We have had a lot of rain here lately. My lupines must think they are growing in a swamp. The water has receded since I took this picture of them yesterday morning.
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02:01 PM
topcat Member
Posts: 5486 From: Charleston SC Registered: Dec 2001
This year I am trying something different. I have four tomatoe plants in two Topsy Turvey bags. Then instead of buying more bags, I made upside down planters out of some pots I had around the house and have two more tomatoes, and two banana peppers growing from them. They are doing REALLY well, with fruit starting to grow.
Then in a raised bed, I planted ten cucumber plants, and three tomatoes. I wanted compare the yield and size of the tomatoes in the raised bed against the topsey Turvey planters. So far the topsey turvey is doing much better than the raised bed.
I also planted two watermelons, and six cantalope next to my raised bed.
[This message has been edited by topcat (edited 04-24-2011).]
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04:33 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
Picked some yellow squash today, as well as some broccoli rosettes (too warm for the brocolli to do really well) but I need a way to quickly and easily add calcium to the watering cycle for both my squash and tomatoes. I have blossom rot appearing in too many of my squash, which means either a calcium uptake problem in the watering cycle or low calcium in the soil. A bit late to add gypsum, as I already have hundreds of almost mature squash, so I need to add the calcium while watering. Is there a good fast uptake liquid calcium supplement I can use in one of those sprayers you attach to your water hose?
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10:09 PM
Apr 25th, 2011
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
Guys, you're killin' me! May 2nd up here in Minnesota and there was a light dusting of snow swirling around this morning! We haven't even had nice enough weather for me to get the gardens cleaned and tilled yet.
Picked, blanched and put up (freezer) over 20 qts of yellow squash, and 8 quart bags of green beans (Contenders) this week.
It has rained once--that is 1 time, since my garden began coming up. Still cool here too--not cold, but the air and ground temps aren't at their optimum yet. I have lots of tomatos on the vine, but none have begun to ripen at all, and the poor okra still remain about 4" tall. Just not hot enough yet. Melons are blooming tho, and the cucumbers should begin making fruit next week if it warms back up. Will be in the 40s the next few nights tho. Corn is beginning to tassel, so it won't be too much longer either.
We had squash and collard greens tonight for supper. I planted WAAY too many collards. Been giving them away to anyone who wants them.
Looking for suggestions on what to plant when the beans get thru--probably in 2 weeks max. About a 70' row. Anything but corn, carrots or potatoes--got too many rows of corn already. Is it Too early for pumpkins? (I've never raised any)
On your compost pile. You see all that brsh behind your enclosure? Cut it with anything, and pile it to one side of your enclosure. Just pile it in a pile--nothing fancy (not in the compost enclosure) Next year, that, if you get any rain at all this year, will have rotted down to make a great base for your compost heap. Spring and summer you plant and pick, but over the winter season, since you're in Calif--is when you really make your garden. Everything you cut from your yard, raked leaves, discard from your kitchen, coffee grounds, egg shells, banana peels, potato peels, leftover veggies--everything goes on that heap. EARLY next spring, transfer the rotted down material into your compost enclosure and you won't have to buy any bags of anything. You'll have to turn it one in a while--I use a pitchfork, just to make sure the stuff on top gets down where the bugs and bacteria can work it. Maybe once every 3 weeks turn it.
I have a poor section in my garden that is all yellow clay. It is soil, but very poor soil. It doesn't want to absorb moisture, and it won't hold what little it does absorb, thus it can't transfer nutrients to the plants. I'll fix that this winter by working a crapload of raked leaves and pine needles into it. Our mild winters--and probably yours too, still allow for decomposition of composting material. You want to do it early enough tho, to make sure it composts well, The act of decomposition tends to remove nitrogen from the soil, so if you put "green" compost into your garden, you may end up a bit low on your N values. (the leaves on your plants will be yellowish instead of dark green)
I'll try to get a pic of my compost heaps and my "high tech secret weapon" against weeds and grass tomorrow.
