The Garden Thread

[Jamie Jackson]

That sucks K. Sorry to learn of your loss.

Have you considered doing a "3 Sisters" planting? We only planted tomatoes so far this year as we've been out of town and having to do OT at work. But a few years back we planted pole beans mixed with butternut squash with some corn. I learned you have to let the corn grow for about 4 weeks first, otherwise the beans can overwhelm the corn. If you time it well I've found the beans to actually support the stalks and can help mitigate the wind damage.

 

Speaking of beans...have you folks ever planted dried red kidney beans (like you buy to soak and cook from Walmart)? They are hand's down the most delicious beans I've ever eaten! They are a bush bean, and as I use raised beds, so they take up a lot of my space...but I'll darn sure be planting some in August!  

[ReeferMac]

I haven't tried the 3 sisters. I've read about it, but frankly figured the beans and squash would block too much of the light from getting to the corn!

I researched some and apparently it's not uncommon (getting blown over/down). Leaving it alone often times it will still produce (who knew?!) I lost a bunch earlier (along w/ most of my quinoa), but this second round of storms took out probably half what I had planted. Hope it's not too late, but I put the rest of my Peaches-n-cream in where the potato's were (harvested the first of those 3-4 weeks ago). Hey, maybe I'll till up the corn patch and plant some more taters!

 

- K
 

Edited June 26, 2017 by ReeferMac

[gregintenn]

36 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

I haven't tried the 3 sisters. I've read about it, but frankly figured the beans and squash would block too much of the light from getting to the corn!

I researched some and apparently it's not uncommon (getting blown over/down). Leaving it alone often times it will still produce (who knew?!) I lost a bunch earlier (along w/ most of my quinoa), but this second round of storms took out probably half what I had planted. Hope it's not too late, but I put the rest of my Peaches-n-cream in where the potato's were (harvested the first of those 3-4 weeks ago). Hey, maybe I'll till up the corn patch and plant some more taters!

 

- K
 

My corn blew over, but last night, I noticed it had mostly stood back up by it's self. If it doesn't break, it'll usually self correct in a few days.

[Mark A]

On 6/25/2017 at 1:47 PM, gregintenn said:

We had our first garden produce of the year for lunch today. Yellow squash and zucchini, sliced lengthwise, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with creole seasoning, garlic, and Italian seasoning, and roasted in the oven, served with thick sliced deer tenderloin, marinaded in Allegro marinade, and grilled to medium rare, and crescent rolls. It was delicious!

 

Our cucumbers are beginning to come in too.

How do you garden deer? I might enjoy that...

[Mark A]

After working on the health of the dirt in our raised beds at the house for a few years we are finally starting to reap the benefits. I also foliar fed for the first time and between getting the dirt right and the foliar feeding we have a tomato jungle. I'm actually a bit afraid the plants in the middle will not get enough sunlight. Our plants before have always been kind of spindly... We started harvesting cherry tomatoes about 3 weeks ago and last night between cherry and grape tomatoes I harvested about 2.5 gallons. I've got 3-4 times that amount that will be ready in the next 5-6 days... Almost time to get the dehydrator out. The wife loves dehydrated cherry maters on her salad all winter long.

Reefer, I feel your pain on the lost plants. Some of our tomatoes are in free standing pots and they all got blown over last week. Never had plants bushy enough to stop the wind before. About 1/2 of them suffered pretty significant breakage of stalks...

I wish the gardens up at our property were going as well but I only get there on the weekends and I have so much to do up there that I don't get to pay much attention to them. That will get better with time as I continue to build soil health.

Our aquaponics experiment has been full of surprises, mostly bad... We've killed a lot of fish, killed a lot of plants, 3-4 pumps and in general have built a lot of character as my dad used to call it. But, we have a robust school of tilapia now (we call them the gladiators, any fish that flops around in the dirt multiple times and survives is tough) and we have the system fairly balanced. We have new plants in and hopefully they will do better than the last.

If anyone else decides to stick their toe in this type of system give me a shout. I could write a book...

Oh, growing a ton of sunflowers for the first time. Tried a bunch of different types but so far the plain old black oil variety are kicking butt... I have several hundred growing. Once they mature they will be chicken and turkey feed... It was kind of an experiment but I think it is going to be successful. I think next year I will try to start some in the greenhouse and see if I can get a bit of a head start. Anything I can do to reduce the food bill for the birds is a good thing.

We also tilled up some dirt and planted rolled oats and various dried beans we bought at the grocery store. Amazing how much cheaper they are than bean "seeds"...  If this stuff grows it will get fenced in where we are going to put the hogs this fall and they will eat it until it is gone which won't take long...

Mark

[peejman]

1 hour ago, Mark A said:

How do you garden deer? I might enjoy that...

It's a bit of work. First you need a few acres in an area where deer might be. Then you plant some corn, turnips, oats, ... stuff like that.  Then you tend the garden, watch for deer, and practice your marksmanship until fall. Then you set up a blind or tree stand where the deer pass by.  Then you get up really early on a cold and wet morning and go harvest one. 

