Posted on 05/17/2013 1:01:42 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
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The seeds I started last week sprouted almost immediately, and have had a 100% germination rate. I have a few plants ready for transplanting and hope to do that this week.
Hubby has convinced me to plant my potatoes in the old compost heap from last year, instead of taking up space in my raised beds. (He already has a volunteer taking off there).
I have a bunch of sweet peppers and fooled you jalepenos growing like crazey. The lettuce and spinach in the mushroom compost is ready to harvest a little, and past time to thin it. The other mediums have fewer plants and they are only about the diameter of a pea.
I'll be using mushroom compost from now on, if I can find it. Hope you and your gardens are doing well.
Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the List.
Ok, need some wise advice...
First time trying to grow zucchini and cukes and am trying them in large pots.
Only two of my zucchini seeds have sprouted...these two look strong and are growing like gang busters but why only two?
My cukes are doing well but I have a lot so how do I thin? There’s good drainage in the pot but maybe too much...mulch?
I ended up getting nearly 100% germination on the Purple Passion asparagus seeds I got from Kitchen Garden Seeds. Yay. I have over 100 little teeny asparagus ferns in cups now. NOW we see how many of them actually LIVE to transplant. I have a reputation. Ahem.
My sweet peppers are finally putting on new growth, it’s finally warmed up outside where they’ve been. My frostbitten tomatoes are starting to green up. The ones that will live. I’m busy transplanting eggplants and hot peppers since it’s finally warm enough outside for them. Also transplanting my rice into the big garden.
Started my flour corn and sweet corn seeds germinating in a glass dish like I saw tubebender do. I’m reminded to ping him now that I’ve mentioned his name.
Busy week ahead planting stuff out in the big garden. Planting, laying papers, mulching. We’re expanding the garden this year. Again. I’m going to grow (try to grow) black oil sunflower seeds and millet for my chickens. And some Texas Gourdseed corn for them too.
In other BIG news related to new things and spring arrivals, our big fat Buff Orpington setting hen is a mommy. Mommy X 5. We let her sit on 6 eggs. Not expecting success the first time. We don’t have a setting box, just sort of a shelf with small ledge for the hens to lay on. It was a scramble to get the babies and get them into a box with heat lamp inside. I was afraid they’d fall off the shelf and break little chick parts.
Mama Buff pinched a blister on hubby’s hand while he was stealing her babies. We’re adding on to the coop this weekend to give her a spot to set and brood. Next time we’ll let her keep the babies. Daddy chicken is a Rhode Island Red and the hens are Rhode Island, Black Australorp and Buff Orpington. So the only purebreds will be any Rhode Island Reds. BUT they’re all chickens and will lay eggs and end up in the crockpot eventually.
You’ve been busy. That all looks great! Is that garlic or leeks or onions just upwards of the black pots?
What’s in the black pots?
I don’t know about why the seeds didn’t sprout, but it could just be bad seeds I suppose.
My Virginia peanuts didn’t sprout - 100% failure rate. The Carolin Black from a different seed company sprang up almost overnight and are ready to transplant to flats or the raised bed within a week. 100% germination. Same basic conditions.
One or 2 zuke plants in a big pot is enough, so you won’t have to thin them out.
Not enough info re the mulch. I usually grow cukes 3 per sq foot. Just pull out the weak sisters and pitch them on the compost heap. Or you can use a knife and kinda prick them out doing as little damage as possible, and transplant to another pot-they might survive.
That is one beautiful neat garden. Thanks for sharing the pic.
sweet...
That’s some great progress and good news for the chickens. I know if I raised them, I would not be able to wring their little necks. However, I suspect that hubby would be able to.
Youngest daughter has located our source of anitbiotic free, GMO free, free range source of chickens from a young man she went to school with who is homesteading. He has agreed to sell her/us his extras.
She has agreed to go help him with the processing so she will have the knowledge and skills, in case we decide to try to raise some chicks in the future.
Well I got my first strong beans. Yay me. Granted I have 4 plants and getting a couple of string beans French is not a meal. But it is a start.
My tomatoe plants are both over 4 ft tall, yet nothing coming from them. Not even a blossom. That’s sad. Zucchini look nice but nothing yet. Same with carrots.
Been doing a lot of stuff with herbs. Basil with home made mozzarella and tomato is delish. That’s what is upsetting me with my tomatoes.
