2013 Gardening Thread (Read 239 times)

    The black raspberries are starting to turn, I am a bit concerned that they will ripen while I am not able to pick them.

     

     

    This happens to me EVERY year. I seriously have gotten one crop out of mine in fifteen years. But... I can say the birds love me. One of these days I will actually use some bird netting.

     

    I also had a similar, (yet different), issue with my stawberries. I send my daughter out to pick strawberries every day. She comes back in empty handed and claiming the chickens ate them. Of course the little culprit, (her) doesn't take the time to wash her face. At least I know she eats healthy. Wink


    Feeling the growl again

       

      This happens to me EVERY year. I seriously have gotten one crop out of mine in fifteen years. But... I can say the birds love me. One of these days I will actually use some bird netting.

       

      I also had a similar, (yet different), issue with my stawberries. I send my daughter out to pick strawberries every day. She comes back in empty handed and claiming the chickens ate them. Of course the little culprit, (her) doesn't take the time to wash her face. At least I know she eats healthy. Wink

       

      I went out to check on them last night and was shocked to find that in 2 days they went from just a hint of red to ~5% ripe.  This is NOT good timing.

       

      My 18mo old son went with me and he loved them.  He is a tough one, he was not going to let the thorns keep him away and he was pretty mad I would not let him wade his way into them.  My red raspberry patch has been neglected for a couple years and with droughts not produced much...but my two daughters strip them clean, so it's not like I would get to pick any anyways.  I'm OK with that.  Smile

       

      I have netting from the grape vines, but for some reason the birds haven't been an issue with the black raspberries.  We have a few wild mulberry trees around so I think their focus is there.

      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

       

      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

       

      TheHurricaneMom


        I've harvested green onions and radishes.  My lettuce is looking rather puny.   I think I will have a good raspberry harvest in July.


        Prince of Fatness

          Been digging up some potatoes from the garden, mostly just the volunteers.  They are yummy.  Also had some fresh string beans over the weekend.  Got a major weeding in Saturday and finally staked up the tomato plants,  There are tomatoes on the vines but nothing ripe yet.

           

          I started some squash seeds and this coming weekend I should be able to put some zucchini, butterbush, and pumpkins in.

           

          This weekend is also time for the annual brew of potato cream ale.  I will use 2 pounds of grated fresh potatoes.

          Not at it at all. 


          Feeling the growl again

            I picked a bad 2 weeks to go on vacation.  Stuff is out of control.  I've never seen stuff grow so fast....it's going to be a long week.

            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

             

            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

             


            Prince of Fatness

              I've never seen stuff grow so fast

               

              Same here.  The ground is very wet from all of the rain that we got in June and with the recent hot sunny days everything just took off.

              Not at it at all. 


              jules2

                Funnily enough its exactly the same over here, suddenly it's got very hot but the soil is wet and everything is going crazy, buckets of gooseberries and red currants plus lettuce the size of cabbages but because we had such a cold Spring wild elderberries which normally flower late May early June are only just flowering now and I noticed today on my bike ride that lots odd people were out picking them.

                Old age is when you move from illegal to prescribed drugs.

                  I've been enjoying zuchinni and jalapeño omelettes most mornings, with fresh tomatoes on the side. All from my little garden. Well, all except the eggs. Smile

                  obiebyke


                    My cubanelle, jalapeno, and bell peppers are starting to come in, along with plenty of salad greens/arugula. I love gardening with my upstairs neighbors because it reduces the workload, but man, is the wife upstairs a stickler. Every time I leave something on their stairs that I picked, she has something to say. Last night I left a jalapeno and it was, "I would have let that get a little bit bigger." I'm considering just letting her do the picking. She actually does know a lot more about gardening than I do, so I should just surrender.

                    Call me Ray (not Ishmael)


                    Feeling the growl again

                      Peas are done.  There were some straggler blossoms but the weeding vs pea ratio was going to stink, so I just tilled them all under.  I may stop groing peas; half of my fenced garden was peas and I got two quart bags frozen.  Conversely, I have 1-1/3 rows green beans and have canned 30 quarts and they are still going.

                       

                      Tomatoes still green but coming.  Pumpkins have gone CRAZY, never seen plants this big.  If they don't dry out this should be good.

                       

                      A couple watermelons and cantelopes managed to come up.  They disappoint me every year, I hope they don't just die off like normal.

                       

                      Sweet corn should be ready in a couple weeks, as with the first fingerling potatoes.

                       

                      Two gallons black raspberries frozen.  My kids are keeping the red raspberries and blackberries picked and eaten (they share a few).

                       

                      Orchard has had a couple setbacks.  Peaches got hit hard with leaf curl this spring; however, they came back ok and it looks like I should get a crop of some sort.  Worse, two of my pears got what turned out to be fire blight.  I did not know what it was so it was advanced before I caught on.  I was forced to prune off about half of each tree -- and these were two of the biggest trees in the orchard.  Kind of heartbreaking.  But I have so many apples that one tree that was rooted at and angle may not hold up.  Asian pears looking great and my first ever persimmons hanging.

