Gardening: 2015-2016

[Martin Fisher]

I planted some Provider green bean seeds this morning with a jab planter.

My knees are in very bad shape so it makes the job MUCH easier. 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[HungryChris]

I just started using an old broom handle and hammer. I dig a little trench with a hoe then poke a little hole in the trench every three inches with the broom handle tapped with the hammer, then  drop seeds in the holes and tamp it down with the hoe. As I planted the last row, I was thinking about adding a long necked funnel to another broom handle for dropping the seed into the hole and  that there must be some devise that does it all.

HC

Edited May 31, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[ElainaA]

9 hours ago, sartoric said:

I'm no gardener (he's at his day job), but I am Australian, so I googled new big dwarf. There were many outlets selling the seeds and with a bit of digging (sorry) I'm sure you could find plants. They get rave reviews and have been around for about 6 years. 

I have read that there are actually many dwarf varieties now available, especially in Australia where 2 of the main breeders are based. Here, not so much. Neither of the seed companies that I usually use have any of the dwarf varieties available - I had to search for seeds and this is the only variety I found. I have never seen plants at any nurseries near me. Since container gardening is such a growing field i would think they would be much easier to find.

[ElainaA]

8 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Interestingly I read that a New Big Dwarf tomato has been sold for a hundred years.  Maybe some big dwarves are newer than others?

 

That is interesting. Maybe that is why this was available when none of the other varieties listed in the Dwarf Tomato Project web information are?

I did a little more research and found some seed companies that list seeds from the Dwarf Tomato Project. The one I am growing (Big New Dwarf) is not listed. The Australian influence is made very clear in the names- for example,  Kangaroo Paw, Sweet Adelaide, Kookaburra Crackle, Tasmanian Chocolate. The earliest seed releases I am seeing is 2012. I think it very strange that these have not made it into major seed suppliers such as Johnny's .

[ElainaA]

@DiggingDogFarm, @HungryChris  I can really empathize with knee issues. A friend who has something between a large garden and a small farm has most of her beds in circular containers used here by dairy farmers for watering cows - about 2 - 3 ft. high and 4-5 ft. in diameter. They are filled with a mix of compost (free from the county compost heap - luckily she has a retired husband with a shovel and a pickup truck) and soil. So she gardens standing up. As my knees get older and older I am increasingly jealous.

Edited May 31, 2016 by ElainaA (log)

[Shelby]

Stunning, Elaina!  

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It's hard to see how one could go wrong growing Mountain Magic, as long as you don't mind what are called salad size tomatoes.  Beefsteak these are not.

[liuzhou]

@ElainaA That's not a garden! That's a farm! 

[ElainaA]

I meant to post this with my other garden pictures - this is the herb garden. I also have a container just outside a door with some herbs (rosemary, thyme, marjoram, mint) for easy access. I tired putting parsley in either the container or the herb garden but it turned out to be woodchuck candy - now it is in the fenced gaarden.

 

 

[Shelby]

I don't wanna post my pictures after Elaina!!  I love your herb garden.  I wish I could do something like that here....but I'm too lazy and it gets too hot lol.

 

 

I spent a few hours yesterday putting up some support fences for my peas and pole beans.  I have never planted pole beans and I am just tickled pink with them already--even if they don't make a single bean lol.  I was done with the fences around oh 11:30 or so.  Then I weeded for a while and then went back inside.  Around 5 p.m. I went back out to make sure the fences were doing ok.  The beans had already wrapped themselves around the supports!  I was blown away (yes, I am easily entertained lol).  If I had been sitting outside I could have seen them do it.  Anyway, I thought it was neat.

 

 

 

Volunteer cilantro and dill are all over.  I sure wish they wouldn't go to seed so quickly.

 

 

Onions

 

 

Peas

 

 

I planted waaaaaay to many cucumbers I don't know what the hell I was thinking.  

 

 

Okra are coming up well--I have a lot of those, too.  

 

 

Two eggplants

 

 

Collards

 

Pepper patch

 

 

Brussels sprouts.  Excuse the white powder on everything--Sevin dust for bugs.  OH and the red powder is ground up dried hot peppers to keep the rabbits off.  Seems to be working!

 

 

Lettuce patch

 

 

I'm not showing the tomatoes...they do seem to be perking up a bit.  Ronnie bought about 40 more plants from someone yesterday for  $1 a piece.  They are BIG and are needing to be planted.  I'm just waiting a bit to see how many of ours pull through.  So, we will have somewhere between 40 and 90 'maters.  But they will be late...hopefully they grow fast and catch up.  Also not showing watermelon, cantaloupe and lots of zucchini and yellow squash.

 

And, over the top of our new septic system, I threw the pumpkins from last year so I have a huge pumpkin patch going

 

That's the late spring update from Shelby's place  

[KennethT]

Cilantro doesn't like heat, and bolts when it gets to hot.  Try some shade cloth (or put it in a pot and grow it in a windowsill in the AC!)....  also, you can seek out slow bolting varieties -I haven't tried them, but have heard positive results.

[ElainaA]

@Shelby  Wow! That's very impressive and makes my garden look mini. I don't know how you take care of all that - and then process the crops. The climate trade offs are interesting to me. You get a much earlier start and, I would guess a longer fall growing season (We sometimes have frost in late September, almost always by mid October) but you also have MUCH hotter summers which must be good for some crops but bad for others. Have you ever grown artichokes? Nurseries here often have plants. I've tried them several times but only once with any edible success - I think our growing season is just too short.

