Posted on 03/02/2019 5:12:07 PM PST 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 any time-and don't have to be about gardening.
Our next door neighbor saved my back side and my back, plowing the blown snow off our driveway today. He charged me two Bud Lights...
Well. There ya go. It’s all good!!
Cold weather and more snow here in Central Missouri.
I’m so sick of winter I don’t have words to describe it.
Earlier in the week a pair of Canada Geese laid claim to my pond. Not so long ago my dog Yogi would have taken care of that problem for me, but now he’s too old and feeble to care much about chasing varmints. It looks like I’ll be going to war.
Mrs. Augie is making plans for me to build some raised garden beds, so I’ve been pondering how I might go about doing that without breaking the bank and my back.
With 6.’’ of heavy snow forecast, the only thing growing in the garden is white.
Meanwhile:
Forget the past, carbon-rich soil may be the ticket to sustainable agriculture http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3731886/posts
Posted on 3/3/2019, 4:10:02 PM by artichokegrower
Loren Poncia scooped up a handful of dark, damp soil that could change the future of farming.
The nutrient-rich muck was filled with slithery earthworms and thin, white roots sprouting in every direction like lightning bolts.
“This is the carbon farmer’s dream,” he exclaims. “We want to see like 10 worms in a shovel-full.”
Many conventional farms till their soil and strip the land of all vegetation, reducing the amount of carbon in the soil,..
“We found a clear correlation between the addition of manure to the soil system and an increase in carbon numbers,”.
“Add compost, increase plant growth...
SE Wisconsin is cold, cold, COLD! -7 tonight, but the days will be sunny and NO SNOW for the rest of the week! Yay! This cold snap isn’t as bad as the one we had in February with -30 REAL temps. Good Golly!
Anyhow, I’ve been planning my garden and wanted to share varieties I will be growing this season. I have gone to almost ALL Determinate types of tomatoes - so sick and TIRED of MONSTER tomato plants hogging too much garden space even with pruning and staking and caging! I’m getting too old for this. ;)
Seed Vendors: Jung Seed Company, Totally Tomatoes, Vermont Bean Seed Company, Burpee and Botanical Interests.
Tomatoes:
Bella Rose
Bush Champion
Early Girl
Chef’s Choice Orange
Defiant
Cherokee Carbon
La Roma 3
New Yorker
I’ll pick up ONE cherry-type, locally
Peppers:
Baron
Recovery
Gourmet (Green to Orange)
Sweet Banana
Carmen
Big Bertha
...and a few California Wonders/King of the North and Jalapeno that I can pick up locally
Summer Squash:
Ez-Pick Green & Gold
Whatever light green Lebonese-type I have from last year
Winter Squash:
Sugaretti (Spaghetti)
Honeynut Butternut & Betternut Butternut
Potatoes:
Kennebec and Red Norland
Popcorn:
Crème Puff
Calico
Glass Gem (Look that one up - Surreal!)
Green Beans:
Velour Purple
Seychelle Pole Bean
Yard Long Red
Scarlet Runner (for my Hummingbirds)
Goldmarie Romano Pole
Lettuces & Greens:
Avon Spinach
Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale
Black Seeded Simpson
Green Towers (Romaine)
Outredgeous (Romaine)
Red Salad Bowl
Ruby Glow
Rainbow Chard (local purchase)
Cukes:
Diva
Summer Dance
Peas:
Sugar Ann
Sugar Magnolia (Purple Pods; just gorgeous!)
Sweet corn:
Supersweet Offer - 3 types, staggered maturity dates
And whatever else catches my eye! Herb plants will be bought locally and used as fillers in my Porch Pots, which will also have Red Okra (love the plant!) and colorful Hot Peppers and I was adding something ‘purple’ in there, I forget!
Flowers:
Strawberry Blonde Marigold
Empress of India Nasturtium
Envy Zinnia
American Giant Sunflower
Gladiolus - 3 colors
Fireball Marigold
Sweet Peas
Magellan Coral & Mixed Zinnia
Neon Calendula
Orange King Zinnia
Orange Procut Sunflower
Soraya Sunflower
I know; it looks like I’m overly ambitious, but I AM ‘retired’ and I start a lot of these seeds myself in my house and greenhouse. 14 raised beds - and counting!
Also am adding a Rose Bed and a dedicated Herb Bed.
Life Is Good! :)
7F. Yarg. Brrrr.
Still working on covering the blueberries. Taking a short bit of a break.
They grew a lot in the past year so we’re having to get another piece of sheeting for them.
I’m still trying to design our shed. Hubby wants a basement and root cellar under it. Shed is to get rid of Garage stuff so we can park cars in the garage.
It’ll be the size of a 2 car garage. He wants the inside designed so that if need be it can be made into a 1 bedroom guest house. And I want the window wall to face south. LOL
Yep. Gotta have some cow, horse, chicken, or rabbit poop to make the really good soil. LOL
I envy your youth and exuberance Mrs Di...
We have most of our seeds. I still need to order some taters. I ate too many of my Yukon gold-so I don’t have enough for planting.
I was reading about several varieties of winter lettuce. So I may order some for a winter garden. All I had outdoors this winter was garlic, wheat, and rye. So I’ve had to buy some lettuce this year from the store.
I have to order some row covers too. Hubby is tough on ours. Tends to leave them out after he’s used them. Wads them up into a muddy ball, etc etc .
I will plant 12 dozen (144) Sea Scape strawberries in most of that patch but I will need to have my grandson Weed Wack it for me as I can no longer do that. Then I will spade the residue into the soil with some processed steer manure and perhaps some pelletized lime...
Sounds like a great plan
Feels like I’m coming up behind you FASTER than I want to admit to, TB! There’s not enough time in one Lifetime for all the gardening I want to do, so I am working really hard to make sure I’m in charge of a, ‘little patch of cloud’ in the Afterlife, LOL!
Beau and I are close to 60; NOW is the time to get things down to a SCIENCE so we can keep going for another 20 years. He’s PROMISED me 35 ‘good’ years together if I helped him farm; I’m holding him to that! ;)
(FWIW, he still owes me 27 years...and a milk cow!)
That’s cold when you’re not used to it. Your Garlic Patch is always impressive! :)
Beautiful !
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