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Title: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on April 17, 2010, 06:55:23 AM
I planted our garden yesterday.  This year we've got leeks (wife mistakenly bought them instead of onions), spinach (another wife thing - I hate the stuff  :teddyr: ), carrots, bush beans and pole beans, peas, two kinds of lettuce, two kinds of peppers, and various herbs.  The chives from last year were coming up all over the garden.  I sort of dug them up because we've got some in a small planter and that should be more than enough for our needs.  Haven't bought any tomatoes yet, we'll wait a while for those.  Now it's just time to water everything and wait for my little green buds to start bursting from the ground  :teddyr:  This year I'm going to put up a couple of posts with chicken wire between them for the peas to climb on - every year I give them tomato cages to climb on, every year they get way too tall, every year they tip over into a huge mass of leaves and peas. 

How 'bout you guys and gals?


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on April 17, 2010, 08:05:31 AM
Is it that time again?   :bouncegiggle:  Nothing in the ground yet, the land won't be ready until mid May.  That is hoping the land dries in time thanks to all the flooding.  Luckily this year I'm working with an apprentice and we've opted to share it 50/50.  The guy is going to be the godfather of our child and always wanted to do a garden.  I figure since I'll be busy with kids, his help will be more than appreciated.  Plans are the usual, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and beans.   I will have to do a hot pepper crop this year for drying.  Habeneros or Scotch Bonnets. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on April 17, 2010, 10:27:44 AM
We planted a pair of pear trees and a pair of plum trees this spring, along with 4 blueberry bushes and a strawberry patch.  I've been growing a bunch of tomatoes and pepper plants from seed - they are ready to go into the garden.  It's a little early to plant them though, because we usually get some frost during April and early May.

We also have a spot of cilantro that came out big time in the herb garden.  That's been getting added to some of our meals.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Vik on April 17, 2010, 10:37:05 AM
I just mowed my lawns  :drink:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: claws on April 17, 2010, 11:19:46 AM
We have one plumb and one cherry tree, raspberries, gooseberries and chives. All we have to do is reap  :smile:
We don't actually have a garden, it's mostly lawn, around our house. The berries and chives grow at our fence.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on April 17, 2010, 11:24:32 PM
I put in strawberies, tomatoes, kohlrabi, peas, carrots, parsnips, squash, andzuchini.  Later will be corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, and bell peppers.  We went really big this year
-Ed


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Paquita on April 18, 2010, 10:00:37 PM
This year I went to the Home Depot and spent about $75 on gardening stuff.  I started all these seeds in one of those Jiffy seed starting thingys and they were all doing really well.. and then my uncle announced that he will be tearing apart and rebuilding our porch this spring :bluesad:.   I have a pumpkin growing nicely in a Dixie cup.. how long do you think that will last?  I'm just going to start planting stuff in my neighbors lawns when they're not looking.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on April 19, 2010, 03:56:27 PM
You will need a bigger Dixie cup.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on April 19, 2010, 07:54:19 PM
You will need a bigger Dixie cup.
Yep, pumpkin vines stretch for yards once they get going.  Had a "suprise" crop last year.  I had thrown an old pumpkin out back and well, the seeds ran that spring. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Silverlady on April 19, 2010, 09:01:48 PM


I don't do vegetables ... but I do flowers.  This year was the first time I  did some winter sowing. Started my seeds at the end of January and just plopped the containers outside to deal with the elements. The winter sown stuff had done great so far. Right now I have sprouted containers of snapdragons, coneflowers, california poppies, oriental poppies, bachelor buttons, and baby's breath on a table on my deck.  They are in various types of containers ... chinese takeout, plastic cake containers, containers that roasted chickens come in, gallon milk jugs, whatever I had salvaged. I'm starting to get them into the ground.

 I also did a small amount of seed containers inside, too. They have been under 2 grow lights in my kitchen since mid February. Growing are snapdragons, dianthus, and some coneflowers. I have been putting these outside now for 5-6 hours a day to start hardening them off. Have to do this about 2 weeks or so. This is a pain in the ass! I have to put them in the shade, move them into the sun, and have to bring them back into the house at night if the temp is supposed to dip below freezing. Eventually they are supposed to stay out all day and all night.  Winter sowing is [i]so much easier[/i]!


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 01, 2010, 07:34:39 PM
I worked a small patch of land in the back yard and chucked a chopped up spaghetti squash.  I'm sure it will do well although I'm predicting them to run under the clothesline.  I'm sure my wife will step on them. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on May 01, 2010, 08:20:37 PM
Our lettuce, spinach and peas are poking their heads above ground.  Also planted some tomatoes today.  Picked some rhubarb a while back and made rhubarb crisp - mmmmm.  Those stupid chives from last year, the ones I dug up and buried, are coming up all over the place  :bouncegiggle:  They cannot be killed!


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Newt on May 03, 2010, 07:28:25 AM
It has been an unusually mild spring here, but I don't trust it so we will be planting in a couple of weeks. Right now we are getting the plot prepared for tilling by applying a good layer of manure.

Meanwhile, the pear, cherry and apple buds are swelling, we have been harvesting asparagus for two weeks and the strawberries are already setting fruit!


