Anyone starting a garden?

[WriterDom]

Getting bigger every day.

 

[JMohegan]

On a tangent, considering the earlier discussion, i managed to run over a squirrel yesterday. i've never seen a squirrel do "deer in the headlights" before. Oncoming traffic on one side and a ditch with no breakdown lane on the other while doing 35 prevented any thought of swerving. That the little shit ran out in the road and froze 20 feet before impact didn't salve the sick to my stomach wave after the slight bump and carcass in the rear view mirror. Don't get me started on the stupid Mommy bunny story.

Fucking squirrels. I've never seen one do "deer in the headlights" either.

*wondering about the stupid Mommy bunny story*

 

[bitchee62]

Getting bigger every day.

They look good. Do you have them under lights? and a fan on a low setting will help to give them sturdy stems.
My Brussels sprouts are up as well as most of the tomatoes. I picked up some melon (cantaloupe) seeds yesterday. I keep trying to grow them here and have yet to get a decent melon. I'm not sure why, the winter squash thrives and they have many of the same requirements. Everything else in the veggie garden does well so I might just give up on the melons, next year.

 

[WriterDom]

They look good. Do you have them under lights? and a fan on a low setting will help to give them sturdy stems.
My Brussels sprouts are up as well as most of the tomatoes. I picked up some melon (cantaloupe) seeds yesterday. I keep trying to grow them here and have yet to get a decent melon. I'm not sure why, the winter squash thrives and they have many of the same requirements. Everything else in the veggie garden does well so I might just give up on the melons, next year.

I keep them right next a window that gets a lot of sun in the afternoons. It's cute how they are reach out to the sun as if they were bowing.

 

[bitchee62]

I hope the cherry trees are old enough this year for cherry's. We planted them 3 years ago they bloomed last year. When we moved here all of the Apples and pears were overgrown and bug infested so I trimmed and sprayed, 4 years later and I have apples and pears.
Reg

 

[Sir_Winston54]

After reading this thread as one of my last stops last night, I dreamed about finding giant freakin' squashes growing in odd places all over my yard. For some reason, I was transplanting them to "safer" (?) places and really worrying about them. Damned if I know why, though. I hate squash!

 

[FurryFury]

My ex MIL makes some mighty fine squash. I asked her for that and other recipes that I loved after her son and I broke up. She is a damn fine cook.

 

[WriterDom]

My first salad. Before I put more junk in. It's a little young but if you tear it and leave the roots it keeps growing.

 

[JMohegan]

My first salad. Before I put more junk in. It's a little young but if you tear it and leave the roots it keeps growing.

Jesus, in early May, no less.

What kind of lettuce is that?

Also, WD - re your flower picture on the other thread - what's that ground cover?

 

[WriterDom]

Jesus, in early May, no less.

What kind of lettuce is that?

Also, WD - re your flower picture on the other thread - what's that ground cover?

It's ivy. Kind of a pest. I need to see the county agent to find out what kills it.

I'm growing about 8 or so different kinds of lettuce. Everything I could find except for iceburg. Iceburg doesn't do well but all the leafy kinds are good and more tasty too. I need to be out there now planting green beans.

 

[JMohegan]

It's ivy. Kind of a pest. I need to see the county agent to find out what kills it.

I'm growing about 8 or so different kinds of lettuce. Everything I could find except for iceburg. Iceburg doesn't do well but all the leafy kinds are good and more tasty too. I need to be out there now planting green beans.

Death to English ivy! I fucking HATE that stuff.

The good news: it's not hard to yank out of the ground, especially after a rain.

The bad news: you're gonna have to do maintenance yanking, a couple times a month in the growing season, for a couple of years, in order to get completely rid of it. And if your neighbor is a lazy SOB and doesn't do shit about his ivy, you'll have to do maintenance yanking forever.

There may be an herbicide you could use on it, but you'll have to gather up all the dead stuff anyway. So I wouldn't bother with the expense and environmental hazard.


8 kinds of lettuce - I'm jealous. My cottontails would be, too.

I'm not a fan of iceberg, either. From both a nutritional and taste perspective, it's really sort of pointless.

 

[Velvet Bubbles]

I keep them right next a window that gets a lot of sun in the afternoons. It's cute how they are reach out to the sun as if they were bowing.

You turn them every now & then, right? That's what Mom always taught us. If you want an upright plant, you have to turn it on a regurlar basis as they'll always reach for the sun. Ok, yeah, this is probably a stupid question & of course you know to do it. Just wanted to make sure.

Gabe had this fern in a big tub next to the front window in the living room that his friends gave his when he first got the flat. None of us can believe that it's survived all these years as he hardly ever waters the thing. Anyway, I've planted thyme, swiss mint & chocolate mint in with it. The thyme seems to be dying though. Not sure if it's root shock or what. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't die on me. I had a silver thyme plant in WA. That thing was so darned pretty hanging over the edge of my balcony. I'm jealous you've room for a real garden. I just have my pot. But I'm enjoying it.

 

[WriterDom]

I waited way too long to start the tomatoes. I think you really need to start in January. But a lot of them are hanging in there. I read that people will run a fan over the top of their tomatoes. It makes them stronger from trying to hold on a little more. In the meantime I bought a tray of tomatoes at Walmart I need to get in the ground. And a mint plant for my tea. I'm going to expand the garden and try corn again. If you grow corn you need to grow a lot. The more the better.

 

[WriterDom]

I got two rows of peas in tonight. Time to dump everything in and I'm not done tilling yet. I can grow corn between the lettuce because it will get too hot for the lettuce soon enough.

 

[LilyBart]

As I prepare to downsize in the next few weeks, I am trying to decide if balcony life can at least support an herb garden.

While I honestly won't miss the full sized yard (home of where I killed a lot), I like to think I can nurture more life on a balcony. Although Northern exposure might not bode well. We'll see....

~LB

 

[intothewoods]

As I prepare to downsize in the next few weeks, I am trying to decide if balcony life can at least support an herb garden.

While I honestly won't miss the full sized yard (home of where I killed a lot), I like to think I can nurture more life on a balcony. Although Northern exposure might not bode well. We'll see....

~LB

You can do a ton of stuff in containers! Herbs for sure, but other stuff as well.

 

[Velvet Bubbles]

I grew cherry sized tomatoes on my balcony. They were sooooo yummy!

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Duplicate of post in pissed-off thread, because I'm pissed off enough it deserves to be said twice! And because of the last little paragraph, too.

Frickin' frackin' mumblety-grumble POC tiller... wouldn't start the other day when it was cool, oh, noes! Today, temp in mid- to high-70s with humidity in the high 60%iles, of course it starts! Grrrrrr... and 30 minutes of tilling to get one little 4' x 5' patch tilled, then posthole a little deeper, then plant two - that's right, TWO, little tomato plants that mom (bless her 81-year-old heart! ) bought about three weeks ago to plant and grow (herself, of course ). You see who ended up doing the tilling, posthole-ing, planting, composting, and watering, right? Want to make bets on who will do the rest of the taking care of the damn things, if they survive? I am soaked - soaked, I tell you! - sweat running off my bald head into my eyes, even though I'm now in my bedroom/office with the a/c running full freakin' blast.

If the @#$%^&* things live, I'll take pics of them about every three days or so and after thirty days (give or take), post 'em in the gardening thread. Meanwhile, I'll just cuss and grumble at 'em.

 

[WriterDom]

Wish I could find some cheap tomato cages. What I think I'll do is stake them with cane that we have at the cabin. The Cherokee used to make flutes out of it.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Wish I could find some cheap tomato cages. What I think I'll do is stake them with cane that we have at the cabin. The Cherokee used to make flutes out of it.

Most Farmers' Co-ops a lot of other places have regular galvanized metal tomato cages for $3-4 each. Home Depot has the Gardener's Blue Ribbon Ultomato™ Tomato Plant Cage for $6; and this site has the "revolutionary new Veggie Cage" that looks kind of interesting, 3 for $22 (plus p&h, probably).

 

[WriterDom]

Most Farmers' Co-ops a lot of other places have regular galvanized metal tomato cages for $3-4 each. Home Depot has the Gardener's Blue Ribbon Ultomato™ Tomato Plant Cage for $6; and this site has the "revolutionary new Veggie Cage" that looks kind of interesting, 3 for $22 (plus p&h, probably).

Yeah, Walmart has some for just over 2 bucks but I must have 40 plants.

 

[DevilPup]

Starting a small garden, started in small peat pots. Have green beans and corn, tomatoes and cucumbers starting to grow.

Will be a couple more weeks before it is warm enough on a consistant basis to plant them in the ground

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Yeah, Walmart has some for just over 2 bucks but I must have 40 plants.

TrueValue has welded wire fencing, 50' x 60", for about $63. (Hmmm... looking further into their site, if you do a search for "welded wire," you'll run into a variety of sizes and gauges of welded wire fencing among the 12 or so pages, some less expensive.)

With that, though, you could either make your own cylindrical or square or rectangular grow cages, or just run rows of wire for the plants to climb. You might have to tie them using velcro plant ties if you do the latter, and you'd probably need to plant them in two-row sets with a gap between so you could harvest from the rows.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Duplicate of post in pissed-off thread, because I'm pissed off enough it deserves to be said twice! And because of the last little paragraph, too.

Frickin' frackin' mumblety-grumble POC tiller... wouldn't start the other day when it was cool, oh, noes! Today, temp in mid- to high-70s with humidity in the high 60%iles, of course it starts! Grrrrrr... and 30 minutes of tilling to get one little 4' x 5' patch tilled, then posthole a little deeper, then plant two - that's right, TWO, little tomato plants that mom (bless her 81-year-old heart! ) bought about three weeks ago to plant and grow (herself, of course ). You see who ended up doing the tilling, posthole-ing, planting, composting, and watering, right? Want to make bets on who will do the rest of the taking care of the damn things, if they survive? I am soaked - soaked, I tell you! - sweat running off my bald head into my eyes, even though I'm now in my bedroom/office with the a/c running full freakin' blast.

If the @#$%^&* things live, I'll take pics of them about every three days or so and after thirty days (give or take), post 'em in the gardening thread. Meanwhile, I'll just cuss and grumble at 'em.

Quoting myself - gawd/ess, talk about a http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x95/Sir_Winston54/postwhore-1.gif...

ETA: Did I mention that after buying the damn things (three weeks ago), she set them on top of the dryer and has watered them maybe twice since? The big one was limp and wilty when I put it in the ground, the little one had lost all the leaves it had on it when bought, but has some baby leaves coming out (why, I have NO idea!), and I'm cautiously not-quite-pessimistic about its survival... we'll see.

 

[Velvet Bubbles]

The thyme died. No idea why really. Well, ideas, but no solid evidence. That sweet pea plant I got must've had aphids on it; because now the mint does. <sighs> The stupid fern that was originally in the pot is now dying too. Gabe's had it for 8ish years & now that it's getting watered on a regular basis it obviously doesn't know how to deal with it. One of the 3 stems are still apparently growing. We'll see what happens. Will have to get a new thyme. <sighs> AND something to kill the aphids. AND something for the sweet pea to cling to because I forgot they do that. <double sigh> I was enjoying this before the dying and the aphids.