Weekly Gardening Thread – 2010 (Vol. 19) June 11

Free Republic | 06-11-2010 | Red_Devil 232

[Red_Devil 232]

Good morning gardeners. It looks like from all the pictures and comments that most of your gardens are coming along great. My garden is about three weeks behind where it was last year at this time but all is well and it is coming along fine.

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. There are no stupid questions, just honest ones.

[Global2010]

And we are both Moms of special needs kiddos.
: )

[greeneyes]

Good to see the Friday thread. I had to take hubby to St. Louis for his Dr. checkup today, and we got home late, so no gardening today, but we got plenty done this week.

I finished planting the semi-raised sq. foot beds and the very next day we got 2 inches of rain. We got all our “rain” barrels refilled (trash cans we bought and put under the eaves). We have about 6 or 7 cans of 30 plus gallons each.

My small bed now has dwarf corn, 2 different cantaloupes, 2 watermelons, 1 cuke, some beans, peas, lettuce, onions, carrots, and radishes. I planted the cool weather stuff where the adjacent flower bed shades them in the afternoon. They are supposed to be heat tolerant.

We are eating lots of salad from the garden. We have no decent tomatoes, but various lettuce, onions, and spinach for chef salads, citrus salads, and cyrano-type salad.

The strawberries did well, but are about finished for now. The grapes, tomatoes, cukes, peppers, blackberries, watermelons, and beans are doing well in hubby's gardens, but won't be ready till July and August for the most part.

Our butternut tree has prematurely dropped a bunch of nuts. We can't see anything on the tree. I guess it is possible that the wind did it, but I don't know. I did several searches, but so far have not found much. Anyone know of what could be causing this?

Happy weekend gardening to everyone.

[Silentgypsy]

Had sincerely good recommendations from experienced gardener in AZ re: Park/Park’s seed. Told him I had heard of the company via FR.

[thecodont]

This is so pretty!

[Silentgypsy]

I agree. That’s why I add my location in my tagline. If I ever do something really valuable, y’all will know my latitude and longitude vaguely.

[Silentgypsy]

Had a friend who vacationed in Africa. Gave her my little mosquito-repelling device to wear on her belt, and she gave her prophylactic drugs to a person on her safari who didn’t have any, and then came down w/malaria. (P. falciparum.)

[texanyankee]

of course, but the bell peppers were way too big to be left on the plant and they had yet to turn colors.

[texanyankee]

I dont know where you live, but here in central texas we have to plant as soon as we believe the last frost has past so as to get a harvest before the plants shut down due to high temps.

[tubebender]

The Humbldt Bay region has had a wet water year and is within .03 inches of setting a all time record established in 1886...

[LomanBill]

>>I use MG Bloom Booster (15-30-15)

 

Heh.  Just googled "MG Bloom Booster (15-30-15)".

 

Top result:

miracle gro bloom booster (15-30-15) - Cannabis Forums Message ...

12 posts - 9 authors - Last post: May 23

Happy girl on Hawaiian Bud & bloom. Look at those leaves! ...

Almost funny.  

 

I'm going to try hydroponics this winter.   Thanks, evidently in no small part, to folks like "Happy girl" that technology seems to be quite promising and decreasingly expensive.... for lettuce, spinach, tomatoes... and legal "herbs".

 

 

Thanks again for the tip - and for the complements BTW.   Glad you enjoyed the photos.    Some folks might remember water-tower Gumby's smaller edition.... from 9/12/2009 -

 

 

 

[afraidfortherepublic]

Love it! Thanks. Do-re-mi!

[tubebender]

There are at least 6 large grower suppliers in Humboldt County with 3 in Eureka and hydroponics are big here but mostly grow bags and drip feeding lots of supplements to the plants...

[afraidfortherepublic]

Your tag line reminds me of a motto I saw on a panel truck owned by the Great Northwest Dessert Company about 25 years ago on the Lake Washington Bridge between Mercer Island and Seattle: “Eat Dessert first; Life is uncertain.”

I thought that was such a pertinent sentiment that I vowed to cross-stitch it, but life got in the way.

[afraidfortherepublic]

It’s been so cold and rainy here that I disconnected my automatic watering set up so I could mow today and never hooked it back up. My garden soil is turning green from too much water/rain. God should remind me to not turn it on if it is going to rain, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. I’ve had several days this week when the garden got watered twice and then rained on too.

[tubebender]

I worked this morning until 1:30 but didn’t get home until 3, changed clothes and hilled potatoes for the second time then started filling pots for the deck until happy hour called and here I am...

[elli1]

Re: parsley. I planted some last year which is not doing anything but bolting. So if I plant a brand new batch this year, then I should be set because every other year, one of the plants would be producing, right?

You need to plant parsley every year. It has a two year life cycle--it's not perennial. The second year, as you've seen, you don't get much growth before it bolts so it's best to just treat it as an annual. If I have any parsley that makes it thru our northern winter, I leave it for some harvest early while the new sowing is getting established.

What I'm trying this year is leaving last year's parsley to bolt & see what kind of luck I have with it reseeding itself. But I have new plants on deck, too.

Coriander is strictly an annual. And it's bad about bolting really fast so you need to think succession planting on it. I tried growing it a couple of years ago & didn't have much luck. It came up and bolted! Must have planted it late. Or something. I have a lot to learn about growing it. However, I was reading somewhere within the last couple of weeks to look for slow-bolt coriander/ cilantro seeds. Haven't done that yet.

Thinking back, I planted the coriander in one of my raised beds in full sun. Next attempt, I'll find somewhere else to plant--not in the raised bed and somewhere w/ a bit less sun. Cilantro is one my most favorite herbs so I want to get it figured out. One tip--if you do have luck growing it, don't mess with trying to dry it because it just doesn't have much flavor after it's dried. When I buy fresh cilantro, I stick it in the freezer in a ziploc bag & chop some off of the frozen bunch as I need it. Flavor is almost as good as fresh.

[o_zarkman44]

Too much rain is common with last year. The warmer weather seems to be helping. But still too wet.

[randita]

Thanks for the tips. I had great luck with the parsley last year. I had so much by the end of the summer that I cut it all back, chopped it and froze it in ice cube trays. Popped the parsley cubes out into a freezer bag and had it to use all winter. Just ran out. I’ll have to plant new and shade it a bit.

The coriander is doing well so far and has not bolted. I have it shaded under some large squash leaves as I am growing the squash vertically in the raised bed garden and the leaves can provide a lot of shade as needed and as I arrange them. Also have the leaves shading lettuce so hopefully, the shade will keep the lettuce from bolting too quickly. We’ll see as this is the first time I’ve tried this.

[GBA]

Thanks for posting the pictures! Beautiful! You and others here have helped restore some of my lost motivation.

Digging out rock and chunks of hard packed clay to make a garden takes a LOT of motivation...and a mattock.

[tubebender]

And a strong back in unison with a weak mind...