot, beet and radish seeds to single-ply paper towels with Elmer's glue. Makes succession planting easy in the spring when I'm otherwise too busy to be bothered.
@horsepoor I love the seed mat idea. I've made them using toilet paper and a mixture of flour water paste to hold seeds in place. It takes time, but it's a fun activity when it's snowing outside.
I've also done a lot of experimentation with indoor grow lights. Started with T5's and T8's, but didn't like how many expensive bulbs I had to replace in a growing season.
Fell in love with red/blue LEDs. Getting the light spectrum for leafing and flowering stages is key. I've got 3 of these light panels - > MAIICY LED Grow Lights 45W, UV IR LED Plant Grow Lights 225 LEDs for Indoor Greenhouse Hydroponic Plants Growing and Flowering
Have used them for the 3 years without losing a bulb. I've toyed with the idea of trying to make my own light panel, but life got in the way, though I'm sure it is doable.
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A few years ago I started an aquaponics experiment using a spare backyard stock tank. Gave up on the project when a raccoon jumped into the tank and left 15 headless tilapia on my back steps. Now I'm more proficient with electric fencing and can protect the tank better so I think I will start it up again this year. I haven't decided if I want to do tilapia again or try shrimp. Need to research how quickly shrimp grow. The aquaponics grow bed was about 30" x 30" and 12" deep. I had 3 squash and 1 tomato plant growing in it and they were huge and prolific.
Last year, I grew Moringa but didn't start it early enough so that will be one another one of my growing goals.
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@Indio glad to hear you like the LEDs. I have my eye on a set of 4 17" blue/red LED strips for $40 from Amazon. I have some old shop lights, so it would be nice to retrofit the LEDs into those reflectors. Flo tubes are expensive to replace, which makes the LEDs even more attractive, assuming they retain their spectrum output fairly well.
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Following, gonna see what seeds I have and start planning my beds.
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Chicken people: I've noticed a fairly large percentage of my chickens' eggs have had blood spots lately. I know this isn't a concern for eating the eggs, but could it be a concern for my chickens' health, like maybe they're not getting enough calcium?
(I hope chicken questions are allowed in this thread - you all were such a help to me in last year's thread).
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Chicken people: I've noticed a fairly large percentage of my chickens' eggs have had blood spots lately. I know this isn't a concern for eating the eggs, but could it be a concern for my chickens' health, like maybe they're not getting enough calcium?
(I hope chicken questions are allowed in this thread - you all were such a help to me in last year's thread).
I am also interested in the answer to this.
On another chicken related note - why aren't my spring chickens laying anymore? It's been super nice in CO lately, and we have 6 new chickens we added to our 4 three year olds this year, and we have gotten ZERO eggs for the last week. They just all decided to boycott at the same time. I'm very sad.
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Chicken people: I've noticed a fairly large percentage of my chickens' eggs have had blood spots lately. I know this isn't a concern for eating the eggs, but could it be a concern for my chickens' health, like maybe they're not getting enough calcium?
(I hope chicken questions are allowed in this thread - you all were such a help to me in last year's thread).
I am also interested in the answer to this.
On another chicken related note - why aren't my spring chickens laying anymore? It's been super nice in CO lately, and we have 6 new chickens we added to our 4 three year olds this year, and we have gotten ZERO eggs for the last week. They just all decided to boycott at the same time. I'm very sad.
Possibilities: Daylength - are you giving them extra lights? Molting - they don't lay while they are molting.
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Molting takes a lot of protein. You can switch them over to a grower feed instead of a layer feed until their combs/wattles turn bright red again. If you just got the hens this past spring (2018) and they are under a year, they may not go through a full molt.
Chickens also need about 14 hours of daylight to produce an egg, so production drops off dramatically in the winter months. Mine typically pick up again in February. I don’t do supplemental lights- I let their natural cycle just complete. Some folks add supplemental light. I give them a break.
Stress will temporarily stop laying in some hens. Attacks, changes in housing and changes in flock make up can all play a role in stress.
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@chaskavitch Chickens need a lot of exposure to light in order to lay. I have a single LED bulb on a timer in my coop to ensure that we get some eggs during the Winter. The timer is set to go on at 4:00am and off at 8. The girls have enough space to walk around and eat till the coop door opens at 7am, without getting fussy at each other. This way hens get about 12 hrs of light exposure a day. In my experience, it doesn't have to be sunlight or bright light, just any kind of light to stimulate egg laying.
We went away over the holidays and the bulb stopped working. After 2 weeks off from increased light, it's taking them a long time to ramp back up the egg production. Will remember to ask our chicken watcher if she got eggs next time.
I don't think molting is the problem for your 2018 spring chicks because they usually don't molt until they are about 18 months old. Always find lots of feathers flying around the yard in the Fall due to molting.
@nessness Not sure about blood spots, but it seems to happen mostly in eggs from my heavy breed hens. If the spots are big, I don't use them.
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Hey gardeners! Garden is still producing here in Central Coast California land. Been harvesting greens (kale, arugula, collards, pea shoots) and planting onions, garlic, and a few flowers for bouquets. I'll have to measure our beds one of these days to get an idea on square footage.
Have a bunch of popcorn we harvested and am wondering if there's an easy way to tell if it's "ready" to be popped and any tips for shucking it easily (besides buying a tool I'll use once a year).
I also love looking through those seed and plant catalogs (Pinetree being the one I order from the most often). I don't have the best seed starting area anymore- goal for this year!
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Thanks @Indio . I did some googling and various articles mention diet, breed, chicken age, and egg age (eggs can absorb the spots over time) as factors in blood spot frequency, but none of it seemed to be of concern, so I won't worry about it anymore.
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I have tomorrow off (woo!) so I'm going to use the three day weekend to start prepping for my vegetable garden project. (We're installing an 8' deer fence and laying out permanent beds and paths). It's chilly here but we have no snow on the ground, so should be fine for a good round of outdoor prep work.
We had two huge old maple trees (who were at the very end of their lives) taken down this week, and the tree crew chipped up all the smaller branches. I have a pile of nice wood chips 10 feet high. I'm thinking to use them for the garden paths and mulching around bushes and trees.
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PTF, and for encouragment. I have 5 4x4 raised beds, and looking to increase number of herbs this year: Parsley, Basil, Chamomile, ...
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I am pouring through the seed catalogues and dreaming about possibilities.
I have a whole bunch of collected seed and a huge box of old bought seed so before I order anything new - I am going to sit down and make a plan for what I have space for and what I already have.
For my birthday in February I am getting myself some new LED grow lights so I can increase my seed starting capacity.
I want to challenge myself to grow some harder things that I haven't had success with before such as parsnips.
My cold cellar is now operational so I want to grow more storage crops such as onions and potatoes. I dislike buying shallots, sweet onions and leeks and potatoes that I know I could now keep in my cold cellar.
I grew leeks from seed last year and was pretty successful storing them until they were all gone just recently. I could double the harvest size. And apparently keeping them in the cold cellar in sand works well.
I have to get a plan together to enrich the soil - some nutrients are not there given the problems growing some crops such as beets.
I have a plan for growing tomatoes, potatoes and cucumbers in a different soil so I can work on getting the garden soil healthy from fungus but that plan needs to be updated.
Making garden plans is difficult this year because a lot of them involved my dad. But I really love growing things and it makes me happy for the most part.
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@Trifele ooh, jealous of your home grown wood chips for pathways! Post some pictures of your project this weekend.
@WonderfulLife43 I love growing herbs too. Chamomile is so lovely to grow and one feels like you should be wearing a sundress or summer outfit while harvesting. La la la. Picking flowers in the sunshine.
We planted a bare root plum ('Emerald Beaut') tree yesterday and my husband pruned our apple ('Pink Pearl') tree. Waiting a few more weeks to prune the weeping plum we have. Last year I gathered the branches and they were beautiful in vases.
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first time poster!
* started cucumber seeds in my Orta seed pots, using my own worm-castings/compost as the seed starting medium
* need to plant out more of the saffron crocus bulbs and transplant some comfrey root
* working on spreading our truckload of free ChipDrop wood chips by doing at least two wheelbarrow loads a day
* still harvesting tangerines
* need to work on harvesting and juicing/preserving our ripening lemon crop
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first time poster!
* started cucumber seeds in my Orta seed pots, using my own worm-castings/compost as the seed starting medium
* need to plant out more of the saffron crocus bulbs and transplant some comfrey root
* working on spreading our truckload of free ChipDrop wood chips by doing at least two wheelbarrow loads a day
* still harvesting tangerines
* need to work on harvesting and juicing/preserving our ripening lemon crop
Don't you love ChipDrop?
I still have 1/2 a load sitting ON THE STREET in front of my house. I was trying to move 5 wheelbarrows a day but then I got hurt and couldn't. Luckily no one has called the city on me yet...
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I had not heard about ChipDrop -- Thanks guys! I don't need any right now (and maybe not for a year!) But very good to know.
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I had not heard about ChipDrop -- Thanks guys! I don't need any right now (and maybe not for a year!) But very good to know.
Chip Drop is the ultimate in mustachianism, if you can stand to store it, and move it. (It is a lot, though you can always share on Buy Nothing or your neighborhood Facebook group.) It's valuable, and FREEEEEEE!
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ChipDrop is the best!
So our realtor gave us a gift card to a local nursery as a 'happy closing on your first house' gift, which I spent 75% of today. Got some tools I need and a few packets of seeds (no, really, only 3 packets of seeds!). Trying to decide if it's too early to start some seeds.
*sigh*
Probably should wait a few weeks.
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I had not heard about ChipDrop -- Thanks guys! I don't need any right now (and maybe not for a year!) But very good to know.
Chip Drop is the ultimate in mustachianism, if you can stand to store it, and move it. (It is a lot, though you can always share on Buy Nothing or your neighborhood Facebook group.) It's valuable, and FREEEEEEE!
Question about ChipDrop -- can you specify at all what kind of wood you want? I'm not fussy, only there are loads of walnut trees around here and I would not want to get walnut mulch.
LOVE the idea. Great use of resources.
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ChipDrop is the best!
So our realtor gave us a gift card to a local nursery as a 'happy closing on your first house' gift, which I spent 75% of today. Got some tools I need and a few packets of seeds (no, really, only 3 packets of seeds!). Trying to decide if it's too early to start some seeds.
*sigh*
Probably should wait a few weeks.
Some seeds can be started much sooner than others. Work backwards from your frost free date from the instructions on the seed packet. Hot peppers can only get nice and hot here if they are started around now and our frost free date is the fourth week of May.
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I had not heard about ChipDrop -- Thanks guys! I don't need any right now (and maybe not for a year!) But very good to know.
Chip Drop is the ultimate in mustachianism, if you can stand to store it, and move it. (It is a lot, though you can always share on Buy Nothing or your neighborhood Facebook group.) It's valuable, and FREEEEEEE!
Question about ChipDrop -- can you specify at all what kind of wood you want? I'm not fussy, only there are loads of walnut trees around here and I would not want to get walnut mulch.
LOVE the idea. Great use of resources.
You can specify if you don't want certain species. It might limit the response you get, especially if there are a lot of walnut trees in your area (and maybe loads are mixed a lot? I don't know.) I decided to risk it and not be specific, but there aren't a ton of walnut trees here.
You can can also choose to accept logs, but unless you have a giant chipper or want to split wood forever you want NO LOGS. They can be truly giant (I have seen pictures). When you sign up the website walks you through it (it's a pretty basic site). I think you have to "renew" your interest every 90 days if you don't get a drop in that time, and one you get a drop you are taken off the list (but can put yourself back on) - I guess the reason is that so people don't get chips unexpectedly or are overloaded.
Anyway, it's a good deal!
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ChipDrop is the best!
So our realtor gave us a gift card to a local nursery as a 'happy closing on your first house' gift, which I spent 75% of today. Got some tools I need and a few packets of seeds (no, really, only 3 packets of seeds!). Trying to decide if it's too early to start some seeds.
*sigh*
Probably should wait a few weeks.
Some seeds can be started much sooner than others. Work backwards from your frost free date from the instructions on the seed packet. Hot peppers can only get nice and hot here if they are started around now and our frost free date is the fourth week of May.
I will be starting my peppers in mid-February, for mid-June planting - we are a couple of weeks behind you, my house is on the cool side, and the seedlings grow slowly. Tomatoes I always want to start too soon - those I start about 7 weeks before planting out, and save milk boxes (1 or 2 L) and transplant to them so I can bury the stems and get a bigger root system. It is always a guess, last year we had a long cold wet spring and the heat-lovers went into the garden late, and were still unhappy about the cold.
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ChipDrop is the best!
So our realtor gave us a gift card to a local nursery as a 'happy closing on your first house' gift, which I spent 75% of today. Got some tools I need and a few packets of seeds (no, really, only 3 packets of seeds!). Trying to decide if it's too early to start some seeds.
*sigh*
Probably should wait a few weeks.
Some seeds can be started much sooner than others. Work backwards from your frost free date from the instructions on the seed packet. Hot peppers can only get nice and hot here if they are started around now and our frost free date is the fourth week of May.
I will be starting my peppers in mid-February, for mid-June planting - we are a couple of weeks behind you, my house is on the cool side, and the seedlings grow slowly. Tomatoes I always want to start too soon - those I start about 7 weeks before planting out, and save milk boxes (1 or 2 L) and transplant to them so I can bury the stems and get a bigger root system. It is always a guess, last year we had a long cold wet spring and the heat-lovers went into the garden late, and were still unhappy about the cold.
Yeah, last year I started my tomatoes in early February and it was just a hair too early - they got pretty rootbound before I could transfer them into the ground and just didn't do spectacularly. I usually just buy my pepper starts - I only do one or two plants a season.
I have a bunch of lavender seeds, which take forever to get going...maybe I'll get some more of those started just to get my hands in some dirt.
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* Husband moved 15 or 20 loads of the wood chips today. Whoo!
* As usual, composted the stomach contents of the robot vacuum, caught food scraps out of the sink with our stainless steel strainers for future compost, and added the coffee grounds to our planting beds.
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For the chicken owners -- Upthread there was mention of blood spots in chicken eggs. That is a weird coincidence because we've had chickens for 7 years now, and I've only seen one blood spot in that whole time -- until this week, when I had TWO. And they weren't spots either -- they were like blood vessels, long. I googled that and read that sometimes vessels can come away during egg formation and be encased in the egg.
I can tell from the egg shell color that these were laid by one of our two year old hens, so not young and not old either. They did just start laying again, though, after their brief 'winter break' . . . Maybe that has something to do with it. I'll keep an eye on them, but we've got 7 two-year-olds so it will be hard to figure out which bird it is. Whoever she is, I hope she's ok.
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I've been shopping for tilapia to stock my mini-aquaponics set up. Need fast growers because they are only going to be harvested in the Fall/Oct so thinking they need to be in the stock tank by early March. Might need to keep it heated somehow since it's still chilly here in zone 6B then. Thinking that I might enclosed the tank with a frame and UV resistant plastic, sort of a mini-greenhouse, to keep it warm during the day. The plants won't go into until late April to fully get the aquaponics part going.
Any suggestions on how to heat it? I wasn't thinking of heating the water but I'm open to ideas.
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This morning I went through all my seed packets and grouped them by starting date, separating out the root vegetables, which will be direct-sown.
My first group will be started Feb 1, with March 1 being the biggest seeding event.
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* Got all the saffron crocus bulbs planted out before the rain begins tomorrow.
* Scattered some cover-crop seed and some California poppy seed
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I've been shopping for tilapia to stock my mini-aquaponics set up. Need fast growers because they are only going to be harvested in the Fall/Oct so thinking they need to be in the stock tank by early March. Might need to keep it heated somehow since it's still chilly here in zone 6B then. Thinking that I might enclosed the tank with a frame and UV resistant plastic, sort of a mini-greenhouse, to keep it warm during the day. The plants won't go into until late April to fully get the aquaponics part going.
Any suggestions on how to heat it? I wasn't thinking of heating the water but I'm open to ideas.
Ooh @Indio, that's a cool project. I don't have any knowledge to share, but am very interested in aquaponics, so I'll be interested to hear about your final set up. This is a naive question, but could you just use a stock tank water heater?
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Though I currently have no garden beds to plant them in (contaminated soil in my yard was scraped away, long story), I could start thinking about starting some seeds. Last summerr I bought a grow light on sale, and it has been sitting in my garage since.
The amount of work it will take to rebuild our yard has been depressing me, but maybe it will help to break the mammoth task down into steps:
1. keep eye out for broad flat plastic clamshell packaging that I could use as seed trays
2. keep eye out for shelving to use as my seed starting center
3. spend 15 minutes planning the hardscape for the area that will eventually be my vegetable beds (it's currently a curved slope of solid rock)
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Ooh @Indio, that's a cool project. I don't have any knowledge to share, but am very interested in aquaponics, so I'll be interested to hear about your final set up. This is a naive question, but could you just use a stock tank water heater?
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@Trifele that's a good idea to use a stock tank water heater. Checked out Tractor Supply to see all the different models but can't find anything on temps. Will likely have to call and find someone knowledgeable to get questions answered. I don't want the water to get to warm too quickly or have will have to install a timer for night when it gets cold.
BTW, I started following #anarchyapiaries on Instagram. He winters in Miami area with his hives and was just at a bee conference in SC. Big debate started on one of his posts about how hobbyist beekeepers don't help the bees... I stayed out of it, but it's an interesting thread.
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Spent the evening with my latest seed catalogue because we all had to be super quiet and not use any bandwidth while son recorded high resolution videos for his university application. Tonight, while he applies to choice number 2 I will bring my seeds upstairs and delete those that I have a good supply of and write a list of those that I need to research the length of viability for.
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Found some sprouted garlic in the pantry so planted out the bulbs in our walkway “herb gardens.” It’s late to start then but at the very least we’ll get some shoots we can use for stir fries etc.
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Joining to follow in here. I live in CA and have been promising myself for ages that I'll fully break the plot out back and make it a garden -- well, hoping to actually *do* that this time around. I've got seeds and I've got the bit of space; I just need to keep weeding out the grass and get some more soil improvements going.
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Joining to follow in here. I live in CA and have been promising myself for ages that I'll fully break the plot out back and make it a garden -- well, hoping to actually *do* that this time around. I've got seeds and I've got the bit of space; I just need to keep weeding out the grass and get some more soil improvements going.
Yeah!! I'm glad you're joining in! Let me know if you want to get together and do a garden work party or something. I know it really helped to have many hands when DH and I were starting a community garden plot.
@jengod good idea! Now I'm looking forward to some garlic shoots to cook with. I love heading out into the veggie garden and harvesting a bit of this and that. Lately I've been pinching back some of the pea shoots in the mixed cover crop we're growing- they're great in salads.
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I planted some sprouted ginger in a pot and it seems to be doing well! Growing leaves and everything.
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That's cool about the ginger @Poundwise.
I have a three foot tall pomegranate tree in a big pot that I brought indoors in the fall. It dropped its leaves and went to sleep, but now is waking up big time. Leaves budding out everywhere. It's more than two months before I'll be able to put it back outside . . . I hope I can keep him happy enough until then. I really should have put the tree in the garage or somewhere cooler to try to keep it dormant longer. Live and learn.
On the pomegranate note, I had thought we couldn't put one in the ground here (Zone 7a) but i just heard from a friend that she has had one in the ground for years. So it's doable with winter protection. I'm going to put this guy in the ground in a sunny spot this spring and leave him there. I'll just bundle him up in the winters like I do my fig trees and hope for the best.
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@Trifele Wow, a pomegranate tree! Never would I have thought about growing one here! (Zone 6b)
I actually harvested some ginger the other day, though it doesn't count because I doubt the ginger has had the time to grow much underground. But I was out of ginger, needed it, and it was there...
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I'm in. We moved to a house with a large yard last year and built four 4x8 boxes, but the deer ate everything. This year we'll be building quite the large deer fence first thing. We bought pear trees this week, but they won't arrive until sometime in April after the last frost date. It'll be our first time growing fruit.
@Trifele I'd suggest putting your mint in a pot. It spreads pretty easily through it's root system and can choke out anything growing near it. We had a 3 foot patch growing near our doorstep when we moved in. It smells wonderful, but it's been crazy trying to reduce the size.
@FerrumB5 I'm not sure where you're located, but some areas in the US have problems with Nemotodes in the soil which will kill your peppers. (sounds fake but its a real thing) You can get resistant bellpepper varieties from some seed sellers. I know Southern Exposure sells them.
Can't wait for the snow to stop so we can get planting! :)
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This year we'll be building quite the large deer fence first thing. We bought pear trees this week, but they won't arrive until sometime in April after the last frost date. It'll be our first time growing fruit.
@Trifele I'd suggest putting your mint in a pot. It spreads pretty easily through it's root system and can choke out anything growing near it. We had a 3 foot patch growing near our doorstep when we moved in. It smells wonderful, but it's been crazy trying to reduce the size.
Hi @coffeefueled -- yes we are building a deer fence as well. We have a swarm here and they eat everything -- even things deer are not supposed to like. I guess they didn't get the memos. What varieties of pear did you get?
Thanks for the tip on mint. I'll have a large empty pot after I put the pomegranate tree in the ground, so I'll use that for the mint haha.
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Watched this permaculture video today by Geoff Lawton from Zaytuna farm somewhere on the east coast of Australia. Great tips about creating swales to route water, composting, food forests, etc. It's always inspiring to see what others are doing to grow their own food and teach others who are interested in learning more about caring for the earth.
https://www.discoverpermaculture.com/p/video-1-pdc-2019
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Watched this permaculture video today by Geoff Lawton from Zaytuna farm somewhere on the east coast of Australia. Great tips about creating swales to route water, composting, food forests, etc. It's always inspiring to see what others are doing to grow their own food and teach others who are interested in learning more about caring for the earth.
https://www.discoverpermaculture.com/p/video-1-pdc-2019
I took a PDC with Geoff last summer in Jordan, he’s the best! These videos are new to me, thanks for the link!
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I whined about my saffron not coming up in the last thread. Well, during a warm day I took a poke around the garden, saw these grassy patches coming through, researched it, and I have saffron! I'm tickled.
Once again the garden teaches me the need for patience.
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Just wanted to share -- the weather was gorgeous today, 62 degrees and sunny. I was down in the garden this afternoon and something about the sunshine made me really sleepy, so I lay down on the grass and took a delicious one hour nap. In hindsight I should probably be grateful a neighbor didn't see me lying there and call 911 . . .
But wow was that good. :)
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I have made a start by planting elephant garlic, ordinary garlic (soft and hard neck), and onions (red and white) in late Autumn 2018.
I have even taken the liberty of starting a gardening blog.
https://plot-30.blogspot.com/ (https://plot-30.blogspot.com/)
I think it will be of much value in remembering just what the hell I planted and where and when, given that labels and so on often go missing, or the ink on them wears off.
Hopefully will survive the frosts and make into the upcoming Spring of 2019:
Elephant garlic
The images show them when planting right at the front of my plot, next to some existing parsnip plants, followed by an update a few months later, 27 January 2019:
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Started sunflower seeds.
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@Trifele
A nap in the garden sounds like a perfect way to enjoy the garden. After enduring the polar vortex, I'm really really looking forward to Spring. How's the garden planning coming along?
@jengod
Geoff dropped two more videos since I linked the first one. I watched part 2 about a Canadian permaculture family. Part 3 came out today, but haven't watched it yet.
I've toyed with visiting Zaytuna but haven't had the time... yet. How was the Jordan program? I'd love to hear what you learned. I've followed the progress for about 4-5 years and it's fascinating to see the changes to such an arid climate.
I subscribe to the Cornell Small Farms newsletter, even though I only have a small garden, and they sent it out today. There was a little nugget in it about biofertilizer's so I went down a rabbit hole learning about it. I make a compost tea/foliar spray using worm castings that brew with molasses and an fish tank aerator, but this was a totally different scale for me. If anyone is interested in learning about the biofertilizer, here's the link https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2019/01/30/recipe-for-success-brew-your-own-biofertilizer/
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Our garden received a large pile of snow over the weekend. I also shoveled a lot of extra snow on the garden patch, to clear a path to the front door. So my guess is that planting anything at all will have to wait until late in the spring, when it all has melted away.
My plan is to plant some herbs in the kitchen window. It is convenient to have some growing there. When they grow out in the garden, I often find it too much work to go out and pick some while cooking. But I think I'll wait a bit until the days get longer and we have stronger sunlight before I plant them.
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Thanks for the links to the Geoff Lawton and Cornell info about biofertilizer @Indio -- I will check those out today. Sounds super interesting!
Garden planning coming along. We've staked out the future deer fence perimeter and I'm researching how to make a functional deer fence look good, if that's possible. :/ I'm reading about angled fencing, where you tip the fence out at a 45 degree angle, which apparently deer don't like to jump over. They say you can do this with a shorter fence (4-6 feet), and it works. To me it looks like it would be a real headache to mow around the exterior. I'm leaning (har har) toward an old school vertical 8 foot fence. We also have to bury the skirting because of woodchucks. We have one huge one the size of a Corgi that loves to mow down my kale.
Gotta get a move on here! The daffodils are 5 inches out of the ground already and the birds are starting to nest. Spring is not waiting for me!
One minor thing hindering me right now in the garden work is that our garden shed has temporarily been turned into a chicken shelter for a half starved Brahma cockerel and pullet we found by the side of the road. Some a$$hole in this area likes to dump his or her unwanted chickens. This is the second time we've found birds dumped like this at the same spot on the road, and I just can't figure it out. You would think most people would just eat unwanted chickens (?) Anyway the guest chickens are in quarantine in our shed, until they (maybe) can eventually be mixed into our flock. (We did successfully mix in the previous side-of-the-road chickens we found.) The Brahmas are doing great, gaining weight and looking good. They are maybe 4 months old -- and are BIG. The pullet is a doll -- very friendly. The cockerel is scared of his own shadow, but very pretty.
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The treated lumber rails of our raised beds are rotting and need replaced. Is anyone out there using composite decking type material (e.g., Trex) for raised beds? Seems like it would last longer than treated wood.
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I signed up for chip drop! I plan to mulch between my raised beds to keep the grass/weeds down. Hopefully I'll have that done before I build the deer fence.
I really want to start planting during the few days of unseasonably warm weather, but I know it's too early (zone 7). I'm guessing we're going to get another freeze before the end of the month.
I also created a planting map and tentative crop rotation plan for the four beds. One is going to be overrun by pumpkins and other winter squash and I plan to fill another with strawberries so that doesn't leave much space for everything else. This year will be a real learning process about how much I can fit in the remaining space.
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@Trifele
So jealous that you have daffodils already peeking up. I'm still in the forcing bulb stage so I can have a bit of spring indoors. I've been staggering the hyacinth bulbs every other week to keep the blooming going till the bulbs outside start to pop up.
Getting the fencing right the first time is one of the biggest challenges, along with the soil. My struggle has always been to stop attracting new critters to the garden who keep finding new ways to get into it. One of my neighbors was catching woodchucks and rehoming them miles away, but they ended up catching only the slow, old, not-so-bright ones year after year. That left the smart ones to breed genetically superior woodchucks. This evolution led to woodchucks that are very efficient climbers that have an insatiable appetite. Two years ago, I looked out the window to find 20 lbs of fur climbing up the 10 ft fence hoping to jump into the garden.
That's fortunate that someone dropped off chickens nearby and you found them before they met their demise. Have white brahmas, with feathered feet, that are beautiful, with a lovely disposition similar to buff orpingtons. I'm placing my Spring chick order tomorrow. Want to add 5 new hens and was thinking of adding cream legbars since I haven't had them before.
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Oh no @Indio -- you had woodchucks climbing a 10 foot fence? Not good. Not good at all. My kale may be permanently doomed if the "Corgi" decides to climb.
That's cool that you have Brahmas. I've heard really good things about them. And neat that you're adding more chickens. We have three crested cream legbars, so I'll share our experience FWIW. The good -- pretty little hen, pretty blue eggs, big friendly personality, very smart. The maybe-not-so-good -- all three of ours are very broody, even though the breed is supposedly non broody. And they're so smart it's a bit unnerving. When the three of them watch you collecting eggs from the coop, you can see their wheels turning. Maybe that's why all three of them hide their eggs and don't lay in the nest boxes. Last summer we found one of their contraband nests in a tree(!) and another one in the field grass. They keep us on our toes, lol.
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The treated lumber rails of our raised beds are rotting and need replaced. Is anyone out there using composite decking type material (e.g., Trex) for raised beds? Seems like it would last longer than treated wood.
I've never used Trex @weirdlair, but I would think that would be a good material to withstand damp and rot, though expensive I think.
Last year on the gardening thread @horsepoor did a major garden makeover and constructed new raised beds using galvanized metal roofing panels for the sides. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/planting-growing-your-own-2018/msg2209297/#msg2209297 I'd never thought about using metal, so that was interesting. And those are fairly cheap too.
In our garden there were two existing raised beds made from old railroad ties (the big ones, like 12" by 12"). I'd like to make two new raised beds to mirror those two, but I'd rather not use treated lumber so I'm in the same boat as you -- trying to figure out materials.
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I'm in a Master Gardener course this year and some of us are doing starts for their annual plant sale. They passed out pepper and eggplant (and a few other things) this week, so I guess I will be starting my own pepper and eggplant as well this week!
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So exciting to hear about everyone building new beds and starting seeds!
Sunday I weeded and planted one of our community garden beds. I planted seeds of 'Babette' carrots, beets, scallions, radishes, lettuce and parsley. Transplanted some little kale and chard seedlings that had self-seeded in the pathways into our bed. The garlic and shallots are doing well. We have chilies that are still producing and ground cherries. Also harvested kale, miner's lettuce (claytonia), thyme, marjoram and pea shoots for salads. Felt like a glorious, bountiful time at the garden.
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The treated lumber rails of our raised beds are rotting and need replaced. Is anyone out there using composite decking type material (e.g., Trex) for raised beds? Seems like it would last longer than treated wood.
I've never used Trex @weirdlair, but I would think that would be a good material to withstand damp and rot, though expensive I think.
Last year on the gardening thread @horsepoor did a major garden makeover and constructed new raised beds using galvanized metal roofing panels for the sides. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/planting-growing-your-own-2018/msg2209297/#msg2209297 I'd never thought about using metal, so that was interesting. And those are fairly cheap too.
In our garden there were two existing raised beds made from old railroad ties (the big ones, like 12" by 12"). I'd like to make two new raised beds to mirror those two, but I'd rather not use treated lumber so I'm in the same boat as you -- trying to figure out materials.
What a great idea, @Trifele! We will definitely look into galvanized metal roofing panels. We could sink those down into the ground and foil the moles and voles.
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@jengod How was the Jordan program? I'd love to hear what you learned. I've followed the progress for about 4-5 years and it's fascinating to see the changes to such an arid climate.
Jordan was wonderful but TBH a lot of the detail was stuff I'd gathered from reading and watching his videos for years. They have done wonders tho--the surrounding area is as desolate as the moon. It's rocks, gravel, dust, and piles of goat manure that attracts salt flies. (The goats eat any vegetation that was brave enough to grow there.) It was an extremely cool two-week experience; definitely made me appreciate our climate! The best part was the other people--ecologically minded folks from around the world.
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The treated lumber rails of our raised beds are rotting and need replaced. Is anyone out there using composite decking type material (e.g., Trex) for raised beds? Seems like it would last longer than treated wood.
I've never used Trex @weirdlair, but I would think that would be a good material to withstand damp and rot, though expensive I think.
Last year on the gardening thread @horsepoor did a major garden makeover and constructed new raised beds using galvanized metal roofing panels for the sides. https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/planting-growing-your-own-2018/msg2209297/#msg2209297 I'd never thought about using metal, so that was interesting. And those are fairly cheap too.
In our garden there were two existing raised beds made from old railroad ties (the big ones, like 12" by 12"). I'd like to make two new raised beds to mirror those two, but I'd rather not use treated lumber so I'm in the same boat as you -- trying to figure out materials.
What a great idea, @Trifele! We will definitely look into galvanized metal roofing panels. We could sink those down into the ground and foil the moles and voles.
Some of the older trex installation I have seen are not standing up well in the heat.
I found this in my exploration/dreaming a couple of days ago: http://www.conqueststeel.com/products-2/garden-beds/low-rise-garden-beds/
I am dreaming of gardens as the ice pellets and freezing rain falls.
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I found this in my exploration/dreaming a couple of days ago: http://www.conqueststeel.com/products-2/garden-beds/low-rise-garden-beds/
I am dreaming of gardens as the ice pellets and freezing rain falls.
Right now we have snow, your freezing rain will be here soon. I am also garden dreaming, and looking at new borders for raised beds. I used spruce (cheap for experimental beds) and it is starting to rot.
Your web site had a pretty picture and this:
FULL PRODUCT DESCRIPTION AND AVAILABILITY BEGINNING SUMMER 2013
Maybe someone should point out to them that we are past summer 2013? ;-)
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* Husband and I hauled four more wheelbarrow loads of the Chip Drop wood-chip mulch. It's already composted down quite a bit in the three months we've had it. I'm starting to find worms in the bottom layers.
* Watered all the houseplants with ice cubes as usual
* Used a one-gallon jug I'd been saving to create a "bottle garden" after learning about them on Reddit; the worst that can happen is nothing :D
* My 2yo daughter helped me scatter lots of dried eggshells in the yard; calcium supplement for the trees
Our almond seedling is blossoming, and the pomegranate and goji berry trees are starting to leaf out ever so slightly
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I saved a lot of the leaves we raked up from our backyard last Fall and also saved up a ton of free newspapers that we found, so I'm planning to use them this year as free mulch for the vegetable garden and blackberry patch. For the front yard, I'm going to use our little wood chipper to shred all the fallen limbs from our backyard trees that I've saved over the past year and that should provide some attractive wood chip mulch for the front ornamental garden like we did last year. I may not plant corn and sunflowers in the front garden this year because we have had problems with neighbors stealing them from us.
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I may not plant corn and sunflowers in the front garden this year because we have had problems with neighbors stealing them from us.
:(
Trail camera? They don't cost much, and then you'd know who's doing it. Unless you already know?
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@WhiteTrashCash - that is awful.
I can't grow corn - way too many 4 legged creatures in my 'hood.
I am slowed down from the fall on the ice two weeks ago. My entire right arm from wrist to neck is hurting more now. I don't think I took enough care. So my grow lights are still in their boxes and no seedling soil is warming in the basement. Got my seed order planned. Got my planting schedule in my head. Have not drawn up a sketch of garden to see how much I can fit in it. Have been researching extending the season because I have a whole bunch of concrete pavers and steps that I could use to make mini cold frames. If I was to have two or three of these I could rotate tomatoes, peppers and cukes/melons between them and overcome the cold and extend the season.
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Newbie gardener here
I’ve tried a couple years to get a garden going but my timing was way off and I just didn’t devote enough daily time to weeding and making sure I was watering correctly.
This year I’ve actually got some of my seeds started (yay!) and have been working on getting my bed prepped. We also built a fence to keep out the deer. My goal is to grow more than a few radishes and turnips to have this year.
I’m sure this has been answered in the past but do y’all have any recommendations for reference sites or just tips in general for someone who is getting started?
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I have some really neat plants that I'm excited to plant out this year, but my main focus will be on turning a grassy, bind weed and Himalayan blackberry infested area in to a vegetable garden.
For the exciting, I got some yuzus, which are lemon-like citruses that are hardy down to about 0* Fahrenheit, so should sail through our zone 8 winters. I also got a mulberry tree, and a loquat. I have to wait until the snow melts and the ground thaws to plant them, but I already know where I want them.
I have been steadily making progress with the blackberries. The current plan is to do one more pass of clipping and digging out the roots, lay down a few layers of cardboard, and then plant potatoes over the top and just keep adding mulch through the summer. That'll be for the worst sections. I also intend to grow a large vegetable garden aside from that.
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Newbie gardener here
I’ve tried a couple years to get a garden going but my timing was way off and I just didn’t devote enough daily time to weeding and making sure I was watering correctly.
This year I’ve actually got some of my seeds started (yay!) and have been working on getting my bed prepped. We also built a fence to keep out the deer. My goal is to grow more than a few radishes and turnips to have this year.
I’m sure this has been answered in the past but do y’all have any recommendations for reference sites or just tips in general for someone who is getting started?
Hi there! Welcome. I'm partial to motherearthnews.com, and I get their hard copy magazine in the mail as well. They have a vast archive of articles with information on gardening, composting, cooking and preserving, raising bees and animals, building things, etc. You name it and they've probably got how-to articles on it. Great resource. A friend of mine also likes Grit -- which is geared more toward farmers with four legged livestock.
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Trying to start another pineapple top; I currently have four growing and we even harvested a pineapple from one last year. They seem to do well in this climate. This particular top might be too far gone to set roots but we’ll see.
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Newbie gardener here
I’m sure this has been answered in the past but do y’all have any recommendations for reference sites or just tips in general for someone who is getting started?
There are lots of websites for gardeners, and some will mesh with your style and some won’t. I like permies.com’s growies as a resource. I don’t particularly like the new Houzz version of gardenweb forums but I still look at certain sub forums there if I have a specific question.
If you’re starting from seeds, my best advice is to water seedlings from the bottom, don’t be afraid to up pot if they get too big before they are ready to set out and finally, make sure you harden things off before you plant them out. Ask if any of that doesn’t make sense!
Gardening is best look at as a big experiment, with some years being better than others. Some years my tomato plants (started from seed) are awesome and some years they are duds. Overall, I’ve moved from buying starts at the nursery and instead buy open pollinated/heirloom seeds. I’m slowly saving seeds - figuring out how to select for the best seeds and saving those and trying to start them again the next spring. It’s going to be a lot of trial and error and it isn’t something that takes a year to perfect.
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How worried do I need to be about pressure treated lumber? Is this an ideally don't use it situation or I should really be concerned situation?
We built our beds with pressure treated wood because it was cheap and available. We don't have the spare funds to replace it with cedar anytime soon. I've thought about digging down around the sides and adding a layer of garden plastic to keep the lumber out of contact with the soil at the sides of the box, but that doesn't prevent it from affecting the soil beneath the box.
Thoughts?
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Just found this thread today, as I look out the window at some gross mix of ice/snow/slush/sleet/I dunno, maybe plague of locusts is next? haha.
So.... we had the polar vortex here. -50 wind chills, temps in the -20s, for 2 days. What do you all think the chances are of my blueberry and raspberry bushes surviving that and coming back in the spring? I've only had them for a couple of years and our last couple of winters were relatively mild, for us. Two of the 3 blueberry bushes are rated for zones colder than where I live, the other is for my zone. Same for my 3 raspberry bushes.
I am scaling back my gardens this year (I have a 4 x 8 plot in a community garden, a 4 x 4 raised bed plus some big tomato plant-sized containers in my building's very small yard that my landlord graciously lets me use). For a couple of reasons:
We have new kittens (well, I guess not all THAT new any more, it's been a few months) who take up a lot of our time and attention, and I'm not certain that I can keep them alive AND also start everything from seed like I usually do. I don't really have a good catproof place in our apartment to keep the grow light and these little guys are into EVERYTHING. Plus, starting seeds here is such a PITA. Our spring weather is so iffy, and I end up potting up the seedlings several times over because they're getting huge and want to go into the ground.... except, oh wait, it's still snowing in late April or 40 degrees in late May so they can't! :P So I'm cramming stuff under the grow light, rotating things daily because the stems are bending toward the light, propping up some plants on whatever I can find that's tall, so that everything's the right distance from the light and nothing's growing spindly and weak. Maybe I put too much effort into it but every year this takes up SO much time and I just don't see myself doing that, kitten-wrangling, and, oh yeah, going to work every day, haha.
So I'm thinking of - gasp! - giving myself a break this year and mostly buying seedlings, at least for the warm weather crops - tomatoes, basil, peppers, maybe eggplant. $$$$. Which means, grow fewer plants. That's fine. Last year I had 22 tomato plants crammed into those 2 spaces and that was really too much - both for the plants and for my own sanity.
I'm also thinking of getting some of those garden bags to plant tomatoes in, rather than putting them right into the community bed. Someone with a bed near mine did that last year and their yields were insane! I've had that plot for 5 or 6 years now. I'm not able to totally replace the soil (which was initially provided to us), though I top it off with compost each year and have tried various amendments. Yet, I've noticed more disease and less production in the past couple of years, compared to my backyard which has fresh soil/compost but otherwise the same growing conditions, and the experts at my garden org tell me I should take a few years off of growing tomatoes in that spot. Which is, like, the main thing I grow! So this seems like a possible solution - still grow the tomatoes but keep them out of the soil that's exhausted from having tomatoes in it for multiple years. Does that seem logical? Has anyone had success with these bags?
At any rate, buying starts and garden bags is going to involve more money than I typically spend on gardening so it seems logical to grow fewer things this year. I'm going from free seeds to minimum $3/plant, which is painful to me! On one hand that makes me sad because I love growing a wide variety of weird tomatoes. My garden org does a free seed swap where I can get access to all sorts of bizarre varieties I've never heard of! I really did bite off more than I could chew last year though.
I can still direct sow stuff like greens and peas. Assuming it doesn't snow well into April like it did last year, ARGH.
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@Tris Prior brr! Do not envy you that weather! I see that a lot in my community gardens where the thing people love to grow are tomatoes, and it's the same soil, same crop over and over. Can't be good for the future plants. I haven't tried the bags but my other thought in your small beds is maybe just switching where in the bed you're planting them from year to year? Might not make a huge difference but a thought.
I think "splurging" on seedlings is a great idea. To me, gardening is one of the most joyful things in my life. Why not fill it with flowers and plants? In one of the MMM articles he talks about making decisions as if money doesn't matter. If you were FIREd would you drop a $50 on veggie starts? Is there a non-big box store nursery in your area? We have a great weird selection of tomatoes and veggies at our local nursery. I made the best decision ever, to marry one of the nursery employees and get a family discount. HA!
I just ordered a bunch of seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds and Floret Farms for a community garden project that needs to stand some neglect. I'm going to direct seed one bed of cut flowers and two beds of vegetables during our wet spring and see what can survive some minimal summer watering. Day dreaming about bunches of flowers.
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I haven't tried the bags but my other thought in your small beds is maybe just switching where in the bed you're planting them from year to year? Might not make a huge difference but a thought.
That would work if, um, I hadn't filled the entire thing with tomatoes last year, other than the squares that have perennials in them. ;) (Yes, I know you are not supposed to do that - but it actually went pretty well, all things considered!)
I think "splurging" on seedlings is a great idea. To me, gardening is one of the most joyful things in my life. Why not fill it with flowers and plants? In one of the MMM articles he talks about making decisions as if money doesn't matter. If you were FIREd would you drop a $50 on veggie starts? Is there a non-big box store nursery in your area? We have a great weird selection of tomatoes and veggies at our local nursery. I made the best decision ever, to marry one of the nursery employees and get a family discount. HA!
The thing is, I have a ton of seeds, for varieties I like (there's one that's just called "heirloom cherry" that my mother picked up on clearance somewhere for 5 cents like 7 years ago and even with old seed those plants produce GREAT). And I LIKE starting from seed. I'm good at it. I just don't think that I have the time or energy while the kittens are still small and wild.
We have a great local nursery that's within walking distance of me = dangerous! Everything there is obscenely, horrifyingly expensive. I try to limit what I get from there because it's easily double what the big boxes charge. I do buy my soil and compost there - and last year my landlord gave me a compost bin so I'll have some of my own to put down in the spring. My garden org also does a plant sale, but again, way more expensive (though for a good cause). And honestly, I've not had much luck with most starts I've bought from them? Though the basil I bought from them last year did great!
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How worried do I need to be about pressure treated lumber? Is this an ideally don't use it situation or I should really be concerned situation?
We built our beds with pressure treated wood because it was cheap and available. We don't have the spare funds to replace it with cedar anytime soon. I've thought about digging down around the sides and adding a layer of garden plastic to keep the lumber out of contact with the soil at the sides of the box, but that doesn't prevent it from affecting the soil beneath the box.
Thoughts?
I personally wouldn't eat anything grown next to PT lumber. For my garden, I grow on the ground. I find it too hard to keep raised beds irrigated. Why don't you just remove them?
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Tris, I think it’s a great idea to give yourself a break from starting seeds this year. Just remind yourself it doesn’t have to be forever and enjoy the increased time to sit about and enjoy your garden.
I too love starting from seed but this year I had a bit of a fiasco with tainted mix that killed everything that came near it :/ yes, I felt a little bit sad shelling out for seedlings that weren’t as interesting as what i had been planning to grow, but tomatoes take so long that I’ve forgotten all about it and just enjoying the delicious taste of home tomatoes :)
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I may not plant corn and sunflowers in the front garden this year because we have had problems with neighbors stealing them from us.
:(
Trail camera? They don't cost much, and then you'd know who's doing it. Unless you already know?
That might be a good idea. I've also had problems with people stealing the roses from the bush in the front garden. That's part of the problem with choosing to live in a low-middle income area. You end up with problems you wouldn't face in a gated community. It's unfortunate that people around here don't seem to respect other people's property. That's why we installed six foot high privacy fencing with locked gates around our backyard.
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For years I have grown tomatoes, cukes and jalapeno peppers in raised gardens. Seems every year my yield gets less and less. I get black bottom tomatoes and used stuff that helped fix the problem. But it takes so much water, cost of planting mix, plants or seeds and then get very little for the effort and cost. Last year I became disillusioned with it all and went to a local farm the town manages and bought beautiful tomatoes, peppers and other veggies. It kind of broke my heart not to grow stuff. I have this nice trellis that is inside a huge oval galvanized container. It is for watering cattle. I would like to grow some flowers that will grow up the trellis but have not had much luck there either. I put in morning glories but they only open up for a short time till the sun comes out blazing. Does anyone know what kind of colorful flowers will grow up a trellis? I also grew a bunch of green beans on my deck and they did really great! That was two years ago. I might try that again. Oh, and for whatever reason, I used to get a lot of cukes when I grew them now it seems if I get three or four that is it! Talk about Mrs. Black thumb!
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@coffeefueled re: the pressure treated lumber. I have the same questions. At our current place the raised beds are made with old railroad ties. My DH is a chemist and read up on the chemicals used in those old ties (primarily chromated copper arsenate, which is now banned). CCA does leach out of the wood over time, and judging based on the extreme degree of rot in these particular ties and how old they are, we didn't think there was much to be concerned about. So yes -- although I would rather they were made of something else, we have been eating produce from those beds.
PT lumber sold in the US since 2003 is safer and uses copper or chromium as the primary preservatives. From what I've read online the preservatives do leach out and are taken up by plants, but in extremely tiny amounts. The general consensus online FWIW is that those amounts of the new preservatives are safe for consumption.
Personally, for the future I'm going to mostly plant in the ground or maybe try the sheet metal route. But I also think it is very reasonable to use the modern (post 2003) pressure treated lumber.
@Roadrunner53 -- I don't know anything about flowers -- sorry, but you could do scarlet runner beans (pretty little flowers) or cucumbers up a trellis. They would both be very happy in your nice container I would think. I always grow cukes in containers up against a fence.
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@Roadrunner53 I don't know your climate to make an very educated suggestion, but cucumbers should work, or very small melons, with some support once the fruit start growing. The caveat is that both melons and cucumbers need consistent water, and a fair amount. Cucumbers can be bitter if not given enough water.
There is an annual called Cypress Vine (Ipomoea quamoclit - same genus as your garden variety morning glory) that supposedly takes full sun. I bought seeds last year but didn't get a chance to plant them. I'm trying them this year. Blooms early summer to fall, 6-20' vines, and is a hummingbird attractor. Full sun.
Re: your black bottom to tomatoes, etc., This is (probably, without seeing it) blossom end rot. Blossom end rot is caused by a calcium deficiency. However, some areas (like where I live) there is plenty of available calcium in the soil. It is in this case caused by inconsistent watering - calcium is a heavy element and it is difficult for the plant to transport if sufficient water (and enough of it, but consistency is the key) is not available. If you are growing in raised beds, and the roots are never going past the bottom of the bed, and you are not amending enough, it's probably lack of calcium in the soil. It's recommended to get a soil test even for raised beds to determine exactly what you may need to amend (send to your local University Extension office, their prices are reasonable (basically cost) and they know your particular geography best.
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We have germination! Starting peppers and eggplants now.
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We have germination! Starting peppers and eggplants now.
Nice! I'm two weeks behind already, but I'm about to make a second cup of coffee and get to seeding a couple trays this morning.
Also on the agenda for this morning is building a dedicated bench for the seedling trays, and hanging my lights above it.
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
How lovely!!!
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
I'm envious. Mine still have at least 3' of snow and ice over them.
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
I'm envious. Mine still have at least 3' of snow and ice over them.
Sorry. It's a couple weeks earlier than I like to see here; hopefully they won't be killed by a hard freeze.
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
:)
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My great-grandmother's jonquils, some of which I transplanted here to our property last year, are coming up.
:)
+1
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@Roadrunner53 - I second scarlet runner beans. Hummingbirds like the red flowers and the beans are tasty if you pick them early. I have also had good success leaving a few beans on the plants until they are overripe and collecting the seeds within for next years plants.
If the soil in your planter has been in there for a couple of seasons, I wouldn't be surprised if it is completely depleted of organic matter. Planter soil mixes come with a lot of fertilizers to give them a great boost for the first season. But they are readily water soluble so they deplete pretty quickly. A topdressing of compost or manure before you start in the spring and a few applications of fertilizer throughout the growing season will 'renew' the planter soil. For the cost of a soil test, a bag of manure and another of fertilizer will get your planter sorted. Your soil may only be missing one component, and if your space was a large garden it wouldn't make sense to pay for more fertilizer than you need. If your planter is pretty small, a 1L carton of a general veggie fertilizer will last a while. Adding the organic matter will help with moisture retention and add some of the micro-nutrients into the soil more slowly.
I wouldn't try cucumbers and tomatoes every year - a limited 'crop rotation' strategy will help with disease resistance. I would also look for varieties that are better suited to planters. Seed growers will indicate if they are suited to container gardens on the package. I have cherry tomato varieties much better for the patio than others. I have not had great luck with tasty cukes grown in containers.
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Thanks Frugal Lizard good points to consider.
Since I have tried container gardening my cukes are crap. I am lucky to get 3 scrankly ones. Maybe I need deeper containers.
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Thanks Frugal Lizard good points to consider.
Since I have tried container gardening my cukes are crap. I am lucky to get 3 scrankly ones. Maybe I need deeper containers.
It may also be the plants. I bought my cucumbers at a nursery last year (I was not going to buy seed for 3 plants). One produced masses of cukes, one produced a few, and one produced nothing. All in the same garden, from the same pot of seedlings.
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I stopped by the dollar store today and they are selling seeds for 25 cents a pack. I'm going to spend tomorrow planning my garden beds for the spring and then walk over there and pick up seeds. I'm going to graph things out and make sure everything is spaced correctly so I can maximize my garden space this year. Last year went okay, but I know I can do much better this time around now that I have a little more experience with vegetable and fruit gardening.
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I went out into the greenhouse this morning to see if there was any potting soil so I could start some seeds today. No soil but it sure was nice to be out there. The sun was strong and was warming the house up really nicely - the thermometer was showing 14C. I took off my hat, mitts and parka - it felt amazing. The snow we got last night /early this morning had slide off the roof and everything outside was sparkly. I decided to putter around in there and enjoy the smell of the soil. I have a pile of white jugs of water that are frozen solid at the moment. They will heat up better if they are covered with the black plastic and root barrier cloth that I have kicking around in there. I fold all the black clothes up in the late spring so that the house doesn't get warmer than 40C. I also covered some of the planters so that they can warm up as well.
The floating row covers got taken outside for a shaking. The oldest one is in very poor condition. I will buy a new one this year. They extended my growing season and really increased the amount of produce so they are totally worth the $15.
I also have a small piece of vapour barrier plastic that I would like to try as a cold frame cover so I can get some super early peas and beans.
A disgusting shower curtain from the kids bathroom has been repurposed for the growing lights liner and humidity tent. Hopefully I won't have to buy any new trays or covers with this set up.
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Work has been keeping me busy so I'm a little behind on my garden chores and plans. However, this weekend I started making my sweet potato slips. I bought 4 organic, pesticide free sweet potatoes, put toothpicks in the sides about halfway up the spud and then placed each one into its own a canning jar of water. In 4 weeks, tiny shoots should be coming out of the sides above the water line. When the shoots are about 10 inches high, I will cut them off and stick them in their own water container to grow roots until I can transplant outside. Last year I tried this for the first time and had over 50 sweet potato slips from 4 starter spuds. They need a long growing season to get big so I want to plant and put them under frost cloth in April. This will give them an extra 4 weeks to grow in my hardiness zone.
They are sitting on the kitchen windowsill in the sun so every day I get to look at them and dream about Spring.
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I stopped by the dollar store today and they are selling seeds for 25 cents a pack. I'm going to spend tomorrow planning my garden beds for the spring and then walk over there and pick up seeds. I'm going to graph things out and make sure everything is spaced correctly so I can maximize my garden space this year. Last year went okay, but I know I can do much better this time around now that I have a little more experience with vegetable and fruit gardening.
You might find this site really useful: https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/kitchen-garden-planner/kgp_home.html
It is a really cool garden planning tool that lets you drag and drop various vegetables onto a square foot garden plan, and it automatically shows you how many plants you can fit into one square foot. I've been using it for years.
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I broke down and bought untreated fir to redo my raised beds so I don't have to worry about chemicals. I got 2x10s. I think it was worth the $80 to have peace of mind. Here's hoping they will last at least 5 years. I'm planning to burn seal them and put them out during some warmer weather this weekend. I also want to sow some hardy kale and spinach seeds.
Daffodils (I think) are poking through our back garden beds despite the couple inches of snow. I didn't know we had them. Discovering what the previous owner of our house planted is a joyful surprise. When we moved in during the summer there was a lot of deer eaten echinacea and hostas.
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I broke down and bought untreated fir to redo my raised beds so I don't have to worry about chemicals.
Good for you @coffeefueled -- peace of mind is awesome.
Another wood that's quite naturally weather resistant is chestnut. We have a bunch of chestnut planks from our house remodel. We're going to use the nice ones to build some doors and a farmhouse style dining table. The not-so-nice ones I could maybe eventually repurpose for garden construction projects. Though this spring I'm planning to plant mostly in the ground.
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Got three Allen Chickering sage plants in the ground today and cleared out the second boysenberry bed. I have to get the irrigation redone before replanting.
I rescued seven little boysenberry rootlings and will share them with a local garden-share group.
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Work has been keeping me busy so I'm a little behind on my garden chores and plans. However, this weekend I started making my sweet potato slips. I bought 4 organic, pesticide free sweet potatoes, put toothpicks in the sides about halfway up the spud and then placed each one into its own a canning jar of water. In 4 weeks, tiny shoots should be coming out of the sides above the water line. When the shoots are about 10 inches high, I will cut them off and stick them in their own water container to grow roots until I can transplant outside. Last year I tried this for the first time and had over 50 sweet potato slips from 4 starter spuds. They need a long growing season to get big so I want to plant and put them under frost cloth in April. This will give them an extra 4 weeks to grow in my hardiness zone.
They are sitting on the kitchen windowsill in the sun so every day I get to look at them and dream about Spring.
Thank you for the reminder to do this. I usually buy a couple varieties, because I never know which ones will sprout well. However, I'm lazy and just put them right into potting soil. I might have better luck if I followed your method.
They make a beautiful ground cover, and apparently the leaves can be used like spinach. Haven't tried it yet, since I didn't want to stunt those tasty tubers.
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Work has been keeping me busy so I'm a little behind on my garden chores and plans. However, this weekend I started making my sweet potato slips. I bought 4 organic, pesticide free sweet potatoes, put toothpicks in the sides about halfway up the spud and then placed each one into its own a canning jar of water. In 4 weeks, tiny shoots should be coming out of the sides above the water line. When the shoots are about 10 inches high, I will cut them off and stick them in their own water container to grow roots until I can transplant outside. Last year I tried this for the first time and had over 50 sweet potato slips from 4 starter spuds. They need a long growing season to get big so I want to plant and put them under frost cloth in April. This will give them an extra 4 weeks to grow in my hardiness zone.
They are sitting on the kitchen windowsill in the sun so every day I get to look at them and dream about Spring.
Thank you for the reminder to do this. I usually buy a couple varieties, because I never know which ones will sprout well. However, I'm lazy and just put them right into potting soil. I might have better luck if I followed your method.
They make a beautiful ground cover, and apparently the leaves can be used like spinach. Haven't tried it yet, since I didn't want to stunt those tasty tubers.
Yes thanks for the reminder @Indio. Sweet potatoes are fascinating -- love them. I grew the Beauregard variety in an in-ground bed the year before last, and then last year didn't get around to planting any. That bed stayed bare all summer. Nothing would grow on it -- not even crab grass. That was my first glimpse into the mighty allelopathic/natural herbicidal power of sweet potatoes. Wow.
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Posting to follow. We have had over 3 feet of snow since December. I'm imagining my veggie garden to get through these long cold months. Will try my first attempt at seed starting next weekend.
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That bed stayed bare all summer. Nothing would grow on it -- not even crab grass. That was my first glimpse into the mighty allelopathic/natural herbicidal power of sweet potatoes. Wow.
That's scary, my garlic is overwintering in the bed that has sweet potatoes last year. However last summer the vegetables where the sweet potatoes were the year before did fine.
I buy varieties from a sort-of-local nursery that do well in our short season. I would never try using grocery store potatoes, they are probably grown in a totally different climate to mine.
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@Trifele I never noticed allelopathic properties of sweet potatoes probably because I add so much composted chicken manure to beds each year that the soil composition completely changes. Thanks for mentioning it. Did some quick reading on it and now I'm going to plant the slips in spots that I'm always weeding. It would be nice to minimize that chore, though the bunnies will have easier access to the leaves. Its a small price to pay for less weeding.
It's fascinating to me that sweet potatoes would fight for space by using allelopathy rather than evolve into more of a bushy condensed plant. I'm usually against GMO, but this would be a ideal plant to genetically modify. :)
In pollinator related news, did you see the article about this new giant bee discovered in Indonesia?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/world/giant-bee-megachile-pluto-found-trnd/index.html
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In pollinator related news, did you see the article about this new giant bee discovered in Indonesia?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/21/world/giant-bee-megachile-pluto-found-trnd/index.html
Wow! That's so cool! She's beautiful.
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Got all the tree collards and artichokes in the ground so that’s progress at least.
Need to excavate the second boysenberry bed and then head to the sprinkler/irrigation store for help.
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I stopped by the dollar store today and they are selling seeds for 25 cents a pack. I'm going to spend tomorrow planning my garden beds for the spring and then walk over there and pick up seeds. I'm going to graph things out and make sure everything is spaced correctly so I can maximize my garden space this year. Last year went okay, but I know I can do much better this time around now that I have a little more experience with vegetable and fruit gardening.
You might find this site really useful: https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/kitchen-garden-planner/kgp_home.html
It is a really cool garden planning tool that lets you drag and drop various vegetables onto a square foot garden plan, and it automatically shows you how many plants you can fit into one square foot. I've been using it for years.
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I'll check that out.
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I have a pepper sprout!
Next week I'm really going to get going on starting my tomatoes, kale, and planting peas.. I'm also shopping around for a good bean/pea trellis...anyone have a good product and/or DIY?
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For bean and pea trellises, I use bamboo poles in a tripod/teepee shape. I have a huge stand of narrow bamboo on my property so I just harvest from there. At a different house I just used fallen branches tied up against a fence. (Also used a huge hula hoop against a fence for climbing cukes- just laced string on it!)
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I also have pepper sprouts!
For trellis wire remesh panels are my favorite. It makes great tomato cages too. Beans like to spiral up long verticals, while peas need horizontal structures to grab with their tendrils.
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Congrats on the sprouts everyone!!
Hardware cloth is my favorite for both peas and cucumbers -- their little tendrils can grab right on to it, and it's strong so it can support even those heavier cuke vines and fruit.
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I want to hang out here where the regular conversation will remind me to check on my plants!
We're in a rental and pretty sure we'll be here thru summer 2020, so not willing to invest a lot, but want to dabble.
My most successful year in the past was the year I gave up on it and just plopped a few things in buckets and pots. I've had a couple years off (and gave away all my supplies) but now I'm living in a place where I can dabble again!
I also have a neighbor who gardens seriously and shares generously.
My plan is:
2 approximately 4x4 raised garden beds and assorted pots.
We started some spinach seeds in a pot last night. Would like to just continually keep spinach going as long as possible.
Our local Cooperative Extension has strawberry plant starts 20/$5. You aren't supposed to harvest strawberries the first year, but I was thinking I could put half in a small raised bed for next year/long term and just pinch blossoms, and the other half in pots and enjoy whatever small yield they have this year. There seems to be an online trend of growing strawberries in pots annually. I've got some experience with berries before, and the landlord is happy with my plan to establish them for longer term, and we'll be here next summer.
The second bed and the pots will also hold store bought plants, (and spinach from seed). I want basil, dill, parsley, mint (that might go in another small raised bed to be a more permanent fixture). Peppers, tomatoes, zucchini.
Neighbor has some rough lumber he wants to share to build the beds. Another friend has horses and we're picking up a load of well aged manure later this week. Hoping to pick up the local planting guide from the Cooperative Extension as well.
I did potatoes one year and really enjoyed that, but it doesn't seem like a good way to use such limited space. Onions too.
So, we'll just get started with this plan and see what turns up, what kind of plants our little local hardware store gets, and what we can share with others.
I will also have flowers. I was given an elephant ear last fall, so this will be my first spring restarting it.
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I've also used bamboo pole teepees for growing scarlet runner bean (mostly). Pretty easy and cheap, and once they are covered with vines nice looking. I also wrap baling twine around it in a spiral upward, so there are both vertical and horizontal structures for them to cling to.