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12:41 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
Guys, you're killin' me! May 2nd up here in Minnesota and there was a light dusting of snow swirling around this morning! We haven't even had nice enough weather for me to get the gardens cleaned and tilled yet.
Sorry, dude. It was 82 here today. Got a little cooked working in the sun.
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12:58 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
On your compost pile. You see all that brsh behind your enclosure? Cut it with anything, and pile it to one side of your enclosure. Just pile it in a pile--nothing fancy (not in the compost enclosure) Next year, that, if you get any rain at all this year, will have rotted down to make a great base for your compost heap. Spring and summer you plant and pick, but over the winter season, since you're in Calif--is when you really make your garden. Everything you cut from your yard, raked leaves, discard from your kitchen, coffee grounds, egg shells, banana peels, potato peels, leftover veggies--everything goes on that heap. EARLY next spring, transfer the rotted down material into your compost enclosure and you won't have to buy any bags of anything. You'll have to turn it one in a while--I use a pitchfork, just to make sure the stuff on top gets down where the bugs and bacteria can work it. Maybe once every 3 weeks turn it.
I have a poor section in my garden that is all yellow clay. It is soil, but very poor soil. It doesn't want to absorb moisture, and it won't hold what little it does absorb, thus it can't transfer nutrients to the plants. I'll fix that this winter by working a crapload of raked leaves and pine needles into it. Our mild winters--and probably yours too, still allow for decomposition of composting material. You want to do it early enough tho, to make sure it composts well, The act of decomposition tends to remove nitrogen from the soil, so if you put "green" compost into your garden, you may end up a bit low on your N values. (the leaves on your plants will be yellowish instead of dark green)
I'll try to get a pic of my compost heaps and my "high tech secret weapon" against weeds and grass tomorrow.
Thanks for the advice!
I read a few sites about building the pile enclosure (where I got the pallet idea) and what to put in it. My understanding was that the green stuff is the nitrogen, the dried stuff is carbon, and that you need a balance between them.
I know I'm getting a late start on the pile, so I'm using bags of manure and a liquid mix for the stuff we've planted already. I figure I'll get the compost going for next season, although there is quite a bit of stuff I can plant in fall and winter. I'm hoping to build a better raised-bed area close to the compost pile later on.
I have cucumbers getting ready. They are climbing the fence. One tomato plant has lots of green tomatos, the other has a few tomatos that are starting to get real big, but still green. The watermelons vines are spreading. Time to pick some more romain. The soaker hose is doing a great job at keeping the soil moist. There has been no rain here lately. It gets into the forcast and the rain goes north or south of me.
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07:46 AM
DeV8er Member
Posts: 747 From: Oak Ridge MO Registered: Oct 2004
I had to purchase a new garden tool this year, HIP WADERS! It rained and rained and rained (10 inches in five days). It has been cloudy, cold and rainy for weeks. There was frost on the Caravan this morning, but it does not appear to have harmed any plants.
If one was depending on growing food for survival, mother nature sure could fug things up quick. Last year was to be pickle year. I had 127 cucumber plants. After the hail storm I had 3.
So far this year I have planted 35 Tomatoes, 18 thorn-less Blackberries, 200 Strawberries and 3 Raspberries. I have Jalapeno Peppers, Pumpkin, Yellow Squash, Zucchini Squash, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, both vine and bush Okra, and another 40 tomato plants sprouted waiting to plant.
[This message has been edited by DeV8er (edited 05-03-2011).]
Tomato plants. If you start seeing leaves missing from the sub branches as in the pic below
start looking for these guys:
This morning's "harvest" They are well camoflaged, and hard to see and remove (usually bust and squish before they turn loose their perch--I use some little tongs)
How do I keep weeds and grass down as well as keeping the soil broken up? I could use my tractor and cultivator, but on a garden this small, I prefer:
Yes, you can still buy em at some hardware stores and most feed stores for under $100 and they will last your lifetime. I have a turning point and a cultivator attachment. The turning point, I use to turn soil up onto my corn and other plants when they get about 18" tall to prevent wind from blowing them over. A good time to side dress with fertilizer too. The cultivator tines (shown), are a great way to loosen the soil between and next to the plants and keep the grass and weeds down. No chemical weed killer for me this year. It takes about 5 minutes and a single bolt/nut to change attachments, and it's great excercise, even at my age.
