Gardening: 2002-2009 Seasons

[sparrowgrass]

Round-up will work (glyphosphate). If you prefer a more organic method, solarize your space.

Get enough CLEAR plastic to cover the area. Water well, stake down the plastic. The heat of the sun will kill the grass, probably rather quickly in Houston. I would think a week would do it.

The only problem I see is that it is awfully late to be starting a garden this year in Houston, but I am not a way-South gardener, so I would talk to locals/extension office about what to plant. You may want to wait and do a fall garden, which will give you lots of time to get rid of the grass.

[caribemj]

I will be using the newspaper/mulch method mentioned in the beginning of this thread. My question is, if I put the newspaper and mulch in this evening, how long before the grass is killed and the ground is ready to be tilled and planted??

FM

Why not just rent a roto tiller and tear your space up, rake and pull out what you can of the grass roots, mix your mulch in, plant your plants and then do some big time weeding this year....get something for your effort, plow it all under and cover it up for next year's garden - by which time you could also have some serious compost going? One year in Florida I wanted a garden badly, did that (roto-tilled), found a grungy old rug *cotton, not nylon!* at the dump, cut holes in it, planted in that and voila...almost weedless garden!

[Hopleaf]

Since you referenced the grass-removal part early on in this thread, I should probably mention what worked for me (I was the one asking about it). I ended up just cutting the sod out in 1-foot sections and knocking as much dirt back into the bed as possible. It proved to be the easiest solution, but our soil is very rich, which may have helped. I've been relocating some flagstone and placed the cut sod sections where the stone was. It's taken to its new spot well.

[jackal10]

Today's tasks:

Cut the grass in the herb garden

Split up chives

Take cuttings: lavender, rosemary, sage, thyme

Plant up parsely (we grow it in pots, otherwise the rabbits eat it)

Weed: shade tunnel, sweet peas, kill the bindweed round the honeysuckle

Plant out sorrel, rudbekias, leeks, celery

Cut the meadow

Water greenhouse - tomatos, lettuce

How about a "pictures of my garden" thread? Concentrate on edibles: herbs, veg?

[caribemj]

Not quite all awake this morning while watering the basil, I noticed yet another area where the chickens seemed to have shifted the dirt. But I also saw what looked very much like ginger root, half uncovered. I've never tried to grow ginger but that is exactly what it turned out to be, and there is a lot of it!

All I can figure is that some of my compost had enough ginger to get started there. I threw dirt back on it and stopped wondering why nothing seemed to grow in that corner! Now I have to read about growing ginger...anyone here with some experience doing that?

[Hopleaf]

How about a "pictures of my garden" thread? Concentrate on edibles: herbs, veg?

This is the place. Let's see what you've got.

[jackal10]

I can't make image upload work!

Here is a somewhat blurry imag: view from the study over the herb garden,

The thing on the stone pillar on the left is an armillary sundial

Garden

[Hopleaf]

Well, that didn't work either. Did you read through the Guide to Posting Images? maybe that'll help. I think your images have to actually exist on a separate web site. See if you can get it to work, it'd be great to see your herb garden.

[jackal10]

I've tried Imagestation and Yahoo. They are rejected by egullet as the URL's are not in the right format.

Any others that work?? I *really* don't want to have to put up a personal site. Imagesation nop longer allows third party access

Why can't the administrators release an upload tool?

Disk storage is cheap, and I don't believe it will eat that much extra bandwith, since the inline images are copied anyway...

Edited May 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[snowangel]

Tomatos. Stake (almost typed steak ) or cage?

I've always caged (because that was what my grandmother did), some people swear by staking.

Any benefits of one over the other?

[jackal10]

Depends if they are cordon (indeterminate) or bush (determinate) varieties.

The former go on growing, and you pinch out the side shoots, leaving a single main stem so a stake (or wire from the greenhouse frame) is better.

The latter stop and fruit, and you don't pinch them out, so they form a messier sprawl, better suited to a cage

Edited May 27, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[torakris]

I am copying this from the pickles thread:

I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week!

I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping.

Anyone have any suggestions for help with zucchini, I do know that most (if not all) of the zucchini for sale in Jaapn is grown in hot houses, could it really be two hot and humid for it?

What makes it go to rot like that?

[afoodnut]

I am copying this from the pickles thread:

I (and about 10 friends) have all tried growing zucchini here, me for the last 5 years. i have only managed to get 1 zucchini in all of those years! I have tried everything, but it tends to all rot in the middle of rainy season, which just started last week!

I have 2 plants now and they are the biggest I have gotten them and I have about 4 pinky sized zucchini, however in the past as soon as they got this big they started to rot. So I guess i will have to wait and see, it is a lot cooler this year than it usually is, so maybe that is helping.

Anyone have any suggestions for help with zucchini, I do know that most (if not all) of the zucchini for sale in Jaapn is grown in hot houses, could it really be two hot and humid for it?

What makes it go to rot like that?

