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.
Gallons??? How many plants do you have? I'm in Virginia and getting about a pint a day for the last week. I don't remember whether I started with 25 plants or 50, but some have died and some have spread. This is the third year and I read somewhere that I'm supposed to tear them all out and start over with new plants, but I don't have the heart to. I've got one of those three-level pyramid gardens.
Good morning fellow gardeners! On the stroll around our raised beds this morning we enjoyed finding several baby squash peaking from below their protective leaves. Okra is 5” inches high. One green tomato and tons of growth. Beans are climbing. Lettuce is still producing. Watermelon and cantaloup are all about 3” high and looking strong, along with sunflowers.
Looking to start an herb garden, but not sure how to proceed. Would love advice. I will be in and out for the next few days, so please understand if I don’t respond to posts quickly.
I enjoy this thread very much! Thank you for providing it!
HA...dogs and digging....we have learned with our Abby (rescue dog - part lab, part aussie? or border collie?) to always have a spot JUST for her to dig in the garden. She LOVES to lay in her dark, damp hole!
Well...here in western Oregon....wet....wet....wet....went out to the garden this a.m. and there’s a slug hatch....yuck...they are eating my struggling peas...looks like rain for the next few days.....aaaggghhhhh!!!! Tired of Global Cooling....want some of that Global WARMING!
I would have sprayed the weed killer before breaking up the soil and then waited a couple of weeks to till it. Now I would just till it all in and do weeding when they pop up.
Looks like a nice sized garden plot. How big is it?
Yep, we have a flower bed that is shaded from the sun that we keep unplanted for Molly. I spray it with the hose when I water the nearby plants, this is the only way to keep her from digging up what we plant.
She is a very smart dog. She understands much of what you tell her. Sweetest animal alive.
That and a little plot of grass for her...(I hate grass). And, it took me awhile to figure out this 2 yr old rescue dog was so “hypersensitive”....and that she understands most of what we say...and she keeps learning...she’s almost 11. Best dog we’ve ever had. If only she could learn how to weed!
A raised bed for your herbs would be a good way to go. If your weather is warm enough you can just start seeds right in the raised bed.
Are you getting RAIN or just that Oregon Mist. I was hoping it would put down a inch or so to delay paying a Kings Ransom to the city of Eureka.
Oregon Mist... mist Oregon and rained on Humboldt County. (old local saying)
HA...Oregon mist...missed Oregon...hit...California! I’m old enough to KNOW that saying. Last night it was downpours, as it has been often in the past week. The cloudiness gets to us, especially this time of year...and doesn’t help the garden! It has been an exceptionally cloudy, misty, rainy spring.
Thanks. Best year we’ve had in a few so far. Got a Kubota with a 50” tiller. It does a great job getting the seedbed ready. Use a Troy Built to keep the weeds down between the rows. Still do alot of it by hand though, which is fine. Good exercise.
They will when we go into Stage 2, which I expect very soon. How they'll do it must be by water usage and reports by ticked-off neighbors.
In the past when someone was caught violating the restrictions they were issued a warning. No more. Get caught. Check this:
(d) Criminal. Any person violating any provision of this division 1 of article IV shall be guilty of a class C misdemeanor and upon citation and conviction, shall be punished by a fine not less than fifty dollars ($50.00) and not more than one hundred dollars ($100.00) for the first offense; a fine not less than two hundred and fifty dollars ($250.00) and not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for the second offense; a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) and not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) for the third and additional offenses. Each violation of a particular section of this division shall constitute a separate offense, and each day an offense continues shall be considered a new violation for purposes of enforcing this division.
(e) Civil. Civil penalties, imposed by courts of competent jurisdiction in civil actions for violations of this division, may also be assessed as may be allowed by applicable state law in any amount to be authorized by the state. Under Chapter 54 of the Texas Local Government Code, the SAWS and the office of the city attorney may presently pursue civil enforcement for injunctive relief and the imposition of one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) per day civil penalties appropriately imposed by the Court. This statutory remedy is in addition to the city's common law right to bring civil actions for injunctive relief to stop harmful acts, independent of authority found in the Texas Local Government Code.
Enjoy the Hill Country!
I would not because the chemicals will get into your food. If you are going to use a weed killer, the best time is the fall--after the harvest. That way, the weed killer will dissipate/dillute over the winter before the next planting.
Instead of spraying, remove the clumps of sod by hand. This will lower the ground level a few inches. But, turning over the remaining soil will fluff it up to make up for the lost height.
And as usual the idiot gubment has the restriction backwards.
Thanks for you response. I don’t use a grow light, but a southern window. I will use a fan however.
Another way around the weed issue is to put down about 6 or so layers of newspaper, then mulch. When you plant just poke a hold in the paper where the seed\plant will be.
For a long term option I use carboard and then mulch and let it sit for about a year.
I have a friend that has a nice sized Kubota and a tiller attachment that is something like five or six feet wide. Damn nice. If he could get that tractor and tiller in my garden area he would spend more time turning around than it would take to till my whole garden! Nice machine!
Do you have access to straw? You might want to start with straw bale gardening....if you research it you’ll see what I mean....plus it will hide those weeds/grass you are worried about and smother them for next year....just a thought.
“... I call it the handcrafted look”.
It is all in presentation and a nice term like “rustic eclectic”. Believe me, I have seen some stuff purchased from Antique stores that were beyond ugly. Usually, they were referred to as “rustic”. LOL!
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