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Silverlady on May 03, 2010, 07:55:25 AM


I had direct sowed poppy seeds a few weeks ago and tiny seedlings are "popping" up all over!   :teddyr:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on May 03, 2010, 12:47:42 PM
We put our garden in yesterday.  Now I'm going to hope we don't get a really late frost like last year.  Took a bad toll on our tomatoes and peppers.

Peppers:  red bell, blushing beauty
Tomatoes:  lemon boy, sweet cluster, sugar snack, sweet gold
Zuchinni
Yellow Squash
Pole Beans
Cucumbers
Beets
Carrots
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce

Sunflowers (for Jenna).

The kids love planting the garden, especially putting the eggs into the holes for the tomatoes and breaking them.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Sleepyskull on May 03, 2010, 04:03:40 PM
We put our garden in yesterday.  Now I'm going to hope we don't get a really late frost like last year.  Took a bad toll on our tomatoes and peppers.

Peppers:  red bell, blushing beauty
Tomatoes:  lemon boy, sweet cluster, sugar snack, sweet gold
Zuchinni
Yellow Squash
Pole Beans
Cucumbers
Beets
Carrots
Spinach
Romaine Lettuce

Sunflowers (for Jenna).

The kids love planting the garden, especially putting the eggs into the holes for the tomatoes and breaking them.

Do you mean those ceramic eggs with soil and seeds inside them or real eggs?


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on May 04, 2010, 05:49:52 AM
Do you mean those ceramic eggs with soil and seeds inside them or real eggs?

Real eggs.  I started doing this years ago after having a problem with blossom end rot.  The main reason for blossom end rot is a calcium deficiency, so having eggshell right under the tomato plant helps avoid that.  Supposedly the rotting contents also benefit the plant.  I haven't had a problem with blossom end rot since I started doing this, and the kids love putting eggs into the holes and breaking them with the trowel.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 04, 2010, 11:32:10 AM
I'm thinking of going with a few rows of onions this year.  My grandfather inlaw got ahold of a few flats one year which we plopped in the garden.  We had several onions literally the size of softballs. 

By the way, as things progress we should all post pics in this thread.   :thumbup:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Silverlady on May 04, 2010, 01:06:49 PM
The bugs and me don't get along.  :bluesad:

 One thing I often forget to do every Spring and Summer is to spray myself with insect repellent when I'm going out to play in the dirt going to the beach, to the park, fishing, whatever.

  I was out yesterday afternoon doing a little planting in flower pots in my yard and something bit me on my right ear. It itched a little, but nothing else.  This morning my ear was real itchy and puffy.  Hubby looked at it and said he could see a few tiny bites on the outside ridge. I look like I have a DUMBO ear. Last summer I got a bite on my lower leg and it got infected, swelled up and I could hardly walk. I had gone to the doctor (said it was probably a spider bite) and he had prescribed antibiotics which did clear it up.  I still have some of the pills left (good til Aug 2010), so I started taking them.

Anybody else allergic to insect bites?


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Rev. Powell on May 04, 2010, 03:34:44 PM


I had direct sowed poppy seeds a few weeks ago and tiny seedlings are "popping" up all over!   :teddyr:


Careful... that may be illegal. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/edible/msg021133426494.html


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Silverlady on May 04, 2010, 05:15:12 PM


I had direct sowed poppy seeds a few weeks ago and tiny seedlings are "popping" up all over!   :teddyr:


Careful... that may be illegal. [url]http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/edible/msg021133426494.html[/url]


They are plain old annual poppies called "shirley poppies".  I read the GARDENWEB forum all the time ... learn a lot there.  It's a great site.  :smile:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: The Gravekeeper on May 05, 2010, 12:03:35 PM
I was gonna put my herbs outside the other day, but the weather really isn't co-operating. It's been windstorms and freakin' snow for the past little while (although the snow's just been melting as soon as it hits the ground). Still, this is a pretty arid area (complete with cacti!), so any precipitation helps. I just wish it was rain rather than snow since having tiny snowflakes blown at you at 90 km/h stings.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 15, 2010, 06:15:41 PM
I planted some radishes today.  They'll probably be ready for picking by mid June.  I'm hoping to get the big garden in by at least  Memorial Day weekend.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on May 15, 2010, 07:51:10 PM
I planted 6 jalapeņo peppers and a Cayenne pepper plant today.  The spinach, lettuce and peas are all coming along nicely.  Beans are doing so-so.  Just planted the tomatoes last week;  those things don't seem to do anything for several weeks and then all of a sudden they start growing a couple inches a day.  It got below freezing a few days ago, but it doesn't look like anything was killed  :smile:  A dog or something dug a hole in my garden too. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: The Gravekeeper on May 16, 2010, 12:11:35 AM
I just got my key for the community garden on campus. This should be fun since I'll get to play around in a proper garden but I'll still be able to take for a few days whenever I want without having to call someone up to look after my garden while I'm gone (and if I only go for a few days at a time I don't have to worry about my geckos, either).

