Weekly Gardening Thread
Weekly Gardening Thread
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I live in Michigan (Magslinger points with his right index finger to a point on the back of his left hand midway between the lowest knuckle of his middle finger and wrist.) In a couple of weeks we will be moving to new digs in the same area. The bright side is that for the first time in my life I will have enough room to make a decent sized garden. I am very much looking forward to that.
I have identified some potential problems with our new place. The location is near three large city parks, two cemeteries and two golf courses. It is infested with deer, has hot and cold running woodchucks and yet is within city limits. If it weren’t for the last, I could very easily reduce the other two problems with some 12 ga. slugs and a brick or two of .22LR. As it stands I am going to need some advice on what may work to keep uninvited pests out of the garden. I would appreciate any advice on how to keep ‘chucks from burrowing under out buildings and porches as well.
Since I have such a small plot, I will be growing tomatos in pretty well the same place next year. Can anyone tell me what I may need to do to the soil to freshen it up for next year. Crop rotation is not an option here. I am sure that I should re-plenish nutriants in the soil, but don't know just what I need.
Feels like October here in Central Missouri. I managed to get a small patch tilled up in the garden and planted some green salad. It’s up and loving the cool conditions. Peppers, eggplant and okra are going nuts. Tomatoes are beginning to wither but are still blooming and setting new fruit. The peach trees that I grew from seed are waist high and look fantastic. Still haven’t seen anything popping up where I inoculated with mushroom spawn in the spring. Time will tell...
We had a frost here a couple days ago and all my pumpkin vines died. What can I do to keep the pumpkins “fresh” till Halloween. I would like to carve them, and use the seeds and pulp for recipes. It just seems too early to save them for that. Any suggestions?
I pulled up all the dead plants last weekend and will be tilling my garden this weekend for my fall crops. Our back lawn made it through the hot and dry summer. Not so good for the front lawn. I am thinking about buffalo grass to replace the carpet grass. I just hope our trees don’t die from the drought.
Fall garden looks good, rain is still sparse but have watered it a few times to get a jump. Got lots of volunteers from my seed saving adventures. Getting some nice melons out of the patch.
Pics! (click on the pic for a bigger version)
 This is a wild prairie aster I saw growing in pasture. A rare sight around here. Not a big flower guy but I like the wild ones. |
 Al Baby watermelon. Planted the last of the seed and can't get it anymore. Stepped on the first melon but now have another chance to save seed. |
 Half ripe Rugosa Butternut squash. Best squash I've ever ate. |
 Sweet Dumpling squash. First year I've planted it. |
 Garden burnet. Tastes pretty close to cucumber. |
 One of only a couple of sage plants that came up. |
 Litchi tomato. Cousin of the tomato. About an inch in diamter, has more of a cherry-like flavor. |
 Jerusalem artichokes in bloom. Flowers smell like malted milk balls. Bees love 'em. |
 Cinnamon basil in flower. Going to save the seeds for sprouting. |
 Cowpeas that desperately need weeded. |
 Some volunteer Red Russian Kale from seed saving. |
 Nice stand of winter radishes in the fall garden. |
 Jenny Lind muskmelon, or as I call it 'liquid sugar'. Unbelievably sweet but not much bigger than the palm of your hand. |
 Got a shot of honeybees swarming the goldenrod and boneset at the bottom of the garden. There were thousands all thru the pasture. |
The moving and storage guys are here packing us up for our trip to Chaos for the next 2 weeks while we have our hardwood floors refinished. This is not fun for folks our age.
Our garden is still producing Corn, salad cucumbers, potatoes and a few Blueberries. We are going to have 8 pumpkins for pulp for pies plus a Jack 0 Lantern or two. The variety is Cinderella and two of them are extra large this year. We will start shredding flowers and corn stalks soon if I can get the shredder started as I sprained my right wrist.
FR is giving me fits with upload speeds...
The gardener’s enemy, FROST!!!! The last 2 nights Mom and I have been spreading sheets over the garden in the hope that it will survive until it warms up in a day or two.
I also took a cutting from each variety of tomato and planted them inside. This way I can take cuttings from the indoor plants in the spring and use them to plant my garden with. I seem to have lousy luck with seeds lately, but cuttings do well.
I also picked the one zucchini I’d let go to seed. The shell is nice and hard, but I’m letting it cure for a bit. This variety is supposed to make a good winter squash if allowed to ripen. We’ll see.
My raspberries are still producing, and my strawberries are still covered in blossoms. I think I want to take some of both to my land when I move!
I’m making progress on my house designs, figuring out where all the screws and bolts are going. It’s going to be a microhouse, but I made it so it can be easily expanded when I get the permits for a bigger one.
The bad news is, I’m on an unpaid leave of absence from work. My job requires talking on the phone all day, and I lost my voice 2 weeks ago and haven’t gotten it back. I have some savings as a buffer, but I really need my voice back soon! My supervisor keeps trying to find something I could do that wouldn’t require talking, but there’s isn’t much of that right now.
I just went out to put some stuff in the compost pile, and there were a few to several dozen bees flying around it, looking for ways to get in (it’s one of those plastic thingies with a few openings). I don’t think I’ve put anything different than usual in there lately. I don’t know anything about bees, but I’m hoping maybe they have decided to take up residence. Any bee experts out there?
Whew...got down to 35 this morning. Covered my peppers, but left most tomatoes exposed. All is fine, and overnight lows will be staying in the 50’s over the next ten days. Plenty of peppers; just want them to color. Salsa and sauce processing rolls on all weekend...
BTW- We just got rain! It was great! Now we need it to rain constantly for about a month. The aquifier is low.
Here is the last cucumber vine. It's still chugging along and producing 2-3 cukes per week.
And the crazy papaya plant in the greenhouse:
It never seems to get to the point of producing fruit. It's been there for the past 4 years, freezes back in the winter, and returns in mid-summer.
Experts say I should not go in the garden while it’s wet as it spreads desease... Darn, I can go out and weed today! BHAHAAAHHAHA!
If I remember, I'll post it on the next thread also.