Gardening Gurus

[phoenixphair]

good book

I'm a gardening nutball. seriously, i can talk soil for a good hour without coming up for air. and don't get me started on perennials and companion plants.
there is a great book called "Complete Home Gardening: growing secrets and techniques for gardeners" by Miranda Smith, that is my bible. it's not too pricey at abt $25, but it covers everything from bulbs to vines to water plants to veggies, and all their advice tends to be organic. and i think all the examples are for zone 5. the veggie section is pretty comprehensive and includes planting schedules, crop rotation, companion planting, and full descriptions and tips for most veggies.
I'm Zone 8, which sounds nice, but it's so damned hot here, veggies can be a little tricky.
any of the cabbage family (broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprts, etc) are easy to grow, but if u see cute little white butterflies around them, get out the insecticidal soap. i have mainly butterfly gardens, but cabbage white (butterflies) invaded all my broccoli plants and cauliflower last year.

 

[xssve]

I'm in Ohio and have started tomatoes from seed twice, and they did great. I got one of those little Martha Stewart greenhouse things to start them, and then replanted them in bigger pots. The seeds came with the kit. I didn't actually put them in the ground until after Memorial Day. I had a nice variety of tomatoes; big heirloom ones, roma tomatoes, pear tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes. They were all great. Tomatoes need a lot of sun.

I've also done cucumbers and pumpkins, which always do well. You need a lot of room for them though, because the vines are huge. It's so much fun though to have a batch of your own pumpkins to carve at Halloween.

I never knew what I was doing and just put the seeds in the ground and hoped for the best.

I buy clear plastic shoeboxes at the dollar store - they have to be the ones with clear lids - pack them with peat cups, plant the seeds, water and stick the whole thing in a window - instant greenhouse.

I live in NM, where water is at a premium, so I double dig and pile on as much mulch as I can without smothering the plants entirely, water with a seeper hose under the mulch, and it requires very little water - but I mainly grow Tomatls, onions and Chiles for salsa, usually with a seperate herb garden.

Thinking about expanding a bit this year though, grapes maybe, a few other berries for smoothies and such.

I did Pumpkins one year - by accident - buncha leftover Halloween Pumpkins in my compost heap sprouted.

Always wanted to grow artichokes, dunno if they'll grow here or not.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I buy clear plastic shoeboxes at the dollar store - they have to be the ones with clear lids - pack them with peat cups, plant the seeds, water and stick the whole thing in a window - instant greenhouse.

OMG this is brilliant! Thanks for this!

 

[neonlyte]

I buy clear plastic shoeboxes at the dollar store - they have to be the ones with clear lids - pack them with peat cups, plant the seeds, water and stick the whole thing in a window - instant greenhouse.

Brilliant idea! Wish they sold them in Europe.

 

[xssve]

Any clear plastic box should work, Tupperware even - don't they have Wal-Marts in Europe?

Google "clear plastic shoeboxes".

 

[Misty_Morning]

I don't think my skills at gardening would suit you.

My gardening has been limited to flowers, "herbs" (heehee), and shrooms.


If ya need help with that....I got answers.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Interesting question - Seeds or Sets. I've done it both ways. Sets tend to me more expensive and often don't survive because they go directly from a hot-house to the garden center to the garden and freeze out.

Seeds I always use peat pots. They are cheap, you put them in a tray of water and they continuously suck the right amount for germination and early growth and keep them covered with plastic wrap or some such to keep them warm and limit evaporation.

When the plants are several inches high, the stalks strong and the ground is warmed by the sun (say, mid or late March) I plant them outside in the garden - peat pot and all.

 

[DesertPirate]

Do not over fertilize! 16-8-8 is decent 12-8-8 is better. Most want too much nitrogen (first #) for fast leaf growth and dark green color, the other two are phosphorus and potasium which deal with root growth and overall plant health.


Dad was a soils Professor in the College of Agriculture at NMSU for 30 years, I might have learned a bit

 

[Quesla]

'Shrooms & Herbs?

I don't think my skills at gardening would suit you.

My gardening has been limited to flowers, "herbs" (heehee), and shrooms.


If ya need help with that....I got answers.

Hi Misty Morning!Sure could use some extra know-how on herb gardens. Also, Mushrooms in the grocer here in S'toon, Sask. are fucking spensive! Can you give some lessons on growing them? My mom use to grow them in the cellar when I was a real little kid. I don't remember enough to do it now, 'cept that the like the dark and cardboard boxes.

 

[Quesla]

Root Vegies? -Nobody responded to my querie on pinching back the spindly greens and stems/leaves of root type vegies, /y'know?/ Rootabegtgars? Beets? Turnips? Can'ya thinka any other tuber type root vegies that tend to grow big tall weedy above ground plants and fail to store off any root starches to make the good root vegies that we usually find in the grocer? I've had such poor luck getting the root part of these plants to do anything good at all! Quesla

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Root Vegies? -Nobody responded to my querie on pinching back the spindly greens and stems/leaves of root type vegies, /y'know?/ Rootabegtgars? Beets? Turnips? Can'ya thinka any other tuber type root vegies that tend to grow big tall weedy above ground plants and fail to store off any root starches to make the good root vegies that we usually find in the grocer? I've had such poor luck getting the root part of these plants to do anything good at all! Quesla

I never pinch. I over sew then thin. My understanding is that root veggies don't like having the ground disturbed after they begin growing. Totally true of carrots and potatoes I know from experience.

 

[Quesla]

I'm sorry if my title is inacurate to the order of the thread: I'm just starting my spring indoor preps for cultivating the 10 by 10 penwired fenced in section I call my vegie garden here in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I'm seriously thinking of moving my squash and pumpkin mounds forward to the front middle, that is (more South( in my garden. In the back north fence a cedarboard fence that is up against our north neighbours, never seceeds with any of the squash family I've tried planted in some stone cinderblock lined mounds in the west and east corners of the board fencing & wire fencing. Even cukes did not grow there last year! Quesla

 

[Quesla]

P.S.: Anybody got any herboloby answers that can cure long-term sexual blah's? Major dead sex drive here! Or better yet can you grow a hunk in a cabbage head???! Quesla

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I garden up a storm. In fact, I'm having to take 80% of the fruit off my nectarine tree to keep the branches from breaking. Unfortunately, I don't know how much help I can be to someone as far north as you are. I'm in SoCal where we have a 365 day growing season . . . and that especially applies to the weeds!

I fertilize with fishgrow, exclusively, on the vegies, use commercial fruit tree granules on the trees and kill bugs with soap. And trap and kill gophers as fast as their mounds show up!

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I'm planting a lot of my seeds inside this week... so excited to see them grow!