Gardening: (2016– )

[dcarch]

43 minutes ago, HungryChris said:

I wish I had taken the time to do a better job and taken better care of the windows. They should have been stripped down and painted.

 

Frequently on Craigtslist, you can find good insulated aluminum windows all for free.

 

dcarch

[djyee100]

18 hours ago, shain said:

 

Shain, what is this? Is it something edible?

ETA: Liked the pic of your two gardening assistants, also!

Edited March 26, 2017 by djyee100 (log)

[shain]

@djyee100 Those are immature lupine pods. 

[kayb]

The first of the season's crops:

 

 

Lettuce, radishes, carrots, peas, cabbage, cucumbers. They'll go outdoors next week, presuming the garden dries out enough I can get in it.

 

The very first Roma tomato sprout:

 

 

I have a dozen of these, along with five other varieties of tomatoes and three kinds of peppers waiting to sprout, as well, and will hope to set them out in a couple of weeks.

 

 

The garden is growing this year. In the rear, there's a 8 by about 40-foot strip that will be all tomatoes. Up front is a 24 x 24 patch that will be fenced to keep out the marauding bunnies, where everything else will go. The front flower bed, another 60 square feet, is reserved for herbs, fennel and asparagus.

 

It's about 1,000 square feet of garden. A far cry from the acre and a half I tended as a kid, but it should serve to feed us bountifully this summer.

 

[chromedome]

(Sigh) Another 2 or 3 weeks before I even start any seeds. More snow last night, and another snowfall for tomorrow night. There's a reason the Victoria Day weekend (right around Memorial Day, for Americans) is our traditional planting time. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight my grape vine and blueberry arrived from Burpee.  I am totally unprepared.

 

[Okanagancook]

Pictures from the veggie garden coming up but here is the mother load pile of clippings we have awaiting a trip to the dump.  In the second picture is the pile of vine clippings from our little vineyard.   

Weather here is still got the locals grumbling 'where the heck is spring???"  The wineries are opening, it should be warm.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I got my blueberry potted up before the rain.  No such luck with the grapevine.  I tried and tied to pull up the bird-planted wild grapevine that has never, ever produced a single grape in spite of loads of lovely leaves. Reluctantly I decided the grapevine won and I would let it stay.  I hope I didn't kill it trying unsuccessfully to dig out the roots.

 

If my new bare rooted grapevine (Mars) isn't dead by the time the rain stops I'll plant it in a container where I formerly grew tomatoes.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

4 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I got my blueberry potted up before the rain.  No such luck with the grapevine.  I tried and tied to pull up the bird-planted wild grapevine that has never, ever produced a single grape in spite of loads of lovely leaves. Reluctantly I decided the grapevine won and I would let it stay.  I hope I didn't kill it trying unsuccessfully to dig out the roots.

 

If my new bare rooted grapevine (Mars) isn't dead by the time the rain stops I'll plant it in a container where I formerly grew tomatoes.

 

 

Plant bamboo near it. I used to have wild grapevines and blackberry bushes. Wildlife beat me to almost all the fruit. When the neighbor planted bamboo, it eventually ran over here, and killed both the grape and blackberry plants. My efforts to eradicate the bamboo seem to spread it faster, so I gave up. Mowing keeps the bamboo out of the yard proper.

 

Truly, I'm joking. Don't ever plant bamboo. It will run over and push out everything, even hardy stuff like established grapes and blackberries. I tried to plant muscadines at the edge of the woods where the old grapevines were. Muscadine grapes are a native plant to our area, but they had no chance against the neighbor's invasive bamboo. *Sigh.*

[kayb]

Cross your fingers. If it doesn't rain by tomorrow evening, I can get the early stuff in the ground before dark and start the next round of seedlings. A promised gullywasher of a rain bypassed us tonight.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

We're expecting about two inches of cold rain tonight.  The instructions said to water the blueberry heavily after planting.  I did not.

 

[gfweb]

On 3/29/2017 at 10:42 PM, Okanagancook said:

Pictures from the veggie garden coming up but here is the mother load pile of clippings we have awaiting a trip to the dump.  In the second picture is the pile of vine clippings from our little vineyard.   

Weather here is still got the locals grumbling 'where the heck is spring???"  The wineries are opening, it should be warm.

 

 

Beautiful property!

[Okanagancook]

Thanks.  We were lucky to find a 1.7 acre parcel with nothing on it and a lake view to boot.  Been here 12 years and love it.  That said the yard is a lot of work and can get away on you, hence the massive pruning job this year.

[gfweb]

Here's my meager plot of ramps, just sprouting. I planted about a dozen that I got from eBay last spring.

 

[shain]

 

Edited to add that those are sage flowers.

Edited March 31, 2017 by shain (log)

[gfweb]

@shain Mutant mulberry?

[shain]

@gfweb Not really, they are all very long, this one is just a little crooked. Sometimes there are also a few Y shaped berries. They just began to ripen and I have to fight the ants, because they are fond of them, and tend to find the ripe fruits first. The worst is if one happen to miss an ant on the berrie before taking a bite 

Edited March 31, 2017 by shain (log)

[HungryChris]

19 hours ago, gfweb said:

Here's my meager plot of ramps, just sprouting. I planted about a dozen that I got from eBay last spring.

 

I was just out to the ramp patch yesterday and saw that they were just breaking the surface. My first batch came from eBay as well.

I remember getting a little card saying there was a package waiting for pickup at the post office. When I went in, on my way home from work the next day, handed the card to the clerk, there was a pause and then the look of realization on her face as she declared "Oh, we delivered those!!!" I got home and discovered delivery consisted of the heavily scented package being tossed from the truck onto the middle of the front lawn. I don't think they were appreciated in the sorting room.

HC

Edited April 1, 2017 by HungryChris (log)

[Shelby]

On 3/28/2017 at 10:03 AM, kayb said:

The first of the season's crops:

 

 

Lettuce, radishes, carrots, peas, cabbage, cucumbers. They'll go outdoors next week, presuming the garden dries out enough I can get in it.

 

The very first Roma tomato sprout:

 

 

I have a dozen of these, along with five other varieties of tomatoes and three kinds of peppers waiting to sprout, as well, and will hope to set them out in a couple of weeks.

 

 

The garden is growing this year. In the rear, there's a 8 by about 40-foot strip that will be all tomatoes. Up front is a 24 x 24 patch that will be fenced to keep out the marauding bunnies, where everything else will go. The front flower bed, another 60 square feet, is reserved for herbs, fennel and asparagus.

 

It's about 1,000 square feet of garden. A far cry from the acre and a half I tended as a kid, but it should serve to feed us bountifully this summer.

 

You're doing sooooooo good!  Such a rewarding feeling and you will have so much fun this summer (eating and picking...not so much weeding lol).

 

Now, do NOT break your foot again

[HungryChris]

I decided to take my cold frame apart and make a few design improvements. In the interest of getting this season started I got this new one from Gardener's Supply Company. It came in two large boxes, but only took about 40 minutes to assemble.

 

If you look closely, you can make out the row of Black Seeded Simpson lettuce seedlings, one of my favorite lettuce varieties.

HC

Edited April 1, 2017 by HungryChris (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I got my grapevines in tonight.  I say "vines" because there were two in the package.  The roots are about two feet long.  The planter is about fourteen inches deep.

 

Sort of explains why I could not dig up the old one.

 

[kayb]

Thought I'd update y'all on the non-progress of my garden to date.

 

We have a fence:

 

 

The 24 x 24 portion is fenced. That will be where everything except tomatoes and onions go. I planned to start planting that today with transplants from my seedling trays, but Mother Nature, in the form of an unexpected rain, interfered. The fence is 32-inch "rabbit guard" wire mesh, with holes in the bottom 18 inches being 1 x 4, while the remainder is 2 x 4. I have it snugged down to the ground with landscape staples in between the posts. No. 1 daughter suggested I line the inside with landscape timbers, and I think that's an admirable idea and will do so. 

 

(I could hear my father, rest his soul, chiding me on the workmanship. It's not what he'd have done. But it's what I could manage.)

 

And none too soon, as I sat out in the back yard  yesterday with a glass of wine and watched three, count them, THREE, very fat bunnies cavorting about my neighbor's back yard and the green space that separates our rear property lines from a retirement village and assisted living facility. Damn dogs did not so much as bark. My finger itched for the trigger of my 16-gauge, but I feared the local constabulary would not take kindly to that, nor, indeed, might the neighbors.

 

Damn rabbits.

 

The rear strip, which is about 8 x 40, is reserved for tomatoes and onions. I expect I shall plant them both this weekend, although I can just hear my father's disapproving voice remonstrating with me not to plant the garden before Good Friday. But Easter's late this year, I remind myself. And we are predicted to have lows no lower than 45F from here on out.

 

Tomatoes. I HAVE tomatoes, ready to go in the ground. I tried starting them from seed, but did not get a good germination rate (roughly 50 percent) and they're VERY slow. So I've been buying them as I spot them. To date I have: Big Beef, Beefsteak and Early Girl hybrids; Roma paste tomatoes (a dozen seedlings, and I may go get more); both yellow and red cherry tomatoes; and Carolina Gold, Arkansas Traveler, Celebrity, Marglobe and Rutgers heirlooms. I think I have in the neighborhood of 40 tomato seedlings. What can I say? We LIKE tomatoes, and I plan to can a BUNCH, in a number of different iterations.

 

It was my experience last year the bunnies will not touch tomatoes, and I'm hoping the same holds true for onions. I bought Georgia Sweet onion sets, because I love a sweet onion.

 

I also laid out the fenced garden, at least on paper: Two early rows of lettuce and radishes, one of seedlings and the other sowed from seed, in the hopes of extending the season for them. One row of early peas, one of cabbage. Those to be replaced later on by okra, and possibly some kind of field peas.  One row each of pole beans, bush lima beans, eggplant, squash, zucchini and cucumbers. One row split between fennel and a few pepper plants. I may yet go back and get seedlings for broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower, none of which I have grown before, and which I believe may be better suited for cooler weather than where I am, but hey, experimentation, yes? One row each of Sugar Baby watermelons and canteloupe.

 

I probably need to find something to share the eggplant row; can't fathom I'll eat a whole row of eggplant. Ditto yellow squash and zucchini. I have, I think, waited too late to plant artichokes. I may wind up with potatoes, which I had thought about but disregarded; they may come back. Not growing corn; it's too easy and cheap to buy a bushel, and it's space-intensive.

 

The front flower bed is going into herbs and asparagus. I have asparagus seed, but am looking for crowns. I got seed, again, but probably waited too long to start it, so I have been buying seedlings when I find stuff I like. So far, parsley, cilantro, sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, two kinds of mint, dill, chives, bronze fennel (the kind that doesn't make bulbs). Badly need to find tarragon.

 

Am also looking for pimiento pepper plants, as my pepper seeds have failed to sprout. I have already gotten seedlings for sweet banana peppers (Cubanelles), red bell peppers, New Mexico peppers that, at least in the picture, LOOKED like Hatch chiles, jalapeno, and serrano. 

 

If we can stay out of a lot of rain between now and this weekend, I'll have lots of it in. The rest is to come in the next few weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

@kayb, I'm very impressed.  I struggle keeping the weeds under control in a 4 x 5 raised flower bed.

[kayb]

18 minutes ago, Smithy said:

@kayb, I'm very impressed.  I struggle keeping the weeds under control in a 4 x 5 raised flower bed.

 

Thought about that. I bought landscape fabric to put down between rows.

 

Daddy would be horrified. I, on the other hand, will enjoy a weedless garden while drinking a cup of coffee and looking at it.

[chromedome]

Does your fence extend underground? I hate to rain on your parade, but rabbits and their ilk (we get a lot of groundhogs up my way) can zip underneath a ground-level fence in the time it takes you to go inside and pour that coffee.