Weekly Gardening Thread
Posted on 08/12/2011 5:28:22 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. There is not much garden news to report from East Central Mississippi this morning. I am just trying to keep everything watered and alive and picking a couple of peppers and a zucchini every once in awhile.
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.
I hope all your gardens are flourishing.
Weekly Gardening Thread
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Suggestions needed for vegetables that do well in shade.
I have a big patch of ground that I could expand my garden into but right in the middle is an old apricot tree and in the alley are BIG Pecan trees and then to help shade the setting sun I have a big Walnut tree.
The area in question is shaded maybe 80-90 percent of the day. I was thinking of squash or some other vines but I don’t want the vines growing out into the yard as they search for sun. (Wow, I learned with a pumpkin vine, believe me!)
Does butter lettuce or peas do well in shade? I was thinking of maybe potatoes as well but I’m afraid that ancient apricot’s roots might interfere.
Keep in mind that no vegetable will grow in full, dense shade. The following crops will produce with three to six hours of sun, or fairly constant dappled shade, per day.
My zucchini is getting bushy and my yellow bell pepper is doing well, but my green bell is just sitting there. It’s not dead or dying, but it’s not growing either. I hope to have fruit by the end of September, then maybe the derisive laughter will stop.
Thanks! I think I see some Cauliflower, Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts in my future garden.
Love radishes but I can’t get a decent carrot so... Speaking of which, I have been trying to grow carrots for 45 years, since I was a kid. I think the best I have ever had was some about 6 inches long. Last year I got some midgets...man, they tasted good but two bites and it was gone. WTH am I doing wrong? Too hard of soil? Not enough water? Too much water? more/less fertilizer?
My mother planted a grape vine at the base of an almond tree. It grew up the tree, and there were grapes and almonds growing side by side. Yes, it looked very strange. :)
The "Deck Project from Hell" is completed and inspection signed-off! Now, the Duck Dorm is in process after a two-day trailer camping trip to Maine.
The Dutchess has installed drip irrigation in the two planter beds and we are harvesting delicious tomatoes and the zuchini is still producing. We have two small mellons on the vine and peppers also growing. The heat wave hit the garden hard.
Jack finally got all of the pavers laid down around the firepit and the wood pile moved, so I can mow the lawn and let it recover.
The water lines to the four points in the back yard are a blessing, but now I have to add a line to the deck area where the Dutchess wants to add a drip system.
My wife has gotten a bumper crop of zuchini this year (easy to do) and so far she has about 4 good size green peppers with more coming in. Crookneck squash is doing really well, too.
I was growing roadside cantalope last year, I had no idea a cantalope vine would climb a chain link fence. I was having to make some baskets out of rose tape to support them as they grew to about 7 inches diameter 6 feet off the ground. They were delicious. Wanted to try them again this year but I am working in Alaska and garden is in California.
tomatoes have been doing well. I see, though, that some of the lower leaves are dying. I keep picking them off and feeding them to the chickens. Kinda scared that I’m gonna end up with no leaves left sooner or later...haha
Also, there is some sort of bug that is turning selected leaves to swiss cheese.i think i have tracked down the culprit, but am unsure of even how to describe what it looks like...
Also, began my new job this past week - I just got home from my shift...:)
Carrots need a lot of water and as a cool weather crop they do not do well in hot weather.
Ooooh...a grape vine! Now there is an idea!
Next-best would be quick-growing small root crops (like radishes, turnips, and green onions) --- and if they kinda "under-produce" in the edible root dept., you can still eat the greens.
What you don't want is plants grown for fruits or seeds: that would rule out squash, as well as melons, cukes, tomatoes, peppers, corn, sunflowers, pole beans, etc. Anything that makes a fruit or seeds, needs lots and lots of sun.
Peas? I'm thinking no: even if the vines (and leaves) grew OK, the yield would be low, probably a big disappointment.
Nix on potatoes or shallots or onions: they will not tolerate interfering tree-roots. And as far as I know, almost no garden plant will tolerate walnut tree roots: they are notoriously inhospitable to competition.
Bottom line: in shady areas, stick with greens. In my humble opinion.
That explains it. The garden in in the California Sacramento valley. In the summer you would swear you were in Arizona.
Thanks for the great information!
Try a raised bed if you are concerned about roots.
How is your lovely wife and what are you doing (job)? You can answer by FReep mail, if you prefer.
I need some advice. Although I consider myself a bit of a master gardener I just can’t grow nice specimens of Fennel. I have always tried Florence Fennel but I never get anything that looks like what is in the store. I understand there are male plants that will never get big, but I’m talking about my female plants. This year they are beautiful and healthy, but much smaller than what I hoped.
This is Ohio and I have wonderful soil and plentiful rain. Everything else has been magnificent this year.
My main garden is a raised bed. The “new” area will be raised eventually after I move back home (job in Alaska). I spent 2 years getting rid of an ivy infestation and now I have all this open ground begging for a garden.
In the middle is an old apricot tree. I will cut it down eventually but since it’s still producing fruit, my wife wants to keep it.
The walnut tree is on the other side of the yard. It produces shade in the evening. The pecans across the alley are the shade producers in the morning.
Tomatoes and several varieties of peppers continue to put off a bumper crop this year. I picked another 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes yesterday. (off of 4 plants) Round 3 & 4 of my sweet corn are coming along nicely. I tilled in between the rows of the younger, #4 planting yesterday. Okra continues to produce with abundance. Grapes are just about ready. My speckled field peas are ready to pick. I’ll be doing that this morning. Oh, and my almond trees produce two almonds this year. I wasn’t expecting any this year. Couple more years and I’ll have enough for a snack!
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