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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2009 Vol.10 – July 17
Free Republic | 7-17-2009 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 07/17/2009 4:00:25 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

Good morning to all of you gardeners. Well it looks like the weather is going to be cooling down in the Midwest, East Coast and parts of the South starting today and continuing through the weekend. Wow it is looking like September in July! Our plants are going to be confused!


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening; weekly
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To: Red_Devil 232
Typical summer weather here on Humboldt Bay... fog in the morning burning off by noon and then back in the evening. The hotter the great valleys get to the east the longer the fog stays here. Temps 65 to 70 with nights 50 to 55. The Red Gold potatoes are all blighted now (common) and I dug 2 hills yesterday that produced 29 small to medium boiling spuds. The blight is spreading into the Yukon Gold now and they are a later producer.

We're still losing the battle of the berries to some critter in spite of the investment in a impulse sprinkler with the motion detector, bird netting and a Hav-a-heart trap. The shop building the metal frame cages ran out of 1/2 square tubing so I only have 2 of the 6 needed to cover with wire and replace the netting. I'm thinking I will have to put wire on the blueberry frame in place of the netting to protect them.

101 posted on 07/17/2009 9:34:54 AM PDT by tubebender (Doesn't expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected?)
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To: wastoute
Just ordered a table compost-er to be given away at our fair booth....Looks like a good idea for someone who doesn’t have the luxury of just throwing in over the fence to the compost pile.

I use some of the techniques in the “Lasagna Gardening” book to help build soil and get it ready for next season...Newspapers down to kill the grass/weeds, then alternative layers of materials to build the dirt. Make sure you get it tested so you know what it needs.

Good luck on the land.

102 posted on 07/17/2009 9:38:00 AM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: wastoute; JustaDumbBlonde
You bet I saw those cantaloupes and the big ol' Bell peppers! JustaDumbBlonde and her husband know how to grow things. She has also mentioned that they have a watermelon field. There is no telling what else they are growing but I bet it looks just as good as what she has posted.

She uses 1/4 and 1/2 inch re-bar for her posts and cattle gate fencing for the trellis. Very impressive! They are in north Louisiana.

103 posted on 07/17/2009 9:49:32 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: cripplecreek

I used to have a small greenhouse here and I heated my house with wood. Every night just before turning in I would fill a coal scuttle with hot coals from the wood stove and set it in the greenhouse. I had an electric heater for backup but I don’t think it ever came on, the bucket of coals would heat the eight by ten foot greenhouse enough without any other heat. The coals would still be hot the next morning, a layer of ash formed over the top but down in the center would be red coals still.


104 posted on 07/17/2009 10:07:33 AM PDT by RipSawyer (Change has come to America and all hope is gone.)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Yesterday the local news station said we had been at or above 100 degrees for the last 30 days. It’s gonna be another scorcher today and on into next week.


105 posted on 07/17/2009 10:18:09 AM PDT by bgill (The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration)
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To: RipSawyer

Thanks we can do that...


106 posted on 07/17/2009 10:40:20 AM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: hoosiermama
OTOH some varieties are difficult to sex until they are mature....cross dressing and all;~)

We had just one broad-breasted white turkey that we got as a peep and we were told it was a hen. Later we went back to the same farmer to buy a second turkey from the same brood and again he picked the smallest one presuming (hoping) for a hen.

Well, when we introduced the new one to the original, the original pulled in his neck, poofed up all his chest feathers, fanned his tail and began strutting and dancing almost, showing off for the new one.

Whoops!

107 posted on 07/17/2009 10:57:33 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: who knows what evil?

Yes I did. It would work, but I’d be careful with it and not to use too much or you’ll burn the roots.

But again, they inject anhydrous ammonia right into the root-line in the field corn all around us, and I’m sure THAT stuff is even MORE heavy-duty.

Maybe a test on a few plants, first?


108 posted on 07/17/2009 11:27:30 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Red_Devil 232

“Why are they banning it?”

Just a HUNCH, but some state agencies are filled to the BRIM with Eco-Weenies?

The county I live in is primarily Agriculture, with the exception of those ‘12 Square Miles Surrounded by REALITY’ which encompass our Seat-o-Government for this state.

Idiot leftists, every last one.

