Posted on 04/25/2020 6:49:47 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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.
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We raise all our vegggies in raised beds. The beds are 18 inches tall with 4 X 4 posts on the inside corners.
We also use 1 inch plastic pipes bent gently into a hoop with old bed cloth snapped in place on cool nights.
100 percent success !
All we can do with the garden for the next few days is look at it, once we can go outside.
Hopefully my baby salad greens seed mix won't wash away. Seeds get barely covered with soil. I can broadcast more if need be. Only sowed maybe 10% of the seed pack.
Taters are all up.
New goats are all doing good. Mater seedlings are coming along albeit slowly.
Replace the oxidized plastic corners with angle iron.
You can probably go to a salvage yard and get some very cheaply, although you may have to cut the length to the size (depth of soil) that you want.
<< It was only a limited success. >>
Get a soil test from Agriculture College, or Cooperative Extension.You will benefit from the test
and will tell you what micro-minerals and amendments the soil needs for greater productivity.
Your garden sounds great! I’m just getting started up here; Zone 4/5 SW corner of Wisconsin. I have Sugar Magnolia peas and Sweet Peas (flowers) in the ground and growing and everything else is on HOLD until Mid-May, hanging out in the greenhouse.
I have my Salad Garden planted (lettuces, spinach, arugula and red onions) and it’s off to a good start, though I saw some digging in there (squirrels, most likely) but no damage to the plants.
Today I am re-potting things in the greenhouse that need it and I plan on weeding garden beds. My big Rose Bed Project will happen in another week or so - all of the bare-root roses have been delivered, so it’s a GO! :)
Found this interesting bug last week; he was dead when we found him, no one was murderized! It's a blue Tiger Beetle, and there are lots of varieties. They are HUGE predators and will kill and eat bugs many times their size. However, I don't think this guy won his last fight, LOL!
Tomatoes and peppers are coming along, as is the red and green Okra I'm growing for Beau's brother. Today I am re-potting some things that need it and doing some re-arranging in the greenhouse as it's time to make more room for more things.
The bare root roses patiently await planting in another week or so. MOm is coming out for a visit at the end of the week, so I hope to 'Tom Sawyer' her into helping me. ;)
And here is 'Lefty' just because she's so darn CUTE! She's the most recent Treeing Walker Coon Hound in training with us. She and our Beagle, Chief, have been hunting rabbits. Then we move up to raccoon and then we move up to brown bear. And then we win all the prizes and make Mama wealthy on raising her Champion Blood Line puppies. Well, that's how it's supposed to work - doesn't happen often, LOL!)
Good Morning from the Seattle area Diana.
Did I ever tell you how blessed we are to have you caretaking this thread each week....bringing us gardeners together?
Well...I just did.
I have been redoing my entire backyard garden.
Yesterday was cleanup day. As you know these big projects all have multiple smaller projects within the huge one.
Well I decided yesterday would be “finish small projects and cleanup day.
I got a bunch of little things done. Moved the herb Barden out if a wooden crate and into a newly excavated and laid out planting bed. That bed is partially beneath a for tree so we shall see how the herbs due in partial shade. I think they will do well enough. I don’t need massive quantities of herbs.
Planted Shiso seed (1st time) and will hope to enjoy it in a couple of months.
Moved and consolidated/organized all my lumber and PVC pipes into a spot out of the way.
Dug out a rotted decaying old railroad tie that has been at the fencline for 25 years....shoveled it up and the 3 inches of soil beneath it. I am going to plant an apple tree there next year so I want to leave the spot exposed to the elements to help nature remove any of the remaining Whatevers that leeched out of the railroad tie over the years.
Started some additional seeds in the greenhouse. Noticed my 1st San Marzano seed start poking through the potted soil....5 days to 1st sprout is pretty good.
Ran some small sticks through the electric wood chipper.
Put away many tools etc that were getting left laying around.
It is supposed to dump rain today starting in an hour so I have almost no plans other than gathering free garden tools I found on Next door.
May even pay attention to the wife for a bit.
Hello there! Want to trade some seeds after this growing season? I will have Cherokee purple heirlooms, an unknown heorloom variety I bought at a farmer’s market in Chelan Washington last year and harvested seeds from.....and this year ai am growing heirloom San Marzanos.
Would gladly trade some of these 2020 seeds for some black cherry and Krim varieties.
I have never grown in hour climate.
But I heard...actually saw a YouTube video where guy who was in a dry climate grew great tomatoes.
He dug down into his bed fairly deep...like 2.5 feet......poured water into it until it was practically a pond....then refilled it with the soil...then putting a mound of good garden soil over that.
Then he/she planted their tomatoes over it and never wateres it again for something like 60 days.....the tomatoes plants sent down roots super deep to access the water he put in the trench.
My memory could be a little off but the idea was it mimicked the way nature used the flash flood zones of the desert to grow plants.
They sprout up near areas that have water beneath the dried up surface soil.
If I can find the video online I will post a link.
my backyard came with, 25 years ago, a single “T” shaped metal clothes line.
Don’t know what happened to the other one so we have never used it (not to me tion it is under pine trees!?!?! Who thought up that brilliant idea.
Moved my herb garden to beneath it yesterday. Will probably spray paint the thing gree so it blends in.
I don’t know about raised beds in the desert, but I know that chia, moth beans, tepary beans, and prickly pears are all desert plants. They should do fairly well there.
Never tried it with garden soil in mind. But when I bury a too-dirty-to-wash egg, or an egg that was found already cracked, something digs them up by the next morning.
Ridiculous, isn’t it? A number are now back-pedaling on that, thank goodness!
I picked up a few things I needed at Walmart on Thursday. I plan on stopping in once a week as the season progresses just to be stocked up on stuff. I think we will see shortages in some areas as more people get on the Gardening Bandwagon!
Lots of rain here in Central Missouri overnight. It’s mostly past us now and beginning to clear.
Too muddy to work in the garden so I’m going to take Mrs. Augie to the woods to look for morels.
Thanks for all the suggestions, FRiends. One important lesson from last season is that I definitely need to rig up a reliable shadecloth over my raised bed(s). Meanwhile, the “patio garden box” is working like a charm. It’s one of those deals with a water reservoir in the bottom. I top it off each morning and the potting mix wicks it up as needed (and evidently a lot is needed). So far, so good. And it has casters so I can wheel it into the shade during the blistering afternoon. I’m having fun experimenting and learning, but bagged soil and amendments and such aren’t exactly cheap . . .
Lefty is a Cutie!
Thanks for the heads up on that!
Grrrrr...what state do you reside in??
Sitting in a Home Depot parking lot while my wife and her girlfriend are flower/herb/tree/etc. shopping.. Home Depot is so packed it looks like they are giving away free ice cream... No parking at all...
Sun just popped out. Going to shovel ashes from fireplace and put on raspberries and marionberries. I was lucky, had a kale plant overwinter and have used leaves in three meals. Also, tried for the first time, overwintered radish leaves (large and tender.)
I have some wild Siberian and Miners Lettuce I’m going to pick and use in a salad.
My plum and apple trees are in bloom...but, I sure don’t see any bees.
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