Weekly Gardening Thread (Catalog Fever) Vol. 1 Jan 6, 2012

January 6, 2012 | JustaDumbBlonde

[JustaDumbBlonde]

January is not the most hospitable month of the year to be sure. If you're like me those cold dreary days are best spent curled up in a chair (for the guys that don't *do* curl -- sit there very manly) with a cup of tea (insert the manly beverage of your choice) and a stack of garden catalogs that you need a front-end loader to move (got you with the front-end loader, didn't I?).

I've got to hand it to the catalog people, the covers are exceptional this year and, by golly, with all of the $25 to $100 coupons right there on the front ... I saved $475 just walking in from the mailbox!

Your first five minutes spent thumbing through will tell you something, regardless of which catalog your choose: Prices. Are. Up. Must be that ol' supply-n-demand thing, because I choose to believe that MY favorite seed suppliers would never take advantage of a market that is growing by leaps and bounds as people discover that you can feed your family the highest quality foods and save money at the same time. Not to mention, you know exactly how your food was handled and by whom. It must be said -- produce from Mexico just doesn't have the same tropical appeal that it once did.

These are the catalogs I've received as of this morning. I've put these in the form of a link that you can take to that company, if you so desire. You can request a catalog of your own or, do what I do, which is peruse the paper catalog and then place an order online.

Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.
Musser Forests, Inc.
Michigan Bulb Co.
Agri Supply
Growers Supply
Stark Bro's Nursery
The Greenhouse Catalog
Gardener's Supply Company
Totally Tomatoes
The Cook's Garden
Burpee
Henry Field's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co. *
Jung's Seeds & Plants
R.H. Shumway's Illustrated Garden Guide

* Henry Field's and Gurney's are one and the same group. I suspect that Burgess is also owned by them, but haven't confirmed

Please let us know about your favorite catalogs and gardening-related companies. I know that we all love to discover something new that will further our fun in the garden.

[txhurl]

What kind of killer tiller are you running there? A mini-bobcat with a dragging till?

Not that I could use one, it’s all limestone where I garden.

[Free Vulcan]

Land Pride behind a 23hp Kubota.

[Marie Antoinette]

I have a question. My broccoli is done now, only a handful of Brussels sprouts (leaves) left on the stalks. Do I cut the stalks or just pull them out of the ground? This is the first year I’ve had success with crucifers.

It’s been unseasonably warm here, too. I like it! I already ordered a bunch of seeds from Jung’s. And a pot maker. And I couldn’t pass up the glads collection for $3. Not sure where they will go, but how could I pass it up? LOL!

[TASMANIANRED]

Mt goofy lab got into the opened cold frame and ate all my kale.

60 degree’s today..was 12 on Tuesday.

[TASMANIANRED]

LOL.

Because you can’t put post it notes on the computer to comparison shop.

You also can’t read the internet adds while enjoying a bubble bath.

[txhurl]

You know, I was unfair in assessing last season. I grew the new Indian varieties of peppers: Mohawk, Apache and ?comanche,(Ancho, yellow bell and a tabasco-type) and not are they still alive after the freezes, they're still holding fruit, leaves healthy.

The ancho grows big and strong, but the others stay petite but bushy, good for container growing. I should overwinter them inside out of respect for their extreme drought and heat hardiness.

Apache

Mohawk

I'll have to go out and find the stake/variety for the Ancho, which really surprised.

[Ellendra]

I've successfully grown many different cukes, beans, peas and squash without them cross-pollinating IF you keep them far enough apart.

That distance thing is a bit of a challenge, I've got 5 acres, and only a tiny strip of it is flat enough to plant, and that's alongside the neighbor's cornfield. I'll be terracing parts of the hillside a little every year, but right now I'm still hacking back the weeds. My land was abandoned for 15 years before I bought it, so it needs a lot of work. Corn might cross with the neighbor's field corn, and I'm not even sure okra will grow in Wisconsin, but cucumbers I can do! Thank you!

[Ellendra]

If it keeps not working, just google the link, that should get you to the right place.

[Ellendra]

Most of my aquaponics knowledge comes from reading, as I haven’t quite gotten to where I can start building yet. But the forum at backyardaquaponics.com has lots of people with hands-on experience.

(I found the wheelie-bin challenge thread to be especially fascinating.)

[greeneyes]

Yeh, even the google wasn’t working.

[Ellendra]

Try http://backyardaquaponics.com/

If that doesn’t work, maybe try in the morning?

[greeneyes]

Yeh will do it later. I think it’s lousy service from the internet provider. Happens a lot on weekends and noontime.

[txhurl]

I have trees (baby of course) growing in the styrofoam on the catwalk of my boatdock with no assistance. I keep them just to remind me to try it someday.

Their roots aren’t even in the water. They just treat the styrofoam as soil.

[W. W. SMITH]

Kohlrabi; still have some in the garden. I use the leaves as well as the bulb at the top of the stem. Zone 7

[greeneyes]

Well we don’t even have a pond. We live in a subdivision, so it would probably have to be some sort of “landscape water feature” that we could stock with fish.LOL.

[Free Vulcan]

Anything that grows back is a great money maker.

Back when I was doing market gardening my best seller was salad mix. It was basically red and green lettuce, spinach, chard, and kale, and stuff like orach, corn salad, or anything mild I had on hand. Sold it for $5 per gallon bag, you could probably sell it for $6-7 now easy. I could pick 10+ gallons per hour and if the weather didn’t get too hot I could pick on it for 3 weeks as it grew back.

Herbs are another one. I could pick $50 worth of basil in no time. Other herbs did good too. Ethnic herbs for Mexican or Asian markets were reliable.

Another one is fall stuff like gourds, ornamental corn, etc, or things used in dried arrangements or homemade potpurri mixes. Or anything that was earlier than anyone else had, like tomatoes or peppers or green beans, or grown in a hothouse. Hot peppers sometimes draw a faithful niche crowd, especially the Mexicans and Asians.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

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[JustaDumbBlonde]

"I use the leaves as well as the bulb at the top of the stem."

I've never bought or grown Kohlrabi. Can you give us an example of what you do with the bulb and leaves? Sounds like a wild garlic plant with a bulb on top. Thanks!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

Okra is a short season plant that will grow well into cool weather. I have a friend in Montana that grows okra. Start it indoors to get a strong plant going before it's time to put in the ground. Needs no staking, but will grow tall enough that picking is not hard on the back. You should be picking okra in 60 days.

Let me know if you would like to try some, I'll send the seeds to you. I've literally got a couple of pounds, in 4 or 5 varieties.

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"Do I cut the stalks or just pull them out of the ground?"

I would cut the stalks off at the ground and leave the root system. Here's why: as the roots and rootlets wither and decompose, they leave all of the little channels that allow air and water to permeate the soil. Almost like having worm trails, only much smaller.

Depending on the type of soil you're working, by spring your ground at the stalks could be springy like stepping on foam and it comes back up, or it could be what we call "mellow", and you may be able to stick your finger right into the soil like it has been freshly tilled.

I'm planning on discussing till vs. no-till, and the benefits of winter cover crops in a future thread.