2012 Gardening Thread (Read 1516 times)

vegefrog


    ha! Love the mr. potato head Smile

     

    I'm gonna dig mine tomorrow...the ones I weed-eated have grown some more foliage...so I am gonna see what's down there Smile

     

    Getting so many cukes I'm giving them away, same with zucchini. Green beans every night Smile It's so easy to eat healthy in the summer!!


    Feeling the growl again

      Well I'm actually keeping up this year, finished the first post-planting rototilling today.  Corn is hand-weeded and Preened.  Finished watering everything for the second time.  Stuff is so far behind because it did not germinate from lack of water.  Peas are 1" tall only.

      "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

       

        I've grown Mr. Stripey and Mortgage Lifter. Mr stripey was cute and nice to look at, but the taste wasn't that great. Mortgage Lifter had a high yield of nice, big, good tasting tomatoes.

         

        The great things about Heirlooms is you can save the seeds from your best and have great plants next year from seed!

         

        Mr. Stripey ain't doin' so well.  I think he's getting too much shade from some of the other plants.  he's only 1 1/2 feet high, and some of my other mater plants are 4 feet high already.

         

        But, it's a long growing season.

        Jeff

        vegefrog


          If I remember, Mr. Stripey took a little while to take off in my garden too...

           

          Spaniel...peas!! I can seriously never leave the south. Your growing season is so different!

           

          We are having way too much rain. When it started last week I was happy. Now I am not. Some of my zukes are rotting and everything is just soggy.  I have so many tomatoes that are BIG but still green...so far they all look great (fingers crossed). I know too much water too fast can cause them to grow quickly and split and I might cry if the beauties I've been waiting for to ripen have this happen to them!! I know there will be more, but there's nothing like that very first sliced heirloom of the season.

           

          I have been eating green beans like a crazy person and cherry and grape tomatoes are all ripening at a nice steady pace so that I can have some in a salad or omelet every day.

           

          Cucumbers are doing great too. I love to watch them grow up a trellis. One day the vine is going one direction then that little curly cue tendril grabs hold of the trellis and up it goes!

           

          I planted 4 types of eggplants this year. Last year I just did a japanese variety and the regular old standard black beauty. This year I have a mini-purple and also a white variety. They all look good and I have several that should be ready to pick by the weekend.

           

          Anyone ever grown Tomatillo's? I tried it last year, but didn't realize you needed at least 2 plants for pollination. This year I have 3 and they are really producing like crazy. I picked a few last week and just sliced them up and had them on a turkey sandwich. Very tasty! I like the tart flavor. When I get some more I'll make salsa Smile My jalapeno's are ready to be used!

           

          Hope everyone is having good luck with their gardens!


          Feeling the growl again

             

            Spaniel...peas!! I can seriously never leave the south. Your growing season is so different!

             

            We are having way too much rain. When it started last week I was happy. Now I am not. Some of my zukes are rotting and everything is just soggy. 

             

            To be fair to them, I got them in late.  That particular garden was not planted last year, so I had to wait for the weeds to all get good and growing, nuke it with Roundup, and THEN plant.  And half were seed from last year.  But the soil I put them in is a tad on the sandy side, and we have been bone dry here so stuff just sat in the ground without germinating.  Once I started watering, they came up.

             

            I got my unfenced garden (potatos, corn, pumpkin, squash) completely caught up.  Preen applied.  VERY clean right now.  I know the grass is going to try and take over the half with the potatos but I stunted it well with hilling them.  When it comes back I ordered a bottle of the grass-only spray suggested by r2farm so I am ready for it!  The other half is very, very clean.  It was flat so I was able to get in there with my lawnmower-towed sprayer and Roundup it twice before first planting.  Where the potatos are I could not as it was mounded up from digging potatos, so I'll be having more issues there.

             

            My fenced garden was rough-weeded (tiller only) and this week's after work project is to get in there with hoe and hands and clean it out/Preen it.

             

            Kitchen garden is all in...what will grow anyways.  Seed from Lowe's sucks, almost none of it (including lettuce, snapdragons) did not come up at all.  Sunflowers did but despite a low fence the avatar got in there and trampled them so I just replanted.

             

            The water situation is dire.  Supposed to get rain yesterday but not a drop, none in the forecast for another week.  Two years of bad drought, now we've already been in one all spring.  The only reason I can even grow a garden or plant trees and keep them alive this year as I have watered everything on a weekly basis (no small feat considering some is ~80yds from nearest hydrant).  I hired a kid to plant 150 trees out back, they are still alive mostly....but not for long if we don't get a good soaker.  I'm really starting to notice how slow my younger grapevines have been maturing, compared to the ones I planted 5 years ago when we got steady rain their first 2 years.

            "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

             

            vegefrog


              I would share with you if I could! I thought we were going to be done with the rain after yesterday but a storm just now popped up and its pouring again. I checked everything out this morning...I am going to have a lot of tying up to do with the indeterminate tomatoes. It's been so rainy I haven't been able to get in there and work with them, and now it's like a jungle!!!!

               

              Besides all this rain wrecking havoc in my garden, I haven't been able to run outside in almost a week. Now THAT is frustrating. I ran Sunday in the pouring rain, I just had to get outside. Felt pretty awesome, but that isn't something I can do every day.

               

              PS. Spaniel I bet your Hound had a good time trampling Smile My boys lay down right in front of the garden path while I work. They have been yelled at quite a few times for trampling in the past, but I think they have finally learned.

                OK.  BOTH my potato plants fell over.  It was windy today, but, huh?

                 

                I guess I have to stake them.  Hope it doesn't kill them.

                Jeff


                Prince of Fatness

                  OK.  BOTH my potato plants fell over.  It was windy today, but, huh?

                   

                  I guess I have to stake them.  Hope it doesn't kill them.

                   

                  Depending on how far along they are you might stab a few potatoes.  If it were me if I even did anything it would be mounding some dirt around them to hold them up.

                  Not at it at all. 

                    Depending on how far along they are you might stab a few potatoes.  If it were me if I even did anything it would be mounding some dirt around them to hold them up.

                     

                    I don't know if it will work, but I'll give it a try.  I have to do something, I mean, they're totally horizontal.  They've been in since May 13.  So, not that long.  Hey...wow, one month exactly.

                    Jeff

                    vegefrog


                      Wind knocked them over?? Strange...I hope they can be helped! I still haven't dug mine to see what's under there...I have new foliage growing so maybe the weed eating didn't do as much damage as I thought.

                       

                      The sun finally came out today!!! AND I picked my first ripe Beefsteak tomato. Life is Good Smile

                        Wind knocked them over?? Strange...I hope they can be helped! I still haven't dug mine to see what's under there...I have new foliage growing so maybe the weed eating didn't do as much damage as I thought.

                         

                        The sun finally came out today!!! AND I picked my first ripe Beefsteak tomato. Life is Good Smile

                         

                        Yep.  The wind knocked them over.  I wonder if I planted them deep enough.  Today (didn't stake them yet) they hadn't stood all the way up on their own, but looked alive.  I'll stake them on Saturday when I get the time.

                         

                        Also, I wonder if it's the fact that we have had too much rain.  Maybe the soil was too soft.  I'm going to mound them too on Saturday.

                        Jeff


                        Prince of Fatness

                          Yep.  The wind knocked them over.  I wonder if I planted them deep enough.  Today (didn't stake them yet) they hadn't stood all the way up on their own, but looked alive.  I'll stake them on Saturday when I get the time.

                           

                          Also, I wonder if it's the fact that we have had too much rain.  Maybe the soil was too soft.  I'm going to mound them too on Saturday.

                           

                          As I recall you have a raised bed?  If so and the soil is loose that may contribute.  I really think that mounding is the answer.  Prop them up and mound them up pretty good.  This way there will be more plant under the soil and less plant for the wind to get at.

                          Not at it at all. 


                          Feeling the growl again

                            Yep.  The wind knocked them over.  I wonder if I planted them deep enough.  Today (didn't stake them yet) they hadn't stood all the way up on their own, but looked alive.  I'll stake them on Saturday when I get the time.

                             

                            Also, I wonder if it's the fact that we have had too much rain.  Maybe the soil was too soft.  I'm going to mound them too on Saturday.

                             

                             

                            For future reference, spuds can typically stand being planted pretty deep.  We've often half-hilled them at the time of planting (3-4" deep).

                             

                            We get some nasty winds here, I've never had an issue.  Must be either shallow planting, not enough hilling, loose soil, or a combination thereof.

                            "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

                             

                              As I recall you have a raised bed?  If so and the soil is loose that may contribute.  I really think that mounding is the answer.  Prop them up and mound them up pretty good.  This way there will be more plant under the soil and less plant for the wind to get at.

                               

                              Yes, I do have a raised bed.  I'm going to mound them up.

                              Jeff


                              A Saucy Wench

                                My CSA lady KEEPS burying them for a long time.  She plants and when they peek up she mounds more and they peek up and she mounds more until they are deep. 

                                I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                                 

                                "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7