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Weekly Gardening Thread – 2011 (Vol. 20) May 27
Free Republic | 5-21-2011 | Red_Devil 232

Posted on 05/27/2011 5:16:22 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232

Good morning gardeners. I apologize to all Freepers for the flame skirmish that occurred on the thread last week. This thread is intended to give like minded Freepers a place to share their gardening experiences and knowledge - a respite from the everyday problems we all encounter without encountering more on a benign gardening thread. Please be civil to your fellow gardeners, Thank You.

Ok, back to gardening. Every one of my plants I started from seed are doing great! This includes two varieties of paste tomatoes and three varieties of winter squash and a few pepper plants. Unfortunately some of the beneficial flowers, I started in a small raised planter were raided by a digging Cashmere (Irish Setter) hiding her Milk Bones.

My garden received a nice drenching rain shower yesterday afternoon. It supplied a good soak for thirsty roots.

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.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Food; Gardening; Hobbies
KEYWORDS: garden; gardening; recipes; weekly
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To: momtothree
She was a natural helper. She wanted to be doing anything that I was doing. She helped paint the house, build and paint woodworking projects, work on cars, yard work, garden. She started learning to cook at about 8 or 9, She did crochet, taught herself to knit from reading how, she learned to sew at a young age, played guitar and sang from about age 10. I think that she read every book about horses that there is, and made just about straight A's in school

My point here is: Its amazing what they can do if they have very limited TV and video games access.

41 posted on 05/27/2011 7:15:12 AM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15:1-5 Believe it!)
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To: Augie
"Wouldn’t surprise me a bit to find everything dead when I get home."

I sure hope that is not the case!

42 posted on 05/27/2011 7:15:12 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: tillacum

why does he paint them white?


43 posted on 05/27/2011 7:17:49 AM PDT by stefanbatory (Insert witty tagline here)
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To: Red_Devil 232

You and me both. Every year I tell myself that it’s not worth it to set out tomato plants before Memorial Day, and every year the beautiful weather comes late in April and I set them out the first week of May hoping for the best.

Two out three years I wind up replanting at least some of them.

Maybe one of these days I’ll learn. LOL


44 posted on 05/27/2011 7:19:34 AM PDT by Augie
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To: Red_Devil 232

“You need to keep a grow light or cheap florescent light over you seedlings and down close to the young seedling 3 to 4 inches above the leaves. This helps to keep them from getting leggy.”

Agreed. But I think it’s worth it to buy a grow light bulb, IMO. The proper light spectrum makes a difference in the growth and health of the seedlings, in my experience.

High-intensity fluorescents are even better, but pricey. I used some daylight-spectrum high-intensity fluorescent lights for my seedlings one year. (I “repurposed” the lights temporarily from an aquarium.) They were the stockiest, healthiest seedlings I’ve ever grown. I don’t have those lights any more or I’d do it again!


45 posted on 05/27/2011 7:24:12 AM PDT by FiscalSanity
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To: momtothree

In all honesty, that boy is one of “the most popular guys” in the school, and definitely in the 7th grade. That tells me a lot about the caliber of many of these kids. He’s an absolutely awesome kid who never complains and considers his “disability” as more of an annoyance than a hindrance.

Of course we took pictures........unfortunately hubby has yet to figure out how to email them from his phone, so I haven’t uploaded them to photobucket -— but I will.


46 posted on 05/27/2011 7:31:34 AM PDT by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: momtothree

YIKES -— your neighbors sound a bit uptight alright. I live out in the country and I don’t bother with netting anything but my one fruit tree -— but that’s because of bugs and birds, not deer.


47 posted on 05/27/2011 7:34:01 AM PDT by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: Gabz

I may be wrong, but I think if you connect hubbies phone to the computer by wire and load the pictures to the computer that way, you will have better picture. That is how I move pictures from my phone because I don’t have internet on my phone.

I am thinking that you would move the picture in its full size, rather than a reduced size picture through email. If this is right, it would give you the option of using the full size picture to print or crop or reduce or any other option in the future. But I am no geek and have been wrong before.


48 posted on 05/27/2011 7:46:33 AM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15:1-5 Believe it!)
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To: Red_Devil 232

I’m heading outdoors to try to get my boxes prepared. We’ve had nothing but cold rain and storms, but today is pretty. My husband’s hospitalization and doctors’ visits (he’s doing great) used up all the time I would have spent starting seedlings indoors, so all my plants are purchased this year.