No phosphate in lawn fertilizers, no Sevin, no this, no that. I swear they must read from Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’ to open each meeting, LOL!

But of course the local Hmong population, who are market growers and buy a ton of seed and onions, garlic, potatoes, etc. from me, can blast all of their ‘organic’ produce with malathion, thurocide, etc. and get away with it because, well, it’s only FAIR to let them use that stuff so their produce looks ‘picture perfect’ for all the local hippy-dippy restaurants they sell to. *Rolleyes*

Don’t get me started!

Oops! Too late, LOL! :)


109 posted on 07/17/2009 11:34:36 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Petronski

Oh, good! You got some hens. Happy for you!

Yes, no insect stands a chance against them. My hens love rainy days when big old nightcrawlers surface for air. ;)


110 posted on 07/17/2009 11:35:50 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: Red_Devil 232; All

I’m looking for a vegetable that my family grew in S. Fla. years ago and need help, finding it. We called it a “jahote”. It grew on a climbing vine and was about the size of an apple.
Light green in color and had ridges.
Any help would be appreciated.


111 posted on 07/17/2009 11:35:56 AM PDT by GOYAKLA
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To: JustaDumbBlonde

Your system works so well! Is there irrigation under the plastic?


112 posted on 07/17/2009 11:44:02 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
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To: GOYAKLA

Put Jahote and vine in google and got two article that were not in English. Any idea what language they were; we can take them to bable.


113 posted on 07/17/2009 12:09:07 PM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Hey Diana! No, I don't have drip tape under the landscape fabric, but plan to install some next year. Right now I'm furrow irrigating, using sandbags to hold the water where it is needed. If there is any water still standing after the moisture has wicked-up to the top of the bed, I simply prop up a corner of the sandbag and the water drains out of the garden. Couple of photos to illustrate:

Photobucket
The blue object on the left side is a sandbag.

Photobucket
The fabric shows how far up the water has wicked so far.

It is a crude system for watering, but it has worked really well for me. My rows are 100' long and many times I plant more than one type of vegetable on the same row. Sometimes one needs to be watered and the other doesn't ... so I'm able to sandbag off just the area I need and run some water in with the garden hose.

114 posted on 07/17/2009 12:16:10 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (America: Home of the Free Because of the Brave)
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To: Cinnamontea

Thank you for your kind words!


115 posted on 07/17/2009 12:18:04 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (America: Home of the Free Because of the Brave)
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To: GOYAKLA
You talking about this?

If so, it is called a Mirliton in Louisiana or a Chayote Squash.

116 posted on 07/17/2009 12:21:44 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: murrie
Hi murrie, I really appreciate your kind comments about my garden. No, I haven't had any problems whatsoever with this setup. Everything grows like crazy and, for the most part, train themselves on the trellis very well.

I use what my hardware store calls a "cattle panel", and here is a link to the same thing that Tractor Supply refers to as a "feedlot panel". I use 4 pieces of 1/4" rebar to support the trellis, and I've never had one fall over yet. I pound the rebar about 2 ft. into the ground.

I will never grow cukes on the ground again ... I hate the bending over and the trellis takes up so much less room than running them on the ground.

117 posted on 07/17/2009 12:29:04 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (America: Home of the Free Because of the Brave)
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To: Red_Devil 232

Thanks for the wonderful compliments, my FRiend. As to your question about feeding, I worked several hundred pounds of 13-13-13 into the soil before I made the rows and covered them with the landscape fabric. Since then, I’ve only foliar-fed things with some liquid Miracle Grow every so often. The garden is located where my late paw-in-law kept his cows for many years and I think that contributes to the richness of the soil in that spot.


118 posted on 07/17/2009 12:34:32 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (America: Home of the Free Because of the Brave)
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To: hoosiermama

Thank you ... I appreciate your kind words.


119 posted on 07/17/2009 12:35:50 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde (America: Home of the Free Because of the Brave)
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
The garden is located where my late paw-in-law kept his cows for many years and I think that contributes to the richness of the soil in that spot.

You betcha...perfect soil for years to come.

120 posted on 07/17/2009 12:38:10 PM PDT by hoosiermama (ONLY DEAD FISH GO WITH THE FLOW.......I am swimming with Sarahcudah! Sarah has read the tealeaves.)
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