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Yesterday's swag bag from the conference I was speaking at (didn't pay for the conference but got lunch and a swag bag and a speaker's honorarium) contained five packages of seed. Four are organic heirloom varieties - two tomato types, a tomatillo and korean mint. Plus some really heavy duty rubber gloves. Nice score.
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The second bed and the pots will also hold store bought plants, (and spinach from seed). I want basil, dill, parsley, mint (that might go in another small raised bed to be a more permanent fixture).
Trust me when I say plant that mint in one of those pots, not a bed. Maybe you were planning to already. Mint is ridiculously aggressive. I have some in the ground but it’s on a dry patch of land in crappy soil and I still get way more than I need but at least it isn’t taking over the entire half acre. Put it in fertile soil with some occasional watering and it’s a never ending problem.
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The second bed and the pots will also hold store bought plants, (and spinach from seed). I want basil, dill, parsley, mint (that might go in another small raised bed to be a more permanent fixture).
Trust me when I say plant that mint in one of those pots, not a bed. Maybe you were planning to already. Mint is ridiculously aggressive. I have some in the ground but it’s on a dry patch of land in crappy soil and I still get way more than I need but at least it isn’t taking over the entire half acre. Put it in fertile soil with some occasional watering and it’s a never ending problem.
Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) is in the mint family. So I am not surprised it is one of the happiest most successful weeds in my lawn.
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The second bed and the pots will also hold store bought plants, (and spinach from seed). I want basil, dill, parsley, mint (that might go in another small raised bed to be a more permanent fixture).
Trust me when I say plant that mint in one of those pots, not a bed. Maybe you were planning to already. Mint is ridiculously aggressive. I have some in the ground but it’s on a dry patch of land in crappy soil and I still get way more than I need but at least it isn’t taking over the entire half acre. Put it in fertile soil with some occasional watering and it’s a never ending problem.
Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea) is in the mint family. So I am not surprised it is one of the happiest most successful weeds in my lawn.
Yes! I haven't figured out what I'll do. I'd like it to come back next year, but I don't want it to take over a big space. I've seen people sink a bottomless pot into the ground to try to contain it. Perhaps it would come back in a pot as well. Must do some reading.
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It will come back in a pot, and all around the pot as well if you let it go to seed.
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I've been excited for this year's garden since I finished harvesting last year's.
I have a good size in ground garden (12x30+10x10) and one 8x8 raised bed. I did pretty good with those last year. I managed 6 gallons of heirloom popcorn, buckets of spaghetti squash, a couple of gallons of dried beans, lots of carrots, beets, and rutabegas, tons of summer squash, and a row of parsnips that I've been slowly harvesting over the winter.
Thing is... I want more. I picked up six free 2x4 grow boxes a month ago. I'm collecting large planters/pots as I find them at our Goodwill equivalent, and I'm planning on building at least four 4x8 beds this year. Luckily, I can get compost from the municipal yard for about $3/yard. I also keep an eye out for free manure, and will pick up a couple of trailer loads as I find it this spring.
I went way overboard on my seed purchasing. I've mostly got heirlooms, because they're more fun. So far this year, I've bought from MIgardner, Baker Creek, Jung seeds, and Seed Needs. I'm trying to talk myself out of one more order with Territorial, but their strain of cranberry beans is so much cooler than what everyone else has.
I'm attempting to use a google calendar to keep track of when I need to start seeds. I'm not sure how that will work out.
My husband has been buying me seed starting things for birthday and Christmas gifts. I've got a T5 growlight and stand, and a seed mat with thermostat that I'm just itching to get out of their boxes. I also have a couple of gooseneck grow lights I've picked up on massive discounts. I'm hoping to have the back room cleared out enough within the next week that I can get my brassicas started. We're on the tail end of a bathroom remodel, and headed into a kitchen remodel, so the house looks like it's exploded.
I'm still working out my plans. I've got three different varieties of corn, so I'll have to figure out when to plant to avoid cross pollination. I want to grow a salad garden. I have SO MANY different kinds of dried beans I want to grow. And about six different kinds of winter squash. Also summer squash. And carrots. And radishes. A couple of different kinds of melons. Herbs. Peas. Green beans and noodle beans. Tiny pickling cucumbers! Okra for my husband. Cabbages. Kohlrabi.
I don't know that there's room for all of it even with the new beds, but I'm going to try. I think the satisfaction of eating food I've grown myself is totally worth it.
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@10dollarsatatime oh my gosh- love your enthusiasm! I completely understand going way overboard in seed ordering and sounds like you've gotten a good selection of things.
I used to start a lot of seeds outdoors in 4" pots and then transplant the seedlings once they had a set or three of true leaves. Currently we are waging a "squirrel vs any pot of soil" war in our yard and I don't have a large space to start seeds. We've improvised with a fire pit, some old screening and binder clips. Enough space to start about a dozen 4" pots. One of the community garden plots we have has a great "habitat" for birds, which means any sprout or young seedling gets eaten by birds. Anything small must be covered and any new transplants must be protected to avoid squirrels digging up the fresh soil. It's us vs nature, folks.
One of our community garden plots has great sun, and less bird and squirrel destruction so I've been able to successfully direct seed things in those beds. This year's plan is to direct seed veggies in two of the 3' x 14' beds and direct seed flowers in one of the beds for bouquets. This garden is harder to get to regularly so it might be a bit more neglected over the summer but is great for things like garlic, corn and pumpkins- anything we can plant and forget basically until harvest.
I'd love to plan some of the plantings out, so let me know if you come across any good resources for that. It's hard to do the planning of what dates, how many, transplant date and harvest dates. I run into "my garden beds are full and now what?" a lot. I have realized that you just need to start a few seeds- that'll you'll only need five pepper plants or three eggplants, so this means only seeding six or ten seeds and transplanting on.
Eating food you've grown yourself is immensely satisfying.
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I had a 10% off from a local nursery so I ventured out in the snow storm to get some soil for seed starting because I am just getting into a funk. I succumbed to the lovely display of seeds from West Coast seeds. I am going to try growing parsnips and fennel this year. Since the packages have a huge number of seeds I am going to try them in the greenhouse really early and then again outside in the ground.
The seedling starter soil was frozen to the pile on the skid. It barely fit in the trunk and weighed a ton. It is now on the floor in the garage which is only slightly warmer than outside. I think it might be able to defrost in the laundry sink - but it might be too big for that even. This might not have been a great idea to save money buying the bulk bag.
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I went through my seedbox and consolidated my seed order at lunch. Now I can go to the seed supplier and only buy what I can realistically plant. I have the order for the church garden and my mom's house.
I am going to treat myself to a number of flowers that I can cut for indoor bouquets again this year. I am also contemplating growing some storage crops at my Dad's farm this year. Either that or just plant a cover crop for this first season that he is gone to keep down the weeds and then see how much I can handle. I keep waffling. I really would like to grow my own pickling cukes and beets and storage onions and garlic and six bushels of tomatoes for canning.
The sun was strong today and reflecting off the snow made for a very bright day. Even though it was really cold - it did feel like spring is coming.
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I am hoping to be able to join in this year! We are house shopping now, and I am making gardening space one of my major criteria. Hopefully we will be able to find a good one, close, and move in before too much of the growing season is lost! At the very least, I want to plant blackberry or raspberry bushes for next year's harvest, and hopefully a fruit tree or three if there's space. Then for this year, hopefully a small bed for fresh herbs and a raised bed for vegetables. It will be difficult to choose what to plant, there are so many things I want to try growing. I may have to buy started plants rather than starting from seed this year, because of the late start, so that will limit me to whatever is available at my local garden stores. Probably for the best, to make me start small!
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After three weeks of rain, our deer fence construction started for real yesterday. DH is digging post holes, and we located the gate, the frame of which will be set in concrete. Our veg garden is about 60 feet square. We settled on 4 foot high split rail (which will match the rest of the fencing we have) and then an 8 foot mesh deer fence on thin metal posts right inside that. I haven't seen any deer fence that looks super good, imo, but I think this will at least satisfy the neighbors. Since we also have to exclude fat greedy woodchucks, we will be using hardware cloth for the bottom part attached to the split rail, buried one foot down and one foot out in an underground 'skirt' at a right angle. It will be a lot of work to dig that trench -- hopefully it works!
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I went through my seedbox and consolidated my seed order at lunch. Now I can go to the seed supplier and only buy what I can realistically plant. I have the order for the church garden and my mom's house.
I am going to treat myself to a number of flowers that I can cut for indoor bouquets again this year. I am also contemplating growing some storage crops at my Dad's farm this year. Either that or just plant a cover crop for this first season that he is gone to keep down the weeds and then see how much I can handle. I keep waffling. I really would like to grow my own pickling cukes and beets and storage onions and garlic and six bushels of tomatoes for canning.
The sun was strong today and reflecting off the snow made for a very bright day. Even though it was really cold - it did feel like spring is coming.
Frugal Lizard - I think we are in the same zone (I'm in NW Ohio) - what cut flowers have worked for you? I tried zinnias last year and they failed miserably. The only thing I've ever had luck with is my peonies and their season is so short! But I love cut flowers.
We have a spot along our alley that we've tried raspberry in that just hasn't worked so we are going to just sow regional wild flower seeds and hope they they take.
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@StarBright - we may be in the same zone. Our frost free date is supposed to be May 24 but I have been safe with waiting another week for the really tender seedlings.
I am surprised you had trouble with zinnias. Did you grow from seed? I had great luck with my zinnias last year. I also grew calendula, white status, straw flowers, cleome, nicotiana, sunflowers and nasturiums. I have grown sweet peas in the past.
This year I am adding asters, bachelor buttons, butterfly milkweed and Persian Jewel mix nigella.
Everything that I direct sowed was hit and miss. Everything that I started inside in seed trays worked really well - as long as the squirrel barricades held.
What are the conditions in your alley like? dry - wet, shade-sun? Wildflowers are tricky - they typically like to germinate on the soil surface and are later to get going than the weeds.
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@StarBright I love growing my own cut flowers too and I'm so envious you can grow peonies where you are. Not much success here in central coast California.
I love the www.floretflowers.com website- they sell seeds and bulbs but also offer good reviews and resources too. Their book "Floret Flowers" is a great resource as well. "Backyard Bouquets" is a good overview of things to grow.
One of the things Erin from Floret Farms mentions in planning her cut flower beds is that she does half filler/greenery sorts of plants and flowers and half showier blooms.
I've been picking bouquets of freesias and anemones this week and have vases of plum branches that are blooming indoors. Sweet peas are a few feet tall and even look like they're developing buds.
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The only thing I've ever had luck with is my peonies and their season is so short! But I love cut flowers.
If you grow all the various flower forms you can extend the peony season. The singles tend to come first, then the Japanese and Anemones, then the semi-doubles and then the doubles. You can also cut the doubles when they are at the marshmallow stage and refrigerate them, and extend the season that way. The big fat doubles on weak stems were always florist flowers, not garden flowers (hence the weak stems) and they store well. Plus there are tree peonies (gorgeous bushes) and the Itoh hybrids.
http://americanpeonysociety.org/
https://peony.ca/
Yes I love peonies!!
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Grumble grumble effing polar vortex effing bloody AGAIN grumble grumble.
My garden org's free seed swap is Sunday. Since I'm only starting seeds that I can direct sow this year (because kittens + no catproof place to start them in my apartment), I'm probably just going to pick up some new and interesting greens. I already have plenty of peas. Hmmm, I probably need carrots too. I'll need to look. Last year I grew a multicolored mix of carrots from seed but I must've thinned out the colorful ones since I got mostly orange with some white and I think 1 yellow. I wanted the purple and red! Oh well. Maybe this year I'll pick up some actual purple carrot seeds, if they have any.
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Grumble grumble effing polar vortex effing bloody AGAIN grumble grumble.
Oh I hope that polar vortex doesn't swing its way over us. I wanna start things in the greenhouse and it can't overcome an effing polar vortex
I extend my season of blooms with native flowering perennials that I can use as cut flowers every now and then for colour inside and pollinator support in my garden.
I love peonies too, but I have little space with all the native asters, goldenrod, coneflowers and sunflowers. I really need to have twice the size of property for everything that I am growing here.
And I love Floret Farm's blog. It cheers me so.
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It's not going to be as bad as last time. "Only" lows of zero before the windchill. Not lows of -50. But still. It's freaking MARCH. Enough already.
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Spent hours yesterday with DH on the deer fence construction. Kids and I moved the wire compost bin and leaf bin to make way for the fence line. Best quote of the day from 12 year old DS while moving the contents of the leaf bin -- "Hey awesome! I'm through the slimy smelly layer, and there's a weird dry layer underneath it!"
And -- continuing with our discussion about pressure treated lumber, DH and I are considering removing the ancient railroad ties forming those two big raised beds. That will be a godawful job as they are huge and will crumble to bits when we move them, but might be worth it to just not have to think about that stuff any more in proximity to our vegetables.
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Thanks on the cut flower advice! I did direct sow all of my seeds. I don't have a great place to start seeds. I guess I'll just have to buy starts this year and see if they take.
I'm actually going to make an appointment with the horticulturalist at our community garden to help me lay out our plot this year. I threw everything in very hodge podge last year and it wasn't my best.
Looking forward to doing greens and peas soon!
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I got all my seed trays filled with growing medium and cleaned up the mess that occurs in the laundry room when I do this task. I really should do this in the fall and then store the filled trays in the greenhouse for the winter. I purchased my seeds and had a nice little excursion by myself to an area that I only go to to pick up seeds but is really pretty. And I started butterfly weed, osanos pepper, sweet banana and pick-a-pepper hybrid mix. The last one is a mix of green, red, orange, yellow and purple peppers. The Osanos was silly expensive and only a 65% germination rate. Hopefully I can save seed from at least one of those future peppers and stop the crazy spending on seed.
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@Trifele your deer fence sounds like quite the wall. We're going with a 4ft high fence made from posts and wire cattle fence. I'm hopeful that will be enough to discourage them, but we may have to upgrade next year depending on how this season goes. I'm suspicious that our real problem is rabbits and not the deer. I'm going to post our wildlife camera to find out once we have some plants growing.
We're in for another bout of unseasonable freezing weather here so I haven't started the fence (since posts plus frozen ground sounds like a pain). I also haven't started our kale. We have a winter hardy cultivar, but I'm not sure whether the seeds will germinate in the current fluctuating freezing to 40 degree weather. Has anyone started Kale seeds outdoors in the cold or do you sow them inside and transplant?
I repurposed a bunch of egg cartons and set up a little grow light to start tomatoes and pepper indoors. I'm really excited to get some seeds in this evening.
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I finally unpacked the seed starting setup my husband has been buying me! He got me a light with a stand for my birthday last July, and a heat mat and thermostat for Christmas. He doesn't understand my gardening bug, but he's sure supportive...
I have started a few things... cabbages, kale, cauliflowers and romanesco, pink and utah celery, lettuces, fennel, kohrabi, and probably something else I can't remember. I don't have a lot of room, which is fine, because right now I've got six 2'x4' grow boxes to work out of for these things. I figure this gives me two weeks or so to get those grow boxes out of the trailer and placed where I want them. The cabbages will be the only thing ready to go out so quick, I think. They are 45 day mini cabbages, and are already germinating. I'm going to attempt to get the peas in the ground by the end of this week as well. And the garlic. I've never planted garlic before. I had meant to have some delivered and planted last fall, but that didn't happen. I picked up a box of garlic from home depot for planting, so I'll get that in and see how it goes. And be more on top of it next year.
I'm hoping that by the end of April, I'll have my big garden boxes built. I'm planning on at least four 4x8 boxes made with corrugated roofing metal. I'm trying to recreate the boxes @horsepoor has. I think they're pretty good looking, and should hold up to the elements. I decided this morning that I also want some 2x8s for my front yard, and a couple of 4x4s for herbs and strawberries. I want to find a few places to put cattle panel arches for climbing beans/melons/cukes. I love the way those look.
Luckily, I can get compost from the municipal green waste yard for about $6/load. I'm on the lookout for free manure. I can usually source some in the spring for my garden. Current plan is to fill the bottom of the boxes with branch trimmings from my hedge and trees, and then top with a mixture of compost, manure, and coconut coir (if I can find it in bulk for a decent price). I'm also posting on my local yard sale sites, looking for rained on straw bales for mulch.
If I can have the boxes ready by April, that gives me a little bit to get the in ground garden ready for the long season stuff. That's where I'll plant the corns (3 kinds... if I can figure out how to keep them from cross pollinating), winter squashes, dry beans, etc.
And, as if I don't have enough going on... Burgess sent me a catalog. And now I'm contemplating grapes and berries. If I can figure out where to put them, I'll probably go for it...
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@10dollarsatatime I definitely suggest a call to ask what goes into their compost before you buy. Some municipal waste yards use sewage sludge to make compost. On the east coast a lot of compost yards sell it under the name Orgro and say it's organic compost. Even if they successfully get rid of any disease-related issues like salmonella I doubt they're able to process out medications, heavy metals, and other generally icky stuff I wouldn't want next to my food.
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@10dollarsatatime I definitely suggest a call to ask what goes into their compost before you buy. Some municipal waste yards use sewage sludge to make compost. On the east coast a lot of compost yards sell it under the name Orgro and say it's organic compost. Even if they successfully get rid of any disease-related issues like salmonella I doubt they're able to process out medications, heavy metals, and other generally icky stuff I wouldn't want next to my food.
Our compost is just green waste and nothing more. They don't even allow pallets to be dumped there. It's not organic, because you can't know what all the people are spraying on their yards/trees/shrubberies before they get taken to the yard, but my garden really seemed to like it the past couple of years.
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@Trifele
We're in for another bout of unseasonable freezing weather here so I haven't started the fence (since posts plus frozen ground sounds like a pain). I also haven't started our kale. We have a winter hardy cultivar, but I'm not sure whether the seeds will germinate in the current fluctuating freezing to 40 degree weather. Has anyone started Kale seeds outdoors in the cold or do you sow them inside and transplant?
Check out this post at A Garden For The House https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/11/winter-sowing-101-6/
I’ve tried this method before and it works just fine.
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@Trifele
We're in for another bout of unseasonable freezing weather here so I haven't started the fence (since posts plus frozen ground sounds like a pain). I also haven't started our kale. We have a winter hardy cultivar, but I'm not sure whether the seeds will germinate in the current fluctuating freezing to 40 degree weather. Has anyone started Kale seeds outdoors in the cold or do you sow them inside and transplant?
Check out this post at A Garden For The House https://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2012/11/winter-sowing-101-6/
I’ve tried this method before and it works just fine.
That winter sowing in jugs is neat.
I've grown a lot of kale, and IME it does better direct-sown rather than transplanted. YMMV. I usually sow it straight into the garden early in the spring, but you can also do it in the late fall. Depending where you live and what kind of winter protection you can give it, you can overwinter it and then collect seed in the second year. For raw (salad) kale, I love the Red Russian variety. Such vigorous plants -- you can cut-and-come-again so many times -- and such tender mild leaves.
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I've not long finished preparing a plot solely for the planting of asparagus.
After getting rid of what used to be a tired old herb plot with a rosemary bush that had gotten way too big, I dug it over with plenty of old horse manure, and planted asparagus crowns, with a view to harvesting them in about 2-3 years time. Asparagus, in case you didn't know is a pretty long term investment (Mustachian) and when ready in approx 2 years time, should be good for another 15-20 years.
I've not quite got the hang of inserting pictures into these forum posts, but you can view more of what I've been doing at this following blog post. It contains somewhat grainy photos I took while still a work in progress, digging out one of the trenches, creating a ridge before straddling the ridge with the asparagus crowns:
https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/03/setting-out-new-asparagus-plot-in-2019.html (https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/03/setting-out-new-asparagus-plot-in-2019.html)
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I bought three kinds of sweet potatoes this weekend and cut slips from them. Hopefully at least one variety will sprout! The remainder made a nice lunch yesterday too.
My big accomplishment was finally building a seed starting bench in the basement. I've been making do with a shelving unit and the bar top, but this will be so much nicer. I took the plunge and ordered 2 LED light fixtures as well; it seemed like good timing since I didn't want to make a setup for my current T5's and then have to re-do it, and potentially drill different holes in the ceiling when it was time to transition. The T5 bulbs still have a fair bit of life in them, so I'll use them as my "expansion pack" for the short time when I have lots of potted-up seedlings demanding more space. If I like these LEDs, I will probably order 1-2 more fixtures, depending on how well they cover my 20"x8' bench. With this better setup, I'm thinking I might venture into growing greens and herbs through next winter. Will post some pics once the LEDs are up.
Need to get two more trays of seedlings going. Everything I've started so far is going great, albeit a bit lanky from being a bit too far from the lights.
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@Trifele your deer fence sounds like quite the wall. We're going with a 4ft high fence made from posts and wire cattle fence. I'm hopeful that will be enough to discourage them, but we may have to upgrade next year depending on how this season goes. I'm suspicious that our real problem is rabbits and not the deer. I'm going to post our wildlife camera to find out once we have some plants growing.
We're in for another bout of unseasonable freezing weather here so I haven't started the fence (since posts plus frozen ground sounds like a pain). I also haven't started our kale. We have a winter hardy cultivar, but I'm not sure whether the seeds will germinate in the current fluctuating freezing to 40 degree weather. Has anyone started Kale seeds outdoors in the cold or do you sow them inside and transplant?
I repurposed a bunch of egg cartons and set up a little grow light to start tomatoes and pepper indoors. I'm really excited to get some seeds in this evening.
Do you use the Styrofoam or cardboard egg cartons? I have an 18 pack Styrofoam type carton I could use soon. I want to plant zinnia seeds. Anyone know of a good dwarf variety with big flowers? I like the regular tall ones but they tend to break when we have high winds. They need tying up so I would rather have dwarf ones. I want to plant them into big planters.
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I lost 23 trees this time last year. Mostly pines that I'm not sad to see go. I've decided to try to replant with mostly fruit trees. I put in two cherry trees this weekend (OMG, my arms/pecs/shoulders are KILLING ME this morning). I still have one to go, but I'm having to do some work to make the planting hole drain correctly (Ugh...more digging). There's a whole lot of low area in my yard that tends to stay damp, so I'm thinking that plums and paw-paws might be my only options there. I have two peach trees and two apple trees that survived last year's storm. The peach trees tend to bloom out two or three weeks too early and get hit by some late frosts. In three years, I've had two peaches. I'm thinking that I'm going to add a few more trees with varying chill hour requirements to see if I can't hedge my bets against the last cold snaps of the year. The apple trees were bought together at Lowes and labeled as pollinating partners, but they don't bloom at the same time, so they've always been a bust. I'll have to figure out what I need to get to pollinate each of them. I've been wanting to try the espalier technique, so I might try that with some apples and/or figs.
I've also got some strawberry root bundles to go in...somewhere. I'm guessing a raised bed, but not sure where yet. We're having some major issues with water flowing from down the hill from the neighbor's house and have nothing to absorb it anymore. My vegetable garden is probably not going to do a whole lot this year because I have no topsoil left in it.
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@Trifele your deer fence sounds like quite the wall. We're going with a 4ft high fence made from posts and wire cattle fence. I'm hopeful that will be enough to discourage them, but we may have to upgrade next year depending on how this season goes. I'm suspicious that our real problem is rabbits and not the deer. I'm going to post our wildlife camera to find out once we have some plants growing.
We're in for another bout of unseasonable freezing weather here so I haven't started the fence (since posts plus frozen ground sounds like a pain). I also haven't started our kale. We have a winter hardy cultivar, but I'm not sure whether the seeds will germinate in the current fluctuating freezing to 40 degree weather. Has anyone started Kale seeds outdoors in the cold or do you sow them inside and transplant?
I repurposed a bunch of egg cartons and set up a little grow light to start tomatoes and pepper indoors. I'm really excited to get some seeds in this evening.
Do you use the Styrofoam or cardboard egg cartons? I have an 18 pack Styrofoam type carton I could use soon. I want to plant zinnia seeds. Anyone know of a good dwarf variety with big flowers? I like the regular tall ones but they tend to break when we have high winds. They need tying up so I would rather have dwarf ones. I want to plant them into big planters.
Size-wise you could use either egg carton, but the cardboard ones decompose eventually, so you could plant those straight into your garden if you wanted. With the styrofoam ones you'd have to transplant, but I guess that means you could also re-use it later if you were so inclined.
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Hooray! This morning I found my first fruit tree flower of the year. Our old Kieffer pear tree (such a champ) is loaded with buds and this morning the first few beautiful little white flowers opened. :)
I have my fingers and toes crossed for some of my young trees that this may be the year they flower/fruit. I have three cherries that are 4 years old this spring -- high hopes for fruit there. And some of you on the thread last year may remember the story of Bob the never-say-die apple tree who grew from a seed, survived multiple trials and tribulations, and moved cross country with us. Bob is now 7 years old, and I have very high hopes that we may see his first flowers and fruit this year.
The little baby apple trees that I grafted last year came through the winter just fine and are budding out. That was the biggest thrill I've ever had as a gardener -- seeing those graftlings grow and thrive.
Fruit trees make me so happy. :)
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Last year I let my back yard garden go to seed, plus scattered several packs of wildflower seeds on it. It worked out pretty well excpet that I had to pull up several hundred sunflowers that came back from the prior year. A lot of veggies grew back from seed, arugula, pumpkins, lemon balm, sage etc. I also planted lettuce and onions around the edges which worked out well. I have not decided yet whether to do the same this year or let it go again. It's still frozen so I'll think about this over the next month.
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Bah, the sellers asked to extend the closing date to the end of May :( That's probably too late to plant anything for this year, but hopefully I'll still be able to plant some perennials for harvest next year. It may turn out to be for the best, though, since we'll have time to carefully plan everything instead of rushing to get something in the ground before it's too late.
I'll just have to watch you all with envy for one more year!
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Bah, the sellers asked to extend the closing date to the end of May :( That's probably too late to plant anything for this year, but hopefully I'll still be able to plant some perennials for harvest next year. It may turn out to be for the best, though, since we'll have time to carefully plan everything instead of rushing to get something in the ground before it's too late.
I'll just have to watch you all with envy for one more year!
Too bad, @Raenia. You can do some things in the fall, depending where you live. I've planted carrots, spinach, and kale in July/August or so, and had good fall harvests.
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I just got a bag of topsoil at Lowe's for $1.97 for a 40 pound bag. It's the cheapest variety of topsoil they sell.
I'm using it to fill in low spots in my lawn, but just thought about using it in the garden too.
Will anything grow in it? I asked the sales lady if anything would grow in it, and she said yes.
Actually I'd be happy just to have grass grow in it.
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Two years ago I grew green beans in 5 gallon pails and it worked out really good! So the other day I bought Blue Lake 274 green beans. I bought some basil seeds too. I found some mini zinnia's seeds for my barrel planters. I will buy an already started Rosemary plant too. Trying to keep it manageable because I get carried away with stuff and it all ends up going to hell. Hub is starting to worry that I am out of control but I have reassured him, I reigning myself in!
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Bah, the sellers asked to extend the closing date to the end of May :( That's probably too late to plant anything for this year, but hopefully I'll still be able to plant some perennials for harvest next year. It may turn out to be for the best, though, since we'll have time to carefully plan everything instead of rushing to get something in the ground before it's too late.
I'll just have to watch you all with envy for one more year!
Too bad, @Raenia. You can do some things in the fall, depending where you live. I've planted carrots, spinach, and kale in July/August or so, and had good fall harvests.
Also, some places in the lower 48 people wait until mid May or even later to plant out tender annuals (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants...). WHen is your average last frost date at your new location? These plants don't really benefit from being planted out early without additional protection (eg. Wall o Water), as overnight temps below 50 degrees can stunt them (but I don't do that as I don't want to spend extra money). If you wanted to, you could start a few now and just keep potting up until you can put in the ground. I will start my tomatoes this weekend and they typically get planted in the garden around mid-May if the temps are not cooperating. I have gone as big as 2# pots before with tomatoes when I had to plant May 15ish. Small varieties work best as they take less time to ripen, so, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, and small slicers. Many varieties of peppers and eggplants stay small enough to keep in 1# pots until you can plant out. In addition, some varieties of summer squash are very fast maturers, you could even direct seed at the end of May and get a haul (I am thinking about Easypick Gold and Raven, which are yellow squash and zucchini, respectively. They are both hybrids, and Easypick Gold is parthenocarpic, meaning it does not need to be fertilized but will automatically produce fruit (so no worrying about pollinators). I mostly grow OP and heirloom varieties, but I always grow 1 plant of these as they are very reliable.). (You could start indoors but you don't want to keep them in pots more than a week or two after they germinate, they really generally don't like their roots disturbed once they get bigger). It might be too much with the chaos of moving, but if you are up to try these are some suggestions! :)
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Also, some places in the lower 48 people wait until mid May or even later to plant out tender annuals (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants...).
I'm sighing in agreement - my date for tomatoes is beginning of June, unless we have an unusually early and hot spring. Peppers probably a week later. My peppers are already started indoors (they grow so slowly at first) but I am a month away from starting my tomatoes.
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Thanks for the advice, hopefully I'll be able to use some of it. Unfortunately I can't start anything at my current place, so I'll be limited to what I can direct sow late, or what I can buy at a local nursery if I can find a good one. The new place also doesn't have beds yet, so we'll have to clean up the yard, build the beds, etc before planting. I don't want to be too ambitious and drive my DH crazy while we're trying to move and settle in!
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Thanks for the advice, hopefully I'll be able to use some of it. Unfortunately I can't start anything at my current place, so I'll be limited to what I can direct sow late, or what I can buy at a local nursery if I can find a good one. The new place also doesn't have beds yet, so we'll have to clean up the yard, build the beds, etc before planting. I don't want to be too ambitious and drive my DH crazy while we're trying to move and settle in!
Oh gosh, don't build beds. If you have an idea of where the beds will ultimately go anyway, just plant directly in the ground. Last year I expanded my planting area by just literally digging out some grass, amending the area with compost, adding some fertilizer in the actual planting holes, and planting in the ground. I did corn, collards, and tomatoes that way. In fact the tomatoes did better in the ground, probably because in ground holds water better (I live in a hot dry climate). Worry about proper beds next year!
(Or anyway, that is what I would do, because I am impatient! Ha!)
Good luck! If you can find a nursery that is not a big box store you should be able to find quality starts!
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Thanks for the advice, hopefully I'll be able to use some of it. Unfortunately I can't start anything at my current place, so I'll be limited to what I can direct sow late, or what I can buy at a local nursery if I can find a good one. The new place also doesn't have beds yet, so we'll have to clean up the yard, build the beds, etc before planting. I don't want to be too ambitious and drive my DH crazy while we're trying to move and settle in!
Oh gosh, don't build beds. If you have an idea of where the beds will ultimately go anyway, just plant directly in the ground. Last year I expanded my planting area by just literally digging out some grass, amending the area with compost, adding some fertilizer in the actual planting holes, and planting in the ground. I did corn, collards, and tomatoes that way. In fact the tomatoes did better in the ground, probably because in ground holds water better (I live in a hot dry climate). Worry about proper beds next year!
(Or anyway, that is what I would do, because I am impatient! Ha!)
Good luck! If you can find a nursery that is not a big box store you should be able to find quality starts!
Good point, I could throw something in the ground this year and build beds next year - I would want to get the soil tested for lead (city living has its downsides), but I'm sure that doesn't take too long. I should look into places to do soil testing so I'm ready to go.
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Thanks for the advice, hopefully I'll be able to use some of it. Unfortunately I can't start anything at my current place, so I'll be limited to what I can direct sow late, or what I can buy at a local nursery if I can find a good one. The new place also doesn't have beds yet, so we'll have to clean up the yard, build the beds, etc before planting. I don't want to be too ambitious and drive my DH crazy while we're trying to move and settle in!
Oh gosh, don't build beds. If you have an idea of where the beds will ultimately go anyway, just plant directly in the ground. Last year I expanded my planting area by just literally digging out some grass, amending the area with compost, adding some fertilizer in the actual planting holes, and planting in the ground. I did corn, collards, and tomatoes that way. In fact the tomatoes did better in the ground, probably because in ground holds water better (I live in a hot dry climate). Worry about proper beds next year!
(Or anyway, that is what I would do, because I am impatient! Ha!)
Good luck! If you can find a nursery that is not a big box store you should be able to find quality starts!
Good point, I could throw something in the ground this year and build beds next year - I would want to get the soil tested for lead (city living has its downsides), but I'm sure that doesn't take too long. I should look into places to do soil testing so I'm ready to go.
Ah, soil testing - look up your state extension office. They will (most likely) offer testing at very reasonable rates (basically cost). To test for lead would (probably) be an add-on. If they don't offer it, they would likely have a list of companies that will do it. Most extension offices are very helpful and highly knowledgeable, especially about the issues and challenges in your state!
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Thanks for the advice, hopefully I'll be able to use some of it. Unfortunately I can't start anything at my current place, so I'll be limited to what I can direct sow late, or what I can buy at a local nursery if I can find a good one. The new place also doesn't have beds yet, so we'll have to clean up the yard, build the beds, etc before planting. I don't want to be too ambitious and drive my DH crazy while we're trying to move and settle in!
Oh gosh, don't build beds. If you have an idea of where the beds will ultimately go anyway, just plant directly in the ground. Last year I expanded my planting area by just literally digging out some grass, amending the area with compost, adding some fertilizer in the actual planting holes, and planting in the ground. I did corn, collards, and tomatoes that way. In fact the tomatoes did better in the ground, probably because in ground holds water better (I live in a hot dry climate). Worry about proper beds next year!
(Or anyway, that is what I would do, because I am impatient! Ha!)
Good luck! If you can find a nursery that is not a big box store you should be able to find quality starts!
Good point, I could throw something in the ground this year and build beds next year - I would want to get the soil tested for lead (city living has its downsides), but I'm sure that doesn't take too long. I should look into places to do soil testing so I'm ready to go.
Ah, soil testing - look up your state extension office. They will (most likely) offer testing at very reasonable rates (basically cost). To test for lead would (probably) be an add-on. If they don't offer it, they would likely have a list of companies that will do it. Most extension offices are very helpful and highly knowledgeable, especially about the issues and challenges in your state!
I would recommend researching lasagna gardening for its speed and versatility.
I also am totally not impressed with raised bed gardening. In my experience it requires way more resources. The beds I had dried out really quickly in the heat of the summer. I had to water every other day while the in ground beds were fine with the rainfall all but two weeks. It was always been difficult to get a good bean crop in the raised bed. We have a lot of temperature fluctuations in our area and I have been more successful in protecting crops from frost when they are on the ground and have the thermal mass of the earth. I prefer the flexibility of changing up row widths and patches for crop rotation. And I can have way more planting area for a significantly lower cost.
I have a greenhouse and grow lights so I don't need the advantage of an early start that raised beds give. I plant intensively so the benefit to less weeding is negated. I feel that having to lift up the compost and to work the soil in a raised bed with smaller tools is more of drawback than having to bend down to plant and pick. I find that the raised beds require more arm work while tilling in-ground I can use my bigger and stronger leg muscles. For tedious harvesting and weeding I sit down on my bucket/stool. I like to dump tons of straw and leaves in my garden - mostly on where I walk - and with the in ground beds it is pretty easy when working with a wheelbarrow. And it stays mostly on the ground while everything blows off the raised bed unless I weigh it down with a lot of branches.
If your soil is really damp year round raised beds may be the only way to go. Or if the soil is contaminated. Or if you have accessibility issues that prevents you from getting down on the ground. Lots of people love raised beds - but me - I ripped them all out last spring. YMMV
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I would recommend researching lasagna gardening for its speed and versatility.
I also am totally not impressed with raised bed gardening. In my experience it requires way more resources. The beds I had dried out really quickly in the heat of the summer. I had to water every other day while the in ground beds were fine with the rainfall all but two weeks. It was always been difficult to get a good bean crop in the raised bed. We have a lot of temperature fluctuations in our area and I have been more successful in protecting crops from frost when they are on the ground and have the thermal mass of the earth. I prefer the flexibility of changing up row widths and patches for crop rotation. And I can have way more planting area for a significantly lower cost.
I have a greenhouse and grow lights so I don't need the advantage of an early start that raised beds give. I plant intensively so the benefit to less weeding is negated. I feel that having to lift up the compost and to work the soil in a raised bed with smaller tools is more of drawback than having to bend down to plant and pick. I find that the raised beds require more arm work while tilling in-ground I can use my bigger and stronger leg muscles. For tedious harvesting and weeding I sit down on my bucket/stool. I like to dump tons of straw and leaves in my garden - mostly on where I walk - and with the in ground beds it is pretty easy when working with a wheelbarrow. And it stays mostly on the ground while everything blows off the raised bed unless I weigh it down with a lot of branches.
If your soil is really damp year round raised beds may be the only way to go. Or if the soil is contaminated. Or if you have accessibility issues that prevents you from getting down on the ground. Lots of people love raised beds - but me - I ripped them all out last spring. YMMV
I'm familiar with the lasagna method, and it's what I plan to use to build beds, with the addition of some kind of border to hold up the pile and be decorative. From your descriptions, though, I think you're dealing with a lot more space than I will have - row spacing and crop rotation aren't really going to be an issue for me, the whole yard is only about 400 sq ft, maybe less. It's pretty much going to be one bed along the retaining wall on one side of the yard (north-west side), a second bed along the fence on the other side (south-east), and a few feet of space to walk between. Tall plants in the first bed, short plants in the second bed, so they don't shade each other. It'll mostly be a matter of negotiating the identities and location of any perennials (raspberries?, strawberries?, black currents?, a single self-pollinating fruit tree?, asparagus?, rhubarb?) and filling the rest with annuals, probably different things each year to get a variety.
No accessibility issues for us, thank heaven, but it remains to be seen if we have lead contamination or extremely damp soil.
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I have 3 galvanized water trough's I bought from Tractor supply. They are meant to feed and water cattle. I also have put trellis's on two of them.
We are going to put in an irrigation system in them. I am only talking about 6 tomato plants but I know the trough's do heat up and the dirt gets dried out, so going to try the drip irrigation method this year. We can also put in Miracle Grow fertilizer in the PVC pipes so the solution will go directly to the roots and not wasted.
Here is the video of how this guy makes the PVC irrigators. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUbfpkNEslw
Very simple and will attach to my trellis frame.
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My winter garden hasn't been too productive, presumably due to the degree of neglect I've given it (it's been an insanely busy winter), but I did harvest several carrots this week.
I planted my early-season crops a few days ago (lettuce, peas, carrots, and broccoli) and did some prep work for my later season crops - planning on cantaloupe, tomatoes, and pumpkins. And I have a couple strawberry plants that I planted last year - we only got a few strawberries per plant last year, but I've read year 2 is more productive.
My chickens have been laying like crazy - averaging 5 to 6 eggs per day from 7 chickens. That's about twice what they were laying a few months ago when we had 9 chickens (we lost two to predators) - it's weird to me that their egg production is so high in the winter.
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Wonderful thread (as always) and great to see everyone's plans coming together! I don't think I've participated in this thread for a few years, but I have previously learned a ton in here.
This will be my fifth season of growing my own food. How much I have come to love this process...the rhythm of physical work, the nuturing of the soil, the planting, and the eventual EATING...it has really suprised me. This has gone beyond the hobby stage. It has become an integral part of my lifestyle and its relationship to It's probably one of the most surprising developments of my post-career life. I've always had a strong connection to my land, my island...but I have found that once I made the decision to grow food there the bond became something even more profound.
My garden spot resides in a little forest clearing on a little island off the west coast of British Columbia. It is quite possible that this spot features the mildest climate zone in Canada. All sorts of evidence points to the fact that it resides in hardiness zone 9a - due to being on a small isle in a warm (at least compared to the Winter air mass) sea, I experience later frost dates and less sub zero temps than either nearby Vancouver or Victoria. Hardiness Zone 9a is seen in Northern California and as if to confirm that these are the type of growing conditions I get to work with...there is a majestic California Redwood that towers over my garden site. It is a blessedly long growing season...for Canada. :)
Now having said all that about the mild climate...February was brutally, unusually cold this year. There was snow...and there was a frost event in March which is extremely rare. And only last week was I able to finally plant some peas, lettuce and spinach outdoors. And even then, it might have been jumping the gun just a bit - but temps are about to jump higher so things SHOULD be okay. I've got a ton of things starting under grow lights in our city condo - much to my DW's eternal bemusement - ready to transplant them out into the garden at the appropriate time.
I have somehow managed not to build any new garden beds for the past few years having reached a point where it has become difficult to eat or preserve or give away the bounty grown. If things got any bigger I'd have to open up a roadside garden stand. That sounds a bit too much like work to me. ;) Currently I have 16 beds of varying sizes, but most are either 4x4' or 4x8' cedar sided raised beds....though I do have an handful of remaining in ground beds.
The list of stuff I'm growing this year is probably to extensive to easily list...but new additions for this year will be parsnips, turnips and rutabagas. And some new tomato and pepper varieties. As I am typing out this post I've got my seed binder and my Lee Valley Garden Journal opened up in front of me as I develop my crop rotation and planting strategy. The promise of Spring is tangible.
Fruit trees abound and salal and blackberries are in endless supply to forage for in addition to the veggie crop. For the fifth time since I FIRE'd, I cannot wait to see what this growing season brings. And I look forward to read about the gardening stories in this thread!
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So nice to read your words about your garden, Jon. Looking forward to seeing some photos of it this year!
My LED lights arrived yesterday and I got them hung up tonight. I used metal plant hangers attached to the wall since I only needed them to project out about 10". I thought I'd want two more fixtures, but now I'm thinking I'll just add one more. Either way, I'll wait a couple weeks to make sure these are performing well.
Still need to get my tomato seeds in. I wanted to have that done March 1, but it will be done before I leave for a work trip on Sunday.
It's supposed to get into the 60's next week, so I'm planning to plant some things outside when I get home from my trip. Probably peas and lettuce to start, and maybe transplant some of my kale, calabrese and cabbage seedlings.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7835/47329906312_4cd25f952f_b.jpg)
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Nice light setup horsepoor! Mine is a bit more...makeshift. One day I will be able to have a proper light setup in my island cabin or in a proper garden shed (with heat). As it is now, I've got some seedlings under lights, some seedlings beside windows...and then at some point I need to get them all in my truck and on the ferry and over the Salish Sea to the garden. Everything will be so much easier when the whole operation is consolidated on the island.
And yes, hopefully there will be lots of garden pics as the thread develops. I'll be sure to post some.
I doubled down on the seaweed I put on my beds in the Fall and I'm looking forward to seeing the results of this. The stuff broke down completely over the Winter and my soil has never looked better.
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This will be my first FIREd growing season, so I am looking forward to having more time to spend than just "put seeds in dirt, water, pray".
I have two new garden boxes built, and all of my other beds weeded and prepped. My yard has significant damage to small trees and large bushes from the unusual amount of snow we got this winter, so I've been doing a lot of pruning. I have a lavender hedge that's been trimmed and tidied. In the psat two weeks I've relocated about six or eight large and semi-permanent landscape plants to new locations.
I put in three climbing roses on a new trellis last year, and they went from 12 inches to 4 feet in one growing season. I'm hoping they add 4 more feet this year.
My asparagus bed will be three years old this year, so for the first time I think we'll be able to harvest reliably. My dwarf apple tree produced reasonably well last year after being a total bust the year before, but I don't think it gets enough water because the fruit are always pretty small. I have two pomegranate trees that are probably at least three more years away from fruiting, if they ever do in this climate. My strawberries look terrible right now, mostly because my dogs eat them, but I'm hopeful they'll recover once things warm up a bit. My blueberries are about to turn three and are maybe two feet tall, so I got less than 30 blueberries from each of four bushes last year. And as usual, we have twenty random blackberry bushes sprouting in various parts of our yard that need to get pulled, or else I'll have a huge bounty of blackberries and nothing else in my garden.
I have yet to start ANY seeds for my new garden beds, but I have family with a little backyard greenhouse that always give me more starts than I know what to do with, so I'm not stressed about it yet. I'm planning to get some cherry tomatoes started this weekend, because my kids like them.
It's been nice to spend an hour or two on the yard and garden on warm sunny days this month, but it has really reinforced what a terrible job of maintenance I was doing when I was trying to work 40 hours per week and raise a family at the same time. I have one landscaped bed that used to have irises in it that is now about 80% grass, and it's just overwhelming to even think about tackling it just yet. I have vinca choking out my bed of black-eyed susans. My rhodies haven't been fertilized since I moved in, and the only thing really thriving right now are the totally-indestructible daffodils that cover the city this time of year. So it's been a challenge thus far, but I feel good about my progress so far this season, now that I have so much more time.
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Welcome back @Jon_Snow! I remember your lovely pictures of your garden last year. Can't wait to see more.
Welcome @sol! This is also my first spring as a FIREd gardener, and I'm really enjoying it so far. Although I have to say FIRE is busier -- in a good way -- than I thought it would be. Somehow quitting my job didn't magically free up 8 hours every day for me to spend in the garden. :)
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I'm getting really itchy to direct sow my greens and peas - after such a long stretch of All Polar Vortex All The Time, the forecast is improving. Starting next Tuesday I'm seeing in my weather app a week of highs in high 40s/low 50s and no frost. WHAT. But I know I'll probably get bitchslapped by a frost if I do that. The seed was free, though, so if everything drops dead I can start over.
Most of the greens go into the community garden bed, which doesn't open until late April. I always feel like that's so late to start greens, but, it is what it is. The gate is literally locked until opening day (other than the garden cleanup volunteer day thats usually about a week earlier, but last year both volunteer day and the rescheduled day were snowed out.) :/
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In between starting all my seeds, and now taking care of all my myriad baby plants, I found a whole bunch of bulbs that I had bought last year but never got around to planting: daffodils, tulips, crocus, and a few giant allium. They were in a bag that fell down and was hidden, in my unheated mudroom (unheated, but adjacent to my leaky kitchen door, so not precisely the same temp as outside, but closer than inside). Surprisingly, they have not dried out, but have all started sprouting. What say you, internet? Should I plant them in pots? Can I just put them in the ground (knowing that they will be less vigorous this spring)? Has anyone encountered this before, and what did you do? Nighttime temps here are still in the 20s, although we are expecting a big warm-up over the coming week (so much so in fact that they are forecasting 60s around a week out... :O ). I'd like to do something with them so that their cost isn't totally lost, the question is, what is the best thing to do with them?
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That's a nice surprise @CalBal. Sorry I have no wisdom to share, but interested to hear what you decide to do!
I checked on my trees this morning and got a nice surprise of my own. I have two young pears I planted last year, and I was thinking I'd have to wait on fruit until next year. To my delight one of the trees (an Ayers) is flowering for the first time! The timing of that will be great with my two Kieffers, which are also early flowerers. They'll be good pollination buddies. Nothing yet from the other young pear (Moonglow). I'll be checking it hourly though, lol. I had thought those two trees were only three years old -- whence the surprise. Looks likely they are a bit older -- probably four.
In other big garden news, our massive deer fence project is nearly finished. Should be done in the next day or two, and then fingers crossed that it works. We went with an 8.5 feet high fence, which from what I've read should work even with heavy deer pressure. We certainly have that -- herds of 15-20 patrolling through every night.
Last but not least, I was down in the garden yesterday and saw a new (to me) critter -- a hispid cotton rat. Apparently they have a burrow under one of my beds. Cute little thing. It was eating out of the compost pile. Fingers crossed that they don't like kale and peppers.
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I will jump back in! Definitely a novice gardener with more dreams than skill (or time) but I've had some success.
My first year (community garden plot and a patio containers) I had tomatoes, peas, lettuces, kale, carrots, blueberries and herbs I was happy with. The radishes turned out deformed, and the eggplant and peppers never grew.
Last year, we had a very cold, wet June, and then I dealt with months of health issues and personal trauma so the garden withered and went to seed.
This year, I'm pregnant (due in September), so I'm trying to plan a relatively easy but fulfilling garden. My husband will be around for the heavy lifting, but it's still my project and I don't want to overburden myself. My other challenge is that I tried to grow most things from seed last year (direct sow) and they just... didn't grow. (Maybe it was that cold, wet June.)
What would you recommend I grow as an easy maintenance (and easy harvest) plant? I'm in the cool, wet PNW (8b-9a hardiness zone.)
I'm going to review all my seeds this weekend - and think I may actually attempt to sprout them indoors this year, though I don't have a fancy light set up - but I'm thinking:
- Lettuces
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Peas
- Carrots
- Tomatoes (not from seed)
- Various herbs
- Brussel Sprouts
- Kohlrabi
@Jon_Snow as I think I told you, my parents also have a place in that Salish Sea... I would love to talk them into some fruit trees (apples and Italian plums grow well on their island), but what would the maintenance be? I'm only there once a month. They're there almost full time, but don't have interest in anything too involved.
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Following! Just bought my first home and DW and I are dreaming of gardening! Getting lots and lots of ideas just reading through this thread.
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Welcome back @Jon_Snow! I remember your lovely pictures of your garden last year. Can't wait to see more.
Good to be back. :)
In other big garden news, our massive deer fence project is nearly finished. Should be done in the next day or two, and then fingers crossed that it works. We went with an 8.5 feet high fence, which from what I've read should work even with heavy deer pressure. We certainly have that -- herds of 15-20 patrolling through every night.
Oh, does this ever strike a chord with me. First step where I garden is deer incursion prevention. An 8ft tall fence is all we need to keep the garden bounty safe from our local Black Tailed species. They are on the smaller side and thus their vertical leap is somewhat modest. Thankfully, have never seen a deer herd (derd?) that big. *shudders* Pulling up to the garden there is usually a 50-50 chance there will be a cervine or two loitering about. They try to look all casual-like, but there is a fervent gleam in their eye that I have learned to perceive.
I will jump back in! Definitely a novice gardener with more dreams than skill (or time) but I've had some success.
Welcome back OTW! I knew next to nothing when I created my first beds and stick seeds in the dirt back in the Spring of 2015. And things went more than fine. Sure, there were some setbacks...actually I've had setbacks in every growing season. But I have learned as much or more from my mistakes than from my successes.
This year, I'm pregnant (due in September), so I'm trying to plan a relatively easy but fulfilling garden.
Congratulations!
My other challenge is that I tried to grow most things from seed last year (direct sow) and they just... didn't grow. (Maybe it was that cold, wet June.)
This has been an issue for me as well. I have learned that wood bugs (called pill bugs or roly polys elsewhere I have learned) were eating the tender shoots of newly germinated seeds. As long as I pull back my leafy mulch early enough I have been able to mitigate this. Also, I don't think they really like the seaweed I put on the beds in the Fall - the salt content I would guess. By the time Spring rolls around the rains have washed away the salt but the wood bugs don't appear to have come back. It's learning stuff like this that I find very satisfying.
But even having outsmarted the seedling munching wood bugs, I have found it EXTREMELY helpful to start a bunch of stuff indoors. You are correct OTW, a colder than normal May or June can cause setbacks for direct sowing. I basically pursue a hybrid approach or direct sowing and indoor starts.
What would you recommend I grow as an easy maintenance (and easy harvest) plant? I'm in the cool, wet PNW (8b-9a hardiness zone.)
I'm going to review all my seeds this weekend - and think I may actually attempt to sprout them indoors this year, though I don't have a fancy light set up - but I'm thinking:
- Lettuces
- Swiss Chard
- Kale
- Peas
- Carrots
- Tomatoes (not from seed)
- Various herbs
- Brussel Sprouts
- Kohlrabi
We are Plant hardiness zone neighbours OTW. :) Apart from the carrots (these really need to be directly sowed) and the peas (because they grow so easily in the PNW) I have started all of those things indoors...mostly due to my previously mentioned seedling munching pest issue of the past. Lettuce you should be able to start outdoors right now. Tomatoes of course, need a bit of a jump start indoors in our region because they really can't go outdoors until late May - and that's assuming it's warmed up enough. May can be quite cool sometimes. I found Brussel Sprouts to be very challenging. If you get them to work, please share the secret! And what about cabbage? They are incredibly satisfying to grow and grow very well in our region - it really is BRASSICA HEAVEN here.
@Jon_Snow as I think I told you, my parents also have a place in that Salish Sea... I would love to talk them into some fruit trees (apples and Italian plums grow well on their island), but what would the maintenance be? I'm only there once a month. They're there almost full time, but don't have interest in anything too involved.
Yes, we have discussed in the past we are also island neighbours as well. :)
Interestingly, MY parents started a little orchard on their property perhaps 5 years ago. Apples, cherries, plums. No pears...and I'm not sure why as they grow very well on the islands. The trees are barely 7 feet tall yet they already droop heavily with their fruity bounties. I think they hire a fellow to do their pruning, but I have been meaning to learn how to do this myself. I really don't think it's akin to rocket science, but there IS a knack to it. It's on my to-do list.
I would tell your folks that some guy on the internet agrees with your assessment that they should start up a mini-orchard. ;)
Following! Just bought my first home and DW and I are dreaming of gardening! Getting lots and lots of ideas just reading through this thread.
Awesome. Turning garden dreams into reality is wonderful. Keep us up to date on your progress!
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Some of the pepper plants are up. The really expensive variety (ack! what was I thinking when I bought 10 seeds for 9.95 with a 65% germination rate?) are up at 9/10 seeds.
The sweet banana are only half up but the mixed bells are almost all up.
@Off the Wheel - Congratulations. Some plants are really fragile at germination. They may need heat and consistent watering of exactly the right amount. Other seeds are only viable for a very short time. The germination rate of some types of old seed drops off a lot. You can test the germination by starting the seeds on wet paper towel and then popping only the ones that start to germinate into soil. I use my free West Coast Seeds catalogue planting guide like a bible for the instructions of what they require for germination - sometimes it is soaking, roughing up, or starting out cold.
I have never tried Kohlrabi or Brussel sprouts myself. Carrots are hit and miss for me - and I have gotten to the point I just plant them every week and hope for the best. Peas always work if the chipmunk fortifications hold during germination and the bunnies are kept at bay after.
Today I am going to plant lettuce in plug trays for starting in the warm house under lights and in the planters in the greenhouse (no heat) I should probably not grow any brassicas in the greenhouse this year to rest the soil for a bit. Last summer there was a profusion of cabbage whites on the kale at the end of the summer.
@CalBal - I have never been in your exact situation - the daffodils I forgot in the garage turned into a disgusting gooey mess. But I have bought pots of hyacinths, daffs, crocus etc. in the winter and then planted them in the garden as soon as the soil was workable and had them come back. They were able to get enough juice back into the bulb from their floppy leaves from that short time in the late spring to flower the following years (and still flower).
@sol - I am hoping for asparagus this spring. What is your guideline for harvesting? I am going to pick it if the spears are as thick as my baby finger but maybe that is not from scientific evidence. I don't know where I came up with that guideline. If they come up thinner, I will hold off for another year and apply a very generous layer of composted sheep manure to the area right away. I don't like eating asparagus that comes up through freshly dressed soil so I don't typically feed them until June.
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Posting mostly to follow, as I don't really know what I'm doing, my wife is the gardener, but I'm eager to learn more! We (read: my wife) started some bell and jalapeno peppers last weekend and tomatoes today. It's a pretty small set up, just a couple of lights and heating pads in our basement. My wife keeps the master list (I doubt she considers herself a mustachian, but her super nerdy spreadsheet of vegetable yield with prices, etc says otherwise) of what we plan to plant this year, which includes zucchini, pool ball squash, cucamelon, green beans, snap peas, basil & parsley (in pots), and luffa/loofah.
Our backyard has 3 raised beds that are falling apart so our goal is to rebuild those this spring, but we have a really busy April and May so there's a chance that won't get done this time around. If not this spring, ideally we can get it done in the fall before the ground freezes. The previous beds were 4 separate beds crammed together (our backyard is on a slope) without room to walk between them. This made tending to the garden a pain, so we're planning to replace it with 3 beds plus space to walk between each one. Also looking at including drip irrigation and a better way to keep animals out, as we had some pests eating the tomatoes last year.
Another less-garden-related thing I want to get done in the backyard is to kill all the grass around our fenceline and put mulch down- we only have a reel mower and I don't want to buy a weed whacker, and getting the mower against the fence is a PITA.
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Posting mostly to follow, as I don't really know what I'm doing, my wife is the gardener, but I'm eager to learn more! We (read: my wife) started some bell and jalapeno peppers last weekend and tomatoes today. It's a pretty small set up, just a couple of lights and heating pads in our basement. My wife keeps the master list (I doubt she considers herself a mustachian, but her super nerdy spreadsheet of vegetable yield with prices, etc says otherwise) of what we plan to plant this year, which includes zucchini, pool ball squash, cucamelon, green beans, snap peas, basil & parsley (in pots), and luffa/loofah.
Our backyard has 3 raised beds that are falling apart so our goal is to rebuild those this spring, but we have a really busy April and May so there's a chance that won't get done this time around. If not this spring, ideally we can get it done in the fall before the ground freezes. The previous beds were 4 separate beds crammed together (our backyard is on a slope) without room to walk between them. This made tending to the garden a pain, so we're planning to replace it with 3 beds plus space to walk between each one. Also looking at including drip irrigation and a better way to keep animals out, as we had some pests eating the tomatoes last year.
Another less-garden-related thing I want to get done in the backyard is to kill all the grass around our fenceline and put mulch down- we only have a reel mower and I don't want to buy a weed whacker, and getting the mower against the fence is a PITA.
Just saying, drip irrigation is THE BEST. If you feel confident installing it, it's totally worth it.
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I posted this before but in case people didn't see it here is simple drip tomato watering system I plan on using this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUbfpkNEslw
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Beautiful weather this week! I am starting to put the baby plants outside, not really to harden them off (it is far too early, but that is a nice side effect) but to get some nice direct sun. They are going to sunbathe for an hour today. I reuse nursery pots for as long as possible, so you see a bunch of those in the photos.
Peppers and eggplants are looking good, I've got some cruciforms and artichokes going, A few lettice I'm going to put in a pot for early lettuce, and tender herbs are starting to come up (and sage and lavender and getting big at this point!). I'm (hopefully) going to start tomatoes today. And want to *try* to get carrots and such direct planted. I've never really had good luck with root veggies. Peas went in the ground last weekend (well, most of them anyway!).
Frugal Lizard, thanks for relaying your experience. I found a source on the internet that said you can pop them in the ground no problem as long as it isn't frozen (it isn't), they might not flower that year (because they don't have a lot of energy stores) but they should survive and bloom the next year, so I am going to try!
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Beautiful weather this week! I am starting to put the baby plants outside, not really to harden them off (it is far too early, but that is a nice side effect) but to get some nice direct sun. They are going to sunbathe for an hour today. I reuse nursery pots for as long as possible, so you see a bunch of those in the photos.
Gorgeous here now too...mid teens Celsius highs...how quickly is that frigid February in the rear view mirror.. And I've got some baby brassicas and onions doing a bit of "tanning" outside today as well.
I'll be ferrying over to my garden site tomorrow where I'll spend a sun drenched afternoon doing a bit of soil cultivating here, adding compost and fertilizer or lime there...and I fully expect to see some lettuce, spinach and peas having sprouted. If my peas have indeed sprouted I'll plant another row. I have learned over the past few years it's impossible to plant too many peas. More spinach too I think. I wonder if anyone has ever rued not planting enough SPINACH. :D
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@Roadrunner53 The eggs I buy come in plastic cartons which make great seed trays. The plastic top lets the light through but keeps nice humidity for germination. The tomatoes and peppers are about 1-2 inches tall and a few are starting on their first set of leaves. I'm going to transfer them into 4" pots this week.
This spring has been pretty slow to show up in my area. The first daffodils just bloomed this week. I finally direct sowed some peas, kale, swiss chard, and leaf lettuce. I'm going to plant a little every week in hopes of getting a good succession harvest.
@turketron have you thought about a flame weeder to remove the grass? We bought one to keep weeds down on our long driveway and patio without weedkiller. I think it would work as well on grass.
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@turketron have you thought about a flame weeder to remove the grass? We bought one to keep weeds down on our long driveway and patio without weedkiller. I think it would work as well on grass.
I had not, but I'll look into it! My first thought was to put down newspaper or cardboard with mulch on top. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Bright sunshine here and the new snow is all sparkly. (yes, it snowed again)
Inside the greenhouse the large blocks of ice in the garbage bin is almost thawed. The planters are thawed and the soil is looking lovely. I am going to start seeds in there asap. My daughter asked me to wait until she can help or I would have done it yesterday.
I have all kinds of onion family seeds planted in trays under the lights. One light left. I am hoping that I can move all them out to the greenhouse the first week of April to make room for starting tomatoes under the lights. I like to be able to completely control all the lights and temperatures for the tomatoes. I wish I had more than one heating pad. I might take an a look online and see what another would cost.
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Our deer fence is done! Whew. :) We went with split rail at the bottom, with PVC coated 1" hex grid for the bottom 4 feet. We chose the split rail for cosmetic reasons so it matched the other existing fencing we have. We ended up skirting out the hex grid flat on the ground and staking it rather than trenching it. For the top 4+ feet we went with heavy duty poly deer mesh with 2" squares, affixed with large poultry staples. We thought about using a kit, but ended up DIYing it to keep costs down. Our garden is about 60X65 feet.
I'm cautiously happy about the choice of the hex grid (bottom portion). That size should be just right to keep rabbits out, but let snakes and maybe even weasels go through. And cautiously optimistic that the deer mesh on the top will discourage the woodchucks from climbing. (they're heavy, and I've read that they don't like climbing flexible/wiggly things.
We're pleased with it. Other than the split rail and poles it's very low visibility. The flagging tape is temporary, so the deer can see it at night, and learn it's there. From what I read we should be able to take the tape down in a couple months after they learn, and change their nightly path.
ETA: Sorry for the sideways pictures. Not sure why they're doing that ...
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@Trifele gorgeous. I now have fence envy.
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Thanks @Frugal Lizard! I am reeeaallly hoping I can actually grow some vegetables this year. :)
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Yesterday I realized that one of my new garden boxes has the short end pieces sandwiched between the two long ends, instead of screwed onto the edges of the two long ends, and so that one bed is several inches off of matching the others. This cannot stand. I'm going to have to go out there and shovel out the dirt, take it apart, and put it back together the right way or else it's going to bother me for the rest of it's lifetime.
My dad and I are having 12 yards of potting soil delivered next week, to be mixed in with my existing garden soil. Most of my starts will go in the ground that afternoon, along with more seeds. I'll hold some back just in case we get another frost, but it's supposed to be 75 degrees today and right now that feels pretty unlikely.
My first asparagus spears are already poking up.
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Our fava beans are doing well. This is our first time growing them so i need to look up when to harvest and how to cook them.
We have planted peas FOUR times and each time the little sprouts got eaten by the damn birds. No amount of caging or netting seems to deter them. I’m giving up and just waiting to put tomatoes in the ground now.
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@sol so envious of your first asparagus spears! First of the season? How long have you been growing them?
@ysette9 I hear ya- last year the birds were so bad at eating our new pea shoots (even with bird netting) that we barely got a pod or two. We've also had a hard time with new lettuces and birds too. That's the wonderful part of my community garden being a "habitat" where people actively feed the birds. There are some things I just can't grow in the space without them getting eaten.
I'm excited to see the new leaves of flowers and onions I'm starting from seed. Want to start even more seeds but need to build or scrabble together some squirrel proof space for new seedlings. Fortunately have one space where I'm going to be able to direct start seedlings, so I will happily fill those beds up with new seeds! Spring Equinox tomorrow!
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@sol so envious of your first asparagus spears! First of the season? How long have you been growing them?
The first of my asparagus went in the ground in 2014, and then I added more of a different type in 2015. We have not harvested at all, though we certainly could have last year. The asparagus bed eventually grew to about six feet tall with huge fronds, by the end of last season.
This year I'm going to harvest as they come up. Right now I have a single shoot about 4 inches tall, coming from only one of about 20 plants. I'm sure there are a bunch more right below the surface.
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This year I am trying: camelot hybrid shallots, cabernet, zoey storage, chinook leeks, parade scallions, and ramrod bunching onions form seed.
Just planted two small trays of bunching onions. I was going to plant one to a cell and use really tiny cell packs but then I got thinking ahead to planting out. I planted them four seeds to a large cell so I can just pop the entire cell in a row with no thinning required. Hopefully I won't be cursing all these transplants in May.
I went to a workshop on starting native herbacious plants from seed last night and came home with a number of different types of seeds that are now in the fridge for one more month of cold stratification.
Greenhouse is still empty. I really want to get going on that but have too much other stuff. Hopefully this weekend between making maple syrup. Everything is really late this year- usually I have already had a boil down. This year the sap has only run a couple of days so far. Yesterday was good, today is too cold again.
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Yesterday was a glorious day in my island garden. When I drove off the ferry I made a bee line to - not the garden - but to another property where I have had our mason bee cocoons in storage over winter. My DW (the bees are more her domain) was very concerned that with the warmer weather the shed had become warm enough to cause the mason bees to start hatching in their plastic container. I thought that since the shed is sort of in amongst the shade of the trees, it shouldn't actually have got too warm in there...not enough to trigger the bees to start hatching anyway.
Oops. Yep, that's a mason bee. They look more like flies and are prolific pollinators. The goal is to put the cocoons into the little bee house we have, to have them emerge and do their thing in the garden.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7902/33559162778_1fd35c71c2_z.jpg)
I have put the rest of the cocoons in a refrigerator to hopefully forestall the hatching progress until we can get the bee house set up.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7909/47382447612_2461eda076_z.jpg)
As for the garden itself I was pleased to find that I do have successful pea, spinach and lettuce germination. Most of the beds themselves are still very wet, so I used pitchfork to break up and loosen the soil to a depth of about a foot. I added bags of compost and tilled those in with a cultivator tool, working to break up the wet clumps. Very slowly, the tilth is improving. And it needs to, as I will be planting more things very soon. I am not as concerned with tilth quality in the beds I have reserved for transplants.
A few scenes from yesterday....as you can see, Spring has Sprung in the PNW.
My forest garden glade. Deer-proofed fenced garden in the background. Fruit trees blossoming like crazy.
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7809/46516187505_8cb213b82f_c.jpg)
Had company in the garden...in more of an observational capacity. :)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7879/32489490027_2aaed767e2_c.jpg)
Today looks to be a repeat of yesterday. This is truly one of my happily places and it's great to be in a thread surrounded by people who understand this. :)
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I love photos of your garden and I love imagining you on your island in your happy place. It is like a little mental vacation for me here at work to imagine what it must be like there. Good luck with the bees and the sprouts.
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Love your photos @Jon_Snow! Your island place is beautiful.
Please teach me how to get my photos right side up, haha.
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Love your photos @Jon_Snow! Your island place is beautiful.
Please teach me how to get my photos right side up, haha.
Hey thanks! I have virtually zero talent in photography so I’m glad the pics manage to overcome this at times.:)
And your photos self right themselves when I click on them. Your deer fence and your property look great. Feel free to post much more. And did I read right that your are fairly new-FIRE’d? If so, I think you’ll find that as great as gardening is, when your thoughts are no longer cluttered with thoughts of w*rk, it becomes TRANSCENDENT. :) (pretty much everything is elevated, who am I kidding)
And I swear I saw you in a health\fitness thread too. Being more physically robust will only take your horticultural exploits to another level as well!
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And did I read right that your are fairly new-FIRE’d? If so, I think you’ll find that as great as gardening is, when your thoughts are no longer cluttered with thoughts of w*rk, it becomes TRANSCENDENT. :) (pretty much everything is elevated, who am I kidding)
Yes sir, just FIREd at the end of January. Already w*rk seems like a distant memory. I'm living the life that was on hold all those years and it is glorious! I love being outside and in the garden, and now I can have my fill of it every day. I love having enough time to just BE, and to watch the birds and other wild critters in their spring activities. Sometimes I go hang out in the orchard for an hour or two with our chickens as they go about their day. I'm very happy. :)
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And did I read right that your are fairly new-FIRE’d? If so, I think you’ll find that as great as gardening is, when your thoughts are no longer cluttered with thoughts of w*rk, it becomes TRANSCENDENT. :) (pretty much everything is elevated, who am I kidding)
Yes sir, just FIREd at the end of January. Already w*rk seems like a distant memory. I'm living the life that was on hold all those years and it is glorious! I love being outside and in the garden, and now I can have my fill of it every day. I love having enough time to just BE, and to watch the birds and other wild critters in their spring activities. Sometimes I go hang out in the orchard for an hour or two with our chickens as they go about their day. I'm very happy. :)
Quotes like this are what keep me day dreaming and funneling money off into Vanguard whenever I can. God, I can’t wait.
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And did I read right that your are fairly new-FIRE’d? If so, I think you’ll find that as great as gardening is, when your thoughts are no longer cluttered with thoughts of w*rk, it becomes TRANSCENDENT. :) (pretty much everything is elevated, who am I kidding)
Yes sir, just FIREd at the end of January. Already w*rk seems like a distant memory. I'm living the life that was on hold all those years and it is glorious! I love being outside and in the garden, and now I can have my fill of it every day. I love having enough time to just BE, and to watch the birds and other wild critters in their spring activities. Sometimes I go hang out in the orchard for an hour or two with our chickens as they go about their day. I'm very happy. :)
Quotes like this are what keep me day dreaming and funneling money off into Vanguard whenever I can. God, I can’t wait.
Oh my gosh you are right @ysette9. I'm not young by MMM standards (52) so I had a journey to get here, but this forum is what got me over the finish line. You'll get there too!
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@Jon_Snow I'm envious of your weather! I jinxed myself and now it's been cold rain for 3 days. Good for the peas I planted, bad for all the rest of my plans... Booooo. I like how we can live vicariously through each others pictures though! That's a peaceful looking garden spot! Nice mason bees too. I haven't tried introducing any pollinators, but I get tons of mostly leafcutter bees and a lot of even smaller bees I haven't identified yet. (Also honeybees (someone might have a hive somewhere near, they can travel quite far but I sometimes have a lot) and a few bumbles. I even let paper wasps hang out in my shed ! They are awesome predators of some garden pests (I saw one munching on a hornworm once, and a grasshopper once as well - after that I decided they could 100% stay! It makes me smile to see them patrolling around the plants looking for food to bring back to the nest. They are very chill too unless you are literally like a foot from the nest.)
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I've been busy here prepping the beds inside my new deer fence. I'm planning to direct-seed kale and plant some potatoes next week. Should be ready to start planting everything else in about another three to four weeks. Historical average last frost here is third week in April.
My big project over this past weekend was to start moving some perennials inside the deer fence. I dug up and potted six baby raspberries from our patch, which I'll plant inside the fence in the next few days. I'm also moving in our four gooseberry bushes. I decided not to move any blackberries inside; those guys are a bit too rowdy for an organized garden area IMO. Also they can fend for themselves against the deer a bit better than the raspberries and gooseberries.
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My seedling cherry tomatoes are now in 4" pots. This is my first year doing seeds and so far I'm really happy with it. If even a handful of these survive it'll be much cheaper than buying plants at our local nursery (which is stupid expensive due to the HCOL area). The peppers and ground cherries sprouted, but they're still too small to transfer.
I planted three pear trees last weekend. We made full wire "domes" for them because a deer took out one of our juneberry/shadbushes despite a circle of wire. We're guessing the thing bellied up to the wire and ripped the small sapling out by the top. I got home and it had disappeared like we'd never planted it. sigh Now I understand why everyone's deer fences are so extensive. I guess I'm going to have to put our entire cottage garden inside our deer fence instead of just the vegetables. I might have to rethink plans for that entire side of the yard.
Does anyone know good plants to keep the deer occupied? Is it possible to distract them with something vigorous growing like honeysuckle in hopes they'll leave my flowers alone or is that a lost cause? Has anyone tried using fishing line to keep them out of flower borders. We don't want to fence our back patio, but last year that ate all our flowers to the ground.
I also planted a Lady of Shallot rose next to our front door. I'm really looking forward to how the peachy flowers will look against the pale green house.
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This is my family's first year in our own house and I'm ecstatic to try out a small veggie garden - something I've been dreaming about for the last 10 years. In the past while we were renting, it never felt like we had enough space or ownership in our yard to make the investment. But this year we have a third of an acre and huge aspirations!
My husband has been kind enough to agree to build me a bed and enclosure. This year, we're trying a 12'x3' bed to see how it goes with plans of adding more in the future. My biggest worry is that we have lots and lots of wildlife in our area, including a fat, lazy groundhog that ambles around the yard most mornings. My husband will be putting up some fencing for the deer, but I'm not sure how effective it will be in keeping out the groundhogs/rabbits. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
The plan this year is to grow:
tomatoes
bell peppers
broccoli
zucchini
carrots
kale
lettuces
radishes
basil/cilantro
Also, a friend will be giving me strawberry and raspberry plants and I have hopes of planting a few apple trees this year or next. I started some tomatoes/peppers/broccoli/zucchini a few weeks ago and my little seedlings are looking happy so far.
In all, I'm feeling very optimistic and looking forward to getting the kids (ages 1 and 3) out in the garden with me to start cultivating some nature love in them.
I'm excited to read about and get inspiration from everyone's gardens!
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Oh I'm sorry to hear about your deer problems @coffeefueled. Your story about the tree is so sad. Our deer here eat everything, and I mean everything. Along the lines of what you said -- I think the only thing that might work a little (other than full-scale deer fence) is if you can find something they like to eat that doesn't die from the browsing. I've come to the conclusion that they are creatures of habit, and if there is a yummy thing they like, they will visit it every night. Sometimes the deer will ignore other potential yummy things right next to it, because they're in the habit of visiting the first thing. Go figure.
Example -- we have four elderberry bushes planted in a row. The deer munch on bush number 1 every night, I think because it's right next to the path they walk, but they don't touch bushes 2-4.
Some people try hanging Irish Spring soap (didn't work for us) or spraying various animal urines (we didn't try it, because we have real animals running around, so I figured it wouldn't work.)
I also read that you can landscape to discourage deer, short of building an actual deer fence. Supposedly deer don't like to jump over a double obstacle, even fairly low ones. Something about their depth perception(?) So I read that some people plant a double row of low hedges/plantings around their gardens and that works for them.
But yeah -- for us, we had to go for the fence. :(
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This is my family's first year in our own house and I'm ecstatic to try out a small veggie garden - something I've been dreaming about for the last 10 years.
Welcome @cassafrass! Your plans sound fantastic. I remember gardening with my kids when they were little, and the look on their faces when they pulled a big carrot out of the ground for the first time, or ate some fresh green beans. The best. :)
Not sure what your fence is made of, but you'll find out if the rabbits and woodchucks are going through. Sometimes you'll be lucky and they're not that interested or motivated to break in.
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Very excited to get back to gardening this year, even if we only plan on keeping it small. This will be our fifth year in our house and we've only managed a decent garden one year. This year, after we get the deer/rabbit/woodchuck/misc critter fence up, we plan to grow:
Tomatoes (cherries, romas, and beefsteaks)
Peppers
Zucchini
strawberries
I'd like to do more, but I know it's not realistic for this year. *sigh Maybe next time.
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Curious whether anyone in zone 5 or colder and is growing blueberry bushes, has seen any signs of life from them yet?
I fear mine didn't survive the polar vortex. It's still early, though. Usually by late April mine are looking lively again.
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I love photos of your garden and I love imagining you on your island in your happy place. It is like a little mental vacation for me here at work to imagine what it must be like there. Good luck with the bees and the sprouts.
I think any garden, big or small, is inherently a beautiful place. But yeah, stick one on a lovely little island in one of the most gorgeous regions of the world...yeah, it puts yours truly in his happy place. :)
I used to be in the very place you are in now. I will happily provide you with more opportunities for garden-imagery fuelled "little mental vacations" as the growing season continues.
Quotes like this are what keep me day dreaming and funneling money off into Vanguard whenever I can. God, I can’t wait.
I'll let you in on a little secret. It's worth the wait.
@Jon_Snow I'm envious of your weather! I jinxed myself and now it's been cold rain for 3 days. Good for the peas I planted, bad for all the rest of my plans... Booooo. I like how we can live vicariously through each others pictures though! That's a peaceful looking garden spot! Nice mason bees too. I haven't tried introducing any pollinators, but I get tons of mostly leafcutter bees and a lot of even smaller bees I haven't identified yet. (Also honeybees (someone might have a hive somewhere near, they can travel quite far but I sometimes have a lot) and a few bumbles. I even let paper wasps hang out in my shed ! They are awesome predators of some garden pests (I saw one munching on a hornworm once, and a grasshopper once as well - after that I decided they could 100% stay! It makes me smile to see them patrolling around the plants looking for food to bring back to the nest. They are very chill too unless you are literally like a foot from the nest.)
Well, I'm blessed to be located in a part of Canada with the longest growing season. Already I've got a few plantings of lettuce, spinach, and peas thriving. As always, I have to restrain myself from planting/transplanting ALL THE THINGS. Spacing out my various plantings has always been a weakness.
One of the great things about my little garden spot is that, on top of the Mediterranean-like micro climate of the island's which provides wondrous Zone 9 growing conditions, the garden itself is located in a circular clearing (the pics do a decent job of showing this), bordered on all sides by some good sized trees. One thing that can hamper growing certain things in the PNW is the lack of true HEAT. Sure, for a few weeks in the Summer temps can flirt with the 30's Celsius, but heat loving crops can sometimes lag here. But due to the garden's positioning, facing southward in the forest glade...when the sun is present, the place traps the heat - and the trees prevent the wind from dispersing it. I can always count on an extra 3 or so degrees of warmth here as compared to other locations on the island. Some of my family on the same island, closer to the sea, can be considerably cooler than my garden spot.
One notable drawback of the location....are the very same trees that help create this greenhouse effect. With every year, as the trees grow higher, I'm actually getting less and less direct sunlight hitting my garden beds. At some point, some very difficult decisions will have to be made. Might involve a chainsaw. I'm probably fine for several more years, but I still have considerable angst about what will likely have to be done.
And just as I was ready to declare my parsnip seeds duds...we have germination. Easily the slowest gerninating seeds I've experienced thus far.
Right now I'm in the midst of hardening off my brassicas that need to be put out in the garden by mid -April...because, in what has to be the worst possible timing in terms of getting my garden off to a great start...I'm heading to Mexico for a month shortly thereafter.
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Curious whether anyone in zone 5 or colder and is growing blueberry bushes, has seen any signs of life from them yet?
I fear mine didn't survive the polar vortex. It's still early, though. Usually by late April mine are looking lively again.
I still have lots of snow on the ground, so I am not looking for signs of life from anything.
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Welcome @Fae! Good idea to keep things small while you get everything figured out. Sometimes in those small rebuilding years we can get a lot of pleasure out of a few things. And in the meantime we can all enjoy @Jon_Snow's 'garden porn' haha.
@Tris Prior -- will be interesting to hear how your blueberries make out. When I lived up north (4b) I didn't grow them, so I don't know what their average wake up time is. FWIW -- I'm in 7a now, had no harsh weather this winter, and my blueberries are still asleep. They're various varieties of highbush, mostly 'Patriot.'
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Welcome @Fae! Good idea to keep things small while you get everything figured out. Sometimes in those small rebuilding years we can get a lot of pleasure out of a few things. And in the meantime we can all enjoy @Jon_Snow's 'garden porn' haha.
@Tris Prior -- will be interesting to hear how your blueberries make out. When I lived up north (4b) I didn't grow them, so I don't know what their average wake up time is. FWIW -- I'm in 7a now, had no harsh weather this winter, and my blueberries are still asleep. They're various varieties of highbush, mostly 'Patriot.'
Thanks for the welcome Trifele! I love your deer/critter fence, I may steal your plans when we put ours back up. In previous years I've found that skirting the fencing works better than trying to bury the fence deep enough. We went down 2 ft one year and the dang rabbits still tunneled in to get to our garden beds.
@Tris Prior- thanks for the reminder to check my blueberry bush after the polar vortex. I'm in zone 6A and my blueberry bush isn't doing anything, and I check it is still alive.
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Was just over at the greenhouse checking out the germination rate of the greens and peas. Some of the radish are the only signs of life - apart from the creature that is digging holes inside the greenhouse! Maybe one of my cats needs to have a little vacay in the greenhouse this weekend and make the place smell unwelcome to rodents.
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I have subscribed to The Misfits Market vegetables and the boxes of veggies are delivered every two weeks. Last week was my first week and fresh beets came in my box. I washed them, left them whole and cooked them in a foil package at 400F for about an hour and 20 minutes. Turned the oven off then left them in the oven for about an hour. Once they were cooled I put gloves on and peeled them and cut them up. I added olive oil, salt and pepper and they were soooo goooood! I have never grown beets before but I plan to do so in an animal water trough I have in the yard I use for container gardening.
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A mystery creature ate juneberry shrubling number two today which has us worried about the newly planted pears. It definitely wasn't the deer because they're eating everything from the roots. I'm guessing some kind of mole. Does anyone know what I should do to protect our other young trees?
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A mystery creature ate juneberry shrubling number two today which has us worried about the newly planted pears.
Oh no! Was it eaten down to the roots, or was the damage actually under the ground?
I've had rabbits eat entire small trees right down flush with the ground . . . (That's what happened with Bob our apple seedling. He was eaten down flat to the ground twice, leaving only roots.)
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@coffeefueled Where on shrub was that piece chewed off? Was it low? Do you have rabbits?
When I have to protect new plants, I use 2-3 of the 6 ft green fence stakes. I place them about 1-2 ft away from the bush or tree and then loosely wrap 1/4" hardware cloth around the stakes to encircle the entire tree. If it's rabbits that are chewing on it, you could use those pvc or plastic tree guards that wrap around the base like a slinky. I prefer the hw cloth because it keep everything out until the plant is established.
@Trifele Your garden fence looks fantastic. Can't wait to see when growing season really gets underway. I laughed to myself because your garden dimensions are bigger than my house. I've always wanted a big kitchen garden right outside backdoor.
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@Trifele Your garden fence looks fantastic. Can't wait to see when growing season really gets underway. I laughed to myself because your garden dimensions are bigger than my house. I've always wanted a big kitchen garden right outside backdoor.
Haha @Indio -- yes, our fenced garden area is bigger than OUR house too . . . Guess you can see where our priorities lie! ;) It's not right outside the back door (that would be ultra luxury indeed) but about 150 feet away.
Forgot to mention that in addition to the potatoes and kale, I'll be planting some fennel soon. I'll be sure to share pictures. :)
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@Trifele -I have some fennel seed but have never grown it before. I found two contradictory sources - one says transplanting causes bolting and the other recommends growing in seed plugs. I just want a few bulbs to try making some recipes with it. Also, our frost free date isn't until the end of May. Do you direct seed it? Does the bolting mean it doesn't grow a big bulb?
Would appreciate any advice. I am also going to try parsnips again. Those buggers don't germinate easily but I am ever the optimist.
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@Trifele -I have some fennel seed but have never grown it before. I found two contradictory sources - one says transplanting causes bolting and the other recommends growing in seed plugs. I just want a few bulbs to try making some recipes with it. Also, our frost free date isn't until the end of May. Do you direct seed it? Does the bolting mean it doesn't grow a big bulb?
Would appreciate any advice. I am also going to try parsnips again. Those buggers don't germinate easily but I am ever the optimist.
@Frugal Lizard -- this is my first time growing fennel, so I know nothing. :) I'm going to direct seed it and see what happens. I read that spring sowing is more likely to cause bolting, and fall sowing can result in bigger bulbs. Bat signal out to @Indio, who may have some wisdom on this. :)
Good luck with the parsnips! I like those.
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@Trifele -I have some fennel seed but have never grown it before. I found two contradictory sources - one says transplanting causes bolting and the other recommends growing in seed plugs. I just want a few bulbs to try making some recipes with it. Also, our frost free date isn't until the end of May. Do you direct seed it? Does the bolting mean it doesn't grow a big bulb?
Would appreciate any advice. I am also going to try parsnips again. Those buggers don't germinate easily but I am ever the optimist.
@Frugal Lizard -- this is my first time growing fennel, so I know nothing. :) I'm going to direct seed it and see what happens. I read that spring sowing is more likely to cause bolting, and fall sowing can result in bigger bulbs. Bat signal out to @Indio, who may have some wisdom on this. :)
Good luck with the parsnips! I like those.
Re: fennel, I don't know about bolting, but I've read you shouldn't plant it near anything else. I have seed I want to grow this year and am trying to figure out where I can put it that isn't near anything else... ;P
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@Trifele -I have some fennel seed but have never grown it before. I found two contradictory sources - one says transplanting causes bolting and the other recommends growing in seed plugs. I just want a few bulbs to try making some recipes with it. Also, our frost free date isn't until the end of May. Do you direct seed it? Does the bolting mean it doesn't grow a big bulb?
Would appreciate any advice. I am also going to try parsnips again. Those buggers don't germinate easily but I am ever the optimist.
@Frugal Lizard -- this is my first time growing fennel, so I know nothing. :) I'm going to direct seed it and see what happens. I read that spring sowing is more likely to cause bolting, and fall sowing can result in bigger bulbs. Bat signal out to @Indio, who may have some wisdom on this. :)
Good luck with the parsnips! I like those.
Re: fennel, I don't know about bolting, but I've read you shouldn't plant it near anything else. I have seed I want to grow this year and am trying to figure out where I can put it that isn't near anything else... ;P
I read that too and haven't gotten any further towards figuring out where.
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I was in the garden this morning, and having just checked my first planting of peas and seeing them just on the verge of starting thier climb up the trellis, I walked over to my spinach patch just as the sun created the top of the redwood. My spinach was bathed in the morning light and it was glorious.
5 years ago, If someone had told meI would be expressing such things publicly...I would have scoffed.;)
Installed the first Oyas of 2019 in the cabbage bed. Will probably transplant the cabbage starts in the next week. Cabbage might be my favourite thing to grow....peas are right there though.
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I am just starting to see the pool filter emerge from the snow, so my gardening is vicarious. Pictures please (anyone?).
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I am just starting to see the pool filter emerge from the snow, so my gardening is vicarious. Pictures please (anyone?).
Only snapped a spinach pic today. As lovely a scenario I painted above, it remains but spinach. Not exactly the garden p*rn you are seeking I would guess. Hit 18 Celsius in the shade of my garden today. Wondrous day to have ones hands in the dirt. Heard an amazing bit of birdsong in the forest behind the garden...I have no idea what it was.
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I am just starting to see the pool filter emerge from the snow, so my gardening is vicarious. Pictures please (anyone?).
Only snapped a spinach pic today. As lovely a scenario I painted above, it remains but spinach. Not exactly the garden p*rn you are seeking I would guess. Hit 18 Celsius in the shade of my garden today. Wondrous day to have ones hands in the dirt. Heard an amazing bit of birdsong in the forest behind the garden...I have no idea what it was.
We hit 7, and I saw 5 wild turkeys near the house (crossing the road, they looked very healthy). So spring is coming. Snow/freezing rain/rain tomorrow (-5 tonight, warming up to 4 on Saturday). March is going out like a grump.
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@Trifele -I have some fennel seed but have never grown it before. I found two contradictory sources - one says transplanting causes bolting and the other recommends growing in seed plugs. I just want a few bulbs to try making some recipes with it. Also, our frost free date isn't until the end of May. Do you direct seed it? Does the bolting mean it doesn't grow a big bulb?
Would appreciate any advice. I am also going to try parsnips again. Those buggers don't germinate easily but I am ever the optimist.
@Frugal Lizard -- this is my first time growing fennel, so I know nothing. :) I'm going to direct seed it and see what happens. I read that spring sowing is more likely to cause bolting, and fall sowing can result in bigger bulbs. Bat signal out to @Indio, who may have some wisdom on this. :)
Good luck with the parsnips! I like those.
Thanks for the tag @Trifele. Fennel seeds are different from fennel bulbs. I've never grown fennel bulbs so no experience to share. The seed perennial has edible leaves, that look similar to dill. It doesn't bolt, but it does grow about 5' tall. I've got it planted among bee balm and next to comfrey and rue. None of those plants appear to be stunted by it. Honeybees love the fennel flower heads. I trim the leaves off as the plant grows and use it in salads. It's especially delicious in cold beet salad. Every year I harvest and dry the seed heads, save some for Winter soups and tea.
If you're interested I have a lot of double white hollyhock seeds saved from last year. They are biennial and don't attract bees, but have a beautiful cottage garden look. Had to plant them inside my garden fence because the local groundhog families find them very tasty.
My bees didn't survive the polar vortex so I picked up two new packages of Italian honeybees today fresh off the truck from GA. Just in time because my fruit trees are going to be flowering in 2ish weeks. Going to install them in the beeyard hives tomorrow. It will be so nice to see the bees flying around the garden again. Didn't realize how much I missed watching them.
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Re: the fennel -- that's interesting @Indio -- thanks. It sounds like you grow your fennel mostly as an herb (leaves, seeds, some stalks) and @Frugal Lizard may be trying to grow large bulbs to eat as a vegetable. I'm guessing that maybe different varieties are suited to different uses? I'm growing it as an herb and food for the bees, and I won't be harvesting any bulbs. I wonder if the allelopathic behavior that some people describe with fennel only happens with some varieties but not others? To be safe I'm going to plant my fennel inside my deer fence, but a little to the side -- away from the veg beds. Should be interesting!
Weather was beautiful yesterday --68F/20C and sunny. I composted, broadforked, and planted carrots and kale. I'm SORE this morning -- love it. On tap for today and tomorrow: plant potatoes and start seeding my herbal tea garden.
So sorry to hear about your bees Indio, and congrats on the replacements. I love their sound too. Right now all our pear trees are covered with flowers and you can hear a loud hum from all the bees working them.
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Bought grass seed. Can't wait till May 15 (frost date) to get it in some bare spots.
Filling in low spots with 'topsoil' from Lowe's, but I don't think anything will grow in this 'topsoil' so will have to buy some better stuff to mix into it.
Picked up a beautiful 4 pack of Big Boy tomatoes for $2.99. Way early, and I'll have to keep them inside for a month and a half. That's OK, I can't risk the store not having any left by May 15.
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Bought grass seed. Can't wait till May 15 (frost date) to get it in some bare spots.
Filling in low spots with 'topsoil' from Lowe's, but I don't think anything will grow in this 'topsoil' so will have to buy some better stuff to mix into it.
Picked up a beautiful 4 pack of Big Boy tomatoes for $2.99. Way early, and I'll have to keep them inside for a month and a half. That's OK, I can't risk the store not having any left by May 15.
You can get a jump start by graduating those 4 packs into larger pots and avoid them getting root bound and running out of nutrients.
Re fennel - I want to grow it as a vegetable. Apparently vegetable and herb are the same variety. And did you all know that the pollen has an amazing taste of curry? http://www.barbarapleasant.com/growingbulbfennel.html
I think I am going to start half the seeds in pots and direct sow the balance in my flower garden area and I will report back.
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Bought grass seed. Can't wait till May 15 (frost date) to get it in some bare spots.
Filling in low spots with 'topsoil' from Lowe's, but I don't think anything will grow in this 'topsoil' so will have to buy some better stuff to mix into it.
Picked up a beautiful 4 pack of Big Boy tomatoes for $2.99. Way early, and I'll have to keep them inside for a month and a half. That's OK, I can't risk the store not having any left by May 15.
You can get a jump start by graduating those 4 packs into larger pots and avoid them getting root bound and running out of nutrients.
Re fennel - I want to grow it as a vegetable. Apparently vegetable and herb are the same variety. And did you all know that the pollen has an amazing taste of curry? http://www.barbarapleasant.com/growingbulbfennel.html
I think I am going to start half the seeds in pots and direct sow the balance in my flower garden area and I will report back.
FL,
Thanks for that tip. Yes, I may end up doing that with my tomatoes.
Good luck with your garden,
Slackmax
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I did a lot of googling on voles - which is what I think ate the roots and bottoms of our juneberry bushes. I pulled back all the mulch from the new pear trees since the internet says that can attract them to areas. So far the voles have left the pears alone. I'm going to put in some sonic repellant sticks tonight. Fingerscrossed it works. The biggest pear tree has some buds. DH and I are super excited about having flowers soon.
It was a gloriously warm weekend here too. Our peas, kale, and radishes are sprouting. The chard hasn't come up yet. DH put in all the T-posts for our deer fence and set the welded wire fencing in place. We ran out of time to attach everything, but hopefully we'll have it finished this week.
It's starting to look like a garden. I'm completely tickled by how excited DH gets over any sprout. He's never grown anything and it's all new to him. : )
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I've grown fennel bulbs from seed before- started seeds and transplanted. Some of the bulbs were pretty hefty, at least 6" across. If I remember correctly, I started them in the fall. I definitely planted and grew too many as I was sick of eating them for years afterwards! So my recommendation (as with all veggies) is to plant less of one thing and plant more varieties and diversity!
This weekend I transplanted bachelor buttons and larkspur that I started from seed last month- exciting to finally have a little seed starting area that's effective and squirrel proof. I'm going to have an entire bed of flowers for cutting this year! Direct seeded some sunflowers, cosmos and nasturtiums. In the veggie beds, planted potatoes, seeds of pak choy, carrots, and more lettuce. DH had brought home some orphan tomatoes so threw those in the beds too. Harvested kale, green onions, and green garlic. I had had some tiny bulblets from garlic I grew last year, that I planted tightly in a row- not sure if they're going to develop much of a bulb, but enjoying eating them as is.
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My bees didn't survive the polar vortex so I picked up two new packages of Italian honeybees today fresh off the truck from GA. Just in time because my fruit trees are going to be flowering in 2ish weeks. Going to install them in the beeyard hives tomorrow. It will be so nice to see the bees flying around the garden again. Didn't realize how much I missed watching them.
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I lost my bees as well. Sad. I hope to catch a few 'feral' swarms this spring. I got two last year and three the year before. The commercial bees seem just too poorly adapted to mites and diseases, but most of the feral bees are just commercial bees flown free.
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I've grown fennel bulbs from seed before- started seeds and transplanted. Some of the bulbs were pretty hefty, at least 6" across. If I remember correctly, I started them in the fall. I definitely planted and grew too many as I was sick of eating them for years afterwards! So my recommendation (as with all veggies) is to plant less of one thing and plant more varieties and diversity!
This weekend I transplanted bachelor buttons and larkspur that I started from seed last month- exciting to finally have a little seed starting area that's effective and squirrel proof. I'm going to have an entire bed of flowers for cutting this year! Direct seeded some sunflowers, cosmos and nasturtiums. In the veggie beds, planted potatoes, seeds of pak choy, carrots, and more lettuce. DH had brought home some orphan tomatoes so threw those in the beds too. Harvested kale, green onions, and green garlic. I had had some tiny bulblets from garlic I grew last year, that I planted tightly in a row- not sure if they're going to develop much of a bulb, but enjoying eating them as is.
More fennel feedback! yeah! I spoke with a number of gardeners this past weekend and not one of them is having luck with fennel in our area but all had very little experience or were growing it for seed, which is touch and go for our length of season.
We got 5-6inches of snow Saturday night - Sunday. It has melted quite a bit - but we won't be doing any planting for some time....
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We got 5-6inches of snow Saturday night - Sunday. It has melted quite a bit - but we won't be doing any planting for some time....
Wow, I'm in a colder zone than you are and we didn't get that. We got a dusting of snow Saturday morning, then freezing rain, and then rain, which continued into Sunday. Our snow is all old dirty snow. Hard and crusty because it has absorbed so much rain. It is being so slow to melt.
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We got 5-6inches of snow Saturday night - Sunday. It has melted quite a bit - but we won't be doing any planting for some time....
Wow, I'm in a colder zone than you are and we didn't get that. We got a dusting of snow Saturday morning, then freezing rain, and then rain, which continued into Sunday. Our snow is all old dirty snow. Hard and crusty because it has absorbed so much rain. It is being so slow to melt.
But we are close enough to Lake Huron to get whopped every now and then. We only had small patchy areas of the grey/brown ice until yesterday morning. Now my gardening dreams are all pushed back.
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* Got all the broken sprinklers fixed.
* Boysenberries are in the ground and fertilized with our worm-rich compost.
* Added catmint, dill and feverfew to the perennial beds.
* Top-dressed the almond tree and the moringa with worm compost.
* Mowed with the reel mower as usual and left the clippings to “grasscycle.”
* Turned the leaf mold pile.
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We got 5-6inches of snow Saturday night - Sunday. It has melted quite a bit - but we won't be doing any planting for some time....
Wow, I'm in a colder zone than you are and we didn't get that. We got a dusting of snow Saturday morning, then freezing rain, and then rain, which continued into Sunday. Our snow is all old dirty snow. Hard and crusty because it has absorbed so much rain. It is being so slow to melt.
But we are close enough to Lake Huron to get whopped every now and then. We only had small patchy areas of the grey/brown ice until yesterday morning. Now my gardening dreams are all pushed back.
Oh, lake effect snow. My sympathies. At least it was mostly gone before the fresh stuff arrived, it should melt fast. I still have snow from December. I can also see the difference between town and country, there is a lot less snow in Ottawa than at my place.
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Garden status update:
In the garden and thriving: lettuce, spinach, peas, horseradish
In the garden, and just newly germinated: turnips, Swiss chard, kale (3 varieties), parsnips (took two bloody weeks to germinate), onions (sets)
Things to plant in the garden over the next few days: potatoes, carrots, beets, onions (seedlings)
In a mini greenhouse, to be planted out over the next week or two: Collards, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower....and more kale (because, and I never thought I'd utter these words, you can NEVER have enough)
Indoors, under grow lights, to be transplanted out in May...tomatoes (5 varieties) and peppers (4 varieties), tomatillos (salsa verde dreams)
I have a forum friend visiting me soon and this individual seems quite enthused about giving me a hand in the garden during their stay. Free labour FTW!
Weather is about to get cool and soggy...and I do worry a bit about my wee seedlings ability to withstand it. Hopefully it's just the usual steady PNW drizzle, not a deluge.
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i am growing scotch bonnet peppers, green peppers, jalapenos, and cherry tomatoes. the scotch bonnets are indestructible but the white flies are absolutely killing the rest of my crop.
all are in cloth containers or a large wooden grow box.
anyone in FL that deals with humid weather have a suggestion for white flies and powdery mildew?
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I lost my bees as well. Sad. I hope to catch a few 'feral' swarms this spring. I got two last year and three the year before.
Just curious how one catches a swarm of bees. My husband has shown some interest in keeping bees and it could be a fun project to work on this summer.
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I lost my bees as well. Sad. I hope to catch a few 'feral' swarms this spring. I got two last year and three the year before.
Just curious how one catches a swarm of bees. My husband has shown some interest in keeping bees and it could be a fun project to work on this summer.
Swarm traps. Bees are attracted to certain smells. Lemongrass oil for one. They also like the smell of places where bees have been before. I had to give up my bees because the neighbor found out and lost her everloving mind.
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So I was impatiently watching my 4 year old cherry trees to see if I'd get any blossoms for the first time. And yes! One of them has flower buds! It's a 'Lapins' variety. No flower buds visible yet on the others yet (Bing and Stella) -- might have to wait til next year on them. But I'm soooo impatient, lol.
In other exciting fruit tree news, one of the little paw paw trees I planted is flowering! Probably no fruit this year though, as I highly doubt the other two trees will flower, and it needs a pollinator. Still, nice to see that it's healthy. Paw paw reproduction is very interesting. They're pollinated by flies and beetles (not bees) so their flowers are dark red and smell like rotten meat. :)
Down in the vegetable garden I got my last bed prepped yesterday -- broadforked and composted, then also had to till. I try to till as little as possible, but that bed was really compacted. In the other big bed -- no sprouts yet from my kale, spinach, and carrot sowings last weekend. Hopefully soon.
Yesterday next to the house I found two large healthy lemon balm plants that the previous owner apparently planted. I've been here three years, and I'm just now noticing them; shame on me haha. Well that's a good start to the 'herbal tea garden' I've been planning.
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In other exciting fruit tree news, one of the little paw paw trees I planted is flowering! Probably no fruit this year though, as I highly doubt the other two trees will flower, and it needs a pollinator. Still, nice to see that it's healthy. Paw paw reproduction is very interesting. They're pollinated by flies and beetles (not bees) so their flowers are dark red and smell like rotten meat. :)
Can you talk more about growing pawpaws? What growing conditions they like, things like that? I had a chance to eat a pawpaw last fall and saved 6 seeds, which have been in damp potting mix in the crisper all winter to get properly chilled. I am wondering when to bring them into the warm, and where to plant them if they do germinate. And how long before flowers? Basically anything you can tell me will be useful.
Red trilliums are also pollinated by carrion flies, so I hope they will be willing to fly up to pawpaw flowers instead of flying 6" above the forest floor. ;-)
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After digging out last year's seeds I realised I didn't need a lot of new ones. I did my orders yesterday. Squash and tomatoes.
Everything is open pollinated so I can continue to do seed saving, and some were OSSI seeds. For home gardeners (and market gardeners/farmers) I think OP and some seed saving is the smart way to go, long term.
https://osseeds.org/
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That's neat that you have paw paw seeds @RetiredAt63. I haven't grown from seed, but it looks from these articles like the germination process is a bit complicated and finicky:
https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/faq/what-proper-way-germinate-pawpaw-seeds.
https://www.treepeony.com/pages/growing-pawpaw-asimina-triloba-from-seed
I bought three very young trees, of three different varieties. They were 1-2 feet tall when I planted them. One was a seedling and two were graftlings. (Interestingly it is quite common to grow paw paws from seed, rather than grafting. I imagine that they must breed true from seed (?) unlike apples). Judging based on my one tree that is flowering, looks like they can start around 4 years old.
On the advice of the nursery, I planted my three trees in a triangle with the trunks about 8 feet apart. That's supposed to help with pollination, since the critters doing the work don't fly as well as bees, if they fly at all. The idea is to get the branches touching each other when the trees are full grown.
They like fertile soil, so I've been feeding mine compost and fertilizing once a year with a fruit tree mixture. I also put a thick layer of wood chip mulch around them.
Young paw paws are very sensitive to sunburn. The leaves and young twigs can literally burn away. Apparently in the wild they grow close to the parent and receive partial shading when they're young. I have some plastic landscaping fencing (picture green snow fencing) suspended above mine to act as a partial shade. The first year I used two layers partially offset and then last year I went with one layer and they did fine. You can gradually wean them off the shade over a period of a few years.
Good luck -- let me know how it goes! Very interesting -- now I want to try it. :)
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@Trifele That was interesting, thank you. I had read online that they need the cold stratification, which is why they are moist and cold in the crisper. 80-100 days, I need to go back and figure out how long they have been in there. Hmm, erratic germination, I hope I get at least 2 to actually germinate.
10" deep pot and warm - hmm. I may wait until it is warmer outside and the house is warmer, then plant them all in one big deep container on a heat mat so I don't mess up the tap roots.
I was planning to plant them near my cedar hedge, so they will get some shelter but afternoon sun. I may need to give additional shade for a while. If I am really careful about where I put them, my basswood tree might give them the extra shade. Or I could plant something west of them so they get that afternoon shade.
I think they are not registered varieties because they all taste much the same, while there are huge differences between apple varieties. I can see someone cloning if one pawpaw had exceptional flavour. Plus if there were a few varieties that tasted amazing they might get more commercial attention! And they could pollinate each other. Just think, one tree, 2 or 3 varieties, and that makes it easy for the pollinators.
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I think they are not registered varieties because they all taste much the same, while there are huge differences between apple varieties. I can see someone cloning if one pawpaw had exceptional flavour. Plus if there were a few varieties that tasted amazing they might get more commercial attention! And they could pollinate each other. Just think, one tree, 2 or 3 varieties, and that makes it easy for the pollinators.
Yes I agree @RetiredAt63 -- seems like there may not be as much flavor difference. Of my three trees, one is an Overleese graftling, one is a Shenandoah graftling, and the seedling is a mystery/grab bag tree from a wild parent. We'll hopefully find out eventually how they all taste! And yes -- hoping the mixture of three different varieties is good for pollination.
Sounds like you have a great plan for their shade! I didn't have a good semi-shade spot, so full sun is what they got. I'll just have to do more work to protect them for a few years and then they should be ok.
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Today was rainier than expected, so I stayed in and potted up a bunch of pepper and tomato seedlings. Then in between rain showers I prepped 4 beds for planting. One of which I transplanted collards, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage into.
Hoping to get beet, radish and carrot seeds in the ground tomorrow, though it is looking like more rain than today. I don't mind the rain though - it's usually quite dry here, and takes diligent watering to get the carrot seeds germinated. It's much nicer when mother nature takes care of it.
In other news, I am loving the LED lights! One unexpected perk is that they don't need to be so close to the plants, so it's easier to water and tend to the plants without the need to raise the light up out of the way. The pepper seedlings under the LEDs are much darker green than their cohorts that have been under the T-5's the whole time. The one downside is the noisy fans. They're in the basement, so it's not a big deal, except it's my telework area, so I might have to adjust the timer so they're off when I'm WFH.
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I planted some rainbow carrots in the fall and for some reason they've taken forever to mature, but most of them finally have. The different colors are a hit with the kids - today we got two yellow ones, one white, one orange, and one purple.
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In other news, I am loving the LED lights!
Thanks for the update on the LEDs, @horsepoor. I'm looking to switch my grow lights over and this is great to hear! Apologies if I missed it, but did you completely DIY it? Retrofit an older cabinet?
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Anyone ever put preemergent on top of asparagus?
I figure I wouldn't need to worry about the asparagus (we planted last year) and maybe that'd help with the weeds?
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So, I've read that pawpaws can handle having wet feet better yhan other fruits. Has this been your experience? I have a low spot in the yard that tends to drain less than everything else and I'm considering putting pawpaws there.
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In other news, I am loving the LED lights!
Thanks for the update on the LEDs, @horsepoor. I'm looking to switch my grow lights over and this is great to hear! Apologies if I missed it, but did you completely DIY it? Retrofit an older cabinet?
No, I just bought these and hang them from plant hangers mounted near the ceiling. I considered DIY, but it didn't seem worth it for negligible savings. I paid $66 each for the 300W units, but now they're down to $58.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H32JFGR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Anyone ever put preemergent on top of asparagus?
I figure I wouldn't need to worry about the asparagus (we planted last year) and maybe that'd help with the weeds?
I don't have direct experience, but if it truly is a pre-emergent (and only a pre-emergent) it should only affect seeds (in which case it's ok). However, I think many include other ingredients so you'd have to look at those ingredients separately. Just corn gluten meal would probably work just find? (Again, theorizing here.)
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Posting to follow. I've requested my yearly tomato & sweet pepper starts from my sister, to be planted in my 100 square foot backyard garden over Mother's day weekend. I'm going to direct sow yellow squash & zucchini just before that. Going to Home Depot for additional topsoil today & then the city composting facility for free compost. This is a good distraction from the dead mouse/mice (ick) that is rotting in the wall of my son's bedroom & stinking it up to the point of unusability 🤢
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Anyone ever put preemergent on top of asparagus?
I figure I wouldn't need to worry about the asparagus (we planted last year) and maybe that'd help with the weeds?
I don't have direct experience, but if it truly is a pre-emergent (and only a pre-emergent) it should only affect seeds (in which case it's ok). However, I think many include other ingredients so you'd have to look at those ingredients separately. Just corn gluten meal would probably work just find? (Again, theorizing here.)
I also made the mistake last year of tilling grass without first killing it... really ought to have nuked from orbit first. Obviously preemergent wouldn't help vs that.
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@horsepoor -- thanks for the LED info! That will be my project for this fall, to switch out my lights for LEDs.
@Sugaree, from what I've read (no first hand knowledge) paw paws like moist but well drained soil. In the wild they tend to grow in river bottoms, so it does sound like maybe they could handle a moist spot at your place, better than another tree? You could always call a nursery to talk it through. These people are knowledgeable and nice: https://www.usefulplants.org/
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I am so so so late starting seeds. Intended to start my tomato and basil seeds on Thursday before we left town for a long weekend. Ended up dealing with a sick kitten at the last minute (he's better now, thankfully) so that didn't get done. I'm going to do it today but no way will the tomatoes be ready for the plant-out date here. Argh.
I had decided to limit my seed-starting this year out of fear that I cannot keep seedlings and kittens alive at the same time. I am doing 1 tray that has 12 slots. 9 tomatoes and 3 basils. I'm not even bothering starting pepper seedlings this year as they don't do that well; I'm going to buy the mini-pepper plant that I grow every year that actually produces well, and a jalapeno, and call it good.
Our vacation was to Los Angeles and yesterday morning we stumbled upon a farmer's market down the street from our AirBNB. Oh my god. Leaving aside the tons of local citrus and avocadoes and other stuff that doesn't grow here..... the plants they had for sale made me drool. I don't think I've ever actually seen an artichoke plant or a passionfruit.... bush? Vine? I don't know how those grow. But there they were. And while our friend was driving us through some neighborhood with fancy houses, I saw actual orange trees with oranges on them in people's yard. Sigh. Why do I live in zone 5?
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Our vacation was to Los Angeles and yesterday morning we stumbled upon a farmer's market down the street from our AirBNB. Oh my god. Leaving aside the tons of local citrus and avocadoes and other stuff that doesn't grow here..... the plants they had for sale made me drool. I don't think I've ever actually seen an artichoke plant or a passionfruit.... bush? Vine? I don't know how those grow. But there they were. And while our friend was driving us through some neighborhood with fancy houses, I saw actual orange trees with oranges on them in people's yard. Sigh. Why do I live in zone 5?
I feel your pain. When I visited my sister in January (she winters in southern California) we picked grapefruit off roadside trees. She has friends who beg her to come and take bags full of lemons, their trees produce so many.
And of course now I am looking at the freezing rain on my deck and thinking "This is April 8! What the H, weather!!!"
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Right?? We are looking to move out of Chicago at some point and I know I can't afford southern CA but the thought of not having to cope with cold any more is so seductive.
To be fair, it's like 60 here at home now and I'm typing this from my back deck (with a hoodie on, granted, but still). In 2 days it will be a high of 39 though. :( :( :(
You guys! I have tiny TINY leaves starting on one of my raspberry bushes! It didn't die in the polar vortex!
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Right?? We are looking to move out of Chicago at some point and I know I can't afford southern CA but the thought of not having to cope with cold any more is so seductive.
To be fair, it's like 60 here at home now and I'm typing this from my back deck (with a hoodie on, granted, but still). In 2 days it will be a high of 39 though. :( :( :(
You guys! I have tiny TINY leaves starting on one of my raspberry bushes! It didn't die in the polar vortex!
YAY for your raspberry!!!!
It is zero here. We seem to be finished the freezing rain, but here are ice pellets coming later and snow tomorrow. No self-respecting plant is gong to try having anything green for a while. In Ottawa a friend has daffodils up, but they are in a very sheltered location.
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Well, on a more positive note I did some indoor gardening. I repotted all the tomatoes and peppers that were outgrowing their present pots.
I kept a cutting of a cherry tomato I really liked last year and have 4 plants from it. I know indeterminates grow indefinitely, so I will be seeing what the limits are. They are from 3 side shoots and one growing tip, and 2 were so large I had to cut them back to another side shoot. I've also sorted through my sweet potatoes from last year and started a few.
I have more peppers than I need. I will donate some, plus some sweet potato slips, to a local fundraiser.
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My summer garden is slowly winding down.
The bulbs I left in the ground from last year have started to pop up. We had only moved in here last year, and I ended up having more bulbs I brought from our old house than would fit in the flower beds here, so I had some in pots. Over the weekend I removed some finished tomato plants from pots and repotted with bulbs.
My basil has gone to seed in a major way, but I'm still managing to get enough off to eat. The tomatoes will continue for a while, it's just a race for them to finish off before the proper cold weather hits. I've moved my gardenia and fuschias into the house for the winter, and also my husbands bonsai. Should probably bring in my calathea, too. I'm running out of space to store them all in the house. At the moment I have a bunch on a ledge in the bathroom, but I also have about the same amount just sitting in my bathtub.
I'm getting ready to plant more spring onions and some peas soon. My baby spinach has been a bit poor, and my last lettuce planting was terrible. Does anyone have any tips? I'm wondering if the pots got too much shade in the weeks after planting, but could it be something else? They are in planter boxes with potting mix, watered daily to begin with, now watered most days.
Edit: when I say terribly I mean they just barely came up, and I have tiny stumps of lettuce that never grew. Smaller than a golf ball, mesclun mix, etc.
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I saw actual orange trees with oranges on them in people's yard. Sigh. Why do I live in zone 5?
When I was a kid my aunt and uncle lived in the bay area and had a grapefruit tree that overhung the deck. So we would go sit outside with breakfast and literally reach out and grab a grapefruit, cut in half, sprinkle sugar and eat. I do wish I could grow citrus, but I also like having winter (and am too lazy to maintain potted citrus).
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OK, friends. I need some opinions.
I just had a bunch of trees removed from my yard for various reasons. This opens up a lot more of my yard for gardening. I was planning on building raised beds, but as many as I want is going to be expensive. The rest of my garden is in ground, and a few smaller raised bed containers that I was given.
My ground is more rock than dirt. When I sifted all the rocks out of the front garden, I had enough to gravel half my driveway and it took a couple of years of amending just to get the volume back up to ground level. It also took weeks to do. The back area isn't just rocky... it's rooty and it's garbagey. I'm pretty convinced that my yard used to be the dump for the neighborhood farm. I'm on just the next block from the old house. I've found glass, porcelain, metal, unbroken bottles, marbles, and everything else all over the yard. With that knowledge, raised beds seem like the way to go. But expensive to build out of cedar and/or metal. I did find some 4'x12' metal beds online for $80, but I want so freaking many of them... I don't want to spend that much.
My current plan: Lay cardboard all over the area I'd like to turn to garden (20' by 60' ish). Get a load of topsoil and spread it over the top at least a foot deep. Use branches or cheap 2x4 to delineate 4' wide beds and mound the soil up a bit there, so I'll still have areas I'm not stepping. Add manure and/or compost. Mulch the hell out of it; wood chips in the pathways and straw in the beds.
Can I plant in this the first year? I have SO MANY seeds I want to plant! It won't all fit in my other garden beds. (Which are 8'x8', 10'x10', and 12'x30'ish).
I need to make some decisions so I can start some seeds. When I was a kid, you never planted out until mother's day in Utah, however, my expected last frost date is now May 1st. Which is coming right up.
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OK, friends. I need some opinions.
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Can I plant in this the first year?
Oh heck yes. I did pretty much that exact same thing one year. My best 'pioneer plants' in those new beds were potatoes and bush beans. They not only grew great the first year, but they made the soil wonderful. By year two those beds had some of the best soil I've ever seen.
I would go ahead and plant everything you want to -- Why not? Have fun!
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OK, friends. I need some opinions.
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Can I plant in this the first year?
Oh heck yes. I did pretty much that exact same thing one year. My best 'pioneer plants' in those new beds were potatoes and bush beans. They not only grew great the first year, but they made the soil wonderful. By year two those beds had some of the best soil I've ever seen.
I would go ahead and plant everything you want to -- Why not? Have fun!
I would second it. Go for it.
Research how much topsoil depth you really need. If the rock is bedrock, it is one thing. Glacial till or builders mix is different. Our topsoil is only about seven inches and then we hit poorly sorted gravels. Things grow fine with a little additional organic matter to aid in moisture retention.
Maybe only put the soil in the planting areas and just cover the cardboard 'pathways' with wood chips or straw for future organic matter. Just one word of caution on the crops - carrots like a deep loose soil - and probably parsnips are the same if I could ever get the damn things to germinate.
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10dollarsatatime
Your gardening situation is totally different from mine. So take this with a pound (not a grain) of salt.
What are your gardening issues? Short growing season? Dry weather? Other stuff? We know you have poor soil.
The thing is, raised beds are great for improving drainage - I have raised beds because I have very clayey soil and it is a pain to try to grow anything in it. Raised beds also warm up faster in spring.
Areas that have really good drainage (i.e. sandy/rocky soil) or soils that warm up fast (on limestone) don't need raised beds as much. In areas that are dry and windy they are a liability, they put the plants even more into the wind and dry out fast, so you have to water a lot. What Native Americans did in those situations was actually depressed beds - less water loss and more shelter from winds.
I have raised beds with sides, which are now rotting (spruce does't last for ever). There are downsides to having permanent sides, and it is hard to hoe in them, you end up hand weeding a lot. If you can manage, your lasagna beds without permanent sides will probably work better. And sure you can plant in it right away, you are talking about a foot of soil and manure/compost. Just don't use fresh manure. And as Frugal Lizard said, don't waste soil on your paths.
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Garden updates...
The voles are leaving the pears alone. We don't know whether it's the sound stakes or the lack of mulch, but either way we're happy.
Sprouting outside: peas, lettuce, kale, radishes
Inside: 2 varieties of cherry tomatoes, 2 varieties of peppers, and ground cherries are all a couple inches tall. I'm going to start bringing them outside for short bursts and leaving the window cracked so they can harden off. Wish we had a greenhouse.
Water issues: I made a 10x20 plot for wildflowers next to the garden. I scattered seed and have been hand watering once a day enough to moisten the soil. There's no space for the garden near the house because of the woods, but carrying water down the drive to the garden is getting old quick. I think we're going to look into the cost of running a water line from the house to a spigot in the garden. I'd like to use rain barrels to be green (we're on well so we're not worried about water costs), but I think we'd run into the same carrying water by hand from the house problem unless we could figure out a pump. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it?
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Hi @coffeefueled
The prior owner of our house ran a water line to a spigot down to the garden; it runs off the same pressure tank as the house. No idea how difficult that was or what it cost. I know the pipe is very shallow -- just a few inches below ground level. That works here because the ground doesn't freeze at all. With a certain frost depth to consider, that might complicate a water line like that? Don't know.
When we wanted water out at our chicken coop we put a rain barrel at the corner of the building, to catch rain from the roof. That has worked out great. Is there any way you could put up a rain barrel near your garden? Any roof there? A shed? It doesn't take much roof surface to generate lots of water for a barrel . . . ours is always overflowing.
I haven't researched it, but maybe there is a way to use a rain barrel if you have no roof. Maybe you can put up a sheet of corrugated metal to catch the water, and a gutter to funnel it?
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Most of the seeds have germinated and now I am really out of space.
I moved the onions over to the greenhouse and put them under a floating row cover. It will still be near freezing over night
It appears that the chipmunks are having a great old time with the seeds in there so I worked on some barricades around the planting boxes.
Then I noticed that the chickens were ripping out the garlic in the garden so I rigged up the chicken exclusion fence. I have bought some new materials with chipmunk proof mesh but they are in my garage and it was threatening to rain.
I am going to some gates this year so getting in and out is easier. It is supposed to be nice tomorrow and super warm today with some rain, perhaps we can get some of the frost out of the ground so getting the fence up permanently is possible.
I am also going to set up the rain barrels this weekend.
Some of the seeds have been really slow to germinate - especially worrying are the expensive hybrid tomato seed that I grow for our church garden to supply the food pantry. Hopefully they were just planted deeply by the girl guides and they will pop up any day.
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So I went to the farmer's market for a couple of things yesterday, and came home with wayyyyy more than I should have, including 6 more blueberry bushes. Spent half of today with DH terracing a row for them inside the deer fence and planting them. They are so beautiful! Happy happy.
Something is digging up my sprouting potatoes at night. The weird thing is, they don't disturb the potato piece or eat it; they just uncover it. It's like the critter says "Hey, something is buried here. Let's see what it is! Oh, it's just a potato, yuck . . ." So every morning I re-bury them, and the next morning they're all uncovered again. Weird. It's not deer, rabbits, or woodchucks. And it's happening at night, so it isn't birds. Mice? Raccoons? Possums?
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That is really odd! Could you put wire mesh or something over them to see if that prevents the digging?
It looks like tomorrow is going to be beautiful. My plan is to plant out onions, and cover another bed with bird netting so I can plant out more cole crops.
My peppers are getting really big under the LED lights. I might need to pot them up again, and think about booting them out to the greenhouse in another week or so.
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That is really odd! Could you put wire mesh or something over them to see if that prevents the digging?
It looks like tomorrow is going to be beautiful. My plan is to plant out onions, and cover another bed with bird netting so I can plant out more cole crops.
Good idea @horsepoor, thanks -- I'll try some mesh. If they go through it, then I'll know it's something tiny.
What's after your cole crops? Rabbits?
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What's after your cole crops? Rabbits?
Birds. They love anything leafy. Once the kale and collards get big enough to take the abuse, I leave a couple uncovered for them to peck at. We have lots of quail around and they are adorable and ravenous.
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What's after your cole crops? Rabbits?
Birds. They love anything leafy. Once the kale and collards get big enough to take the abuse, I leave a couple uncovered for them to peck at. We have lots of quail around and they are adorable and ravenous.
Interesting! I wondered when you said you were using bird netting, but then I thought "Nah, couldn't be birds." :)
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Update time.
Whereas March was amazingly (and disturbingly) dry and warm, April has reverted back to a more typical PNW Spring pattern of showers interspersed with glorious bouts of sunshine. Quite honestly it's been pretty much perfect to get a garden going early with leafy greens (various lettuces and spinach), peas, and brassicas. Yesterday was so wonderful. The sun had emerged, the Pacific Wrens, Flickrs, Song Sparrows and Orange-crowned Warblers were in full throat and their song surrounded me as I worked. I could sense the growth of green things all around me....both inside the garden and out. This has become a Spring ritual for me and it has truly become one of the unexpected, joyous discoveries of FIRE.
My first planting of peas (planted mid-March) are clambering up the trellis now, the second planting (late March) have just made their first grasping contact with the trellis. And I just planted a third, 10 foot row of snap peas yesterday. When I return from Mexico in early May, I will quickly plant a 4th. And very quickly get my heat loving crops ready to go.
My brassicas, always a very reliable and prodigious garden performer, are well on their way. Directly sowed cabbage, and volunteer kale, have emerged...and I have bolstered these (because they could get munched by wood bugs) with lots of transplants....cabbage: red, Tiara, EJW, Charmant. 3 varieties of kale, 3 or broccoli, and 3 of cauli.
I'll be planting out my onions very soon - my onion sets are already showing 4 inches of growth. I'm very lucky that I don't really have that many pests to contend with in my garden...once the deer have been thwarted with a proper fence. But....birds have been very fond of pulling out my onions. I'm guessing they do this in order to find bugs in around the roots? Whatever the reason, I do have to put netting over them until they are more established.
I've planted 4 different potato varieties over the past few weeks. I've got some in my established beds, while I've got a bunch growing in dedicated "grow bags" in soil which I imported from a high quality source. I do this because I have had a bit of an issue with wire worms (larval stage of the click beetle) in some of my raised beds. They are not too big an issue, except when it comes to potatoes. They are attracted to them like moths to a light source. The bed in which I put the seed potatoes didn't seem to have any, but I like the idea of a guarenteed potato source as back up. There are few things as wonderful as fresh, out of the garden taters...that don't have little orange worms in them. ;)
While I'm in Mexico my family are going to tend things. A sibling has taken ownership of the carrot crop...for whatever reason I've never had great luck with them. I suspect my thinning technique leaves something to be desired. This sibling is going to plant beets for me as well.
Turnips and parsnips seem to be doing okay, though I suspect they would welcome a few more degrees of warmth.
The beds in which I have my brassicas this year are where last years tomatoes were. And now there must be HUNDREDS of little volunteer tomatoes popping up everywhere. For some reason it really pains me to pull these out.
When I'm sitting on the beach gazing out at the Sea of Cortez I know my thoughts will increasingly drift north, wondering how my garden grows in my absence. I know my family will be able to keep me abreast of how things are going, but I suspect that by the end of my Mexico trip I will almost be panicky to return.
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Asparagus shoots are coming up! Yay!
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My new tomato seeds arrived! Lots of tomatoes being started today.
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So far I have three tomatoes and one basil sprouting from seed.
It snowed yesterday. Kind of a lot. All day long. Boooo. I had bought some lettuce and spinach starts and I had to bring them inside because of the heavy wet snow. Maybe they could have survived but the weight of the snow seemed like it'd be too much for them. I can't plant them until next weekend anyway because that's when the community garden opens.
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A little later than intended, but beets and carrots are in!
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A little later than intended, but beets and carrots are in!
Me too!
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
Tomato seeds appreciate a warmer start than my house provides (19-20 during the day, 16-17 at night). They are planted and in the oven with the light turned on for just that extra bit of warmth. I'll give them a few days before they come into the house. I know, I must remember them if I want to use the oven! Melted plastic is not good.
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Wow, late to the thread but also in the PNW (Victoria). We did the great permaculture experiment and have turned the entire front and backyard in giant planting areas for food and flowers. The cardboard, manure, leaves and wood chips put down in layers in the fall over the weedy grass have turned poor soil into something remarkable. I recommend this method over regular raised beds and bringing in topsoil. We’ve used driftwood to separate the pathways and create borders and this has also turned out well. Next big challenge is drip irrigation if anyone has any tips?
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
Tomato seeds appreciate a warmer start than my house provides (19-20 during the day, 16-17 at night). They are planted and in the oven with the light turned on for just that extra bit of warmth. I'll give them a few days before they come into the house. I know, I must remember them if I want to use the oven! Melted plastic is not good.
My house isn't too much warmer than yours, 67-69F (19.5-20.5) during the day and 64-65F (17.7-18.3) at night. My saving grace is my kitchen window is a garden window on the south side of the house, so it stays pretty warm.
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@totoro Would love to see pics!
We got a bunch more rain overnight, but it's supposed to be sunny and mid-70's by Friday! The seedlings might get kicked out to the greenhouse for a few days of sunbathing.
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
Tomato seeds appreciate a warmer start than my house provides (19-20 during the day, 16-17 at night). They are planted and in the oven with the light turned on for just that extra bit of warmth. I'll give them a few days before they come into the house. I know, I must remember them if I want to use the oven! Melted plastic is not good.
My house isn't too much warmer than yours, 67-69F (19.5-20.5) during the day and 64-65F (17.7-18.3) at night. My saving grace is my kitchen window is a garden window on the south side of the house, so it stays pretty warm.
Lucky you to have a garden window. My sliding door to the back deck faces south-west and the non-opening side is a great spot for plants, but I figured the seeds needed a bit more.
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Lucky you to have a garden window. My sliding door to the back deck faces south-west and the non-opening side is a great spot for plants, but I figured the seeds needed a bit more.
The luckiest part is having the kitchen being south facing. When we replaced all of our windows three years ago, I paid extra to get a garden window. I love having it especially in the winter so I can have something green growing but it was a third of the total cost ($1135 out of $3400).
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
Tomato seeds appreciate a warmer start than my house provides (19-20 during the day, 16-17 at night). They are planted and in the oven with the light turned on for just that extra bit of warmth. I'll give them a few days before they come into the house. I know, I must remember them if I want to use the oven! Melted plastic is not good.
We used something like this which helps with germination - https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Seedfactor-Waterproof-Germination-Hydroponic/dp/B078J2YMY9
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3 tomatoes and 2 basils have sprouted! (I think one of the basils may have dropped dead overnight though. :( )
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Today will be my last day in my garden for about a month. I have so much to do - grass trimming, more planting/transplanting, fertilizing, moving soil... but I will enjoy every moment of it. Before I close the gate behind me this evening I will take a picture or two....and when I return from my Baja trip I expect things will look much different. The rate of growth is really taking off.
I trust my family to take care of things while I'm gone....and I trust them implicitly...but I'm still feeling slight tinges of stress.
When I return, my tomatoes and peppers will go out, closely followed by squash and cukes.
I do look forward to seeing my grapefruit and lime trees in Mexico though. ;)
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Got my seeds planted and set up in my kitchen window. Now to wait for them to sprout and my frost date to hurry up and get here.
Tomato seeds appreciate a warmer start than my house provides (19-20 during the day, 16-17 at night). They are planted and in the oven with the light turned on for just that extra bit of warmth. I'll give them a few days before they come into the house. I know, I must remember them if I want to use the oven! Melted plastic is not good.
We used something like this which helps with germination - https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Seedfactor-Waterproof-Germination-Hydroponic/dp/B078J2YMY9
I have those too. But for just what I am doing the oven is better. ;-)
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Seedlings are coming along but I have some mold/slime issues as well as some space issues.
We have four nights of warm temperatures so most every thing except the tomatoes and peppers are going out to the greenhouse. They are all getting a little leggy so some light is needed.
The expensive hybrid tomato seeds have been very slow to germinate. Most of the collected seeds have not germinated at all. I am going to give them a few more days and then replant with something else that likes warmth (such as basil).
The peppers are going to have to graduate to bigger pots soon which will impact space again. Hopefully tomatoes can graduate to larger pots and move to the greenhouse in one step in two weeks when the cold risk is less.
This weekend is going to be warm but wet so I haven't yet been able to plant anything in the actual soil.
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This weekend is going to be warm but wet so I haven't yet been able to plant anything in the actual soil.
Same here but the soil is only thawed about an inch deep, all the rain is running off and we have flood warnings. My "babies" are staying safe and warm in the house. ;-)
I'm looking forward to thawed gardens and early peas being planted.
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My seed-starting is going really poorly this year. I got 1 more tomato sprout (which promptly keeled over) and that is it. I usually get the "greenhouse" tray with the pellets, this has always worked way better for me than seed starting mix in peat cups or whatever. But this year the growing medium in the pellets looks much different than it did last year, though I bought the exact same brand from the same store. Something in there, my seeds don't like. Oh well.
Community garden opens Saturday!
One of my blueberry bushes is starting to put out tiny leaves. The others look like they might be thinking about it - so maybe they all survived?
Why can I never overwinter oregano? That one's dead for sure. I have never had it come back, regardless of whether it's in the ground, in a pot, at home, in the community bed..... argh.
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My tomatoes are up. 5 days in the oven with the light on for a bit of extra warmth. They normally take 7-10 days in the house. I had forgotten how tiny tomato sprouts are compared to peppers, they look so fragile, and will end up as 6-10 foot vines.
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I've got tomato, basil, dill, cosmos, and coreopsis seedlings.
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We had great weather this weekend and I got so much done!
Planted: dill, strawberry (to replace the two that did not make it through the polar vortex, BOOOO), oregano, cilantro, lettuce and spinach seedlings, onions. I direct sowed 4 varieties of carrot, 2 varieties of peas, and approx. 10 zillion varieties of lettuce and arugula - all from free seed.
The community garden looks pretty good overall. Garlic is up. I have some sort of volunteer onion-family I-don't-know-what that sprouted up. The thyme and the biggest of my 3 strawberries made it. The dwarf raspberry looks just OK; it is supposed to be a bush but it seems to be turning into spread-out vines that look spindly but ARE making leaves so I'm going to let it do its thing and see what happens.
The most exciting thing is that I started composting last summer; my landlords said I could and actually found a compost bin in their alley that they gave to me. I pretty much just kept dumping stuff in it and turned it (it's one of those spinning barrels on legs) and let it do its thing and ignored it all winter - and, you guys, what's in there actually looks like compost! I probably should have put fewer corn cobs and avocado pits in there as those did not break down, but overall it looks pretty good. Free fertilizer! Hooray!
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I spent five hours on my vegetable garden - fencing it. Still have a small section to chipmunk block with the tiny mesh. The chipmunk got in the greenhouse and destroyed some of the flowers last night. I had moved a bunch of plants out to the greenhouse because they are getting too leggy with not adequate light levels in the basement. (Calendula, asters, cosmos, zinnias, sunflowers, nasturtiums) I didn't think that the chipmunk would get at them but I should have known the sunflowers would be tempting. I will replant them tomorrow - it was the sunflowers they were after. Hopefully the mesh across the greenhouse door with prevent their access.
Tuesday and Wednesday evening are going down to near freezing so I may have to move all the seedlings back in for a couple of days. It is a pain but I haven't been able to get electricity to the greenhouse for either the heating pad or some light bulbs to keep the chill off. Some of the strategies have been:
have a huge number of containers of water to retain heat.
Black weed barrier on the floor.
Covering the plants with a layer of plastic or the floating row cover closer to the seedling. When it is sunny, it gets too hot under the covers so I may need to keep them off if I have to leave super early in the morning- or I will come home to crispy seedlings.
I moved some rhubarb so that it is consolidated in one location so that the fence could go a slightly shorter route and is long enough without having to buy more. We got an astonishing amount of rain Thursday night to Saturday afternoon so I shouldn't have been stepping so much in the garden - but I couldn't resist - it was warm and the Hubs was home and willing to help me stretch the fence.
In the basement seedling area: Pepper seedlings need to move up to four inch pots - they are looking good! Zukes and cukes are looking fantastic.
Tomatillo, basil, cilantro, parsley, dill, melons and squash seeds are up, as are second planting of sweet banana peppers. Really disappointed in the seed shared peppers - zero germination, and same conditions as the sweet bananas that are close to 90%. Most varieties of the collected tomatoes are also not germinating. Some were super successful - such as the a cherry tomato that is dark red to black around the stem - they were 100% nearly. The really old seed was also not great - less than 10%. I might try the rest of the seed - it seems a waste to throw it out without trying it. I was given some free new varieties: black krim, oxblood, cosmonaut volkov and something stripey and they were pretty good germination. I am going to have way less space than I need for all this gardening craziness!
And most exciting - the asparagus is up. It is not going to be large enough this spring but I think if I super feed it this year I can get those roots just going for spring 2020.
I am thinking about moving all the haskaps to my vegetable patch at the neighbours. They are too crowded and shady in my home garden and I can't screen them from the birds where they are now. They are already leafing out. I have seven of them.
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Have not excluded the chipmunks from the greenhouse. ARRRRRG.
The end of the week is going down to below freezing overnight for a couple of nights. Going to work on supplemental heating in the greenhouse on the weekend but for now I going to bring everything fragile back into the house. Where I have no idea.
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This thread needs more pictures!
I am currently 3000km's south of my garden, and a week removed from having last said adios to fledgling crops. My family has been noticeably lacking in providing any sort of updates. Not sure if that is good or bad. Could it be that someone left the gate open and the black-tailed menace gained entry and laid waste to my burgeoning peas, leafy greens and brassicas? It's probably FINE. *gulp*
Here is how things looked a week ago when I left. Can't see much of what's growing, apart from some garlic in the right foreground...but it gives a sense of the layout. Largely raised beds with a few in ground beds remaining.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32687494737_09f1567331_z.jpg)
Had a cute little visitor in my pea and lettuce patch. Hopefully dispatching slugs. :)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/7910/33719655338_24bd2aba38_z.jpg)
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Hmph, my tomato seedlings are stalled and not growing. I suspect it might be too cold in my basement - though they're near the boiler which throws off some heat. This is a bummer; I already was doing so few seeds from scratch, and now to have everything stalled at the 2-baby-leaves stage for upwards of a week and a half kind of sucks.
This has been an epic fail this year. I've never had such poor results.
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My final tomato seed order arrived and they are planted. Candyland currant tomato had better be exceptional, there were only about 20 seeds in the packet compared to a good palmful for the other currant variety.
All my tomatoes are doing well, although slow because my house is not that warm. The peppers are the best I have ever started, the plants are big and healthy. Most are going to fundraisers for sale, so "big and healthy" is good, we will be able to charge more for them.
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I recommend a heat seedling mat under seedlings like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant.
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I recommend a heat seedling mat under seedlings like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant.
They are nice (and I have them), but the oven is easy, and once they have germinated I want them to grow in not-ideal conditions. I have 2/cell, so once they have true leaves the weaker one will be clipped off and the stronger one left. Life won't be easy once they are outside, I start selecting for tough plants as I go.
I know of gardeners who are much tougher than I am. Plant 6 seeds, keep the best 1 or 2 seedlings.
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What are everyone's' opinions on rows vs sq ft spacing for raised beds? I read that sq ft spacing is supposed to help with crowding out weeds and let you put in more crops per foot. Has it worked for you guys? We've got rampant chickweed that has made it's way into the raised beds so I don't think the anti-weed benefit is going to happen with our vegetable seedlings this small.
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What are everyone's' opinions on rows vs sq ft spacing for raised beds? I read that sq ft spacing is supposed to help with crowding out weeds and let you put in more crops per foot. Has it worked for you guys? We've got rampant chickweed that has made it's way into the raised beds so I don't think the anti-weed benefit is going to happen with our vegetable seedlings this small.
Having the plant crowns meet (i.e. square foot spacing) is fine once the plants are big. When they are small there will still be lots of light getting to the soil, which means weeds. There is no magic way to get out of weeding. Of course, if you keep the weeds gone before they set seed, eventually the weed seed bank will shrink. And mulch helps once the soil has warmed up. And having enough space between plants for a hoe means less hand weeding.
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Thanks for the pictures @Jon_Snow! Lovely.
Here's one from our place today. We have a big viburnum bush in our apple orchard, and the chickens love to hang out under it. The bush is covered with flowers which are just starting to fall -- very pretty. This chicken is our Brahma pullet -- the one we found starved and dumped by the side of the road in January. She's doing great now, and has made herself right at home. We're really enjoying her; wonderful bird. :)
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Thanks for the pictures @Jon_Snow! Lovely.
Here's one from our place today. We have a big viburnum bush in our apple orchard, and the chickens love to hang out under it. The bush is covered with flowers which are just starting to fall -- very pretty. This chicken is our Brahma pullet -- the one we found starved and dumped by the side of the road in January. She's doing great now, and has made herself right at home. We're really enjoying her; wonderful bird. :)
My DW surprised me earlier this year when, out of the blue, she said she'd like to have chickens one day. That would require that we be more "full time" on our island property...but I could see this happening one day, especially if she wants to take that on.
That is indeed a beauty @Trifele.
In other news...got some rather pleasant beach reading in yesterday. My thoughts, predictably, have increasingly started to drift North towards my forest garden....
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32765131907_7ed3f20330_z.jpg)
The West Coast Seeds catalogue has really become my garden bible over the years. A tremendous resource.
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Pretty hen there, Trifele!
Jon, I'm a little jealous of that view. Kicking back and listening to the surf sounds nice right about now.
Weeds are posing quite an issue this year. The sunflowers got EVERYWHERE, and there are more seedlings every time I turn around. Last week I cleaned the beds of straw mulch and the grass that was sprouting from the straw (grr, I used to have straw that didn't do this, but last two batches sprouted grass like crazy).
Today I turned a good amount of composted horse manure into one of my 4x12 beds and transplanted leeks, Brussels sprouts, parsley, cabbage and broccoli. Then I set myself on the weeds for a couple hours. I swear I barely even made a dent. Trying not to do such a long stint that I'm half-crippled and useless the next day. Really I need to put the chicken tractor in some of the worst locations and have the hens help me out, because I don't think I'll get caught up on my own.
Sometimes I'm planting warm weather crops out by this date, but tonight we're expecting lows to 35, so transplanting will have to wait until I return from a work trip around 5/10. Might need to pot up some of the peppers in the meantime, as they've gotten so big under the LED lights.
And since we're sharing pics, some of the lovely tulips I brought inside today:
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Made a booboo last week and forgot to water my seedlings one night before bed. All the ones on the heat mat were in serious distress. And it took three waterings to get them back to looking okay - apart from the five or six that I lost. Oh well.
BTW - it snowed here yesterday. WTF. I want spring. The soil is so soggy I still haven't planted anything in the ground.
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No fair on the beach picture @Jon_Snow. Borderline cruel. :)
Love your flowers @horsepoor. Very pretty. And I'm jealous of your horse manure. I could use some, and have started searching Craigslist for a source.
Things are going pretty well here. My potatoes are up about 4 inches now, and looking very happy. As a gardener my passion leans toward perrennials and trees, but as vegetables/annuals go -- potatoes are fun to grow.
My raspberries are also looking good. Back in February I took a bunch of sprouts from my existing raspberry patch, and potted them up. They have leafed out beautifully and I now have 6 2-gallon pots full of bushy raspberries I will plant inside the deer fence.
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My family finally sent me a few up to date pictures of my garden. What is now clear is that their promise to "look after things" didn't include any weeding. Oh well, I'll spend a day in weed destruction mode when I return, and I'll enjoy the process immensely...as it is somewhat meditative to me. It helps that the surroundings are gorgeous and the throng of birdsong is everywhere. There is that prickly sensation I'll feel occasionally on the back of my neck caused by the gaze of the deer peering out from the thick foliage....scheming....always scheming.
Jon, I'm a little jealous of that view. Kicking back and listening to the surf sounds nice right about now.
For 5 years running now, this is where I have come to charge up my batteries for the gardening season to come. I'm normally not here this late, so I'll be behind the 8 ball a bit upon my return...but I CANNOT WAIT.
And @horsepoor, are yours not the lovely steel sided raised beds. I'd love to see a pic of those again.:)
No fair on the beach picture @Jon_Snow. Borderline cruel. :)
Not my intent! This is an essential part of my garden routine (FIRE-routine really) and I'm just trying to paint a complete picture here. ;)
BTW - it snowed here yesterday.
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. It's pretty much May fergawdsakes.
And while I'm here...kale shot. Lacinato....and RED lacinato, a new variety for me this year. The kale bed is looking very promising...and VERY devoid of weeds. :) Though, if you look very closely, you can see a ton of tomato volunteers emerging.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46952660524_18be066688_c.jpg)
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And while I'm here...kale shot. Lacinato....and RED lacinato, a new variety for me this year. The kale bed is looking very promising...and VERY devoid of weeds. :) Though, if you look very closely, you can see a ton of tomato volunteers emerging.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46952660524_18be066688_c.jpg)
Looks great! I love my tomato volunteers, but I don't have anywhere near the amount you appear to have. How do you handle all of them? Do you pull some and let others go? Transplant?
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Looks great! I love my tomato volunteers, but I don't have anywhere near the amount you appear to have. How do you handle all of them? Do you pull some and let others go? Transplant?
Excellent questions! To be brief I'd say the large majority get pulled and discarded (and this pains me to a degree), but I will allow a few to grow if they happen to be in areas in which they won't impinge on the progress of the originally intended plantings. And yes, sometimes this plan doesn't quite work out and I'll get a large shovel and transplant them, root and stem, elsewhere in the garden.
As in the case of the pictured tomato volunteers, given the rather prodigious scale of kale plants, I doubt I'll allow any of them to grow unchecked in that particular bed. A few lucky ones might get moved elsewhere. I try to view it as a good "problem" to have. :)
This picture is from last years garden. I let a volunteer "sungold" grow amidst my cabbages. It got a little squeezed by the globular brassicas, but there was a lovely orange cherry tomato bounty to be had!
(https://live.staticflickr.com/916/42638770494_5835b0cbec_c.jpg)
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Here is a picture of the permaculture garden in the backyard - used to be grass So far I’ve planted figs, mulberries, 50! Blueberries, thornless blackberries to replace the thorny thicket that was in the corner, loganberries, boysenberries, strawberries, lots of asparagus, red onions, cucumber, kale, tomatoes, peppers, pear, plum, quince, kiwi, squash, currants, jostaberries, elderberry, parsley, mint, lemongrass, lemon balm, potatoes, dahlias, peonies, iris, Rhodos, camellia, grapes, chives, beAns, sweet peas, clematis and silver lace vine. Doesn’t look like much yet but the deer are eyeing it up.... through the deer fence. Hopefully most things make it through to summer.
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Wow @totoro! Your permaculture garden looks fantastic. How big an area is this? When did you move there and start on this project?
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Question for you @horsepoor -- So I found a local guy who has composted horse manure. He says it is various ages from 8 months to 2 years.
I'm assuming I should go for the oldest stuff? Anything else I should look out for or ask him? I don't know anything about horses. What do people usually use on the ground in the stalls? Straw? Just trying to figure out what will be mixed in with the manure.
Thanks for any advice! i'm planning to layer this manure on top of some new in-ground beds that won't be used until the fall, or possibly next spring.
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Question for you @horsepoor -- So I found a local guy who has composted horse manure. He says it is various ages from 8 months to 2 years.
I'm assuming I should go for the oldest stuff? Anything else I should look out for or ask him? I don't know anything about horses. What do people usually use on the ground in the stalls? Straw? Just trying to figure out what will be mixed in with the manure.
Thanks for any advice! i'm planning to layer this manure on top of some new in-ground beds that won't be used until the fall, or possibly next spring.
Stall bedding is usually wood shavings, at least everywhere I've lived (western US). You might ask him what kind of hay he feeds. More alfalfa usually means less seeds, and the hay is higher nitrogen, so I wouldn't be surprised if the manure is too.
I would probably go with the older stuff, at least to start. With the older manure you're less likely to have seeds sprouting. I never had that problem with manure from my old barn, but I changed barns last year and even though the horses are on a similar program of a few hours of turnout on very limited pasture (because it's small and eaten down by the # of horses). Some of the manure I got from the new barn last fall has a ton of tiny grass sprouts popping out. If I had piled it properly for hot compost, that probably wouldn't happen, but I just shoveled it directly into my new beds to age over winter.
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Stall bedding is usually wood shavings, at least everywhere I've lived (western US). You might ask him what kind of hay he feeds. More alfalfa usually means less seeds, and the hay is higher nitrogen, so I wouldn't be surprised if the manure is too.
I would probably go with the older stuff, at least to start.
Thank you @horsepoor! This is very helpful. I will ask about the feed. That is interesting about the wood shavings. I use pine shavings in our chicken coop, and I always have two compost piles going with that -- one older and one younger. I use the older composted manure mixture to mulch my fruit trees. Chicken poop is very "hot", so I age a pile at least a year before I put it on plants. As pure herbivores, I'm guessing that horses produce "cooler" manure, and it's possible to use it earlier. Thanks again!
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My son(8) and I started a small raised garden last year and it was a lot of fun. Edible yield was only one squash though. Looking to at least double the yield this year by focusing on just a couple items (onions and peppers). Wish me luck
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My son(8) and I started a small raised garden last year and it was a lot of fun. Edible yield was only one squash though. Looking to at least double the yield this year by focusing on just a couple items (onions and peppers). Wish me luck
Good luck! You can do it.
Just a small suggestion, but you might want to try beans, too. They are high yield, low care, and for kids, I think the payoff is great. In our home, they are one of our favorite garden snacks that rarely make it inside.
Excellent questions! To be brief I'd say the large majority get pulled and discarded (and this pains me to a degree), but I will allow a few to grow if they happen to be in areas in which they won't impinge on the progress of the originally intended plantings. And yes, sometimes this plan doesn't quite work out and I'll get a large shovel and transplant them, root and stem, elsewhere in the garden.
As in the case of the pictured tomato volunteers, given the rather prodigious scale of kale plants, I doubt I'll allow any of them to grow unchecked in that particular bed. A few lucky ones might get moved elsewhere. I try to view it as a good "problem" to have. :)
Makes sense! Really looks great, as did last year.
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I am itching to get back into the garden; the weather has not been cooperating. It snowed Saturday. A lot. It all melted Sunday and I went to the community garden and everything still looked more or less OK. Plus, the arugula seeds sprouted! Yes, I know, arugula grows fast, but I didn't think it would sprout in snow!
Since then it has been pouring down rain every single day and it is presently 43 degrees F out. Hmph. :(
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I picked my first strawberry today! It was delicious. Peas are growing well and starting to flower.
It's been warm here and my leaf lettuce is looking pretty wilted. I guess I should have planted it earlier so I had more time to enjoy it before the warm weather set in.
I planted my tomato seedlings last week, and planted some bell pepper seeds. I've been unsuccessful growing peppers from seed before both indoors and outdoors, but I decided to try anyway, in part because they didn't have any seedlings at the store when I bought the tomatoes. Still need to plant my pumpkins and cantaloupes.
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I ordered two tea plants (camellia sinensis) and they came today. Very excited to try growing these guys. Ornamental camellias grow very well here, so fingers crossed that the same is true for their 'drinking-type' cousin. Has anyone here ever grown tea?
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I ordered two tea plants (camellia sinensis) and they came today. Very excited to try growing these guys. Ornamental camellias grow very well here, so fingers crossed that the same is true for their 'drinking-type' cousin. Has anyone here ever grown tea?
That's awesome! Let us know how they come out!!
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I ordered two tea plants (camellia sinensis) and they came today. Very excited to try growing these guys. Ornamental camellias grow very well here, so fingers crossed that the same is true for their 'drinking-type' cousin. Has anyone here ever grown tea?
I have three of the plants. I originally started with one but added two more 2 years ago. I live in the PNW and tea plants generally thrive here although they aren’t that popular. My oldest plant took a beating last summer but the newer ones are surrounded by a lot of wood chips that helped keep them moist. Those two are blooming a bit now.
I have camellia hedges so I knew the tea version would survive once established.
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Thanks @Cgbg! That's what I'm figuring too. I've got big camellias here that are thriving on zero care from me, so I'm hoping these tea plants take off once they're established.
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Have just discovered a whole big bunch of ground-nesting bees have found my compost heap and best planting bed and have declared them perfect new homes. Sigh. I wasn't planning on growing much this year anyway, and I'm certainly not going to drive out much-needed pollinators to do it. This year, I'm growing bees and things in pots, it seems. Oh, and in our old wheelbarrow.
There are potatoes in that first bed (volunteers, I don't grow potatoes usually as they are too cheap to buy). I won't be digging those either for fear of disturbing the bees if they are still around come harvest time (my reading suggests they will move on fairly quickly, just a few weeks).
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I've had a good sized vegetable garden for the past 25 years and usually start from seed. This year my life was way too complicated to get seeds going so I'm going to have to buy tomato plants but I've got garlic, shallots, lettuce and peas in. I should get radishes and beets in this week. It's been pretty wet and cold here so not a lot of opportunity to get stuff in the ground. I used to plant peas in March but the past few years I've not been able to plant them till the middle of April.
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Wow @totoro! Your permaculture garden looks fantastic. How big an area is this? When did you move there and start on this project?
We started last September with cardboard, manure, leaf and wood chip layers. All together we have an area of about 4000 square feet. It will be a while before it looks filled in - should be a proper food forest around year three. It was a lot of effort but we had helpers from the work away program and it should be low maintenance going forward. We are building a greenhouse from vintage windows now which is a challenge for me but I have a French architect staying with work away who has done excellent diagrams if I can follow them :)
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I can definitively say that vinegar is an effective herbicide. I accidentally misted my seedlings thinking I was using the water for ironing. Even with watering them to rinse them off immediately, many got some serious damage. And they were already too wet so I partly drowned them. Hopefully 90% can recover. I usually have a spray bottle of just plain old water sitting on the ironing board. Somehow I managed to miss the big red marker on this one and not see that there were two spray bottles sitting on the ironing board.
I have been potting them up and giving them a dose of hen fertilizer and getting them out into the greenhouse so that their little green stem is super effective at photosynthesis.
All the plants are outgrowing the new grow lights. I have never had zukes try to set blooms under grow lights. I need another couple of nights repotting all the plants out growing the containers.
I seem to be foiling the chipmunk in the greenhouse. Tomorrow night is going to dip down to 3C overnight but I now have a small space heater and a good amount of thermal mass and an inner tent of floating row covers.
Planted in the soil yesterday: spinach, pak choi, kale, mesclun and arugula seeds. I also got a dozen strawberries and a himrod grape vine. I have to find a place for the beach plum shrubs and mulberry tree I got as well. Asparagus is well up. It is warm and sunny again today so we should be able to pick a few pieces. I can't wait!
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My onions have sprouted, and, I think, potatoes! This is an experiment, my first time doing these.
It's still too cold at night for me to feel comfortable planting out my warm season peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants... maybe next weekend? (God I hope so.) Everything needs potting up if not.
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No sign of my asparagus yet. I planted snow peas and multiplier onions. My garlic planted mid-October is mostly up. After a long cool spring it is actually almost too hot (since when is 22C too hot?) to work in the garden!
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My kale is up about 10 inches and looking good. I'll be doing a major thinning this morning, which should yield a huge bag of yummy Red Russian to munch on this week. So that marks my first harvest of the year.
After harvesting kale I'm going to pick up that free horse manure. I talked to the guy and he has a riding school and also boards horses. Should be interesting to meet him and see his place. It'll be my first time loading up the truck with manure. Taking along a tarp in case it's needed.
After dealing with the manure we have one more errand for the day. We are going to buy a chick for one of our broody hens. This particular hen (a Crested Cream Legbar) broods herself nearly to death; she's so determined that she sets for months, refusing to give up. We've tried "breaking" her (by crating her away from the nest boxes, etc.) which normally works -- but not for her. She's a force of nature, but ends up a pathetic pale skeleton from setting so long. We don't want to watch her hurt herself again, so we're going to pick up a chick at our local feed store and slip it under her tonight. We don't really need any more chickens, so we'll see if one chick will bring her out of it. Normally slipping newly hatched chicks under broody hens works great to switch them from broody to "mom" mode, but we've always done it in batches, never just one chick. We'll see . . .
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Lucky you... to have kale ready now @Trifele. Kale chips are my favorite, while the chickens love it raw. Good luck with the broody. I picked up 3 blue cochin chicks in early April, that are still in the basement stock tank I use as a brooder. This year I hung up drop cloths around it to keep the dust and feathers from spreading. It's working so far!!
I'm very far behind on my garden plans so I'm scaling back... big time. It's been raining almost every weekend and hard to get motivated to dig in it, when the weeds are growing like crazy.
My pepper seeds sprouted only 6 plants so I had to buy a few plants. Peppers are one of the few vegs the kids eat without complaining and having many plants keeps the food bill low. Will put the plants in a raised bed using square foot garden and basil as a companion plant. I'm going to put a pop up greenhouse on this bed in fall to see if I can extend the season a few weeks and don't want plants that get taller than 3 ft.
Sage and parsley successfully overwintered covered under frost cloth. Pea seeds were planted in the same bed after mixing in mycorrhizal fungi and setting sticks, from pruned fruits, to use as a grow trellis.
Put bush green and purple beans in another raised bed. Not sure I will do pole beans this year though I saved a lot of seed from last year. Love dragon tongue beans. My goal this year is to fully enclose raise beds to keep squirrels and birds out and pole beans will likely grow through netting.
Bees are cruising along and I made a split from one of the new colonies with a prolific queen. Going to experiment this year and create 2 nuc colonies and stack them for Winter. Have been watching a lot of videos by beekeepers in Canada to see if they have any tricks that will help bees survive cold blasts. Not sure I want to move the hives indoors.
Lots of chores still on the gardening to-do and wish list.
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My community garden org had to cancel their Hot Crops plant sale fundraiser because it is still too Ass Cold here for tomatoes/peppers/basil/eggplant to be growing well and the plants aren't ready. They also had to cancel one day of their Cool Crops fundraiser a couple weeks ago because it was snowing very hard.
Come on, weather! Get your act together! This has been a miserable spring even for Chicago!
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My community garden org had to cancel their Hot Crops plant sale fundraiser because it is still too Ass Cold here for tomatoes/peppers/basil/eggplant to be growing well and the plants aren't ready. They also had to cancel one day of their Cool Crops fundraiser a couple weeks ago because it was snowing very hard.
Come on, weather! Get your act together! This has been a miserable spring even for Chicago!
I feel your pain. Looks like a steady patch of nicer weather coming in next week here in WI so hopefully things get moving..
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Meanwhile, it’s blazing hot in Portland, Oregon. Supposed to be 90-ish the next few days. I brought my tomatoes and peppers up from the basement last weekend and put them on the front porch. I never even bothered to bring them back in; it was 50-ish overnight each day since. I’m quite tempted to just plant them all this weekend, as the overnight temps for the next week are also hovering around 50. Usually I wait until around Memorial Day.
I got 25 asparagus roots from territorial seed two weeks ago and planted them. Most of them have sprouted. My existing asparagus bed has some nice sized spears I’m cutting tonight for dinner.
My 10 ten-week old chicks are growing like weeds. One turned out to be a rooster (cockerel at this age) but the rest were properly sexed. I’m handing the male off to a friend this weekend - he’ll live on a farm in the country. I’m also giving away three of the hens (pullets) to a friend that recently lost part of her adult flock. So shortly I’ll be down to a reasonable 11 (5 adults, 6 young ones). While my coop and run can handle up to 14, I’m more comfy with the smaller number. I can always add more chicks next year (but under a broody hen instead!)
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I probably shouldn't be posting here because I know next to nothing about gardening. But since moving to a cottage with a giant gardening box, we've thrown a few seeds and seedlings (I had to look that word up to make sure that's what I meant, that's how inexperienced I am) into the ground and it appears we have some kale, basil and possibly one tiny broccoli sprouting from seed, and our tomatoes and mint seedlings are doing ok. We just planted a couple other varieties of tomatoes and a cucumber last weekend. I really wanted to read up and learn about gardening before going at it (I have "Golden Gate Gardening" on hold at the library - a book that should be super helpful for gardening in the Bay Area of CA) but my husband is a little more carefree about things and just took the bull by the horns and started planting. I'm hoping just reading this thread will help me absorb some knowledge over time, although it's a bit intimidating, almost like reading...not an entirely different language, but nearly so!
Don't know if anyone would have advice about this, but we'd really like to plant blackberries. It seems like it might be too late in the season to plant seedlings. At least, we can no longer find them anywhere locally. There are some parks and public rights of way with wild blackberry bushes nearby so I looked up growing them from a cutting (I have only a vague sense of what this word means and how I would go about doing it if so, but I can get to that later, right?) and it seems like it's possible to do so, but maybe not at this time of year. Anyway, if anyone has advice on blackberries, I'd welcome the supplement to the stuff I've googled so far!
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mint seedlings are doing ok
Please pull those out and put them in a pot. Do not let them get established in the ground. You will regret it.
Don't know if anyone would have advice about this, but we'd really like to plant blackberries. It seems like it might be too late in the season to plant seedlings. At least, we can no longer find them anywhere locally. There are some parks and public rights of way with wild blackberry bushes nearby so I looked up growing them from a cutting (I have only a vague sense of what this word means and how I would go about doing it if so, but I can get to that later, right?) and it seems like it's possible to do so, but maybe not at this time of year. Anyway, if anyone has advice on blackberries, I'd welcome the supplement to the stuff I've googled so far!
Our local nursery carries berry canes, and in fact keeps a list on their website of which varieties they carry for the year. I find that list helpful so if there are two varieties of a fruit that I want, then I can google up the names and read about them. I’d recommend finding a nursery and giving them a call to see if they carry them, and if so, when they usually get them. If you are too late for the year, you can prep the area where you’ll plant them so you’re ready with appropriate structures. We grow marionberries around here and they are great, but pretty much most cane berries will be somewhat invasive.
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I transplanted our cherry tomatoes (7), peppers(8), and ground cherries (4) out. They had really outgrown the 4" pots and perked up a lot overnight. It's the first time I've grown from seed and didn't expect this many to survive so the fiancé and I are overjoyed with the outcome so far. Hopefully we'll have a huge harvest this summer.
We ate our first radish. I planted a about two dozen, but I think I waited too late. It's also the first time I've done spring crops so I'm still guessing when everything needs to go in the ground and how much to plant. We have leaf lettuce, chard, and kale but they're all only about an inch or two tall which I'm pretty sure is behind schedule for this time of year (zone 7a). I'll try again in the fall and hope to figure it out for some overwinter crops.
I'm quickly running out of space in our 4 beds and the pumpkins and squash haven't gone in yet. I'm realizing I need more practice planning out the space. I might even build another bed or two with some spare wood to get ready for fall crops or next year. Has anyone else experienced suddenly feeling like you don't have enough space? I'm wondering if it's going to come with feeling like we're way over our heads in garden maintenance chores in a few weeks.
We think some family bought us a greenhouse as a present for our upcoming wedding. *fingerscrossed*
In other exciting news, the large patch of dirt I spread with wildflower seed is finally showing sprouts that don't look like chickweed or other assorted less than desirables. I'm hoping that whole section of the yard will be a field of flowers by late summer.
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So we slipped that chick under our broody hen, and all is well. Our hen doesn't seem to have any problem with the fact there was only one chick. The two fixed on each other and are both really happy. I love watching chicks and broodies together, going about their busy little business.
I picked up that load of horse manure, and it is pretty. One pickup truck load was just the right amount to cover our new in-ground bed 4' X 24' X 6 inches deep. Nice. The guy didn't want any money, but happily accepted two dozen eggs from me. He said people often "pay" him with produce. :)
Our potatoes are doing well this year. (Last year they were decimated by slugs, but this year not. Who knows?) Some of the big ones look like they could be flowering soon:
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Wrote out a post and then lost it. I’m spoiled by the auto save function over on OMD.
I’ve done quite a few things in the garden so far, mostly battling weeds from when my mental health fell apart last year.
-doubled raspberries to somewhere between 40-50 linear feet, though a lot of that will take a year or two to fill in.
-peas and garlic are up
-Summer direct sown crops are mostly in, but may need resowing if I jumped the gun weather wise. I usually risk an early planting but have extra seeds if I need to replant.
-lost some of our fruit trees to girdling damage over the winter
-have harvested comfrey for the chickens and will be harvesting rhubarb soon, nothing else for a while though.
Still kinda bare this time of year but here are some pics
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Probably about half of my lettuce and spinach seed is up. Peas are up too. Dill, oregano, and cilantro are all happy; I picked some oregano and put it on homemade pizza and NOM. I am seeing some signs of strawberries too!
So, despite the Ass Cold weather, things aren't a total disaster.
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Welcome back @Buntastic! I missed you. Sorry to hear you haven't been well. Great to hear what you've been up to in your urban farm. As always, it looks fantastic!
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Congrats on starting your garden @sui generis! It's so much fun.
I've grown both blackberries and raspberries for years so I'll share what I know, though as a caveat I've never gardened where you are, and things may be somewhat different. Blackberries and raspberries -- once you can get your hands on some plants -- are really easy to grow. They aren't usually grown from seed, rather they send "runners" horizontally under the ground which then pop up as "child" plants. That's how they spread, and why people call them "invasive." So to answer your question, yes you could dig up some child plants from a wild blackberry patch and grow them, if you can't find any plants locally in stores. Not sure how the wild ones would taste though. Early spring is the best time to dig up the child plants, as they will be shorter and less thorny.
Blackberries are perennials regarding the root system, and biennial for the part above the ground. So in the first year the plant grows its canes (tall stiff stems with leaves), but doesn't bear any fruit. In the second year, those canes bear fruit. So when you're doing your fall cleanup it's important not to cut those first year canes (even though they might look dead) otherwise you'll never get fruit.
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Wrote out a post and then lost it. I’m spoiled by the auto save function over on OMD.
I’ve done quite a few things in the garden so far, mostly battling weeds from when my mental health fell apart last year.
-doubled raspberries to somewhere between 40-50 linear feet, though a lot of that will take a year or two to fill in.
-peas and garlic are up
-Summer direct sown crops are mostly in, but may need resowing if I jumped the gun weather wise. I usually risk an early planting but have extra seeds if I need to replant.
-lost some of our fruit trees to girdling damage over the winter
-have harvested comfrey for the chickens and will be harvesting rhubarb soon, nothing else for a while though.
Still kinda bare this time of year but here are some pics
Buntastic, you are a gardening god. I am ashamed of how little I grow on my acre compared to you!
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Quick high-level overview of where I am for this year so far:
-- Vegetables: Potatoes, kale, tomatoes, beans, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, and peppers are in. All doing well except some of the beans aren't growing as they should. I'm going to replant and inoculate this time, see if it helps.
-- Perennials/Shrubs:
- 20 feet of blackberries
- 40 feet of raspberries
- 10 highbush blueberries
- 5 grape vines (3 Concord, 2 Muscadine)
- 4 elderberry
- 4 gooseberry
- 2 tea shrubs. I just planted these recently and they look fantastic -- growing fast.
-- Trees: I lost one fruit tree over the winter to unknown causes (smallest 2-year-old Overleese paw paw), otherwise everyone came through. 2 of my 3 figs took a bad winter hit, but they're still alive. Total fruit tree inventory is:
- 14 apples, 10 of which I grafted last year.
- 4 pears
- 4 cherries
- 4 persimmons
- 3 figs
- 2 paw paws
- 1 pomegranate
To Do:
- 4 of my apple graftlings are still in pots. I'm working on getting them in the ground ASAP. Sites are chosen and holes are dug. It's a lot of work to plant trees well. These little trees will most likely outlive me by many, many years; it's important to give them the best start I can.
- Prepping two big new in-ground vegetable beds inside my deer fence, 4 x 24' each. Cardboard is down. I've covered one with composted manure. Wood chips will be going on top of that. Need to figure out what I want to do with bed #2.
- Expanding my raspberry rows inside the deer fence. I took suckers from my existing patch (free plants!) and potted them up. Those guys need to go into the ground as soon as I figure out exactly where.
- I still have quite a bit of space inside the deer fence that is TBD. Until I figure out what to do with it, I'm going to focus on smothering the grass so I don't have to mow so much.
- I'm really enjoying my gooseberries, and I'd like more. I'm learning about how to propagate those. They don't sucker, so t's more complicated than raspberries/blackberries, and takes longer. I'm going to try tip layering them and see how that goes.
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I love seeing everyone's pics and reading progress reports!
@sui generis - you'll find that gardeners love to bring new gardeners into the fold, so this is a good place to ask questions as you learn!
Last weekend was focused on our front yard, which is mostly xeriscaped/native. We had a gopher tear things up at the end of last summer, and then we used that as a launching board towards tearing out grass that was encroaching into the landscaping. So there was a big mess, and lots of rock mulch needing to be sieved out of soil, and two yards of new rock mulch to bring in and spread.
I've been out of town all week, so I'm hoping my seedlings are all still alive down in the basement. I can see from the window that the potatoes have popped up, and my onion plants look bigger than last weekend.
This weekend I'll be planting out most of the warm-weather crops. I waited a little on the cucurbits since I like to transplant them at the 2-leaf stage, but as of last Sunday, nothing had even sprouted in that tray, so we'll see.
Need to get an inventory of my soaker hoses and figure out what I need to go buy.
Does anyone use one of the digital timers that attaches to a hose bib? I'm thinking I really need to invest in something like that this year to automate more of the watering. I have to be away again next week, and would rather not put the responsibility for newly transplanted seedlings on DH, who is plenty busy as well.
If I can get some final touches on the chicken tractor so that it's secure, I might go buy 3-4 pullets this weekend, since I'm down to just two hens (who are enjoying their spacious 8-bird coop). OTOH, having just two birds makes things really low-maintenance.
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Has anyone grown the "tumbling" varieties of tomatoes? The kind that are usually sold in a hanging basket. Every year my farmer's market sells them, and every year I drool over them. They had some there today - literally hundreds of flowers on every plant, and some were making tomatoes already.
The plants are $20 though, which is WAY more than I normally pay for a seedling! But these are clearly very established plants, and it looks like they'd have an amazing yield. I mean, if one of these puts out as much as 5 or 6 regular plants, it could be worth it?
Also wondering if they bear all the tomatoes at once, or all season.
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Also wondering if they bear all the tomatoes at once, or all season.
Those hanging basket tomatoes sure are pretty @Tris Prior. I haven't grown them, but judging by a quick Google search it looks like "Tumbling Tom" is a common variety of those. That is a determinate variety, which normally means most of the fruit comes all at once. But then in the customer reviews I'm seeing people report picking fruit all summer. ?
I say get one to test it, in the name of science. :) And let us all know!
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Wrote out a post and then lost it. I’m spoiled by the auto save function over on OMD.
I’ve done quite a few things in the garden so far, mostly battling weeds from when my mental health fell apart last year.
-doubled raspberries to somewhere between 40-50 linear feet, though a lot of that will take a year or two to fill in.
-peas and garlic are up
-Summer direct sown crops are mostly in, but may need resowing if I jumped the gun weather wise. I usually risk an early planting but have extra seeds if I need to replant.
-lost some of our fruit trees to girdling damage over the winter
-have harvested comfrey for the chickens and will be harvesting rhubarb soon, nothing else for a while though.
Still kinda bare this time of year but here are some pics
Buntastic, you are a gardening god. I am ashamed of how little I grow on my acre compared to you!
I’m nothing special. Gardening/farming just happens to be my favorite hobby. And, when things are going well at least, it really soothes my depression and anxiety.
I also raise meat rabbits and egg laying chickens inside my privacy fence.
@Trifele tip-layering works for gooseberries, I know this because I have a bush that has completely accidentally tip-layered, lol. If you want I can look in my reference book for other recommended propagation techniques.
What varieties do you have? Mine are mostly Hinnomaki with a couple others I can’t recall any longer and the labels are all faded.
@horsepoor no experience myself but heard reasonably good things about most irrigation timers, just read the reviews. Digital is one option, there are also analog ones driven by the water pressure in the spigot itself.
If your coop is setup for deep bedding, the maintenance on 50+ chickens is practically the same as on 2. I went from 13 to now nearly 40 and except for one extra feeder to carry my workload day to day is exactly the same except for the great shovel out once a year.
Gonna go drive to the power company for another load of free woodchips before everyone gets up. I got two loads yesterday. Between some 27 gallon totes and a bunch of buckets I can fit 2/3 cuyd per trip. I can get a chipper truck full delivered for free but I have nowhere to store the pile except in the street, and don’t have the time to get 5+ cuyd spread in a single day (if I take longer, the city starts yelling at me).
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Should I try to continue to resurrect the homesteading group journal for livestock discussion or just merge it back with this thread? Wasn’t sure how much gardeners who are veg/vegan are bothered by livestock convo.
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@Trifele tip-layering works for gooseberries, I know this because I have a bush that has completely accidentally tip-layered, lol. If you want I can look in my reference book for other recommended propagation techniques.
What varieties do you have? Mine are mostly Hinnomaki with a couple others I can’t recall any longer and the labels are all faded.
I have Hinnomaki and Pixwell. I've watched a few Youtube videos about tip layering gooseberries, and it looks exactly the same as layering raspberries, which I've done. You can also divide gooseberries (brutal out-of-the-ground surgery, like what you do with hostas) or grow from cuttings using rooting hormone. The tip layering looks the easiest, so that's what I'm going with to start. Takes 2-3 years from that to having fruit, though.
I wish I could just buy more plants but unfortunately the whole Ribes genus -- gooseberries, currants, etc. -- is illegal here and no local nurseries carry them nor will anyone ship to me. Outdated law based on misunderstanding of how white pine blister rust is transmitted. Almost all other states have repealed their anti-Ribes law, but not ours. Grrr. I got my current plants [shhh] by shipping them to a friend in a neighboring state. I may plan a trip out of state next spring to scoop some more plants somewhere.
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@horsepoor no experience myself but heard reasonably good things about most irrigation timers, just read the reviews. Digital is one option, there are also analog ones driven by the water pressure in the spigot itself.
If your coop is setup for deep bedding, the maintenance on 50+ chickens is practically the same as on 2. I went from 13 to now nearly 40 and except for one extra feeder to carry my workload day to day is exactly the same except for the great shovel out once a year.
I went ahead and ordered these timers (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IJG4EPO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) yesterday, so I can get them set up before I go on my next trip. Hopefully time saved on watering will allow me to keep up on the rest of the maintenance a little more.
On the chickens, it's more just that I have to refill the feed and water more often with 6 hens, more eggs to collect, etc. I'm a seriously lazy chicken keeper; usually just change out a bale of shavings in the coop in spring and fall, then rake out the run and throw the tube sand from my truck in to refresh the base a little and call it good.
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I'm a few hours from being in my garden after being absent from it for about a month. I don't really know what to expect. So much work lays ahead of me in the coming days....and I wouldn't want it any other way. I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but there is nothing quite as satisfying as growing your own food on your own land.
Great to see everyone's garden dreams coming to fruition. I'll be reading along with interest, and I may chime in with my garden progress from time to time, but most of my garden story and images will likely be detailed elsewhere on the forum given that I only allow myself a certain amount of forum time these days.
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@horsepoor no experience myself but heard reasonably good things about most irrigation timers, just read the reviews. Digital is one option, there are also analog ones driven by the water pressure in the spigot itself.
If your coop is setup for deep bedding, the maintenance on 50+ chickens is practically the same as on 2. I went from 13 to now nearly 40 and except for one extra feeder to carry my workload day to day is exactly the same except for the great shovel out once a year.
I went ahead and ordered these timers (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IJG4EPO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) yesterday, so I can get them set up before I go on my next trip. Hopefully time saved on watering will allow me to keep up on the rest of the maintenance a little more.
On the chickens, it's more just that I have to refill the feed and water more often with 6 hens, more eggs to collect, etc. I'm a seriously lazy chicken keeper; usually just change out a bale of shavings in the coop in spring and fall, then rake out the run and throw the tube sand from my truck in to refresh the base a little and call it good.
Okay :) I personally hate buying eggs (and we eat a LOT), so we dramatically increased our flock so that hopefully we never run out and will sell the rest.
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Also wondering if they bear all the tomatoes at once, or all season.
Those hanging basket tomatoes sure are pretty @Tris Prior. I haven't grown them, but judging by a quick Google search it looks like "Tumbling Tom" is a common variety of those. That is a determinate variety, which normally means most of the fruit comes all at once. But then in the customer reviews I'm seeing people report picking fruit all summer. ?
I say get one to test it, in the name of science. :) And let us all know!
Of course! Nonmustachianism because SCIENCE. ;) And, honestly, if they come in all at once, that's good for canning, I won't complain. They are so pretty. So full and healthy looking. Hmmmm.
My Sungold seedling, which isn't even in the ground yet due to our continued Ass Cold temperatures, is making a tiny tomato already. WHAT. It's May! OK then!
Has anyone grown mizuna? This morning I volunteered at my community garden, planting the raised beds that grow veggies for our local food pantries. One of the plants being put in was purple mizuna, and OMG, it is gorgeous. I'm curious about it - particularly how spicy it is, and whether it is spicy enough that bunnies will not eat it. Because if I get one, I want to plant it in the backyard which has no bunny fence, as my community plot (which does have a bunny fence) has all of its spots spoken for, should it ever stop being Hoth so I can plant my damn tomatoes.
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Got a handful of ripe strawberries this morning- just enough to snack on. They were delicious!!
I also got a handful of cilantro to put in the Mexican dish we had for lunch. I'm seeing some squash and zucchini blooms though so I'm looking forward to that.
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Not a good day for our animals here. We lost our best hen to a fox this morning, and then we also lost that new little chick we got. Not sure what the cause of death was for the chick; everything had been going well. :(
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Not a good day for our animals here. We lost our best hen to a fox this morning, and then we also lost that new little chick we got. Not sure what the cause of death was for the chick; everything had been going well. :(
Bummer :( I had to put down one of my pullets today as well.
@Tris Prior have you ever grown anything in the mustard green family? It’s very similar. Would also be reasonably similar to growing leaf lettuce. Cut and come again harvesting.
I’ve not grown it myself but have seen it grown by many farmers I’ve read/watched.
No idea if it’s rabbit proof or not, depends on your local rabbits. None of my garden is protected from rabbits and I suffer almost no noticeable damage except for munching on shrubs and girdling damage in the winter.
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@Buntastic I have not; I've done a lot of lettuce, chard, arugula, spinach, kale. But never anything in the mustard greens/asian greens family.
The rabbits here will eat lettuce and peas right down to the ground. I lost the entire crop one year. I have a huge fat one hanging out regularly in my yard. And the community garden is an all you can eat buffet; they're always running around in there despite the garden being fenced in, and one year a bunny gave birth in someone's bed a few rows down from mine. Therefore: rabbit fencing. I just don't want to have to put one up at home too.
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Mostly just posting to follow. Here in the PNW warm spring weather comes late. So yesterday I planted basil, a tomato plant, a zucchini, and a jalapeno (all from starts). They joined the chard, lettuce, carrots, kale, tarragon, sage, thyme, rosemary, dill, leeks, and salad burnett that was either existing, or got planted from seeds or starts.
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It is 6BloodyCelcius today and all day tomorrow.
Things are still coming along, although slowly. I planted some of the onions out and all the brussels sprouts I started indoors. They are sheltering under floating row covers. I grew far too many onions, I am only half done and I transplanted for two hours.....I have not planted any peas yet. I can't even get the manure to start my potatoes so I think I am going to grow them out at my Dad's farm. My stepmom said I could do whatever I want. I am hoping next weekend will be dry enough that I can walk on the garden out there without getting stuck. I was out there last night and it was too wet to do anything.
The new grow lights work like a charm. Multiple plants - peppers, cukes and zukes are trying to set blooms. The collected tomato seed was super slow to germinate but it mostly has (some of the plants don't even have true leaves yet) So I was thinking I would have very few cherries to share - and now I am thinking OMG what am I going to do with all these?
I am trying out so many new things this year - melons, eggplant, fennel, brussel sprouts and tomatillos to name just a few. Everything germinated and seems to have survived the mistakes that I made this year. I have really struggled with watering the right amount and then there was the vinegar mist incident as well. Some of the tomatoes lost all their leaves. I am hoping the oxblood tomatoes recover. The red and black cherries that I collected from the tastiest variety from the market really germinated well.
I have been potting up these seedlings and am almost caught up. There are two trays of tomatoes still to do and two flats of flowers - although I might not bother.
But once all the little seed trays get moved on into pots- I need more space. And I have just about used up every pot I own. I also that I needed the basement to get a little bit more organized so I was a potting up fiend for several days. I then spent an hour tidying back up and washed the floor. The rest has to be done in the greenhouse.
I still have all the space being used under the grow lights- but nothing is overly crowded and they are all in bigger pots with a little dose of hen fertilizer under the soil surface - so that it is not too smelly. Many of the plants really needed to get into bigger pots and get some more nutrients.
All the up-sizing meant that I had to move a huge number of plants out to the greenhouse. Fortunately Hubs helped me. I have a tiny heater in the center and at night I pull the floating row covers over everything. It is similar to making a fort out of blankets in the greenhouse. The floating row covers really hold the heat down. I have to get out there first thing in the morning or else it is 36C before you know it.
There isn't enough room for everything so I made a small cold frame in front of the green house with a found storm window and found bales of straw. The onions that I didn't get into the garden yesterday are in there along with two trays of wildflower seeds that I got at a native plants workshop in March. The wildflowers can take the cold - they haven't broken germination yet. (I just pulled the seed out of the fridge last weekend).
I got everything super organized so that it all fits. I am looking after a huge pot of geraniums for one neighbour and 8 pots of canna lilies for another. I have a little space for potting and some storage. I have a big tarp for more storage behind the greenhouse. Everything is neat and tidy the way I like it. I just wish it would stop raining for a stretch and warm up.
This has to be the strangest year.
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I've been reading all your updates but finally have a contribution :)
My little plot is in a community garden a few km from home (we live in a townhouse). We have two connected plots and do some patio gardening as well.
We had an early heat wave which meant seeds went into the ground early (our region has a short growing season with late frosts) and now my first sproutings of radishes, kale and arugula are showing up!
At home, I have some peas and brussel sprouts starting inside and strawberries & mint out on the deck.
We also planted garlic last fall and it's looking great so far--first time doing that.
The sage and chive plants are also thriving in the plot.
The weather is now changing and a week of rain is showing up so hopefully things will cope well with that shift.
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@Serendip any particular reason you didn’t direct sow the peas? The traditional “plant as soon as the soil can be worked” has done well for me every year.
I’ve found garlic very easy to grow so far so I hope you have a similar experience. I’m on year 3 I think. Started with 6 bulbs of two hardneck varieties and now I’ve got 4 4x8 beds of it planted. (We eat and gift a fair amount but I’m also hoping to try selling some.)
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Unexpectedly found a bunny burrow in our yard. It looked like there were 6 babies; they are adorable but then I realized there were 6+ bunnies in my yard that would want to feast on my garden. I decided the best course of action was to seed bomb the back of our property with kale and lettuce. I must have cast over 1,000 seeds (which I should be ashamed to admit I already had on hand). I hope some stick; the rain will help. Time will tell.
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Our broody hen was just too sad after her chick died yesterday (on Mothers' Day!) so the kids and I went to the feed store and scooped up two more chicks. She accepted them immediately, and was purring with bliss. Chickens have a very large vocabulary of calls, songs, and noises. The happiness purr is my favorite one of all. All is well for now, knock on wood.
I'm doing my final thinning of the Red Russian kale today, which should yield another huge bag to eat.
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@Serendip any particular reason you didn’t direct sow the peas? The traditional “plant as soon as the soil can be worked” has done well for me every year.
I’ve found garlic very easy to grow so far so I hope you have a similar experience. I’m on year 3 I think. Started with 6 bulbs of two hardneck varieties and now I’ve got 4 4x8 beds of it planted. (We eat and gift a fair amount but I’m also hoping to try selling some.)
I was waiting for compost to show up at our community garden so I started some seeds indoors (and peas just happened to be in my pile). I have also directly planted them but they are not up yet (I tend to be a bit of an anxious gardener..so I try to cover my bases!)
Thanks for the garlic confidence..it seems exciting to have some scapes on the way as well.
That's quite the quantity increase you've had!
I don't have so much space to expand into but maybe will have to start doing some garlic guerilla gardening :)
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Got a handful of ripe strawberries this morning- just enough to snack on. They were delicious!!
I also got a handful of cilantro to put in the Mexican dish we had for lunch. I'm seeing some squash and zucchini blooms though so I'm looking forward to that.
The blooms are also edible, and if you choose only male blooms (and leave about 1/3 of those), you won't affect productivity. You can tell the male from female blooms because the females have an ovum swelling at the base. Usually the early blooms are all male.
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/tell-difference-female-male-squash-blossoms-89117.html (https://homeguides.sfgate.com/tell-difference-female-male-squash-blossoms-89117.html)
https://www.brit.co/squash-blossom-recipes/ (https://www.brit.co/squash-blossom-recipes/)
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After being away from my garden for about a month I was somewhat stunned at how quickly I was able to restore it from the scruffy, overgrown, weed infested state it was in when I returned. More extensive pics of the 2 day transformation will probably appear in my Journal, but I'll leave some pics here too.
Can you call it "weeding" when the weeds are actually TOMATOES? Not sure why I even bothered to start tomatoes from seed this year.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/33967848978_4856379eaa_c.jpg)
The end result after a few hours of weeding/"tomatoeing. There were many hours, and wheelbarrow loads, to go.
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How about some actual crop pics?
Lettuce and spinach, living in perfect harmony. (except some of the spinach has been slightly nibbled upon by some unknown pest)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47845218781_be394053c9_c.jpg)
Beautiful kale (and collards). I barely resisted harvesting some of this.
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Peas climbing on up the trellis...up about 4 feet now. On track to be munching on peas right off the vine in early June.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/32901253277_bb8659f8c1_c.jpg)
The native blackberry (trailing) variety is already blossoming....as opposed to the invasive (and much more prolific) Himalayan species, which forms a half crescent ring around my garden perimeter.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/33975332608_176cbab3a2_c.jpg)
I was thinking this morning that perhaps even more important than maximizing productivity (I've resisted adding more beds in the last few years) in my garden is my goal to maximize it's BEAUTY. Nature herself is the driving force here, but I certainly feel I can provide her a helping hand in this regard. It's just become a magical place to let hours and days unfold in.
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@Jon_Snow sometimes the volunteer tomato plants are the healthiest! But they outcross readily so you’ll never know exactly what kind of tomato you’ll get, unless you only grew one non-hybrid variety.
I don’t mind weeding too much because the chickens eat nearly all of the weeds. I don’t call it weeding, I call it getting the chickens their salad ;)
Beauty is definitely important. I’m really glad I put down fresh woodchips on all the paths, it looks so nice. And while I grow mostly functional stuff, I do love my tulips and a few other flower areas.
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Green with envy @Jon_Snow .
We had frost risk last night AGAIN
Zukes are trying to flower under the grow lights!
Harvested 8 pieces of asparagus last night. And a handful of arugula for my pizza. And chives.
Rhubarb is almost ready.
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We ended up putting seedlings in the ground yesterday at the community garden since they were getting too leggy. It looks like it won't go below 4degrees, so hopefully that's not too cold for the little ones!
We have to go construct a protective cover for them today (not allowed to use plastic netting so we are making a shelter out of squared chicken wire (birds and deer seem to be the biggest threat)
Do any of you wild-harvest food? I gathered a bunch of stinging nettle last week and ate heaps of them (smoothies, steamed, or cooked in frittata's) but then dried a bunch for further tea-making. Very satisfying!
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Green with envy @Jon_Snow .
Well, if we are going to honest about envy...I am very much filled with that regarding your greenhouse. Now, since we don't really freeze up at all out here on the left coast it is not a definitely NEED. I'm usually able to start planting stuff in the ground in early March. But I could definitely put one to use...as it would cut down my need to ferry (literally) my warm weather seedlings from our city condo to the island garden. Just recently I was taking a tray of squash seedlings over to the island. I had them in a tray on the floor of the front passenger side of my pickup, and I took one turn a little too fast and the tray flipped over and a couple of squash plants were irrevocably damaged. Grrrr....
There is even an existing foundation structure that I could put a greenhouse on that is within the garden itself. This is the next logical step in taking my garden game to the next level.
@Jon_Snow sometimes the volunteer tomato plants are the healthiest! But they outcross readily so you’ll never know exactly what kind of tomato you’ll get, unless you only grew one non-hybrid variety.
I don’t mind weeding too much because the chickens eat nearly all of the weeds. I don’t call it weeding, I call it getting the chickens their salad ;)
Beauty is definitely important. I’m really glad I put down fresh woodchips on all the paths, it looks so nice. And while I grow mostly functional stuff, I do love my tulips and a few other flower areas.
Thanks for that post! I left a few of these volunteers in where they won't interfere with the purposefully planted crops. I look forward to seeing what they turn out to be. ;) One really weird thing is that I had tomatoes pop up in beds that have never had tomatoes in them before. Weird.