As for my own private stuff, my chives died in the indoor planter I got but the strawberry seeds I planted in their place have already sprouted.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 26, 2010, 08:00:24 PM
Putting the garden in this weekend.  So far heres the confirmed plants;
12 Broccoli Plants
6 Purple Peppers
6 Hotrod Cherry Peppers
6 Sunbell Peppers
6 Yellow Pear Tomatoes
12 Celebrity Tomatoes
6 Better Boy Tomatoes
(yep...I'll be eating, breathing and sh!tting tomatoes)
Green Beans (from seed)
Radishes (from seed)

Heres what I hope to pick up tomorrow;
4 Yellow Squash
6 Habeneros
6 Cayenne

I need to follow up again on the onion issue.  The weather was 90 degrees today.  If that stays the norm this may be my biggest crop yet.  Once things get going I'll post some pics.  


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Raffine on May 26, 2010, 08:50:47 PM
Quote
yep...I'll be eating, breathing and sh!tting tomatoes

Forget the tomatoes - with all those peppers your gonna be going burning out four pairs of underpants a day!


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: CheezeFlixz on May 27, 2010, 02:38:21 AM
Some of you folks must be in some cold climates...

My corn (Peaches & Cream and Bodacious) is nearly waist high, I've harvested broccoli yesterday, I have peppers (15 different kinds) coming on strong some about the size of golf ball already and the pole beans (McCasslin's a stringless KY Wonder) are to the top of the trellis. I've been harvesting various greens, beets and strawberries for a month or longer and the tomatoes (Roma's and Juliette's mainly) are blooming and already about 3 feet tall they will get to be much, much taller. The peas (Early Spring) are blooming had to replant them due to the flooding, the bush beans (Dragon's Tongue) are getting close to blooming and the squash already has started blooming with a few small summers and zucs on them I'll be planting Fall and Winter squash before long as some of those are 120-150 days to harvest - there is a lot more I have a pretty big garden heavily loaded with farm manure and compost.

I already have giant sunflowers some freak of nature one I found that are already about 6 feet tall last year we had some hit nearly 18 feet  - I swear I think you could watch them grow. Next to those I have these other freaky ones that get huge heads but only grow to about 3 feet. I have hundreds of sunflowers and dozens of types.

Additionally to that I have Gourds (12 kinds), Pumpkins, Watermelon, Spaghetti Squash, Hubbard Squash, Cantaloupe,  Sugar melons, honeydews, etc etc

@Andrew on your tomatoes eggshells work great I till in 1000's of them as we have lots of chicken hatcheries here  easy to get shells and another thing I add is Epson Salt to maters about a small hand-full (1/2 C +/-) in every hole. Helps make them sweeter and juicer.

And compared to my neighbor I have a tiny garden he plants about 20 acres in garden a lot of it you can't buy seeds for so I trade seeds with him - but he's retired and has that kind of time - I don't.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on May 27, 2010, 05:56:21 AM
We had 2 frosts and a couple of cold days since the garden was planted.  That caused some problems.  The worst was that something, I suspect a robin, when through the tomatoes and peppers and nipped them off just above the ground.  At first I thought it was the high winds (we had some 55mph gust days) doing it, until I started finding them on calm days.  My father-in-law has seen the same thing in his garden with robins.

Curse you, bird!  It's not a worm, it's a plant!

I was replacing them with new baby plants from my tray, but the cat managed to get into that and we suffered 100% losses there.  So, I've had to buy plants from the nursery to replace almost all of the tomato and pepper plants I grew from seed.  Next year I've got a plan to start them earlier under growing lights, which should result in bigger plants that are not robin food size when it comes time to transplant them outside.

Had a lot of skips on the pole beans and not one cucumber came up.  I replanted from new packs of seeds and we'll see what happens in a week.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on May 27, 2010, 06:31:45 AM
We had a frost a while back too, I don't think the tomatoes liked it much.  They're growing okay and a couple even have some tomatoes on them, even though they're just a foot tall, but the leaves have a yellowish look to them.  Lettuce, peas and spinach are doing fantastic.  My wife's already picking the lettuce and spinach.  Pole beans are doing pretty good, but just like last year, only about 1/10th of my bush beans came up.  I suppose I can try planting some more.  I'm sure the pole beans will provide more than we actually want, so I'm not too concerned.  My Jalapenos are looking kind of yellow too, even though I planted them after that night that it got below freezing.  I don't know what their problem is - too much water?  Too little water?  I want my Jalapeno poppers dammit!   :teddyr:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 27, 2010, 11:27:19 AM
Quote
Some of you folks must be in some cold climates...
Yes sir, RI where unfortunately just recently warmed up from 50 degrees to 80 plus overnight.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on May 27, 2010, 04:32:17 PM
We had a frost a while back too, I don't think the tomatoes liked it much.  They're growing okay and a couple even have some tomatoes on them, even though they're just a foot tall, but the leaves have a yellowish look to them.  Lettuce, peas and spinach are doing fantastic.  My wife's already picking the lettuce and spinach.  Pole beans are doing pretty good, but just like last year, only about 1/10th of my bush beans came up.  I suppose I can try planting some more.  I'm sure the pole beans will provide more than we actually want, so I'm not too concerned.  My Jalapenos are looking kind of yellow too, even though I planted them after that night that it got below freezing.  I don't know what their problem is - too much water?  Too little water?  I want my Jalapeno poppers dammit!   :teddyr:

I don't let my tomatoes go to fruit until the plants get nice and strong.  Pinching off the flower bundles takes care of that.  As for lettuce and spinach, they tend to do fine in colder weather.  I've seen romaine growing just fine around here in December.

