Posted on 01/24/2014 12:24:31 PM PST 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. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
NOTE: This is a once a week ping list. We do post to the thread during the week. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest are welcomed, so feel free to post them at any time.
/johnny
Awesome!!!
(Are we weird when charcoal seems exciting? Probably. Too bad :p)
I probably won't be hanging around to see if it's still working 5000 years from now though.....
/johnny
Terra preta is one of the projects on my list for after my house is built. I’ve got nice rich soil, it’s just very heavy clay soil. Charcoal and biomatter should loosen things up.
In a SHTF situation, you could build a car or anything else you wanted, out of junk. You will survive no matter what due to your ingenuity.
/johnny
Terra preta is neat stuff. There is a good documentary on YouTube about south american terra preta.
/johnny
Forecast for Tuesday:
https://scontent-b-dfw.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/q71/1613815_10153768436035230_1136847759_n.jpg
Thanks for the forecast - I’ll stay in bed all day and wait for Wednesday.
You are planting a number of varieties of tomatoes just as I am. You are an experienced grower and I am not but I’ll do my best to do it right.
While writing these posts, I just remembered tomato seeds a Freeper sent me and I’ve got to find that piece of paper towel that has the seeds on it. I know where it has to be but didn’t think about it when I did the regular tomato seed out of company envelopes. I’ll search for that tomorrow.
Hi everyone!
The other 3 of my sweet potato offspring started sprouting, so I have them in water and they are putting out leaves.
I checked my pot of experimental parsley (to see if it would overwinter in its location) after our last cold snap a few days ago (sub zero temps and even lower wind chill.) I had mulched with lots of leaves. I was amazed to see some little bits of green still. We’ll see what happens after this next bout which is expected in next few days.
Looked through some boxes in past several days and ran across a small booklet which wowed me with the info in it.
We paid about $5.00 for it in early 90’s.
“Vegetable and Herb Seed Growing for the Gardener and Small Farmer” by Douglas C. Miller, (C) 1977
Published by Seeds Blum
Idaho City Stage
Boise, ID 83706
1984
The letter u in “Blum” has the two dots over it. (Umlaut)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vegetable-growing-gardener-small-farmer/dp/B0006WPFLQ - currently unavailable
I searched a little more and was unable to find a source other than the above publisher. According to one of my searches, the comment is that the publisher has a pretty good catalog.
Miller’s commentary on “Seed Handling” had some new info for this newby. He discusses “Harvest, Cleaning, Treating,Storage, Testing, and Running Out.
We have had a number of discussions on the thread about hand pollination and this book a quite a bit of info on it, some of which I shall endeavor to share.
What caught my attention was his bit on “Isolation” and “Hand-Pollination.” He also gives specific instructions for hand-pollination under specific sections devoted to individual vegetables.
In general:
“Isolation” - the key to keeping a strain pure lies in keeping it isolated from other strains or varieties with which it is liable to cross.”
(my summary here:)
Legumes: are almost entirely self-pollinated. Others with insect or wind pollination require isolation.
Generally, 1/4 mile between wind or insect pollinated varieties will give adequate protection. This distance can be reduced if your plant are upwind of others, if you have a thick stand of trees in between.
I was fascinated by his discussion of “Caging” which I will seek to excerpt here:
“Caging, as the name implies, involves building a cage around the plants which you desire to cross, excluding all others. Insect-pollinated varieties should be caged inside a mesh about as course as house window screening (or coarse chees cloth.) This will exclude insects, yet allow plenty of air circulation and light.”
“Wind-pollinated varieties should be caged with a much tighter mesh, muslin, pillow casing, or an old sheet are fine. These materials should be of a light color, (preferably white). since they will exclude much light and air, they should not be installed until shortly before the flowers begin to open.”
“The following are some methods of caging. These are just suggestions. You will, no doubt, come up with ideas of your own. Keep in mind, when designing your particular caging apparatus, just how many seeds to expect from each pollinated flower. Be sure to cage flowers from enough different individual plants together to insure against inbreeding depression. 5 to 10 individual plants fit in the cage, keeping the most rubust stalks for seed production.”
He gives 3 methods. First has to do with caging around plants planted around a pole to which is attached the apparatus at the top, with a tied gather at the bottom.
Second is the pup tent method. You have a row and put stakes down the row, and let the apparatus be a pup tent shape over them.
Method 3 us the use of old window screens to form a large cage. It can be used to cage more than just one type of vegetable as it is quite a bit larger than the other two.
The following I found quite interesting regarding what to do with caged veggies. I quote:
“INTRODUCING FLIES”
“When caging insect-pollinated varieties, insects must be put into the cage. Honeybees can be put in, but will soon die if kept away from their hive. The simplest technique is to introduce flies. Blow flies (blue or green bottle-flies), the type which gather and breed on rotten meat are the best and easiest to obtain.”
“Two weeks before they are needed, set some raw meat or guts outdoors in a light-weight open container. In a few days the meat should be crawling with maggots. Place the container, meat, maggots, and all, inside the cage. The maggots will turn into flies and do your pollinating for you. If you do not wish to put rotten meat into your cage, you can put the meat on a rack above a tray or pan while flies are breeding. Pupae will drop into the tray and can be put into the cage.
Wind-pollinated varieties will require some agitation to distribute the pollen within the cage. This can be accomplished by batting or shaking the cage around every day or two.
Thank you very much, my friend!
I sprouted seven varieties, but will buy some more at Maas garden center at planting time. WE had great luck last year with their heirlooms. Will get Cherokee purple, Brandiwine, Black Krim, and a few others. They had outstanding hibiscus last year, so I think I am going to buy a few of those for our newest patio, to border it on one side. $$$, that’s all it takes in there, and you too, can have beautiful gardens, too.
Seconded!
Thx for posting the isolation/pollination excerpt. Fascinating stuff..well, except the maggot pupae...
No. Looks like a cat toy to me.
/johnny
/johnny
I planted yellow brandywine and red brandywine last year. I was rather disappointed. There was 800 miles of vine per plant - but the few fruits were delicious.
cat toy
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