Weekly Gardening Thread Vol. 22 (Keywords 2) June 1, 2012

Friday, June 1, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[Red_Devil 232]

Added

[wastoute]

I am getting in so far down the thread I may not get much response, but here goes. Mom grew up on a farm in eastern Colo. She made us help her in the garden evey summer in the ‘60s and as a child (like all) I hated it. I was surprised myself when in college in the ‘70s and rented a house after the last frost I found myself in the yard turning over the soil for a garden. It worked well and I did what mom did for several years and enjoyed success. Raqdishes, tomatoes, lettuces, corn (never got any, damn raccons), all grew well. Med School, the Army, and a bunch of other stuff intervened and gardening was forgotten. When we bought this house the 140 foot loblollys on the back property line shaded the entire back yard and I concluded 20 years ago there would be no garden here.

SHTF stuff has had me rethinking this for the last several years and this year I moved the 20 yr old Forsythia and Wyegelia that had been on our southern side after realizing the fence I had built made it possible to protect a garden from the deer. Cudos to whoever recommended “How to grow more vegetables” I bought 2 or 3 years ago and I have started a “small farm” as I like to refer to it. It has taken all my time dawn until dusk for months and I will tr to post some photos (someone remind me how, I used to know the codes and websites several years ago).
Now I am branching out to crops I have no experience with. Brassicas. The seed package says don’t plant cabbage in the same spot. Why? Trying to find out why I discover that Sunflower (which I will never plant again! The damn flies were everywhere) will keep potato from tubering. Tomatoes will stunt Brassicas. Now I am wondering what else don’t I know. I have planned to rotate out the plants that don’t well in heat (radish, lettuce, carrot) from a bed I prepared that is about 4 foot by 15 foot and put in the cabbage, brussels, broccoli, and cauliflower I have germinated and are now about 2 inch high sometime in July or Aug. I planned to rotate annually, so I want to cover the bed with wheat or barley over the winter and plan to start germinating that in Sept. and then transplant into the bed after harvesting the brassicas in Oct or Nov. I hadn’t really planned on moving things around and now I am wondering if I put the brassicas into the bed will there be a problem putting other things there in the next seasonal rotations or even putting brassicas there again next year?

[painter]

I also have some Thai red long beans

I'm also trying some Chinese red noodle beans.About a dozen plants.The beans get to 18 inches long.

I like trying new stuff.

[painter]

I also have some Thai red long beans

I'm also trying some Chinese red noodle beans.About a dozen plants.The beans get to 18 inches long.

I like trying new stuff.

[fanfan]

Sorry to hear that. Your potatoes will probably re-bloom.

I haven’t seen any grasshoppers, possibly because I have so many toads this year. I just don’t get it.

[tillacum]

What a great idea. I think next year we’ll plant habaneros with the corn and tomatoes. Squirels and racoons..seem to know when these are ready to pick.

[Augie]

What a difference a couple hundred miles makes. .25” rain since May 5 at my place just a few miles east of Columbia.

I’ve already drawn my pond down a foot irrigating the garden. My sweet corn is starting to tassle, tomatoes have little green ones on, garlic, potatoes, green cabbage and brocolli all harvested, okra up ~6”.

Craziest spring weather I’ve ever seen.

[Augie]

Does anyone know about nectarines? My tree is loaded but there's something wrong with the fruit. They go from perfect to wrecked almost overnight. One side will start to get squishy then the mold comes. Maybe some kind of bug infestation. The only spray that goes on my orchard trees is dormant oil during the winter.

[Augie]

Does anyone know about nectarines? My tree is loaded but there's something wrong with the fruit. They go from perfect to wrecked almost overnight. One side will start to get squishy then the mold comes. Maybe some kind of bug infestation. The only spray that goes on my orchard trees is dormant oil during the winter.

[greeneyes]

It has been crazy hasn’t it? Our February was almost warmer than May, comparatively speaking. Last year we had so much rain in April and May, I thought everything was going to drown.

This year May has been very dry, but I think we got more rain than you. I also wait until May 15 before I transplant or direct plant, so I am always a little behind those who get goin’ earlier. LOL

I think it may be a combination of procrastination and pure ole lazy. Don’t want to spend too much time starting seeds, and keep putting it off, don’t want to have to replant in case of bad weather either doncya know?

I stagger plantings over a 7 week period starting mid-May, and plant my favorites a week or so apart, so I have them fresh everyday during the summer, and not too many all at once.(It’s just too hard to get all the food preservation done when they all get done at the same time).

[tubebender]

Research cover crops for winter growing to revitalize your soil.

[greeneyes]

My grandparents had a small dairy farm we called The Twenty (twenty acres). I helped milk cows, gather eggs, and pick strawberries, but was never there to see the planting etc.

I just started my gardening 2 years ago(this is my 3rd summer) after reading the Sq.Foot Gardening book. I wanted veggies and fruit that was ripened on the vine and with little or no pesticides.

Lots of internet searches, and the gardening thread have been a big help. I also knew the rise in oil prices would impact food costs, so I bought a whole bunch of stuff before prices went up. Still using coffee I bought in December 2008.LOL

This gardening thread and lots of internet searches have helped a lot. If my memory was longer than half and inch I could answer all kinds of questions, but most things I have to look up.LOL

I don't plant brassicas or squash, so I really never even tried that hard to remember about them. I mean I can't even remember what I want to remember about the stuff I WANT to plant. LOL.

