Posted on 01/20/2012 9:56:41 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
It was just a couple of weeks ago that I was really glad that the last of my garden had frozen. Being blessed with a long growing season is not always what it's cracked-up to be. You understand ... gardening is hard work! When it lasts from March or April until December, it can get tedious.
Then, yesterday, my first order of seeds that I don't need came in from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. Four beautiful little envelopes that sound like maracas; Baby Lincoln Leeks, Tres Fine Maraichere Endive, Beaumont Broccoli, and Large Fruited Mixture Ornamental Gourds.
I am stoked.
Yep, that's all it takes to get the soil coursing through my veins once again. Newspaper pots are about to be made ... my plastic trays need to be washed in a sudsy bleach solution. Clean off a couple of shelves in the garage and hang up the grow lights. Now, if I could just remember where I put that 55 quart bag of moisture control potting soil ...
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Last week, the Weekly Gardening Thread welcomed the 500th member of the ping list. What a great way to begin our 2012 gardening season! More members = more information to share. Let's grow!
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!
Excellent information! Thank you so much for posting.
Very nice! Are those cucumbers or squash in the background by the fence looking structure?
Thank you!
I have a nice crop of Swiss Chard right now. It will be part of my spaghetti sauce tonight. Lettuce seedlings ready to transplant. Spring bulbs sending up shoots. I wish the weather would settle down, however. It doesn’t seem like winter at all as temperatures hover around freezing mark.
Spinach, Kale, and Swiss Chard.
Just wanted to do a little test run before ramping up.
And in my dirt bed, I’ve still got oregano, leaks, and mint growing along with some Swiss Chard that survived the freeze (-20 outside for a couple days) that happened before I got the Aquaponics system pumping to better regulate the temperature.
Will be seeding the cukes and squash this week ;-) Probably some bush beans too.
BTW. the Fence Looking Structure is version 1.1 of my wall mounted solar heat exchanger. It will warm 75 gallons of 38 degree water up to 70 degrees on a sunny January day. But I’d like more BTUs for buffering the cold nights and better all around plant growth conditions... so Version 2.0 is in the works.
Thanks for checking in! I’ve never had chard in spaghetti sauce before ... sounds interesting. I’ve never grown chard either. It seems so popular with the gardening group that I may have to try some.
I would love to see some larger angle views of your setup. Sounds impressive!
We have had 5.7 inches of rain this week and are rapidly making up for our deficit of the past 2 months. It is still raining. I’m not posting as often here due to the slow hang times on FR...
Do you do the reconstruction on the tear-outs for the bees?
The queen will start running just as soon as we open up the hive to light. She will try to get out of reach, and is sometimes successful. We had one cutout where we left a little brood comb and she came back to it overnight and we caught her the next day. The remaining bees will be in a wad around her and you can pick-up the whole group and drop them into a bee box. You do run the risk of having the queen and her attendants "swarming", or leaving the area looking for new digs to start a hive. That happened to us once also.
The cutout that we are going to try to do tomorrow is about 15 ft. off the ground on the outside wall of an apartment building. No bees have been reported inside, so we are relatively certain that we'll be able to remove a few wooden shakes and remove the hive. We are borrowing a man lift to get us up there.
Thank you.
I am learning so much on the Gardening Threads. I have only been gardening for flowers and ornamentals, but this summer I want to start vegetable gardening.
I am considering a square foot garden. I don’t really understand the purpose of raised bed gardening.
That’s food!
Raised beds are very useful when your soil is very rocky or very clay, or similarly unsuitable. Raised beds are also useful for people who don’t bend well, if you make them high enough. I did my first raised bed last year, called it my ‘salad bar’. You could make your way around it and have a beautiful, colorful, delicious salad. I did it in a raised bed thinking that weed control would be easier, but it was only minimally so. I did bury some soaker hoses in a concentric circle with hookup at one corner. THAT was very handy because lettuces don’t have deep roots and needed to be watered almost daily.
I believe that one of our gardeners said that her tomatoes didn't do really well in SFG. Kinda leggy and not very strong.
I will really look forward to the information on soil types!
In the meantime....if you want to see an extravaganza of tomatoes....including LOTS of Italian types, check this out:
;-)))))
You do bees too?????
We have some hives, a smoker and a bee keeper’s hat....but we’ve never had bees. How difficult is it to get started?
Spring and bee swarming season is coming and, if you can capture a swarm, you're off to a great start. If you put the word out that you will come get a swarm, people will call you, believe me. If you need to buy bees, you can.
After you've done some reading and you have questions, the premiere bee forum is Beesource.com. Many of the authors of bee books and some of the best breeders hang out there and answer questions. Beekeepers are a great community.
I will warn you, however, that bees will steal your heart immediately, and your own source of honey and the other by-products of bees is invaluable in a self-sufficient lifestyle.
They have an awesome selection of tomatoes. Darn you ... tomatoes are really my weakness. :)
Wow! Thanks so much for this. My husband and I have a major project (fence) to get done and when it’s finished, I’m going to spend some time learning more about bees and getting the hives cleaned up.
What are some good edible hedgerows or fence crops? I’m in 7B, Texas.
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