Zucchini and other squash, watermelons, cucumbers (all cucurbits) really do like it to be hot and dry. Here in Colorado, the problem is almost always too much zucchini. A couple of websites that will help you identify your specific problems (many different bacterial and/or fungal diseases, as well as insects, can cause the symptoms you describe). squash Info

[melkor]

Anyone have any suggestions for help with zucchini, I do know that most (if not all) of the zucchini for sale in Jaapn is grown in hot houses, could it really be two hot and humid for it?

What makes it go to rot like that?

If your zucchini are rotting, I would try building a clear plastic cone over the plants so the rain water runs down to the ground instead of collecting on the leaves and rotting them; squash really don't like having their leaves wet. I don't think the heat is the problem for them. Just do whatever you can to keep the leaves dry and you should end up with zucchini.

Last year I made the mistake of planting a six-pack of zucchini seedlings in the garden - I ended up with more than 1,000 lbs of zucchini. They started showing up in early June and didn't stop until December; sometime in late October I found a 3' long zucchini hiding under the leaves on one of the plants and ended up carving it and putting some candles inside it for Halloween. I've still got dozens of gallon ziploc bags full of shredded zucchini in the freezer and my neighbors still hide from me when I show up at their doors with produce.

[NeroW]

This is more of a house plant question:

I've got a monster aloe plant in my apartment.

How do I get the juice out without hurting it?

[afoodnut]

This is more of a house plant question:

I've got a monster aloe plant in my apartment.

How do I get the juice out without hurting it?

If you want to use it for something like soothing a burn, you just break off one of the leaves, break it open, and apply. If by *getting the juice out* you mean juicing it, I don't know, but you can start by breaking off as many leaves as you want.

[Hopleaf]

I've tried Imagestation and Yahoo. They are rejected by egullet as the URL's are not in the right format.

Any others that work?? I *really* don't want to have to put up a personal site. Imagesation nop longer allows third party access

Why can't the administrators release an upload tool?

Disk storage is cheap, and I don't believe it will eat that much extra bandwith, since the inline images are copied anyway...

So, jackal, did you ever bring this up with a moderator? Still want to check out your garden.

[jackal10]

Nope, how do I do that?

Meantime here is a pic

click here

Yes, I must get a better camera...

Edited May 28, 2003 by jackal10 (log)

[Hopleaf]

Nope, how do I do that?

Meantime here is a pic

click here

Yes, I must get a better camera...

Just PM the Big Man (no, not God, Fat Guy). ask him to help you figure it out.

If that's the same link, it doesn't work for anyone but you. I don't think anyone has access to a yahoo photo file but the owner. Know what I mean? Did you try just quickly mocking up one of the free web pages Yahoo offers (geocities) and placing a photo there and then doing an image link on an eGullet post?

[jackal10]

Try http://profiles.yahoo.com/placeholderpix

J

[torakris]

Anyone have any suggestions for help with zucchini, I do know that most (if not all) of the zucchini for sale in Jaapn is grown in hot houses, could it really be two hot and humid for it?

What makes it go to rot like that?

If your zucchini are rotting, I would try building a clear plastic cone over the plants so the rain water runs down to the ground instead of collecting on the leaves and rotting them; squash really don't like having their leaves wet. I don't think the heat is the problem for them. Just do whatever you can to keep the leaves dry and you should end up with zucchini.

Last year I made the mistake of planting a six-pack of zucchini seedlings in the garden - I ended up with more than 1,000 lbs of zucchini. They started showing up in early June and didn't stop until December; sometime in late October I found a 3' long zucchini hiding under the leaves on one of the plants and ended up carving it and putting some candles inside it for Halloween. I've still got dozens of gallon ziploc bags full of shredded zucchini in the freezer and my neighbors still hide from me when I show up at their doors with produce.

I am so jealous!!

The problem isn't with the leaves rotting, it is with the actual zucchini rotting, I think my father said it was something like blossom rot.

[JSD]

"The problem isn't with the leaves rotting, it is with the actual zucchini rotting, I think my father said it was something like blossom rot."

This might help you

blossom end rot info

I had it on my tomatoes last year.

[melkor]

I am so jealous!!

Don't be... 500lbs of zucchini per person in the house is nothing to wish for... it makes your neighbors hate you

[torakris]

"The problem isn't with the leaves rotting, it is with the actual zucchini rotting, I think my father said it was something like blossom rot."

This might help you

blossom end rot info

I had it on my tomatoes last year.

Thank you, that is exactly what my zucchini looks like year after year!

[gsquared]

I now, officially and formally, announce that I am giving up on ever having a herb garden. Everything seems to grow with gay abandon in my garden, except herbs. Throw a dry twig into the garden, and a lush bush will spring up. Carefully and lovingly plant some herbs and the damn things forthwith wilt and die. I have been told that the garden is too shady, too this or too that. I think that it is cursed.

My garden:

Mint busily expiring: