[Red_Devil 232]

Weekly Gardening Thread

Weekly Gardening Thread

[Red_Devil 232]

Ping to the Weekly Gardening Ping List.

I hope all of you will stop by.

This is typically a low volume ping list. Once a week for the thread and every once in a while for other FR threads posted that might be of interest.

If you would like to be added to or removed from the list please let me know by FreepMail or by posting to me.

[randita]

Question from a PA resident: I covered my raised bed garden, which I created for the first time last summer, with a couple of inches of grass clippings last fall. To my surprise, the chives, oregano, thyme and parsley wintered over. All are doing well except for the parsley. It’s just not growing and some of the leaves are turning yellow around the edges. I think it’s missing a nutrient but don’t know what.

I have fed the garden with manure and peat moss. I put lime in the soil around the tomatoes.

Any suggestions for “perking up the parsley”.

Also, any suggestions to get basil growing quickly from seed. It’s taking FOREVER. I have two large pots of it and also two squares in the raised bed planted with basil as I like lots of it to make pesto to freeze. I planted it about 3 weeks ago and only have a couple of layers of leaves on most of the plants, if that. It must need something - or is it just a slow grower period?

Climate so far this spring has been good. April and May were warm with sufficient amounts of rain, but not too much rain like we had last year.

Squash and tomatoes seem to be coming along well.

Thanks for the help?

[Free Vulcan]

Salad greens are near the end, peas are putting on. Strawberries have been wonderful this year. A little late but got almost everything planted.

[RoseyT]

After over a month with no significant precipitation, I am happy to report that it rained here! We have had several good showers in the past week. Thank God!

I’ve been busy making pickles and I canned some potatoes. Okra is finally producing, squash is hanging on, green beans aren’t doing so well. The corn was pretty much a bust and my poor tomatoes look like it’s already July.

We’re still waiting for peaches and plums to ripen.

Happy gardening, y’all!

[texanyankee]

I’m fixing to dig up the rest of my taters so the garden will have some space available.

Question:

Being in central Texas - with high summer temps - what would be a “good” vegetable to plant at the time of the year? I suppose I will have the row available for planting before the end of June.

[SoftballMominVA]

I have a question about my tomato plants.

I have 6 bush tomato plants - determinate Romas. Our soil here is very, VERY heavy clay, so we’ve added a lot of amendments to the soil to break it up and add nutrients.

In the past I’ve had little success with tomatoes what with rot and spliting of the tomato itself. Which I know are signs of erratic watering. So I really want to do this right this time!

The bushes are about 2 feet high and are producing flowers and a few golf ball sized tomatoes.

Should I pinch off the flowers until the plants get bigger?

How much do I water them? How often?

Thanks

[tubebender]

We may actually see the sun for the first time in a couple of weeks here on the far N/W coast of Calif but the cool damp weather has been great for the @#$%^&^%$#@!@ WEEDS!!! I need to fill about 50 pots and planters with Black Gold potting soil for the deck so my live-in gardener can finally plant her flowers she grew from seed. She will have to pinch them out as they have grown leggy in the cold frame and that's after she mows the lawns which is after she gets her nails painted. Did I tell you she has already walked 3 miles, spent a hour on FR and 19 other web sites while watching what ever is on Fox between 4 and 5 AM and is starting a wash, made the beds and emptied the dishwasher and it's already 6:15 here.

It's 54 degrees and windy here on the Vast Bender Estate...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Taters! I'm testing out the Grow Sacks that we sell to see how well they work. So far, very, very good...but the potato plants are taller than they should be. Don't know what caused that, and I can't cram any more dirt in there!

Coming up on the last of the lettuce. When it gets hot, it's bitter and turns into chicken food.

'Tumbler Tom' tomato, blooming away. Small tomato with true tomato flavor. Great for drying, too.

More lettuce, a small Curry Plant and a pot of French Lavender on the picnic table.

Clematis climbing up an old metal bed frame. The hot pink is 'Ernest Markham' and the white is 'Gillian Blades.' It's been a great clematis season for some reason. They look terrific!

Long view of the garden on June 10, 2010. Hurry up, tomatoes! Cardboard in the rows keeps down the weeds. Straw helps weed control and water retention.

[Tatze]

My garden is going great at the moment. Tomatoes, cucumbers, some peppers (Cayenne not producing any peppers yet, and Jalapeno slowly growing buds).

The potato plants and sweet potato vines are looking great too.

I had extra sweet potato slips and an extra russet seed potato. I planted them in 16 large planters and seem to be doing well in those too.

[tob2]

My cherry tomato plants are loaded with fruit and buds. I can hardly wait for them to ripen. Some of the cherrys are starting to turn red and I’ll probably get too many all at once. The surplus will be given away much to the delight of my neighbors! They will go well with my Jericho lettuce and chives. Cucumbers seem to be sulking. The plants are very puny, even with fertilizer and there are no buds at all. Wonder if I’ll get any cukes at all.

[Global2010]

I am a non gardener. : )

I do not like gardening period.

However I love reading about others and their gardens.

I also love to visit local farms and by goods by the boxes.

Tomato season and lemon cucumbers are my mainstay in July.

My diet and health thrive on fresh veggies.

Reading about all ya’lls gardening exp. makes me salavitate. : )

But the feel of dirt on my hands is as uncomfortable as restless leg syndrome.

Thanks to living in a coastal rain forrest area my property thrives in green on its own and the blackberries are free.

Thanks goes to the local company who keeps the property groomed so we can enjoy the park like setting...seriously our land sits in an area where folks come from all over to camp.

We enjoy the smell of campfires from down the road/campers but do not have to hassle (son has asthema so really can’t) with a bonfire on the property.

Life is good. Be perfect when the summer crops come up.

[Global2010]

Oh one other thing would be nice if posters added there zone/state when posting about their gardens.

Red will you please add me to the ping list.

Thanks to tube bender for telling me about this thread way back.

[LomanBill]

Still tweaking the gravity-fed drip system...

 

 

 

The low-pressure timer makes the system much more effective, no more drowned plants.   Presently using about 4 gallons per day and filled with the hose.

 

Next addition will be auto-fill via this spare toilet valve I had gathering dust.   All hooked up and ready to install when the tank runs dry over the weekend. 

It'll be fed automatically from the sprinkler system - I'll just add a minute or few to compensate for the time it takes to top off the tank.

 

 

Potatoes evidently are liking the indirect drip-feed they're getting.   Planted them among the peppers and they're thriving quite nicely.  Time to start mounding up the soil around them.

 

Peppers seem to like that arrangement too.

 

 

Eggplants are surviving but could be doing better I think.   We've been having lots of wind lately, and I don't think their leaves like it very much.

 

 

Down Side Up tomato experiment, 2 weeks after hanging/planting.   Looks like a twisted mess but recovered from the transplant shock and growing... ready to flower.

 

 

 

Best thing growing in the garden so far....

 

4 years old... learning about photons, chloroplasts, photosynthesis... science from direct observation  ;-)

 

[Ellendra]

Thanks to this goofy weather, I now have both strawberries and raspberries ripening at the same time. The first pea pods are forming too. But my tomatoes seem to be having issues, I planted 6, only 2 sprouted, so I replanted the ones that didn’t, and they never sprouted. I’m probably going to take cuttings from my indoor tomatoes, but I don’t remember what varieties they are so it’ll be a surprise. I hope to get at least one yellow stuffer for mom.

Cucumbers are growing nicely. Watermelon plants look stunted. Haven’t been out to my land recently so I don’t know how that garden is doing.

[tob2]

When watering the vegetables this afternoon, I noticed there were several almost ripe cherry tomatoes. Woo hoo there will be ripe cherry tomatoes for the weekend!

[goodnesswins]

HERE in SLUG land....the slugs are eating the tops of my seedlings that pop thru the very wet earth.....WWWAAAAHHHHH....want summer.....actually may get into 80’s tomorrow.....

[metmom]

My garden is about 3 weeks ahead of where it should be.

Strawberries are in a full two weeks early in CNY.

My tomatoes and green peppers are blooming. There have been years where we couldn’t even safely plant until the first weekend of June, so this is GREAT for us.

[elli1]

Please add me to the Gardening Thread ping list!

[saminfl]

I have a gardening question. I live in the Florida panhandle and for the last 2 years I have tried to grow corn in my garden. I get stalks about 2 or 3 feet high and tiny cobs. I planted the seeds about 1 and 1/4th inch deep and about 1 foot apart. I have a drip watering system. The garden is on the north side of my house/yard. Any ideas how I can do better next year?