[ReeferMac]

LOL! I've got 3-4 you can harvest right now! Every Sunday morning I spook them out of my orchard. Bastards did a number on my apple tree's. I've taken a few pop-shots at them (not really trying to hit), but after what they did to my apple's... They hardly even spook anymore. Going to start practicing w/ my pistol at 50 and 75 yds... (or bring the AR one morning).

 

- K
 

[gregintenn]

4 hours ago, Mark A said:

How do you garden deer? I might enjoy that...

Plant it, and they will come.

[peejman]

11 hours ago, ReeferMac said:

LOL! I've got 3-4 you can harvest right now! Every Sunday morning I spook them out of my orchard. Bastards did a number on my apple tree's. I've taken a few pop-shots at them (not really trying to hit), but after what they did to my apple's... They hardly even spook anymore. Going to start practicing w/ my pistol at 50 and 75 yds... (or bring the AR one morning).

 

- K
 

Contact TWRA about getting a nuisance permit. My parents had one for several years. Mom has a big flower garden and the deer ate everything. When the agent drove up to the house to assess the damage, he got out of the truck and said he'd seen more than enough just coming up the driveway to justify the permit. 

[bersaguy]

3 hours ago, peejman said:

Contact TWRA about getting a nuisance permit. My parents had one for several years. Mom has a big flower garden and the deer ate everything. When the agent drove up to the house to assess the damage, he got out of the truck and said he'd seen more than enough just coming up the driveway to justify the permit. 

The only problem with the Nuisance license is you can shoot the deer but cannot keep it and must call TWRA to pick it up. I really don't have an issue with that because they supposedly have the deer processed and donate it to homeless shelters and other charities. The only problem I have found with this is I had a friend that shot 3 deer in his garden and called TWRA and it took them 3 days to even show up and all of the meat was ruined and was beginning to stink. I guess it is a Catch 22 situation on that!!!!

[peejman]

55 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

The only problem with the Nuisance license is you can shoot the deer but cannot keep it and must call TWRA to pick it up. I really don't have an issue with that because they supposedly have the deer processed and donate it to homeless shelters and other charities. The only problem I have found with this is I had a friend that shot 3 deer in his garden and called TWRA and it took them 3 days to even show up and all of the meat was ruined and was beginning to stink. I guess it is a Catch 22 situation on that!!!!

TWRA hasn't ever come to get deer from Dad's house. The guys who shot them take them to be processed.  Dad just keeps a log of what gets culled.  

[bersaguy]

19 minutes ago, peejman said:

TWRA hasn't ever come to get deer from Dad's house. The guys who shot them take them to be processed.  Dad just keeps a log of what gets culled.  

They may have quit picking them up but this use to around here but it's been a while since I checked into it. I'm glad your dad is not letting them go to waste and it is smart of your Dad to keep a ledger to protect his actions.................JMHO

[gregintenn]

WOW! It's been a good year here for a garden.

[Mark A]

Yep...

[peejman]

Mine has done fairly well. Cucumbers have been great, okra is in full swing, and we've gotten one pie pumpkin with 2 more on the vine.  Might have a couple cantaloupes in another week or two. 

I've lost one tomatoe and have a couple others suffering from blight.   Harvest has been mediocre on the others.  The zucchini produced well but then died suddenly, no idea why.  I intend to plant green beans where the zucchini was. 

Oh yeah, and the jalapeño has been going gangbusters and the peppers are smokin hot.  The plant has been nearly overwhelmed by the pumpkin vine, but it's still making peppers like crazy. No idea why they're so much hotter this year, as the last couple years they were about as spicy as carrots. 

Edited July 18, 2017 by peejman

[monkeylizard]

Tomato plants are producing like crazy and for the first time ever I'm having some good success with pepper plants. Okra is about 2 feet tall and I saw one pod on it. It got to about 8" long before I noticed it so it's worthless, but it's there.

Slugs killed my beans.

Edited July 18, 2017 by monkeylizard

[bersaguy]

I thought I made a few posts in the gardens section back in the beginning but either I didn't and thought I did or they got removed during some of the site updates. Either way I will post one now. I read a few posts about folks with tillers workin the hard ground and remember on in particular where a member said he worked his butt off with brand new tiller and after 30 minutes of sweat and hard work he has only got about 5 foot of ground turned and after a few cold ones he had several patches of ground turned and said cold ones and tilling don't work well.........lol.

I wanted to say back when I decided to put in my first garden back about 15 years ago here I wanted a space about 40X40 and had the perfect location behind an out building and back many many years ago it was an apple orchard but had been just yard for at least 10 years. Since I didn't own a tiller but remembered back when I was young and turned the garden spot for my father every year I was not about to try and turn fresh yard soil into a garden spot so I began asking around and located a really nice guy that turned garden spots with a tractor for $35.00 so I called him and he was here the following morning and I showed him the location of where I wanted the garden.  He ask me if I had any fertlizer before he began tilling and I had purchased 3 bags at Co-op and he said for me to put it out in the garden spot so I quickly put it in the spreader and cover the ground with it. He not only tilled the ground but turned the fertilzer into the ground. It took him all of about 40 minutes to not only have the ground tilled but he went over it until it was ready to do a little raking and plant my garden. I used what I learned while watchng my father grow his garden every year to put mine together.

My firs year even though it was learning experience I had enough assorted vegetables of all kinds that I invited some of my neighbors to come and pick some for their families rather than let it wilt and die on the plants.

I had Cucumber vines growing on a lattus frame I made and had 2 rows of Okra producing, Yellow squash  Zuccinni(spell) Squash Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, and other things I can't even remember but i have a great garden for about 5 or 6 years and the first couple neighbors would help with tending and then they wanted to veggies but were not helping tend it so I quit putting one in. I do miss doing it but now my health is in the way. So now I have a few friends that do bring me a few of this and that from their gardens so I get by with that. 

[monkeylizard]

Maybe you could try container gardening? A 5-gallon bucket will support a tomato plant. Maybe you can do a few of those on a deck or patio just for the satisfaction of growing something and getting a little fresh produce.

[Ronald_55]

2 hours ago, bersaguy said:

I thought I made a few posts in the gardens section back in the beginning but either I didn't and thought I did or they got removed during some of the site updates. Either way I will post one now. I read a few posts about folks with tillers workin the hard ground and remember on in particular where a member said he worked his butt off with brand new tiller and after 30 minutes of sweat and hard work he has only got about 5 foot of ground turned and after a few cold ones he had several patches of ground turned and said cold ones and tilling don't work well.........lol.

I wanted to say back when I decided to put in my first garden back about 15 years ago here I wanted a space about 40X40 and had the perfect location behind an out building and back many many years ago it was an apple orchard but had been just yard for at least 10 years. Since I didn't own a tiller but remembered back when I was young and turned the garden spot for my father every year I was not about to try and turn fresh yard soil into a garden spot so I began asking around and located a really nice guy that turned garden spots with a tractor for $35.00 so I called him and he was here the following morning and I showed him the location of where I wanted the garden.  He ask me if I had any fertlizer before he began tilling and I had purchased 3 bags at Co-op and he said for me to put it out in the garden spot so I quickly put it in the spreader and cover the ground with it. He not only tilled the ground but turned the fertilzer into the ground. It took him all of about 40 minutes to not only have the ground tilled but he went over it until it was ready to do a little raking and plant my garden. I used what I learned while watchng my father grow his garden every year to put mine together.

My firs year even though it was learning experience I had enough assorted vegetables of all kinds that I invited some of my neighbors to come and pick some for their families rather than let it wilt and die on the plants.

I had Cucumber vines growing on a lattus frame I made and had 2 rows of Okra producing, Yellow squash  Zuccinni(spell) Squash Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Banana Peppers, and other things I can't even remember but i have a great garden for about 5 or 6 years and the first couple neighbors would help with tending and then they wanted to veggies but were not helping tend it so I quit putting one in. I do miss doing it but now my health is in the way. So now I have a few friends that do bring me a few of this and that from their gardens so I get by with that. 

Bersa, ever looked into straw bale gardening?

Get someone to position your bales (as many or as few as you like) then go at it.

Here is an idea for example

 

[Raoul]

On 6/27/2017 at 5:12 PM, Mark A said:

How do you garden deer? I might enjoy that...

Planting them is the hard part

 

[gregintenn]

We put up corn one evening this week, and are canning the second batch of green beans today. My wife also canned some relish made from peppers, cucumbers, and onions.

[ReeferMac]

1 hour ago, gregintenn said:

relish made from peppers, cucumbers, and onions.

 

Can you share the recipe? That sounds good!

 

- K

[gregintenn]

28 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

 

Can you share the recipe? That sounds good!

 

- K

8 cups chopped cucumbers

4 chopped bell peppers

4 chopped onions

3 cups sugar

2 cups vinegar

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

Mix together. Bring to boil, let cook 20 minutes. Boil lids. Seal in jars.

 

This is pretty good on hot dogs,pinto beans, for making potato salad, and pretty much any other relish duties.

[ReeferMac]

Muchas Gracias Senior!

[SWCUMBERLAND]

 

On 7/18/2017 at 10:31 AM, monkeylizard said:

Maybe you could try container gardening? A 5-gallon bucket will support a tomato plant. Maybe you can do a few of those on a deck or patio just for the satisfaction of growing something and getting a little fresh produce.

from another website:

http://www.globalbuckets.org/

This too will be in play when I hit TN. Rather than the dixiecup in the bottom, I aim to snake a length of fairly thick cotton rope up through, and let capillary action take it from there.