WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD VOLUME 11 MARCH 14, 2014

Free Republic | March 14, 2014 | greeneyes

[greeneyes]

Posted on Friday, March 07, 2014 2:18:07 PM 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. 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.

[KGeorge]

They certainly sound delicious! (I’m amazed at the sheer number of varieties of tomatoes there are. Boggles my mind)

[metmom]

Yes. They’re pretty dry for eating.

They make a nice sauce and I’ve always had a pretty good crop from them, and the tomatoes always have a nice shape and seem to be pretty resistant to blight and spots, etc.

I also bought a different Roma tomato this year to plant and make sauce with by blending the two varieties when I make the sauce.

[CynicalBear]

I’ll have to take a look at them. A little late for this year, maybe next year.

[Sarajevo]

had a hybrid Juliette mater plant last year produced a lot of small ones too.

I've grown Juliette before. They can be small, but o-so plentiful! The Mrs was having fits because I was bringing so many from the garden every couple days over the entire summer. We're putting them in again this year.

[Marcella]

rightly, on the last thread I said I needed the handicap thing for shopping due to my knees. I wasn't talking about gardening then. It's true my lower back vertebra has little cushion between three of them and I bend down about three times and that better be it if I want to walk the next day. Well, today was way more times than three with al the planting and I just finished more planting inside the house and bending over and over where the grow lamp is. I won't bend over tomorrow.

If something is on the floor tomorrow, it's staying there until another day. I have to rest up tomorrow for engineer is supposed to be here Sunday and that means more work in the garden. I think he'll have to move those containers himself without much help from me. Right now, the pain would be too bad to bend one more time. I'm about to take a pain pill.

Greeneyes, I had to do that planting outside and inside. I need a robot to bend over, pick up stuff and put down stuff, for me. They have had prototypes of robots for years but I don't see any on the shelf to buy. I just have to transplant carrots tomorrow in the house and that's it for a while of transplanting. When my seed starter gets here, then I'll start more seeds to replace those that didn't come up in Jiffy. I think I'll have some Amaretto with my pain pill.

[tflabo]

Hey Sar I tried saving a few cuttings from my Juliette and other maters at seasons end last year so they would root in water. Only about half ever did but none of which made it after I potted them in Feb. Better to start with new ones is my conclusion.

[Marcella]

“Sounds like a great tomato to try for indoors, especially like the 48 days to maturity. I don’t usually plant anything but heirlooms, because I like to save the seeds, but this hybrid sounds very tempting.”

I am not letting heirlooms rule my planting world. When I order those tomato seeds, I’ll get several envelopes and put them in a quart canning jar in the freezer to make sure I have them for a long time. I’m doing that with any non-heirloom seeds that are special. Some time ago I put a chart on here about how long various seeds would last. Guess I should post that again. I’m sure it’s on my computer. Another one is the Deck Corn seed that is non-heirloom. I definitely don’t want to run out of those seeds if the SHTF.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wife noticed three tiny crocuses were up in our yard.

Also this week, Star of Bethlehem are up in the same area.

[Marcella]

Vegetable seed is not as fragile as some think. Here is a list of the average life of various veggie seeds.

Vegetable Seed Average Number of Years and Maximum Number of Years

Angelica 9- 10
Bean 3- 8
Basil 8- 10
Beetroot 6- 10
Borage 5- 10
Broccoli 5- 10
Cabbage 3- 4
Caraway 7- 9
Cardoon 4- 10
Carrot 5- 10
Cauliflower 8- 10
Celery 2- 6
Chicory 6- 8
Coriander 2- 4
Corn 10- 10+
Cucumber 6- 10
Eggplant 10- 10+
Endive 4- 7
Fennel 6- 10
Gourds 5- 10
Kohlrabi 1- 3
Leek 3- 9
Lettuce 5- 10
Mustard 4- 9
Okra 5- 10
Onion 2- 7
Parsley 3- 9
Pea 3- 8
Pepper 4- 10
Pumpkin 4- 9
Radish 5- 10
Rhubarb 3- 8
Sage 3- 7
Spinach 5- 7
Squash 6- 10
Thyme 3- 7
Tomato 4- 10
Turnip 5- 10
Asparagus 3
Brussels sprouts 4

The writer says: “The table above has been drawn up from a combination of personal experience, talking to other gardeners and researching in books and on the internet.”