I have 16 various tomatoes (trying to make the harvest last as long as possible), 4 sweet basil, 2 parsley, 1 rosemary, and something else. In addition I have 2 zucchini, 2 acorn squash, 2 baby watermelon, and a couple of other veggies. I’ll start peas, lettuce, etc. by seed. Also, I have last year’s potatoes that have gone to seed that I’ll plant again.


49 posted on 05/27/2011 7:49:06 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
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To: Red_Devil 232
22 gallons of strawberries picked thus far, unfortunately because of the continued state of too wet many have rotted even before getting ripe. I will be spending the day helping my kids move. Maybe the ground will have a chance to dry out and I can play in the dirt tomorrow instead of mud.
50 posted on 05/27/2011 7:58:16 AM PDT by Just mythoughts
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To: Red_Devil 232

Greetings from the land of supposedly constant rain, where my garden is suffering from drought. Despite watering, we lost the pears and apples this year, and even the radishes are suffering.
One call for advice - we have a bed next to the fence, and on the other side is a massive cedar that seems to kill everything planted in there! Any ideas on barriers to slow down the acidification of the soil? I lime it regularly, but it is simply not enough to keep the soil viable - not even weeds grow there at the moment!
Getting a touch desperate, as this bed is about a quarter of our available planting area!


51 posted on 05/27/2011 8:03:27 AM PDT by EnglishCon
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To: rightly_dividing
But I am no geek and have been wrong before.

ROFLMSS!!!!!! You just described me to a T!!!!!! This is one of the new "smart phones" that he was sent by his employer and he's still trying to figure out how to do much more than make or receive calls ----- and he's an IT Tech!!!!

But thanks for the idea, I will suggest it to him.

52 posted on 05/27/2011 8:14:31 AM PDT by Gabz (Democrats for Voldemort.)
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To: Gabz

It’s bad enough that my computer is smarter than I am, but now my phone too?


53 posted on 05/27/2011 8:40:06 AM PDT by rightly_dividing (1 Cor. 15:1-5 Believe it!)
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To: Red_Devil 232; MtnClimber

Good morning Red. My wife’s sister in Golden Co has the week off and she just told me she almost stepped on a Rattlesnake yesterday! That would end my gardening days as my heart would fail...


54 posted on 05/27/2011 8:43:52 AM PDT by tubebender (Help! I've fallen, and I can't reach my wine!)
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To: Red_Devil 232
Slammed in alot of stuff last weekend and hope to get more done this one if the rain holds off. We got 3 inches or so the last couple of days, it's pretty wet but not as bad as I thought.

Random pics for the week:

1. Pea vines all strung up.

2. Greens/roots patch and a nice stand of spinach.

3. Seed saving/herbs patch.

4. Gonna be a good crop of peaches this year, barring hail.

5.Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tomatillos ready to get in the ground.

6. The old dog Tank standing guard over the garden.

55 posted on 05/27/2011 8:46:33 AM PDT by Free Vulcan (Vote Republican! You can vote Democrat when you're dead.)
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To: Free Vulcan

Wow. Great looking garden. Do you have a tractor to prep the soil?


56 posted on 05/27/2011 8:51:34 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: momtothree
I wasn’t taught any sort of maintenance stuff and I flounder around trying my best. Sometimes I do well and sometimes.... uh, less than well.

Me neither - I think I was in college before I learned righty tighty left loosey.

But, you buy a house and you have to learn. No more calling the landlord!

Nothing I've built is actually 'square', but none of it's ever fallen down either. I call it the handcrafted look.

57 posted on 05/27/2011 8:59:59 AM PDT by nina0113
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To: JDoutrider

1958 Allis Chalmer WD tractor? I am sooo envious! Do you have any pics?


58 posted on 05/27/2011 9:01:25 AM PDT by Sarajevo (Avoid arguments with your wife about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.)
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To: Red_Devil 232
This is my first year of trying a "real" garden. Finally dried up enough to get the first break up of the ground done. Waiting for it to quit raining so that they can get a cultivator in to break it up more and work some manure in it. Was hoping to have it all ready to plant this weekend but it will not stop raining, I so wish we could send some of this water down to Texas where they need it so bad.
Question: Should I spray some kind of weed killer or something on it before I get plants in there?
Photobucket
59 posted on 05/27/2011 9:02:07 AM PDT by momto6
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To: Racehorse
The city is monitoring drip irrigation now? Geez, I'm glad that I moved to the Hill Country.
60 posted on 05/27/2011 9:07:10 AM PDT by Sarajevo (Avoid arguments with your wife about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.)
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