WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 17 APRIL 25, 2014

Free Republic | 4/25/2014 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.

No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!

NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Indeed! After 27 years I whole-heartedly believe the local wisdom that you don’t plant anything tender outside before Memorial Day. And then you must get everything in that week, or else it won’t have the opportunity to grow and bloom, or fruit, before winter! You can’t really deviate from that schedule too much without engendering heartbreak.

[greeneyes]

That just about sums it up.LOL

[afraidfortherepublic]

No. She’s been gone since 1971. But, I remember her starting her “slips” in water until they showed roots, or sticking them in damp sand until they took root. I’m sure she had plenty of failures, but she had enough successes that everybody considered her a master gardener, even though she never had a class in horticulture. She never heard of “rooting compound”, or any special way of taking a cutting. She just did it.

[Gabz]

That’s how we handle much of our trash - but the burn pile is starting to get mighty large, as it usually does this time of year because of our burn laws - through the end of this month we haven’t been able to burn before 4:30pm since February. But the winds have just been too much to even consider doing a small burn. Because we’ve had to keep the wood stove going much longer this year, we’ve been able to deal with some of what would have normally gone for the burn pile.

[JDoutrider]

Our four foot of snow cover has finally melted... but we had a couple of inches of wet snow last night which shouldn't last but a few days.

It's looking like a June planting again up here in N. MN. But Hey! I can see the raised garden beds now and hope springs eternal...

[EQAndyBuzz]

Had a tomato. It vanished. Wondering if my Golden got to it. Zucchini are looking good as are the beans. I still have stuff in the ground from the winter. Pulled some beets and carrots last week.

Planted spinach and cukes this week. Unfortunately the artichokes I planted several weeks back never came up. Has anyone had any experience with artichokes?

[Silentgypsy]

Love licorice! Will look for anise!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A Duluth buddy who spent the winter in Naples arrived back in Duluth day before yesterday. He said his trip back might have been put off for a week.

After last winter's ice and snow her in Mizzou, Naples, Marco Island, etc., is sounding pretty good.

Meanwhile, radishes and the first wisps of lettuce are up. Poblanos are with fruit. The B. sprouts are having heat spasms or something. They slump nearly flat after 6 hours of sun, then a dose of water brings them back.

[Silentgypsy]

Yayyyy! Strawberries!

[greeneyes]

Our county is unencumbered by a lot of rules. No zoning commission. Sometimes when the weather is very dry, the commissioners will issue a no burn order, but that’s it.

I found an article last week talking about a freedom scale of places to live. Missouri ranked #7, so 6 other states have more freedom according to that. But we are number 1 and 3 IIRC, when it comes to booze and smokes.LOL

Anyway, the big metro areas have lots of danged rules, but the rural areas kinda live and let live.

[rightly_dividing]

—rightly, I searched for any sign of a pepper today on all those pepper plants, and nothing yet.—

Patients, be patient, it’s early and peppers have a mind of their own.

I think all of my peppers now have either blooms or tiny peppers on them, even the ghost peppers which went naked over the winter and I almost wrote them off as lost, They barely are leafing out and I see baby peppers on them today when I was out there. I guess they are making up for the long winter we had.

Still need rain, the hill is turning into a dune.

Got a bit of sheetrock mud on the wall today. I am not fond of sheetrock work. Perfection is off the table here. Good enough is good enough.

[Starstruck]

Ok. 15 heirlooms buried to their necks, caged and watered. No this isn’t Guantanamo. Now for the peppers. Anaheim, cayenne, Jalapeno and bells.

[Jed Eckert]

Hot and humid here in central Florida, 86 today. Picked the last of my broccoli florets this morning which are rapidly trying to go to seed due to the heat.

Picked about 6 pounds of lemon squash too. Very interesting plant. Seems to be naturally resistant to pickle worms. Looks like they try to drill into the fruit but just can't make it. The skin of the fruits was a bit "freckled" but all the insides were perfect. Cooks up just like summer yellow crookneck. :)

Also got lots of french breakfast radishes and cukes that are ready for salad.

Tomatoes are still green but a few look like they may be ready in about a week or so. Should be a colorful tomato harvest if all goes well: Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra and Charger(basic red). Meanwhile, eggplants are just starting to produce some tiny fruit. Those should be colorful as well: Ping Tung (purple), Casper (white), Thai Long(green).

[Gabz]

The Feb to April burn restriction is a state law. We’re pretty unencumbered here where I live otherwise. I like living not “in town.”

[greeneyes]

Me too. We live just about a mile outside a very small town. The town doesn’t have too many laws either, but enough that I’d just as soon remain outside.

Fortunately all the town’s growth has been in another direction.

[SAJ]

Make you a deal, Lee. You can be the big expert; I just want the little SOBs to grow.

Just because I happen to be thinking of it, here's a short cheat sheet for growing herbs (that's all I grow, except for a little plot of pimentones which basically grow themselves once the bleep-bleep seeds germinate).

I suspect, but cannot prove, that the following is valid for anywhere S of Mexico.

First, be wary of the instruction "full sun" (sol pleno) on a seed packet. In Panama -- and I'm in the hills where the weather is consistently temperate, not hot -- "full sun" many times translates to "dead seedlings". At 3000 feet and just 9 degress Lat. N of the equator, the sun is simply more intense here (Lord knows what it must be like in Panama's Arco Seco, where the weather is uniformly hot and dry!) Dill, sweet and Greek basil, and oregano (vulgaris) do much better with about half sun. Dill grows like a bloody weed here; I've one plot that's 6 inches high, from seed, in just 7 weeks.

Second, most of Latin America, esp Panama, has a rainy season. This is called the rainy season because, fr/Apr-May to Nov-Dec, it usually rains a boatload. 5-6 days a week, a shower or storm in the afternoon is typical. Thus, if you plant ANYTHING that is subject to root rot -- lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme and so forth -- you WILL plant them in or transplant them into raised beds, or they will -- not may, but will -- die, along about August or September.

Third, I've much better success planting seeds in small plastic cups in a mix of potting soil, local soil (volcanic, very rich) and sand. When ready to transplant into the garden, wet down the soil pretty well, dig the appropriate-sized hole, cut the plastic cup away with scissorts or shears, and take the whole cupful and put it in the hole. Even for an amateur like SAJ, this works almost every time, except for cilantro, which REALLY doesn't like being transplanted at all.

Happy gardening, mate!

[greeneyes]

I hear ya. Missouri is bad enough. Glad we can almost always count on good ole June.

[greeneyes]

Good going. I still have to wait a bit before any warm weather stuff can be outdoors permanently. We could still have a snow storm

[greeneyes]

Thanks for the picture. Nice looking plant. Your planting schedule is so much different. Here we are just beginning, and you are already about harvesting summer stuff.

[tflabo]

Garden is all tilled, sheetrock scraps and all.

Mmmm-- a source for calcium rockdust from the sheetrock or just unintended consequences? That reminds me I gotta pick up some diatomaceous earth for the garden. If anyone is interested in reading more about it here's the website below.

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/diatomaceous-earth-insect-control.htm