What's Growing In Your Garden? Horticultural Science

[Racoon]

:smilingsun:

seedlings starting indoors. cherry & heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, acorn squash, gourd, cantelope, jalepeno pepper, & cucumber.

 

 

 

Hey Brotha', can you spare a few seedlings ??

 

:bouquet:

[JMJones0424]

I pity you all that live in colder climates. I have just finished planting my transplants of tomatoes and peppers, and I am enjoying my first harvest of sugar snap peas. Green beans are sprouting, and curcubits and corn will be planted in a few weeks.

 

The down side, of course, is that I only have a few months left of lettuce, and a few weeks left for spinach. Shade cloth only goes so far...

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

I pity you all that live in colder climates. I have just finished planting my transplants of tomatoes and peppers, and I am enjoying my first harvest of sugar snap peas. Green beans are sprouting, and curcubits and corn will be planted in a few weeks.

 

The down side, of course, is that I only have a few months left of lettuce, and a few weeks left for spinach. Shade cloth only goes so far...

:)

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Backbreaking toil time again;)

I wonder how many years it will take until I'm not breaking my tiller, plow, and self in this cruel patch of earth.....so many rocks I removed more than 35 cu. ft. of rocks last year and this year it looks just as bad as last...no planting yet.... the soil demands it's payment in blood, pain, and sweat.

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Some good luck though I gotz a tranz and tub from a washer machine:)

I'm thinkin soil sifter first.... then composter later...all them lil holes aught allow compostin stuffs to breath nicely:) (grass clippins and whatnot)

[Turtle]

I pity you all that live in colder climates. I have just finished planting my transplants of tomatoes and peppers, and I am enjoying my first harvest of sugar snap peas. Green beans are sprouting, and curcubits and corn will be planted in a few weeks.

 

The down side, of course, is that I only have a few months left of lettuce, and a few weeks left for spinach. Shade cloth only goes so far...

 

Don't over-burden yer Texan heart a worryin' bout us Pacific Northwesters as we have mighty fine climate for apples, taters, vineyards, hops and other such good stuff as folks want to consume in mass quantities. We are from...France. :Alien: :hyper:

 

thanks for that wonderful new word, "curcubits"! :) what all are you growing exactly? how much ground do you garden? how do you use your produce?

 

this is the New Moon again so more planting for me. more radishes, a lettuce mix. now have some broccoli seeds from a friend as well as that lettuce mix and got the broccali starting inside. also started more cantalope and a couple roma tomatoes to round out my mix.

 

PS keep that machine a churnin' Double D.

 

:)

:hihi: :) ;)

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Turtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond reputeTurtle has a reputation beyond repute

 

Add to Turtle's Reputation Report Post

 

 

 

Arrow Re: What's Growing In Your Garden? Horticultural Science

Quote:

Originally Posted by JMJones0424 View Post

I pity you all that live in colder climates. I have just finished planting my transplants of tomatoes and peppers, and I am enjoying my first harvest of sugar snap peas. Green beans are sprouting, and curcubits and corn will be planted in a few weeks.

 

The down side, of course, is that I only have a few months left of lettuce, and a few weeks left for spinach. Shade cloth only goes so far...

Don't over-burden yer Texan heart a worryin' bout us Pacific Northwesters as we have mighty fine climate for apples, taters, vineyards, hops and other such good stuff as folks want to consume in mass quantities. We are from...France.

Feel free to worry bout those of us up here in the Great Lakes Region:hihi:

 

But we do have a mighty fine climate for apples, taters, vineyards (especially good), hops and other such good stuff as folks want to consume in mass quantities.

 

"curcubits"! yah what The Turtle said.

 

PS keep that machine a churnin' Double D.

 

Which one?

Me plows broken yet again so it's goin wihme to work for some TLC. (some welds and a soothing temper;))

And me tilla sitz idle....no point firin er up...all I'll make is mud....stupid rain!!!don't need ya yet!!Almost didn't make it home in time to extricate er from me gahden before the skies let loose.

[JMJones0424]

Sorry, I can't spell. It should have been cucurbit, meaning a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. In other words, cucumbers, squashes, and melons.

 

My vegetable garden is for personal use, although I grow far more than I can use fresh, so I can some (especially tomato sauce, salsa, and homemade "Rotel". I freeze quite a bit of corn, beans, and the like. The rest I give away, sometimes in trade for fresh eggs or a few pounds of grass fed beef, other times in exchange for good neighborly relations.

 

I grow corn, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, green beans, black-eyed peas (cow peas), turnips, chard, and okra from spring to late fall. During late fall through early spring I grow lettuce, spinach, and carrots. I have a small attached greenhouse that I use for lettuce growing during the summer hydroponically, and I use the house A/C to keep it cool. I recently started a few perennial beds, where I am growing asparagus, shallots, onions, and garlic. I also have an herb bed where I grow a lot of cilantro and dill for canning, and also thyme, rosemary, and sage.