Tomorrow doing another 4x4 SFG. Cukes, more carrots and more tomatoes. Hopefully this time around will be better.
French? Darn, I hate spell check.
Today, my Yorkie, Prissy, and I ate the first produce from the garden – a ripe cherry tomato – we shared it. Another one was ripe and it’s in the kitchen. Those two ripe cherry tomatoes are the first food ready to eat that I have ever grown in my entire long life. How much was their cost? If there was no other food, it doesn’t matter what they cost. Over time, cost will go down dramatically – it’s the first set up that takes some money and I’m not through doing that. With a small space, planning is everything.
I’m still planning and reading. All the Miracle Gro bags I planted seeds in are growing something except one of the big bags. I think that is the Alpine Strawberry seeds and nothing is happening. I found I can order the plants rather than seed and next time may do that because it’s major disappointing to see nothing in that bag. I’ll try to do seeds again since I have the small greenhouse but I will buy actual plants, too, both the strawberries and blackberries in order to get a start.
I’m making a list of foods one would need to stay alive and give the best nutrients and be able to grow in containers large and small on my deck, and that would be a spring and fall garden so the plants will differ from one season to another. Certain veggies will be in there but I have to have fruit and Alpine strawberries would be one because they come back and blackberries that come back would be another. I studied different types of blackberries to find a good one that would take Texas heat. I always consider the heat when I choose seeds.
In a few days, I will have a composter unit. I need instruction about this. I need to know everything that can go in there and what can’t. Pretend I know nothing, which I don’t, and list what is permissible and what is not in a composter. Can dead rose limbs with severe thorns on them, be put in the composter? What about limbs I cut that were coming into my garden from another yard? How small do limbs have to be? Is there a limit on the width of a limb? Can every bit of food garbage be put in there? What are you putting in yours even if it isn’t in a composter unit but in a corner of your garden open to the air? What definitely should not be put in there?
What kind of tomatoes did you plant? When did you plant them? What sort of fertilization did you use?
Check for ants to see if the peanuts were eaten. I lost over half my seeds to ants. Next year I start them all inside where I can keep an eye on them.
I got my button mushroom spores. They look like little white mouse droppings. I'm assuming most of it is inert binders to make it easier to handle.
Waiting on daughter to deliver my horse poop and straw to grow them on.
/johnny
Here in Southern North Carolina, the various-lettuces are almost done after several hot days this week. I’ve had many meals of colorful leaves! They were neatly planted, but catz excavated the beds later, so they’re all mixed up ;-).
Sugar-snap peas liked the cool April and May. We’ll begin picking them tomorrow. Tomato plants are just sitting there, so far.
I know I wouldn’t be able to process the chickens. Hubby’s hunted since he was 10 or so and promises me he’ll have no problems. I just need to let him go to Whole Foods or Kroger and price the ‘whole organic chickens’.
My grandmother kept chickens and did her own processing. I witnessed the whole process from beginning to end with chicken and dumplings in a pot on the stove. Chicken dinners are a lot of trouble!
Peanuts are going to go in the ground the end of May. I’ve got something from Southern Exposure. I can’t remember the variety offhand. Hopefully it’ll finally be warm enough outside for them.
I’ve got to transplant a whole packet of sprouted Mary Washington asparagus plants too. Those took about a week longer than the hybrid asparagus seeds.
I’m starting trays of perennial herbs next week too. Once I get all the stuff that’s currently on my driveway planted and gone. I get to make it all white trash again out there. Hopefully by the middle of July the neighbors can stop talking about me.
I don't put meat in the compost. I don't put dairy in the compost. It stinks pretty badly if you do. I do bury meat and diary in the garden, if I actually have any scraps to get rid of, which is rare.
I also don't put in limbs or things like whole vines (rose bush limbs) or even bermuda grass runners without hitting them once with the lawn mower to break them down. I'd like to have a shredder or hammer-mill to break stuff down before I put it in the compost pile.
I do put all of my coffee grounds, egg shells, moldy bread, bad veggies, etc in the compost pile.
If you have a lawn guy, have him dump the bag from the mower into your compost pile.
My compost pile is mainly oak, elm, and cottonwood leaves that I also try to hit with the mower before composting. I wish I had pine needles like I had in NM.
A compost pile is basically food for bacteria and fungi that are going to break the organic materials into stuff that plants can use. The little bacteria and fungi do better with smaller bits to operate on.
/johnny
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