Posted on 06/28/2013 1:01:56 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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All my roses were David Austin roses - all shades of pink. We drove to Tyler, Texas, to get them. There were bush types in the main part of the garden, then all across the back wall were his climbing roses. The summer of 2011 killed all of them except for two bush types that refused to die. They are on their second blooms now and your pink ones look very much like mine. Many petals make beautiful roses.
I have Jobe’s rose food spikes coming to give them some food. There are two of the climbing ones on the back trellis that died down to a few small limbs but maybe the fertilizer spikes will save their lives. There is a bit of shade at one time during the day that reaches those two that are hanging on and that probably saved those limbs during 2011. The temp. then was 105-107 for over a month or more with no rain at all.
When I saw that rose stalk in that potato, I thought of my two David Austin bush roses and wondered if I could “clone” those roses using that method. David Austin would never know I did it since I have those high brick walls around my garden. Of course, he lives in England anyway, so he will never know.
Barley for a winter cover crop was fine but it didn’t get done until a few weeks ago and now I am working my rear off to get everything turned around for tomatoes and peppers and such. The other day it occurred to me my family spent ten generations here before they got off the farm. My dad was the first college grad and I was the first post grad. Now here I am breaking my butt on the farm. It may only be 400 sq ft or so but it is seriously tasking me.
Johnny,
You posted picks of your tobacco dusted with DE last week. Do you smoke it? Isn’t DE silicate?
Ping.
Had to hill the potatoes a third time, and I know I’m going to have to add mulch over that.
Last night was a home grown dinner: fried rabbit; carrot thinnings; snap peas. Potato salad even had chopped Egyptian onion & boiled eggs from the hen house in it. Been eating German Giant radish thinnings, too; they are about ping pong ball to golfball size, and growing.
Speaking of snap peas, Wednesday, I picked a whole 1.25 pounds. Today, I brought in 3 pounds; they are starting to actually produce. Also discovered that some alien invaders sneaked into the seed bin: a few of the vines are flat podded snow peas, rather than snap peas. Also found a half dozen volunteer potatoes hiding under the vines; that’s what was planted there last year. Won’t get anything from them, as they can’t be hilled, and look pretty spindly, but we’ll see.
Not sure what is going on with my pole beans. Instead of starting to climb, they are starting to flower.
Years ago, at a So-Cal apartment complex we lived at, a neighbor worked for Asplundh a commercial tree “trimming” (butchers!) service.
One afternoon, they finished loading the enclosed deuce and a half dump too late to dump it at the landfill, so he drove it home and parked it on the street to take & empty first thing next morning.
It was late spring or early summer, so the the branches going through their chipper had lots of succulent new growth, and was heavily leaved out.
A bit after midnight, the load spontaneously combusted. Heavy damage to the truck, but no other property damage.
Who Knew that such stuff could be so dangerous? SSHHHHH don’t tell anyone else, or you’ll have to have a permit to compost your kitchen scraps.
That’s some good eating. Been a long time since I had some fried rabbit. I envy your eggs, but don’t envy getting up to feed animals, nor clean cages.LOL
LOL. But just think - you are growing your own food. You don’t have to wonder what is on it, or if it’s full of pesticides - you know exactly, and when you go out and pick your produce then eat it immediately, there’s no decrease in nutrient value. And the taste! MMMMM Smack. Need I go on?
Think of it as an "archival copy"; that provision is always somewhere in the EULA. *<];-')
No need to go on. Just whining. LOL
/johnny
“I just like to see all kinds of pots and stuff on the patio with stuff growing in them.”
I can’t have a jumble of pots on the deck. My film director son is like me in that he is an organizer and that’s what he does with film - it has to flow together. When he was here, we discussed the deck - it needs to look coordinated like there was a plan for it to be aesthetic - pleasant to the eye. And, there has to be enough room for the iron furniture to provide a nice area to sit. You may think that’s silly, but it really isn’t as my outside area is small so it’s part of my living space - it’s not the “south 40”. I’ll get it done so in the end it will look nice.
I had to thin out some more tobacco leaves today, so I've got another 5 lbs or so hanging here in the kitchen/office.
I NEED those tomatoes to get ripe. I'm out of canned tomatoes and out of salsa. I'm having withdrawals.
Still harvesting NM chili peppers. I've got enough now that it's going to be labor effective to fire up the grill with fellwood and roast them outside instead of in the toaster oven.
/johnny
/johnny
Thank you both. I will start with today’s coffee grounds and see what happens.
You would need to take a valium before you looked at my garden/work areas. ;)
/johnny
The difference is, when I step out my sliding glass door, I'm on a lower deck that is about five steps from the upper deck where the containers will be. I doubt your garden is right there in your face when you step out. Also, the glass must be 14 ft. long across the living area, so the garden area is plenty visible from the living area all the time. If the deck was junky, it would really bother me having to look at it all the time.
Most of the people living in these townhouses have a smaller back area than I do and they have filled it with rocks with absolutely nothing real growing. They don't have a deck unless they built it. They do have a piece of concrete slab for a small patio and I do mean small.
Whoever owned this townhouse before me, put in that lower deck over the piece of flat concrete and built a step up large deck, still leaving raw ground beyond that deck. I'm lucky they didn't eliminate the raw ground part. I say this to illustrate no one in these 61 townhomes is growing any food. Kroger grocery is across the street and down about a block. That is their food.
I'm very, very happy with using the clear plastic to prep an area for gardening. In direct sun, the temps get over 140F. That will kill weed seeds as well as the plants themselves.
I look forward to measuring the ground temp in the middle of August.
/johnny
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