[Sarajevo]

Agreed. I start with fresh plants every year.

[greeneyes]

Nice looking plants. I grow lettuce and spinach indoors a lot. It grows fast, and you don’t have to worry about freezing temps or bolting from the heat.

[greeneyes]

I did it that way one year. Not a fan of the yucky stinky no matter whether it’s outdoors or not.LOL

I was very happy to find an alternative.

[greeneyes]

It is truly mind boggling to think about the sheer numbers of different varities.

[greeneyes]

If I were you I wouldn’t bend over to transplant. I’d take that little garden stool or even a big flower pot about 2 foot tall, or whatever height it needs to be, and plop my behind on it so that I could plant with out all that bending.

[greeneyes]

Well, I don’t let heirlooms rule me either, but that is my preferred choice for most stuff, mostly because I am cheaper than dirt.

Hubby plants enough non heirloom stuff for both of us.LOL

[greeneyes]

Spring is just about sprung.LOL

[greeneyes]

I usually put my seeds in an old medicine bottle. Label it and put it in a coffee can with lid in the back of the fridge. After the seed is 3 years old, I take it out to make room for the newest batch.

The older seeds are sitting on a shelf in the corner of the unfinished part of the basement. I’ll pitch them in about 10 years.LOL

[Marcella]

“I usually put my seeds in an old medicine bottle. Label it and put it in a coffee can with lid in the back of the fridge.”

I’m using a glass qt. canning jar and putting it in the freezer because I researched that one day and that seemed to be the best way I read to preserve the seed and prevent any moisture getting to them. That’s why I’m doing it that way - because I’m not an expert myself about saving seed.

I’m trying to keep the seeds in the envelope so the planting instructions are there. I also have zillions of empty medicine bottles because I can’t force myself to throw them away. I could probably fold the seed envelope and get it into the bottle with the seeds, then put the medicine bottles into the quart jar but I wonder if the medicine bottles might develop moisture in the glass jar?

OK, I’m going to ask the engineer when he comes about putting them in a medicine bottle then in the glass jar and then in the freezer and if that would cause humidity to form. I’ll have to sit through a lecture about the atomic construction of humidity and everything in the world about it but eventually I’ll know whether to use the bottles or not.

[rightly_dividing]

I freeze seeds every year that didn’t get planted. Last year and the year before, I planted from on hand seeds. “they say” that seeds loose some germination rates when kept from year to year, but it must be many years, because I have great germination rates with older seeds. I bought 7 varieties of tomater seeds this year and there was 50-60 in each; I only sprouted 5 of each, planning to cull to 2 each. With my raised containers, I planted mostly culls that would have been trashed.

I haven’t been able to do the ground work for several years, just playing the role of supervisor and chief “engineer” of the garden plot. These raised containers give me a chance to get dirty again without pain, plus, I am going to “spearmint” with a few things. I am so happy to have an active role again, that I am already thinking of adding some more raised containers.

Tomorrow I guess I will be taking inventory of tomater stakes and making some new ones to replace a few that are too far gone to reuse. Wifey says she is going to roll out new garden fabric this time because the old has too many holes cut into it. It is three years old and still looking great. I may cut it into small pieces and cover my raised beds, though I have already planted.

[ApplegateRanch]

It pays to recycle!

We picked these up Wednesday when dropped our stuff at the recycling center in Rapid City. Not going to win any beauty contests, but perfectly serviceable for our purposes. The box is 24" X 8", to put things in scale.

We also picked up a ton of free compost while we were there. The downside was having to shovel just over a ton of damp, packed down compost out of the truck after several months of relative inactivity. Pass the liniment, please!

We'll be cleaning and sterilizing these tomorrow or so.

While up there, we also got a few seeds that I knew didn't need to be mail ordered; but not the sale chicks we were specifically after: they didn't arrive. :-(