If you are seeing yellow leaves it could be a sign of too much water.  That's why I planted everything in mounds this year.  All the rain we had last year was too much and the plants were having problems.  If you have yellow leaves and are watering try not watering so much.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on May 27, 2010, 06:07:39 PM
I don't let my tomatoes go to fruit until the plants get nice and strong.  Pinching off the flower bundles takes care of that.  As for lettuce and spinach, they tend to do fine in colder weather.  I've seen romaine growing just fine around here in December.

If you are seeing yellow leaves it could be a sign of too much water.  That's why I planted everything in mounds this year.  All the rain we had last year was too much and the plants were having problems.  If you have yellow leaves and are watering try not watering so much.

Thanks Andrew, I'll try not watering them so much.  I say after just watering them today  :teddyr:  But I'll cut back in the future.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 27, 2010, 06:56:43 PM
Andrew is right Jack.  Last year all my pepper plant's leaves went yellow and that was do to overwatering due to rain.  Put away the hose Jack...put away the hose.   :bouncegiggle:

Stopped by to see my choices in land plots.  I need to get my @ss there early Saturday to get the one I want.  My grandfather in law plows enough land for three people.  Its usually me and his cousin that end up sharing space.  I want to make sure I have enough. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: CheezeFlixz on May 27, 2010, 07:51:40 PM
  The worst was that something, I suspect a robin, when through the tomatoes and peppers and nipped them off just above the ground. 
Curse you, bird!  It's not a worm, it's a plant!


Actually it is a worm - a cutworm they do that to young plants. Strange they rarely do it to weeds though.


http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/m1225.html (http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/m1225.html)


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on May 28, 2010, 07:04:17 AM
Andrew is right Jack.  Last year all my pepper plant's leaves went yellow and that was do to overwatering due to rain.  Put away the hose Jack...put away the hose.   :bouncegiggle:

I'll try, but I see all that dry, parched ground around my little plants and I just can't resist  :teddyr:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 28, 2010, 07:32:27 AM
Andrew is right Jack.  Last year all my pepper plant's leaves went yellow and that was do to overwatering due to rain.  Put away the hose Jack...put away the hose.   :bouncegiggle:

I'll try, but I see all that dry, parched ground around my little plants and I just can't resist  :teddyr:
Just remember Jack, they're like kids.  You have to let them take care of themselves eventually.   They'll let you know when they need you.  


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on May 28, 2010, 10:43:20 PM
Had the first crop today....Baby lettuce and radishes!  enough for lunch anyway.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on May 31, 2010, 02:44:59 PM
Ok, garden is officially in but I can't say I'm thrilled about the tomato plants my counterpart's girlfriend picked up.  They're a bit too thin but I'll give them a trial for a few weeks.  If no improvement I'm 86'ing them for some new stronger choices. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 09, 2010, 08:10:13 AM
Ok final count...and I may mean it this time...

30 Pepper plants
24 Tomatoes
6 Eggplants
10 Broccoli
1 row of green/yellow beans
8 cukes
4 yellow squash

Pics to follow when it takes off.   Things are rather dormant now, waiting for a nice heat blast though it has been around upper 70s around here.  I'm out of my god*mned mind for planting so much.  I spent an hour hoeing yesterday and it looks much better now. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on June 09, 2010, 12:39:37 PM
I think you've got enough stuff there for the whole eastern seaboard Darksider  :teddyr:

I haven't been over-watering anything, you'll all be happy to know.  It's, um...been raining just about every day.    The spinach is already getting little seed pods on the top of it.  I told my wife to cut them off, but since she's the only one who eats the stuff, I guess I don't care if she does or not.  The peas and tomatoes are looking great, pole beans have got their feelers about 3' in the air, and my jalapeņo and cayenne peppers are looking much better.  Carrots barely came up at all this year for some reason.  They did great last year.  Oh well, I think I ate enough carrots last year to last me into the next decade.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Paquita on June 09, 2010, 01:37:16 PM
What's this crazy rule about only planting in spring?  Is that just for seeds and veggies?  Can I still plant stuff from containers?  And does anyone know where I can find some kind of dictionary for planting terms?  I keep reading all these terms like "firm lightly" or "harden off" and I'm just assuming I know what they mean, but I don't.. and I fear the results I would get if I look them up online.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Sleepyskull on June 09, 2010, 02:13:42 PM
What's this crazy rule about only planting in spring?  Is that just for seeds and veggies?  Can I still plant stuff from containers?  And does anyone know where I can find some kind of dictionary for planting terms?  I keep reading all these terms like "firm lightly" or "harden off" and I'm just assuming I know what they mean, but I don't.. and I fear the results I would get if I look them up online.

I took 4 years of various horticulture classes in High School, so I can help a little bit.

Hardening off is gradually exposing your plants to the outdoors so when it's time to put them in the ground outside they can handle the climate.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: The Gravekeeper on June 09, 2010, 07:09:02 PM
We just got most of our community garden planted (our first planting day was cut short thanks to a sudden thunderstorm) and I've gotta say...we're going to have a ton of peas. Which is fine by me; peas are one of the few veggies I'll happily snack on if they're fresh off the plant.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 09, 2010, 08:22:43 PM
Paquita...(actually anyone interested in gardening) if you can, pick up this book...
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Vegetables-Fruits-Herbs/dp/089721501X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276132874&sr=8-6

For me its a bit of a bible and its well written.  Hardly any unknown terms and its very informative. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 13, 2010, 05:54:06 PM
Added radishes and carrots over the weekend along with 4 more cuke plants that were given to me.   :lookingup:  I'm actually quite happy with things but with a new young lady joining the family soon, I'll be stressed for time.    Luckily my counterpart is pulling his weight and is eager to learn so far.  Things are taking nicely in the garden so far.  The weather has been in the upper 70s the past few weeks so a lot of stuff is kind of hanging out but not moving quick. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Raffine on June 13, 2010, 06:40:14 PM
Not exactly a result of any gardening on our part, but there is a huge fig tree in the backyard of the house we're renting. Last fall it was almost completely covered in honeysuckle and struggling - but we cleared it off over the winter. It is now very happy  and bustin' with tasty figs. I'd never tasted fresh figs and boy, are they dreamy.

We've bought a house (closed on Friday - yea!) so we are about to lose access to the figs. Hopefully this place will stay empty and we'll be able to get to 'em for the summer.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Silverlady on June 13, 2010, 07:21:28 PM
Some fllowers that I had winter sowed this past winter have started to bloom, but with mixed results.  The bachelor buttons are pretty colors (shades of blue, purple, white and dark pink), but they are kind of leggy and very tall (24 inches and more).  Really too tall for the flower pots I put them in.  They would have looked better planted in the ground between the daylillies, astilbe, yarrow, asiatic lillies, and black eyed susans that are already in my front flower bed. I'm thinking maybe I'll cut them back, and once we get into the height of summer, hopefully they will be bushier and will have filled out more.

I had also started shasta daisies from seed in the house during the winter. The seed packet stated they would bloom this year.  I planted them out late March, early April when they were about 3-4 inches tall.  They are doing fine, but I don't know if they will bloom this summer. Shastas are perennials, and after doing some reading up on them, most sources say that perennials grown from seed won't bloom til their second year.   :bluesad:

The poppies which I had scattered out in early spring did come up, but now are in complete shade since the trees have leafed out.  I don't expect much if anything from them since they love heat and sun.

On the more positive side I do have baby's breath ( also winter sown and first time grown from seed) flowering in pots and they are very pretty. Very light and airy!   Also have winter sown alyssum, zinnias, cosmos, and snapdragons in pots that are thriving.  They should all be blooming in about a month.    :teddyr:



Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 22, 2010, 07:34:22 PM
Things are progressing nicely thanks to the 80 plus temps around there.  Arrived to day to find a cucumber beetle infestation.  I hate these little b@stards.  Since my garden is on a farm, luckily I have powerful allies who will help me bring about their doom.  I have to remember to bring the camera this weekend. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on June 23, 2010, 06:58:03 AM
Our lettuce and spinach already grew so large it wasn't tasting too good any more, so I ripped it out and planted new stuff.  The lettuce was already up after only 2 days.  I could probably pick some peas, they're doing really well.  I put up a chicken wire fence and planted two rows of peas on either side, and that seems to be working great - for the first time ever they're not tipping over and breaking their stems in half.  Already got some tiny cayenne peppers about 1/4" long.  The jalapeņos are looking pretty good, no flowers yet but the plants are growing well.  Not much I can do as far as over or under watering them - I haven't watered anything in a month since it's been raining about 9 days out of 10.  The pole beans are sending their feelers way up in the air, I really need to give them something taller to climb on.  Tomatoes are also doing well, the Roma plant is already showing us how weird it's tomatoes will look.  It was 95 here yesterday, so anything that likes hot weather and tons of rain should be in absolute heaven.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 26, 2010, 01:54:19 PM
Its coming along...I'll post more when it becomes a jungle...
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/garden20102.jpg)
Tomatoes and Peppers (the beans over to the right aren't mine)
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/garden20101.jpg)
Cukes, Brocs and Squash
I should be picking squash by next week.  We've had a nice stretch of upper 80s weather which has made the plants really happy.  Broccoli oddly is producing nice heads in the heat.  


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Newt on June 26, 2010, 05:57:06 PM
Harvested sweet cherries this week. The yellows are not quite ready yet.  I'm thinking I may have to make some ice cream to use up some of them.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 26, 2010, 06:33:33 PM
Harvested sweet cherries this week. The yellows are not quite ready yet.  I'm thinking I may have to make some ice cream to use up some of them.
Nice.  I actually keep forgetting to mention I have blueberry bushes right outside my door.  We've had a few ripen over the past week but most are still green. 

Side note, not sure if I mentioned this I have potatoes growing in the backyard by mistake.  I threw a few old potatoes in the back to compost and they suplied me with a surprise crop.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on June 27, 2010, 09:06:15 AM
That's a nice looking plot you have going there, Darksider.  With all this hot weather we have already been picking 1 or 2 zucchini a day, and the first yellow squash should be ready right now.  Also been cutting romaine lettuce and spinach, 

We have quite a few tomatoes (cherry, grape, lemon boy, and a small kind called tomatoberry) going.  The beans and cucumbers are finally starting to climb.  The beets are starting to fill out.

In the other areas around the yard, Andy's brand new blueberry bushes have yielded a handful to him.  I'm explaining to him that it will be 2-3 years before we have a lot of blueberries coming from them.  Garrett's new strawberry plants are starting to send out runners; I'm hoping that little bed (an 8' by 4' plot I made with landscaping timber by the house) will be filled in by next year.

Katie's two rosebushes are in full bloom right now, and one of them has more than a dozen roses on it.  Even the new one has 4.  Each year since we purchased the house I have given Katie a rosebush for our anniversary.



Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 29, 2010, 07:36:29 AM
Hey is anyone up for a challenge?   I know some of us have been picking already but how about we keep count of what we take out to see how produces the most from this point forward.   I think it would be fun to see how much food we're all capable of producing.  Who's up for it? :drink:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on June 30, 2010, 06:59:20 AM
Hey is anyone up for a challenge?   I know some of us have been picking already but how about we keep count of what we take out to see how produces the most from this point forward.   I think it would be fun to see how much food we're all capable of producing.  Who's up for it? :drink:

Considering the size of your garden, I don't think that's fair to the rest of us.  I'd have to plant most of my yard to compete.  Well, unless a swarm of genetically-engineered locusts attacks your farm.

I did pick a lot of zucchini and yellow squash yesterday.  4 nice zucchini and 2 nice squash.  It's getting to be the time of year when we eat squash or zucchini daily, just to keep up with the production.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on June 30, 2010, 08:00:52 AM
Hey is anyone up for a challenge?   I know some of us have been picking already but how about we keep count of what we take out to see how produces the most from this point forward.   I think it would be fun to see how much food we're all capable of producing.  Who's up for it? :drink:

Considering the size of your garden, I don't think that's fair to the rest of us.  I'd have to plant most of my yard to compete.  Well, unless a swarm of genetically-engineered locusts attacks your farm.

I did pick a lot of zucchini and yellow squash yesterday.  4 nice zucchini and 2 nice squash.  It's getting to be the time of year when we eat squash or zucchini daily, just to keep up with the production.
Maybe we can work in a handicap.   :bouncegiggle:  Actually more or less instead of competition I'd be interested to see what we all produce.   I'm still at nill btw.  Radishes and squash by the weekend. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on June 30, 2010, 12:45:11 PM
Oh sure, my whole garden takes up about as much space as 6 of your tomato plants!   :teddyr:

So far we've got a lot of lettuce and spinach.  The plants got large enough that they weren't tasting too good any more, so I ripped them all out and planted new stuff.  Picked some peas last night, just a couple cupfuls.  Still plenty left.  They were yummy.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Newt on June 30, 2010, 04:46:44 PM
This week so far: red currants, raspberries and the first few gooseberries.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on July 01, 2010, 09:05:54 AM
I think we've had about 9 zucchini and 4 yellow squash so far, along with a  lot of romaine and spinach.  By a lot of romaine I mean salads daily, and we've given away about the same amount.  Andy's new blueberry bushes actually produced a handful this year, which he gladly ate.

When our tomatoes come in it's going to be a huge crop.  Mostly growing smaller ones, like cherry and grape tomatoes, and the plants are full.  Peppers are looking OK.  The cucumbers are coming along nicely and climbing.  The beans...I wish that the beans looked better.  Have to see how they do.  The carrots are looking good, but won't be ready for at least a month.  I'm thinking we will pick about half the beets in a week.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on July 02, 2010, 06:20:48 PM
Picked 3 tomatoes today  :teddyr:

There must be something in my garden that doesn't like marigolds.  We plant a few around the corners because they're supposed to keep critters away or something.  The first 4 died - dried up completely.  So they had a sale on them at Walmart yesterday and the wife bought another dozen.  Twenty-four hours after planting them in the garden they're all dried up and dead looking already. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on July 02, 2010, 07:03:29 PM
Picked about 4 decent sized heads of broccoli today.  I thought they were a cold weather crop.  :question:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on July 09, 2010, 06:25:57 AM
Picked all our peas a couple days ago.  Yummy!  Now the plants have pretty much died already.  I'll have to rip them out this weekend.  Beans are coming along nicely - bush beans will probably be ready to start picking in a few days.  Pole beans are just sending out their vines in every direction, no beans on them yet.  Really need to get up there and do some weeding this weekend too. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on July 09, 2010, 09:36:25 AM
Weeded this hell out of the garden this morning (I'm going for surgery after lunch today, now thats dedication  :teddyr:)  over the past week the squash have started popping.  We've picked about two dozen so far.  We actually harvested our first couple cukes today although they were a bit undersized.   We snagged a nice head of broccoli, at least 5 inches across. 

The tomato plants are doing phenomenal and I'm glad I've opted not staking them, well at least for now. They seem to be growing across instead of up which is what I was hoping for.  We have several baby tomatoes on the vine and I'm sure we'll have hundreds more by summer's end.  I honestly couldn't have asked for a better growing season.

