Posted on 04/25/2014 12:24:10 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. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks.
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You have a lot going one there. Feel free to post some pics if you get a chance and want to. We have talked about getting some hens and using a portable coop and pen, but neither of us is ready to commit to attending the flock during the winter.
My beds are that size because those are the size shipping frames from a construction company. Get them for free. 6” oak boxes. All you can carry!
We have had plenty of rain here. I have watered the garlic just a little.
I dont even go on FB for the reasons you do, I dont even have my wife as a friend on FB. I got on there because we were using it in the start up of a neighborhood watch, and our neighborhood group is a closed group, it is my only activity on FB or any other social site.
If they want to send pictures of the kids, they use our email addy.
Mulberry's!
They're about a week late this year, but this is the first batch!
It’s been a terrific week - lots done and lots going on.
As of Thursday, I have two new 8’ x 4’ x 10” raised beds to add to a small 6 x 6 bed that just wasn’t enough last year. After hauling 4 loads of great dirt from an old brush pile (bulldozer pushed a lot of good topsoil into a mound clearing a field), plus adding some bought soil/compost to top it off, I think I’m getting close to “planting” stage.
My Trombetta di Albenga squash seeds (2) have germinated and are doing great. The Cucuzzi (cucurbita maxima) squash hasn’t put in an appearance yet, despite being presoaked (per instructions). I’m giving the little plants another two weeks before putting them in the garden to make sure they don’t get nipped by frost .... and also to give me time to come up with something for them to grow on - need 6-8 ft trellis .... I’m thinking an old ladder would work well.
The tulips (now on the wane) were spectacular - 117 blooms! I suspect this success has to do with a (deliberately) reduced squirrel population.
Of three old-fashioned lilac bushes planted last year, two survived and 1 is actually blooming - LOVE the smell of lilac.
Planted 6 Eastern Redbuds .... all are leafing out so if we keep them watered this summer, they should be blooming next spring.
Weather is gorgeous this weekend - spending it on the mower trying to get a couple of acres of grass under control .... if I listen carefully, I think I can hear it growing!
Happy Spring, everybody! :-)
LOL! I had one night where I bent over the tub and used the hand shower to wash my hair with COLD water! It was bad, but not as bad as having an itchy head!
Went out for morning exam of plants and humidity was so high, 75%, popped out in sweat really fast just looking at the plants, it was miserable out there.
I can see actual green blackberries now. If I actually get berries off those three plants, I will get more for next year. These are thornless perennial plants and perennial plants are my goal with as many types of plants as I can get. That’s why I love Egyptian Walking Onions - onions forever. Plus, I don’t think anything kills them - didn’t do one thing to them and they went through winter like it wasn’t winter.
The tops of the walking onions are crazy looking now. I should take a picture of one to show the strange top going through its gyrations.
When I took pictures, I failed to get the dwarf orange tree in a picture. I see green round things that should be oranges on there but don’t know if those will grow. I need to read more about that Page Mandarin Orange tree.
There are about 30 Cilantro babies, two leaves showing, up in that pot.
Now, yesterday morning, there was a very large grasshopper on the upper deck close to the roofed deck, so I saw it immediately when I went out there. It eats, so I killed it - now, don’t any of you animal lovers feel any pity for that dead eating thing. Hold a funeral if you want but I won’t be there. :o)
My tobacco isn't doing as well as I would like for it to. Because the growing season here is so long, I'm going to keep starting tobacco and trying it, until I get all the rows in the garden filled.
/johnny
Since this is my first time with tobacco, I don’t know what “My tobacco isn’t doing as well as I would like for it to”, means. My tobacco plants are bigger every day, so to me, that is “well” as in “good”. Hopefully, I’m right about that. :o)
I just went out to look at the plants and water the ones that are not on a drip system yet. It is 83, 25% humid, 21mph winds.
The container maters look like they are growing 4”-6” per day now. The peppers look like they need some small stakes. I haven’t had peppers lay over before. I will make some small stakes for them. The ghost peppers are leafing out like crazy, from ground level on up to the tops. I was so sure that they were lost during the winter because they had lost all their leaves and the soil was dry, very dry.
I have one potato leaf mater plant that is still in 16oz plastic cup for some reason, a Prudens, I think is the name.
I have a tiny Boxcar Willie that survived the uprooting by some critter(a cat I think) He is only about 3” tall and lying on his side, somewhat, but alive. That gives me 4 plants that I started from seed of 35 mater seeds.
Wife has hundreds of zennias and a packet of sunflowers a few inches tall out back in the flower patch. I may get out back for a picture when she gets home.
Right now I’m puppy sitting. When I had my crash the other day, Gracie was on the dog run out back and knew something was going on in the front yard, so she managed to destroy her collar to get out there with us. She is super strong from playing tug of war constantly. When she gets the toy, she shakes her head back and forth like a pit bull. I call her a Pit Poodle now. Every time she wakes up at night, she walks up on me and drops the playtoy in my face to play fetch/tug of war, at least 5times per night. Great, just what I wanted, a dog toy soaked in puppy spit in my face. She has destroyed all the stuffed animals that we bought for her, so now sweetheart makes them from old socks. She requires a tether now since she decided to chase cars and pedestrians so sweetheart is gone to the pet store for another collar.
Raising puppies, Oh the joy.
Here’s an interesting link I just picked up from our neighborhood garden page.
http://identifythatplant.com/plant-id-resources/plant-id-websites/
Yorkshire Terriers were bred to go in/dig out small holes and drag out/kill rats. That instinct caused Prissy to dig holes through the sheet rock wall just inside the front door. I tried everything to stop that behavior, and it didn't work. There were two holes completely through the sheetrock. One day I saw how she did it. She licked the sheetrock until it was wet, then started digging and it gave way.
I finally got a workman our townhouses use for repair, and had him install a wainscot sheet of slippery wallboard like goes in a shower, and that was the end of her digging in the wall. She never went close to that wall as soon as that was up - she somehow knew she couldn't dig in that.
Also had to keep wires off the floor as she bit through wires one time. That wasn't plugged into power so she didn't kill herself. Also had to keep every tiny thing off the floor or she would murder it or try to eat it.
She is over everything except items on the floor - still have to watch that. There is nothing on my floor she can destroy or eat.
I had a neighbor once that had a dog chew an electric cord and died.
Gracie has twice chewed my O2 hose into 2 pieces, or more. The latest time was Friday. Fortunately the med supply place leaves spares, now.
I had a dog 15 years ago that was terrified of lighting strikes and the sudden thunderclaps. One Sunday, a beautiful sunny day, we were in church and out of the blue a sudden thunderclap. I looked at my wife and told her “There goes the back door, again” Sure enough, when we got home the dog was in the house and the back door was shredded into a jillion pieces. On buying the third door, I put a piece of thin steel on the outside from the bottom to the window. No more door problems, the door outlasted the dog.
Wife’s older poodle catches flying bugs and kills them, I have seen him catch and kill at least 4 wasps. He is a great jumper and will jump several feet in the air to catch one. We call him Waspslayer.
I started 24 more today.
/johnny
I thought you were supposed to have thunderstorms and tornadoes today..
All things being equal... I'd just as soon pass on both of those.
/johnny
Color me green with envy.LOL
We just got about 1/8 of an inch, maybe a bit more.
I have a very limited list also. Not even all the relatives. I would rather they just sent me pics via e mail, but they used the pics to twist my arm, and wouldn’t send them.
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