                       

                      Grapes look phenominal.  I might get 200 bottles of wine next year.

                      "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                       

                      I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                       


                      Prince of Fatness

                        Lots of green beans this year.  They are still going strong.

                         

                        Dug up the Yukon Gold potatoes.  Nice yield.  Used some to brew some potato beer last weekend.  I'll be digging up some russets in a week or so.

                         

                        No ripe tomatoes yet but there are quite a few green ones.  Soon.

                         

                        Just got around to planting squash.  There should be time for it to mature.

                         

                        After a very wet June I have had to get back to focusing on watering.  We are working on a 7 day stretch of 90+ degree days with very little rain.  The heat is supposed to break this weekend thankfully.  Everything seems to be holding up.

                        Not at it at all. 

                          Peas are done.  There were some straggler blossoms but the weeding vs pea ratio was going to stink, so I just tilled them all under.  I may stop groing peas; half of my fenced garden was peas and I got two quart bags frozen.  Conversely, I have 1-1/3 rows green beans and have canned 30 quarts and they are still going.

                           

                          Tomatoes still green but coming.  Pumpkins have gone CRAZY, never seen plants this big.  If they don't dry out this should be good.

                           

                          A couple watermelons and cantelopes managed to come up.  They disappoint me every year, I hope they don't just die off like normal.

                           

                          Sweet corn should be ready in a couple weeks, as with the first fingerling potatoes.

                           

                          Two gallons black raspberries frozen.  My kids are keeping the red raspberries and blackberries picked and eaten (they share a few).

                           

                          Orchard has had a couple setbacks.  Peaches got hit hard with leaf curl this spring; however, they came back ok and it looks like I should get a crop of some sort.  Worse, two of my pears got what turned out to be fire blight.  I did not know what it was so it was advanced before I caught on.  I was forced to prune off about half of each tree -- and these were two of the biggest trees in the orchard.  Kind of heartbreaking.  But I have so many apples that one tree that was rooted at and angle may not hold up.  Asian pears looking great and my first ever persimmons hanging.

                           

                          Grapes look phenominal.  I might get 200 bottles of wine next year.

                           

                          You seem to be a professional farmer.

                           

                          So far I only have some green onion, salad, turnip green, leek, celery, spinach (bolted very quickly). Yesterday I had the first bunch of snap peas. There are a few green tomatoes. Bok Choy is bolted. Cucumber were dead ages ago. Turnip, french beans and zucchini are ready to harvest soon. The cherry were all eaten by birds before I had a chance to pick them.

                           

                          Overall, this year it is not as good as last year. Last month was a bit cold here. Also I tried organic growing for the first time, so no fertilizer has been used. I did brew some compost tea using the kitchen compost for a few days which didn't seem to help much on vegetables, but the flower plants went giant. Sadly all my kitchen worms (about 1000) are all dead after a couple of months. I don't know what went wrong.

                          5k - 20:56 (09/12), 7k - 28:40 (11/12), 10k trial - 43:08  (03/13), 42:05 (05/13), FM - 3:09:28 (05/13), HM - 1:28:20 (05/14), Failed 10K trial - 6:10/mi for 4mi (08/14), FM - 3:03 (09/14)


                          Feeling the growl again

                             

                            You seem to be a professional farmer.

                             

                             

                             

                            Thanks.  I grew up farming but work a corporate job.  But it's in the genes and dies hard.  Frankly if i had the finances to quit my job and start a winery big enough to replace my current income I would do so in a heartbeat.

                            "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                             

                            I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                             


                            flatland mountaineer

                              My vegetable crop, pinto beans. The first planting was hailed off just after emergence and were replanted. The short pvc pipe has a moisture sensor at 1 foot depth, the other longer green pipe is mostly a marker.

                              Photo: The Pinto Beans were smiling this morning after the sprinkler went over them.

                              The whole world said I shoulda used red but it looked good to Charlene in John Deere Green!!

                              Support Ethanol, drink the best, burn the rest.

                              Run for fun? What the hell kind of recreation is that?  quote from Back to the Fut III


                              Feeling the growl again

                                My vegetable crop, pinto beans. The first planting was hailed off just after emergence and were replanted. The short pvc pipe has a moisture sensor at 1 foot depth, the other longer green pipe is mostly a marker.

                                Photo: The Pinto Beans were smiling this morning after the sprinkler went over them.

                                 

                                I'm very interested in that sensor, if you have any kind of link discussing it.  Makes perfect sense but I've never seen such a thing (my immediate family still farms 4-row equipement and my most modern piece is an IH674).

                                 

                                I'm still very grateful for the grass spray you recommended last year.  Works like a charm.  Now I just need to go about figuring out a grass spray for corn that the layman can obtain.

                                 

                                MTA - the ethanol quote in your sig is priceless.

                                "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                                 

                                I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills