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Posted on 05/29/2009 5:08:50 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning Freeper gardeners. This weekend marks the end of May and I hope everyone’s gardens are doing well. I know some have had to delay planting due to weather and we all hope conditions have improved for you.
So far this weekend is looking like a good one, weather wise, all across the Nation except for some lingering rain in the extreme NE. Lets get gardening!
I’ve got some hostas that are older than I am. I dug them up when my great grandmother passed away back in 96.
Ever have any luck starting hostas from seed? I’ve managed it a couple of times but I’m mostly hit or miss.
Video of how a PVC drip irrigation system is constructed and how it works
PDF File on how the system can be set up for different situations
Happy to be of service.
Btw, do not spend your hard earned money on any of those chemicals they sell to spray on tomato blossoms to set fruit. I have found it’s a waste.
You can do two things to set fruit. Plant them in pots and move them to shade in overly hot weather (Moths will pollinate them at night!) or you can use that highly technical device known as a Q-tip (lol) and hand pollinate them, going from blossom to blossom.
Watering: I learned this from my Italian grandpa’s knee. But of course, I had to find out on my own. Tomatoes respond to “water stress.” Translation=if you have a choice of a little water every day or a deep water twice a week, choose the latter.
Fertilizing: Tomatoes are vines, remember. So here is what this means to you: Choose a fertilizer with a high middle number.
That is your PHOSPHORUS. PHOSPHORUS controls flowering and fruiting.
The numbers on your fertilizers are:
(in this order, always)
Nitrogen (controls greenery and growth)
Phosphorus (flowering and fruiting)
Potassium (getting established, overall plant well-being. Like the banana to cure your hangover! LOL)
If you have a plant that is growing a lot and looks beautiful, but refuses to flower or fruit, you are using too much nitrogen!
Btw, Miracle Gro changed their formula a few years ago and it’s high nitrogen and low phosphorus....a word to the wise.
We already pulled the first batch of radishes and will be replanting this weekend.
Tonight’s dinner will feature the first of the chard and squash.
Peppers, tomatoes, squash, eggplant, beans are all producing at this point and flowering.
Because you don’t know what you’re dealing with, starting with plants in pots sounds like a good idea...that’s how I started. Perhaps a good idea would be to spend the summer building up a good compost pile that will help with that clay soil. Ever hear of “lasagna beds”? Having made several, I heartily recommend them.
Never tried the seed thing with hostas, but many of my hostas beds are very old and now starting to produce seedlings. I pick out the most unusual and watch them. One, a Montana type, has turned out to be one of my favorite plants that I named after my dog, Dakota.
Sungold & Sunsugar are both excellent cherry tomatoes...like eating candy.
I’m also trying Chocolate Cherry, a new introduction for Jung’s this season.
I usually only do three cherries, tops, or we’re swimming in them. Prolific little suckers, to say the least! :)
I’m the one who tracks the weather in our family. mr. mm just asks.
We moved away from north of Syracuse to get out of the snow. I’ve seen enough lake-effect to last me a life time.
Sungold is prolific and deeeeelicious
Please add me to your ping list. Thanks.
Someone on another thread said that putting a cotton ball on a straw and tapping each flower will increase the yield.
If my tomatoes get big enough, that’s what I’ll try this year. It sounds easier than a Q-tip to hand pollinate each one.
How do I know gardening season is in full swing? I step out the door early in the morning and the first breath I take is “essence” of a compost bin heating. Wooooo baby .... Nothing says gardening better. (need to cut back a little on the green materials if I want neighbors)
btw, I don’t know where you get your garlic starts, but I have had a lot of success with Territorial Seeds. They have some crazy varieties!
But they can be chosen by climate. I used to pick the ones from Poland and Russia when I lived in Ohio. I suspect they have some for more moderate climates like SC?
Good Morning! Here’s my list for today, because I have the day OFF, and the weather looks cooperative, though we might get a quick shower this morning.
* Adding a ‘Sweet Autumn’ clematis to grow up and over the greenhouse. Fall-blooming, very fragrant.
* Adding ‘Heavenly Blue’ Morning Glories to the trellis where my Golden Hops Vine lives. I think the chartreuse and bright blue will look cool together.
* Moving my (too many!) geraniums outside for the summer.
* Planting tomatoes, peppers, squash and some flowers today; all plants are ready to go and sick of being in pots. (They told me that, LOL!)
* Adding basil and nasturtiums to my smaller garden bed. My two youngest (4 & 6) nephews are coming over today to ‘help’ with that. ;)
* Planting three White Cedar (arborvitae) and a White Pine, as well as three White Birch to the yard. Got those FREE from my in-laws; we get the leftovers at the end of Tree Sale Season. That’ll put us at 110 trees planted in 10 years. Screw the EnviroWeenies, LOL!
That should keep me good and dirty all day. :)
Thanks for the ping. We have been eating fresh tomatoes here in Central TX for the past two weeks. We have over 70 plants and most are loaded with fruit.
We have several squash plants and also a few golden zucchini plants. We are picking fresh squash almost daily now.
Beets are almost ready to harvest. Jalapeno peppers are about half grown. The cucumber plants are growing rapidly and I expect we should see flowers within a week or two.
YOU HAVE
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I really need to get Red_Devil to help me set up my homepage, because I don’t have a clue, but I just don’t have time! LOL
Yeah, we’re in the south. Right on the coast of NC, close to Morehead City. If you look at a map of the coast, we’re the point that sticks out halfway between Wilmington and Hatteras. Love it most of the time, just wish there were less bugs!
You should come work for me! I answer that fertilizer question 20x a DAY at the garden center, LOL!
BIG SIGNS explaining exactly that, posted all up and down the fertilizer aisle go unread for some reason...
Got my spring garden in late this year because things were so cold and wet in the Philly area. But the taters are looking good now, along with the usual spring crops (onions, beets, chard, peas, greens, leeks and lettuce), other than the Bok Choy, which, for some reason, only had one seed germinate (looks kinda lonely by itself). The green beans look a bit munched, I think a rabbit is getting them. Got 6 varieties of tomato, 4 of peppers (might put in a couple more, summer and winter squash, tomatillos, limas, okra, cukes, watermelon, corn and herbs. Got some good rain last night and some more is forecast this afternoon with passing thunderstorms (stay away, hail!) and a nice weekend to work in the garden - mid-seventies and low humidity.
You may as well add me to the ping list too. I always end up here anyway.
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