Yes, garden paths can really add to the visual aesthetic. One thing I'm thinking about to increase the beauty factor is perhaps letting something "vine-y" grow on the outside fencing. I've thought about grapes, but that might be more permanent than I want.
Weeds serve absolutely no purpose in my operation other than providing me the grim satisfaction I get from yanking them out. :)
Do any of you wild-harvest food? I gathered a bunch of stinging nettle last week and ate heaps of them (smoothies, steamed, or cooked in frittata's) but then dried a bunch for further tea-making. Very satisfying!
Yes! I really love foraging for stuff that Nature herself provides for free. It's a wonderfully extensive list of stuff...and would be even more amazing if I liked mushrooms. *shudder*
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@Jon_Snow pole beans, cucumbers, peas, winter squash (smaller/medium types like kabocha, buttercup, or butternut) and some things I’m inevitable forgetting will all vine nicely up that welded wire fencing though winter squash might be a bit heavy now that I think of it. I’ve done them on wire fences, but they were the more durable woven wire type, not welded wire.
I’m sure there are good flowers too, but I’m bad with flowers.
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@Serendip I’m too far into the city to have much opportunity for intentional foraging, but I’ll definitely snack on stuff when I find it. Mostly what I’m comfortable foraging is fruit, mainly berries, but also I’ve tried some wild grapes and also apples (a lot of the hiking trails here are state parks made out of long-defunct homestead sites). I have a some odd but severe food intolerances to some common greens so I’ve been scared to try wild edible greens even when I recognize them. And mushroom identification is not something I’ve wanted to devote time to studying, though a lot of folks I know forage actively for them.
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Got my rhubarb picked. 6lb, diced in the fridge, will cook it down tomorrow. I freeze it without sweetener (I can’t have sugar, real or fake) in pints and add a spoonful or two to smoothies for some extra vitamins, fiber, and tartness.
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@Sun Hat I love this type of tale of karma.
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Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are all out and in the ground. Yesterday it started cooling and now it's down to 50f and raining, which I don't mind to give things a chance to establish. Plus, I have my last major work trip of spring this week, and won't have to worry about things shriveling while I'm gone.
I'll give another huge thumbs-up to the LED lights. I have by far the best dark green, leafy pepper plants ever this year. One of my coworkers has started saving her big Sonic cups for me, so I think next year I'll pot directly into them (32 oz, I think) and I'm excited to see what sort of monster plants I end up with, since I think the 12 oz cups they're in were the limiting factor this year.
Potatoes are up, and some garlic scapes are starting. We've had one salad from the garden so far, but the lettuces just aren't very impressive this year, sadly.
Hoping for enough breaks in the rain this weekend to get some weeding done. Finally bought a stirrup hoe, and that makes things go a lot faster! However, I think I'm going to have to just put a big tarp over weedy parts that aren't going to be planted, and call it good.
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Wild temp swings lately. Mid-70s yesterday, currently 46, tomorrow 81, then by Monday back to highs in the 50s. The plants are going to be so confused.
I am getting the rest of my tomato plants tomorrow! I should not be this excited about unmustachian spending (because YES, I decided I am going to get the hanging basket, for SCIENCE. And possibly one of the gorgeous huge basils that the same seller had last week, as it's actually cheaper than getting multiple smaller basils). And yet. *bounce*
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@Tris Prior
Not sure what type of hanging baskets you are experimenting with.
One year, I tried the upside down hanging tomato baskets and found that they dry out very quickly. The following year, I put a marigold on the top hole, where the water and soil goes in, to control some of the evaporation by providing shade. The plant didn't thrive; possibly because the dry soil was where the majority of roots were located.
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No, not the upside down ones. Those confuse me, honestly - I assumed, apparently correctly, that they would dry out. I've been lusting after the "tumbling" tomato varieties that are being sold at my farmer's market. They are right side up like normal tomatoes.
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Slugs ate all my strawberries, which was a bummer. Any tips for getting rid of them? I just harvested my first peas, so that was exciting.
I lost my barred rock hens last week (I think to a coyote). She was my 4-year-old daughter's favorite. I found a farm nearby selling barred rocks for cheap so I said we could go get one - and we ended up with 3. The introduction hadn't gone well though; my other hens have been really bullying them. I isolated the worst bully for a few days, and she seemed better when I put her back in today, but one of the other hens seems to have taken her place as bully. Ugh. Also, I was woken up a couple nights ago by a raccoon trying to dig it's way into the coop. Fortunately, I scared it away and no damage was done. But overall, not a great week for chickens.
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Tonight was the first lettuce harvest of the season. Homegrown lettuce is kind of like home grown tomatoes. Delicious depths of flavor you can't buy in a store.
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@nessness in my experience, unless they are actually drawing blood (in which case treat with Blu-Kote, which seals the wound and changes the color so that the other chickens don’t instinctively try to pick at it and cannibalize) just let it sort out. They are re-establishing the pecking order. It can look vicious but usually no harm actually occurs.
@Telecaster totally! I wish I didn’t get sick of salads so quickly, but fresh lettuce is amazing.
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I missed the slug issue. Ducks, if you can have them, are the ultimate slug killers. But really only doable on larger properties because of how messy they can be.
Sluggo is an OMRI-listed product that’s quite safe and supposed to be very effective against slugs. Note that Sluggo Plus adds spinosad, which is a broadly active poison, whereas plain Sluggo is a passive bait.
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@Serendip I’m too far into the city to have much opportunity for intentional foraging, but I’ll definitely snack on stuff when I find it. Mostly what I’m comfortable foraging is fruit, mainly berries, but also I’ve tried some wild grapes and also apples (a lot of the hiking trails here are state parks made out of long-defunct homestead sites). I have a some odd but severe food intolerances to some common greens so I’ve been scared to try wild edible greens even when I recognize them. And mushroom identification is not something I’ve wanted to devote time to studying, though a lot of folks I know forage actively for them.
Agreed @Buntastic --mushrooms are a whole field of study unto themselves! And if you are sensitive to greens--wild ones might be best avoided as you've said...thankfully my system seems to enjoy them so I've been known to munch on big leaf maple blossoms and other edibles but it's not for everyone :)
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We build a wire mesh cage around our community garden (heaps of small birds live in the area and love to devour the seedlings). Our neighbouring gardeners find us entertaining, but I don't like spending time and then losing everything!
Just planted some lettuce starts (as my seedlings didn't do so well), and have some shiso and lemonbalm to plant this morning as well.
Has anyone tried or had success growing zucchini vertically? We have a patio with a lot of sunshine but not much room so thought we'd try cucumber and zuchinni on a trellis or vertically somehow..
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@Serendip I grow cucumbers vertically, it works great. I imagine zucchini is similar as long as you pick them before they become monstrous. I grow bush squash inside of the small "tomato" cages (the ones that are actually worthless for tomatoes). You flip the cage upside down so that the bottom is wider than the top, and encourage the leaves to grow upward, supported by the cage. Nearly all the fruit set near the bottom and are super easy to pick this way. Keeps the leaves contained within a 2 or 3 foot radius as well. If you are interested in other options. (This only would work with bush squash though. I grow Raven zucchini and Easypick Gold yellow squash this way.)
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There are some really compact zucchini varieties out there bred for container gardens.
The closest I’ve seen to trellised zucchini was (going off of memory, I’m not 100% on this) an heirloom called zucchini rampante, which was a C. moschata (e.g. butternut) variety bred for picking at the summer squash stage. I think FedCo had it in their catalog last year and that’s where I saw it.
There are some other winter squash varieties I’ve heard are tasty picked as summer squash. Carol Deppe in one of her books talks about picking Sunshine, which is a former AAS winner hybrid kabocha type sold by Johnny’s, as a summer squash and it being quite tasty.
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@Serendip I grow cucumbers vertically, it works great. I imagine zucchini is similar as long as you pick them before they become monstrous. I grow bush squash inside of the small "tomato" cages (the ones that are actually worthless for tomatoes). You flip the cage upside down so that the bottom is wider than the top, and encourage the leaves to grow upward, supported by the cage. Nearly all the fruit set near the bottom and are super easy to pick this way. Keeps the leaves contained within a 2 or 3 foot radius as well. If you are interested in other options. (This only would work with bush squash though. I grow Raven zucchini and Easypick Gold yellow squash this way.)
Very cool. I'm trying growing cucumbers vertically for the first time this year. I'm glad it is actually a thing :)
Off to thin the arugula....
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@Serendip I grow cucumbers vertically, it works great. I imagine zucchini is similar as long as you pick them before they become monstrous. I grow bush squash inside of the small "tomato" cages (the ones that are actually worthless for tomatoes). You flip the cage upside down so that the bottom is wider than the top, and encourage the leaves to grow upward, supported by the cage. Nearly all the fruit set near the bottom and are super easy to pick this way. Keeps the leaves contained within a 2 or 3 foot radius as well. If you are interested in other options. (This only would work with bush squash though. I grow Raven zucchini and Easypick Gold yellow squash this way.)
Very cool. I'm trying growing cucumbers vertically for the first time this year. I'm glad it is actually a thing :)
Off to thin the arugula....
Definitely a thing, but they're not super-strong climbers, so sometimes they do better on an angled trellis instead of something completely vertical. I usually grow then on the lower part of an arched ranch panel, and they get up about 2-3' and travel sideways a little.
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@Serendip -- Yep, I grow both cucumbers and zucchini vertically. Works out great. They get heavy though, so a strong support is needed. Hardware cloth is ideal.
I've done tomatoes every which way (cages, trellis, staking with cloth strip weave) but the last few years I just let them sprawl horizontally along the ground. It's the way my grandma did it. If I get a little straw or dry leaf mulch onto the soil, there's no issue with the fruit spoiling or being eaten from being in contact with the ground.
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Tonight was the first lettuce harvest of the season. Homegrown lettuce is kind of like home grown tomatoes. Delicious depths of flavor you can't buy in a store.
A big hell yeah to this.
As I putter about the garden these days I’m constantly munching on lettuce. No dressing needed when it tastes like this!
And the same with the spinach. Such wonderful, mild flavour...with, dare I say it, a level of sweetness? Store bought doesn’t compare. My second planting of spinach is probably a week away from harvesting, so tonight a massive spinach salad is the plan, to attempt to make a dent in the first spinach crop.
I’m glad the weather has reverted to a more typical cool May pattern...I had visions of some early bolting spinach. The early May heat kick started my tomatoes though...I’ve have fruit setting already!
In the next few days, EVERYTHING will be planted out in the garden, even the peppers, albeit with a little nighttime temperature protection.
I never want to say it, in fear of jinxing things...but I think this years garden is going to be a great one. 😊
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I am in possession of the hanging tomato basket. It has probably north of 100 flowers on it, numerous green tomatoes starting, AND: It already had two perfectly ripe red tomatoes on it. (For reference, the earliest I've ever gotten a ripe tomato before is mid-July.) Boyfriend and I each sampled one. They were delicious. I think I am going to count how many tomatoes it gives me, compared to other plants, and see whether the cost was worth it. It sure is pretty though!
Two of my 3 dwarf blueberry bushes failed to flower this year. One's self-pollinating, the other isn't. The third put out flowers, so I was wondering whether that meant I wouldn't get berries because there's nothing to cross pollinate it (since the other cross-pollinator went straight to leaves with no blossoms). I guess that's a moot point though because we had violent storms yesterday and all the blossoms got ripped off that bush. No blueberries for me this year. :(
The fruit bush guy at Fancy Garden Center told me that if bushes fail to flower one year, then they are done flowering for good and will never flower or make berries again. T/F? Is he just trying to sell me more bushes at $20-$30 a pop?
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Thanks for the advice/comments re:vertical growing.
We will be trying both cucumber and zuchinni on the patio so I will update with results (hopefully!)
First rain storm of the season, hopefully the little plants can tough it out.
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I am in possession of the hanging tomato basket.
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The fruit bush guy at Fancy Garden Center told me that if bushes fail to flower one year, then they are done flowering for good and will never flower or make berries again. T/F? Is he just trying to sell me more bushes at $20-$30 a pop?
Congrats on the tomato @Tris Prior! How fun. I love tomatoes. I had a passionate [garden] love affair with the Trifele variety one summer . . . that's where I got my user name.
What the fruit bush guy said doesn't sound right to me . . . other than severe disease or extreme old age, I can't think of a reason that a blueberry wouldn't flower, that would be permanent. If the plants have leaves and look good, I wouldn't give up on them for future years. I'd fertilize them, check the soil PH, and talk to them, see what they need. Blueberries are very long lived.
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I am in possession of the hanging tomato basket.
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The fruit bush guy at Fancy Garden Center told me that if bushes fail to flower one year, then they are done flowering for good and will never flower or make berries again. T/F? Is he just trying to sell me more bushes at $20-$30 a pop?
Congrats on the tomato @Tris Prior! How fun. I love tomatoes. I had a passionate [garden] love affair with the Trifele variety one summer . . . that's where I got my user name.
What the fruit bush guy said doesn't sound right to me . . . other than severe disease or extreme old age, I can't think of a reason that a blueberry wouldn't flower, that would be permanent. If the plants have leaves and look good, I wouldn't give up on them for future years. I'd fertilize them, check the soil PH, and talk to them, see what they need. Blueberries are very long lived.
And blueberries are TOUGH! Look at where they grow in the wild.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm quite relieved we are getting more rain in late-Spring this year. The drought like conditions of the past several years have usually been firmly entrenched by now. I prefer this to THAT. But...there is a BUT. For the first time in quite a few years I'm dealing with some slug activity. In particular, they are becoming prominent in my edible greens. But only in my in-ground beds...they seem to lack the requisite athleticism to conquer my wooden raised beds. Yet another factor which will likely only speed my complete transition over to those.
A warmer, drier weather pattern is on the way (which should be followed by the typically rain-free, perfect PNW Summers) so I'm hoping that takes care of them before I need to employ some serious anti-slug measures.
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The guy said that our -50 windchills this winter likely stressed the plant to the point that it's not going to flower again. Those were extreme conditions even for us. I guess I can give it another year and see what happens, but, I have such limited space that my inclination is always to pull anything that's not producing food and replace it with something that will.
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The guy said that our -50 windchills this winter likely stressed the plant to the point that it's not going to flower again. Those were extreme conditions even for us. I guess I can give it another year and see what happens, but, I have such limited space that my inclination is always to pull anything that's not producing food and replace it with something that will.
Blueberries bloom on last year's new stems (i.e. 1 year old wood). If there are a lot of old canes it could probably do with a good pruning, taking the old canes right back to the ground and opening the interior. You won't get flowers this year if all of last year's growth was winter killed, but this year's growth should give you flowers and fruit next year. You could give the bush some protection from wind chill this fall, just in case you get another super cold winter. You know not to fertilize later in the season, since it makes new growth less winter-hardy, right?
Or, you could plant a really hardy variety to replace it, just being sure the plants you have will cross-pollinate the new one.
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Our garden is relatively small but easy to take care of; (3) 4' x 16' and (1) 4' x 6' raised beds. Have had it planted about two weeks now, and we've had some crummy cold weather so far in northern IN. Cucumber plants look pretty rough, but zuchinni and tomato plants look good and we have radishes, lettuce and green beans popping up.
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Blueberries bloom on last year's new stems (i.e. 1 year old wood). If there are a lot of old canes it could probably do with a good pruning, taking the old canes right back to the ground and opening the interior. You won't get flowers this year if all of last year's growth was winter killed, but this year's growth should give you flowers and fruit next year. You could give the bush some protection from wind chill this fall, just in case you get another super cold winter. You know not to fertilize later in the season, since it makes new growth less winter-hardy, right?
Or, you could plant a really hardy variety to replace it, just being sure the plants you have will cross-pollinate the new one.
How do I know which are the old canes? I assume the ones that are just sticks and don't have any leaves on them?
I was told to fertilize and acidify the soil in spring, so that's what I have been doing. I'm uncertain how to protect them from windchill, though; I feel like a frost blanket wouldn't be enough and if it snowed heavily on the blanket, wouldn't that cause damage? These are really small bushes.
I thought I DID choose really hardy varieties! They're rated to zone 3 and I'm 5b. (But, of course, -50 windchills/-22 temps are not normal 5b temps. I looked up the varieties and it said somewhere that they can survive to -10 temps.)
OK, you've all convinced me, I'm going to give them another year. If no blossoms/berries next year, they're getting pulled.
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Thanks for the slug and chicken advice.
@Buntastic for the first couple days after I put the bully hen back in with the others she was doing better, but yesterday all three of the new hen had been pecked over pretty badly - one was bleeding and another had lost the tip of her beak. So I put all the new chickens in a separate coop for their own safety. They seemed super grateful - I doubt they've been getting much to eat. My plan is to keep them there until they recover, then switch them back to the main coop and put the bully hen in the small coop for several days, then try to put them all in the same coop again. Does that sound like a good plan? Also, any tips on the beak injury? She seems to be able to eat and drink okay.
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Blueberries bloom on last year's new stems (i.e. 1 year old wood). If there are a lot of old canes it could probably do with a good pruning, taking the old canes right back to the ground and opening the interior. You won't get flowers this year if all of last year's growth was winter killed, but this year's growth should give you flowers and fruit next year. You could give the bush some protection from wind chill this fall, just in case you get another super cold winter. You know not to fertilize later in the season, since it makes new growth less winter-hardy, right?
Or, you could plant a really hardy variety to replace it, just being sure the plants you have will cross-pollinate the new one.
How do I know which are the old canes? I assume the ones that are just sticks and don't have any leaves on them?
Big around, thick bark. No leaves just means the leaf buds were killed. when you clip them are they alive or dead? Alive- some green inside, dead, all brown inside.
I was told to fertilize and acidify the soil in spring, so that's what I have been doing. I'm uncertain how to protect them from windchill, though; I feel like a frost blanket wouldn't be enough and if it snowed heavily on the blanket, wouldn't that cause damage? These are really small bushes.
Small bushes - wrap in burlap, tie the branches together first so they don't get broken by snow.
I thought I DID choose really hardy varieties! They're rated to zone 3 and I'm 5b. (But, of course, -50 windchills/-22 temps are not normal 5b temps. I looked up the varieties and it said somewhere that they can survive to -10 temps.)
We had a cold winter and I am zone 4 (Canadian) to start with - everything has just been a bit slower to leaf out. I wouldn't call -10F all that cold hardy. That is only -23C, and I have had winters when every night was colder than that. Wild blueberries in the Laurentians survive much worse, but they are lowbush. My named variety blueberries survived he winter, some ends of twigs are dead.
OK, you've all convinced me, I'm going to give them another year. If no blossoms/berries next year, they're getting pulled.
Prune back until you get live wood. There is no point leaving dead wood on the bushes.
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Thanks for the slug and chicken advice.
@Buntastic for the first couple days after I put the bully hen back in with the others she was doing better, but yesterday all three of the new hen had been pecked over pretty badly - one was bleeding and another had lost the tip of her beak. So I put all the new chickens in a separate coop for their own safety. They seemed super grateful - I doubt they've been getting much to eat. My plan is to keep them there until they recover, then switch them back to the main coop and put the bully hen in the small coop for several days, then try to put them all in the same coop again. Does that sound like a good plan? Also, any tips on the beak injury? She seems to be able to eat and drink okay.
I’ve seen purposely debeaked chickens, but never seen a chicken lose it. It will slowly grow back, like a fingernail.
You can try it, but may/may not work. How many square feet per bird do you have?
Still another option is culling the bully. I had to cull one this year when integrating my new pullets with the main flock.
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Thanks for the slug and chicken advice.
@Buntastic for the first couple days after I put the bully hen back in with the others she was doing better, but yesterday all three of the new hen had been pecked over pretty badly - one was bleeding and another had lost the tip of her beak. So I put all the new chickens in a separate coop for their own safety. They seemed super grateful - I doubt they've been getting much to eat. My plan is to keep them there until they recover, then switch them back to the main coop and put the bully hen in the small coop for several days, then try to put them all in the same coop again. Does that sound like a good plan? Also, any tips on the beak injury? She seems to be able to eat and drink okay.
If she just lost the tip of her beak, it should grow back. If it's a little more than that it may not grow back.
If you are really limited on space, then the bullying will likely repeat itself when you reintegrate, unfortunately. If you can enlarge the space somehow, and give the lower ranking hens room to get out of Bully Hen's way and hide, then it might work.
Another idea might be pinless "Peepers". It's a clip-on device that blocks a chickens forward vision, like opaque "glasses": https://www.ebay.com/i/161753792440?chn=ps With those on a chicken can still see to the sides, can eat, etc. But it takes the edge off her confidence -- takes a little vinegar out of her. We used them a couple times on a feather-picker hen we had, and it worked. We left them on just long enough for the picked-on chicken to grow her feathers back, then took them off. When putting the Peepers on, just be sure to stretch the plastic a little so the little tabs aren't so close together, but are separated. That way it will just perch on the top of the chicken's beak, but not poke or pierce her nasal septum. You also don't need the tool they sell -- they are just as easy to put on with your hands. Just be sure to bend them back and forth a bit first, and separate the prongs. You'll need to have someone hold the chicken while you are putting them on, but otherwise it's easy.
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So every single one of the peaches I had on my trees have fallen off. They never developed any flesh around the pit. Any idea what happened?
And the stupid birds ate the three whole cherries on my new trees...
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So every single one of the peaches I had on my trees have fallen off. They never developed any flesh around the pit. Any idea what happened?
And the stupid birds ate the three whole cherries on my new trees...
Failure to pollinate, wind, squirrels or other varmints. I lost all but one peach last year.
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(Cross post with my Journal)
I spent a full day in the garden yesterday. It was one of those garden sessions where it almost felt like I was in a trance like state, just flowing from task to task instinctively without to much conscious thinking about what I was doing - almost as if I've been doing this for a while now. ;) The day flew by, and before long shade enveloped my garden, but not before the setting sun lit the redwood up in a blaze of colour. I've long enjoyed this reward at the end of the days labours. And there was that full body fatigue which I now welcome like an old friend.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46975138975_d29e1b901c_z.jpg)
I'll put in another day today (joined by a canine companion) and with that I'll have EVERYTHING in the ground for this year, with the exception of my cucumbers that I'll be bringing back with me when I'm in Vancouver next. I'll be planting one more crop of peas (the 4th, first planting was in March) and a few more bean crops (the first have now emerged) but by the end of today will mark the end of the INTENSIVE work phase. From here on it will be mainly a bit of watering (keeping the Oyas full), a bit of weeding and mulching when it gets hot....but mostly it will be about enjoying watching my vegetables grow and revelling in the bountiful harvest to come very soon. Though I've already been enjoying lettuce (so have the slugs), spinach (had a warm spinach salad last night that was amazeballs) and kale and chard. Turnips and beets are getting close. Exciting times. My fellow gardeners understand. :D
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Hm, one of my lettuces just shriveled up and died overnight? No idea what happened. It was a variety I've never grown before - Flashy Trout Back. Green with pretty red speckles. Maybe it didn't like the pot it was in? I'd stuck it in a pot because I ran out of room in the raised bed. I have plenty of other lettuce growing and that's all doing really well so I am not that fussed about it, but I've never had greens go from fine to dead in one night. At least, not unless we had a freak heat wave, which we most decidedly have NOT been having right now.
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@Jon_Snow --your garden looks beautiful!
Mine is still in the fledgling state but is coming along. So far our mesh cover is working to keep birds out and now we have our container garden starting on the patio.
@Tris Prior too bad about the lettuce--I have a few that are struggling but not sure why yours would have collapsed so suddenly!
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Something is eating my beans. I think it's bunnies.
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Well, that explains it; when I got home from work I examined the dead lettuce (had noticed it in the morning while rushing out the door and had no time for anything other than "shit, that's dead, welp, gotta run!") and the entire plant was sheared off at dirt level. I guess that would do it! So either something ate it (and ONLY that plant, everything else is fine) or it got damaged in the thunderstorms we had in the middle of the night. That's weird, though, because everything else looks good.
Behold the first Salad That I Grew of the season!
Romaine, buttercrunch lettuce, arugula, purple mizuna, Red Kitten spinach, regular spinach. The tomatoes are from the hanging basket I bought at the farmer's market, which has thus far produced four tomatoes in May!
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Behold the first Salad That I Grew of the season!
Romaine, buttercrunch lettuce, arugula, purple mizuna, Red Kitten spinach, regular spinach. The tomatoes are from the hanging basket I bought at the farmer's market, which has thus far produced four tomatoes in May!
Spectacular!!!
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My little scrap of backyard garden is pretty much planted now. I just need to find a place to hang the tomato basket, and I have one dwarf tomato (Fred's Tie Dye- sounds fun!) that I still need to put in a container.
One of my raspberry bushes is going insane - I'm so excited, it looks so happy.
I put another tomato and a pepper in the community garden last night but didn't get a pic. I still need to put the basil in but there are still some low 50s in the forecast so I'm probably going to hold off for a while. And I, uh, realized I have room for 2 more tomato plants. I don't have anything yellow yet. And I probably could use one more "normal" tomato (not cherry, not a weird color). I'm going to have a whole rainbow of tomatoes this year - orange, white, purple, blue, brown, pink.... :)
(ETA: Only the stuff in the raised bed and the containers is mine. The stuff in the ground are all native ornamentals that my landlord planted. They draw lots of bees!)
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Your garden is beautiful @Tris Prior! That raspberry looks very happy indeed -- really well leafed out.
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@Jon_Snow --your garden looks beautiful!
Thanks @Serendip! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I try to strike a balance between maintaining my gardens beauty AND productivity. I could easily do some cutting down/trimming of some trees (NOT the redwood) to the East to get sun on my garden an hour earlier in the morning. I could do the same to the West and receive full sun of my garden an hour later into the day. But doing so would diminish the beauty of the entire scene...but, for now, I'm willing to sacrifice some yield to keep the beautiful status-quo. In the picture of my garden you can see a rather large blackberry thicket bordering the far end. I COULD clear that out and expand my garden significantly...but I like the natural green border of the blackberries rather than the deer fence that lies 40 feet within that tangle somewhere. And of course, there is the massive blackberry haul and the fact that it attracts a legion of pollinators to the vicinity of my garden. The sound of the bees pollinating those blackberries is one of the other joys I have come to treasure over these past 5 years.
Something is eating my beans. I think it's bunnies.
No bunnies in my area, but I know for a FACT that wood bugs (called pill bugs, wood lice, roly polys by some) love to chow down on my newly germinated bean plants. Near the edges of my raised beds (where the little bastards hide) my beans almost NEVER make it to adulthood. Once the beans are a few inches high, the plants are pretty much safe from this pests relatively weak mandibles. If your beans are being eaten by something when they are fairly well established I'd say bunnies are a good bet.
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@sol Rabbit is pretty freakin delicious, all I’m gonna say ;)
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For anyone dealing with plants dying this early, water and compost are your allies... Lowes has a very good micro-watering section and the smaller 1/2 inch pipe systems and a $40 timer work wonders... a very mustachian $300 will yield easily well north of a $1000 in produce annually this way with 300’ if tubing, back flow balve, pressure reduction valve (to 60 psi), mister nozzles that just plug in with a small auger tool and a timer with 2 zones to distribute the love. The initial setup is a bit of work but the payoff is awesome... Down south here, beans are coming in as are herbs... first tomatoes are about 30 days out... corn about 45. Did i mention blackberry cobbler? ;-)
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I just planted green bean seeds in two 5 gallon pails. I did this two year ago and it worked out great! They are on my deck on a chrome cart with wheels so I can wheel them into the sunshine and out or bad weather. I also planted basil seeds. OMG, I love basil! They are planted in regular planters and on a chrome rack with wheels so I can wheel them into the sunshine. I have a deck with an awning so it does prevent the sunshine on about 80% of the deck
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
How has the tulle been holding up? Last year was your first year with it, right? Or is it 2 years now?
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
How has the tulle been holding up? Last year was your first year with it, right? Or is it 2 years now?
This is year 2 with the tulle. It held up well over the winter, folded up in our shed, and looks fine for another year's duty.
It is too thin to stand up to rabbits, deer, or woodchucks, but for birds it seems close to ideal. I'll keep you all posted on how many years' use we get out of it. So far, if not dealing with four legged predators it has bird netting beaten hands down. It doesn't snag on branches or pull fruit off, and critters don't get tangled in it. I'm planning to use it for the cherries, blueberries, and elderberries again.
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
How has the tulle been holding up? Last year was your first year with it, right? Or is it 2 years now?
This is year 2 with the tulle. It held up well over the winter, folded up in our shed, and looks fine for another year's duty.
It is too thin to stand up to rabbits, deer, or woodchucks, but for birds it seems close to ideal. I'll keep you all posted on how many years' use we get out of it. So far, if not dealing with four legged predators it has bird netting beaten hands down. It doesn't snag on branches or pull fruit off, and critters don't get tangled in it. I'm planning to use it for the cherries, blueberries, and elderberries again.
Cool :) Unfortunately here I lose my cherries and larger fruit to squirrels. Birds get some of the elderberries but I still have plenty. Nothing hits my raspberries too bad, weirdly enough. Squirrels get some but only ones that are close to the ground.
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
How has the tulle been holding up? Last year was your first year with it, right? Or is it 2 years now?
This is year 2 with the tulle. It held up well over the winter, folded up in our shed, and looks fine for another year's duty.
It is too thin to stand up to rabbits, deer, or woodchucks, but for birds it seems close to ideal. I'll keep you all posted on how many years' use we get out of it. So far, if not dealing with four legged predators it has bird netting beaten hands down. It doesn't snag on branches or pull fruit off, and critters don't get tangled in it. I'm planning to use it for the cherries, blueberries, and elderberries again.
Cool :) Unfortunately here I lose my cherries and larger fruit to squirrels. Birds get some of the elderberries but I still have plenty. Nothing hits my raspberries too bad, weirdly enough. Squirrels get some but only ones that are close to the ground.
That sucks about your cherries and large fruit. Sorry to hear that. Tulle would definitely not stand up to squirrels.
Do you think squirrel tastes pretty good too? ;)
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So I had to leave town for a couple weeks (family emergency -- all ok now), and I'm having serious garden withdrawal y'all. DH is doing a fine job holding down the fort, but I'm missing some good stuff! Our cherries are coming ripe. DH and the kids are covering the trees with tulle (less durable, but works way better than bird netting) and should be picking in 2-3 days.
How has the tulle been holding up? Last year was your first year with it, right? Or is it 2 years now?
This is year 2 with the tulle. It held up well over the winter, folded up in our shed, and looks fine for another year's duty.
It is too thin to stand up to rabbits, deer, or woodchucks, but for birds it seems close to ideal. I'll keep you all posted on how many years' use we get out of it. So far, if not dealing with four legged predators it has bird netting beaten hands down. It doesn't snag on branches or pull fruit off, and critters don't get tangled in it. I'm planning to use it for the cherries, blueberries, and elderberries again.
Hmm, I should try that on this year's cherries, assuming they ever bloom and get pollinated. (Right now the leaf buds are just breaking.) And the strawberries.
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Worked like a dog in my garden today. All day.
Pulled all the plants out of the greenhouse for hardening off.
Planted cukes, squash, zukes, melons and pumpkins out and constructed a shade shelter to shield them from the sun and hail (for the love of...) and torrential downpours that happened twice today. There was an inch of rain around 5pm - I was sheltered in the greenhouse marvelling at the volume and hoping all the little guys weren't too beaten up.
Got the raised pots leveled and filled with soil for tomatoes.
I am going to grow 4 eggplants and six sweet banana peppers in the greenhouse.
Tomorrow is planting the seedlings in the church garden with the family church. Must get to bed!
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Just an update on a previous post of mine:
https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/plantinggrowing-your-own-2019/msg2282935/#msg2282935 (https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/plantinggrowing-your-own-2019/msg2282935/#msg2282935)
I don't know if sowing onions and garlic in the autumn/fall makes them tougher and more likely to endure the frosts in the following year, but they seem to have weathered the worst and come out fine. Elephant garlic, ordinary garlic and red onions respectively:
https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2018/09/planting-of-garlic-and-onions-autumn.html (https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2018/09/planting-of-garlic-and-onions-autumn.html)
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It's been cool and rainy, and I'm amazed at how much growth my cool-weather crops put on while I was gone for 6 days! We'll definitely be eating a few salads in the next few weeks. The horseradish patch looks like it's about to take over the earth, and my garlic plants are about 2' tall, but no scapes yet. OTOH, the peppers and tomatoes don't look too enthusiastic, and are waiting for things to warm up.
I'm relieved that my major work travel is done for the foreseeable future, and I have leave to burn, so I should be able to get a handle on the weeds as the rain tapers off. Yesterday walking out there and harvesting a bunch of radishes was about all I had the energy to do, but should make some headway today and tomorrow if the weather holds. Still need to plant out okra and cucurbits. I stopped by the local greenhouse yesterday and bought some basil, additional peppers, and a few other things to round out where I didn't get things successfully started from seeds.
Might also need to invest in some tulle for my cherry tree. I've netted it before, and it's a PITA, and also a hazard to birds.
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Eating Golden Dorset apples and boysenberries out of the garden.
Need to harvest some rhubarb and make rhubarb crumble before it gets too late.
Started seeds for chamomile, basil, hyacinth bean and Swiss chard yesterday.
Planted three goji berries last year; two more years before they really fruit, so letting them grow wild this year and will prune into a proper tree shape next year.
Have a baby almond tree that will grow slowly and realized I probably need a second almond to pollinate it properly. Will start looking in hopes of getting that in this year.
Last but not least, repotted the aloe vera plant we use treating for minor burns. I know it could get huge if we took better care of it.
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I had a patio cucumber fail completely and when I pulled it up, the roots were completely rotten and there were small white bugs in the soil. Yikes! they didn't look like aphids, almost like teeny little spiders. Tried to figure out how to upload a photo but didn't have any luck but I couldn't really photograph the bugs, only the roots.
**figured out how to attach photos!
Anyhow, hopefully none of the other containers have the same problem. So far everything else looks healthy!
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My hands are tired just like the rest of my body. I worked so darn hard all weekend but it shows.
Now at the optimist phase where everything can work out and there is so much potential.
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I got to enjoy the first bounty from my garden this weekend! My kids and I chomped on some radish microgreens that I pulled out while thinning out the radish rows. Maybe not super exciting for the veteran growers around here, but it's the first thing I've ever grown to eat and it's very satisfying. I was also pleasantly surprised that even my 1-year-old liked them.
With the exception of my bell pepper plants that are being chewed on by something, everything else in the garden is looking great. I'm looking forward to spending more time out in the garden now that summer is officially here.
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I got to enjoy the first bounty from my garden this weekend! My kids and I chomped on some radish microgreens that I pulled out while thinning out the radish rows. Maybe not super exciting for the veteran growers around here, but it's the first thing I've ever grown to eat and it's very satisfying.
Congratulations @cassafrass! Yes it is very satisfying. And it never gets old!
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I got to enjoy the first bounty from my garden this weekend! My kids and I chomped on some radish microgreens that I pulled out while thinning out the radish rows. Maybe not super exciting for the veteran growers around here, but it's the first thing I've ever grown to eat and it's very satisfying. I was also pleasantly surprised that even my 1-year-old liked them.
With the exception of my bell pepper plants that are being chewed on by something, everything else in the garden is looking great. I'm looking forward to spending more time out in the garden now that summer is officially here.
That’s surprising a young kid liked that! Many adults wouldn’t even like the spicy flavor of those.
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I am looking at the forecast and it is STILL not warm enough to plant out the basil and I am VERY cranky about this.
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I am looking at the forecast and it is STILL not warm enough to plant out the basil and I am VERY cranky about this.
I’m north of you (I think at least) and if I was growing basil this year it would have already been outside for two weeks by now (all my tomatos and peppers have been outside that long).
A lot of y’all seem way too cautious about planting your tender crops out. If temps are 38+F (3C+) they go outside.
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I haven't planted out the basil yet. It gets brown spots if it gets cold. I need to get it in the ground though - it is starving in the soil mix.
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A holiday weekend at home was just what I needed to get the garden fully planted. I'm behind schedule due to weather and work, but not hugely.
Moved the 3 blue cochin 7 week old pullets from the brooder to the mini-cooper their transition coop until they are old enough to be integrated with the flock. To make space for the chicks, I rehomed 2 Maran hens that are no longer laying. Made a split from a bee hive and added a new queen on Saturday. She's still in her cage until the bees get accustomed to her. Later today, I will take the tape that is covering the hard candy plug to allow the bees to eat through it and release the queen in 4-5 days. One of the new beekeepers that I'm mentoring, had one of his 1st year nucs swarm on Friday so we set up a lure hive in the hope of coaxing the swarm into it. It took off late on Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning I led an inspection with the other mentees of his hives and found 4 hatched queen cells in the first hive and 1 capped queen cell in the other hive. Very unusual behavior for nucs with plenty of space.
Saturday and Sunday I moved slightly aged chicken manure and compost to the raised beds. I forked the manure deep into the beds to allow it to compost in place. Then I put the finished cold compost on top, and set up the soaker hose and timer. Planted 10 assorted bell peppers, 16 bush tomatoes, 8 mixed variety (cherokee purple, etc), basil, parsley, cilantro. Put in seeds for 8 summer squash, about 70 dragon tongue pole beans, dill, sunflower, calendula, and hollyhocks. I like to mix flowers among the veg to entice the bees to neighboring plants. Mixed epsom salt, eggshells, worm compost in all of the holes before planting the tomatoes to encourage growth. Then applied a foliar spray to feed.
The green and purple bush beans are about 7-10 inches tall with two sets of leaves. I noticed something was chewing on them, likely slugs or pill bugs, so I sprinkled about 2 cups of lightly crushed eggshells around the plants to deter the pests that would have to climb over the sharp shells to get to the plants. That seems to have slowed the pests down.
The cucumbers finally germinated after being planted 2 weeks ago. Sugar snap and snow peas are getting taller and the tree branches pruned off the trees in January aren't tall enough to give the tendrils enough support. Added stakes to hold them up. Moved wayward blackberry canes that rooted where they didn't belong. Blueberries are coming along nicely and will be covered with mosquito netting in three weeks.
Started cleaning out the canning jars and taking inventory of the lids and rings to prepare everything for the upcoming canning season. Looking for new salsa and relish recipes to try out.
Next up I need to tackle a new location for the compost pile and locate another goji berry plant to companion plant with an existing plant. Mulching beds will happen this week too.
Wishing your gardens sunny days and rain only at night.
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Most of us got our start in gardening from someone, and for me it was my dad. He grew up in the country and moved to the city after high school. Since 1965 he has gardened on the small city lot where I grew up. When I was a kid, his garden produced an astonishing amount of food that fed not only us, but friends and neighbors as well. As his kids grew up and moved away, the size of his garden shrank a bit and he focused on planting the things that gave him real joy. Even though he's in the city, my dad is remarkably connected to nature. He'is intimately connected with everything that grows, crawls, walks and flies in his yard. It's in his bones and blood. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and always glad to teach. I live far away now, but when I visit we always spend time in the garden and talk plants. A few weeks ago my dad had some health problems, and I came to town. The immediate crisis is past, but it's not clear how much longer he will be able to manage alone at his place.
For the first time this year, my dad was not able to plant his garden. After 54 years, he just can't any more. I am so thankful to still have my dad, but I am mourning this, for him and for me. Mourning this the way maybe only other gardeners can understand.
So I planted for him. I kept it small and simple, 4 tomato plants and 4 peppers. I planted them the best I know how. I mulched them deep with the chopped leaves he set by last fall. I set up trellis poles the way he likes around the tomatoes, so he can tie them up when it's time.
I hope he enjoys the plants, but I also wanted to show him the love of gardening that he kindled in me. That the torch has been passed, and it's burning bright. And as long as he's here I'll plant something in the spring for him.
Thanks, Dad.
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I am looking at the forecast and it is STILL not warm enough to plant out the basil and I am VERY cranky about this.
I’m north of you (I think at least) and if I was growing basil this year it would have already been outside for two weeks by now (all my tomatos and peppers have been outside that long).
A lot of y’all seem way too cautious about planting your tender crops out. If temps are 38+F (3C+) they go outside.
I thought the rule for basil was, temps need to be 55 for it not to turn brown and die? I've lost basil before to temps in the 50s. We're going down to 48 tonight.
Tomatoes and peppers seem unfazed, though; I've got most of those in the ground already.
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I am looking at the forecast and it is STILL not warm enough to plant out the basil and I am VERY cranky about this.
I’m north of you (I think at least) and if I was growing basil this year it would have already been outside for two weeks by now (all my tomatos and peppers have been outside that long).
A lot of y’all seem way too cautious about planting your tender crops out. If temps are 38+F (3C+) they go outside.
I thought the rule for basil was, temps need to be 55 for it not to turn brown and die? I've lost basil before to temps in the 50s. We're going down to 48 tonight.
Tomatoes and peppers seem unfazed, though; I've got most of those in the ground already.
I dunno, maybe I’m wrong? I’ve only grown it a handful of times, maybe those years we had warmer Mays and my memory is shoddy.
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I thought the rule for basil was, temps need to be 55 for it not to turn brown and die?
Testing that rule this year....
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Most of us got our start in gardening from someone, and for me it was my dad. He grew up in the country and moved to the city after high school. Since 1965 he has gardened on the small city lot where I grew up. When I was a kid, his garden produced an astonishing amount of food that fed not only us, but friends and neighbors as well. As his kids grew up and moved away, the size of his garden shrank a bit and he focused on planting the things that gave him real joy. Even though he's in the city, my dad is remarkably connected to nature. He'is intimately connected with everything that grows, crawls, walks and flies in his yard. It's in his bones and blood. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and always glad to teach. I live far away now, but when I visit we always spend time in the garden and talk plants. A few weeks ago my dad had some health problems, and I came to town. The immediate crisis is past, but it's not clear how much longer he will be able to manage alone at his place.
For the first time this year, my dad was not able to plant his garden. After 54 years, he just can't any more. I am so thankful to still have my dad, but I am mourning this, for him and for me. Mourning this the way maybe only other gardeners can understand.
So I planted for him. I kept it small and simple, 4 tomato plants and 4 peppers. I planted them the best I know how. I mulched them deep with the chopped leaves he set by last fall. I set up trellis poles the way he likes around the tomatoes, so he can tie them up when it's time.
I hope he enjoys the plants, but I also wanted to show him the love of gardening that he kindled in me. That the torch has been passed, and it's burning bright. And as long as he's here I'll plant something in the spring for him.
Thanks, Dad.
Oh, how wonderful. You should share this post with him, too.
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I thought the rule for basil was, temps need to be 55 for it not to turn brown and die?
Testing that rule this year....
Mine has done ok outside down to mid- to high-40s, but below that the leaves brown. I almost lost them when it went down to around 38 last month, they looked really bad and their growth became stunted for some time. It might depend on variety also.
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I bought too many green bean seeds. Does anyone know if I save the unplanted seeds will they grow next year? If so, is there a preferred method of storing them like in the refrigerator? Vacuum packed?
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I bought too many green bean seeds. Does anyone know if I save the unplanted seeds will they grow next year? If so, is there a preferred method of storing them like in the refrigerator? Vacuum packed?
They last 2-3 years at room temperature if kept dry. Longer in the freezer. I have a jar in the freezer full of 8 year old beans I saved that are still viable. Not sure what vacuum packing would do.
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I bought too many green bean seeds. Does anyone know if I save the unplanted seeds will they grow next year? If so, is there a preferred method of storing them like in the refrigerator? Vacuum packed?
They last 2-3 years at room temperature if kept dry. Longer in the freezer. I have a jar in the freezer full of 8 year old beans I saved that are still viable. Not sure what vacuum packing would do.
Yeah if you’ll use them up next year I’d just keep them in a cool, dry, dark place. I notice weak plants and poor germination past that at normal room or basement temps. Fridge is safest place to extend life, freezer is technically best but if seeds have too high a moisture content they can be damaged.
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Most of us got our start in gardening from someone, and for me it was my dad. He grew up in the country and moved to the city after high school. Since 1965 he has gardened on the small city lot where I grew up. When I was a kid, his garden produced an astonishing amount of food that fed not only us, but friends and neighbors as well. As his kids grew up and moved away, the size of his garden shrank a bit and he focused on planting the things that gave him real joy. Even though he's in the city, my dad is remarkably connected to nature. He'is intimately connected with everything that grows, crawls, walks and flies in his yard. It's in his bones and blood. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and always glad to teach. I live far away now, but when I visit we always spend time in the garden and talk plants. A few weeks ago my dad had some health problems, and I came to town. The immediate crisis is past, but it's not clear how much longer he will be able to manage alone at his place.
For the first time this year, my dad was not able to plant his garden. After 54 years, he just can't any more. I am so thankful to still have my dad, but I am mourning this, for him and for me. Mourning this the way maybe only other gardeners can understand.
So I planted for him. I kept it small and simple, 4 tomato plants and 4 peppers. I planted them the best I know how. I mulched them deep with the chopped leaves he set by last fall. I set up trellis poles the way he likes around the tomatoes, so he can tie them up when it's time.
I hope he enjoys the plants, but I also wanted to show him the love of gardening that he kindled in me. That the torch has been passed, and it's burning bright. And as long as he's here I'll plant something in the spring for him.
Thanks, Dad.
Beautiful tribute and what a gift to pass on the love of gardening!!
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Love your update @Indio! I hope to start with bees next year (though I've been saying that for three years now haha). We need to build an electric fence set up (we have bears) and other projects have kept us from addressing that. Hopefully we can finally do that over the winter. I'm hoping to get up to Spikenard Farm for one of their classes in the spring too.
A question for you -- when you say you plant flowers among the vegetables, exactly how do you do that? Like between the plants? Between rows? It sounds like you don't want those flowers to self-seed, right? Thanks!
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Most of us got our start in gardening from someone, and for me it was my dad. He grew up in the country and moved to the city after high school. Since 1965 he has gardened on the small city lot where I grew up. When I was a kid, his garden produced an astonishing amount of food that fed not only us, but friends and neighbors as well. As his kids grew up and moved away, the size of his garden shrank a bit and he focused on planting the things that gave him real joy. Even though he's in the city, my dad is remarkably connected to nature. He'is intimately connected with everything that grows, crawls, walks and flies in his yard. It's in his bones and blood. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and always glad to teach. I live far away now, but when I visit we always spend time in the garden and talk plants. A few weeks ago my dad had some health problems, and I came to town. The immediate crisis is past, but it's not clear how much longer he will be able to manage alone at his place.
For the first time this year, my dad was not able to plant his garden. After 54 years, he just can't any more. I am so thankful to still have my dad, but I am mourning this, for him and for me. Mourning this the way maybe only other gardeners can understand.
So I planted for him. I kept it small and simple, 4 tomato plants and 4 peppers. I planted them the best I know how. I mulched them deep with the chopped leaves he set by last fall. I set up trellis poles the way he likes around the tomatoes, so he can tie them up when it's time.
I hope he enjoys the plants, but I also wanted to show him the love of gardening that he kindled in me. That the torch has been passed, and it's burning bright. And as long as he's here I'll plant something in the spring for him.
Thanks, Dad.
Aww, I think I have something in my eye. Hoping for better health for your dad; I'm sure tending to his smaller garden will do him good, for both body and soul.
@Indio wow, you have been busy! Bee keeping sounds fascinating.
Chugging along here - I did a ton of weeding on Monday and planted basil, tomatillos, ancho chiles and an artichoke. Transplanted volunteer oakleaf lettuces that were volunteering among the weed patch. Still have a pony pack of onions to put in since I let me original starts die due to negligence. This weekend I'll put in the okra and cucurbits so I can shut down the grow bench for the year. We are continuing to get rainstorms blowing through, and I'm happy to not have to water, even if the warm-weather crops are pouting a little.
The natives in the front yard are starting to bloom, which is a nice thing to come home to.
A couple nights ago I quartered up a bunch of radishes and sauteed them with butter, then added in their chopped greens and some herbs. Makes a nice side dish when you're buried in radishes and can only eat so many raw.
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Most of us got our start in gardening from someone, and for me it was my dad. He grew up in the country and moved to the city after high school. Since 1965 he has gardened on the small city lot where I grew up. When I was a kid, his garden produced an astonishing amount of food that fed not only us, but friends and neighbors as well. As his kids grew up and moved away, the size of his garden shrank a bit and he focused on planting the things that gave him real joy. Even though he's in the city, my dad is remarkably connected to nature. He'is intimately connected with everything that grows, crawls, walks and flies in his yard. It's in his bones and blood. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and always glad to teach. I live far away now, but when I visit we always spend time in the garden and talk plants. A few weeks ago my dad had some health problems, and I came to town. The immediate crisis is past, but it's not clear how much longer he will be able to manage alone at his place.
For the first time this year, my dad was not able to plant his garden. After 54 years, he just can't any more. I am so thankful to still have my dad, but I am mourning this, for him and for me. Mourning this the way maybe only other gardeners can understand.
So I planted for him. I kept it small and simple, 4 tomato plants and 4 peppers. I planted them the best I know how. I mulched them deep with the chopped leaves he set by last fall. I set up trellis poles the way he likes around the tomatoes, so he can tie them up when it's time.
I hope he enjoys the plants, but I also wanted to show him the love of gardening that he kindled in me. That the torch has been passed, and it's burning bright. And as long as he's here I'll plant something in the spring for him.
Thanks, Dad.
This is my first season without my Dad planting with me or telling me how to the right way. Unfortunately though, it is because he is gone suddenly from a car accident just before Christmas. I am deep in grief and this years garden is helping me cope with that grief and the subsequent trauma. Having my hands in soil potting up the thousand seedlings I grew or hauling compost to exhaust my body is just perfect medicine for my whirring brain.
Eating the first asparagus this season brought both joy and sadness as I am sure will continue this whole season with each crop. So last season I used to thank my paternal grandmother for all the knowledge and talent she gave me, I now add my Dad as well. But with fresh tears.
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@Frugal Lizard, I am so sorry for the loss of your dad. It’s never easy to lose a parent, and to have it happen suddenly must be especially painful. My deepest condolences, and may your time in the garden continue to help you work through it.
Thanks for the flower guidance, @Sun Hat. Sounds like there are loads of possibilities. I don’t know anything about flowers, but am looking forward to learning.
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@Indio, I made a couple of small splits last weekend. I'm hoping to have at least one full hive and two 4-over-4 nucs going into winter. Our spring flow looks to be mostly over unless we get some significant rain soon to rebloom the clover (they are actually forecasting drought conditions...boo), so I don't think the nucs will end up big enough to go into their own boxes by winter. We'll get another fall flow, so hopefully that will be enough to get them through. I lost last season to SHBs and a tornado, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.
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I am growing green beans in two 5 gallon pails on my deck. I plan to plant two more pails in another week or so to stagger the incoming beans. I have them on a chrome rack on wheels and wheel them out into the sun during the day. Then back under my awning at night. I also have another chrome rack on wheels with basil growing. It is nice to have the basil handy when it starts to produce. I grew the beans that way two years ago and I got a nice 'crop' out of it. This year will be even better with two more additional pails.
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@Trifele Was sorry to read about your father's illness. I hope he is on the mend now.
@Frugal Lizard Sorry to hear about the sudden loss of your father. Being surrounded by nature can be very therapeutic and I hope it reminds you of all the happy times with both your grandmother and father. I have peonies and bearded irises from my stepfather's garden. Every spring they bloom, it reminds me to cherish his example of a life well-lived.
Because my veg garden is a series of enclosed raised beds, I want to attract as many pollinators as possible. Every year I hatch preying mantid egg cases and release ladybugs in the garden to build up the supply of beneficial insects in the neighborhood. This year I found two mantid egg cases on rue plants so I think I'm at the inflection point where I don't need to buy them any more. Fingers crossed!
My planting strategy is similar to @Sun Hat where I intersperse the flowers among the veg. Because there are already a lot of beneficial insects in the garden, I focus on flowers that serve dual purposes -- edible, chicken snacks, medicinal/healing. Among the veg, I have comfrey, dill, sunflowers, calendula, sage, nasturtium, and lavender to attract a variety of pollinators. When I have flowers the bees can't resist, they are determined to find their way through the bird netting that encloses the raised beds to protect the veg from birds and squirrels. I don't worry too much about reseeding because I can just dig the seedling up and put it in a new spot or use the hoe if there are an abundance.
The over-wintered clary sage has big, beautiful purple flowers now. On Sunday, there were over a 100 mason bees sucking nectar from it. It was the only kind of traffic jam that I can truly appreciate. Sunflowers, lavender, dill appeal to both honeybees and wild bees. Hollyhocks are the only flowering plant that don't attract bees, but they look gorgeous in the garden so I make an exception for them. :)
@Sugaree I can't imagine losing hives to a tornado or even being physically close to one. Two years ago, we had a drought and I fed my bees a sugar syrup infusion with thyme, spikenard and lemon balm to give their immune system a boost during the dearth. It helped them survive the winter. Did you see that the bees on Notre Dame roof survived the fire?
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@Indio, I did read about the bees @ Notre Dame. That was so cool. I had wanted to see them when I was in Paris, but it was December and there was a wedding going on the day we tried to tour, so the closest I got was a cute little cafe next door.
We had actually moved our hives out of the backyard two weeks before the tornado. My neighbor found out about them and lost her mind. Actually, she waited six months to talk shit on Facebook and say that her kid is allergic, but since her only discernible source of income is the proceeds from lawsuits, I thought it best to go ahead and move them so we moved them out to the country. Which was fortunate since a tree fell right on top of where they had been. I'm very glad that I wasn't dealing with a bunch of angry bees on top of everything else that morning. I did lose a good bit of equipment though, including one of my resource hives from Brushy that I apparently can't replace now that they are out of business. But with them being in an outyard and spending the summer dealing with cleanup and contractors, I just didn't get out there to work them like I should have.
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I hope that my garden system and planning grows to become more like Indio’s! For now, things in my garden reflect my life, and are more chaotic than considered.
For instance, I just removed what I hope were volunteer dill seedlings from my carrot bed and not carrots. They’re seriously hard to tell apart!
Reflecting my need to attract more predators, my tiny kale seedlings are already suffering from flea beetles. I’m not a fan of insecticides, so I’ll try citrus oil (starting with the mass of orange peels I have in my freezer from when I was thinking of candying them) and then try some sort of row cover (though I’m skeptical as to whether this will keep them out or trap them in).
Any suggestions for the flea beetles?
I don't think row cover is likely to help, unfortunately. I think probably your best bet is predators, if you can get more in there.
For the prior three years I grew in covered raised beds due to pressure from woodchucks and deer. I was able to keep the deer and woodchucks at bay with the covered beds, but the kale was severely eaten by aphids. Predators weren't getting in.
This year, with the deer fence (halleluia), no covered rows were required, and I have very few aphids. The kale looks great because I'm seeing plenty of predator activity from lady bugs and preying mantises. They just showed up. :) If I hadn't gotten the deer fence in place, for this year my plan -- exactly as @Indio said -- was to buy predators and spill them into the covered beds.
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Commercial organic growers use row cover to exclude flea beetles, but I’m pretty sure that’s effective only if you do it as a pre-emptive measure. I feel like I’ve heard of other strategies like trap cropping but can’t remember any details offhand, sorry, been a while since I’ve listened to farming podcasts.
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My gardening thoughts always seem like complaining about my various problems, but I love all of the fussing. It's like a living puzzle!
It is! My thoughts swirl about those things too.
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My gardening thoughts always seem like complaining about my various problems, but I love all of the fussing. It's like a living puzzle!
It is! My thoughts swirl about those things too.
I find farming/ecology far more mentally stimulating than anything I ever learned in school, including coursework towards the PhD I abandoned.
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Anybody know of a carpenter bee repellant? We have these menace bees swirling around our deck the last few summers and makes sitting out miserable. We have found holes drilled into the deck and have plugged them up and killed numerous bees but they keep coming and coming. We built a new wood deck 6 years ago and did not paint it and I know they are drawn to untreated wood. However it is pressure treated. I bought a bee trap and it doesn't work at all. We have used that hornet spray that sprays something like 20 feet to spray them with some success but waste a lot of spray due to the bees erratic fly pattern. I have heard loud music repels them but I can't blast music and annoy my neighbors. Is there any kind of a phenerome that I could put in the woods to draw them away from the house? Some kind of ultrasonic noise that repels them or anything? We have had two other wood decks in the past and never were bothered by these demons! Why now?
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Well, I'm glad I didn't throw out the mint in a pot that looked totally dead. It just now, like within the last few days, started growing back. It's nearly June, I've never had it stay dead for so long!
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Jon_Snow, Jon_Snow, how does your garden grow?
Very well, thanks. :)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47955318753_2fdd39c680_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47955341253_27c5b27404_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47962320668_f703e79fbd_b.jpg)
I built a potato "cage" with some landscaping fabric so that I could mound up around them aggressively without having to worry about soil spilling out the raised beds. I believe it likely I will have a record tater haul this year. :)
The ring of various berries (and Wild Rose) around my garden is already a frenzy of pollinating activity. Lots of hummingbirds battling over dominion of the black berry patch as well. They can really be little a-holes to one another.
So great to see everyones garden dreams coming to fruition.
Lastly.... @Trifele and @Frugal Lizard, your stories of your family connections with gardening were wonderful to read.
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Oh your potato cage looks amazing @Jon_Snow
We just have a few spud plants in our planter box and they have been super slow to emerge but just today I saw a few leaves starting to push themselves up (I was about to dig down on one to suss out the situation!)
Our little community garden plot is starting to look really good. We are in a mountain zone so have a very short season but this spring has been a nice mix of sun & rain.
Radishes, mesclun greens, kale and peas are thriving
Harukei turnips, carrots, beets and potatoes are just emerging
Shiso basil, ancho chili, lemonbalm and sage are doing really well in containers...so satisfying!!
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@Jon_Snow Garden is looking good, especially the spinach. What is the red plastic form? Is that the potato tower? It looks as if the potatoes are in the black square bin in the foreground, but I can only see the leaf tips.
@Roadrunner53 the only way I know to stop carpenter bees, without killing them, is to plug their holes. I had a few determined bees that moved into the raised bed supports. Everyday for two weeks, I checked the holes and stuffed a piece of woodchip into them. They eventually gave up and moved out. As far as I know, they could be hiding someplace else on my property that I haven't discovered yet.
We've had such an amazing amount of rain this week that wild mushrooms are sprouting up all over the place. Last year, I mixed winesap mushroom spawn in with a huge pile of woodchips. The woodchips have decomposed and I was hoping that the winesaps would start sprouting with the moist humid conditions.
I read tonight that 5% tariffs are being imposed on products from Mexico. Made me think that I should use every spare flower pot to grow more food since almost 80% of the fresh supermarket veg comes from Mexico in winter. My summer canning and food dehydrator projects are going to multiply to keep the winter food bill under control.
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Oh your potato cage looks amazing @Jon_Snow
Thanks!
@Jon_Snow Garden is looking good, especially the spinach. What is the red plastic form? Is that the potato tower? It looks as if the potatoes are in the black square bin in the foreground, but I can only see the leaf tips.
The red objects are bags which fit over the tomato cages to provide the crop inside, in this case peppers, a little extra insulating warmth. Days are nice, it was 24C in my garden today, but nighttime temps are still going down to 10 to 12 Celsius. I think the bags probably bump that up a few degrees, trapping the radiant warmth of the sun warmed soil. I remove the plastic during the day to allow for pollination.
A sibling of mine came over today and took quite the haul of spinach away. This is good because this warmer weather means a mass bolting is not far off. But the spinach has been wonderful this Spring.
Yep, potatoes are in the black sided thing. They will be spilling out the top in no time. 😊
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Love the pictures @Jon_Snow! The potato high rise looks amazing. Looks like you'll have a bumper harvest.
I got home last night after almost three weeks away and wow have things progressed! I picked a few Sun Gold tomatoes (first of the season) -- delicious. The carrots are as big as my thumb and ready for their final thinning. The kale is huge, and the cabbage caterpillars are causing some damage, but not too bad. Several summer squash are ready to pick. Tonight I'll make dinner exclusively from the garden -- I love doing that for the first time each year.
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@Trifele @Buntastic the main coop is about 40 square feet, and we have 9 chickens total. We let them out a couple times a week, when we're home to somewhat keep an eye on them. That should be okay, right? We had nine chickens in that coop previously with no problems, but we haven't introduced any new chickens since they were all pullets.
I haven't tried putting them all in the main coop together again, but when they're all outside they do okay except at feeding time, when the bully chicken chases the new ones away.
Also, the new chickens haven't laid any eggs that I know of, I'm guessing because they're still recovering from the stress. Ugh.
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@nessness -- FWIW, when we lived in the city we had a combined coop/run with about 50 s.f. for 4 chickens, and we let them out when the weather was good. We still had some aggressive behavior, especially in bad weather when they were cooped up for long stretches of time. We installed multiple branches and perches out in the run so at the least the chicken who was trying to escape could flutter up off the ground to a perch. @Buntastic can chime in with his set up, but 40 s.f. for 9 sounds a bit snug for new hens to be integrating. They may sort it out, but there may be plenty of harsh words and fighting until they do.
In the coop is there anywhere for the lower ranking hens to go to get away? Something to hide behind, or get up on top of? That could help reduce stress and aggressive behavior. I think you probably hit the nail on the head when you said this is the first group of new chickens you've introduced since your flock was young. IME chickens have a very strong sense of 'family' and 'home'. When chickens grow up together, they're all in the same family -- so 9 may happily share 40 s.f. without much trouble. Chickens introduced later are strangers to them who suddenly appear in their home. When that happens there's a fair amount of unpleasantness until the existing hens finally accept that the newcomers are not going away, and they sort out where the newcomers fit into the flock.
