Posted on 03/13/2015 12:27:32 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.
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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no telling where it will go and... that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
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Strange how we’re having more and more pet food problems even from US companies.
The other day, I potted up a Rosemary root from the neighbor but hers has taken over the whole fence row so this little guy will be staying in a pot.
I am starting year two of trying to have a garden, last year was difficult. In the past,I have only had a small garden plot in my back yard in town that didn’t produce much and what did actually grow was eaten by the varmints.
Last year I tried gardening on some land we purchased, between the weeds and the rye grass that had been planted in that area, it did not produce much. I really don’t know how to proceed but I know that this is a skill I need to learn.
I have read about using straw to keep the weeds down, does it actually work? What about using landscaping fabric?
Someone suggested using a roundup type thing to kill off the weed and rye grass seeds. Wouldn’t that also prevent the seeds I plant from growing or does it have a limited time of effectiveness?
Please help me oh green thumbed masters.
Good plan.
Sounds like a plan. Praying for you daily. Have a good weekend.
Maybe do a small 4x4 plot or just several containers with a variety. That’s not too ambitious, and you can get a lot from that for fresh eating during the season.
We won’t be going that far in, but we might stop at Crystal City/Festus home depot. It’s really easy to get to off of I55. There’s also a Lowes at the same exit and a Ruby Tuesday’s.
For some reason, I can’t hear very well when people call me on their blue tooth in the car. It always sounds like they are talking in a barrel.
In fact, all cellphones aren’t that great for me. Don’t know if its my cellphone, circuit, or my ears. LOL
I don’t use pesticides, as avoiding that residue is one of my main reasons for growing my own stuff.
I have had the brownest thumb ever, and killed so many plants over the years, that it would take months to tell about them. How I got started was with sq. foot gardening. My first year with this method was a real success story with almost everything doing well. Everyone on this thread was really helpful in my successful first year too.
Here’s a link that gives you additional information on sq. foot gardening. You might want to buy the book. Bountiful Gardens Catalog also has some pamphlets that you can use that have some basic garden plans and tips.
Of course your state university likely has a lot of good info and help from the extension service. Send me a private freep mail if you would like to be added to this ping list.
http://squarefootgardening.org/
Straw, landscaping fabric, newspapers, and planting everything a bit closer together works.
One more thing, sometimes the straw has seeds that you don’t want too. I have used it, but prefer just crowding the plants and using shredded newpaper as mulch.
So, of course, I get the oldest, finickyest airbrush that needs lots of TLC and adjustment. Right at a time I can't do finicky adjustments. I got it mostly working ;)
/johnny
LOL. I’d rather be doing that than gardening, cause I am not a fan of physical exertion. However, the taste of homegrown taters and maters keeps me inspired.
I moved a lot of potted plants from my sun room this morning and put them outside near my compost pile. It’s near my water well and the best sun exposure at my house in town.
Already have 3 varieties of tomatoes and 5 varieties of onions in small pots. I started the seed for those plants in folded wet paper towels in a ziplock bag. I was amazed at how good the germination level was for seeds that are 4 years old. That is old for onions. I would not have gotten that germ percentage if I had planted them directly in the pots. But also learned that you must carefully watch the seed, wait a day or two too long and they are hard to plant without damaging them.
This was the first winter that I tried and succeed in hand pollinating both tomatoes and Pepper plants indoors. Simply rubbed the blooms together.
My plumb bushes somehow made it through the recent week of very cold temperatures without blooming, but the buds look like it will happen soon.
Spring is in the air in Texas. (smile)
I rarely hand pollinate my indoor peppers and tomatoes. They sometimes get a jolt from my bumping into the table with the vacuum and sometimes I shake them a bit to dislodge the dust.
They don’t seem to need much to set fruit.
Home grown lettuce!
mmmm mmmmm mmmmm
I just found out what caused a massive failure of my pepper seed planting. I used one of those “jiffy” planting kits, with the peat pellets. Big No-No. Planted about 52 seeds, with zero germination. Then I just found this at Seedman’s pepper seed supply-
http://www.seedman.com/pepper.htm
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Never use peat pellets for germinating pepper seed.
We recommend Seedman’s Tomato/Pepper Grow Cups and Supplies that contain everything you need to start your own healthy, vigorous plants fast and easy, and allows you to grow large plants, so that you start them earlier and harvest fruits earlier.
Peat pellets are okay for tomato seed and vegetable seed in general and a few types of pepper seed will germinate in them, but for some reason, most pepper seed will not germinate well, if at all in peat pellets, we suspect it is the pH in the peat, plus the fact that peat tends to stay soggy and holds too much moisture against the seed, literally drowning it.
Always maintain a steady temperature of 80-85°F daytime and no lower than 70 degrees nighttime while seeds are germinating.
If you cannot provide this, you will probably not get germination from many varieties, especially the chili types.
Be careful how deep you plant the seeds.
Never plant over 1/4” deep.
Do not keep soil too wet.
Be very careful about overwatering, pepper seeds cannot tolerate wet soil!
Remember! Different pepper types take different lengths of time to germinate. Some hot varieties can take 2 or more weeks longer that bell types.
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Anyway, I’m over that, just bought a nice selection of plants in 4” pots-
Two Gypsy peppers, one Big Chile (moderately hot Anaheim type pepper), one Santa Fe Grande, one Carmen, (an excellent rated Italian Sweet type), and one sweet Banana heirloom, plus one highly rated heirloom tomato, a San Marzano, a Roma type, sort of. Got them all planted out into 1 gallon pots for now.
Thanks so much greeneyes, the square foot gardening looks really interesting. I think I will look into that. I can’t do much worse than last year and it looks like it would also be easier to harvest than rows.
Best thing that I can come up with, here in W.MI. is that despite 6”-8” of frozen white stuff there was a honey bee trying to get in the window to my Amaryllis.
My hubby joked that the bee was like the bird Noah sent out from the ark.
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