The Garden Thread

[Guest]

Soon time to start the seedlings for 2018!

Anyone trying any new gear, techniques, or varieties this year?

We sowed onion seeds this week!  Trying to get an earlier start than previous years.

[ReeferMac]

I put some Leeks in this fall, they're still alive, but... only about 3 inches tall. Garlic is doing well, got it tucked into a corner of the fenced-in garden. Carrots are still growing, too, but someone's been nibbling on them, so they haven't gotten big.

Daikon Radishes grew well, fortunately the horses like them.  I will say, suckers would be good for busting up new earth, they grow deep and fast (make a good green manure allegedly, too). Might scatter some seeds in the pasture just for S&G's.

I still have potatoes in the ground from the late-summer planting. Will dig those as needed the next few months. Fingerling types did very well for me, got 3 crops in total by overlapping their planting dates.

I've started making notes on the seed catalogs that have been arriving. The corn was well liked by the critters last year. Might try Gem corn this year, if I can get a bigger plot tilled outside the fenced in area (took up too much space, and critters still got in). I did make good use of the dry beans I planted last year (Sulfur beans from Southern Exposure), last of them are going to go into the soup we're making w/ the leftovers from the Christmas ham! I plan on putting in a few more varieties, and planting that variety heavily. With luck I can get 2 crops in by starting early.

Want to get some onion sets for the spring, haven't got any room for seedlings in the house right now (and the missus would probably kill me! )

[bersaguy]

Have not had a garden in about 7 years now. Use to grow one every year and always seem to do well with it. Then I got Old!!! and Lazy!!! I also realized I always ended up giving away 85% of what I grew went to friends and neighbors because there was no way I could eat what gardens produced every year. Now it's a few Patio pots with Tomato Plants and a few with Cucumber vines that grow up on a big wall of lattus I built on the far end of the patio. and I put fences around the tomatoe plants for them to vine on and I end up giving more than 1/2 of them away so they don't go to waste.

[peejman]

My garden was kinda disappointing this year. Yields in general were less than I expected and much less than I'd hoped.  I went kinda light on the fertilizer, perhaps that's why.  

Didn't have enough tomatoes or cucumbers to justify canning anything. Froze a few bags of maters, made a bit of salsa, and just ate all the cucumbers.

 Dern rabbits ate ALL my green beans.  One day they were a foot tall and doing great, and the next they were gone. Every. Single. Plant.  One would hope that would produce some rabbit stew, but no luck there either. 

We wasted a lot of space on pumpkin and cantaloupe.  We got exactly 1 pumpkin and 1 cantaloupe.  I'll leave those to the big farms down the road next year.

Okra did ok but I got lax about harvesting and ended up composting a bunch because it got tough.  The zucchini went like crazy for about 2 weeks and then died suddenly.  No idea why.

The jalapeño was the sole exception. I had the hottest jalapeños I've ever eaten and one plant made hordes of them.  I gave away lots of jalapeños. 

So overall, decidedly meh. We'll try again next year and do a few things different. 

[Jamie Jackson]

32 minutes ago, peejman said:

Dern rabbits ate ALL my green beans.  One day they were a foot tall and doing great, and the next they were gone. Every. Single. Plant.  One would hope that would produce some rabbit stew, but no luck there either. 

The darn rabbits will eat everything I plant if I don't fence it in... I have several rolls of chicken wire I "wrap" all of the beds with. PIA but it works. 

This pic is from a couple of years ago. I'm in the process of moving and rebuilding the beds. I've learned landscape timbers last approximately 9 years. 

 

 

[monkeylizard]

If your zucchini vines turned soft and kind of gooey, it was probably a virus introduced by cucumber beetles or squash bugs. I have yet to find an effective solution for them besides the really toxic stuff that I don't want to put on my garden. Neem oil doesn't work, diatomaceous earth doesn't work. I think the trick with them is to plant so much of it that even when you lose some, the others produce so much that you don't care about that dead loss. The same goes for melons and pumpkins.

I pretty much stuck to herbs, peppers, and tomatoes this past year. They all did great. Leafy greens like kale, lettuces, spinach, and arugula all do well for me too, but I wasn't eating enough of them to justify the space in my garden.