Imagine if suddenly a strange human showed up inside your house, and didn't leave. It'd be very stressful for everyone. Also, the way we'd respond would depend a lot on who the intruder was (child, man, woman), how much space there is, and our personalities. Chickens are the same -- they're individuals with different personalities, some 'spicy' and some mild. :)
I've done many integrations over the years. We had some high drama this spring when we tried to bring a young rooster into our flock of 12 hens. We kept him crated within their sight for a month before we finally let him free range with them. The hens' reactions ran the entire gamut from immediate welcoming and flirting, to aggressive hostility. We let the drama play out for two more months. At the end of that time 10 of the 12 hens had accepted the roo and were mating with him. Two hens -- our alpha and her sister -- were still in rebellion, giving him the middle finger. The rooster beat on those two whenever he could catch them, and when the conflict reached the point of serious wounds, it was a choice for us between him and them. We culled the rooster.
Tl;dr -- I'd try first giving the newcomers somewhere to hide, and if that isn't possible you may need to think about culling the aggressive hen if the behavior is bad enough (she's causing actual injuries, and it's not decreasing). Unless you want to permanently set up another coop? Good luck!
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[quote author=Indio link=topic=100566.msg2385283#msg2385283 date=1559273660
I read tonight that 5% tariffs are being imposed on products from Mexico. Made me think that I should use every spare flower pot to grow more food since almost 80% of the fresh supermarket veg comes from Mexico in winter. My summer canning and food dehydrator projects are going to multiply to keep the winter food bill under control.
[/quote]
I'm planning on canning tomatoes as usual, but most of my canning is fruit and, living in an apartment, I can't grow much of that in my community garden or scrap of yard. I have raspberry bushes, and strawberries, and as mentioned earlier my blueberries aren't going to bear this year, and that's it. The Cheap Produce Market where I would buy bucketfuls of fruit for ridiculous prices (like $1 for 8 lbs of strawberries when in season) suddenly closed and there's nothing comparable in the city as far as I can tell. One source in the suburbs that would involve FOUR buses to get to, ugh. This really depresses me but I'm trying to focus on what I CAN can. Haha, see what I did there ;) I'll still get my 10 lbs of local blueberries from the CSA in July, and things will still go on sale, and hopefully I'll get a shitton of tomatoes off of my plants (I am growing fewer tomato plants this year, though - I only have.... 15, I think? Hahaha. Only. Usually I'm in the low 20s.)
The pepper that got pummeled in the storms has now pretty much shriveled up and died. It had barely any leaves left so I guess it wasn't enough to sustain it. I only paid 99 cents for it so I don't feel too bad about pulling and replacing it. But I'm always sad when something dies.
Seven tomatoes now off of my tomato basket and it is not even June yet! Probably another 3 will be ready today.
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Thanks @Trifele. Having them in two coops is working okay for now, but the small coop is cheaply built and kind of falling apart, so we need to repair and predator-proof it if we're going to keep them in there. I might make that a weekend project.
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Love the garden stories and photos. Inspiring.
I had volunteer potatoes emerge earlier this spring so did something like @Jon_Snow, but not so well thought-out. Nevertheless, nature works and those potatoes are now mounded up two feet with old leaves and mulch.
It's delightful to get something from nothing but some old wire trellis, decomposing leaves and a bit of time. The other delightful thing right now is our hammock chair; the weather has been amazing for sipping coffee and contemplating all the green.
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Thanks @Trifele. Having them in two coops is working okay for now, but the small coop is cheaply built and kind of falling apart, so we need to repair and predator-proof it if we're going to keep them in there. I might make that a weekend project.
Nothing really to add from me, I think space and/or lack of “hides” is definitely a big factor. I have no experience with flocks at that stocking density. My density has ranged well over 20 to now about 7-8.
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ugh our tomatoes are already showing signs of blight :(
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ugh our tomatoes are already showing signs of blight :(
Have you used Tomato Tone? Is the blight from calcium deficiency or from too much rain or watering?
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ugh our tomatoes are already showing signs of blight :(
Have you used Tomato Tone? Is the blight from calcium deficiency or from too much rain or watering?
Well it's pretty much rained on a continuous and regular basis since we planted them... so I'm going to guess that :)
We have not used Tomato Tone. Does that resist blight?
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ugh our tomatoes are already showing signs of blight :(
Have you used Tomato Tone? Is the blight from calcium deficiency or from too much rain or watering?
Well it's pretty much rained on a continuous and regular basis since we planted them... so I'm going to guess that :)
We have not used Tomato Tone. Does that resist blight?
I was getting black bottom tomatoes and didn't know if it was too much water or calcium deficiency. I bought Tomato Tone and used it plus, some other stuff that I don't remember that you spray on the vines for calcium deficiency. It fixed the problem almost immediately. I guess it was the calcium deficiency. The new tomatoes did not turn black on the bottoms. This was a few years back and I have to buy some TT soon too! This was a few years ago. Where are you located? I am in CT and only planted maters last week of May. My plants are small right now!
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Today I found out that the tree in the yard of our new house is a mulberry tree! I thought I was going to have to wait until next year to get produce from the yard, so this was a bit of luck! The other times we saw the house, it hadn't leafed out yet and we couldn't tell what kind it was. It'll still have to come down eventually (it's shading all the garden-able space in the yard, and we want to replace it with something smaller) but I should get at least one year of crop from it before then. Any ideas what to do with mulberries? Jam/preserves is my go-to, but I don't know what mulberries taste like.
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I love mulberries - I make a syrup or thick jelly from them and use it in yogurt or soda water. And I make jelly. I find eating them straight is less satisfying because my tree has really thick cores.
I worked all Saturday afternoon on seed and seedling planting: black beans, yellow beans, arugula, beets, mesclun mix, parsnips, three kinds of carrots, snow peas, shelling peas, sunflowers from seed, more fennel and more Brussel sprouts. All the onions starts are in. Most of the zinnias, asters, calendula, nicotiana, strawflowers and cosmos seedlings are in. All the butterfly milkweed I can fit is planted. Bed for the herbs is ready - just waiting until later this week to pop them in.
The temperature tonight is going down to 3C so I have everything covered and since I have meetings in the city tomorrow - I have to get it uncovered for the day tomorrow before catching the train. Otherwise it will get baked by the time I get home at 6:15.
I have given away a number of seedlings but still have oodles of tomatoes and sweet banana peppers. Have to get on Facebook and start the dispersal.
The garlic is looking fantastic! The strawberries are flowering
The squirrel ate my green warty pumpkin plants - they were a gifted seed and I was dying to know what they would look like.
Harvested a huge container of salad greens and dill from the greenhouse. Made a huge rhubarb crisp for a shindig Friday night from my rhubarb. Finally it is getting established enough to harvest a decent quantity.
First planting of telephone tall and avalanche peas are up, as is the mesclun mix. One of the beach plum shrubs I planted looks dead. You need two for fruit so that is a bummer. And one of my pears had no flowers at all. Again needing two for fruit. Also going to try and find a second arctic kiwi because I think that they need two as well.
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@Roadrunner53 (and @ender and anyone else who might be interested), blossom end rot (ie black bottoms) is caused by calcium deficiency, but I have never heard of if being caused by too much water. Rather, it can be caused by inconsistent watering. So your soil could be deficient in calcium, to be sure, but in many places that isn't true. It might not be as bioavailable as well, depending on other properties of the soil. But it is generally caused by the watering issue, and this is because calcium is a very heavy molecule. When you stress the plant with inconsistent water (and yes, I know some people really advocate this with tomatoes (and peppers, which it can also affect)), the plant can't move the calcium to the blossom end of the fruit, thus the "rot". Where I live, calcium is almost never a limiting nutrient and it is a watering issue. They still sell the sprays and such to "prevent" it here, because a vast majority of consumers don't actually know a whole lot about gardening/farming/plant biology/ecology. It won't hurt your plants, but it doesn't address the actual cause.
(If your soil actually is calcium limited (and I would guess you wouldn't really know unless you got it tested or live in an area where it is talked about in gardening circles), adding calcium will help with this issue. You can supplement with gypsum or lime (medium-long term) or a liquid fertilizer that includes nutrients in addition to NPK. It is important to know the pH of your soil or area, however, as you don't want to use lime in an area with alkaline soils (like I have - lime should never be used here).
As for yellowing leaves, that can be caused by a number of deficiencies, and diagnosing it would depend on how exactly the leaves look/are yellowing. But getting tons of rain can just generally wash many of the nutrients straight out of the root zone of plants, causing them to look sickly. Magnesium deficiency can cause a certain kind of yellowing, as can iron deficiency. If it's just nutrient deficiency, a feeding of liquid fertilizer will quickly perk up plants. Both early blight and late blight do include symptoms of yellowing leaves, but present differently. Early blight often occurs in persistent wet weather + warm temperatures, but it starts as spots with rings, and then the leaves yellow. Late blight occurs when cool, wet weather is persistent, and plants will go down REALLY fast.
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I was not going to plant a garden this year. There were all these really good reasons for that, and it was a totally sensible decision made after a lot of careful thought. Then I saw an ad for free tomato starts, and before I knew it, had gone out and picked up two dozen baby tomato plants (nothing fancy - roma, sweet 100s, early girls). They're a little small, but already hardened off, so I am pretending that this is a very clever frugal win, instead of just a complicated way of justifying my inability to stick to a plan.
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@ender what, specifically, is happening to your tomatoes? Pictures would help. There’s a variety of possible foliar diseases that affect tomatoes, and all have different possible cures and/or lessons to learn for next year if not easily cured in time to save these plants.
If for some reason you don’t want to post pics, see if you can get a positive ID on the exact condition via your local Ag extension, master gardeners group, or knowledgeable garden center by putting a sample in a sealed plastic bag. Every season is a learning process!
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Our weather forecasts keep being wrong - saying that we're going to get heavy storms all day or overnight, so I don't water, assuming the plants are shortly going to drown as they did all last month in our constant rain. The skies turn dark, sometimes there's thunder....and then we get maybe a sprinkle, if that. Frustrating! And, I'm worried that I'm going to get rot now because of "inconsistent watering."
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@ender what, specifically, is happening to your tomatoes? Pictures would help. There’s a variety of possible foliar diseases that affect tomatoes, and all have different possible cures and/or lessons to learn for next year if not easily cured in time to save these plants.
If for some reason you don’t want to post pics, see if you can get a positive ID on the exact condition via your local Ag extension, master gardeners group, or knowledgeable garden center by putting a sample in a sealed plastic bag. Every season is a learning process!
I'll take some pictures tonight. But I'm pretty sure it's early blight (we had a lot of that last year too).
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I've had a pest-filled Spring in the garden. The bunnies have almost all left. There is one young holdout and I'm doing everything I can to scare him, but he isn't taking the hint. I'm not violent, but s/he is testing me with all the feasting, digging, etc. I've also caught and relocated two chipmunks so far. I'll see if I get anything tonight.
@ender what, specifically, is happening to your tomatoes? Pictures would help. There’s a variety of possible foliar diseases that affect tomatoes, and all have different possible cures and/or lessons to learn for next year if not easily cured in time to save these plants.
If for some reason you don’t want to post pics, see if you can get a positive ID on the exact condition via your local Ag extension, master gardeners group, or knowledgeable garden center by putting a sample in a sealed plastic bag. Every season is a learning process!
I'll take some pictures tonight. But I'm pretty sure it's early blight (we had a lot of that last year too).
If you aren't familiar with it, you might want to read about aspirin and early blight. If you're comfortable trying, it might be worth a try.
My plants tend to survive early blight when I trim them well, though they almost always succumb to late blight.
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@Blueberries something to consider, when you trap and relocate nuisance animals, now you’ve just made your problem someone else’s. I don’t think that’s very neighborly.
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Harvested a pint and a half of boysenberries today!
Feels like such a win. I like to think that it was because of my years of soil building but this year’s lush garden is most likely because of this winter’s unusually high rainfall.
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@Blueberries something to consider, when you trap and relocate nuisance animals, now you’ve just made your problem someone else’s. I don’t think that’s very neighborly.
I suppose that could be the case if they weren't relocated to a state park and a 150+ acre public park. If the animals are seeking a home outside of the places they were relocated to, there isn't much I can reasonably do. I refuse to kill them and chipmunks are known to be destructive. I'm comfortable with my decision, but I appreciate your concern.
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So our blueberries are nearly ripe and I was covering the bushes yesterday, and looked up to see a family of bluebirds watching. Mom, dad, and two little fledglings. Sooo cute. Ok guys, I'll leave a couple bushes uncovered and we can share. :)
Harvested about a gallon of sweet cherries and a bunch of carrots. The carrots look good. I did a better job tilling this spring than I usually do; not too many weird crooked ones.
On a less happy note, spent about two hours yesterday working on controlling the oriental bittersweet. Aggressive vine that will climb and smother anything. Lots more work to do there. I'm going to enlist my troops, aka my teenagers to help. It's war.
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@Roadrunner53 the only thing I've ever heard of working well for carpenter bees is staining your deck. They don't like the taste of stained wood and will move on to something else. It worked for me at the last place I lived. You could also set up some logs for them to use in a corner of your property to help entice them away from the stained deck.
Our pumpkins and winter squash are growing like mad. Fingerscrossed I'm able to keep the squash vine borers away once they start blooming. Cucumbers and zucchini are slow so far. For our first year at this property we're pretty happy even though not everything has been that successful. My leaf lettuce is going wonderfully and the kale and chard are even looking like they might get big enough to at least taste despite the late season. I daydream that it will eventually look like Monty Don's veg patch, but I think we'd have to be full time and a lot more knowledgeable before that happens. It makes a great goal to shoot for though.
Unfortunately the flower beds are not fairing as well. I rigged a fishing line fence since it's around our back patio and we didn't want to put deer fencing there. It actually did well until we went out of town last weekend. Something got in and ate our black eyed susans and echinacea down to stubs. Our deer seem lazy enough to avoid any barrier so we're considering a miniature waist high split rail fence. We're trying to figure out a way to discourage them without blocking the view.
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coffeefueled, thanks for the input and I have heard of staining too. However, I don't think we will do that. My neighbor always has a pile of firewood out near our property and if they like that, they should be drawn to that pile. Maybe my neighbor is causing the source of the bees. We have pressure treated wood on our deck so you would think that would repel the bees.
My Hub went to get his hair cut yesterday and the subject came up about these damn carpenter bees and the haircutter said she was getting them at her house and many of her customers were complaining about them too. We seem to have some kind of invasion going on. My friend half way across the United States has them too! We have lived in this house for over 40 years and never had them before.
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First strawberries harvested!
My tomato plants look bigger than they should given how shit the weather has been. Two, not counting the hanging basket one which had ripe tomatoes when I bought it, are making tomatoes already! The Sungold and the Juliet.
I made my first batch of homemade pesto from my basil and it was delicious.
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A tour of my garden: https://youtu.be/uuqZVslOp7M
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This video is a tour of my rabbitry and chickens : https://youtu.be/_CMG52r4wpo
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Nice videos @Buntastic! Curious about your chicken run. It looks like there's a nice amount of airflow. And it looks like the chickens roost right in there. Do you have to set up windbreaks in the winter? Or is that location pretty sheltered?
When we lived in Wisconsin our main winter chicken task was setting up windbreaks, and trying to maintain good ventilation at the same time.
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Nice videos @Buntastic! Curious about your chicken run. It looks like there's a nice amount of airflow. And it looks like the chickens roost right in there. Do you have to set up windbreaks in the winter? Or is that location pretty sheltered?
When we lived in Wisconsin our main winter chicken task was setting up windbreaks, and trying to maintain good ventilation at the same time.
This coming winter will be my first year with this roost setup. Previously I had fewer birds and there was a 4x8 foot coop inside the run. Tentative plan will be to put either clear plastic or solid tarps (but then I’d have to add more aritificial light) up along most of the long side and leave the rest open, that should be a nice balance. It is somewhat sheltered, being between the house, garage, and my two privacy fences but snow will definitely drift in to cover about half the run in the right kind of storm.
Usually here in Milwaukee I really only worry about January and February. I tore out the old coop and built the roost pretty early this year, and I think we had nights down to 15 or so with the open air roosts and no windbreak and they were fine.
Note: they have gotten frostbite on their combs (we got down to -30 this year) but it always scabs, heals, and falls off. Some of my oldest hens have combs about 1/3-1/2 their original size now.
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I need to drop a garden update soon. Things are progressing wonderfully. First planting of peas is just about ready....I've already had a handful of sugar snaps, not being able to resist. Peas off the vine are one of life's true pleasures. I've had to extend my pea trellis upward a few more feet. I thought 7 feet would be high enough, but they had already eclipsed that by 6 inches. I've had a significant mass of peas collapse under its own weight by not having my trellis tall enough before. Not happening this time. Will they reach 9 feet tall? It would not shock me.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48016367421_8fd3e97f33_c.jpg)
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Beautiful peas @Jon_Snow ! I have big pea plans for next year. Love them. And I'm now in a really good climate for them. And I have a deer fence! Joy.
Question for @Buntastic and everyone else -- What do you do with elderberries? Mine have taken off and I will have a bumper crop, even if I leave half of them for the birds. I can make jelly, but I'd also like to get creative. Has anyone made wine (is it called wine? Or is it a cyser?) Or -- schnaps? I don't have a still yet, but I'm thinking hard about it. I've also heard you can infuse vodka with elderberry. I'm not clear on that last one, whether it would be more medicinal, or if it would be tasty enough to drink just because.
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I make tincture with it and gift it to friends and family. My mom, who’s skeptical of any alternative medicine, swears by it. I can’t use it anymore myself because I’ve got a ridiculous alcohol intolerance. I may try making some sugar free syrup this year but fake sweeteners are also not very great for my body.
I’ll probably give away or sell raw berries to any interested neighbors as I’ll have way more than I need for my own gifting.
I don’t particularly enjoy the taste of elderberries even with crap tons of sugar, so YMMV on whether other uses like pie, jelly, etc is worth it.
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Thanks @Buntastic. Ah! I see from a little more googling that people seem to make tincture for medicinal purposes more often than they make liqueur. I take that to mean that most people don't find the taste good enough to drink it recreationally? I think elderberries taste good, but yes -- there is a distinct cough-syrupy thing going on. I think I'll give both a whirl and see what's what.
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Personally, I think bourbon or a dark rum (either standard proof or 151) makes the best tincture base, not vodka.
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Personally, I think bourbon or a dark rum (either standard proof or 151) makes the best tincture base, not vodka.
Oooh. That sounds good. We have a distillery near here that makes really good rum, and a number of bourbon and whiskey places as well. Some experiments may be needed here. It's a tough job, but someone has to.
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My great grandmother used to make elderberry wine. (And plum wine and apple cider) But it was always for medicinal purposes......
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I second the idea of using bourbon with the elderberries. I make vanilla extract using good quality bourbon and it makes a huge difference in baked desserts, pancakes, coffee cakes, etc. A few years ago, I made a quart size infusion of vodka and valerian root. It tastes awful but a few drops in water about an hour before bed helps me with sleepless nights. Got the idea when I noticed an organic version of this for sale in Whole Foods and decided to make it myself.
It's so nice reading everybody's garden updates. Loved the videos of your chicken/rabbit set up and garden @Buntastic, especially that hardcore nest box you added. Having all of that rabbit manure must make your plants huge. We used to have an angora rabbit, for spinning the fur, and the manure was amazing since it didn't need to age/compost. If I planted up my front sidewalk area, my neighbors would think it was for them to pick. They are just that kind of people. Instead I have roses planted along the street in front of my house. I harvest the rose petals to dry them and put in the nest boxes along with mint, oregano, and comfrey. It smells and looks so good next to the shavings.
My garden is fully planted now. The first flowers on the peas have come out. The pink and purple colors are so pretty. Sadly, June peach drop has begun in earnest. Squeezed in two celery plants and 3 broccoli plants I found at the garden shop, while picking up hay mulch to put on top of the soaker hoses. Have been feeding the tomatoes with fish emulsion and seeped comfrey water. Will attempt homemade worm casting foliar spray next week. I have comfrey coming up all over the place. The chickens are so happy to get their morning comfrey snacks. They race into the run every morning excitedly looking for it. Ten week old pullets are almost finished with their chick starter and will be upgraded to pellets soon.
The kiwi vine has really taken off this year. Last year it branched out a lot but I was able to tame it, not sure that will be possible this year because it's growing so rapidly. I hope this means it puts out a lot more larger fruit.
Have graduation party coming up so I've been weeding, trimming and weed wacking to keep everything under control so it isn't a massive last minute effort.
Out of curiosity, has anybody been to any of the mother earth news fairs that are offered around the country? I've been following them for a few years and have wanted to check out the PA event.
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My sugar snap pea plant is making pea pods!
Two of my mini bell pepper plants have their first tiny tiny baby pepper on them!
Lettuce still at "OMG, how are we going to eat all this" levels. I picked a big pile of dill to dry. Tomorrow I'll pick some thyme to dry because that's nice and bushy now.
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@Indio the only thing I know from friends who have gone is that if you’re trying to see (insert big name speaker) it is worth paying more for some sort of dedicated ticket instead of waiting in line for a first come, first serve seat.
They have had one near me several times but timing has never worked out.
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Beautiful peas @Jon_Snow ! I have big pea plans for next year. Love them. And I'm now in a really good climate for them. And I have a deer fence! Joy.
Yes, go big with peas next year! From your comments I'm going to guess that you have moved from a warmer climate. Peas do love a bit of coolness to truly thrive. Between peas and brassicas, I'd be hard pressed to say which crop loves the cooling effect of the Pacific more. I took a tape measure to my peas today and they are mere inches away from 8 feet high! The seed pack says a trellis of 6 feet should be sufficient. I say they are mistaken. ;)
Question for @Buntastic and everyone else -- What do you do with elderberries? Mine have taken off and I will have a bumper crop, even if I leave half of them for the birds. I can make jelly, but I'd also like to get creative. Has anyone made wine (is it called wine? Or is it a cyser?) Or -- schnaps? I don't have a still yet, but I'm thinking hard about it. I've also heard you can infuse vodka with elderberry. I'm not clear on that last one, whether it would be more medicinal, or if it would be tasty enough to drink just because.
I am following this discussion closely. I am now wondering if I can make use of my ample supply of salal berries in this way. This is a shot of a portion of my salal "wall" that forms a living barrier at the back of my garden. Each one of those little blossoms will become a dark purple berry with a flavour reminiscent of a combo of blueberries and Concord grape. 3x the nutritional value of blueberries as well. A virtually unknown Superfood.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48013715992_9beae322db_c.jpg)
Getting close to my last harvest of Spinach. Planted in early March, I have been enjoying it quite a bit and am sad to see it all start to bolt before I could quite use it all up. As an aside, if someone had told me 5 years ago I would possess such feelings about SPINACH I would have chortled mightily. Or outright scoffed.
Inspired by our resident master urban gardener, I'm going to post a video of my garden here soon. Just a side to side panning shot, with no commentary....sorry. :)
BONUS PIC: Lots going on here....beautiful broc on the way, calendula patch, umpteenth planting of lettuce, gorgeous Swiss chard (wish it tasted as good as it looks), and the bottom of my SNOW peas. And....a random piece of brick....because...I'm not really sure. :D
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48021613052_46eeebc863_c.jpg)
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Gorgeous pics as always @Jon_Snow! Your chard doesn't taste good? Or you just don't like chard?
@Indio -- yes, I went for one day to the Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville a few years ago. It was a last minute decision, so no research done beforehand on topics or speakers. I was there with a ten year old who only wanted to visit the [hundreds of] vendors with his birthday money and hold baby goats, so I wasn't able to do as much as I hoped. It was fun though, and I did manage to sit in on a few talks and watch a couple of interesting demonstrations. The speakers I saw were high quality. If you ever want to attend the Asheville event you're welcome to stay at our place. :)
And hey! I've been researching homemade liqueur, and I'm going to try it with some of my own fruit. I was always thinking I'd make schnapps someday when I got a pot still, but infused liqueur looks easier for a beginner. I'm picking black raspberries right now (huge bumper crop this year), and I'm thinking that might make a fine liqueur.
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Beautiful peas @Jon_Snow ! I have big pea plans for next year. Love them. And I'm now in a really good climate for them. And I have a deer fence! Joy.
Yes, go big with peas next year! From your comments I'm going to guess that you have moved from a warmer climate. Peas do love a bit of coolness to truly thrive. Between peas and brassicas, I'd be hard pressed to say which crop loves the cooling effect of the Pacific more. I took a tape measure to my peas today and they are mere inches away from 8 feet high! The seed pack says a trellis of 6 feet should be sufficient. I say they are mistaken. ;)
In Wisconsin (where I used to live) you get 5+ solid months of winter, and then spring is very short -- almost nonexistent some years. Our last freeze date was end of May, and temperatures jumped up in June.
And summers were hot. Peppers and tomatoes -- heck yes, they grow like crazy. But crops that like mild temperatures were a challenge. Here the spring is extremely long and gradual, and the summers aren't quite so harsh.
Those are sugar snap peas that are getting so tall for you? What variety?
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@Trifele a friend of mine made what he called mulberry brandy by infusing vodka with mulberries for several months. It was really fucking tasty.
Erica at NWEdible has an old article about infusions that may/may not be of value to you.
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@Trifele a friend of mine made what he called mulberry brandy by infusing vodka with mulberries for several months. It was really fucking tasty.
Erica at NWEdible has an old article about infusions that may/may not be of value to you.
I may have to try that one, it's looking like I'm not going to harvest enough mulberries from our tree to make jam or wine, but infusions I can do! Probably will use white rum instead of vodka, though, as I already have some and we don't generally drink vodka.
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@Trifele I use elderberries in a lot of things. I do make pie, but also use them like blueberries in muffins or pancakes. They are too seedy for a pleasant cobbler, I've found, but a mixed berry cobbler can include them. I find it's more fun to make syrup than a tincture, so usually that's what I do - then I can make it into a drink or just put it on biscuits or pancakes. Works pretty well sweetened with stevia, but of course then you don't get syrup consistency.
I either freeze or dry the berries for storage and make tea from them (with honey and lime or lemon juice) during flu season. For me, anyway; husband usually just throws some in his coffee but then he's a heathen. :)
During the flowering season, I pick blossoms for fritters (don't eat the stems, and I don't usually use the confectioner's sugar mentioned as they don't need anything): http://www.lilvienna.com/elderflower-fritters/ (http://www.lilvienna.com/elderflower-fritters/)
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Those are sugar snap peas that are getting so tall for you? What variety?
Just good ‘ol Super Sugar Snap from West Coast Seeds.. Says right on the package “5 - 6 foot tall vines”. I am heading back to the city right now, but after I filled my cooler up with a veggie bounty I took a tape measure out to get an official pea elevation. 8 feet confirmed...and there is still lots of growing and blossom formation at the top. It’s really quite something. Where will it be when I return?
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Inspired by our resident master urban gardener, I'm going to post a video of my garden here soon. Just a side to side panning shot, with no commentary....sorry. :)
BONUS PIC: Lots going on here....beautiful broc on the way, calendula patch, umpteenth planting of lettuce, gorgeous Swiss chard (wish it tasted as good as it looks), and the bottom of my SNOW peas. And....a random piece of brick....because...I'm not really sure. :D
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48021613052_46eeebc863_c.jpg)
What are your chard secrets? Mine are about a third that size. Great looking broccoli too.
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Been harvesting a basket or more of boysenberries every day for a couple of weeks now. They’ll run out by the end of June but they are a treat!
Had to drastically prune the grapevine portion of a new plant guild—we had so many grapes and vines that it was pulling down the young walnut tree on which it was “trellised.” The whole reason for the guild is to block afternoon sun so I need a vertical growth habit. Hopefully both plants will continue to thrive. There are at least a dozen remaining clusters so hopefully we will still get a crop.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190608/a15811d768b2ca4edf7863d8e3daddc4.jpg)
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@Rural -- Thanks for the ideas for the elderberries! I like the syrup idea especially. Also interesting that you mention the flowers. I was reading about uses for those too. So many possibilities. . .
And yes @Buntastic -- that's what I'm talking about -- a homemade liqueur by taking vodka or another base and then infusing fruit into it. A light bulb went on for me yesterday when I remembered having some ultra tasty homemade limoncello once at a friend's house. And I wondered if people do that with other fruit, did some googling, and oh yes. They do. Mmmmm.
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BONUS PIC: Lots going on here....beautiful broc on the way, calendula patch, umpteenth planting of lettuce, gorgeous Swiss chard (wish it tasted as good as it looks), and the bottom of my SNOW peas. And....a random piece of brick....because...I'm not really sure. :D
[LOVELY CHARD IMAGE]
What are your chard secrets? Mine are about a third that size. Great looking broccoli too.
I’m pretty sure my chard was once a third of its current size...so perhaps give it a few weeks? 😉
Or do you have the sense it’s maxed out?
Gorgeous pics as always @Jon_Snow! Your chard doesn't taste good? Or you just don't like chard?
I like it fine. Just not to the extent of other things eaten right off the vine. I don’t often wander around the garden munching on a stalk of chard. 😁 In addition to the first peas, I also had my first sungold tomato. That’s unusually early to experience that particular garden season milestone.
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Wow... the speaker line up at the April Mother Earth fair in Asheville looked really good. Lots of interesting topics, especially one about beepods, a modified top bar hive. I can see why reserving a seat would make sense for the well-known speakers. It looks as if there's about a 90% agenda overlap with the PA event in September, but the timing isn't great for me. It's always fun going to farming/homesteading events to meet like-minded people. One of these days, I will make it to Asheville @Trifele and will definitely let you know.
All this convo about alcohol, berries and limoncello, reminded me of a book called "The Drunken Botanist." It has plant based, mostly infusion type, recipes. There's even a cordial recipe with elderflowers, lemons and oranges. However, the author mentions a caution that parts of the elderberry plant can be toxic. Hadn't heard this before.
Most of the infusions we have been making are the thirst quenching kind with cucumber, blueberries, mint, and lemon balm in water.
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So just a few weeks ago I was reading A Midsummer Night's Dream with my kids, and there's a scene where Oberon, King of the Faeries, says:
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine
With sweet muskroses and with eglantine.
Notice the word "blow" at the end of the first line? The footnote in our book says it means not only blow, like blow in the wind, but also "to flower." That's a use of the word "blow" from medieval times.
And then yesterday when following up on some of the ideas @Rural mentioned, I came across a recipe for Elder-Blow Wine. :) Just a neat little bit of synchronicity . . . From that little linguistic clue it looks like people have been using elderflowers for a very long time.
There seems to be something special about elderflowers. I've never seen flowers with such a wide variety of insect visitors. Mine are absolutely covered with beetles, bees, wasps, stinkbugs, and ones that look like orange lightning bugs (not sure what they are).
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Yeah, all parts of the elderberry except the flowers and fruit are toxic. There are known cases of poisonings (I believe fatal, not sure) from using hollow stems of elderberries as a drinking straw, for example. Some species of elderberry (only found in wild, not cultivated) the fruit is toxic unless cooked. I’ve seen some debate over whether the seeds are toxic or not, they can’t be very toxic given how common pies, etc are.
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Yes, no eating leaves or stems (it's why I made a point of saying not to with the fritters - you just gnaw the fried flowers off and discard the stem).
If you want to keep the blossom head intact for berries later, you can wait until the petals are about ready to drop, put a bag over the flowerhead, and shake off the petals into the bag. That works well for wine, or so my great-grandfather told me.
I don't think I believe the seeds of Sambicus nigra are toxic, even mildly so (not an expert on other species since we don't have much other here). I've personally eaten too many of them with no effect at all.
On the word "blow" meaning flower - that's why we still call a rose that's completely opened a "full-blown" rose. Or maybe that's regional phrasing?
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So just a few weeks ago I was reading A Midsummer Night's Dream with my kids, and there's a scene where Oberon, King of the Faeries, says:
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine
With sweet muskroses and with eglantine.
Notice the word "blow" at the end of the first line? The footnote in our book says it means not only blow, like blow in the wind, but also "to flower." That's a use of the word "blow" from medieval times.
And then yesterday when following up on some of the ideas @Rural mentioned, I came across a recipe for Elder-Blow Wine. :) Just a neat little bit of synchronicity . . . From that little linguistic clue it looks like people have been using elderflowers for a very long time.
There seems to be something special about elderflowers. I've never seen flowers with such a wide variety of insect visitors. Mine are absolutely covered with beetles, bees, wasps, stinkbugs, and ones that look like orange lightning bugs (not sure what they are).
This is such a great board.
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Irrigation setup. Yay!
Weeded some too and pulled a bunch of volunteer tomatillos from our plants last year. Too bad none of them were in spots that we could have just let them go.
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On the word "blow" meaning flower - that's why we still call a rose that's completely opened a "full-blown" rose.
Cool @Rural! I've never thought about that idiom "full blown", but that makes perfect sense!
Today DH and I were picking black raspberries from a wild patch, and he bravely waded into the middle of it to get some good ones. He picked a few, but then came back out because the thorns were shredding him. As he came out he said "the rest of those are for the birds." And we started laughing, wondering if that's where that phrase came from -- "for the birds."
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I had a productive day in the yard today. Finally planted my cucurbits, okra, and the last few onions. I still have a pack of leeks and two packs of peppers I picked up on impulse, and need to get in the ground. It was down to 40F a few nights ago, but set to climb to highs of 90 this week, so I'm glad I waited to plant the okra.
However, the main project for today was cleaning up the approximately 10x40' bed along the side of the house. It was full of weeds and had a couple shrubs that needed to come out. I got the section along the fence all cleared out and put a 3' wide strip of weed fabric in place. The next step will be to dig rock mulch out of a couple other beds and get it cleaned and spread over there. That will allow me to get THOSE beds tidied up, and then they will get fresh rock mulch. The big bed will get planted with volunteer native perennials from my front yard this fall. In the past I've used this area to grow corn and squash and things, but really need to decrease maintenance demands.
Dinner tonight was salmon graced with dill and tarragon and accompanied by baby beets and sauteed mizuna from the garden:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48033540626_0cc47d59c3_c.jpg)
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Staked up the pomegranate and one of the goji berries so they grow straight, and then gave the pom and all three gojis a bucket full of beautiful worm compost from the bins.
It’s almost time to move the bins—if nothing else they’re much lower than the surrounding ground because we’ve built up the soil so much.
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There seems to be something special about elderflowers. I've never seen flowers with such a wide variety of insect visitors. Mine are absolutely covered with beetles, bees, wasps, stinkbugs, and ones that look like orange lightning bugs (not sure what they are).
Agree @Trifele --elderflowers are wonderful for the creatures! My sister used the petals to flavor sparkling water kefir (with lemon)--it was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted in my life! A botanical champagne.
If you have black elderberries in your area you are indeed lucky, we only have red which are inedible for humans.
However, I bought some dried black ones and have been experimenting with oxymels (a mixture of honey/vinegar and herbs) and a vanilla/elder flavored port.
Speaking of inspiration: if any of you are on IG--there is a man named Pascal Baudar who wildbrews beautiful drinks and ferments all sorts of veggie matter. He has a few books (one called The Wildcrafting Brewer which I am buying for a father's day gift for my dad)
In other news--the garden is doing so well. Mesclun greens, radishes, everything is so healthy since the birds haven't been able to access it. Our *cage* seemed extreme at first in the community garden..but has turned out to protect everything from annihilation. Our neighbors radishes are all eaten on the tops and everyone has bites out of their greenery. Clever creatures.
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Jon_Snow, after seeing your photos, I think what we have mixed in with our blackberry bush is salal! I'll have to double double check (I'm so wary of unknown berries), but this could be Super Cool. I love that so much of our (rented!) yard is edible -- roses, nasturtiums, blackberries, lemons, plums, persimmons. I'm so grateful to whoever first planted this yard years ago, because they made it so easy for me to eat from the yard with zero effort.
Our plum tree is fruiting for the first time -- it was planted two years ago and this is the first time it's just full of fruit. So exciting.
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@diapasoun if there’s an ag extension office for your county, they can help you with positive ID if you’re unsure after research.
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My garden is plugging away. This is my first week of no teaching and trying to find the right balance between work on the farm and doing fun things with the kids. I decided to tackle a construction project first (building a structure to support more rabbit cages, as we will need more space soon), so the weeds are growing growing growing. But I took a garden walk yesterday to see how things are progressing.
Potatoes are setting flowers, peas just started blooming, rhubarb is ready for another cut, cucumbers are putting on first true leaves. Second sowing of green beans is germinating. First sowing has true leaves and putting on growth. Raspberries are in full bloom, hoping the ripe fruit doesn’t come while we are gone in a couple weeks. I hate leaving the farm.
New pullets getting closer to point of lay, but still probably a couple weeks to a month yet. Ended up needing to process two cockerels but I’m pretty sure all the rest are pullets.
Rabbits are doing well. The last round of litters is all past the danger zone after weaning where I tend to have mortality with zero losses. Got a first time doe due tomorrow, unsure if she took or not. Discovered the joys of making jerky, so now I really want more rabbit meat just to meet (pun intended) our own needs! The new construction will give us 8 (and I realized possibly a 9th tacked on to the end depending on how I like the roof overhang) 24x48”cages, or potentially some other sizes, unsure of final cage design yet). This will be my first time building all wire cages completely from scratch. Need to place my wire and other supplies order later today.
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@Buntastic, yeah, there's definitely an ag extension; I was thinking about that last night. Unfortunately, the thing that I think are salal are also completely sun-damaged at this point. The poor berries are all shrivelled up with the heat.
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They could probwbly give an ID with just branches/leaves. But you’re also super busy right now too, so obviously up to you :)
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Satisfying radish haul today, three different types. I will use the greens for saag paneer or make chips out of them (similar to kale chips which I just made a heap of and they are so tasty)
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Things are moving along in our garden. The cabbage worms finally got the upper hand on the kale, so we did another planting, and also planted more potatoes because they are doing well this year and why not.
I also planted some onion plants that were given to me. I'm curious about those, since they are a long-day Walla Walla, and I no longer live in a long-day location. Our location is listed as intermediate day, and most people here plant short. But I decided to go ahead and stick the Walla Wallas in the ground to see what happens. Not sure if they will bulb or not, but I figure if we are intermediate there's a chance. Walla Wallas wouldn't be my first choice of onions to grow since they are very short keepers, but we'll give it a whirl. Next year I'll go back to my tried-and-true long storage onions where we can get 5-8 months.
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Probably going to be a very good potato year for a lot of folks. They love cool and wet weather.
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Trifele,
Your Long day onions should grow fine, but they will bolt a little earlier than the Short or Intermediate day. My gardening group did a trial on all 3 types of onions and that was what we found. I am in California and SD and ID has the same results.
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Thanks @birdie55 -- that's really interesting.
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Best discovery this growing season has been mesclun greens.
For me, they are more effective to grow than lettuce, since it's like picking a pre-mixed salad when you thin them out!
We have been eating them like crazy and will continue re-sowing as they are good to grow all summer.
Potatoes in cedar box are doing well (inspired by @Jon_Snow, I hope to build sides and try to grow them vertically) and we've had our first successful batch of pak choi.
Japanese turnips are coming up nicely..hopefully won't get nibbled by anything.
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Potatoes in cedar box are doing well (inspired by @Jon_Snow, I hope to build sides and try to grow them vertically) and we've had our first successful batch of pak choi.
Haven't checked in on this thread in a while having shifted my garden talk to my Journal of late. But happy to follow your "@" summons Serendip! Glad your potato box is looking promising. My own potato rig now features some incredibly healthy taters burst out over the top.
Jon_Snow, after seeing your photos, I think what we have mixed in with our blackberry bush is salal! I'll have to double double check (I'm so wary of unknown berries), but this could be Super Cool. I love that so much of our (rented!) yard is edible -- roses, nasturtiums, blackberries, lemons, plums, persimmons. I'm so grateful to whoever first planted this yard years ago, because they made it so easy for me to eat from the yard with zero effort.
Unfortunately, the thing that I think are salal are also completely sun-damaged at this point. The poor berries are all shrivelled up with the heat.
Ack. Just seeing these posts now. @diapasoun, I so wish you had given me an official @mention. If it is indeed salal, you are probably at the very southern extent of it's range....and its likely that it is struggling in the heat and dryness of your area. But still very cool that you have it (assuming that's what it is. I would have loved to have seen a picture). I am still developing plans on what I'm going to do with the salal haul. Salmonberries are just about done, and salal is next, then closely followed by blackberries.
I dropped these images in my Journal in recent days....so why not crosspost them here? My garden is looking so great. I'm starting to think my seaweed mulch technique is paying these bountiful dividends.
Look at my turnip. :) (slightly nibbled upon by an unknown critter)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48079493266_dcf222afa0_z.jpg)
My peas. The top of the trellis pole is 9 feet tall. So I estimate that my peas have reach a record 8.5 feet tall this year.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48073252678_7abd1a2305_c.jpg)
Two green cabbage are ready to harvest. I was tempted to pull at least one. But I'm going to let them swell a little bit more.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48072889601_fb5d472f40_z.jpg)
Shot from the "green wall" at the back of the garden.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48073358101_5f57c140bd_z.jpg)
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I am still developing plans on what I'm going to do with the salal haul.
The local tribes used to mix it with soapberry and whip it up into a frothy dessert like concoction. You can probably find instructions/recipes online, if you're interested. It's not exactly ice cream, but I like the idea of perpetuating specific dishes that people in our corner of the country have been eating for thousands of years. It's like eating a piece of history.
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I'm joining in! This will be my second summer gardening. Due to various reasons, both years we haven't hard the robust start for the plants that we should've, but things are growing anyways.
We added a potato bed and threw some onion bulbs in an unused area of the yard and both are coming along well. Last year we weren't able to harvest any bell peppers or watermelon, so hoping I've changed that this year.
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Have any of you grown red chard next to pole beans? I have my chard growing between rows of pole beans and have just come across a guide that says that they shouldn't be planted together. So far the plants look healthy, but the beans aren't growing as fast as a different variety that I have planted elsewhere. Do you think that it's worth tearing the chard out?
I wouldn’t. I have a pretty dim opinion of “Carrots Love Tomatoes” type companion planting guides.
It could be varietal difference, soil difference, or nutrient competition. But even if it is nutrient competition, ask yourself if the beans would improve enough to justify the lost yield from removing the chard. Probably not.
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Harvests are getting bigger. Yesterday I picked beans, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, and zucchini. Had a lovely stir fry for dinner.
The kale and potatoes I planted last week are off to a roaring start. They are practically jumping out of the ground. They are in the new in-ground bed I layered with a truckload of aged horse manure. Boy do they like it!
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I am still developing plans on what I'm going to do with the salal haul.
The local tribes used to mix it with soapberry and whip it up into a frothy dessert like concoction. You can probably find instructions/recipes online, if you're interested. It's not exactly ice cream, but I like the idea of perpetuating specific dishes that people in our corner of the country have been eating for thousands of years. It's like eating a piece of history.
Thanks for that.
The first few years of FIRE I had every intention to explore foraging opportunities in our region, with an eye to attempt to recreate some of the things the indigenous peoples did. I think I got sidetracked/distracted by other delights of FIRE. I really want to revisit this now. I know the tribes of my islands made salal based "cakes" of some sort which they like to soak (or dip) in seal oil. I have rather unique access to seals but I don't foresee exploring THAT aspect. ;)
This discussion reminds me that I think there used to be a foraging thread kicking around somewhere. Harvests are getting bigger. Yesterday I picked beans, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, and zucchini. Had a lovely stir fry for dinner.
Sounds like a wonderful harvest! It really is the fundamental reason why we put in all this work, is it not?
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Weeding season is in full swing here. Everyday the chickens get to indulge in a buckets full of weeds they can pick through. Have been harvesting lemon balm, rose petals, mint, and oregano for drying. Keep some for cooking and some gets set aside for the chicken nest boxes.
Blueberries are slowly ripening. A few bushes weren't producing so I added 3 new Patriot bushes to the grouping protected by mosquito netting to keep the chipmunks and birds out.
Peas are still producing prolifically. It's almost time to start planning what will replace them in the raised bed when they get pulled out in a few weeks. Cilantro is going to seed. Will plant the next cilantro crop this week. It's one of my favorite herbs and is eaten almost daily. Tulsi or sacred basil has it's own dedicated hugelkulter stock tank which is overflowing with plants. In a few more inches, it will be ready for selective trimming and drying for use in tea.
All of the tomato, bean and pepper plants have flowers and small fruit on them. Pinched off the suckers on the low branches to keep the plant focusing its growth on center for the indeterminate plants. For this first time, I'm experimenting with bush tomatoes and learning if they need different care.
Bees are happily doing their thing. Had to requeen a split three weeks and she's laying in a big way. Hive inspection yesterday had three full brood frames. Other hives are still strong, though one had a lot more drone brood than the other. No worries about overcrowding in any of the hives.
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Today’s big project is trying to weed as much of the garden as I can because most of the remaining days until we leave for a week will be rainy. Making good progress.
Peas have pods but won’t be filled in until sometime while we’re gone. No complaints, the friend we hire every year to take care of our animals LOVES snap peas. Ditto the raspberries, looks like they may start ripening while we’re gone.
Everything else is still a bit off. First planting of green beans will likely start flowering soon, second planting is up and growing, just planted third planting. Will do a 4th planting (borderline right against frost for maturity) when I pull the garlic mid/late next month to test a tighter spacing I want to see if it works.
New pullets are almost to point of lay (15.5 weeks today), curious to see when they’ll start since this is the first time I’ve used non-hybrids. I know the Jersey Giants and Easter Eggers will be slower (21-24 weeks) but I know Barred Rocks could start soon.
Rabbits are doing well, zero mortality on the last round of litters. Most of the does either needed and/or got a slight break so that we didn’t have litters while I’m gone. My “farmhand” friend has helped us for several years now, but I didn’t want to walk him through all the steps of weaning and preparing a nestbox. Nothing too complicated, but felt like it was too much to ask.
Finished up a major expansion in my rabbitry, looks really sweet. Takes me from 17 “holes” to 29. I’ve posted pics on my OMD journal and on my Buntastic Gardens FB page. If anyone’s interested I can post the link to a video I took showing it, I just hate resizing images to post here.
Unsure how many breeders I will take it up to. 8, possibly a 9th, is feasible with the cage space I have and my preferred breeding intensity, where you really want 3 cages per doe for the growouts.
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Our garden is a bit of loosely organized chaos at the moment. The pumpkins are doing great. The tomatoes are almost as tall as I am and are starting bunches of green fruit. The cucumbers are putting out their first flowers. The strawberries are pretty much done so we're growing off a few runners to expand plants next year. I was really surprised that the lettuce did well enough that we've had salads a few times a week.
Our zucchinis aren't doing much at all because we didn't have a bed filled for them - they're in soil mounds on top of loosened Virginia clay. It's definitely interesting to see the difference between plants grown in our unamended heavy clay and plants in the 8-10 inch raised beds. This is the first year we've had a garden here so we're happy taking the relaxed any harvest is a bonus approach.
I'm fighting a ton of invasive Japanese stilt grass. It takes over any ground that isn't fully and heavily covered by something else - even working into the grass and chickweed between the beds. The wildflower section I tried to plant on the other side of the garden this spring was completely inundated. In the fall we're going to heavily plant with clover and grasses between the garden beds and elsewhere throughout the yard. Hopefully it'll grow in enough through the early spring that we can slowly out compete the stilt grass problem.
(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/87/0c/a5/870ca52adb3f76d0bef424331485a5b8.jpg)
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The tiny pear tree that I planted from bare roots two and a half years ago is going to have to come out, as it has some sort of blight. I had cut back half of the branches last week, but most of the remaining branches are showing signs of infection. Alas.
Fire blight is reallllllly bad this year in my area, not in Canada but maybe that what ails yours as well. It's really hard on young trees because, yeah, you have to cut ALL the infection out (and hope you got it all). A lot of people are losing trees here this year. So sorry to hear about your loss. :(
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Your garden is looking great @coffeefueled -- not chaotic at all. Especially impressive that this is a first year location and a building year! Great job.
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Thanks @Trifele We're having a fun time with it. I have day dreams that it will one day look as clean and well kept as Monty Don's but let's be honest - it's his fulltime job and he's had over 25 years on that plot.
Spotted the dreaded squash vine borer in the pumpkin patch. I covered the base stalks of all the pumpkins so they now look like the tin foil hat club. Not sure if that trick is an old wives tale though. Anyone else had luck deterring borers?
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Thanks @Trifele We're having a fun time with it. I have day dreams that it will one day look as clean and well kept as Monty Don's but let's be honest - it's his fulltime job and he's had over 25 years on that plot.
Spotted the dreaded squash vine borer in the pumpkin patch. I covered the base stalks of all the pumpkins so they now look like the tin foil hat club. Not sure if that trick is an old wives tale though. Anyone else had luck deterring borers?
I haven’t encountered them here, but finding out their typical emergence time in your area is helpful. Then plant a trap crop to attract them while your others are not yet planted (or covered by rowcover). Burn/dispose the trap crop once you need to pull the rowcover off for pollination purposes (or hand pollinate?).
There are effective sprays.
Doesn’t help much with summer squash, which are generally all based on C. Pepo, but butternuts and other varieties based on C. Moshata are not susceptible to borers because their stems are solid, not hollow.
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Anyone have suggestions for fresh basil and preserving it? I am going to have a lot coming in and I plan to make some pesto and fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But, I think I would like to try some other things and not waste it. I really don't want to dry it. Are there any freezer methods other than pesto you know of?
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Spotted the dreaded squash vine borer in the pumpkin patch. I covered the base stalks of all the pumpkins so they now look like the tin foil hat club. Not sure if that trick is an old wives tale though. Anyone else had luck deterring borers?
No advice, but the lack of squash vine borer in my state makes me *very* glad, so I am sorry to hear you are battling it. It's a big problem back home! We only have squash bug, which are damaging, but not so catastrophically (and you can battle them fairly effectively, whereas the vine borers seem to demolish a plant in one day!).
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I picked my first ripe sweet pepper today and it is still June. This is a plant I rooted from a cutting last fall (best pepper plant in the garden was the donor) and it grew all winter. My started from seed peppers are just starting to flower.
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Anyone have suggestions for fresh basil and preserving it? I am going to have a lot coming in and I plan to make some pesto and fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But, I think I would like to try some other things and not waste it. I really don't want to dry it. Are there any freezer methods other than pesto you know of?
Use just basil and olive oil like you’re making pesto, freeze in ice cube tray (takes about 90min), pop them out, and then store the cubes in freezer in a bag or container. Use just like you would dry basil in sauces, etc. To my palate one cube seems roughly equivalent to 1 tsp dry basil.
I picked my first ripe sweet pepper today and it is still June. This is a plant I rooted from a cutting last fall (best pepper plant in the garden was the donor) and it grew all winter. My started from seed peppers are just starting to flower.
How hard was it to grow overwinter? Did it need a growlight?
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Anyone have suggestions for fresh basil and preserving it? I am going to have a lot coming in and I plan to make some pesto and fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But, I think I would like to try some other things and not waste it. I really don't want to dry it. Are there any freezer methods other than pesto you know of?
Use just basil and olive oil like you’re making pesto, freeze in ice cube tray (takes about 90min), pop them out, and then store the cubes in freezer in a bag or container. Use just like you would dry basil in sauces, etc. To my palate one cube seems roughly equivalent to 1 tsp dry basil.
I picked my first ripe sweet pepper today and it is still June. This is a plant I rooted from a cutting last fall (best pepper plant in the garden was the donor) and it grew all winter. My started from seed peppers are just starting to flower.
How hard was it to grow overwinter? Did it need a growlight?
I had to root it first, which wasn't too hard. Then it was under a fluorescent light on the non-opening side of a sliding glass door. Remember this was winter, so natural light was pretty pathetic.
I've overwintered whole plants in a window before, and they basically just sat there, no growth. But when they went back outside they were much bigger than plants started that year, so they produced peppers a lot sooner. They were basically too big to go under a grow light, so they didn't get one.
I have a short growing season, so every little thing counts.
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I picked my first ripe sweet pepper today and it is still June. This is a plant I rooted from a cutting last fall (best pepper plant in the garden was the donor) and it grew all winter. My started from seed peppers are just starting to flower.
I should try this over winter this year for our tomatos/peppers!
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I picked my first ripe sweet pepper today and it is still June. This is a plant I rooted from a cutting last fall (best pepper plant in the garden was the donor) and it grew all winter. My started from seed peppers are just starting to flower.
I should try this over winter this year for our tomatos/peppers!
It works really well for indeterminate tomatoes - take a few cuttings, root, and then watch them grow into monsters. I did it with a Sweet Chelsea (an F1 hybrid) this winter and had to cut the tip off and reroot it three times, it grew much too well! It would be great if you had a greenhouse or someplace in the house where the plant could really grow. For open-pollinated varieties I find it easier to just save some seeds and start them at the right time. Potting them up in 1 or 2 litre milk boxes gives them lots of soil to grow extra roots in before they go outside.
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That's a great idea about overwintering a tomato cutting @RetiredAt63! Thanks. I've never thought to do that. Do you have any issue with the cutting actually trying to flower under the grow lights? Or does it not get that far?
I picked my first slicer tomato of the season yesterday! We've been snacking on the yummy little Sungolds for a couple weeks, but for me there's something extra special about the first big slicer. Sooo delicious.
I worked hard yesterday in the garden, continuing on my quest to kill grass. Laid down a bunch more cardboard and shuttled 9 wheelbarrow loads of wood chips down from our chip pile. I think I may look at getting a lighter wheelbarrow. Ours is a heavy old construction-type monster, and is hard for me to push uphill even when it's empty. Coming downhill with a load it's all I can do to hold on to it and balance it. I'll add that to my tool wish list. I have a few tools I use regularly that are just not right for me.
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That's a great idea about overwintering a tomato cutting @RetiredAt63! Thanks. I've never thought to do that. Do you have any issue with the cutting actually trying to flower under the grow lights? Or does it not get that far?
Given our long winters the biggest issue was a plant that was way too big for indoors. Once I did the final tip cutting I let it flower, since it was only a few weeks away from going outside anyway. Early tomatoes, yay!
Re tomatoes, though, they are so easy to start from seed and the seeds keep so long (at least 5 years) that this was an experiment, just because I liked that particular plant and they are hybrids so not worth saving seeds. If you have one or two plants that are really superior to the rest it wold be worth dong this.
Peppers, on the other hand, are not nearly as cooperative as tomatoes - the seeds only keep for a couple of years, the plants take forever to get going from seed, and are slow in the garden. So having an early start from a cutting (or a year old plant) makes a huge difference.
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@Trifele I feel for you on the wood chip hauling. We tried the wood chip thing until I decided I didn't like to walk barefoot on them (chipdrop chips are not exactly uniform and pleasant on the toes). We gave it all away on craigslist, but the weekend I spent carting it around was tiring. Have you looked at a gorilla cart? We got one on our wedding registry and really like it so far. It has a good turning radius and I find it easier to pull like a wagon than traditional wheelbarrows.
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Got my first ripe Sungold! I ate it right off the vine and it was delicious. I'm shocked that it ripened given how cool and rainy it has been (though warming up this week.)
Also got a good handful of strawberries. Whatever was eating my strawberries last year appears to not be present this year. Hooray!
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I'm a big fan of chip drops and have been doing it for over a decade. It has raised the soil level about 6 inches, in many spots in my garden, after years of decomposing. When the flower beds are full and I have leftover chips, I leave them spread out in a section where I put fresh mushroom spawn each year. I consider it a great upper body workout moving 20 yards of wood chips and look forward to doing it. Saves a few days of lifting monotonous weights. There's a local tree trimming company that I call for chips every Spring. He knows that I don't want contaminated wood and knows exactly where to drop them so that it doesn't block the driveway. It benefits him because he doesn't have to pay to bring the chips to the local suburban dump.
I used to have a one wheel wheelbarrow, but the wheel was always going flat so I decided to invest in a heavy duty, double duty wheelbarrow with never flat tires. The handles are metal too, which has eliminated the splinters from the wooden handles because I don't always wear gloves. Load capacity isn't as large but the rugged wheels makes up for it. Having it double as a dolly is helpful when I'm moving 50 lb bags of chicken feed to storage bins and want to move 4 bags at a time.
This wheelbarrow along with the weeding hoe, are my favorite garden tools right now. I'm curious what other garden tools are people's favorites?
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Got my first ripe Sungold! I ate it right off the vine and it was delicious. I'm shocked that it ripened given how cool and rainy it has been (though warming up this week.)
Also got a good handful of strawberries. Whatever was eating my strawberries last year appears to not be present this year. Hooray!
I'm so jealous about the early toms. I'm a good 3 weeks away from anything being big enough to pick.
I've been conducting taste tests with new balsamic vinegars in the hope of finding the "perfect" one to accompany a garden tomato salad. A few years ago, I did this with olive oil and found a Spanish olive oil that I only use for fresh tomatoes, cheese, basil, olives, and fresh cracked pepper. When greens are involved, there's a lemon flavored olive oil that really zings up the arugula.
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Two new videos
Why Rabbits?
https://youtu.be/WepXkSHdPXE
A tour of my garden from today. Heat is finally coming.
https://youtu.be/3b6mR_iB3EY
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I haven’t liked the two-wheel wheelbarrows I’ve used in past, but I’ve only used a couple. Mainly I didn’t like how they performed on unveven ground and making tight turns. I’m still using a very old hand-me-down wheelbarrow, though, so I’m not super picky.
Tools I use: basic round-point spade, flat shovel, nursery spade, 4-tine pitchfork for moving bedding —> all pretty standard upper-end hardware store models.
Unusual tools: Japanese/Dutch style hand-hoe forged by Red Pig Tools. Wonderful for kneeling work.
Collinear hoe and Trapezoidal hoe from Johnny’s. Excellent for weeding standing up. Lately I prefer to weed kneeling so I collect stuff to feed the chickens, though. I also use the trap hoe for making furrows.
Meadow Creature broadfork. Fantastic tool, unbreakable. Should really sell it though because I have no use for it with current soil tilth and the fact I use all wood-sided beds makes it less usable anyways. It was very nice when I had my bigger garden and before I did the raised beds here.
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My favorite and most used tools right now are my Hori-Hori knife and an el cheapo Japanese grass sickle. The Hori-Hori knife is delightful -- perfectly balanced. It functions as both a knife and a nice, sharp, narrow trowel. It's super strong and you can pry with it too.
I have a Meadow Creature broadfork too. Awesome tool. As for the wheelbarrow, we have a four wheel utility cart, but for the garden I prefer a barrow with just one wheel in front. Easier to maneuver around corners. So I like the traditional wheelbarrow design; I think I just need a lighter one.
In addition to a lighter wheelbarrow, I am on the search for the perfect hoe. I have a couple I use frequently, but one is a bit too heavy, and the other is too small and light. I want one that's just right, haha.
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I'm a big fan of chip drops and have been doing it for over a decade. It has raised the soil level about 6 inches, in many spots in my garden, after years of decomposing. When the flower beds are full and I have leftover chips, I leave them spread out in a section where I put fresh mushroom spawn each year. I consider it a great upper body workout moving 20 yards of wood chips and look forward to doing it. Saves a few days of lifting monotonous weights.
I used to have a one wheel wheelbarrow, but the wheel was always going flat so I decided to invest in a heavy duty, double duty wheelbarrow with never flat tires. The handles are metal too, which has eliminated the splinters from the wooden handles because I don't always wear gloves. Load capacity isn't as large but the rugged wheels makes up for it. Having it double as a dolly is helpful when I'm moving 50 lb bags of chicken feed to storage bins and want to move 4 bags at a time.
Yes! Love piles of chips. I didn't get to choose the location for our current huge chip pile, because it came from two big trees we had taken down. The tree guys chipped them right there, about 100 yards uphill from the garden. So yeah, it's a workout to shuttle barrowloads down to where I'm using them. After 8 or 10 loads I feel like I've done an interval workout plus lifted weights. Rah! No need to go to the gym right now, but for future chip drops I'll definitely ask them to drop the load closer to where I'm using them.
Funny you mention the mushrooms @Indio. I've been noticing how much the wild mushrooms LOVE the chip pile. I've been meaning to try growing mushrooms for years and just haven't gotten to it. Now I know how to start! Pile of wood chips.
Yep, we have a never-flat wheel on our barrow too. Those are good. I like the idea of metal handles. I almost always have gloves on while working (being careful because we have lots of little copperheads here and a couple spiders of concern) but once in a while I forget and grab the barrow bare-handed. Those big dagger-like splinters from the wooden handles really suck. So I'm adding metal handles to my barrow wish list. Thanks!
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Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
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Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
They are often available on craigslist. But the way that seems to work the best is to call some arborists and get on their list. The upside is that it is free delivery. The downside are that the delivery is on the arborist's schedule, and when they deliver you get the whole truck load. Typically about 10 yards.
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Our city offers wood mulch for free/cheap if you go pick it up from the brush processing center. They offer up to 30 gallons free per trip, but they're only open during business hours which is kind of a pain (not a problem if you're FIRE I suppose!), but for the past few weeks my wife has been stopping by and filling up 30 gallons worth of rubbermaid bins most mornings on her way to work that we then spread around in the afternoon.
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Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
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Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
Cool site!! I just signed up for a drop!
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Cool site!! I just signed up for a drop!
Good luck! :) It's definitely satisfying! There's always a lot of talk in the garden groups about it around here, who got it, how fast, how the different "options" impact the speed (I did chips only, no logs, which apparently can be giant). It's really variable how fast you might see a drop. Some folks get one almost immediately and some wait and wait. How many companies are signed up, and how many people are signed up at the time, plus time of year (how much tree trimming activity there is) definitely make a big impact! The first time I signed up mid summer and I didn't see anything (and then I took myself off the list because I was going away). The following year I signed up in the fall and I got one within a week.
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If ChipDrop isn't an option for whatever reason, as @Telecaster said above, you can also call the tree trimming services directly. The guys who took our trees down had a huge sign on the side of their truck that said "Call us for free wood chips, delivered."
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If a whole truckload is too much, look at your power company. Mine has several places where you can pick up free woodchips. Many municipalities in my area do this as well. I can’t handle a full truckload here but I can fit 2/3 cuyd in my van between various totes and buckets.