Here's what I can tell you. If you plant the same crop year after year, the same nutrients get pulled out, the same pests and diseases multiply, and your crop will more than likely be increasingly bad.

Companion planting can be helpful. For example, planting beans with corn helps the corn, because they need lots of nitrogen, and beans help with the nitrogen(can't remember the process or name).

Marigolds and basil help ward off tomato pests, and Basil is a great herb to use in various tomato sauces. Garlic and onions are also deterrents for some things.

If you interplant, it can also help keep from losing your whole crop, supposedly, because the little bugger chowing down on some delicious treat gets confused when he gets to some stinky ole plant and gives up to go elsewhere.(Yeh I know it doesn't quite make sense to me either-won’t they just skip over stinky and find delicious?).

Then I read stuff some organic gardener wrote, and he said if you rotate crops, and your soil has all the nutrients it needs, your plants will be healthy, and the bugs will not do much with them.

He experimented with overlapping beds. The area where the same plants were planted were attacked by many pests and did not do well, while the rest of the crop thrived with little to no problems.

Anyhow if you do a search for companion planting, succession planting, crop rotation, and home-made pest control for gardens, you will get a lot of info that I found very useful.

Best wishes for a successful gardening year, sorry I couldn't help more.

[wastoute]

Thanks for the response! The book I mentioned talks about rotating but it doesn't mention a lot. Like the nightshades stunting the brassicas, etc. It really is only about twenty feet from the side of the house to the stockade fence. I already have bunny fencing on the two short sides and just finished 6 foot trellises for the tomatoes and beans. I just now realized I could put up some sort of netting and cover the top and I wouldn’t have to worry about airborne pests (leaf beetles, cabbage worms) so rotating for that reason would be gone. Composting and “lasagna” gardening would prevent soil depletion. I am finding this first year I need to use soluble fertilizer anyway since the soil here is basically just clay. (I swear you cold throw pots with it). It is an adventure and I am learning as I go.

[wastoute]

Thanks, I will.

[Nepeta]

Some Vile Animal bit off the tops of 4 tomatoes I had planted in containers. The plants were about 6-7 inches tall; only about 1/2 inch remains of them.

Will the plants grow back from the existing roots (they were planted deeply) or should I put in new plants?

I've never had tomato leaves munched like salad before.

[greeneyes]

Well, that just leaves pathogens/diseases to worry about. LOL. I understand about rock hard clay, that’s what we have. Most of the top soil was removed from our lot in the subdivision, and all that we had was clay.

It has taken time and effort to improve Hubby’s garden soil. I just went with raised beds and Mel’s mix - seemed easier at the time. LOL.

Let me know how it all goes.

[wastoute]

I mixed 500 lbs or more of sand and about an equal volume of compost I have been making for a couple years from Oak leaves into a “double dig” bed that is about 4-5 feet by 15 feet and a shake test afterwards showed about equal thirds of silt, clay, and sand. I was pretty happy and the radishes, carrots, onions, lettuce, and Okra seem to be fine. I had to add Miracle Grow fertilizer to the trench 2 foot by 25 feet I did similarly for peppers because transplanting the starts almost killed them. They got curled, notched leaves and I had to take two days and rescue them with fertilizer foliage sprays, Mag Sulfate sprays, Ca++ (MagiCal) supplement and additional weekly (or more) ground application of Miracle Grow. It seems to have worked for now. The tomatoes are in their own separate 18 inch by 18 inch holes, I have a dozen and did what the freeper recommended, 2 cups of cow manure composted, 3/4 cup pellet Gypsum, and then added two Job spikes for Nitrogen. They are going great guns. I put six seed potatoes in black 3 mil bags and they have really boomed in the potting soil and added topsoil. They have finished flowering and I guess they will start to die soon and I can harvest the spuds! I was piling “uninvolved” soil up on the plants today and “discovered” a spud about 2 inch by 4 inch so they (or at least one is) are making spuds! I have worked my rear end of dawn to dusk for months to pull this off but as things are starting to groove it is exciting. I already have flats of brassica (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli) started to put in the bed after it is too hot for the radishes, carrots, and lettuces.
I think I will try to get some Winter Barley to put in for cover crop and start germinating in flats in Sept. so I can put it in a week or two before the first frost and harvest the brassicas. My plan is to run this mother year round on three rotations. I hope as the seasons go the soil just gets richer and richer as I work in compost from the uneaten portions (lasagna style). I will try to put up some photos soon.

[greeneyes]

Wow!! You are really energetic. It sounds great. I myself only run one bed year round, and a few plants inside.

Hubby planted winter wheat one year and it was great. I could look out the patio door while I drank my morning coffee, and on a sunny day all the green wheat stalks made it look like spring. A real mood lifter.

[WestwardHo]

I have a small garden with every challenge on the list.
This is a recommended site with general info on crop rotation. I’m probably going to be doing more container growing in order to rotate....

The How Do Gardener
http://www.howdogardener.com/crop-rotation-in-the-home-garden.html

[wastoute]

Thanks, that’s a good one to bookmark.