My "poor soil" area that I will work on this winter.
I'll cover this whole area with leaves, pine needles, cow poop, and other organics at the end of my growing season, work it into the soil and let nature do it's work--maybe add a little ag lime to help break down the clay as well and nest year, it should produce as well as the rest of the garden.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 05-03-2011).]
I had to purchase a new garden tool this year, HIP WADERS! It rained and rained and rained (10 inches in five days). It has been cloudy, cold and rainy for weeks. There was frost on the Caravan this morning, but it does not appear to have harmed any plants.
If one was depending on growing food for survival, mother nature sure could fug things up quick. Last year was to be pickle year. I had 127 cucumber plants. After the hail storm I had 3.
So far this year I have planted 35 Tomatoes, 18 thorn-less Blackberries, 200 Strawberries and 3 Raspberries. I have Jalapeno Peppers, Pumpkin, Yellow Squash, Zucchini Squash, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, both vine and bush Okra, and another 40 tomato plants sprouted waiting to plant.
Tell me all ya know about growing pumpkins.
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12:41 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
I used to get those tomato horn worms. They got real big. I had some preying mantis' around and put the preying mantis in front of the worm.. The mantis grabbed the worm and started chomping down the worm which was bigger than the mantis. If you shake the tomato plant, those worms emit a rattle and I could find them easier.
They are well camoflaged
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02:21 PM
LAMBO Member
Posts: 1677 From: Lucas, Iowa, USA Registered: May 2000
That's a great looking garden Maryjane. You can tell you've got a lot of work in her.
The thermometer dropped to 28 degrees here in southern Iowa last night. I spent the better part of 2 hours last night covering everything we had outside at our greenhouse that couldn't be moved inside. I have a feeling we'll be having a huge run on Tomato and Pepper plants over the next couple of days.
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03:51 PM
Cheever3000 Member
Posts: 12398 From: The Man from Tallahassee Registered: Aug 2001
A local agency was giving away some kind of concentrated compost. They say to mix it 6 parts soil with one part of their compost. I got 4 garbage cans full. I figure that will help jump start my compost pile by mixing the stuff with dirt and plant matter, and can use it in our garden. I probably saved a hundred bucks or so and several months of composting.
Keep an eye out for local compost give aways. See if there is a company like this in your area:
Well I've spent a few days tis last week rebuilding my wife's garden plots, the first panoramic photo shows the 2-36 foot by 4 foot plots on the right and in the back of the yard. The back plot never grew anyting since it was too shaded no matter what we tried. So I decided to tear them apart and move the back plot towards the front plot and make smaller 6x6 raised beds in hopes of making it look better (the 12 foot boards in the old garden were bowing out horribly) and easier for my wife, while reclaiming some of my backyard.
2nd photo shows what I've got so far reusing the wood from the first gardens, I need to go get more wood to finish off the last 2 beds for a total of eight 6x6 plots to equal the same amount of square planting footage in the old 36x4 plots. Hope to have them done soon as she wants to plant in about 2 weeks.
Not sure what mulch to use in between the beds as my wife wants it barefoot compatible..the only thing I can think of that won't casue splinters and is fairly cheap is to line it with lime from the quarry, but we'll see what she says. Otherwise just basic cheap wood mulch would make me happy, and just throw on some flip flops or crocs. Any suggestions would be appreciated!!
Landscape fabric then the wood mulch--otherwise, the grass will just come right up thru the mulch before the end of the growing season. Can't really add much else--I don't do outdoors barefoot anymore.
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12:45 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
What about pressure treated wood? Or is it temperature extremes, not moisture?
It was pressure treated (the new supposedly safe stuff) that was bowing. They were 12 feet long so I cut them in half and used them to make the new beds. I think 12 feet long was just to long even though I attempted to put supports in the middle to try and prevent the bowing but they failed miserably. Being they are 6 feet long I'm hoping there is a lot less chance of bowing and if so it should be minor.
