WEEKLY GARDEN THREAD 6/01/2018

freerepublic | 6/02/2018 | greeenyes

[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 any time-and don't have to be about gardening.

[greeneyes]

Greetings from Missouri. Sorry to be so late posting today. Very busy with things to do to get ready for moving furniture from Springfield-time got away from me.

We skipped spring (except for rain) and went straight into summer it seems. It's been really hot. We have continued to have rain.

Garlic has some scapes. Wheat has some grain showing - not ready for harvest. Tips of garlic are starting to brown. All the transplants are in the ground.

More fig trees arrived for planting today. We are planning to buy another pear tree, to replace one that bit the dust.

Hope you are doing well. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.

[greeneyes]

Pinging the list. If you want to be added or deleted from the list, please send me a private message.

[mrsmith]

Friend’s 12 yr old boy asked to use a small plot of my land for a garden.
I say “Sure!” Thinking: get the kid enjoying the fruits of hobest labor. Good lesson for him!

Well, darned if his mother didn’t come over and do all the work while he could only stand around. LOL!
Oh well... maybe she’ll let him do the weeding.

[ApplegateRanch]

First green of carrot sprouts were seen today. Don't let them dry out!

About half of the butterbeans have also broken ground so far.

Only about 1/3 of my Yukon Golds have come up; not sure what happened. Good sized seed pieces, with strong eyes; and let them callous before planting them the way I normally do. OTOH, I also had poor germination of my 3 types of squash; and NONE of my Spring planted garlic came up, even though the onion sets I planted at the same time, in the other half of the row are going gangbusters.

Pretty sure I'll be picking rhubarb this weekend; it was looking pretty good last weekend, before we got another 2-1/4 inches of rain.

This is our River Grape, with flower clusters for the first time; this will be its 4th summer.

[tubebender]

Weather has been great for the Pacific Northwest .Digging and Cleaning a variety of Garlic called Early Chinese Red. Nice sized bulbs…

[tubebender]

A couple of photos for Eric in the ozarks. He will have ripe Roma tomatoes very soon

[tubebender]

Oh yeah, we got the corn transplanted and installed the row covers…

[Sir_Ed]

How did you know when to pick them?

I planted garlic last Fall, and the’re huge, bushy and tall, but I don’t know when to harvest them.

I live in Southern Oregon, by the way.

Ed

[Psalm 73]

"We skipped spring (except for rain) and went straight into summer..."

Same here in Konnecticut.
Most everything went in last weekend, finally. Cold and rainy for weeks on end. Then, sun!
Garlic output is waaay down - maybe the very warm spell in the dead of winter did them in.
Need to put in one more box garden - moved the starters into larger pots waiting for two dry days in a row.

This is a great time of year no matter when it gets here.

Prayers for your fig trees (and you).

[Redleg Duke]

Last Monday, I drove from our RV in eastern New Hampshire up to Maine and picked up our two packages of bees. Then on Tuesday, I came home and installed them in the hives. Still need to move four brooder boxes to temporary storage and extract the honey.

We had three hens taken by a fox last week, so I brushed around the pen and extended the electric fence to encompass the pen and bog filter as well as the garden and bees. That night, I heard a suspicious “yelp” in the back of the pen. Life is tough when you are not on the top of the food chain and lack opposeable thumbs!

Need to continue work on the garden watering system. Need to run a hose bib and one last line for trees and planters. Then, build the manifold system and connect the timer. Of course, then, I need to put in the individual emitters to each plant!

Bees are busy and we have humming birds again this year!

[PrincessB]

My dill is starting to brown and I am at the end of my spinach. I am doing some work in a community garden today and should get some fresh peas.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.
And peppers too !

[Covenantor]

I can't takes any more, My dill is starting to brown and I am at the end of my spinach!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Recommend planting hard neck garlic in October/November.
Harvest in the spring.

You’ll observe a curious shoot come up first. Clip these “scrapes” to force the garlic to make bulbs.

The scrapes are tasty...

[BOARn]

New vegetable gardener here in North Texas... I really struggled to get anything to take...I have planter boxes I just built this year. I finally figured out my soil PH was too alkaline. I got that fixed and now everything is off and running albeit late. I’d say I’m a month behind where I should be due to stunted growth and no nutrition in the soil. tomato plants are strong, have a few green ones and tons of flowers. corn looks good, beans look good, peppers are good except for habanero’s they don’t like the 100 degree heat we’ve been having. squash blossoms keep falling off so I don’t know if they don’t like the heat either or what their deal is. I’m getting the hang of this and hope to have more to eat soon besides peppers.

[left that other site]

The Herbs are in their pots ready to grow! Huzzah!!!

[oldvirginian]

I’m trying some tomatoes in containers this year.
I have 4 Beefmaster tomatoes planted in large containers, each container about 10 gallon size. I thought a 5 gallon container might be a tad small.

I put three sweet banana and eight sweet bell peppers in an old flower bed beside my steps.
Yes I love the sweet peppers. I put them on or in just about everything I eat.

I put the tomatoes in a spot that is sheltered from the evening sun. The plants will get plenty of sun but will be in shade when the late afternoon bake hits.

Using the needles from the pine tree out back as a mulch on the tomatoes and peppers.
I’ll check the soil next year before planting for acid levels.

Gardening for one is something I’ve never done before. I hope it pans out.

[Qiviut]

Late planting this year because of cold nights. I planted on a Tuesday (May 1) and the Sunday night before was around 36 degrees. The day I planted got in the upper 80’s & the day after was 91 - my tender squash & cukes got fried. I had to make shades for the tomatoes & keep them up for a week. I had to replace the squash/cukes and 1 tomato plant. The plants have been “hanging out” in the garden not doing a whole lot until last week and now it has turned into a jungle with all the rain we’ve been getting. The plants look like they grew 6-12 inches and the weeds .... oh my. More rain/cloudy days on the way so I’ll have some cooler temps for weeding. I don’t have to worry about too many cukes, squash, peppers or tomatoes this year - a new fire house opened up just down the road & when I asked if they would take fresh produce (and other food), their faces lit up and the answer was “yes”!!

In the meanwhile, it’s been great weather for the fields and I’m mowing them weekly - the yard almost needs mowing more frequently. The bluebirds have already fledged one nest and the deer will be dropping their babies any day. I spotted a box turtle at the edge of one field, laying her eggs. Aside from the heat/humidity, it’s been a nice season - hard to call it ‘spring’ with the weather we’ve been having.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Thank you !

[nagant]

“squash blossoms keep falling off so I don’t know if they don’t like the heat either or what their deal is.”

Squash plants produce both male and female blossoms. Each year the first blooms are male. Later the plants produce a mix of male and female flowers. However, most squash plants don’t like Texas summer heat. Your problem could be some combination of these factors.