Posted on 06/03/2016 3:05:01 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!
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.
Glad someone is happy with the weather forecast. LOL
Fig trees are out of control now that the real summer heat has begun. I built a compost pit and can now say that it is full up, owing to the massive amounts of compost able garbage from my work - I was picky-choosey and still almost got too much.
The varmints are aggressive - had to bleach my front porch garbage while I await a day off to transport the stuff.
Planted a grape next to my big back porch to provide cover while I bathed two years ago (I’ve since remodeled my bath and moved the claw foot indoors). The grape is already close to claiming half of a large wood deck, and though it breaks my heart I may have to cap it’s happy ass come wintertime.
Worms are happy. Some bins were starting to get anaerobic so I added a mess of shredded cardboard and they are happier now. I desire a much more massive herd of worms but it will take a master plan, several truck loads of horse manure, and buku cinder blocks.
I love the lushness of everything right now...
I have not planted any produce or herbs at my house, as I’m taking care of my mother’s container garden at her house and that’s enough.
Would like to have enough time off that I can start foraging wild edibles again (I have an excellent book on the subject)
Wish I hadn’t given a former friend my only copy of Possum Living... I find as I grow older that people are utterly unreliable. When I hear one give an oath toward such and such I just shake my head, sigh, I know how this one ends...
Mosquitoes are bad in the swamp where I live, and one day, if I grow enough wanna-do, I’ll build French drains and tile drains and fix my crappy land which I love.
Just buy your lettuce from the farmer’s market. It takes up way too much space unless you’re Tubebender, anyway, and insects hone in on it first.
Pole beans - Kentucky Wonder - going nuts. Bush Contender bean flushed, harvested, waiting for new flush.
I think I might have mentioned I made the mistake of accidentally planting African marigolds among the tomatoes. They’re as tall and half as wide as the tomatoes. The blooms are so huge and cheery, I can’t just snip them dead. Their roots exude chemicals that kill nematodes.
Recommend SugarCube personal cantaloupe (muskmelon, actually). Very enthusiastic, you can loop it back on itself until you have a coil of melon vine.
My neighbor just happened to give me a short, stunted, totally purple tomato plant for me to revive the day Prince died. Named the tomato Prince but now he’s big, green, producing heirloom San Marzano Roma tomatoes 8wks later.
Snipping long, beautiful, elegant Burgundy okra.. eggplant (Whopper) getting marauded by some invisible bug, but can’t spray as it’s next to a tangle of heavily fruiting Muncher cukes. Need ma’ bees. Heirloom yellow and white Patty-pan squash harvest underway. Cherokee Purple tomato re-blooming after the hot spike shut blooming down a month ago.
My mixed radish perimeter is taking all the insect damage: what we hire Trap Crops to do. Surprisingly, I’m still organic.
We filled our in-ground swimming pool with top soil last fall, and this spring we planted a garden in it! It was the best thing we ever did. No more maintenance or chemicals to deal with.
The garden is like having a GIANT-SIZED raised bed. So far there aren’t any weeds and the plants like having extra heat from the cement borders.
I am growing lettuce in one-gallon Root Pouches in a shaded area on my deck here in East Tennessee...clip off as needed. So far, so good.
The main veggie garden is planted and doing well. It’s been hot and sunny and we’re getting enough rain.
Had a nice salad with Black Seeded Simpson, some Green Oakleaf, some Tyee spinach and some Buttercrunch so far this week. Radishes are looking awesome and will be ready to pick within the week.
I think I need to re-plant my beets. They didn’t get enough water when I planted them a month ago. I’m usually a great Plant Mom, but between putting the finishing touches on moving, having a Garage Sale and prepping my little farm for sale - I’ve been a LITTLE busy.
Full Production and a full larder and root cellar begins NEXT year. :)
“My mixed radish perimeter is taking all the insect damage: what we hire Trap Crops to do.”
I’m doing that next year then! As well as planting marigolds and cilantro amongst the tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes. It’s probably too late for this year.
Basil is also a strong ally of tomatoes. I should post a picture: (knock on wood) the radish perimeter is blasted with insect holes, all other crops within are (knock on wood) perfectly perfect.
Very far behind here. Should have potted up tomatoes and peppers weeks ago; they are week and spindly things.
I hope to get beans, squash, and melons in the garden tomorrow.
If it weren’t for self-sowing greens - mustard, arugula, and lettuce - we wouldn’t be eating anything from the garden yet.
Fruit is behaving oddly - scarcely any cherries set, but the peaches are abundant and my daughter is thinning them. Not as many blueberries as usual, and the summer-bearing raspberries are even making flower buds.
Poison ivy lurks. The enriched soil reverts to hard clay. And the Louisiana iris thinks NJ is Louisiana, and is spreading rampantly.
Hubby went through a spell many years ago of searching out all the wild edibles he could find. Lasted for several years before he stopped. Still have the book around here somewhere. Saw it about a year ago. Can’t remember where.
LOL. Now that’s one solution to maintenance. The neighbors filled in their pool, and covered it with a hideous cement slab. Ugh. I like your solution better.
I turned some 2-gallon new buck apiece trash cans into pots for some chives etc. Punched holes in bottom and sides. Wanted something that I wouldn’t have to water every day, and didn’t want to spend the money on more expensive pots with water reservoir.
I understand busy. That’s what gets my garden chores unfinished. Hubby will soon have plenty of beets for me to process. So many that I told him no way my feet would hold up and he would have to help. LOL
Hubby got a poison ivy rash earlier this week. He has always bragged about how he never gets it. Well he did a little too much this time with his bare hands. Now he can’t say never again. LOL
Asparagus is done for the year - way too fast.
Have been eating spinach, lettuce and kale.
The beans, peas, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, and squash are in and doing great.
Just cut the scapes off our garlic - great looking crop this year.
Strawberries are out, and raspberries aren't far behind - what an awesome time of the year! (Thank you Jesus).
Yes it is sort of pretty. Kinda lopsided, because I trimmed some branches back on the side sticking into the room that were in the way as I passed by.
But the prettiest thing is the good smell when blooming.
Green beans, dry beans, speckled butter beans, squash, chard, spinach, leeks, and cukes all got planted this week.
Also planted some Dame’s Rocket in our gully.
Been using volunteer spinach and leaf lettuce.
I think the winds did in the sweet potato slips, but I’m keeping them watered anyway. I do have some replacements if I need them.
I feel your pain; that’s what happened to us last year..
Didn’t get enough of anything to can or freeze.
>>Speaking of which, how did a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers become the norm? By the time I have tomatoes and cucumbers, my lettuces are hopelessly bolted.<<
Kroger’s!
I am very allergic to poison ivy - thank goodness for cortisone cream. But I would freak out when my children came in from where I knew there was poison ivy - shoes off at the door, lukewarm shower, clothes in a plastic bag and DON’T sit on the couch.
“But Mom, we’re not allergic.” “But I am and you will be, and DON’T sit on the couch.”
And they did all eventually become allergic. Told them so.
My brother warned me that Virginia creeper could cause the same reaction. Nah, says I, it’s just the poison ivy hiding in the creeper and I can spot that. Turns out he was right. Serves me right.
So be careful of Virginia creeper too!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.