The Garden Thread

[Hozzie]

My garden is far enough away from the house that watering without some type of line to it would be annoying.  I trenched in a line last year and put in a drip irrigation system.  It makes it so much nicer just to turn on the faucet and let it water everything from the base and not waste a bunch of water with sprinklers.  At the end of the year, I just unhook each drip line and roll it up and use it again the next year.   A bit of cost, but a garden saver at times like this.

https://smile.amazon.com/Drip-Irrigation-Small-Farms-Water/dp/B019CPLJVC/ref=sr_1_5?crid=VXXVEY86V7UE&keywords=drip+depot+irrigation+kit&qid=1655242520&sprefix=drip+dep%2Caps%2C90&sr=8-5

Or go to www.dripdepot.com.  They have a lot of options.

Edited June 14, 2022 by Hozzie

[WillyK]

Thinking I might get a few tomatillos, LOL. Lots of husks formed and at least a hundred flowers total on the 8 plants. 

[peejman]

We've started getting zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers. Everything else is doing well. 

[gregintenn]

12 hours ago, peejman said:

We've started getting zucchini, yellow squash, and cucumbers. Everything else is doing well. 

Same here, but deer are eating my tomatoes. I put some stuff out and it seems to be keeping them away so far. That and lead poisoning.

I also picked the first bucket of green beans earlier in the week.

If it don’t rain soon, though, we won’t get much else.

[peejman]

5 hours ago, gregintenn said:

Same here, but deer are eating my tomatoes. I put some stuff out and it seems to be keeping them away so far. That and lead poisoning.

I also picked the first bucket of green beans earlier in the week.

If it don’t rain soon, though, we won’t get much else.

Pee around the perimeter of the garden.  Or if your neighbors might object to that, visit the local barber and circle it with hair. 

 

[gregintenn]

2 hours ago, peejman said:

Pee around the perimeter of the garden.  Or if your neighbors might object to that, visit the local barber and circle it with hair. 

 

I’ve tried both with no success.

I buy these jugs of Repels All from WalMart.com. It is a bit expensive if you have a big garden, but seems to do the job.https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bonide-3-lb-Repels-All-Animal-Repellent-Granules-Repels-by-Taste-Smell-and-Touch/25762698?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=657&adid=2222222227825762698_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9013127&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=25762698&wl13=657&veh=sem_LIA&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIrj6afdPhxz266MPCJ1ZLXVz&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIrj6afdPhxz266MPCJ1ZLXVz&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7c7P8Y3W-AIVg-DICh2UGg5dEAQYAiABEgKd0fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by gregintenn

[Nikiski Dave]

Just canned my first batch of green beans yesterday. Made Dilly beans. Been munching on lettuce, tomatoes and jalepenos.

[Jamie Jackson]

This heat has been a challenge for my raised beds, meaning frequent watering.

I've been eating out of my garden for over a month, like 6 cuttings of Swiss Chard and 2 of Turnips, lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

My regular tomatoes are coming in now. A fresh tomato sandwich is a rite of summer!

Zucchini and yellow squash are finally producing and butternut squash is finally setting.

Carrots are doing well and about ready to pick.

I have a rack of onions drying and they are about ready to bag... been eating them and cooking with them for several weeks. Sure beats store bought!

My small green bean bed didn't do well, but they've been replanted (bush beans) and I planted some pole beans. They're coming up well. Okra plants are coming up good as well. Hoping to catch the okra right and pickle some.

Sure would love a couple of days of slow soaking rain...

 

Oh yeah, planted a cuke from seed in a pot and it's producing well. I have a quart of refrigerator sweet pickle mix ready in the fridge right now.

[peejman]

15 hours ago, gregintenn said:

I’ve tried both with no success.