Wishing your tomatoes a speedy recovery.

[Shelby]

11 minutes ago, ElainaA said:

@Shelby  Wow! That's very impressive and makes my garden look mini. I don't know how you take care of all that - and then process the crops. The climate trade offs are interesting to me. You get a much earlier start and, I would guess a longer fall growing season (We sometimes have frost in late September, almost always by mid October) but you also have MUCH hotter summers which must be good for some crops but bad for others. Have you ever grown artichokes? Nurseries here often have plants. I've tried them several times but only once with any edible success - I think our growing season is just too short.

Wishing your tomatoes a speedy recovery.

Your garden is definitely not mini!  I just do a bit at a time.  I weed at least twice a week--should do more.  When it starts getting hotter I'll weed every day in the morning.  We usually get a frost by mid to late October, too.  September is usually nice, but it isn't the same as July and August for tomatoes.  I've never tried to grow artichokes.  I love to eat 'em...but I can't recall ever seeing the plants around here.

[HungryChris]

Radishes are just about in their prime. I only recently heard about cooking the tops like spinach and am looking forward to trying that.

HC

[Shelby]

Gorgeous radishes.  

[heidih]

I pulled my radishes last week cuz they were woody/thin but the tops were great in a soup. I like bitter and mixing with carrots balanced that. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Enough strawberries tonight to bring into the house...but why bother?

 

In other news I managed to pinch the top out of one of my four tomato plants.

[Okanagancook]

Mystery plants in the compost bin!  I think they are a squash, maybe hubard or perhaps butternut seeing that is what we ate last fall.  Maybe I should murder a few of them....it looks like there are five in there.

[Shelby]

Yes, I think squash, too.  Don't murder them lol!

[KennethT]

So as much as I like my hydro window garden trough, I have to admit that it has a certain flaw.  It is definitely not meant to grow many different types of plants - especially those species that are more or less invasive.  Pictured below is the trough with only 4 types of plants - so far (the two types of cilantro are almost ready to join them). From the left is Genovese Basil ( recently harvested), yu choi (harvested about once a week), rau ram (trimmed just this afternoon) and thai basil (in need of a haircut).  The problem is that the rau ram roots extend from the plant, weave their way through the  yu choi roots, and extend all the way to the genovese basil on the left!  It's not a big deal right now as I don't harvest any of the plants completely, but if I ever wanted to, or wanted to remove a plant, it would be practically impossible without damaging the other roots.

[IndyRob]

This topic seems to have grown some legs since just November.  It makes me wonder if there shouldn't be a gardening forum.

 

I actually found it while trying to find answers a couple of specific questions but it seems like questions about, say, basil or arugula could better be put in their own threads - regardless of years.

[ElainaA]

Well, in this thread rather than a forum, if you have questions about basil or arugula, I grow both. So just ask.

[Fava]

I gave up many years ago growing vegetables in our yard, we simply have too many critters around! So forget growing Tomatoes for the Groundhogs, or Lettuce for the three Rabbits, which seem to have taken up permanent residence. There are Raccoons and whatever else. Last Winter into early Spring four Deer camped out repeatedly next to our small pond.

I do like to use fresh herbs, so I simply place a few pots with herbs right on the banister next to the kitchen door, that is a safe spot!

 

[Fava]

We also love Elderberries and different types of Currants, red and black.

We have access to wild Elderberries, but getting the timing right when to pick them, is tough. Once every couple of years we get enough berries together to make a nice batch of thick delicious syrup or Jelly.  So, last Spring I planted some Currants and also two small Elderberry bushes into our backyard.

I am really happy, I see some fruit on the Currants, the Elderberries look much better than expected after one year, the bushes grew very well and both are blooming. Hopefully, having them nearby, I can time the harvest a lot more accurately. 

[Wayne]

 

Again it's nice to see everyone's gardens progressing.

 

I've returned from an annual fishing trip in blackfly country to find things transformed. I had someone water while I was away but with strict instructions NOT to weed (last time my coriander got weeded).

 

I would classify my gardening style as freeform square foot gardening

 

First photo is the larger of the two garlic beds:

 

 

The first garlic scapes are emerging. I usually roast these as you would asparagus or add them to a stir fry but this year I plan on doing a lacto-ferment with some.

 

 

This bed clockwise from bottom left: bok choy, spring onions, mixed romaine varieties, tarragon, white onions, kale, collards, beans and at the extreme bottom right one of four scotch bonnet peppers. The bok choy will soon be replaced by beans.

 

 

This photo shows some companion planting: tomatoes in the back (staked), basil, flat leaf parsley, garlic chives, a few white onions, and some beets and lettuce in the foreground.

 

 

I stopped harvesting asparagus two weeks ago, I planted some of last years seeds to extend the bed and those are coming up in the foreground.

 

 

Yard long beans and pickling cucumbers almost ready to start climbing:

 

 

This bed from bottom left clockwise: beans, dill, beets, kolrabi and white onions. Unseen in the center is a late planting of lettuce which will be reasonably well shaded.

 

 

May has been extremely dry this year. Yesterday we had our long awaited and needed deluge. Things should really progress this week.