Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 Vol. 16 May 21

Free Republic | 5-21-2010 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners! If you are a gardener or you are just starting out and are in need of advice or just encouragement please feel free to join in and enjoy the friendly discussion. Our Freeper community is full of gardeners, each with varying interests and skill levels from Master Gardener to novice.

If you have a question about gardening or just an observation to share please feel free to stop by and participate. Paraphrasing Freeper fanfan -There are no stupid questions, just honest ones.

[tubebender]

Thanks but no thanks! I’m quite happy with Sticks and Twigs...

[afraidfortherepublic]

Good morning all. I took the morning off to work in the garden and it is RAINING. There is still so much weeding and transplanting to do in my flower gardens that I am a little overwhelmed. I’ve spent all my time (and squandered all my hubby help) in the new veggie garden, and that’s still not finished.

Tasks for this week is to finish those raised beds and plant everything not in the ground yet.

Get a timer for my hose so that I can be sure that the garden is watered when we are gone over Memorial Day. Even if it gets watered during a rain storm.

Get the blueberry bushes in, which means cleaning out the winter damage (broken evergreens) and the weeds, adding soil amendments and planting the bushes. It looks like I should plan to put down weed cloth — or what about planting zucchini around the bases of the bluebarries to cover the bare ground and keep the weeds away until the berries are large enough to provide their own shade?

Clean out another bed in what I call my “arch garden”. This means lifting a whole bunch of irises, pulling weeds, and adding new soil — then putting everything back.

I’ve got about 6 days to accomplish all of that, an all of those tasks require muscle help from my husband who will whine about it.

When I lived in WA State, I used to garden in the rain. I might have to learn to do that here too. :(

[afraidfortherepublic]

4.) What are examples of good edible plants which can grow in containers or even using UPSIDE-DOWN suspended container gardening along with how this can save room for a garden ?

I've always been reluctant to try those upside down plants. Aren't they a problem to water? You have to hang them awfully high to keep them off the ground, and they will need a really good support because they get heavy. Furthermore, I think they dry out quickly and you need to be available to attend to them quickly should they start to wilt.

Just my apprehensions on that method.

[tubebender]

Light rain on Humboldt Bay this morning and our ten day Forecast

>:(((

[afraidfortherepublic]

I’m sorry for your frustrations with the rain. Did you catch my note about gardening in the rain in Western Washington? Not really good for digging, as it compacts the soil. But, you can sure pull weeds in the rain. Just make sure that your “first wife” has a cup of nice hot cider waiting for you when you come in.

[Red_Devil 232]

Try Wal-Mart for your timer. I bought an Orbit digital timer from them. They had a couple of models to chose from.

[Red_Devil 232]

We had a couple of big T-storms roll through here last night. Kind of wet and muggy this morning but should get up into the low 90s and sunny this afternoon!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thanks for the tip on the timer.

[Black Agnes]

Depending on how small your blueberry plants are the zucchini’s might completely overtake them this summer. My zucchini plants are about 3-4ft tall right now. Ginormous! We have lots of blueberry plants and down here we just put newspapers down around them and cover those with pinestraw. Cheaper than weed cloth. We put down new pinestraw every year and new papers if we have a lot of weeds/grass coming up through the old (usually every other year).

Other than that it sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you!

One day I’ll have a flower garden. I’ve squandered MY hubby help on the veggie garden this year too. I’m trying to talk him into preparing a spot for my perennial herbs right now.

[tubebender]

The wet stuff we have this time of year is a damp cold drizzle that doesn’t amount to much but it does keep the soil damp. I find myself needing warmer weather to motivate and lure me outside and that’s a bummer because I was born to garden...

[hoosiermama]

Amish......The Marvin threw me too....

[tubebender]

Blueberries like acid soil so I mulch with Peat Moss or a similar mulch for acid loving plants but I still have to weed twice a year. Did you live and garden in western Washington?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

We've gotten a couple of beneficial showers in the past days and the garden is starting to take off ... so the real work begins.

The peas and beans are beginning to flower:

The mustard and turnip greens are really kickin':

I've gotten most of the larger tomato plants staked:

The peppers are coming along nicely and starting to fruit:

I've got another flat of tomatoes that are ready to be set out, but it may be a little wet this morning. What I need to do most is my least favorite task ... WEEDING!!! Ugh! But, before that, I think I'll pick a mess of turnip greens and surprise one of my favorite little ladies down the road. ;)

[afraidfortherepublic]

Did you live and garden in western Washington?

Yes, for 5 years. It was quite a change from Houston, TX, which was quite a change from the Bay Area of CA which was quite a change from Central Valley, CA. LOL. W WA is where the Banana Slugs used to send me creaming for help in my own yard. That's Ok, a baby field mouse caused that here just last week. I guess I'm just a baby when it comes to wild animals taking me by surprise.

[hoosiermama]

Your pictures have inspired me...Got a new camera and the equipment to hook up to the EXTREMELY slow computer. It's taken all morning but "SHOW and TELL" time!

Salad garden: lettuce, spinach, beets,carrots, radishs, one large tomatoe, cabbage and a couple of egg plants thrown in too boot....Behind are the herbs. Dad's new flag pole in the center.

Grape arbor, Sweet potatoes in black containers. Peas on the pea fence and a pit of Rhubarb in the lower left. Perr in front of cabin.

Marigold around beans....If you look REALLY hard you can see they are sprouting.....Rascal dog being herself, trying to get in the picture....Same Herb fence as in one from the other direction. Horse Radish and Caraway (seed) on either side of Rascal.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Car’s in the shop getting new shocks and the shop is right next door to Wal-Mart. That will be a convenient stop for the timer when we pick up the car. (OMG — those shocks are expensive — $600!) So, when I pick out a timer, do you have any suggestions on what I should look for?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Your garden looks grand. Good job with the new camera.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

All of your photos are beautiful. I don’t know how you do it all. If I was working outside of this place, nothing would get done.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Fantastic looking garden and a handsome little boy!

[trisham]

All of your photos are beautiful. I don’t know how you do it all. If I was working outside of this place, nothing would get done.

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I second that!