[bersaguy]

My only issues back when I was growing big gardens was weather. I could never ge enough rain and would end up watering about every 3 days with hose and sprinklers and city water is just not that good for gardens. I have drums at the down spouts of about 5 different locations on my out buildings but with no rain that was useless. It would rain in Portland 10 miles north or Lagardo 10 miles south of me but not rain on my garden. It was like I was in an armpit and rain just wouldn't fall here. I can make a trip to the lake now and pump enough lake water into drums on a buddys trailer I borrow to keep the patio plants watered. Can even do a little fishing while I am filing the barrels..........

[SWCUMBERLAND]

42 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

My only issues back when I was growing big gardens was weather. I could never ge enough rain and would end up watering about every 3 days with hose and sprinklers and city water is just not that good for gardens. I have drums at the down spouts of about 5 different locations on my out buildings but with no rain that was useless. It would rain in Portland 10 miles north or Lagardo 10 miles south of me but not rain on my garden. It was like I was in an armpit and rain just wouldn't fall here. I can make a trip to the lake now and pump enough lake water into drums on a buddys trailer I borrow to keep the patio plants watered. Can even do a little fishing while I am filing the barrels..........

Multitasking in one of its more pleasing forms.

Would an RV water filter installed in-line with your hose be any help?

SWC a/k/a KI7CIL

[peejman]

5 hours ago, prag said:

The darn rabbits will eat everything I plant if I don't fence it in... I have several rolls of chicken wire I "wrap" all of the beds with. PIA but it works. 

This pic is from a couple of years ago. I'm in the process of moving and rebuilding the beds. I've learned landscape timbers last approximately 9 years. 

 

 

This is the first year rabbits have gotten into the garden. I've seen them around for several years.  After they got the beans they nibbled on the cantaloupe, but I knew those wouldn't make it anyway so I didn't care.  I'm wondering if the cantaloupe is what attracted them in the first place.  

 

5 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

If your zucchini vines turned soft and kind of gooey, it was probably a virus introduced by cucumber beetles or squash bugs. I have yet to find an effective solution for them besides the really toxic stuff that I don't want to put on my garden. Neem oil doesn't work, diatomaceous earth doesn't work. I think the trick with them is to plant so much of it that even when you lose some, the others produce so much that you don't care about that dead loss. The same goes for melons and pumpkins.

I pretty much stuck to herbs, peppers, and tomatoes this past year. They all did great. Leafy greens like kale, lettuces, spinach, and arugula all do well for me too, but I wasn't eating enough of them to justify the space in my garden.

That sounds like what happened. I really like zucchini, but I don't have the space for lots of plants since they get so big. 

[bersaguy]

5 hours ago, SWCUMBERLAND said:

Multitasking in one of its more pleasing forms.

Would an RV water filter installed in-line with your hose be any help?

SWC a/k/a KI7CIL

It might, I don't know but if I went that route I would not have a reason to go fishing as often and it would just run my water bill up when the lake is 1 mile away and the water is free!!!

[Guest]

How are everyone's seedlings doing?

[KahrMan]

6 minutes ago, BlessTheUSA said:

How are everyone's seedlings doing?

They have all drowned. 

[Ronald_55]

On 12/31/2017 at 12:25 PM, prag said:

The darn rabbits will eat everything I plant if I don't fence it in... I have several rolls of chicken wire I "wrap" all of the beds with. PIA but it works. 

This pic is from a couple of years ago. I'm in the process of moving and rebuilding the beds. I've learned landscape timbers last approximately 9 years. 

 

 

Have you tried trapping with rabbit boxes? You could relocate or add some protein in with your veggie dinner. 

[Jamie Jackson]

3 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

Have you tried trapping with rabbit boxes? You could relocate or add some protein in with your veggie dinner. 

LOL. After having had a pet rabbit for several years they are now safe from being a protein source according to the missus! The pile of rocks in the top right hand corner of the picture is Bunnyhenge where our once pet rabbit now rests. So if I choose to stay married, and I do, the rabbits are allowed to roam free and I just work around them. 

[Omega]

5 hours ago, prag said:

LOL. After having had a pet rabbit for several years they are now safe from being a protein source according to the missus! The pile of rocks in the top right hand corner of the picture is Bunnyhenge where our once pet rabbit now rests. So if I choose to stay married, and I do, the rabbits are allowed to roam free and I just work around them. 

Didn't your parents ever teach you not to play with your food?  Here at the homestead, all manner of critters are safe from the table, out at my hunting area, anything goes.