I've also been picking blueberries off the bushes in front of my house and invading my mother in law's raspberry patch. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: ChaosTheory on July 09, 2010, 07:11:38 PM
I'm so envious of you guys!  I live in an apartment so everything I've got is in pots on my deck; and we had a surprisingly cold, wet spring so I had to plant late, and very little of it came up at all.  I've got - still alive -  lettuce and spinach (which is doing pretty well, actually) a couple green beans, chamomile, strawberries, two dahlias, marigolds, and oatgrass (for the cat).  If and when I get a house and my own land I'm gonna go crazy  :teddyr:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on July 18, 2010, 06:10:47 PM
Well my stuff is officially going insane.  We picked about a dozen squash and cukes over the weekend.  The tomatoes are now a jungle and pretty much every flower has produced fruit.  The plants, although unstaked are at least 3 feet tall.  The peppers have yet to give off anything but are extremely robust.  We had some potato beetles on the eggplant but a little platinum took care of that. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on July 18, 2010, 07:40:49 PM
I think that our zucchini and squash have already just about worn themselves out.  I'm thinking about ripping out the last of them and replanting that section.  We have been drowning in squash and zucchini for about 2 or 3 weeks.  We've eaten them daily, I cut them up for lunch, and we have been giving them away like crazy.  Katie has also made a ton of zucchini bread, which we've eaten a lot of and given away a lot of loaves.

Now the cucumber's and tomatoes are coming in strong. We picked 4 big lemon boys today, and about 2 quarts of the smaller (cherry, tomatoberry, and isis candy) tomatoes.  Picked 5 cucumbers in the last few days, and we picked about 3 quarts of beets to pickle up for eating sometime soon.

The pepper plants are full of peppers, but I'm seeing some blossom end rot.  I'm guessing that they mix of heavy rain (we got some lately) or complete dry is not doing well for them.  Something is also eating the tops off of the pepper plants, and I mean denuding the leaves.  I'm guessing it must be a bird, but haven't a clue what kind or why it would do that.  No insects are apparent, and I've even checked at night to see if it could be a nocturnal insect.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Bmeansgood on July 18, 2010, 09:23:57 PM
Is there anything I could still plant this late in the game that could come out by late september?  We experimented with some large container gardening this year and two pots got flooded out so I am either going to put them away till next year or try something new.  Any suggestions?  We are up for anything.



Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on July 18, 2010, 10:06:52 PM
Is there anything I could still plant this late in the game that could come out by late september?  We experimented with some large container gardening this year and two pots got flooded out so I am either going to put them away till next year or try something new.  Any suggestions?  We are up for anything.

Romaine lettuce is usually a very good crop for colder weather.  I've had it growing in December, and it's been snowed on and was still fine.  We usually get a second crop of lettuce and spinach in.  Beets and carrots also tend to be good candidates.  I'm planning on another planting of beets - which I've also found to be cold resistant.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on July 19, 2010, 06:50:25 AM
Our bush beans are in full swing now - really need to get out and pick some today.  Pole beans are still wrapping themselves around everything and not producing anything yet.  Everyplace you look in the garden there's a bush bean tendril wrapped around it.  Our tomato plants are pretty big and have lots of fruit, but nothing ripe.  I've got one cayenne pepper about 6" long, as soon as we make some chili I'll be dropping that in there  :teddyr:  So far our jalapeņos just have a couple of tiny peppers on them.  But they're looking pretty healthy, so I'm hoping for some good yields and lots of jalapeņo poppers.  Those leeks that my wife bought instead of onions are growing up really tall.  Haven't picked any yet though. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on July 19, 2010, 07:07:39 AM
Is there anything I could still plant this late in the game that could come out by late september?  We experimented with some large container gardening this year and two pots got flooded out so I am either going to put them away till next year or try something new.  Any suggestions?  We are up for anything.

Romaine lettuce is usually a very good crop for colder weather.  I've had it growing in December, and it's been snowed on and was still fine.  We usually get a second crop of lettuce and spinach in.  Beets and carrots also tend to be good candidates.  I'm planning on another planting of beets - which I've also found to be cold resistant.
Pumpkins and certain varieties of squash (butternut, acorn, spaghetti) should produce by early fall if planted now.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on July 31, 2010, 02:48:36 PM
New pics!!!
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_7342.jpg)
Tomatoes with some beans in the front
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_7343.jpg)
Peppers and Eggplant
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_7345.jpg)
My wonderfully happy Habeneros
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_7346.jpg)
Squash and broccoli to the left.  You can kind of make out the remaining cukes to the far left.
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_7349.jpg)
Not bad for a day's harvest


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on July 31, 2010, 04:17:56 PM
That's not a garden - that's a farm!   :teddyr:

We've been getting some tomatoes, mostly the Romas are getting ripe first, though the other varieties have had a few ripe as well.  I think we've picked a dozen so far.  My Jalapeņos are coming along well, they're about an inch long at this point.  The Cayanne plant is doing really good, with plenty of nice peppers.  Now I've just got to remind the wife a few more times that we really need to make some chili!  Still waiting for the pole beans to start producing - the bush beans already gave us a good bunch and they're probably ready to be picked again.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on August 01, 2010, 09:26:39 AM
That's not a garden - that's a farm!   :teddyr:

I agree, that's a huge garden you have there!

Our zucchini and yellow squash plants wore themselves out with everything they produced.  The cucumbers are coming in strong right now, and I've been picking 1 or 2 per day.  We picked 1/2 the remaining beets yesterday as a gift to the grandparents, and should pick the rest this week (which will let me replant them).  We also have picked over two dozen lemon boy tomatoes, and the plants got so laden that they broke the tomato cages.  The cages didn't fall over, I mean they structurally failed in a vertical fashion.  The tomatoberry and isis candy tomato plants are producing like crazy.  We picked over a gallon of those little tomatoes on Friday and that barely dented what is still ripening.

Pepper plants are full of peppers, and the carrots are getting close to having some ready.  Jenna's sunflowers are huge, over 8 ft, and blooming.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on August 01, 2010, 03:00:42 PM
I bet if I took our pole beans and stretched them out end-to-end, they'd reach halfway to the moon.  They've completely engulfed a bench that sits next to the garden.  I had to put a chicken wire fence between them and my peppers because they were wound all around them.

But do you suppose there's a single bean on there anywhere?  Nope.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 01, 2010, 07:41:15 PM
Tomatoes I'm patiently waiting on and sadly one of the ones I thought was ripening had rot on it and it's two neighbors also perished.  I have picked one or two yellow pears and they were good tasting. Peppers oddly haven't been strong, well save my habeneros posted above.  What I completely surprised at is how tenacious the broccoli plants have been even in the 90 degree heat!  I'm picking heads that literally measure 4 inches across.  

Side note, I had a surprise potato plant or two in the back.  I dug up enough for a side order the other day.  Oh well, we get in what we fit in.  


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Andrew on August 12, 2010, 07:39:38 AM
My big discovery this year is the tomatoberry.  It's a small, sweet tomato (cherry tomato sized) that appears to be some sort of oxheart.  The two plants we have are huge, about 5 feet in height, and making tomatoes like there is no tomorrow.  I'd say that we have picked over 4 gallons of them, and there are still plenty of maturing fruit on the vines.  They are thick-walled like a beefsteak, with great flavor.  Haven't had any problems with splitting, and they keep well.  We've had some for over a week, not refrigerated, and they were still firm and sweet.



Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 12, 2010, 11:24:14 AM
The tomato crop is coming along nicely.  Been picking about a half dozen full sized better boys/celebrity toms every other day.  I have to really get in there and weed a bit over the weekend.  Also been picking a handfull of yellow pears every couple days.  My one year old is a tomato addict which pleases me. 

My habeneros have a nice yield going though I'm going to wait a tiny bit longer from harvesting the first crop. I like them with some color on them.  The other peppers aren't doing so nicely.  Kind of a sad crop really.  Thats ok though, I only really use the hot peppers.

Also have eggplant which has been doing beautifully ever since I treated them for potato beetles. 

Currently dying out is squash and cukes though they still pump out a dozen or so a week. 


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 14, 2010, 09:56:45 AM
Salsa anyone?

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/Salsa1.jpg)


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Jack on August 14, 2010, 01:14:04 PM
I've been getting a lot of cayenne peppers - and the wife STILL hasn't made any chili to put them in! - also got a few jalapeņos the other day.  Got my jalapeņo popper recipe all printed out and only need a couple of ingredients.  And a few more peppers. 

My gigantic area of pole beans still hasn't got a single bean on it.  I haven't seen the leeks or carrots in a month - they're buried under there somewhere.  Getting into the middle of the tomato crop, been picking a half dozen every day.


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 16, 2010, 11:18:41 AM
Tomatoes are starting to come full fledge in my area and I've picked at least 50 over the past few days. Oddly I've had very few rotten ones too. I am however picking them early and brown bag ripening them. 



Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Ed, Ego and Superego on August 17, 2010, 03:41:36 PM
My first melons are coming on!! I have never grown them before


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Rev. Powell on August 19, 2010, 08:54:03 PM
My first melons are coming on!! I have never grown them before

Nice to hear the hormone replacement therapy is working!

C'mon... I had to!


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Newt on August 20, 2010, 07:53:59 AM
My first melons are coming on!! I have never grown them before

Nice to hear the hormone replacement therapy is working!

C'mon... I had to!

Glad you finally came through, Rev.  It was getting awkward sitting on my hands.   :wink:


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 20, 2010, 08:01:20 AM
My first melons are coming on!! I have never grown them before

Nice to hear the hormone replacement therapy is working!

C'mon... I had to!

Glad you finally came through, Rev.  It was getting awkward sitting on my hands.   :wink:
This is a gardening thread, please take your malarky elsewhere. 

(ok, I thought of saying the melon comment too)


Title: Re: Time for the annual gardening thread
Post by: Mr. DS on August 29, 2010, 07:49:12 PM
(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_8278.jpg)
One chair worth.  I had another chair full as well...

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/102_8280.jpg)
Habeneros!  It was my Saturday project which resulted in...

(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i169/darksider66/hotpepper.jpg)
Yes, the colon clearing stuff.  I had enough for that container plus one more which will last me a while.