Posted on 05/27/2016 3:05:01 PM PDT by 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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
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I suffer from aversion to thinning too. My solution is that I don’t. Stuff that might need thinning, I plant in Dixie cups or flats made of cardboard qt juice boxes. That way I use them all.
Nice picture. My potatoes are doing great. I planted some carrots in a big container, I couldn’t remember what had been planted there last year, but I knew it wasn’t carrots.
So now I have carrots up, but also about 4 volunteer tomatoes in a container that would only be ok for 1 tomato plant. LOL
We’ve been getting a lot of stuff out of the community garden. Today we “felt” for potaotes and boy did we get a bunch. Green beans are forming almost faster than we can pick and share. Swiss chard is wonderful. Made a pureed soup from the stems, wonderful. Cucumbers are forming. I staked cucumbers to climb, because so many were not being picked. Well...........the cukes that had been staked were all picked, but those not yet staked, were still on the vine. So we took those home and will share, same with the
summer and Zuccini squash. Have some beautiful beets, will share these too. The peppers and tomatoes here at home are doing beautifully, I’ve shared quite a bit and used a lot more. I need to replant some lettuce and other salad greens, radishes etc.
I sometimes dig a hole out by the back forty fence line to get rid of stuff that I don’t want to put in my regular compost pile. Then I cover it up with the dirt and leave it.
We have a gizmo that I can’t recall the name of - having a senior moment. It is similar to terra cotta pots, but is a hollow cube with no top or bottom - very heavy. So it is parked in an open space between a fence and a raised bed.
I put sticks and bark chips in the bottom, and sometimes when I have bones I throw them in there, cover with some leaves and dump a container of used potting soil out of a container and stack a couple of layers of brick on top.
Eventually I use whatever is left after decomposition. So far, I have never had an animal get into it. I just hate to see good bones go to waste. LOL
Will do. I try to start a new thread just once a week, on Friday afternoon. Try to get back once or twice after that during the week, but that’s iffy. TIK usually checks back in too.
My potato plants are taller than ever before this year. They are Yukon gold and I have never planted them before, so I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad thing.
Thanks for the Pic. I don’t envy you digging those up!
JRandomFreeper used to plant pinto beans that he bought from the grocery store. He knew how to do a lot of economical things.
We had more than 6 inches, earlier in the month, in just a few days, but I’ve lost track of the count.
Hubby is doing one last try for cantaloupes this year.
I had some good ones in 2010, but everything fizzled except last year, I had one volunteer that came up and was excellent. So I don’t know what it came from, but I saved the seeds-just forgot where I put them. If I find them, I am going to plant some.
Honey! That is so awesome.
LOL. Every year, I think this year will be different, I’ll really get going. And it lasts until I get the potatoes, lettuce, and spinach going. Then I get interrupted with filing an extension for taxes, so I can continue with garden.
I get some beds ready, and somehow life intervenes and I just don’t seem to make much head way till around June, when I absolutely have to take care of harvesting garlic, and manage to get a few other things planted.
I too wonder why I think it will be different.
Thanks for the link. Basil is on herb I can grow, but I need to get a new one.
I planted one from seed in 2010, and grew it year around in a flower pot that I brought into the house during the winter. This spring it looked so pathetic I decided it was time to give it to the compost pile.
It actually was pretty attractive the other years, like a bonsai tree.
All the flowers sound lovely. I love flowers, but don’t have many. We tend to focus our efforts on the garden veggies and fruits etc.
I do have tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths and the side yard has all kinds of wildflowers. We don’t mow there till the flowers bloom and go to seed. Some of them are edible.
I would cut on Hyacinth bloom and put it in a juice glass with some wild flowers just so I could sit down and have a little bit of pretty in the house and some aroma therapy.LOL
Hubby planted a lot of beets, and promised to help me can them.
I bought some glass gem corn, but didn’t plant it. Gave some seeds to a friend. He did plant it, and some of the ears have tassels. Can’t wait to see the colors.
There are quite a few videos on youtube about it. I had to wait two years until there was a big enough supply to get that seed. I got 3 packets of it. It should be good for another year. I don't know if I should put it in the freezer or not. Some say seeds will keep for years in a freezer, should probably be wrapped very well and put in after a couple of very dry days.
I wanted to ask the fellow who farms for me to plant some but didn't want to make him feel like he had to. It might not be a good idea so close to the corn we grow which is GM. If they cross, could cause trouble with our seed company and if they cross the other way, it could ruin them. They might tassel at different times though.
I put my pop corn in the freezer, in the bag it came in twisted tight at the top. Made some the other night after not having any for a long time like at least 2 years. Pour it into the little air popper frozen. It whirrs around and popped up as good as the day I bought it, big fluffy white kernels. I like to put my own butter on it and went a little heavy on the salt but it sure tasted good.
Guess I'm done for the night.
Here in central MD, we finally have some sun again and the fencing around the new garden area finally got done. Luckily, we had done some planting before all the rainy days started. So far, the potatoes are looking good and the peas are coming along nicely; Blue Lake pole beans popped up a few days ago and all the herbs are looking good. We have lots of new growth on the raspberries and they are starting to spread a bit; and the apple tree and cherry tree are both showing a decent amount of fruit. SO far, I’m pleased with our gardening efforts this year.
The wife and I have a garden in the Missouri river bottom and that’s what out dirt looks like. By the way you have one of the BIGGEST potato patches I have ever seen. How many pounds of potatoes do you think you will get?
Don’t know. Pickup loads. :-)
By the way, you can’t see the other thirteen rows. lol...
I BET you do!!
Miss that man’s posts and comments; especially the ones that showed how he built something useful out of “junk”. His sunflower seed thresher is a classic example.
Big downpour yesterday, and hasn’t dried out enough to work in the garden yet, but the plants loved it. Brings us to just over 5” for the season; we get it mostly in small, steady increments at the most inopportune times: Camelot this isn’t.
Instead, we’ve done the final cleanup of the duck raising tank: never again indoors! I used a 2’ X 4’ oval stock tank, set up on a table in the utility room. When they dunk their head & necks in the water, it is amazing how far they can shake it; makes a wet Lab seem lazy. Had to clean everything with bleach water.
I’ve cooled off & rehydrated, so back out to the salt mines.
I saw that picture and immediately thought of my Grandparents and the drive to Iowa.
Back then, it was rich, black Iowa soil as far as the eye could see, but none as black as the soil in my Grandparents' garden.
Best tomatoes in the world or in my memory or both. Thanks for that flashback!
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