Edited March 1, 2018 by Omega
speeling

[ReeferMac]

Rented a tiller this weekend and tore that Sh*#! up! Added 3 beds for berry bushes, can't count how much peat moss, and a big contribution from the horses as well... Was worth the 65 bucks.

Started Garlic and beans, will probably get some tater's in this weekend if it ever stops raining!

[Omega]

I need to move mine, I started it when the leaves were down last year and not enough sun hits that area.  I also need better soil, but I did condition it a bit last year so it may do OK if I just move it.  I wish I could afford, and find, some good black garden soil, most is TN clay.  I haven't started any seeds yet but plan to this month I have my indoor starter kit all prepped and ready to go.

[peejman]

2 hours ago, Omega said:

I need to move mine, I started it when the leaves were down last year and not enough sun hits that area.  I also need better soil, but I did condition it a bit last year so it may do OK if I just move it.  I wish I could afford, and find, some good black garden soil, most is TN clay.  I haven't started any seeds yet but plan to this month I have my indoor starter kit all prepped and ready to go.

Make your own.... amend the dirt with mushroom (or home-made) compost and sand, about 50/50 until it drains well enough, then just compost. Ashes are typically good to add as well. 

[ReeferMac]

Ditto what peejman said. I started w/ orangish brown clay.... dump truck full of compost from Monterrey Mushrooms, dunno how many bags of peat moss, and countless contributions from my horses... it's dark grey soil now, not brown clay. Takes a couple years tho, can't do it all at once.

[peejman]

5 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

Ditto what peejman said. I started w/ orangish brown clay.... dump truck full of compost from Monterrey Mushrooms, dunno how many bags of peat moss, and countless contributions from my horses... it's dark grey soil now, not brown clay. Takes a couple years tho, can't do it all at once.

Yep. Set the tiller for the max depth and let 'er eat. Pile it over with leaves in the fall and till them in too.  It'll take a few years. 

 

Edit... you can also send in soil samples for testing. Tell them what you want to grow and they'll tell you how to amend the soil. 

https://ag.tennessee.edu/spp/Pages/soiltesting.aspx

Edited March 1, 2018 by peejman

[Omega]

The thing is, I need to raise the level, about 6-8" so tilling won't work.  I know to make my own, but it takes a few seasons to work it just right.  I had just moved to this new spot and started using a raised garden technique instead of just tilling.  I used a bunch of soil conditioner, tree bark like, and compost , as well as some gypsum  to break up the clay top soil I purchased.  I should be ok to move the soil I already started last year, as I am only moving it a short distance, but I have a lot of work ahead trying to get a good ph going.  I have a test kit to give me the rough numbers, last year I was ok for the tomatoes, but because I started to use seed instead of buying the plants I started too late and had a bad crop.  I have to keep an eye out for free compost again this year, there is always somebody with too much horse manure out there.

 

[peejman]

No reason you can't till a raised bed, I do.  Use a board as a ramp and drive the tiller up in there.  Turning around can be pain, but it's doable. 

I'd till the area before building the bed, build it, add the dirt and stuff, then till it again.  It takes a few years to make good dirt. 

[xsubsailor]

3 hours ago, Omega said:

The thing is, I need to raise the level, about 6-8" so tilling won't work.  I know to make my own, but it takes a few seasons to work it just right.  I had just moved to this new spot and started using a raised garden technique instead of just tilling.  I used a bunch of soil conditioner, tree bark like, and compost , as well as some gypsum  to break up the clay top soil I purchased.  I should be ok to move the soil I already started last year, as I am only moving it a short distance, but I have a lot of work ahead trying to get a good ph going.  I have a test kit to give me the rough numbers, last year I was ok for the tomatoes, but because I started to use seed instead of buying the plants I started too late and had a bad crop.  I have to keep an eye out for free compost again this year, there is always somebody with too much horse manure out there.

 

 I use one of these and it works great, attaches to my weedeater.  I got tired of trying to use my regular tiller in my raised bed.

 

 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/TrimmerPlus-Add-On-9-in-Garden-Cultivator-Attachment-GC720/206450486

[gregintenn]

Right now it looks like I should plant rice and cranberries.

[peejman]

Yep. I suspect I'm going to have to cover my garden area with plastic so it'll dry out enough to till.