I buy these jugs of Repels All from WalMart.com. It is a bit expensive if you have a big garden, but seems to do the job.https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bonide-3-lb-Repels-All-Animal-Repellent-Granules-Repels-by-Taste-Smell-and-Touch/25762698?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=657&adid=2222222227825762698_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=m&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-293946777986&wl5=9013127&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=25762698&wl13=657&veh=sem_LIA&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIrj6afdPhxz266MPCJ1ZLXVz&gbraid=0AAAAADmfBIrj6afdPhxz266MPCJ1ZLXVz&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7c7P8Y3W-AIVg-DICh2UGg5dEAQYAiABEgKd0fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

 

Mom resorted to that stuff to keep the deer off her flowers (they live in the woods).  It worked, but was a fair bit of effort. 

[gregintenn]

So I planted some cilantro, basil, and chives in a little planter I picked up at the Dollar Store. In fact, I planted chives twice. Haven't seen the first one. The cilantro did well, but now the basil is about to take it over. It's been nice having some fresh spices on hand. I'll probably do this again. I might even get another planter and try some different things.

[Ronald_55]

5 hours ago, Jamie Jackson said:

This heat has been a challenge for my raised beds, meaning frequent watering.

I've been eating out of my garden for over a month, like 6 cuttings of Swiss Chard and 2 of Turnips, lettuce and cherry tomatoes.

My regular tomatoes are coming in now. A fresh tomato sandwich is a rite of summer!

Zucchini and yellow squash are finally producing and butternut squash is finally setting.

Carrots are doing well and about ready to pick.

I have a rack of onions drying and they are about ready to bag... been eating them and cooking with them for several weeks. Sure beats store bought!

My small green bean bed didn't do well, but they've been replanted (bush beans) and I planted some pole beans. They're coming up well. Okra plants are coming up good as well. Hoping to catch the okra right and pickle some.

Sure would love a couple of days of slow soaking rain...

 

Oh yeah, planted a cuke from seed in a pot and it's producing well. I have a quart of refrigerator sweet pickle mix ready in the fridge right now.

Having trouble with the heat and my beds too. With the wife having shoulder surgery, it has not left a lot of time or energy to try and water every night. Got a couple cucumbers, a pepper, and a few small tomatoes so far. Have some squash that will probably get picked and eaten over the weekend. Cabbage still holey even after using Sevin dust to stop whatever was eating it. Something has dug up about every sunflower seed I tried to plant. I blame the squirrels. We got one plant and something broke or bit the top out yesterday. 

Got real lucky last weekend when the wind blew the top out of a 1/2 dead sycamore in the edge of the yard. One small limb hit the bed and broke a pepper plant. The 2 18 inch thick and 6 foot long pieces totally missed it. That could have been the end of the garden.

[Jamie Jackson]

Sorry for the bad run of luck @Ronald_55! Wishing a speedy recovery to your Missus as well!

Hopefully we'll all catch a bit of rain here and there. My beds seem to do much better with rain water than the garden hose.

 

[Sleep profit]

4 hours ago, Ronald_55 said:

Having trouble with the heat and my beds too. With the wife having shoulder surgery, it has not left a lot of time or energy to try and water every night. Got a couple cucumbers, a pepper, and a few small tomatoes so far. Have some squash that will probably get picked and eaten over the weekend. Cabbage still holey even after using Sevin dust to stop whatever was eating it. Something has dug up about every sunflower seed I tried to plant. I blame the squirrels. We got one plant and something broke or bit the top out yesterday. 

Got real lucky last weekend when the wind blew the top out of a 1/2 dead sycamore in the edge of the yard. One small limb hit the bed and broke a pepper plant. The 2 18 inch thick and 6 foot long pieces totally missed it. That could have been the end of the garden.

Deer love sunflowers 

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, Sleep profit said:

Deer love sunflowers 

Yep.  Last year we had 3 bucks leave hoof prints all in the raised beds. 