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Dealing with squash vine borer already. I think we'll have one smaller Cinderella pumpkin, but the SVB get me every year. I've tried mixing cucumber and pumpkin this year as I've read that might help, but we'll see. I've performed surgery on almost all the stand alone pumpkins.
What do others do for this?
Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
I've used Chip Drop with success, but it took a long time to get my first delivery. I opted to do a donation, too, not just to be kind, but also assuming it would help get a delivery sooner.
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Where do you folks get free wood chips? I need some more.
There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
I've used Chip Drop with success, but it took a long time to get my first delivery. I opted to do a donation, too, not just to be kind, but also assuming it would help get a delivery sooner.
Weirdly, the first time I signed up (when I did not get a drop) I included a donation. The second time (when I *did* get a drop) I was lazy and did not, and I got one in about a week! Really luck of the draw in my area, I think.
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Love ChipDrop but next year I will specify “no eucalyptus” and “no bamboo.” We got eucalyptus and that’s fine with me the initial smell gave our poor neighbor an serious allergic reaction. We bought a huge tarp to cover the pile and that seemed to help. It’s now composted down enough that there’s no more smell. We are still moving loads tho. We are very slow I guess!
Harvested rhubarb and a lemon for a homemade fruit tart—it came out great!
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So many great ideas here. Just joining and loving it!!
I tried my hand at tomato sprouting a few months ago, but my cats ate the seedlings. Sad day, that was. I don’t think they would’ve survived in the ground, anyway—they were super leggy from lack of light. Time to get some grow lights and plan for the fall veggies!
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So many great ideas here. Just joining and loving it!!
I tried my hand at tomato sprouting a few months ago, but my cats ate the seedlings. Sad day, that was. I don’t think they would’ve survived in the ground, anyway—they were super leggy from lack of light. Time to get some grow lights and plan for the fall veggies!
Tomato leaves and stems are somewhat toxic, so I hope your cat doesn't get too greedy. Tomatoes will make roots along buried stems, so all you have to do is take off any leaves that will be buried, and plant those leggy stems deep.
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@RetiredAt63 Thanks so much for the tip!! I’ll definitely try that!!
Found out about the toxicity of tomato plants after the cats got to them and removed the pot immediately—fortunately, there were very few small seedlings at that point. No ill effects observed thus far, and it’s been a good 4 months! 👌
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@RetiredAt63 Thanks so much for the tip!! I’ll definitely try that!!
Found out about the toxicity of tomato plants after the cats got to them and removed the pot immediately—fortunately, there were very few small seedlings at that point. No ill effects observed thus far, and it’s been a good 4 months! 👌
The toxins are glycoalkaloids, so if anything were to happen it would be within hours or days.
Most of us who grow our tomatoes from seed end up with leggy tomatoes, because even grow lights are not the equivalent of a greenhouse. But since it is good for the plants to have more roots, it works out just fine.
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. . . I almost always have gloves on while working (being careful because we have lots of little copperheads here and a couple spiders of concern) . . .
Aaand right on cue, today we found that a big female black widow had built her web and strung her egg sac on the side of one of our ladders. Right where you might grab it to move it. From what I read, a bite is not a huge deal (deaths are super rare) but they are painful as hell. Gloves, my friends. Gloves.
I like spiders, so it was really neat to get such a close up look.
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Anyone have suggestions for fresh basil and preserving it? I am going to have a lot coming in and I plan to make some pesto and fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But, I think I would like to try some other things and not waste it. I really don't want to dry it. Are there any freezer methods other than pesto you know of?
Last year when I grew too much basil, I froze some of the leaves in a layer on a sheet pan and then stored them in a plastic freezer bag. Now, I can just take out as many as I need, though they'll have to go into cooked dishes, as they will be soft when thawed. For the oodles of pesto that I made, I froze it in ice cube trays and then transferred to another freezer bag, which was also great for having handy portion sizes available. I made some cubes of just basil and olive oil the same way, but I like pesto so much that I normally just toss them into everything.
For an unsolicited fun fact, you can make vegan pesto by using nutritional yeast instead of cheese!
Don't the leaves turn black by putting them directly in the freezer?
Also, anyone have any idea what to do with huge amounts of lettuce? I belong to a CSA and I have been getting a lot of different types of lettuce. Much more than I can use up in a week till I get my next basket. I have also been getting kale and am trying to eat as much as possible but just getting to be too much. Can it be air fried or roasted or sautéed? HELP! LOL! I have had to toss a lot of it out and I really hate that!
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Anyone have suggestions for fresh basil and preserving it? I am going to have a lot coming in and I plan to make some pesto and fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. But, I think I would like to try some other things and not waste it. I really don't want to dry it. Are there any freezer methods other than pesto you know of?
Last year when I grew too much basil, I froze some of the leaves in a layer on a sheet pan and then stored them in a plastic freezer bag. Now, I can just take out as many as I need, though they'll have to go into cooked dishes, as they will be soft when thawed. For the oodles of pesto that I made, I froze it in ice cube trays and then transferred to another freezer bag, which was also great for having handy portion sizes available. I made some cubes of just basil and olive oil the same way, but I like pesto so much that I normally just toss them into everything.
For an unsolicited fun fact, you can make vegan pesto by using nutritional yeast instead of cheese!
Don't the leaves turn black by putting them directly in the freezer?
Also, anyone have any idea what to do with huge amounts of lettuce? I belong to a CSA and I have been getting a lot of different types of lettuce. Much more than I can use up in a week till I get my next basket. I have also been getting kale and am trying to eat as much as possible but just getting to be too much. Can it be air fried or roasted or sautéed? HELP! LOL! I have had to toss a lot of it out and I really hate that!
Kale can certainly be sauteed or air fried - kale chips were quite popular for a while there. I don't recommend it with lettuce, though. I've never found a good way to cook lettuce, it really is best fresh. Supposedly you can cook with it, though - a quick search turns up grilling and stir-fry as possible options.
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Yes, you can totally saute kale -- it makes a great side dish or ingredient in omelets or the like. I just ate some today for breakfast as a side, with salt and vinegar.
You can also freeze it (either blanch first, or just stick it in the way it is in freezer bags, squeezing the air out). And you can make kale chips in the oven (olive oil and salt). Super delicious. It takes a little practice to get the temperature right so they get crisp but don't turn black. And it's dependent on your particular oven.
I've never air dried or used a dehydrator on kale, but I imagine that would work too.
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Thanks @Trifele We're having a fun time with it. I have day dreams that it will one day look as clean and well kept as Monty Don's but let's be honest - it's his fulltime job and he's had over 25 years on that plot.
Spotted the dreaded squash vine borer in the pumpkin patch. I covered the base stalks of all the pumpkins so they now look like the tin foil hat club. Not sure if that trick is an old wives tale though. Anyone else had luck deterring borers?
I somehow missed this and posted about my SVB issues, too. I'm having the same problem and I tried the tin foil, too. We'll see what happens.
I have read a lot about this over the years and am trying a few things. I plant C. Moschata varieties (and don't really care if/when they cross), but they also get chomped. They do survive better, but SVB will still lay eggs and your plants can be stunted or die, especially if you have a long breeding season. Some people have found success covering their plants until after the breeding season. Beyond that, I have read that planting cukes and pumpkin intermixed can be helpful, but this is my first year trying it. If I remember, I'll report back. Other things I've read about - using yellow bowls with soapy water near the pumpkin plant in hopes of catching them (no idea how well this really works), BT injected into stems can kill the larvae, and using a trap crop like Hubbard. SVB love Hubbard and will usually go for that plant above all others. The problem arises when that plant has died from the infestation and SVB are still laying eggs in your area.
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Suggestions for what to do with too much thyme? A few weeks ago I snipped off probably about 1/4 of the bush and dried it. I just took all the leaves off the stems and I have a full half-pint jar of it. I don't eat THAT much thyme! And the thing just keeps growing and growing and getting bigger.
Anyone have vegetarian recipes that use up a lot of it?
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Suggestions for what to do with too much thyme? A few weeks ago I snipped off probably about 1/4 of the bush and dried it. I just took all the leaves off the stems and I have a full half-pint jar of it. I don't eat THAT much thyme! And the thing just keeps growing and growing and getting bigger.
Anyone have vegetarian recipes that use up a lot of it?
What about making gifts? Dried, herb salt, etc.
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Spotted several large areas of cracked soil (sign of low organic matter) in the beds I was weeding today. These beds were last year’s potato beds, so lots of soil disturbance when I dug the potatoes.
Really poor soil tilth, much worse than the rest of the garden despite LOTS of organic matter being piled on them to hill the potatoes up last year. (This is one reason I’m trying the stacking box method for potatoes this year - it’s essentially a final “turning” of compost before using it on the garden, not a destruction of valuable fungal networks in the permanent beds.)
Side dressed after the picture with fresh rabbit manure to put some armor back on the soil. Hopefully the urine content isn’t too high and burns the plants.
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Came back after a week vacation. Asparagus (planted last year) is a mess of ferns about 4-5 feet high. Yay! Going to be able to take a bunch of it next year I think. It seems to be doing just fine...
Tomatoes mostly look good. Minimal signs of blight so far. Some of them grew way too fast to be able to route them all through the cages. Going to have to prune them a bit more aggressively than I would prefer but that's ok. Peppers looking better than I expected, hopefully we can get more of those from seed next year. We had to buy a bunch of the cheapo ones since ours mostly didn't sprout this year...
And omg so many volunteer tomatillos. We had I think two plants last year. And there are "weed" tomatillos everywhere in the garden.
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Came back after a week vacation. Asparagus (planted last year) is a mess of ferns about 4-5 feet high. Yay! Going to be able to take a bunch of it next year I think. It seems to be doing just fine...
Tomatoes mostly look good. Minimal signs of blight so far. Some of them grew way too fast to be able to route them all through the cages. Going to have to prune them a bit more aggressively than I would prefer but that's ok. Peppers looking better than I expected, hopefully we can get more of those from seed next year. We had to buy a bunch of the cheapo ones since ours mostly didn't sprout this year...
And omg so many volunteer tomatillos. We had I think two plants last year. And there are "weed" tomatillos everywhere in the garden.
Asparagus - just watch for the asparagus beetle. Old-timer practice was burning the ferns in late fall or spring to destroy the eggs but I think disposing them in yard waste collection is sufficient. There’s probably some sort of organic spray to control them too.
Volunteer tomatillo - I’ve never grown them, but have grown ground cherries which are in the same genus and equally prolific about seeding themselves.
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SVB update: Noticed some wilted leaves and frass on a few stems. It looks like the tin foil did keep them off the main trunk, but a few found their way in further along the vine. I removed the wilted leaves and cut the stem connections with the frass then pulled out the larvae and squashed them. The rest of the plant is still really healthy so hopefully with frequent inspections and a little plant surgery I'll be able to head off the problem. Gross but effective as long as there's not too many.
Our tomato vines are taller than I am so I have to bring a stool into the garden to keep up with sucker removal. We have a ton of green tomatoes but only a few yellows so far. I suspect the squirrels may be getting curious and helping themselves. Really excited to see them start to ripen in the next week or two.
One of the deer got over my makeshift gate and ate the top off every pepper and trimmed the chukes. They all seem to be recovering fine, but it's accelerated our plans to expand the deer fence (and moved getting around to making a real garden gate to the top of the to do list). I wanted to turn that entire section of the yard into a cottage flower garden around the vegg patch, but I think we're going to have to fence the whole thing first. I'm debating what type to go with since I'm not sure DH is ok with a full height deer fence around that much of the front yard. I wish we had enough saplings to do a wattle/woven fence because I love the look of them on Gardener's World. Our tentative plan so far is a dark colored picket fence and some large plantings of deer friendly plants on the other side of the yard near the woods. Anyone know hardy fast growing east coast natives that deer like? Maybe honeysuckle? We have at least two fawns that use the sideyard as a bed down spot so we're assuming they're not going to ignore our yard anytime soon.
We decided we didn't like ground cherries because of their odd tomato pineapple cross flavor. I'm going to rip them all out and give the butternut squash more room to sprawl. I had high hopes for another fruit-like option but it was just too odd a combo. Has anyone else tried them? I think next year we'll try blueberry bushes instead.
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@coffeefueled yeah, I couldn’t do the flavor of ground cherries either.
The only fruits I’ve been successful at growing have been raspberries (super easy), strawberries (taking a break this year and will build some new beds with hinged cages for a roof to critter proof them) and elderberries (really more of a medicinal).
I have read that deer don’t like to deal with fences that are spaced close to one another. So some folks do a fence, then a few feet inside of it, another fence/trellis. They have bad depth perception and can’t judge the jump. But, as with all “read it on the Internet” stuff, take with a lump of salt.
Can you do electric? You can train them to hot wire by putting aluminum foil strips with a little bit of peanut butter to attract them. They come up to sniff, then bam! high voltage right on the nose. Again, I’ve heard that, haven’t done it myself (deer so far haven’t penetrated into my neighborhood, a bit too far from a green belt I think), though I heard it from a credible source.
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I loved the ground cherries that I grew 2 years ago. The only pain is that you have to wait until they fall off the plant- they aren’t ripe until then.
I mostly stick with perennial fruits. I think the raspberry bushes hav been in the ground for 3 years. It’s a nice size bush- doesn’t grow more than maybe 2 and a half feet. Most of the berries occur just under that height so easy to harvest too. Still spreads a bit- but I only put one bush in a 2’x4’ bed so I’ve been pulling up the new plants that pop out of the bed and putting them into the bed. Eventually I might replace my tall cane raspberries with the bushes.
I’ve had honey berry bushes in the ground for about 7 years and have gotten....zero honey berries. They really took off in growth this year so I’ll give them another year. They were wee sticks when I got them.
I planted an issai kiwi this year. I put it on the south end of the chicken run. The roof structure goes from 6’ to 12’ from the front side to the back which gives the vines plenty of growth areas. They are just starting to take off.
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@Cgbg I’ve had honeyberries for a few years. Got a small handful one year of tiny berries and nothing since. I think I’m going to rip them out, my patience is over.
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A few years ago I sold my Mom's home after she died. She had planted a thornless blackberry bush. It took off and was quite huge. It produced gorgeous huge blackberries as big as a thumb. The people who bought the house cut it down. Later on my spouse spoke with the son and told him about the blackberries. The JERKS couldn't wait one season to see what it might be. They thought it was a wild bush and just got rid of it. STUPID! This house also came with a custom awning for the deck with custom framework. The frame and awning probably cost around $6,000 or more. I had put the awning in storage for them and paid for it so it would go up the following spring at no cost to them. Once fall came, they didn't have it professionally taken down and stored. I am assuming they took it down and put in the shed outside. And, the shed most likely had mice that chewed it up during the winter months and ruined it. Well, instead of having another custom awning made, they just tore down the frame. OMG! The frame had to be more than $3,000. The deck gets blistering hot. Oh well, you can't fix stupid. A new awning might have cost $1600. Yes, a lot of money but they seemed to like the awning while they had it.
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There is deer fencing that is almost invisible - you can get easy to install posts for it (not so invisible) or attach it to trees. Comes in 5' and 7' heights.
https://deerfencecanada.com/
When I lived in a deer area my fence my wire fence had electric wire, because of groundhogs, and it worked for the deer too. So did sticking dog fur in the wire fence spaces.
I had 4 small red peppers for dinner last night, picked from my plants that are in decorative pots. Plants in the ground have tiny peppers, they will not be ripe for quite a while.
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* Planted out four seedlings; I’ll take a fifth to my son’s school tomorrow in hopes that they can grow it in their school garden.
* Harvested some sorrel and curly dock leaves for a green smoothie.
* Cut back the overgrown oregano and the dead thyme and put in three more rosemary starts. Watered those and the pineapples, succulents and the staghorn fern.
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There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
Cool site!! I just signed up for a drop!
I got my drop today! Turns out it was from the arborist I typically use for me trees.
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There's also Chip Drop (getchipdrop.com) available in some areas, if you are like me and prefer not to talk to people. :P I got mine this way. Paid nothing.
Cool site!! I just signed up for a drop!
I got my drop today! Turns out it was from the arborist I typically use for me trees.
It’s such an awesome service. After seeing the Back to Eden film I feel like ChipDrop is giving away free money, LOL.
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Our big slicer tomatoes are here! They're nothing special, just Better Boy plants I bought, but wow they taste good. I have 8 plants in the ground and they are loaded. We're getting 6-10 tomatoes every day. We're making huge batches of gazpacho using our own tomatoes, peppers, and cukes. Mmmm. Liquid summer.
Gazpacho
2 cucumbers, halved and seeded, but not peeled
2-3 bell peppers, cored and seeded
4-8 tomatoes
1 red onion
3-6 garlic cloves, optional
4-6 cups tomato juice [If you use V8 or something similar, use the low sodium version AND also reduce or eliminate the salt you add, since the juice has salt]
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste [we use about a teaspoon if the tomato juice we used had any salt in it, otherwise 2 tsp]
1 teaspoon black pepper
Roughly chop the cucumbers, bell peppers, tomatoes, and red onions into 1-inch cubes. Put each vegetable separately into a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until it is coarsely chopped. Don't overprocess.
After each vegetable is chopped, combine them in a large bowl and add the garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix well and chill before serving. The longer gazpacho sits, the more the flavors develop. It's fabulous after sitting in the fridge overnight, and still good for days after that.
This recipe (loosely borrowed from the Barefoot Contessa) is so simple, and endlessly flexible. Add or leave out whatever you want, and experiment to get the right taste. If you don't have any tomato juice on hand, you can just make it with more tomatoes, by processing some of them into juice.
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Weird year - May was more cool and wet than usual, but it seems like the last several weeks have been ideal for warm weather crops. However, I have pretty poor fruit set, and nothing anywhere near ripe on my tomatoes. The eggplants seem to have set fruit, but they aren't growing like, at all. Even the Slim Jims, which should be early and prolific. The broccoli just started to create heads, then each one would bolt. So far only one summer squash. Most of my winter squash died, but the melon vines are sprawling and looking great. At least the peppers seem to be doing well, I'm harvesting garlic and I have a lot of volunteer fennel that the pollinators will be enjoying as it starts to bloom.
I was really hoping for better after redoing beds and bringing in so much new manure last fall, but oh well.
There is some vacant area where the squash vines should be, so I'm going to start some cauliflower and broccoli for a fall crop and hope for better results.
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I went out of town for a few days and came back to TONS of ripe raspberries. Yum! Also got a handful of sungolds and a handful of Red Robin cherries (TINY dwarf plant but tasty tomatoes!). The hanging basket continues to look like shit and continues to pump out tomatoes, I've gotten close to 70 so far, I think?
This part sucks. A week or so ago my community garden was notified by the property owner we rent from that we're not allowed to have the water hooked up at all times any more because it is a safety hazard. (Which, they have a point, the hose goes across a public sidewalk and taps into the city water hookup that's there but we're careful to tape down the hose and it has been like this for NINE YEARS so why is this suddenly a thing? Why did the city let us do this in the first place if this was a liability? And no, no one got injured or anything.) So now we have a rota for taking turns filling the troughs and all the watering cans, because apparently it's OK for the water to be on if "official" garden staff is there? They're working with the alderman on a way to get it hooked up differently so we can water our gardens in the heat.
So, that's a pain in the ass, but, the part that REALLY gets me is, apparently the garden's landlord also complained that the garden looks "junky." Because we have things like trellises and support poles in our garden beds, which are, y'know, NECESSARY for plants, and I'm sorry, when was I and my garden suddenly teleported to fucking stepford suburbia where folks like to tell other folks what they're allowed to put in their gardens? (I live in a very liberal, live-and-let-live neighborhood in Chicago where things like growing one's own food and front yards full of pollinator plants instead of grass are normal. This is not the sort of place where one's HOA is going to have palpitations if you are growing vegetables on your property or anything).
I looked around the garden earlier today and I saw.... garden beds. Some with handmade wooden supports. Most with tomato cages. Many, including mine, with poles securing the bunny-proof fences (necessary as we have bunny problems in there). I guess I don't see what the problem is. We're doing what our plants need.
Reading between the lines, I think it's fairly likely they're not going to let us have the site for our garden anymore, which would suck because it's walkable for me and I don't want to switch sites and get on the train every time I have to tend the garden (or have to get zipcars to haul larger stuff like bags of compost). This all sucks.
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Could you dig out beneath the sidewalk enough to put in a 3 inch pipe and run the hose through that to the hookup?
Sorry, that sucks. Does sound like the property landlord has traditional versions of property values on the brain and doesn't realize what a positive it is for the community. I hope they don't shut you down. When I used to live in Arlington, Va the waiting list to join one of the community gardens was years long. It took me 5 years to get a call, but by that time I had moved.
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Could you dig out beneath the sidewalk enough to put in a 3 inch pipe and run the hose through that to the hookup?
That's the plan; our garden organizers are working on getting quotes from contractors and drawn-up plans, which apparently are necessary for the permit. We've been asked to contact the alderman (who is also my alderman, I live in the same ward as the garden) to voice support for this plan, so I did that today.
It's the "junky" criticism that is really making me angry, honestly. The water thing, OK, yes, that's a safety issue and when I first started gardening here even I looked at that and thought, "huh, that's OK with the city? All right, then!" . But to comment on the aesthetics of a community garden whose function is to grow food (oh, did I mention that we also have charity garden beds and donate literally hundreds of pounds of produce to the local food pantry? Yeah) just seems so tone deaf to me.
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@Tris Prior good luck! On the water pipe, maybe it took that long for someone to complain? Weird.
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So I’m starting a potentially very interesting project. I’m calling it the Milwaukee Garden Co-op. The idea is to give gardeners with surplus produce a way to market produce (either free, fixed price, or pay what you can) to neighbors. It’s also a place for gardeners seeking more space to connect with neighbors offering space. I’m also offering mentorship for people learning gardening.
I’m also wanting to do this as a way to give my kids some very early work experience before they’re old enough to apply for more conventional teenager jobs.
Not sure if I’ll get more people than just myself selling and mentoring but so far I’ve been selling on a “pay what you can” (with free as an option) basis and I’m now backordered on green beans, lol. Have some interest in rhubarb (both stalks and divisions) and I’ll be selling garlic when I harvest it this week.
Met with a neighbor that should be a great fit developing a good chunk of his yard into garden space. A few other people offered me space as well, but he offered the most space, and it turned out even better than I thought. We’re going to start with the back yard but he’s open to doing at least some of the front yard as well. He’s offered to pay for all the materials, wants to help do some of the work, and he owns a bar/liquor store so he’s got access to oodles of cardboard. Super cool guy, we talked for quite a while.
Did some brief measuring and brainstorming with him, should be able to fit 10 or more 4x8 beds into his backyard. I think between that, whatever he’s comfortable allowing me have in the front yard, and further optimization of my own garden I’ve got a nice setup for next season.
If I have the time to get things started soon enough, I can probably eke a bit of production out of his yard yet this year.
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Wow, that sounds like a cool project @Buntastic !
@Tris Prior I hope the garden landlord relents. In my mind, a "junky" garden would be one with dead plants and overgrown weeds, not homemade plant supports. Geeze.
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@horsepoor I mean, to be fair, there are a few plots like that (out of.... I don't even know, maybe 150 plots total?). There are always some folks who give up midseason. Usually the garden org is pretty good about giving obviously unplanted plots away to people on the long waiting list. And, y'know, there are going to be a whole lot of dead plants if the water situation doesn't get sorted and/or we don't get some rain....
It seems, though, that the complaint is about the trellises and supports specifically. :(
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@Tris Prior -- That is really crummy, and I hope that gets sorted soon. I mean, come on, supports are part of a garden.
@Buntastic -- that sounds really, really cool. Love it.
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As far as trellis's and supports, could someone be in charge of that to put in 'matching' materials? Like all trellis's be a maximum of 6 feet tall, using galvanized poles and green plastic trellis material. Just a thought to make it more uniform and more appealing to the eye. Not criticizing, just offering a suggestion to make the gardens more esthetic. Rather than lose out on a place to garden, maybe you could talk to some of the other gardeners to come up with a plan and then present it to the land owner. If you all work together, everyone will be happy.
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Heard this on the radio today -- I thought my fellow gardeners could appreciate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl3sLHDKnog
:)
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As far as trellis's and supports, could someone be in charge of that to put in 'matching' materials? Like all trellis's be a maximum of 6 feet tall, using galvanized poles and green plastic trellis material. Just a thought to make it more uniform and more appealing to the eye. Not criticizing, just offering a suggestion to make the gardens more esthetic. Rather than lose out on a place to garden, maybe you could talk to some of the other gardeners to come up with a plan and then present it to the land owner. If you all work together, everyone will be happy.
The garden org is a nonprofit that is constantly hurting for money - dealing with the water situation by running a channel under the sidewalk is going to be hard for them to afford. So we would each have to buy that stuff for ourselves.... and considering that the plot rental already cost me $85, and we' literally just get the plot and the water and the initial soil (which has been there for years and in my experience needs a lot of amending with stuff we provide), and we have to provide all plants, fertilizer, literally everything else the plot needs for ourselves, I know I would have a hard time suddenly coming up with the cash to replace all of my stuff with matchy-matchy on top of that. And I'm sure I'm not the only one.
It's a good idea, though. I think it'd help to know exactly what the property owner is objecting to (lack of uniformity? The DIY nature of some handbuilt trellises? He doesn't like garden gnomes or flamingoes which live in some plots?). We haven't actually been told yet, it's been "let's solve the water thing first and then deal with the aesthetics issue."
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This year’s garlic harvest gave me an overflowing wheelbarrow from 4 46”x92” beds. Mostly medium to large bulbs, quite happy with it considering I really intensified the spacing (rows about 8” apart, cloves planted about 3” apart in row).
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This year’s garlic harvest gave me an overflowing wheelbarrow from 4 46”x92” beds. Mostly medium to large bulbs, quite happy with it considering I really intensified the spacing (rows about 8” apart, cloves planted about 3” apart in row).
Mine are on an 8"x 8" spacing - I hope I can harvest some before I move. It will be interesting to see how well they did.
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This year’s garlic harvest gave me an overflowing wheelbarrow from 4 46”x92” beds. Mostly medium to large bulbs, quite happy with it considering I really intensified the spacing (rows about 8” apart, cloves planted about 3” apart in row).
Mine are on an 8"x 8" spacing - I hope I can harvest some before I move. It will be interesting to see how well they did.
You can always pull early if need be. They will be smaller than they could have been but should cure just fine.
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This year’s garlic harvest gave me an overflowing wheelbarrow from 4 46”x92” beds. Mostly medium to large bulbs, quite happy with it considering I really intensified the spacing (rows about 8” apart, cloves planted about 3” apart in row).
Mine are on an 8"x 8" spacing - I hope I can harvest some before I move. It will be interesting to see how well they did.
You can always pull early if need be. They will be smaller than they could have been but should cure just fine.
Good to know. I will pull the ones that look closest to mature the day before closing. I'll be nice and leave some for the new owners. ;-)
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This year’s garlic harvest gave me an overflowing wheelbarrow from 4 46”x92” beds. Mostly medium to large bulbs, quite happy with it considering I really intensified the spacing (rows about 8” apart, cloves planted about 3” apart in row).
Mine are on an 8"x 8" spacing - I hope I can harvest some before I move. It will be interesting to see how well they did.
You can always pull early if need be. They will be smaller than they could have been but should cure just fine.
Good to know. I will pull the ones that look closest to mature the day before closing. I'll be nice and leave some for the new owners. ;-)
Can always dig your fingers around the stem and judge the size of the bulb before pulling, just like with carrots.
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Getting a good size handful of raspberries daily! And they are mostly cosmetically perfect. So pretty. And tasty!
These are mostly Canby, and the purple ones are Purple Brandywine which are just starting to ripen.
I also have a Raspberry Shortcake in the community garden that's bearing well but I ate all of those before I took a pic :P
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Love fresh raspberries! I have Joan J (thornless) here, and a small amount of Caroline. Both are double bearing varieties.
Not getting great yields on the summer crop, bit less than a pint a day. Last year we were getting 1-2 quarts. But there’s a TON of primocanes that look super healthy, so our fall crop might be the big one this year.
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Heat index is expected to be at 111 degrees on Sunday. In my lifetime, can't ever recall it getting above 102 or 103. This is indeedclimate change.
With the remnants of Hurrican Barry blowing through town, the weeds are loving the heat and water, but so are the veg. I've got loads of bush and pole beans ready for picking each day. The toms are getting larger but still nothing ripe enough to pick. Gotten a handful of bell peppers and lots of herbs. We are heading off on a bucket list vacation just when everything is going to start ripening. Unfortunately, planning trips around school vacations only left me with one option.
@Trifele I love gazpacho. I call it liquid salad. A few years ago, I tried an andalusian gazpacho from epicurious.com. It's very similar to the one you posted with the addition of hard boiled egg mashed with garlic and small breadcrumbs. It's been my go to recipe ever since I made it.
Thanks everyone for the tips about your favorite garden tools. I've been looking to upgrade my supplies at yard/tag/estate sales. Hoping to stumble across that vintage tool that isn't sold in box stores.
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My favorite garden tools LOOK like heirlooms but are made by a guy in Montana. IMHO the coolest one is this little hoe that’s upcycled from an old tractor sickle attachment.
https://fisherblacksmithing.com/garden-tools/recycled-sickle-section-hand-hoe/
I’ve had mine for several years now and it always makes me happy to handle them.
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That's a beautiful hand hoe @jengod! It has such personality; it looks like it could talk.
Here's my bumper picking of slicer tomatoes today. Time for more gazpacho!
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My favorite garden tools LOOK like heirlooms but are made by a guy in Montana. IMHO the coolest one is this little hoe that’s upcycled from an old tractor sickle attachment.
https://fisherblacksmithing.com/garden-tools/recycled-sickle-section-hand-hoe/
I’ve had mine for several years now and it always makes me happy to handle them.
I’m eyeing the crevice tool because I should keep my pavement cracks up a bit nicer than I do.
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My favorite garden tools LOOK like heirlooms but are made by a guy in Montana. IMHO the coolest one is this little hoe that’s upcycled from an old tractor sickle attachment.
https://fisherblacksmithing.com/garden-tools/recycled-sickle-section-hand-hoe/
I’ve had mine for several years now and it always makes me happy to handle them.
I’m eyeing the crevice tool because I should keep my pavement cracks up a bit nicer than I do.
The cultivator looks medieval -- very cool
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Harvesting is kicking it up a notch - with great pickings of shelling peas and snow peas and other stuff
I am noticing one tomato with blossom end rot - damn.
Neighbour's dog is jumping into my garden to bury things - damn. This means the seed portion of the fennel experiment is a bust. (the seedling portion of the experiment is coming along)
I ended up planting potatoes and cukes in my Dad's garden. They are coming along nicely Heat is supposed to break tomorrow so we will go out there and tend them. Cukes are not doing well in my city bed.
Before the heat was unbearable, I planted more carrots and beets. First catch of carrots was really spotty. And you can never have too many beets.
Thursday the kids and the Hubs went out there and picked 3 quarts of raspberries. The crop is just amazing this year.
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Not too shabby for 2 hours work. First remote garden I’ve had in a couple years, this time just a mile or so away. Property owner is very excited, loves the design, wants to reimburse me for the materials, wants to learn. Seems like a great fit. We may eventually expand into the front yard.
I am going to fix that janky side with the spliced together boards. The design came together a bit different and I didn’t have the right length board, so I test fit with some scrap pieces to see how I liked the look.
I build my beds mostly with 2x6x92 studs, which are the most cost effective piece of lumber I’ve found in my area at just a bit over $3 each. (Contrast that with full 96” 2x6 lumber at over $5 a board.) For this design to fit nicely around the patio I did use a couple cut down 10’ boards and I think that janky side needs a 12’ board.
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I've been off-forum for a month or so and am now in the process is catching up on the various threads that I follow. It's wonderful to see the forum gardeners well into the food-growing swing of things.
As for my own garden patch I'm pretty much ready to proclaim this my best season yet. Whether it's been the slightly cooler and wetter start to Summer than has been typical since I started this hobby 5 years ago (in conjunction with FIRE), or the fact that I HEAPED on the seaweed onto my beds in the Fall....or perhaps because I'm just getting better at this...the garden has just been amazing. It has been an incredible experience to share daily harvests with family and friends. And much to my surprise word of my forest garden beneath a grand redwood tree has started to trickle out on my little island....
Sadly, peas are now done and I regret not planting another crop - I have a forum friend visiting and she had to make due with munching on the slightly bitter specimens that remained. The writing is on the wall for my last lettuce patch as well, but everything else, including some new (to my garden) crops, is on the ascendancy. Heat loving crops are a bit behind where I'd like, but this is not uncommon in the PNW. And this years Summer has been somewhat slow to warm up compared to the past several.
Wide shot as things stand as of now. My potato "bin" in the immediate foreground is ready to harvest...and I've been pulling the garlic beside it as required...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48319467717_4837696373_c.jpg)
It's a tough call as to what crop rises to new heights in a homegrown garden vs. THE STORE...but beets have to be right up there. Agreed, fellow gardeners? What else shines for y'all in the home garden?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48303318076_180f6931cb_c.jpg)
Shout out to @NinetyFour for showing off the beety bounty. :)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48331291817_65dc354aab_c.jpg)
I've never had a squash harvest like this year. I have four varieties planted within that tangle of squash. In hindsight, I should have planted three plants there as they are bit a bit crowded.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48358938032_b2201b552f_c.jpg)
Here a couple of spaghetti squash varieties. Cut one in half, clean out the seeds and pulp, brush lightly with olive oil, season lightly with salt and pepper and cook at 375F in the oven for 45 minutes. Fluff up the insides with a fork for some delicious veggie "noodles".
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48358798556_b14a7c8023_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48376931802_4719fd14a3_c.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48395771337_19a56ddf02_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2gAp8AU)
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Weird year - May was more cool and wet than usual, but it seems like the last several weeks have been ideal for warm weather crops. However, I have pretty poor fruit set, and nothing anywhere near ripe on my tomatoes. The eggplants seem to have set fruit, but they aren't growing like, at all. Even the Slim Jims, which should be early and prolific. The broccoli just started to create heads, then each one would bolt. So far only one summer squash. Most of my winter squash died, but the melon vines are sprawling and looking great. At least the peppers seem to be doing well, I'm harvesting garlic and I have a lot of volunteer fennel that the pollinators will be enjoying as it starts to bloom.
I was really hoping for better after redoing beds and bringing in so much new manure last fall, but oh well.
There is some vacant area where the squash vines should be, so I'm going to start some cauliflower and broccoli for a fall crop and hope for better results.
This is my experience too. May and early June were awfully cool and wet and then we went really hot and dry. We managed a few nice heads of romaine and then they bolted over night. We got our first tomato today (an early girl, on July 21!) and our first summer squash. On the other hand, I've got several beautiful rainbow chard which I've never had luck with in the past.
Our fall squash look decent but most of our melons died and we have one puny watermelon vine left. Even my basil is surprisingly puny for late July. Pole beans doing well, but bush beans somehow kept getting washed out in the rain, so only about a third of the plants eventually popped up.
This is only our third summer with a large community plot but it is definitely totally different than the previous two years.
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I'm suddenly getting some tomatoes too! The black cherries and San Marzanos, with Pink Bumblebee cherry not too far behind. The rest are taking their sweet time.
Over the last few days I've brought in about 8# of garlic, 20# of potatoes, a fair amount of carrots, some leeks, zucchini, a few of the skinny eggplants, and peppers. My Shishito pepper plants are loaded, so we'll be eating lots of those. And I have quite a few tomatillos. Need to figure out something to use them for other than salsa and chile verde. Pretty soon I think I'll pull out one of the plants to stop the pollination because, like, how many tomatillos can a person even eat? Looking forward to getting some eggplant and okra soon.
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Great pictures as always @Jon_Snow! Those are some handsome beets and squash. I was thinking about doing spaghetti squash next year (along with my favorite -- Delicata) and you have me convinced!
Things are going great here too. Still harvesting tomatoes, beans, cukes, potatoes, and carrots. Looks like the summer squash and zucchini are done. I brought in about 10 pounds of potatoes yesterday -- first harvest -- and boy are they tasty. It's been a while since I had a potato straight from the garden, un"cured". I sliced them into chips about 1/4" wide and sauted them in olive oil and put a little salt on. We had them with some fish for dinner. Yum!
Up today -- pulling up the rest of the carrots from the spring planting, and getting ready for the fall planting. In a couple weeks I'll be planting carrots, chard, and kale. It was an excellent year for carrots, so going back for round 2. It was a decent but not great year for the greens. I got only two good pickings before the cabbage moths got the upper hand. Hoping the fall will be better. I like it when the greens last for months and you can cut-and-come-again.
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Season is going reasonably well, though I’m regretting giving my dad so much of my compost. I really should have put it on my garden, I’m realizing as I’m out harvesting daily now just how low some of the raised beds have gotten. Ah well :)
Summer raspberries are finishing up, first green fall raspberries are already forming.
First planting of bush beans is pretty much done, debating pulling it or seeing it if reblooms. Don’t really have anything to plant there if I do, as I didn’t buy any brassica or carrot seeds this year. Any tips on getting better carrot germination? I was thinking of trying row cover next year to help hold moisture.
Being picking green peppers for a week or two, just now getting first ripe tomatoes.
Harvested a bunch of garlic. The bulbs with tops filled a wheelbarrow and slightly overflowed.
May try harvesting new potatoes soon. None of the vines have died back and don’t remember which beds are the early variety versus the late one though.
New Garden is going well. All beds are built, cardboard down, and existing pile of topsoil filled them about 2-3”. Compost to top them off is being delivered today. Also going to try building a deeper planter box lined on the bottom with silt fencing along the owner’s garage. It faces south and VERY sunny so I think it could grow some excellent tomatoes and peppers.
Also thinking about various ways to stake and trellis tomatoes and cucumbers. Saw a really interesting setup last night at a house a few blocks away.
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Great pictures as always @Jon_Snow! Those are some handsome beets and squash. I was thinking about doing spaghetti squash next year (along with my favorite -- Delicata) and you have me convinced!
Thanks @Trifele! There is no way I can adequately explain how prolific the spaghetti squash has been this year. It can quite literally feature as a side dish for every meal...which is fine because it's so delicious AND nutritious. I actually experimented with cooking the squash halves "upside down" but I found they tended to get overdone that way. I actually just replaced a picture of overcooked spaghetti squash with one that features the "noodles" having firmer structure. I don't think I have tried delicata so I will look into it based on your glowing recommendation. I always like to try a new crop variety every year. I also enjoy a "mashed potato" squash variety, the first ones look to be ready in a few days.
Things are going great here too. Still harvesting tomatoes, beans, cukes, potatoes, and carrots. Looks like the summer squash and zucchini are done. I brought in about 10 pounds of potatoes yesterday -- first harvest -- and boy are they tasty. It's been a while since I had a potato straight from the garden, un"cured". I sliced them into chips about 1/4" wide and sauted them in olive oil and put a little salt on. We had them with some fish for dinner. Yum!
That sounds great. What I have really come to enjoy in my PNW garden are the different "phases". And I can tell they differ greatly from your particular location Trifele. I am now in the heart of squash season, and the cucumber, tomato and bean wave is just starting now and will dominate things into August. And I cannot agree more about garden potatoes. I dig them up and serve them up to family and friends who just cannot get enough of them. It's hard to describe why they are so good....but the flavour is amazing and their texture just has a wonderful....creaminess?
Up today -- pulling up the rest of the carrots from the spring planting, and getting ready for the fall planting. In a couple weeks I'll be planting carrots, chard, and kale. It was an excellent year for carrots, so going back for round 2. It was a decent but not great year for the greens. I got only two good pickings before the cabbage moths got the upper hand. Hoping the fall will be better. I like it when the greens last for months and you can cut-and-come-again.
I have always been somewhat disappointed with my carrots but this year, and I haven't the slightest clue as to why, but they are amazing! I spaced out my plantings pretty well so I should be harvesting them right into September.
I think my climate is pretty much perfection for brassicas. The leafy greens, kale and collards, are always on a rather epic scale...a fact appreciated by a visiting forum friend who harvests these daily....she is all about cut-and-come-again....and again, and again, and again.... :) While more heat would be great for more prompt tomato and pepper production, it does mean that we have a steady supply of the kales and cabbages for the entirety of the summer. I do sometimes see the dreaded, little white moth flitting about my garden...but they generally don't seem to inflict much damage, and whatever bit of munching the caterpillars do, the plants seem to outgrow the damage. I still find myself chasing them around the garden and whapping them out of the air or off my plants when they land. My DW finds this highly entertaining. :)
Posted recently in my Journal....one of the very most satisfying things for me to grow....from a seed about the size of a particularly large grain of sand. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking that this is sort of miraculous.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48400082911_876399ea4a_c.jpg)
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My day has been full of shit, how’s yours?
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I love hardneck garlic. Here is ONE (larger than normal, but not super atypical) clove:
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Nice cabbage there Jon! I harvested a red cabbage last week and had the same thought about the tiny seed it started from back in March. Amazing! Getting a bumper crop of carrots here as well. I put in 4 varieties; the later varieties should be bigger and tougher, so they'll be good for soups and stews in the fall, while we're enjoying the more delicate Nantes types now.
Bun - I've been praising my hardneck garlic too. So far I've peeled almost three quarts that will get put through the food processor with some olive oil and frozen in ice cube trays.
Last night I got some seeds started inside, hopefully not too late for a fall crop of cauliflower, broccoli, collards, chard and Napa cabbage. I'll direct sow some lettuces in a week or two, and maybe try for another round of beets as well.
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My nuisance child, I mean my beloved toddler, likes to pick green tomatoes off the plant as soon as she sees them.
Rather than let the food go to waste I tried lactofermenting the green tomatoes and I opened the jar just now they were freaking delicious.
Even better, the rest of my finicky family wouldn’t dream of eating such a thing so they’re ALL MINE. (I might make a jar for my parents tho.)
As the great Ron Finley says, “Growing your own food is like printing your own money.”
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My garden this year is the best I have ever had. I am successfully growing tomatoes, bush beans, sugar snap peas, yellow straightneck squash, cucumbers, carrots, strawberries, and Triple Crown thornless blackberries. The spinach was a failure and I think it's because the climate is too hot here for the leafy stuff to grow well. The green peppers may grow and survive as well now, because while they were being eaten to death by bugs until a few days ago, a garden spider built a web over them and now they are growing great.
A major difference maker has been successfully fertilizing the entire garden with compost over the winter. It's amazing how well everything is growing after that. Also, I am using newspaper/leaves mulch and that has cut weeds down to nearly nothing.
I bought all my seeds at the dollar store within walking distance of my house for 25 cents a packet, so the results have been quite profitable.
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This is my first time posting on this thread, but I've been gardening for about 5 years since I moved into our house. I have 4 garden beds filled with goodies. This year I started super late (planted June 1) because it was really cold in Michigan. Everything is coming in later, but I'm still having quite the successful year. No tomato blight or other issues which is usually a regular occurrence. The only issues I've had is that my arch nemesis (the groundhog) ate all of my coneflowers surrounding my garden fence and the bugs won't keep from eating my kale! My hardneck garlic grew small this year, and I think it's because of the rain we had in the spring, but I'm not sure.
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@FireAnt garlic likes moisture, though if it was waterlogged maybe not. It’s also a pretty heavy feeder so perhaps there wasn’t enough fertility? Only other thing I can think of would be if you had a sign of any diseases like garlic rust, or maybe didn’t cut the scapes promptly. How long have you been growing it?
Is it cabbage moth caterpillars eating the kale or something else? If caterpillars, try Bt.
Glad other things are going well for you despite the late start!
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Speaking of fertility, what do you guys use for fertilizer? I'm trying to keep it organic and all that, but I feel like I'm not keeping up with my plants needs.
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Speaking of fertility, what do you guys use for fertilizer? I'm trying to keep it organic and all that, but I feel like I'm not keeping up with my plants needs.
I raise chickens and rabbits. Chickens I use deep bedding, I had ~10-13 birds most of the winter and generated 5 cuyd of compost material. This year I have 30 birds so I’ll generate even more compost. Rabbits are great because you can apply the manure straight to the garden. I typically let the manure age in place until early spring or late fall, or if I’m moving a bed from one crop to another, or I think something needs side dressing. My population constantly fluctuates, currently a little over 70 including all the offspring at various ages but my goal is to keep it over 100 to meet my customer demands and our personal consumption.
Otherwise look for ways you can get your hands on compostable materials like food waste, coffee grinds, whether your municipality has free/subsidized compost, etc. Or of course you can buy it in. In my area compost (typically dairy cow manure, being WI and all) runs about $30 per cubic yard with delivery. 1-2” of compost per year is considered sufficient for most vegetable gardens depending on how intensely you space, do multiple crops, etc. Commercial compost is often not fully finished, so it typically works well to apply it in the fall at the end of the season versus in the spring (unless you’re in the deep south where winter is a big part of the growing season)
I don’t have much experience with organic fertilizers and zero experience except growing up in my parents garden ages ago with artificial fertilizers.
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Today’s win: My scarified Leucaena seeds are germinating!
In other news we still have a few late boysenberries, the grapes are coming ripe, I think we might get some goji berries for the first time, and it looks to be a good year for figs. There are also still some hidden apples that the jays and squirrels haven’t found yet. Lots of blossoms on the lemon tree.
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Today’s win: My scarified Leucaena seeds are germinating!
In other news we still have a few late boysenberries, the grapes are coming ripe, I think we might get some goji berries for the first time, and it looks to be a good year for figs. There are also still some hidden apples that the jays and squirrels haven’t found yet. Lots of blossoms on the lemon tree.
I put netting over all our plant beds this year to protect them from pests because it really got out of control. I had to replant all my squash because a chipmunk chewed through the netting and devoured the seedlings. Then I had to rescue the chipmunk because he got himself stuck in the netting on the way out. I actually had to rescue chipmunks from netting FOUR TIMES this season.
Then, something miraculous happened. A chickenhawk moved into our neighborhood. No doubt attracted by the horde of chipmunks that live here. I haven't seen a chipmunk in two weeks now. I believe The Lion King has a musical number about this phenomenon. "The Circle of Life!" :-P
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@FireAnt garlic likes moisture, though if it was waterlogged maybe not. It’s also a pretty heavy feeder so perhaps there wasn’t enough fertility? Only other thing I can think of would be if you had a sign of any diseases like garlic rust, or maybe didn’t cut the scapes promptly. How long have you been growing it?
Is it cabbage moth caterpillars eating the kale or something else? If caterpillars, try Bt.
Glad other things are going well for you despite the late start!
It could be fertility. This is my 5th year using the cloves from previous years. I was thinking about buying large ones from the farmers market. I know I didn't cut the scapes too late-- well just one that I missed haha. This is the only year I've had a small crop.
Yes they are cabbage moths, ugh. What is Bt? I've been using this since it's a fungicide as well as an insecticide.
http://www.gardensafe.com/products/fungicide/garden-safe-brand-fungicide3-concentrate.aspx
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@FireAnt garlic likes moisture, though if it was waterlogged maybe not. It’s also a pretty heavy feeder so perhaps there wasn’t enough fertility? Only other thing I can think of would be if you had a sign of any diseases like garlic rust, or maybe didn’t cut the scapes promptly. How long have you been growing it?
Is it cabbage moth caterpillars eating the kale or something else? If caterpillars, try Bt.
Glad other things are going well for you despite the late start!
It could be fertility. This is my 5th year using the cloves from previous years. I was thinking about buying large ones from the farmers market. I know I didn't cut the scapes too late-- well just one that I missed haha. This is the only year I've had a small crop.
Yes they are cabbage moths, ugh. What is Bt? I've been using this since it's a fungicide as well as an insecticide.
http://www.gardensafe.com/products/fungicide/garden-safe-brand-fungicide3-concentrate.aspx
Okay, unless there’s sign of diseases (I don’t know much about other garlic diseases except leaf rust) it should be nicely adapted to your soil on year 5.
Bt is short for Bacillus thurigiensis (sp?), a soil bacteria that makes quick work of any caterpillar, especially cabbage ones. It typically comes in a powder form that you mix up and spray, commonly every 2-3 weeks from what I’ve read. I haven’t needed it here but commercial organic growers typically use a mixture of row cover or mesh (when plants are young) and then when too big to cover use Bt as needed.
To give you a sense of effectiveness, on the other extreme of the organic movement, there are transgenic crops (corn, maybe others by now) that use the relevant genes from Bt to protect themselves against caterpillars.
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Speaking of fertility, what do you guys use for fertilizer? I'm trying to keep it organic and all that, but I feel like I'm not keeping up with my plants needs.
I use this stuff with good results:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Jobe-s-Organics-8-lb-Organic-Heirloom-Tomato-and-Vegetable-Plant-Food-Fertilizer-with-Biozome-OMRI-Listed-09028/202737659
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I love hardneck garlic. Here is ONE (larger than normal, but not super atypical) clove:
I harvested some of my garlic the day before I moved - it dried out nicely on the apartment balcony. It probably would have been a bit bigger if I had been able to leave it a few weeks longer. I'll have to take pictures for here.
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I love hardneck garlic. Here is ONE (larger than normal, but not super atypical) clove:
I harvested some of my garlic the day before I moved - it dried out nicely on the apartment balcony. It probably would have been a bit bigger if I had been able to leave it a few weeks longer. I'll have to take pictures for here.
Glad you got some of it :)
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I did another tomato picking yesterday and got two five gallon buckets full. Wowza. We made a quadruple batch of gazpacho and then I processed the rest and froze them. It looks like there may be 2 - 3 more good size pickings coming. All this from 8 plants -- very good year!
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I did another tomato picking yesterday and got two five gallon buckets full. Wowza. We made a quadruple batch of gazpacho and then I processed the rest and froze them. It looks like there may be 2 - 3 more good size pickings coming. All this from 8 plants -- very good year!
Daaang. I’ve never gotten anything like that from so few plants.
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I invite anyone curious, skeptical, or even horrified to come see for yourself how such a big flock can be raised in a city yard, not be a nuisance, and in fact even be pleasant to sit around and watch, if a bit dusty from their scratching.
My next door neighbor used to have chickens. I used to quite enjoy hearing them clucking and such. No roosters, thank goodness.
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Just for kicks I planted a huge patch of pumpkins this year, (82) hills total. So far, so good and the patch is full of nice big green pumpkins, many are basketball size.
If the bugs or critters don't get them it's going to be a blue ribbon crop.
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Just for kicks I planted a huge patch of pumpkins this year, (82) hills total. So far, so good and the patch is full of nice big green pumpkins, many are basketball size.
If the bugs or critters don't get them it's going to be a blue ribbon crop.
Nice! What are your plans for them?
I’m pretty happy with my jack o lanterns so far, they’re getting decent sized and starting to grow their warts. I grew this one:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/pumpkins/knuckle-head-f1-pumpkin-seed-91.html?cgid=pumpkins#sz=72&start=1
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Our tomatoes have started coming in and we were super disappointed to cut open the first couple only to find some really gross looking black spots in them. We cut open a few more and it seems to be affecting ALL of them. After some initial shock that our entire harvest might go to waste, my wife did some research online and asked a couple growers at our farmers market what it could be. It sounds like early blight or some sort of fungus, and although they said it's likely all our tomatoes are affected, they all reassured us that we can cut out the bad spots and eat the rest of the tomato.
In other news, our zucchini and jalapeños are coming in nicely!
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Our tomatoes have started coming in and we were super disappointed to cut open the first couple only to find some really gross looking black spots in them. We cut open a few more and it seems to be affecting ALL of them. After some initial shock that our entire harvest might go to waste, my wife did some research online and asked a couple growers at our farmers market what it could be. It sounds like early blight or some sort of fungus, and although they said it's likely all our tomatoes are affected, they all reassured us that we can cut out the bad spots and eat the rest of the tomato.
That sucks! I've never had that particular tomato issue, but have had various other yucky things show up on tomatoes and that is exactly what I do. Just cut out the bad part and eat the rest. I don't can those, though, in case there are spores of nasties that you don't want in your home-preserved food. For eating it should be OK though.
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Yesterday I harvested our first potatoes. They got rave reviews from the carb eaters in the family 🙂
Unless future harvests end up being different, however, I am not going to stack boxes again next year. All of the tubers were within the bottom 3 inches or so, very similar to what Charles Dowding describes in the linked video, all of them were formed in the boundary between native soil and the compost I piled on the seed piece.
Similar to the video, they also came out very clean. I was not able to get them to pull out nicely like he does, because of all the compost I’d (turns out unnecessarily) added on top.
https://youtu.be/zXO_j0vriwk
@turketron I have had that happen as well in the past. I thought it was more linked to BER than a blight but I don’t remember what all was going on that season.
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New garden tool. A DeWitt patio knife for cleaning crevices. Liking it so far! Seems made out of a very durable steel, hopefully it stays durable over time. Certainly a very well designed blade for both pulling with the hooked end and pushing with the edged knife.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EBS5E2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Our tomatoes have started coming in and we were super disappointed to cut open the first couple only to find some really gross looking black spots in them. We cut open a few more and it seems to be affecting ALL of them. After some initial shock that our entire harvest might go to waste, my wife did some research online and asked a couple growers at our farmers market what it could be. It sounds like early blight or some sort of fungus, and although they said it's likely all our tomatoes are affected, they all reassured us that we can cut out the bad spots and eat the rest of the tomato.
That sucks! I've never had that particular tomato issue, but have had various other yucky things show up on tomatoes and that is exactly what I do. Just cut out the bad part and eat the rest. I don't can those, though, in case there are spores of nasties that you don't want in your home-preserved food. For eating it should be OK though.
Did you use Tomato Tone on your soil? I had that problem several times and found that the soil had a lack of calcium. Also, there is a spray you can spray on the tomatoes and vines you to prevent the black spots if it is a calcium deficiency. I forget what the name of it is. The tomato tone and the spray did correct the problem for me.
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Our tomatoes have started coming in and we were super disappointed to cut open the first couple only to find some really gross looking black spots in them. We cut open a few more and it seems to be affecting ALL of them. After some initial shock that our entire harvest might go to waste, my wife did some research online and asked a couple growers at our farmers market what it could be. It sounds like early blight or some sort of fungus, and although they said it's likely all our tomatoes are affected, they all reassured us that we can cut out the bad spots and eat the rest of the tomato.
That sucks! I've never had that particular tomato issue, but have had various other yucky things show up on tomatoes and that is exactly what I do. Just cut out the bad part and eat the rest. I don't can those, though, in case there are spores of nasties that you don't want in your home-preserved food. For eating it should be OK though.
Did you use Tomato Tone on your soil? I had that problem several times and found that the soil had a lack of calcium. Also, there is a spray you can spray on the tomatoes and vines you to prevent the black spots if it is a calcium deficiency. I forget what the name of it is. The tomato tone and the spray did correct the problem for me.
If calcium deficiency is the problem it also helps to make sure you are adding all your egg shells to your compost, and amending your tomato beds with that compost. FWIW (data point of exactly one, so take it for what it's worth haha), I've never seen any black spots in our tomatoes, and we have loads of egg shells in our compost. Other potential causes for black spots as others have noted above are blights, bacteria, or even insufficient water.
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I had blossom end rot the first year I started gardening at my last house. I started saving egg shells and added my dried and crushed egg shells directly to my tomato beds. I also added a lot of organic material (I bought compost until I had enough of my own), which holds water. No more blossom end rot.
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So I have two old pear trees that bear lots of fruit, and a few years ago I added two new pear trees to the orchard. This spring one of the two youngsters flowered and one did not. The one that flowered (an Ayers) developed a few fruits, and they sure are pretty. This is a picture of the very first fruit I picked from this tree. It feels a bit momentous, kind of like a chicken's first egg. Plus pears are just beautiful fruit -- curvy and subtly colored. I can see why they've been a favorite of still life painters over the centuries.
Live long and prosper, beautiful young pear tree!
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that is one beautiful pear.
I decided to harvest the garlic and it is a fantastic crop.
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Beautiful pear! I never even liked pears until I tried the pears from a local orchard. All of their varieties are that pretty typical light green color though.
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Thanks @Frugal Lizard and @Buntastic! I'm not surprised Buntastic that your local pears taste good; seems like many things are soooo much better right out of the garden. I wish I could taste my new pear and report back on that aspect, but "fun" trivia fact for the day -- I'm allergic to everything in the Rosacea family of plants. I can't eat apples, pears, cherries, or any other thin skinned tree fruit.
Also, I meant to say earlier thanks for the above discussion on garlic y'all! It's been a long time since I grew any, and now I'm looking forward to doing it again.
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Guess next year we are going to preemptively stake tomatoes after trying to stake massive bushes into rock solid ground :(
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Guess next year we are going to preemptively stake tomatoes after trying to stake massive bushes into rock solid ground :(
Or consider building some form of top-bar trellis and prune them to a single leader. I am going to buy some lower-and-lean spools from Johnny’s for next year because I’m increasingly convinced watching and reading various resources that tomatoes really, really benefit from being pruned especially in a humid climate.
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I live in CT and my beefsteak tomatoes have been planted for about 69 days now. I have loads of tomatoes on my 6 plants but nothing is orange or red yet! These were supposedly early tomatoes. What is the normal timing to get red tomatoes on the vine? What is early? I have spoken to others in my area and they say the same thing, lots of green tomatoes but nothing red yet.
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Guess next year we are going to preemptively stake tomatoes after trying to stake massive bushes into rock solid ground :(
Or consider building some form of top-bar trellis and prune them to a single leader. I am going to buy some lower-and-lean spools from Johnny’s for next year because I’m increasingly convinced watching and reading various resources that tomatoes really, really benefit from being pruned especially in a humid climate.
Yeah, they do, if we were around more in July we would have heavily pruned them. We've had great success doing that, you open up airflow significantly and help avoid blight/rot.
I think I'm going to think about our options for next year. Even the heavier duty 4-prong cages (which are generally pretty good) aren't heavy duty enough for these! We have ~15 plants or so this year which is a lot to prune regularly though.
Unrelated, I'm going to explore some local restaurants to see if they have any 5-gallon buckets. I have a few pepper plants in them and they are doing considerably better than my ground-in plants -- I think next year I might try to do all of them in containers. Apparently some restaurants have a lot of extra 5-gallon buckets.
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Do any of you have experience with digging up and transplanting raspberries?
I have to either cut or move about 2/3 of my raspberries to accommodate for a new fence. If I opt to try to save them, I'd have to dig them up and pot them for about a week during the construction before planting them up again. If I keep the roots wet, what do you think the chances are that they'd survive?
Yeah, I've dug up and moved lots of raspberries. They are darn tough. I've rarely lost one. I have a few right now that I dug up in the spring and haven't gotten around to planting yet. They're still sitting there in their buckets, doing well.
I would say go for it. Even if they act shocked, or drop their leaves, they may still be alive. I would plant them assuming they are.
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Raspberries - It’s definitely worth doing. I’ve moved suckers in bad places to new spots to fill in my expansion and all of them took. If the canes are really long I’d cut them back to a level where maybe a few leaf nodes are left. Generally, even if the cane above ground dies back, the roots will regrow new canes as long as you get a good amount of root ball when you dig it up.
Ripening tomatoes - my cherry tomatoes have only been ripe for about a week. This year has been slow because of how cool June was.
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Some plants are amazingly tough. I dug out my Lady's mantle plants last November for construction, and then we had snow before they got replanted. They were all alive this spring, after a super cold winter. Raspberries are almost unkillable, I would have no problems putting them in a bucket with soil around the roots and keeping them damp for a week.
Re staking tomatoes, both rebar and rough wood stakes (I used spruce, it's cheap) make good stakes. Anything that is strong enough to support a lot of weight, and has a texture so your ties don't slip, will work. I put the stakes in when I plant out the plants, so the stakes don't damage roots. I usually prune to 2 main stems. If a sucker gets away from me I just pinch out the growing tip.
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Re: staking tomatoes, my dad uses t-bar fence posts in between the plants. He then takes long strips of old bed sheets to tie them up. The posts have nubs on them, so it works great. He prunes to just one main stem and takes off all suckers.
I haven't staked (or pruned) mine the last few years, just let them grow along the ground. So it's the polar opposite approach, but I have really good results. You need quite a bit of space to do it though. And aesthetically it probably doesn't look as good, to most people.
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Re: staking tomatoes, my dad uses t-bar fence posts in between the plants. He then takes long strips of old bed sheets to tie them up. The posts have nubs on them, so it works great. He prunes to just one main stem and takes off all suckers.
I haven't staked (or pruned) mine the last few years, just let them grow along the ground. So it's the polar opposite approach, but I have really good results. You need quite a bit of space to do it though. And aesthetically it probably doesn't look as good, to most people.
I think a lot depends on the humidity. I notice my tomatoes do a lot better if they are well pruned in a humid summer. In a dry summer the foliage is much less vulnerable to fungal diseases. After all, the wild plants mostly sprawled along the ground.
The other advantage to staking is you can try out a bunch of different varieties, since each plant needs less space. Carol Deppe talks about this in one of her books, where she really crowded tomatoes since all she wanted were a few seeds, not productive plants. Of course if you want nice tomatoes you do have to give them a reasonable amount of space, ;-)
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Almost all of my tomatoes get eaten by various invertebrates if I let them sprawl like that. (Didn’t try it intentionally, but had a trellis design collapse on me at my former big garden.) Even if it had worked, can’t try it here for aesthetic reasons.
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I have two galvanized water trough's meant for watering cattle as my tomato planters. In each trough I have 3 tomato plants. They have bushed out very nicely and only about 48 inches tall. I ordered these from QVC as plants. They are from Roberta'a Garden and I also bought the Roberta's fertilizer from QVC. What I really like about these plants is that they were supposed to grow between 36" and 48". They were sold as 3 plants that would grow 36 inches and the other 3 would grow 48 inches. I am really pleased with these 6 plants but was fearful that a few would die and I'd only have a few plants. They are loaded with green tomatoes! Just LOVE tomatoes! Uless something changes, I am going to buy them again thru QVC. They were mailed at the right time too. The 'baby' plants were nice sized, healthy and took right off. The packaging was great so nothing got damaged.