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01:47 PM
Old Lar Member
Posts: 13797 From: Palm Bay, Florida Registered: Nov 1999
I have lots of tomatos on the vine, but none are even close to being ripe. Some are as big as baseballs, but just as hard. The plants were transplanted into the garden mid march, some already 1 foot tall. Dunno why they are taking so long to ripen.
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11:07 PM
May 9th, 2011
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
I have lots of tomatos on the vine, but none are even close to being ripe. Some are as big as baseballs, but just as hard. The plants were transplanted into the garden mid march, some already 1 foot tall. Dunno why they are taking so long to ripen.
Cooler winter than usual? Less rain?
[This message has been edited by fierobear (edited 05-09-2011).]
Perhaps, but we had a colder wetter winter--just a dry spring season, but I have a good well, and a pond from whch I have pumped water, so water isn't the problem. These late cool fronts that keep coming down, dropping the temps into the 50s for a night or 2 may be the culprit tho, and this is also my 1st year to grow only heirloom varieties, instead of the traditional hybrid tomatos. I've picked a couple to see if they will "window sill ripen" so I'll see how that works out. Maybe I'm just impatient.
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06:54 AM
PFF
System Bot
May 14th, 2011
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
This thread and a little urging from my wife inspired me to return to my roots and start a little garden myself. The wife has been pot gardening for years but wanted a "real" garden. We didn't/don't have any gardening tools but, I used what I had and hand dug her a garden plot with a shovel, then tilled it with a hoe. Worked my butt off. She then went and purchased her plantings, some miracal grow and stands. All she brought home was tomatoe plants. I don't even like tomatoes.
Well, I've planted the damn things, now I guess we'll be supplying the neighborhood with frigg'n maters. Not exactly what I had in mind.
------------------ Ron
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 05-14-2011).]
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07:12 AM
fierobear Member
Posts: 27075 From: Safe in the Carolinas Registered: Aug 2000
This thread and a little urging from my wife inspired me to return to my roots and start a little garden myself. The wife has been pot gardening for years but wanted a "real" garden. We didn't/don't have any gardening tools but, I used what I had and hand dug her a garden plot with a shovel, then tilled it with a hoe. Worked my butt off. She then went and purchased her plantings, some miracal grow and stands. All she brought home was tomatoe plants. I don't even like tomatoes.
Well, I've planted the damn things, now I guess we'll be supplying the neighborhood with frigg'n maters. Not exactly what I had in mind.
Plant something you like. I'm planting a crapload of carrots, and I plan to start a corn field when I get a good deal on a rototiller, maybe even a garden tractor (the soil here is as hard as a rock before it's turned).
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01:06 PM
blackrams Member
Posts: 31841 From: Hattiesburg, MS, USA Registered: Feb 2003
Plant something you like. I'm planting a crapload of carrots, and I plan to start a corn field when I get a good deal on a rototiller, maybe even a garden tractor (the soil here is as hard as a rock before it's turned).
Yeah, I'll probably do just that and then sit back waiting on the harvest. That'll show her. Think I go to the nursery and get some pecan seedlings. Yeah! That'll do it.
Well, this year's corn is finished, and I froze a crap load of it--about 160-180 ears, and gave away about the same amount.
One freezer of corn and another full of squash and green beans. We also lost approx 100 ears of sweet corn because of a week long trip we had to take just as the corn got ready, (it had already begun to dry out and the crows had worked it over pretty good by the time we returned) but it didn't really go to waste. Hey--where'd it go??
There it is.
Corn today--beef tomorrow. Nothing goes to waste when you have livestock, but it was a pain pulling all those corn stalks and throwing them over that 6' chainlink fence..
Tonight, we canned (jars) 12 pints of tomatoes using the water bath method.
Will can more tomatos this weekend. Nothing left but cucumbers and tomatos now--and watermelons. Hopefully, we will be able to make pickles next week.
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I don't even like tomatoes. 
Think I go to the nursery and get some pecan seedlings. Yeah! That'll do it. 
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