Posted on 05/18/2012 5:59:55 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232
Good morning gardeners. JustaDumbBlonde asked me to post the thread this morning because she and her Husband are out in the fields harvesting their wheat. Looks like they will have good weather.
I hope all of your gardens are doing well. My gardening efforts have been scaled back this year to a 6x6 raised bed planted with eight of my three favorite tomato varieties. I am also continuing to pursue my Homebrewing hobby and will be brewing up a Honey Bee Ale later this afternoon and also bottling a Cranberry Mead that I started last November with a cork popping planed for this up coming Thanksgiving.
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.
Weekly Gardening Thread
Of course, the lettuce and garlic are the main spring crop growth, but I plant them in late fall in a sheltered location, and top with a row cover. Just finished pulling all the garlic.
We have eaten all the lettuce, except one plant which I have allowed to bolt to eventually collect seeds. Strawberry crop is just about finished.
All the tomatoes have been transplanted. I have seeds for a few varieties that I will plant directly in the ground.
Rosemary, Tarragon, Lavender, and Stevia have been transplanted to a sheltered location as well. I will be sowing a bunch of herbs in the front of that bed.
Next week, I'll finish the newest raised bed, and begin to plant the corn, beans, and melons.
Hubby has been busy cutting down trees to make way for some more fruit trees, and has planted about 140 tomato plants. Have a great week. God Bless.
When you cut it. Bind it into sheaves, and allow it to dry in the open or in a shed with plenty of air circulation. It is important to get the harvest, drying, and separate the wheat from the chaff done and avoid rainfall during that time.
I just use the blender or an electric coffee grinder to make the flour as I need it.
You are going to have an okra forest soon.
Especially not with the fire ants that are going to be all over them!
The two in the foreground of the hoophouse are 10ft x 10ft x 12inches deep, and the one at the end of the hoophouse is 12ft x 12ft x 12inches deep. If I were to do it again, I would make them 12ft x 2ft x 12inches for easier access down the center.
I haven't had a problem with powdery mildew (yet)....[knocking on wood]. My biggest problem is the deer.
Thanks! I’m going to be doing some improvised processing this year but, in the future, I hope to have small scale machines to handle annual needs. Winnowing in front of a fan is probably just exactly what I’ll be doing - thanks again!
WOO HOO!!! Congratulations, FRiend... I know you worked very hard for that designation.
Hope you had a nice celebration this weekend! :-)
Your garden photos are awesome. The fruit looks so luscious...
How do you avoid powdery mildew?
I haven't had a problem with powdery mildew (yet)....[knocking on wood]. My biggest problem is the deer.
Surrounded by miles and miles of houses and roads, deer are not a problem for me. Hard to believe when we first bought this house cows and horses still grazed at the end of the street. Now all you can see in any direction are miles and miles of houses and roads. The wildlife pestering my little garden are squirrels and birds.
This morning I will be spraying for powdery mildew which has attacked my threeYamato Sanjaku cucumber plants. They are in an earthbox. In the earthbox next to them are three truly prolific Baby Cucina cucumber plants which are not infected. Directly across from them at the edge of my ground garden are two more earthboxes. One has three Sooyow Nishiki cucumber plants and the other has three Suyo Long cucumber plants. Off by itself is a 15-gallon pot are four sprawling Spacemaster plants. Along the patio are twelve Diva cucumber plants. Thus far, only the Yamato Sanjaku plants are infected. Go figure.
I'm going to try Daconil which is supposed to be a broad spectrum fungicide. Will let you know how it works out for me.
Thus far, the only difference between the plants is the Yamato Sanjakus get a bit less sun. Maybe the variety, the shade or both have something to do with the infection.
BTW, my Baby Cucino, Suyo Long, and Spacemasters have been producing for three weeks now. Baby Cucino seeds are expensive (ten seeds for nearly $5) but plants are so prolific and cukes so tasty the price is worth it. Suyo Long cukes will produce thick fruit to about two feet. I've been picking them early but now that the fridge is full have let them continue to grow on the vine. Last year I picked some which were well over two feet and still very tasty. Spacemasters produce thick, eight inch cukes. The skin does have a slightly bitter taste. The Yamato Sanjaku, Sooyow Nishiki, and Diva's are just now starting to produce fruit. First year to grow them.
When I built mine I made them 4'x4'x1' deep. The idea at the time was
1- simplicity. A sheet of 3/4" plywood split down the middle, then ripped into 1' strips would make frames for 2 boxes.
2- EZ maintenance. By being 4' square you can reach the center from any side with ease for planting & weeding.
If I ever build another set of raised beds I would keep them 1' deep, but make them long. Maybe 20 - 24 feet long. As for width, I would make it the width of my full size rototiller + 1" clearance on each side. Then I could blast through it in the spring in one pass and be ready to plant.
We had thin clouds to filter the eclipse late yesterday but people who took the time drive a few miles up 299 had unrestricted views. Despite the clouds it was obvious we were experiencing dimming sunlight.
Your welcome. Keep me posted about how it goes, and the effectiveness of whatever equipment you get.
I did not notice anything here in Midland.
Happy belated Birthday, tubebender.
That is an accomplishment. I’d never be able to pass the identification part. Congratulations.
OH YUCK. This morning I noticed a fire ant bed at the end of my 16 door raised bed. They are so feisty when then are disturbed. I’ll take care of them tomorrow morning, as soon as it’s daylight.
I’ve been picking green beans, salad stuff, cukes, squash, tomatoes, green beans and hubby is humming hisself happy, picking all that okra. He picked some today and said they may have to be fried. I don’t eat okra...but do cook it for him and his buddies. My red and green yard long beans are beginning to dangle, I’ll pick them in a couple of days, I let them go about 12 to 18 inches, no more. They are very tasty. I have them travelling along a bent 10 foot rebar. Looks neat. One bean, I’ve forgotten the name, but it’s in a pot, with a cucumber. I’d run out of rebar, so put two tomatoe frames together and they are climbing that. Looks kind of neat.
I have some purple tomatoes, but they have yet to bud. I’m really looking forward to the fruit. Gardening is exciting, when something new is growing, and you’re wondering what it will taste like.
It's sad, isn't it. When I lived in your neck of the woods, my plants were attacked by everything that could attack them, aphids, vine borers, tomato cutworms, everything......
Of course, I did get quite a few Pecan and Loquat trees. The squirrels would constantly raid my neighbors trees and bury the seeds in my yard.
Well I can understand RD as I have been through Midland and I didn’t see anything either...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.