[peejman]

On 7/1/2022 at 10:17 AM, gregintenn said:

So I planted some cilantro, basil, and chives in a little planter I picked up at the Dollar Store. In fact, I planted chives twice. Haven't seen the first one. The cilantro did well, but now the basil is about to take it over. It's been nice having some fresh spices on hand. I'll probably do this again. I might even get another planter and try some different things.

My wife has gotten into medicinal plants in addition to the herbs we had before. We've slowly switched out our flower beds from decorative stuff to more useful stuff.  Most herbs and spices are weeds, and they grow like it. We have dill, basil, lavender, sage, thime, oregano, chamomile, and a huge rosemary. 

[gregintenn]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

My wife has gotten into medicinal plants in addition to the herbs we had before. We've slowly switched out our flower beds from decorative stuff to more useful stuff.  Most herbs and spices are weeds, and they grow like it. We have dill, basil, lavender, sage, thime, oregano, chamomile, and a huge rosemary. 

I hope you don’t mind if I ask your seed source. I got the cilantro, basil, and chives at the Dollar Store. That’s about all they had, however.

[Jamie Jackson]

I had chicory growing in my herb box...but a fat rabbit decided it was too temping a delicacy. Ate them down to the ground! <sigh>

I need to add sage and cilantro and have recently placed an order to Victory Seeds. I've had great luck with their seeds.

https://www.victoryseeds.com/

My Dill is bolting and has apparently done so in a couple of beds because I've harvested dill from 2 beds already. I just cut it, toss in a gallon ziplock bag and toss in the freezer. Works well for canning in my experience.

I've had rosemary grow into a damn small tree before. Hardy plant!

Edited July 3, 2022 by Jamie Jackson
spelling...

[peejman]

On 7/2/2022 at 3:26 PM, gregintenn said:

I hope you don’t mind if I ask your seed source. I got the cilantro, basil, and chives at the Dollar Store. That’s about all they had, however.

She ordered some online, from Park Seed I think.  She also got some seedlings from a local garden place. 

[Nikiski Dave]

Canned 11 jars of green beans.

[peejman]

1 hour ago, Nikiski Dave said:

Canned 11 jars of green beans.

Nice.  We got our first pot full the other day. Haven't cooked them yet though. 

[gregintenn]

The wind had it’s way with my corn last night. It blew a big tree over in the edge of the yard as well. Thank goodness it blew off the hill instead of in the yard. It would have been a job cutting that thing up.

[Jamie Jackson]

On 7/8/2022 at 10:00 AM, peejman said:

Nice.  We got our first pot full the other day. Haven't cooked them yet though. 

My green beans struggled particularly hard with this past hot dry spell. Hope it's past anyway as we've been getting  daily rain this past week.

I was only able to get about 1 pot of green beans... <sigh>  I've never had such a low production of green beans before...

I replanted bush bean and pole beans on June 22nd and they are really coming up well now. (Fingers crossed and a Prayer).

My carrots were planted in a 4x4 bed. I picked them Tuesday, only got about 3 pounds. So I purchased an additional 3 pounds and pressure canned them using a mixture of orange juice and brown sugar and this made 9 pints of quite delicious "Glazed" carrots.

The 4x8 bed I planted in okra June 22nd is coming up well also. With a lot of luck I'll be able to can some pickled okra. LOve that stuff.

 

Good luck everyone. Strange times these are.

[peejman]

On 7/8/2022 at 10:00 AM, peejman said:

Nice.  We got our first pot full the other day. Haven't cooked them yet though. 

There's few things more disappointing than a pot full of stringy green beans. Yuck.  We'll try again next time. 

[Jamie Jackson]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

There's few things more disappointing than a pot full of stringy green beans. Yuck.  We'll try again next time. 

I know that feeling, from previous experiences, it sucks.

Have you replanted beans yet?

[peejman]

8 hours ago, Jamie Jackson said:

I know that feeling, from previous experiences, it sucks.

Have you replanted beans yet?

Probably won't. We may get another pot or two from the plants. We talked about going to the farmer's market and getting some to can.