Anyone know about keeping tomatoes at room temperature for long term storage? My Mother had the greenest thumb ever and one time I remember she wrapped green tomatoes in newspaper and that Thanksgiving we had ripe tomatoes from her garden! I think we ate the last of them but that was pretty long term storage. Not sure if she learned that from someone and I have never tried it myself but am a bit interested if that there is a rhyme or reason to preserve them that way.
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@Roadrunner53 not sure about standard varieties but there’s an old variety called Burpee Long Keeper that’s specifically intended for shelf ripening of green tomatoes after the season is over. My parents grew it, haven’t tried it myself.
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I bought a few of these today from our farm supply store - https://www.amazon.com/Gallagher-G64219-Pigtail-Single-Orange/dp/B00GGBD7H0
I think that'll work well to put into the group and then tie the cages too. if not, I'm out $15 I guess.
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Anyone know about keeping tomatoes at room temperature for long term storage? My Mother had the greenest thumb ever and one time I remember she wrapped green tomatoes in newspaper and that Thanksgiving we had ripe tomatoes from her garden! I think we ate the last of them but that was pretty long term storage. Not sure if she learned that from someone and I have never tried it myself but am a bit interested if that there is a rhyme or reason to preserve them that way.
I tried storing tomatoes last year for the first time. All varieties. I layered them in totes or box lids (but only 2 or 3 layers deep, 2 is better, easier to check and manage) with newspaper between the layers - wrapping individual tomatoes seemed like too much trouble to me. Kept in a cool location (for me this was the basement at ~55 degrees). Check every week, rotate ones getting some color to the top, bring those getting close up into the kitchen and store on the counter. I had tomatoes into December, so they lasted a good 2 extra months (killing frost mid-Oct).
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I'm excited because my cucumber plant is finally flowering and there are quite a few flowers. Only one plant survived chipmunk attack, but it seems that one plant may be all we need. It grew massively gigantic. It's a Straight Eight varietal. I had no idea how much this plant was going to climb because it's my first time planting it. It grew up the support ropes, plus up and over the pest netting. Just huge.
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Our permaculture project worked~ 12 squash seeds and the yard last year vs. this year - same view. And almost no weeding required but a lot of work at the outset - the greenhouse was another project with recycled windows.
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Anyone know about keeping tomatoes at room temperature for long term storage? My Mother had the greenest thumb ever and one time I remember she wrapped green tomatoes in newspaper and that Thanksgiving we had ripe tomatoes from her garden! I think we ate the last of them but that was pretty long term storage. Not sure if she learned that from someone and I have never tried it myself but am a bit interested if that there is a rhyme or reason to preserve them that way.
I tried storing tomatoes last year for the first time. All varieties. I layered them in totes or box lids (but only 2 or 3 layers deep, 2 is better, easier to check and manage) with newspaper between the layers - wrapping individual tomatoes seemed like too much trouble to me. Kept in a cool location (for me this was the basement at ~55 degrees). Check every week, rotate ones getting some color to the top, bring those getting close up into the kitchen and store on the counter. I had tomatoes into December, so they lasted a good 2 extra months (killing frost mid-Oct).
CalBal thank you for this information! My Mom had the greenest thumb on earth. She could plant things in the worst dirt and grow the best things. I don't understand how she did it because she never bought anything special that I remember. I am impressed on your tomatoes in December! WOW!
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Anyone know about keeping tomatoes at room temperature for long term storage? My Mother had the greenest thumb ever and one time I remember she wrapped green tomatoes in newspaper and that Thanksgiving we had ripe tomatoes from her garden! I think we ate the last of them but that was pretty long term storage. Not sure if she learned that from someone and I have never tried it myself but am a bit interested if that there is a rhyme or reason to preserve them that way.
I tried storing tomatoes last year for the first time. All varieties. I layered them in totes or box lids (but only 2 or 3 layers deep, 2 is better, easier to check and manage) with newspaper between the layers - wrapping individual tomatoes seemed like too much trouble to me. Kept in a cool location (for me this was the basement at ~55 degrees). Check every week, rotate ones getting some color to the top, bring those getting close up into the kitchen and store on the counter. I had tomatoes into December, so they lasted a good 2 extra months (killing frost mid-Oct).
CalBal thank you for this information! My Mom had the greenest thumb on earth. She could plant things in the worst dirt and grow the best things. I don't understand how she did it because she never bought anything special that I remember. I am impressed on your tomatoes in December! WOW!
+1 -- Thanks @CalBal! Very interesting. I've never heard of storing tomatoes that way. Cool!
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@totoro Wow, that is impressive! Both the squash and the greenhouse. At least from that pic, I wouldn't have guessed that it's made from recycled windows.
Chugging along here - my zucchini plants both died. Buying zucchini in August just seems so wrong. I think I might sow some beets and lettuces this weekend.
My first Rosa Bianca eggplants are getting close to harvest size. Usually I only get 1-2 each year, but this year I put in 3 plants, and they're all being quite prolific. I think they like the new metal-sided raised beds.
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Nice results on your project @totoro! I love seeing ground covered with food plants.
I got stung by one of these this morning on the leg walking through some tall grass -- Ouch! Where it touched me it burned like a yellow jacket sting, turned red and swelled up. I didn't know that a caterpillar could pack a punch like that. I looked it up and it is a saddleback caterpillar, which turns into a slug moth. I guess they are pretty common, but it's the first time I've seen one.
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I can't believe how many squash I am getting this year. It's incredible. Only five plants survived the chipmunkopalypse but they are producing like crazy because the compost fertilized the soil so well. We are going to have squash all winter long at this rate.
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Ate apples, blackberries, goji berries and tomatoes from the backyard today. Not enough to feed the whole family but good for a snack!
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Chugging along here - my zucchini plants both died. Buying zucchini in August just seems so wrong. I think I might sow some beets and lettuces this weekend.
Sorry about your zucchini horsepoor. :( But your post inspired me to plant some beets in some space opened up recently when I harvested a few cabbages.
I'm a bit late on the tomato end rot discussion. This has been something that has plagued me most years, especially on my Roma type varieties.. This year I made a concerted effort to lay off on my watering volume in my tomato patch. And, so far (fingers crossed) I haven't had a single instance of end rot. So, for me, it looks like over watering on my part was the problem. I have actually made an effort to cut down on irrigating in my garden as a whole...and not only has this years garden been my best so far, but my 3000 gallon cistern is still over half full. :)
On another note, I harvested this beauty yesterday....
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48515887761_af43a91430_c.jpg)
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On another note, I harvested this beauty yesterday....
what a beauty it is
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That's a gorgeous cauliflower @Jon_Snow !
The news at our place is that our peppers are having some kind of problem. Plants look healthy and set lots of fruit, but just as the peppers are turning red, about half of them develop a tiny little hole at the top, and then they go bad. I did some reading and I think this is the work of the little pepper weevil (?) It's my first time dealing with this particular pest. They aren't getting ALL the fruit -- we have enough peppers to eat -- but it's still annoying.
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Does anyone have any tips for breaking a broody hen? One of mine has been broody for over 3 weeks, and she's lost a ton of weight. I locked all my chickens out of the coop for several hours the other day, and she did okay - clearly agitated but eating and drinking and not trying to get back in - but as soon as I opened the coop she was right back at it.
ETA: eggs are not fertile. I take her eggs away daily and she still sits in the spot where they were.
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@nessness -- Breaking a broody hen can be hard . . . they are running a very serious biological program. The most important one of all, really. We've had a bunch of broodies over the years, and here's what has worked for us:
- As SOON as she starts acting broody, put her in a bare crate somewhere away from the nest boxes with no straw/bedding materials at all. Give her food and water, but don't let her out until she stops setting. This works for most hens, if you catch it early in the first day or two.
- If you don't catch it early and they get into the full swing of brooding, then your chances of success go down dramatically. You can still try the bare-crate-away-from-the-nest thing, but you'll need to be patient. And also emotionally able to deal with how upset she will be. Because she feels like her babies (the eggs) are dying out there without her.
- Or just ride it out -- let her brood until she is done. She will lose a LOT of weight but she won't die, and she will break eventually when she realizes those eggs aren't going to hatch. We just had a broody snap out of it on her own. She brooded for over two months.
- Or, if you have room for more chickens you can give the broody fertile eggs or young chicks. If you don't know anyone with a rooster, fertile eggs are available either through the mail or on Craigslist. If you go the chick route, you have to do it in the dead of night, when she's asleep. Sneak in there and slip them under her 'wingpits', then sneak back out. The chicks will burrow in instinctively. The hen will feel them moving a little, and hear their little cheeps but she won't wake up all the way. The movement and the vocal cues from the chicks switch her from "egg sitting" mode to "mom" mode. You'll know it worked if you check at dawn the next morning and she is sitting contentedly on them and/or broody clucking (low frequency short clucks). NOTE -- the chicks have to be young for this to work -- about 5 days old or younger. The younger the better.
We've done this slip-the-chicks-under thing 7 times over the years, and it has worked 5 times out of 7. When it doesn't work you need to step in quickly to save the chicks, otherwise the broody may hurt them/kill them. She feels they are not hers, and how she responds to that will depend on her personality. In our two failed attempts, once the broody just tried to frantically get away from the chicks, and once she went for them trying to kill them.
We used to live in the city where we were limited to 4 chickens. We actually let one of our broodies raise several batches of chicks there, and then when they were older we gave them to a friend of ours in the country who wanted more chickens. That was a win-win-win.
Good luck!
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Thanks @Buntastic and @Trifele ! I'm not really prepared to get any chicks now, so I'll probably try the chicken jail - I have a spare dog crate I could use.
And wow, I had no idea I chicken could brood for 2 months! She is so thin already. I'm worried about heat/dehydration too - it was 106 degrees here today.
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Thanks @Buntastic and @Trifele ! I'm not really prepared to get any chicks now, so I'll probably try the chicken jail - I have a spare dog crate I could use.
And wow, I had no idea I chicken could brood for 2 months! She is so thin already. I'm worried about heat/dehydration too - it was 106 degrees here today.
DANG @nessness. That is some serious heat! Especially for chickens because they wear permanent down coats. :(
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Thanks @Buntastic and @Trifele ! I'm not really prepared to get any chicks now, so I'll probably try the chicken jail - I have a spare dog crate I could use.
And wow, I had no idea I chicken could brood for 2 months! She is so thin already. I'm worried about heat/dehydration too - it was 106 degrees here today.
DANG @nessness. That is some serious heat! Especially for chickens because they wear permanent down coats. :(
Yeah it's been pretty miserable, but I'm hopeful this is the last heat wave of the year. The chickens seem to handle it pretty well - they like to dig a depression in the dirt and lay in it.
And apparently the quickest way to break a broody hen is to post about it on a message board - she was back to her normal self this morning!
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Dammit, the deer ate my persimmon trees. :( I have four young trees, and the deer hadn't been showing any interest, so I took the cages off some time ago. All was well for a couple months, and I thought -- how awesome, deer don't eat persimmon trees. Then suddenly they munched them. $#&%! I put the cages back on and the trees will survive, but there won't be fruit this year and they'll need time to grow their leaves and branches back.
We are absolutely overrun with deer here. Seems like nearly all plants need fencing or will get eaten. I'm grateful for our 8 foot deer fence around the vegetable garden every single day. It's a wonderful oasis.
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This week I dug up fingerling potatoes, and got a pretty nice harvest. Last night I sliced the larger ones and air fried them. We also had a nice Pierce's Pride tomato and Shishito peppers from the garden, along with our steaks.
My Rosa Bianca eggplants are so loaded they are falling over. Usually I plant one, and get 1-2 eggplants. This year I planted 3, so of course they are going nuts. They are the tastiest eggplants ever though, so I'm not complaining.
My fall seedlings are not looking good at all. Other than one regular cabbage and the Chinese cabbage, the seedlings are not even at the 2-leaf stage and looking shriveled. I think the LED light is too much for them even though I have it as high as possible.
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I harvested some elderberries yesterday and made elderberry syrup for the first time! It's very tasty, in a 'medicinal' sort of way. With the next harvest I'll try the tincture.
Tomato plants continue to go nuts. I can't keep up with them. We're eating as many as we can, and I canned another 8 quarts yesterday. (Tomorrow I'll give some away to the neighbors.) Due to the tomato glut, I have used up almost all our jars. I don't know what I'm going to do about our pears, which are almost ripe. We can't eat them all. Last year our solution was to can about 30 quarts of pear sauce. But no jars to do that this year! I either have to come up with another plan for the pears, or get some more jars. I guess that's my "GPP" -- Gardening Person Problem -- for the day haha.
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Harvest upon wonderful harvest. It is a true joy to create meals for family and friends out of this bounty and I think my cooking skills may have taken a leap this year because, well...it has been a damn challenge to keep up with the garden productivity. I have had simply no choice but to up my culinary game. For the first time I have make some jams and jellies. Blackberry and salal, and a hybrid of the two. I found this to be a very satisfying (if messy) process. And with delicious results. I might actually submit the salal jelly into a local fair.
The squash situation has finally began to calm....the spaghetti squash plants are especially running out of steam. As much as I love this squash, there is considerable relief....no only on my part but the people I have been foisting these things on for the past few months. The mashed potato squash and butternut still are producing though. And the zucchini, yellow and green. There is a similar avalanche of cucumbers now, but because there are so many amazing summer salad dishes you can make with cukes, I've been keeping on top of it ok. Last night I made a wonderfully refreshing and tangy cucumber/black bean dish....and though the recipe didn't call for it I threw in a bunch of other garden stuff (spiralized beets, cauliflower, carrots). Tonight it will be a Cucumber Lemon Couscous salad. *mouth waters*
Tomatoes are really coming on line and I have a bed of truly monstrous onions that are almost ready. Sadly, I only have 3 cabbages left, 2 green, 1 red. Leafy greens kale and chard have started to bolt, but I should still be havesting these into late September. I wish I had actually been documenting my potato haul this year as it's been a record haul and the quality and taste off the charts.
Here was a harvest from just over a week ago. I'd say The colours make me happy. But not as much as the eating does. :)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48515927266_0e4fb38b40_c.jpg)
We are absolutely overrun with deer here. Seems like nearly all plants need fencing or will get eaten. I'm grateful for our 8 foot deer fence around the vegetable garden every single day. It's a wonderful oasis.
Amen to all of that.
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Harvest upon wonderful harvest. It is a true joy to create meals for family and friends out of this bounty and I think my cooking skills may have taken a leap this year because, well...it has been a damn challenge to keep up with the garden productivity. I have had simply no choice but to up my culinary game. For the first time I have make some jams and jellies. Blackberry and salal, and a hybrid of the two. I found this to be a very satisfying (if messy) process. And with delicious results. I might actually submit the salal jelly into a local fair.
The squash situation has finally began to calm....the spaghetti squash plants are especially running out of steam. As much as I love this squash, there is considerable relief....no only on my part but the people I have been foisting these things on for the past few months. The mashed potato squash and butternut still are producing though. And the zucchini, yellow and green. There is a similar avalanche of cucumbers now, but because there are so many amazing summer salad dishes you can make with cukes, I've been keeping on top of it ok. Last night I made a wonderfully refreshing and tangy cucumber/black bean dish....and though the recipe didn't call for it I threw in a bunch of other garden stuff (spiralized beets, cauliflower, carrots). Tonight it will be a Cucumber Lemon Couscous salad. *mouth waters*
Tomatoes are really coming on line and I have a bed of truly monstrous onions that are almost ready. Sadly, I only have 3 cabbages left, 2 green, 1 red. Leafy greens kale and chard have started to bolt, but I should still be havesting these into late September. I wish I had actually been documenting my potato haul this year as it's been a record haul and the quality and taste off the charts.
Here was a harvest from just over a week ago. I'd say The colours make me happy. But not as much as the eating does. :)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48515927266_0e4fb38b40_c.jpg)
We are absolutely overrun with deer here. Seems like nearly all plants need fencing or will get eaten. I'm grateful for our 8 foot deer fence around the vegetable garden every single day. It's a wonderful oasis.
Amen to all of that.
What a beautiful haul!
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What a beautiful haul!
Well, except for the parsnips perhaps. They are a rather ugly, gnarled thing to behold. There is always considerable suspense when the time comes to wrench one out of the ground (no small feat, they do not give up their soil home easily) to see just how monstrous the newest parsnip is going to be. I've only got 3 left, and one I suspect is going to be particularly gruesome looking. :D
Thanks for the harvest kudos @FireAnt! I certainly never get tired of arranging my haul out on the grass and taking pictures. It's fascinating to back and look at my photos from 5 years ago and see the progression.
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Really nice, Jon, you must be eating well this summer!
Tomatoes are starting to come in pretty well here.
I bought a sour gherkin plant on impulse this spring, and it is finally starting to produce. Curious plant - very thing, fragile-looking vine, but now that it is going, it has started to climb all over the ranch panel arbor it's planted next to. The fruits only get about small grape size, and don't taste much different than cucumbers, so I probably won't bother again, but a fun thing to try.
Now I'm waiting impatiently for my okra to produce enough to make a pot of gumbo. Right now it's just a pod or two at a time, but on the balance, we haven't had to suffer through an atrociously hot summer, so there's that. Will put in more than 3 plants next year...
Tonight I went out to harvest my last cabbage, and found that it was split/bolting, but brought it in to see if part of it could be salvaged. Once I started peeling back the leaves, I realized that almost each leaf was housing a little "cabbage-ette" so most of it was still good! Not something I've seen before, so it was a neat surprise.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48588689507_06bbf53131_c.jpg)
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My tomatoes finally began to flower today, so it looks like I will have tomatoes for about three months before it becomes too cold for them. That's not too bad. I wish they had come in earlier, but I sowed them from seeds directly into the soil instead of starting them in a greenhouse (25 cents for the seeds at the dollar store) and I had to start them a month late because we had a longer rainy season than anticipated so I couldn't plant on time. Still hopeful that I'll get at least a couple hundred tomatoes.
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My garden efforts have been a mixed lot this year. I was inspired to go on vacation in August, which is when the garden is fully producing. That was a mistake, but I knew that when I planned it. The weeds took over, despite the mulch and balanced soil. I'm still trying to eradicate porcelainberry from my flower/herb beds. I know I'm not going to win that battle.
The zucchini plants got hit by vine borer. I didn't plant it far enough away from where I had it last year. Another gardening lesson.
Green beans, basil and cucumbers are the big producers. This makes up for the lackluster zucchini crop. Bought two mini pepper plants from the supermarket in June and they have been shockingly good producers. I'm going to save seed to grow them next year because they are delicious in a tomato salad. Have been eating toms three times a day. Isn't that what the doctor orders? There's nothing like beefsteak, basil, black pepper, lemon infused olive oil, and a shave of feta next to a fried egg for breakfast. For lunch, sliced cucumber with a sesame soy dressing is a tastebud delight.
Chickens have slowed down laying but the three blue Cochin chicks should begin laying in September. They are absolutely the most adorable fluffballs with fluffy, fully feathered feet (alliteration was unintentional) and the sweetest disposition.
Even though we are in the depths of an August dearth, the bees are still finding pollen and nectar. We went to islands on vacation and I didn't see a single honeybee there. In Winter I always miss seeing the bees but it was strange for it to be warm and not see any bees. There was a Black Mirror episode about drone bees, being introduced after bee die off, and I hope society never gets to that point. Before I left town, I added a honey super to each of the 3 hives to make sure the bees had enough space in the hive. It was a good thing I did that because they filled it up. Going to pull about 40 honey frames over Labor Day weekend, though I won't have time to extract it until later in the month. Fortunately, friends have been saving used, wide mouth glass jars to bottle it in so I won't have to buy too many storage bottles.
Hope your gardens are all doing well.
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Wow... it looks as if you've got your hands full @Buntastic
Have you spoken with any attorneys to get advice about how to challenge the restrictions? Usually they will do a free phone consultation to see if they can help you and they may give some useful tips/ideas in the call. This way you're investing time and not incurring cost.
Have you also checked with your local chicken meet up group? You might be able to galvanize support from them to help get the ordinance changed. Even groups that focus on local farm to table or community gardens might want to get involved to get the ordinance updated since they may want to add or expand their chickens.
I've also found that when there are bigger issues you can tie to them and point out how the regulations are arcane and don't reflect the changing world. For example, water restrictions, drought, local food, etc.
Good luck and keep us updated.
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My tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters! Every day we have a small basket we are picking and that is just from 6 tomato plants. I also belong to a CSA for the first time this year and am getting more tomatoes from them each week! OMG! They took forever to ripen and now it is overwhelming! I love tomatoes!
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My tomatoes are coming in like gangbusters! Every day we have a small basket we are picking and that is just from 6 tomato plants. I also belong to a CSA for the first time this year and am getting more tomatoes from them each week! OMG! They took forever to ripen and now it is overwhelming! I love tomatoes!
Same here. Cherry tomatoes come earlier, but always takes well into August for the bigger varieties to start ripening in earnest. I need to figure out how to speed the process up. Since serious heat is sometimes fleeting here in the PNW I think I may need to get at least some of them wrapped in plastic to create a green house effect. Waiting for them to ripen, especially this year, has been a bit maddening.
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Wow @Buntastic -- sounds intense there. Do keep us posted on how it goes. It sounds like there are multiple levels of appeal?
Out of curiosity, are there any regulations around meat rabbits within the city limits?
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Update of my vegetable garden:
The sugar snap peas and Romano bush beans are all producing like crazy and I've been gathering them every couple of days for our dinners. Lots more on the way too.
The five squash plants have exploded with flowers and they have stretched out to take over most of the space in their garden bed. I am having a problem with mildew, but I bought an organic disease spray that seems to be helping so far with that problem. The spray cost $7, which brings my total costs for seeds and pest control for the entire garden to $9.40 for this season.
Our cucumber plant has flowered very well and we're hoping to get some vegetables from it soon. It also had the mildew problem and I've treated it with the spray.
Not much is still happening with the pepper plants, so I think I'm just not going to get anything from them this year. They just aren't growing. 25 cents for seeds down the drain. Oh, well.
The tomato plants are finally flowering. I have three flowers so far with more on the way. Hopefully, I will get some production within a few weeks. These are Rutgers variety which I grew from seeds sown in the ground. I planted one tomato plant in a pot and I plan to bring it indoors and keep it going under a grow light with a few potted basil plants when it gets too cold out.
The strawberries have spread widely and there are now about sixty-five to seventy plants from the original two plants we planted two years ago. Should be a really good crop next June.
The blackberries are thriving. I have no doubt we are going to get a wonderful crop of them next August.
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Well, the tomatoes are definitely coming in now. The Johnny Apple melon, which was developed by some guy just down valley from me, is going nuts. I have about a dozen good-sized cantaloupes on it, and the vine has pretty much taken over the world. Quite a testament to having something locally adapted! Next year I'll plant it where it can sprawl all around the apple trees.
Not to be outdone by @Jon_Snow here is today's harvest - I did a batch of eggplant preserved in olive oil, have a bunch of tomatoes going in the dehydrator, and will be canning more next weekend. Nobody needs that many tomatillos though, so lots of those will go to the office. The rest will need to go into a batch of salsa verde.
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I'm really sorry to hear that, @Buntastic, and I hope you're able to appeal. I feel that we ALL should be allowed to do what we can to be in charge of our own food supply so it annoys me when folks get all up in arms when their neighbors are raising food on their property. (But then I am biased since we're probably losing our community garden since some guy in a suit thinks that tomato cages and homemade trellises are an eyesore, SIGH.)
I've gotten nearly 400 tomatoes (yes, I count, and note totals in a spreadsheet, doesn't everyone? haha.) from one of my cherry tomato plants. They just keep coming. Pew pew pew! Great flavor on these two, very sweet and a bit sharp. Mexico Midget, if anyone's curious. They're tiny tomatoes but so delicious!
Some of my heirlooms are just now starting to ripen. Finally got a couple of ripe Blue Beauty tomatoes (which despite the name are mostly pink with a bit of blue). Looking forward to slicing one of these open. I think I am down to one variety - Freds Tie Dye - that are unrelentingly green. Oh wait, no, the Celebritys also haven't ripened yet which seems odd to me.
Have you guys ever sliced into a tomato that looks perfect from the outside, but then you cut it open and there is almost no flesh inside it (like a pepper) and all the seeds are black and moldy? WTF happened? I've harvested 4 tomatoes off that plant (Valencia) and the other 3 were fine.
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Not to be outdone by @Jon_Snow here is today's harvest...
Oh, I'm very happy to be outdone when it's something amazing like that @horsepoor. I've got a bumper crop of tomatillos as well and my salsa verde dreams are soon to be realized.
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I just weighed 4 of my bigger tomatoes that we have not eaten yet. The biggest was 1 lb. 12 ounces! Two were 1 lb. 8 ounces and the last was 1 lb. Crazy huge tomatoes! I have some smaller ones but the majority is pretty big sized!
Bacon, lettuce and tomato sammies here I come! The maters are so big they will cover a whole slice of bread with one slice!
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I'm so amazed to read and see how well everyone's garden is doing. That is quite the haul of food @horsepoor. It would take me a week just to keep eating and preserving that much food.
This weekend was a busy one here. Did a lot of weeding and feeding the chickens the big pile. Rebuilt the cold compost bin. I used untreated wood palates, which had started to decompose. I flipped them over and started the pile in a new nearby location. It looks odd to see the partially decomposed wood sticking out the top but I can't bear to get rid of them until they are fully converted to fungi food.
Harvested about 2 lbs of dried dragon tongue beans and shucked them. Some beans will be saved for next year's garden and the rest will become chili. Chopped, julienned and froze zucchinis for soups, stews and casseroles.
Have been cutting and drying herbs for the past 2 months and the supply is suddenly becoming meaningful. When they are fully dried, everything gets labeled and put into canning jars. Dried a large bag full of mint for winter tea. Planted cilantro, spinach and sorrel for Winter crops. Will enclose that raised bed with agribon row cover and plastic sheeting before the first frost.
Worked in the bee hives to treat them for mites with a sugar shake and pulled 4 frames from one hive. Large hive has 3 honey supers on it and will remove honey frames from 2 of the supers. Will leave the rest of that honey for that hive to get through the Winter. Started thinking about wind breaks that I can use to fully enclose the hives. Might try to set up a greenhouse type system but need to keep a close eye on condensation if there are any warm winter days.
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Love reading everyone's updates, and love the harvest pics!
Busy here. We continue to harvest tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers, but that's about it now. I'm mostly doing bed clean up and prep for the fall greens planting later this week. I did a garden fence perimeter check and found that our resident enormous woodchuck, the one we call 'The Corgi' for his size and shape, had managed to pull up the skirting of the fence the night before and gone into the garden. But haha! All he got was the tops of a few straggling carrots I hadn't yet pulled . . . And we have fortified the fence now with large paving stones over the skirting in that area. Hopefully he will not be able to get to the luscious greens I hope to be harvesting this fall.
We'll see what happens this fall. We can extend the skirting out another foot or more if we have to for next year.
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We got tons of tomatoes a few weeks ago. Made sauces & canned them. Now with all the rain, the plants seem to be giving up. Tons of sweet peppers & some yellow crookneck squash, though. Not a bad year for our 25 foot by 2 foot straightline garden on one side of our backyard. Anxious to see our fall raspberry crop & our semi dwarf apple trees will take a few years to mature.
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Two tomatoes are forming on one of my tomato plants and I have flowers on all three plants. I only need one tomato for them to be profitable for the season, so this is good news. The squash overgrew the bean section, so I think that will be finishing up early this season. I'm going to hand pollinate the squash because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere near enough production out of them. Currently, the second squash of the season is growing.
The herb section has been one of the most productive and profitable sections of the garden. I've been drying herbs every few days and refilling our jars and using fresh herbs in our cooking. I'm hoping to have enough dried and stored to last until next season without needing to purchase anything extra over the next year.
I'm not getting anywhere near the production that some other folks on this thread are getting, but it's still profitable -- especially when compared to our investment in the garden. This is the first year I have done serious gardening, so I'm pleased with the results. I think it will improve over time as I continue composting and improving the soil. We're in an urban environment (by population density), so I think our soil isn't naturally as good as many other places.
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I'm going to hand pollinate the squash because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere near enough production out of them. Currently, the second squash of the season is growing.
This will be a good chance to see if you have lots of both male and female flowers. Squash tend to produce more male flowers early in the season, but by now you should have lots of both. Oh, and pollinating is most effective in early morning - if the pollen comes off the anther onto your finger it is ready.
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We have really enjoyed our first attempts at gardening and growing, even though I have to say my husband has done much of the work. We didn't study very hard, just kind of threw the seeds in the ground and kept watering, but I'm hoping some more careful study for next season will yield improvements and new ideas.
Right now, we are enjoying lots of gorgeous tomatoes. So many that we'll have to figure out what to do with the extra soon. We got a Black Vernissage plant as a housewarming gift from a friend and they have grown well, but I don't find them to be the tastiest. We have two other types of plants that I don't recall the names of (and the little labels disappeared!) but they are delicious - one cherry tomato sized and one big and chunky, the latter of which we had amazing tomato sandwiches (homemade bread too) with yesterday.
We've used the kale for my almost-daily kale shakes and sometimes sauteed kale with dinner, both of which we love. But some of our kale seems to be getting some mold. Maybe I just didn't pick it fast enough because I was on a trip for a few weeks.
We have a lemon cucumber plant that yielded some good cucumbers at first but, while I was away on my trip, my husband said that each one kept disappearing before it could reach maturity. So there is some critter that enjoys lemon cucumbers apparently, but leaves the rest of everything alone!
We also have been using the basil and mint, mostly in cocktails! :) Again, due to travel it overgrew and flowered, so this is where more disciplined and educated gardening in the future will yield better results.
We are also lucky to have a lemon tree which apparently grow year-round? We've never wanted for a lemon in the 6 months we have lived here. And two apple trees - one greenish that my husband says are tasty and one reddish that he says are not and from which we've made a gallon or two of applesauce so far. One neighbor has a fig tree that grows over into our yard and another has a pear tree that does the same. The figs are great and we grabbed a few pears, although both of us agree that it seems almost impossible to pinpoint the ripeness of a pear. Sometimes it seems like they never do get ripe? We're hoping to have more luck with these non-factory farmed pears.
Overall, it's been markedly more fun to eat these foods than the same ones we would have bought and, in at least the case of the tomatoes, more delicious. Because we haven't done more than water them regularly (there were already cages here that we used for the tomatoes and cucumbers, and haven't bought anything other than the plants or seeds themselves), we have probably saved a bit of money, so that's nice too.
Really looking forward to building on this for the future!
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Congrats on your first year @sui generis! Yeah, pears are strange -- it is indeed hard to know when to pick them. Very different than apples. And it varies by variety. If you wrap them in newspaper after you pick them, it helps them finish ripening. With our Ayers pears it takes about a week in newspaper til they are perfect. With our Kieffers, it takes longer.
Jealous of your lemons!
My big fig tree did something strange this year. It usually bears two crops of fruit -- a large one in the late spring and a smaller one in the fall. For whatever reason, it set no fruit at all this spring, but today I noticed some small fruits just starting to grow. So it looks like we'll have a small fall crop after all.
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Just cut up 7 more quarts of tomatoes for the freezer. That makes 13 quarts for the freezer and made a gallon, if not more, of spaghetti sauce last week. We have eaten a total of 10 BLT sandwiches using the tomatoes and have eaten loads of fresh tomatoes in salads. Picked 16 more tomatoes today. Some are huge and some are normal sized. Tonight we are having tuna sandwiches topped with tomatoes. Plants are still loaded! I do not know what is happening this year but this is the most tomatoes ever even when I planted triple the amount of tomato plants.
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Congrats on your first year @sui generis! Yeah, pears are strange -- it is indeed hard to know when to pick them. Very different than apples. And it varies by variety. If you wrap them in newspaper after you pick them, it helps them finish ripening. With our Ayers pears it takes about a week in newspaper til they are perfect. With our Kieffers, it takes longer.
Jealous of your lemons!
My big fig tree did something strange this year. It usually bears two crops of fruit -- a large one in the late spring and a smaller one in the fall. For whatever reason, it set no fruit at all this spring, but today I noticed some small fruits just starting to grow. So it looks like we'll have a small fall crop after all.
We had approximately the same situation—no spring fig crop but our biggest fig fruiting ever (any season) this fall. Maybe something about this winter’s rain? Climate change?
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Since mid-July only peppers - five different kinds and a variety of herbs. Too hot, too rainy and way too humid, I fear our sweet potato crop may have gotten drowned by all that rain. We'll see.
Tomorrow will be harvest day once more, for basil, mint, lemon verbena, rosemary and chili peppers.
Not sure if I should harvest the lemongrass now or wait until the end of Sep?
Looking forward to mid to end of October to start my fall gardening - lots to do!
Hoping to plant a new Meyer Lemon tree and a Manadarin, finally moving that Persian Lime out of its pot into the ground before it decides it is tired of waiting to be planted and dies on me.
Planting Ginger and Turmeric for the first time. I never knew Turmeric had such pretty flowers.
Found a Swedish youtube about harvesting rosehips for tea - harvested, chopped, dried in the oven, ran through the coffee grinder and voila - I now have rosehip tea bursting with Vitamin C and smells delish - healthy, sweet tea.
It was so easy.
I got the idea when I noticed that my climbing rose produces the biggest rosehips I ever saw and I always wondered how many rosehips you'd need to make a few pots or at least several cups of tea.
I waited too long to harvest those pretty looking orangey-red rosehips - the incessant rain turned them black and mushy, but I still had about ten-twelve good ones yielding me about ten-twelve flat teaspoons of ground rosehips for tea.
You need one flat teaspoon for one big mug of tea.
It was worth a try and now that I know how I can repeat it any time.
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That's really cool about the rosehips @Rosy! Is that where you got your username -- your roses? I have loads of roses around here planted by the previous owner, but never thought to do it. I wonder if all rosehips are more or less equal, or if some taste better than others?
My camellia bushes always have loads of fruit on them. I wonder if that can be used for anything. Must research! :)
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@Trifele lucky you, to have such lovely, established roses - I used to have scented bouquets all summer long.
Now I just have the occasional single red rose in my kitchen window.
I had a beautiful rose garden in Germany, sniff:) but it's near impossible to have roses, much less a true rose garden where I live. I keep trying anyway:) but hey, I have a tropical Royal Poinciana tree:). Trade off.
Here is the how-to on the rosehips - how to harvest and make rosehip tea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBcDGc2tYnc
Worked just like she said, except I think mine took longer to dry - maybe they were too saturated from all that rain we had. I just kept checking once the 2hrs drying time was up.
Interesting about the camellias, if they are part of the rose family - maybe it is edible? My GF used to browse my rosegarden and munch on the rose petals pronouncing her favorites. I'm sure there is a difference in taste and flavor.
I do dry my rose petals on the kitchen counter and use them in a bowl of scented herbs (lavender,rosemary,African blue basil,allspice,bayleaf) - adding a drop of essential oil and stirring it all up whenever I think of it.
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Just when I start to feel that the garden is a dud, I get some great harvests and all is redeemed.
I harvested enough cukes to make all the dills I need for this winter. They were made with my own garlic and dill. A second picking yesterday will cover the relish and some sweet gherkins which I will start on the weekend because they take 9 days.
The plum trees at my dad's farm were laden with sweet little dark plums. I love a simple plum jam so will be making up two batches tonight and canning them.
I am also looking for a really good salsa verde recipe that I can hot water bath can. The four tomatillo plants are producing really well! I harvested a liter of ripe ones but there are least ten times more still on the plants.
The peppers are falling over heavy with fruit.
I also got a pound of black beans from the handful of saved seeds. I think I need to save twice as many seeds for next year. It is really hard because those beans cook up so nicely I just want to eat them all. I am going to have to plant them at the farm next year where there is enough space to grow all I want. Or maybe it makes sense to buy enough seeds to fill the available space I would have at the farm and grow a great deal more - with plenty to eat and enough to save as seed.
So I go from woe to delight. Pizza last night had homegrown tomatoes, basil, purple pepper and onion.
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@Trifele lucky you, to have such lovely, established roses - I used to have scented bouquets all summer long.
Now I just have the occasional single red rose in my kitchen window.
Well, the roses WOULD be beautiful if the deer didn't eat them. :( Now that we're talking about it, I'll have to make some closer observations to see if they are producing many hips, as heavily as they get grazed . . . I'm always amazed at how darn tough they are.
I worked a couple hours in the garden yesterday doing cleanup, mostly. We have a large banana tree just outside the garden, and when there's a breeze the huge leaves swoosh back and forth. It's a lovely sound -- almost like ocean waves at the beach. I really enjoy that while I'm working, that and the hum of bees working.
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Interesting about the camellias, if they are part of the rose family - maybe it is edible?
Camellia sinensis is what we make tea from! You probably have Camellia japonica, which can be used as a tea substitute (not as nice tho). Oil from the Camellia japonica seed is also used in all sorts of hair/skin care recipes.
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Just picked 21 more tomatoes today! There are at least 30 more on the vines of our 6 tomato plants! Incredible!
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I'm going to hand pollinate the squash because I feel like I'm not getting anywhere near enough production out of them. Currently, the second squash of the season is growing.
This will be a good chance to see if you have lots of both male and female flowers. Squash tend to produce more male flowers early in the season, but by now you should have lots of both. Oh, and pollinating is most effective in early morning - if the pollen comes off the anther onto your finger it is ready.
Thanks for the advice! I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
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Interesting about the camellias, if they are part of the rose family - maybe it is edible?
Camellia sinensis is what we make tea from! You probably have Camellia japonica, which can be used as a tea substitute (not as nice tho). Oil from the Camellia japonica seed is also used in all sorts of hair/skin care recipes.
Right on @diapasoun ! Hmm. If it's used in cosmetics I'm guessing that the fruit/seed from the ornamental camellia smells good but doesn't taste good maybe? And yes! I also have two true-tea camellia sinensis in addition to my ornamentals. I planted them this spring as wee little things 6 inches tall. They're doing well, up to about a foot tall now. :) They have quite a ways to go before I would steal any of their leaves though.
Yesterday I did my fall planting of chard, lettuce, and chicory. (Never grew chicory before -- giving it a go). I have to clear some more space and then I'll get the kale and carrots in.
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Just picked my first cucumber of the season today. Since I only paid 25 cents for the seeds, that makes another successful crop for the season. Everything else from the garden from here on out is profit. Just goes to show that gardening doesn't require much to be successful these days. I've learned some good lessons this season, which I'll build on next year. Very pleased with how it turned out.
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Just picked my first cucumber of the season today. Since I only paid 25 cents for the seeds, that makes another successful crop for the season. Everything else from the garden from here on out is profit. Just goes to show that gardening doesn't require much to be successful these days. I've learned some good lessons this season, which I'll build on next year. Very pleased with how it turned out.
That's fabulous @WhiteTrashCash! Frugal gardening for the win! If anything you grew this year is open pollinated (as opposed to hybridized) you could save your own seeds too -- to stretch your success into years to come.
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I'm having a real go at seed-saving this year, far more than previous years.
On looking at the prices at various UK-based seed suppliers this year, I see that their prices are continuing to soar and reaching the eye-watering stage. I have also noticed that the average number of seeds per packet had reduced, while the price had stayed the same or increased, thereby leaving me feel somewhat cheated.
So this year I have been preparing seeds ready for planting for next year, which I understand correctly should improve with each successive year: potato (Jersey royal, Charlotte, Desiree), pea (Early Onward), red onion (Red Cross) and broad (fava) bean (Witkiem) amongst others:
https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/09/saving-witkiem-broad-bean-seeds-2019.html (https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/09/saving-witkiem-broad-bean-seeds-2019.html)
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I had enough tomatillos to make a batch of salsa verde. I canned 3 cups and kept one cup for eating now. All ingredients came from my garden except the cilantro and limes. Feels super brilliant to can stuff from my own produce. I also had enough cukes for a double batch of relish and 9-day sweet pickles. Two weeks ago I also made dill pickles, so that has been a total win for the $3 in seed. (always read the recipe right through: the first time I made the 9-day pickle recipe, I turned the page in the cookbook to find out that there was 7 more days of steps. Some days involve two tasks twelve hours apart.) They were so damned tasty that now I make a triple batch in the biggest bowl I have to make it worth the time it takes. My family can eat a whole jar of these babies in one meal.
I made a fresh red tomato salsa just to eat this week and again, most of the ingredients came from my garden: tomatoes, sweet and jalapeno peppers, onion, garlic, oregano, and parsley.
I also made 11 cups of plum jam from the harvest from my Dad's plum trees. This is the first year of any significant harvest from these trees and he had been nursing them along for so many years with no fruit. I have also been eating to many of them fresh. Gotta slow that down.
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My tomato spreadsheet - because doesn't EVERYONE nerdily count the number of tomatoes off each plant and record it? Just me, then? haha - tells me that my plants have produced *966* tomatoes this year! Granted, more than half of that is tiny cherry tomatoes off of one plant. Still! That's a lotta tomatoes!
This doesn't count what I picked yesterday which was probably another 20 or so?
I saw my first ever slug yesterday. I picked an heirloom tomato - Fred's Tie Dye, first one to ripen - and I noticed what looked like a bit of slime on it. Then I realized the slime was MOVING. Sentiently. Gross! And oddly fascinating. The tomato wasn't eaten; in fact, nothing in my garden looks eaten by slugs at all, so, ???
We don't yet know whether the community garden is coming back next year. If it's not, and I need to move to a new site, I won't know my new site until spring. Which means that I probably shouldn't order any seed garlic as that needs to get planted in fall, and I'd hate to plant and then learn that we've lost the garden site. This sucks!
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It's not my garden, but I've been visiting my dad this week, and every day going out and picking something fresh for our dinner. Got a yellow squash and a lovely mess of green beans on Wednesday, beets on Thursday, more beets today, several green peppers and a zucchini for tomorrow, and tomatoes every day. Might sneak a bowl of beets and some tomatoes home with me tomorrow, if there's enough extra.
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I picked another summer squash today along with a good amount of sugar snap peas and Romano bush beans and seared them in a pan with some olive oil and organic rosemary. The green peppers are flowering so I may yet get some production from them. I think next year I will plant even more beans and peas because they loved my garden soil. The leafy stuff doesn't grow well here; Too hot I think. Everything else is going well, though.
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There's a Fall nip to the air now so started the garden clean up process today and prepping two raised beds for Fall crops. We get the first frost around mid-October, but once the leaves start coming down there's never enough time to ready the cover crops so I'm trying to start a little earlier than usual. Put the hoops into the raised beds that will protect parsley, cilantro and lettuces this Winter. Also, installed a solar panel security camera to keep an eye on the garden and the groundhog marauders. My cell chimes whenever it detects movement in the backyard, which gives me time to get to the back and scare the groundhog family. Neighbors all have dogs to solve this problem.
Harvested basil, lemon balm, oregano, and mint for drying. I've been drying herbs every month and there was a big pile that needed the leaves cleaned off. Dried mint smells so delicious that I'm going to grind some of it into powder and add it to the matcha green tea soap recipe. Mint and matcha will be a zippy winter wake up soap.
While I cut the grass and removed crabgrass from the blueberry beds, the kids harvested as many dried bean pods as they could reach. I sorted them into fully dried ones and semi-dried. The semi-dry pile I put into trays in the basement. The dry pile was shucked while watching Netflix. I have 3 quarts of dried dragon tongue beans and about 3 more quarts still in the pods, that will be used to make delish vegetarian chili.
Honey harvest was huge this year. Got about 5 gallons from one hive. When I was looking for bottles, I found honey from last year that we hadn't used up. Even though it never goes bad, I'm going to feed that crystallized honey back to the bees over the next few weeks. I don't use starter foundation (because it usually has been chemically treated) on the frames and let the bees create their own natural honeycomb, so I cut it up and put it into the bottles with the honey. Looks really appetizing with the golden yellow color and will make great teacher and holiday gifts for the neighbors.
Tried rallying the family to go apple picking but sadly, they are all too old and would rather do homework. Priorities. Readied the handcranked apple pealer corer and dehydrator for a weekend of apple pie and dried apples for inspiration. Now I'm going to buy apples at the supermarket, which are probably cheaper than the farm anyway, though I really like to support local farms.
Hope everyone still has a garden cranking out the produce.
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First time gardening. In a townhome and can grow pot plants only. I like to plan useful herbs and vegetables than flowers. My wife is quite the other way :)
Got lot of mint,coriander, green chillies, bell pepper and some tomatoes. Lot of flowers and few other herbs. Enjoying growing plants.
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A garden site I frequent was having a nice end-of-season clear out sale, so I picked up 6 strawberry plants. Picking up a pot for them tonight, the plants should arrive Friday, and then I'll get them settled on our front patio. I realized that while there's too much work to do in the back garden before I can start planting, there's nothing stopping me starting with a container garden in the meantime! We definitely were planning on growing a few things in pots out front, to brighten up the patio and grow things that can't handle our winters and need to be brought inside, like a lemon tree or fig tree.
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I haven't been able to spend as much time learning and researching how to be a gardener this summer as I thought I would, so we're still flying by the seat of our pants. I have a gardening book specific to my region on hold at the library, but keep having to pause it because too busy! But we are trying to do the bare minimum to have some continued crops and also prep for a bigger, less haphazard planting next year. So in the meantime, we are planting a bunch of things that I read should be planted about now and do well in our area, including various herbs, plus lettuce and assertive greens and maybe we'll do some onions, too.
But I'm a little confused where the same article I read talked about planting a cover crop that would help with biomass and root penetration and stuff like that to prep for next year...Do I toss in the cover crop right with my kale and cilantro, and then just dig out the things I want to eat from amongst the rest? My soil is not awesome, so I think this cover crop idea (which I had not heard of before Sunday, just to be clear on my newbie level here) is important.
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Decided to pull up all my carrots today. Can't remember the name of these large white ones, but this individual amused me enough to take a picture:
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48791599487_bc4713832e_c.jpg)
Also starting a bit on garden cleanup. I've pruned the leaders on the tomatoes to hopefully get a little more warmth to the ripening fruits, and prevent resources from going towards growing fruits that won't have time to mature.
My leeks are giant. I pulled one out that is almost 2' for the edible part. Bartering those and a couple parsnips for some collards with a co-worker.
My sorry attempt at starting fall crops was a bust. I think the LED fixtures were just too powerful for the little brassica seedlings, sadly.
I'm thinking of building more of the metal-sided beds this fall to replace some wood-sided beds that are getting old.
Oooh, and I harvested 3 ripe figs tonight and promptly ate them. Sadly I don't think the rest of the figs on the tree will have time to ripen, but I'll check again before we get a freeze. Perhaps green figs could be pickled?
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sui generis,
You either plant a cover crop or a crop to eat. Not both at the same time.
Cover crops are grown to add green material which will compost to the soil. Also, some cover crops can draw nitrogen from the air and the soil and fix the nitrogen nodules to the roots.
If you plant cover crop, by the time about 50% of it is flowering, cut it down and dig into the soil. And let it decompose. That can be done 4 - 6 weeks before planting the next crop.
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Managed to spend my lunch break in the garden pulling the finished beans plants out of one of the raised beds and planting crops to winter over. Will install hoops, fabric cover and plastic sheeting over the seedlings before the first frost. Squeezed radish, cilantro and lettuce into the rows. It's been very dry without meaningful rainfall in about 4-5 weeks. The Fall leaves are going to look very brown this year unless we get more rain.
Thought that I was going to need to do the first shopping for veg since June, but then I discovered a few plants still hanging in there. Picked about a pound of beans, 8 peppers, 2 cukes, 3 small broccoli heads, and a few green tomatoes. It's enough to get us through the next week without having to resort to supermarket produce. Found a pear that the squirrels hadn't eaten. Yeah!! that's 3 pear trees and only 1 edible pear.
The bee hives have hive beetle in all 3 of them. Yesterday, it took about an hour but I took each hive apart, squished the beetles that I could see and put beetle catch sheets on the bottom boards. Also, have a beetle catcher that uses oil and sits in between the frames. Will install that over the weekend. Hive beetles eat the brood so it could have a devastating effect on the colony by next Spring. Need to get the winter insulation ready so I can wrap them up by November.
That's all the gardening news on this 1/4 acre suburban homestead.
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How long do seeds usually last, in everyone's experience? I have a bunch of interesting seeds that I bought a few years ago, and some that I was given by other gardeners, and I don't know if it's worth trying to plant some next year, or if I should just buy new. Is there a rule of thumb, or does it depend on the plant? Some are interesting varietals that I don't know if I'd be able to find cheap, like multicolor carrots, purple pole beans, candystripe beets - I bought them at a botanical garden gift shop. On the one hand, I want to plant them and see if they come up, because I'd hate to waste them, but on the other hand, if I dedicate garden space to them and they don't come up, I'll be wasting time with the space unproductive, and possibly having to buy seedlings instead of seeds to fill the space depending on timing.
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How long do seeds usually last, in everyone's experience? I have a bunch of interesting seeds that I bought a few years ago, and some that I was given by other gardeners, and I don't know if it's worth trying to plant some next year, or if I should just buy new. Is there a rule of thumb, or does it depend on the plant? Some are interesting varietals that I don't know if I'd be able to find cheap, like multicolor carrots, purple pole beans, candystripe beets - I bought them at a botanical garden gift shop. On the one hand, I want to plant them and see if they come up, because I'd hate to waste them, but on the other hand, if I dedicate garden space to them and they don't come up, I'll be wasting time with the space unproductive, and possibly having to buy seedlings instead of seeds to fill the space depending on timing.
Some seeds definitely last longer than others, and how they have been stored also affects germination rate. You could do your own germination tests early enough to buy replacement seeds, or just plant extra thick and be prepared to thin if germination is good.
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@Raenia I've had seeds last up to 3 years if they were stored in cool conditions, like a basement or refrigerator. Beyond 3 years tends to be hit or miss whether they will germinate. Sometimes, I will just dump old seeds in a corner of the garden and whatever sprouts will get moved to a dedicated growing spot.
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Anybody tried growing indoors in the winter under grow lamps? I just purchased a 15w led grow bulb and I'm going to try keeping a tomato plant and some herbs going during the winter, but I wonder if I would be able to start plants indoors from seeds and just grow them. I have solar panels, so the electricity is free.
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@WhiteTrashCash I will answer your questions once I have my keyboard to give you a longer answer. But yes you can start seeds under lights. Some seeds also need warmth so when you are setting up your grown zone a heat vent or warm fridge or grow mat can greatly increase your success. Just wanted to put that out there. I have not tried prolonging tomatoes indoors yet.
@Raenia I test germination (by putting seeds on a wet paper towel in a plastic bag on the grow mat and then only plant those that start to break dormancy).
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@WhiteTrashCash - a longer answer:
The light from artificial sources is a fraction of the intensity of the sun in my experience.
I keep my lights a couple of inches from the leaf surface, and that will be hard to do with a mature tomato plant. It might work better if you have a bright window plus the grow light. Hopefully you will keep us posted on this experiment.
I start lots of plants each spring and have been gradually building capacity with on sale lights and grow mats. It works great and allows me to get some really interesting plants . And I can do experiments. This year I got a dozen eggplants from eight seeds that cost a couple of bucks. (plus the water and lights and all the time) little plants dry out quickly and cats like to investigate things so I do have some disasters...the melon experiment was a bust. Peppers and squash were excellent. Tomatoes were off the charts successful.
The potting soil needs to be clean so that fungi is minimized. You also need to be able to water often because those light soils dry quickly and then bam - back to square one. I will sometimes over water, and then use a fan to move air around. Then the furnace is back on, and desert like conditions return.
I start:
many different types of tomatoes
sweet yellow banana peppers and a variety of bell peppers
eggplant
tomatilloes
pickling and slicing cucumbers
zucchini
delicata, acorn and spaghetti squash
basil, parsely, dill, cilantro
flowers: zinnia, nicotiana, straw, asters, calendula, cosmos, sun
leeks
shallots
red, white and yellow onions
The first year I was overly fretting about indoor growing to the point of stressing myself out. Then I had a realization that it was just like outdoor growing and I had to just accept whatever happened, happened. My ignorance was just like the elements I couldn't control in my outdoor garden. It has taken me about four years to get better at indoor growing. For me it is very different and less forgiving than outside. But overall - it gives me a jump on the season and scratches the gardening itch a good twelve weeks before frost free date here. Being that we can have freezing temperature to the last week of May - indoor growing is a bonus season.
Some of the plants graduate from a plug tray to a small pot and then to a four inch pot before it is safe to be hardened off outside and then finally planted in the ground. Others a planted in larger pots from the get go and then hardened off and into the ground.
I have found that potting soil doesn't sustain the plants to a large size so I give them some doses of fertilizer but my hubs hates the smell of the fertilizer so words get said.
My whole operation is really messy to look at so the plants wear out their welcome in the basement by the beginning of May so it is a very good thing I have access to a greenhouse. And greenhouse operation is also something I have been learning.
I have not been successful bringing in a lot of herbs, only rosemary and bay leaves. My bay leaf tree has a black fungus that I have been able to wash off after a good application of dish soap spray with a shot of rubbing alcohol in the solution. I have them all in my sunniest window and vow this year to keep on top of the spider mites and stickies!
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@WhiteTrashCash - a longer answer:
The potting soil needs to be clean so that fungi is minimized.
I have not been successful bringing in a lot of herbs, only rosemary and bay leaves. My bay leaf tree has a black fungus that I have been able to wash off after a good application of dish soap spray with a shot of rubbing alcohol in the solution. I have them all in my sunniest window and vow this year to keep on top of the spider mites and stickies!
To help limit mold/fungi and also bugs, pour boiling water over the potting soil before planting. Helps a lot to get good germination and early growth.
For crud on growing plants, add a little dish detergent and a capfull of bleach to a spray bottle.
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October is normally the time for me to harvest my cooking apples. I have two such trees in close proximity and there are a number of whoppers perched tantalizingly out of reach. In recent years I would enlist the services of my lighter and nimbler son into climbing its heights and chucking them down to me. In his absence (evidently preferring the company of a video game, sigh) I contrived a crude picking device consisting of a sharp blade attached to a kids fishing net attached to a broom pole:
The technique involves guiding the net under the apple and using a quick jabbing motion to sever the stalk holding the apple which then falls into the net.
A blog posting of mine with some [gasp!] video footage of said technique:
https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/10/harvesting-bramley-cooking-apples.html (https://plot-30.blogspot.com/2019/10/harvesting-bramley-cooking-apples.html)
Next step: enlist the services of son's twin sister to produce one of her specials: a super-delicious raspberry and apple crumble.
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Any advice appreciated, I've got a tangerine tree where the fruits are causing the branches to droop pretty severely, like down to the ground for the lowest branches, like a 4-5ft droop. Does that mean the branches are too far out from the trunk and in need of some serious trimming? Should I pare down the number of fruit on the branches to lighten the load? Thanks in advance!
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Any advice appreciated, I've got a tangerine tree where the fruits are causing the branches to droop pretty severely, like down to the ground for the lowest branches, like a 4-5ft droop. Does that mean the branches are too far out from the trunk and in need of some serious trimming? Should I pare down the number of fruit on the branches to lighten the load? Thanks in advance!
Huge caveat -- I have no experience with citrus fruit trees -- but on the large-fruit fruit trees I grow (apple, pear, persimmon) yes, that would be a sign you need to thin the fruit a bit. Hopefully someone else here with citrus trees can chime in. Good luck!
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@Kierun I agree with @Trifele that you may want to thin the fruit. I don't have experience with citrus trees either, but I've been known to put suppports under fruit tree branches that are risk of breaking due to weight of maturing fruit. Sometimes I use a 2x4 or a pruned branch from another tree that has a Y shape to it and can support the weight while the fruit continues to ripen.
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Anybody tried growing indoors in the winter under grow lamps? I just purchased a 15w led grow bulb and I'm going to try keeping a tomato plant and some herbs going during the winter, but I wonder if I would be able to start plants indoors from seeds and just grow them. I have solar panels, so the electricity is free.
15 watts is very little light energy for the plants.
Here's an interesting video comparing several lamps.
I think the smallest is 315 watts.
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I got two bushels of potatoes! Some lovely french fingerlings, yukon gold, russel burbank, chieftain and one other variety that I forget. The squash has been pretty successful as well.
I got a dozen delicata and eight dark green warty ones. I also grew one pumpkin and successfully defended it from the squirrels. I put it with the whole withered vine on the buffet for a spooky Thanksgiving display. I have also been making huge bouquets with zinnias and calendula and cosmos blooms.
Peppers continue under the floating row cover - way more chili's than I can possibly use. Hopefully they made it through last night.
My cold room is bursting!
I have also been collecting seed more earnestly this year. I tried to keep track that only one type of squash was blooming so that I could save some of the delicata seeds for next year. I have a lot of tomato varieties saved. I think I am going to also try saving some chili and jalapeno seeds. If it doesn't work, I can always buy a few seedlings as I have done in the past. (What would I do with a whole seed package of chili peppers) Also saved are: beans, dill, cilantro, arugula.
I am going to save the too tiny potatoes and try them in a spot. I have always been told to use seed potato to reduce disease but lots of people just use the left-overs from a previous years crop.
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We had our first hard frost last week, so my garden is officially done for the year. I am already missing it. I wasn't even going to plant a garden, but then a Craigslist ad for free tomato starts turned out to be a temptation that I could not resist. It worked out well -- for the cost of water plus a new ball of twine, I got hours of gardening, plus a ton of tomatoes. If only I could count on free veggie starts every year!
For the more thoughtful gardeners out there: what do you do to 'winterize' your vegetable garden? Curious about different approaches.
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We had our first hard frost last week, so my garden is officially done for the year. I am already missing it. I wasn't even going to plant a garden, but then a Craigslist ad for free tomato starts turned out to be a temptation that I could not resist. It worked out well -- for the cost of water plus a new ball of twine, I got hours of gardening, plus a ton of tomatoes. If only I could count on free veggie starts every year!
For the more thoughtful gardeners out there: what do you do to 'winterize' your vegetable garden? Curious about different approaches.
When I'm really on the ball, I clean the beds out, incorporate some partially decomposed horse manure into the soil (amount depends on how much the bed has sunk), and then mulch with a layer of straw. Some years I'm lucky if I just get all the old plants out, and then make a big pile of manure to compost over winter so it's ready to incorporate in the spring.
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We had our first hard frost last week, so my garden is officially done for the year. I am already missing it. I wasn't even going to plant a garden, but then a Craigslist ad for free tomato starts turned out to be a temptation that I could not resist. It worked out well -- for the cost of water plus a new ball of twine, I got hours of gardening, plus a ton of tomatoes. If only I could count on free veggie starts every year!
For the more thoughtful gardeners out there: what do you do to 'winterize' your vegetable garden? Curious about different approaches.
When I'm really on the ball, I clean the beds out, incorporate some partially decomposed horse manure into the soil (amount depends on how much the bed has sunk), and then mulch with a layer of straw. Some years I'm lucky if I just get all the old plants out, and then make a big pile of manure to compost over winter so it's ready to incorporate in the spring.
I remember one year when I was working in the garden, left the shovel and digging fork there for the next day, and overnight we had enough snow that I only saw the tools the next spring. ;-)
Don't be me.
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Thanks for the advice, I've thinned the fruits a bit and will look at support structures. Once this season is over though I'm thinking I should trim the branches a fair bit back, there any general rules for how much to cut so I'm not doing more damage than good? Thanks again!
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My community garden is likely closing either temporarily or permanently. Either way, it's likely I can move to another site (my garden org runs 4 or 5 sites, I think). But, that means I cannot plant garlic this fall, as we won't even know whether our existing garden's coming back until after it closes for the year in early November, nor will we know which garden we're moving to, if we are moving.
Boooooo.
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Thanks for the advice, I've thinned the fruits a bit and will look at support structures. Once this season is over though I'm thinking I should trim the branches a fair bit back, there any general rules for how much to cut so I'm not doing more damage than good? Thanks again!
Hi Kierun
Here's a publication on citrus tree care from the Hawaii Cooperative Extension: https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/F_N-14.pdf.
There's a small section on pruning on page 6, just the usual advice of removing water shoots and crossing branches, and
opening up the interior. It says to prune after the fruit is harvested. (Apparently no need to wait until the tree is dormant, because your weather is so mild that your trees apparently don't do that). There doesn't appear to be mention of trees being overladen with fruit, or needing to cut back fruit-bearing branches to prevent breakage. Here's another article on pruning lemon trees: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/lemons/lemon-tree-pruning.htm.
FYI -- pruning fruit trees is different than pruning a hedge or other plant. You don't just cut branches shorter so they are closer to the trunk. When you prune a fruit-bearing branch you'll remove it close to the trunk, just outside the branch collar, which means that entire branch will be gone for good. No 'undo' button. :)
Did you actually have any branches crack under the weight of the fruit? If not, then maybe the tree is ok without branch pruning. Maybe you could just do the above-mentioned basics (get rid of water shoots and crossed branches, and thin the fruit as needed). I have a persimmon tree with branches that droop a lot when it's fruiting, but its branches have never broken, and it seems to be ok. I thin the fruit a bit, but I'm not even sure I need to.
Another thought -- you could call a local nursery and garden center (a good one, with knowledgeable people) and ask them. Google "fruit trees for sale near me" and see if you get any nursery results that aren't big-box type stores.
Good luck!
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Thanks Trifele! The tree is currently on a rental property so I'm there once every other week to maintain the yard so I'm not sure what has caused a few branches to break. And I do mean a few, less than 5 that had broken off, but don't know if it was from the weight of the fruit or something else. I do plan on cutting the branches back towards the trunk, especially if the ones that are now brushing the ground don't bounce back up to above head height. The tree has been a bit neglected since I was thinking I'd defer that maintenance until the rental turns into my primary, but looks like I've put it off for too long hehe. Many mahalos!