Posted on 06/01/2018 10:21:50 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!
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 any time-and don't have to be about gardening.
For years this is how I grew squash and tomatoes. Both veggies love the nutrient film technique ....actually too much, because they expand until their roots clog and dam the NFT channels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqTZYMqXUZ4
Note that these are relatively young plants in the video, and have not had time yet to clog their channels. Done properly NFT squash and tomatoes require extremely wide channels with panned bottoms to let nutrient flow regardless of root crowding.
I found the youtube.com article that you submitted ,quite interesting about hydroponics, soil less mediums, and plant nutrients and root growth.
Hydroponics is an area of horticulture that is still relatively, and largely unknown to me, but it looks quite interesting
and found myself wandering thru youtube.com videos for over an hour and a half. Lol !
Perhaps root pruning is the answer to your clogged channels, just as topiary is the method to prune foliar growth.
Thank you for that introduction video..... and my continued wandering thru youtube !
Not much going on around here. The rose bush is sending out new growth after it’s severe pruning and the caladiums are poking their shoots out of the ground. Tomatoes getting bigger, lettuce fading out as are the pansies. Temperatures are still up and down and rain, lots of rain.
Sunflower field is planted. Pumpkin field is ready to plant as soon as the seed arrives from Shumway's.
Got the weeding almost caught up in the kitchen garden. Tomatoes are mulched and caged. Garlic, cabbages, peppers, kale, spuds and cukes are all doing well. The snap peas are wrecked from the heat. Green beans need to be replanted. I've got a flat of basil that is ready to transplant. Collards and beets are trying to get going. Still need to plant okra, sweet corn, and squash.
Amazing gardener!!! Did you say that you have a full time job beside the farm?
Yes, full time job in town.
I’m very much looking forward to retirement.
Guess what? I HAVE BABY APPLES! Finally, after six or seven years, my Gala has set apples! I was soooooooo excited. Now, 10 day later, 75% of the little fruits are gone, and it looks as though at least half of the remaining are bug bitten. Oh, well - at least I have seen the apples finally on that tree.
My goal, is to harvest ONE good Gala. Oh, and my poor broken peach did set fruit. Not too bad either, though a little less than I would like it’s impressive for what the tree has been through. But the darn birds are at the little fruits, so I doubt I will have many to harvest.
My raspberry bush has spread out, and looks very good. I MAY get enough this year to do a small jam batch - but likely will have to go to the U-Pick to get enough to add in.
I am NOT doing my half of the garden this year other than three tomato plants. Maybe some carrots and some green beans. Hubby was feeling VERY lazy this year and does not want to fix the fence - so I am not doing all that gardening just to feed the varmints. Anyway, the soil could use a break.
My husband can and would eat that much in six weeks.
Disappointing update on the bees. Checking, I notice virtually no activity in one of the hives...the one whose package had three “attendants” in the queen cage with the queen. The queen was released, the three attendants were dead, and the colony gone!
I contacted the seller and he hemmed and hawed around, talking about nature and that crap. When I pointed out that this was the first package with attendants in the queen cage, he stopped communicating.
The other hive shows normal activity. We will only have one active hive this year, unless a swarm moves in.
We won’t do business with that seller, again!
That red garlic is really pretty. How does the flavor rate compared to the regular white stuff?
Planting is going slowly this year. I’ve only just finished planting the backyard garden. I have 1000 gourds planted on my farm, but haven’t done the corn, beans, sunflowers, and other plants yet. I might be able to do some of that today. It’s nice out, but I have a sunburn that makes it hard to work outside. I may pull an all-nighter again. I did that with the gourds, it was easier than fighting the heat.
Last February when I applied to be a grower for Baker Creek, I included a list of 33 varieties I have that they don’t carry. They just recently got back to me and said they want all of them!
Tip for anyone who has trouble with tiny seeds: You can buy empty pill capsules and put one seed in each, then top off with something to give them a little weight. I used ground eggshells, but sand or dry dirt would work. This makes them easier to see, easier to handle, and you can plant standing up just by sliding them down a hollow tube. The capsules dissolve when wet, so the next rain will open them for you.
You sound busy! I just got seeds from Baker Creek for the first time - but as we didn’t do our fence, I don’t want to waste the effort to plant. Our resident groundhog already ate the green beans.
My husband has been very resistant to my nagging him about that fencing.
Thank you!
I’ll pull them then!
Ed
P.S. I live in Southern Oregon. Not much different from Eureka.
Thank you, I’ve never heard that term “scrapes” before!
Ed
You have a great garden!
I’m in Grants Pass and I’ve got lots of mater blossoms, a few small green ones, the cantaloupes and honeydew are sprouting blossoms and the zukes are sprouting blossoms.
The snap peas are beginning to dry out and the bell pepper is just sitting there, for some reason!
Ed
Eureka!
What a beautiful city, I love that area!
We’ve got some land right by Mt. Shasta to go camping at, but Eureka’s greener, wetter.
Is the legal pot changing the area much? It’s destroying Grants Pass...
Ed
Nice garden!
Ed
Look up hard neck garlic.
There should be a pix of the garlic shoots referred to as “scapes.”
They can be cut up and added to scrambled eggs or anything in need of a mild tang.
Apparently, only the hard neck has this feature...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.