Posted on 05/19/2017 3:39:17 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 wont be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isnt asked.
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I’ve always wanted a greenhouse, but our property is very hilly, stony and heavily wooded. Where the house is positioned it then slopes down about 15 feet and then even further after a slight flattening, then down another 10 feet or so to where two streams converge. Our neighbors on the left are up at least 25 feet to their driveway, and then up even further.
I love it, but the back deck is eight feet off of the ground and the front slopes precipitously. We call it the “vale”.
I gave the last of my spinach to my grand daughter, and also gave her a head of tom thumb lettuce from the outdoor winter garden.
Still have some endive and lettuce, but will soon be planting something else there - not beets. Hubby has the beets covered and then some.
I haven’t figured out what will go there. I’d be happy with just taters, maters, corn, and beans, but I’m supposed to limit carbs, so I have to figure out other stuff to plant/eat.
I did not know that you had to train to gain weight??? I find that just sitting in front of the computer was sufficient for me...
Snow... you’re so lucky...
Wow!
Well, all the rain we had is no more and we are officially in a drought. (sigh) I wish they would make up their minds! :-)
Upstate also. We have up: radish, potatoes, first year asparagus, horse radish, snow peas and green peas. Little lettuces. Strawberries escaped their little bed and are the better for it - much larger and setting fruit better than any other year. Peach tree looks to be loaded, but still can’t get an apple.
MUST fix our fences - no new ones this year as hoped, so are going to set netting on bamboo poles ziptied to existing four foot fencing.
So far I have about 2/5 of my side of the garden prepped. Turning in peat and Black Kow - but I got side tracked by FRICKEN ROCKS today and ended up digging a big hole instead.
Have new babies on order for mid-June. We are down to just the one hen, and that needed to be fixed, so we have five babies coming, three speckled sussex and two leghorn.
Does your apple tree have a pollinator close by?
Do you save seeds from those silverhull peas?
Yes. It’s a Gala, supposedly any variety can pollinate. Our other apple tree was TINY when we put it in, and both have been hit hard from pests the past three years. We started with Neem last year, and are treating this year, but I expect it will be a few years more before we can even hope for an apple.
I will be paying more attention to them this year.
That sounds delicious.
It took about 4 years for my apple trees to get their acts togther after we planted them.
I ordered a ‘Pixie Crunch’ this year. We had one already but decided on another one as it was on sale. They are yummy too.
I had a vision of harvesting nuts from the pecans, hickories and filberts. These hardwoods would do well here in the woody Ozarks.
We have tremendous hickories but no fruit after 10 years. Pecans produced a half handful of “immature nuts” that were of no value.
It’s soggy tonight here in Central Missouri. Rained last night and has been raining on and off since about 4:00 this afternoon.
I decided that one way or another I AM going to get my pond finished this summer. The cheap china-made pump I’d been using to get the water out finally tossed its cookies so I got my wallet out and bought a nice japan-made pump with a 2” discharge outlet, and 100’ of 2” lay-flat hose. The old pump would take ten days to empty the basin. The new one does it in three days. I had it all pumped out earlier in the week and it was starting to dry, then the rains came again, but with the new pump that won’t be much of a setback.
I’ve gotten all of my pepper plants in, eggplant is in, five tomatoes left to set, but it’s going to have to dry up a little before I can do that so I re-potted those after work today. Planted green beans last weekend. Those are up about 4” and happy. Green salad, beets, and carrots are all up and looking good. Been eating radishes for a couple weeks now.
The Yukon Gold taters that I planted in March are rocking, garlic is rocking, snap peas had poor germination and most of them had had to be re-seeded so they’re anywhere from 3” tall to knee-high. I’ve got volunteer cilantro and dill all over the place.
Most of the landscape fabric and dripline has been placed. That’s going to save me a mountain of time on weeding and watering this summer.
It was raining when I got home so no recent pics. I’ll try to get some up tomorrow.
Lost our Cherokee Purple (have a replacement ready to go in), but all the other tomatoes are thriving, despite a sudden cool spell—30s at night; 40s/50s daytime, with off & on rains. Far cry from last week’s 80s!
All the cool season crops are naturally loving it.
Potatoes are starting to emerge.
Ate asparagus for about 2 weeks; letting it rest now.
Our 9 old ladies are giving us 6-8 eggs/day.
We have a lifetime supply of basil.
The plant in the herb garden got big and I planted cuttings along a fence because it is better looking than weeds. I bet my wife has dried 100 pounds of basil. I can’t seem to convince her that we don’t have to use every leaf.
Gardening Adventures this week included:
Buying Native Wisconsin plants to add to our front hillside that we’re doing up in all Natives.
The new Mount Royal Plum tree is ‘leaning’ due to our nasty winds this past week, but it IS leafing out, so that needs to be tended to, and quick!
Pole and Bush beans planted, but now, OF COURSE, it’s turned rainy and COLD so germination is hit and miss - though the Snap Peas and the Sweet Peas (flowers) are loving this weather, so there’s that. :)
Chipmunk Threat is at RED LEVEL - those cute little b@stards are GOING TO DIE!
And if the puppy would grow a bit fatter, he won’t be able to fit between the garden fencing and SLEEP on my Brussels Sprouts plants!
HOWEVER - the Orioles (Orchard & Baltimore) and the Red Breasted Grosbeak have been BEYOND compare this season...I’m on Jar #4 of jelly for the buggers and am running out of nut/fruit blend for the feeders so a trip to town is in the near future.
We’ve had two Hummingbird to the feeder so far, and I fear for their existence with our 40 degree nights and winds that just. won’t. quit!
Chipmunk Threat is at RED LEVEL - those cute little b@stards are GOING TO DIE!
Interesting let me know if you can how the AMSU works out.
Not vacuum packed seeds, just kept in the freezer. It amazes me.
When bench pressing, never arch your back, keep it flat against the bench. Put your feet up on the bench to make sure it stays flat. I work out a couple of times per week to thwart the decline that goes with aging.
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