 

My main garden consists of four foot wide by fifteen foot long beds, with two foot wide pathways in between. The pathways are covered in four inches of wood chips, which generally take about two years to break down into a decomposed substrate. Every winter, I remove the the top half and set aside, remove the bottom decomposed fraction and either mix with worm castings for potting media, or place on top of the beds, then replace the partially decomposed chips and top off with a new layer of wood chips. I have seeded the pathways with "winecap Stropharia" mushrooms, which helps to break down the wood chips and the mycelium has also fully colonized the growing beds. The beds consist of heavy native silty clay, liberally amended with organic matter, and topped with six inches of straw mulch to keep soil temps down, conserve moisture, and prevent weeds. I have 20 beds total, but only plant 15, and rotate every year in groups of five, so every four years a bed lays fallow. When fallowed, I just put about four inches of fresh horse manure down with a sprinkling of dolomite lime and top off with as much straw as I can get my hands on, usually around ten inches. The rest of the beds get a liberal top dress of compost after planting, or as needed. The corn is grown with Dutch white clover as a ground cover, instead of using straw mulch. I never till, nor do I remove root systems when I harvest. The garden is interspersed and surrounded by plantings of radishes, marigolds, sunflowers, citronella plants, and various other flowers to attract beneficial insects. The okra I grow seems to be particularly tasty to aphids, so they go there first, and provide a steady food source for the ladybugs that are almost always present. They only attack the leaves though, and the okra grows so fast that they don't do any major damage before the population is brought into check. I used to have problems with squash worms and caterpillars, and I would release trichogramma wasps, but this hasn't been necessary the last four years or so. I am not sure exactly what is eating the pests now, but I'm not complaining.

 

My biggest problem is soil structure, as the natural silty clay is more suitable for making adobe bricks than gardening. Over the years, I have gotten organic content up to such a level that the ground is actually spongy. The mulch layer or ground cover also protects against soil compaction from rainfall, and I of course never walk on the beds themselves. Soil pH started out at 8.4 years ago, but has stabilized at 6.8 now. I only add a small amount of dolomite lime every four years while "fallowing", otherwise, organic content is high enough to moderate pH quite well. When plants show some nutrient deficiencies, I use a foliar spray, either homemade compost tea or liquid kelp, but the soil is so fertile now that this is rarely needed anymore.

 

I spend on average probably an hour a day in the garden, and about 100 hours a year gathering materials, making compost, and preparing beds. My only expenses are seed costs and water, with the occasional bag of dolomite lime or bottle of liquid kelp.

[Turtle]

Hey Brotha', can you spare a few seedlings ??

 

:)

 

If ya get over before i put 'em all in the ground, you bet; i can spare a few. :D

 

Sorry, I can't spell. It should have been cucurbit, meaning a member of the Cucurbitaceae family. In other words, cucumbers, squashes, and melons.

 

Roger. sorry i can't read. :doh: i searched for "curcubit" and didn't notice the response corrected the spelling. :hihi:

 

My vegetable garden is for personal use, although I grow far more than I can use fresh, so I can some (especially tomato sauce, salsa, and homemade "Rotel". I freeze quite a bit of corn, beans, and the like. The rest I give away, sometimes in trade for fresh eggs or a few pounds of grass fed beef, other times in exchange for good neighborly relations.

...

I spend on average probably an hour a day in the garden, and about 100 hours a year gathering materials, making compost, and preparing beds. My only expenses are seed costs and water, with the occasional bag of dolomite lime or bottle of liquid kelp.

 

Sounds like Shangrila there! ;) Any tips on growing carrots? i don't know if it's my soil or climate, but they grow slow and small for me. :) i was thinking of trying to do my own pickles and i guess i better get some dill going. good call.:singer: do you do any dehydrating of anything? Do many of your neighbors garden too?

 

Guess that's all I got for now.

[JMJones0424]

When I hear Pacific NW, I think lots of rain. Carrots don't like to be in water-logged soil. The soil needs to be very friable, and rock free. Lots of well-composted and sifted organic matter, but no fresh manure, as this will cause forking. The root grows to full length soon after sprouting, then slowly fills out later. So if your carrots are short, it sounds like your soil may be too dense. They do grow slowly, but will grow even more slowly if they are constantly wet. I can't grow them in the summer as it is far too warm, but they survive light frosts well, and I just pop a cheap homemade little hoop greenhouse over the beds when temperatures are expected to go below 30F. If your soil doesn't drain quickly enough, you may be better off just getting a plastic tub and fill it with a light potting mix to ten inches or more. Don't forget to add plenty of drain holes. I also plant the seeds directly into a small trough (1/4 inch or so) of vermiculite to help them germinate, as this is usually the hardest part for me. I had a very hard time growing carrots the first few years, until I got the soil to a spongy texture. My carrots grow best when daytime temps are above 50F but below 85F, and nighttime temps are above 35F. Try different varieties as well, and see which grows best in your environment. I order a lot of my seeds from Territorial seed company, and I think they are in your area, so you should be able to get carrots to produce. I particularly like their sugarsnax 54 variety, as it has long, straight, thin, and sweet roots.

 

I have made my own chipotles (smoked and dried jalapeno). I keep meaning to make a solar dehydrator, but I usually just sandwich them between cheap air filters and strap these down to a box fan on low to dry them out. I have also dried poblanos this way, which then become ancho chilis. I freeze bell peppers. I once tried sun-drying tomatoes, but it didn't work out too well. I don't grow roma tomatoes or "paste" tomatoes, I think these would be more appropriate for sun drying. I haven't tried dehydrating anything else, other than the obvious black-eye peas and beans. These I let dry on the vine near the end of the season when I don't want the vines to produce anymore.

 

Most of my neighbors have a garden, and we share that which we don't grow, but I have few neighbors (I live in the sticks...) One neighbor always has a bumper crop of strawberries and blackberries that I help to scarf down... I mean harvest.

 

On your pickles, don't forget the garlic. And slip in a jalapeno or two to liven things up. Better yet, pickle okra, jalapenos, and carrots together, and leave out the cukes.

[Ganoderma]

turtle, like jones said not too dense. we grew tons of carrots in southern BC, right above olympic mountains. wasnt the rain so much as the soil type. when me loosened it more, often with peat or coco, they grew fine. not huge, but nice 7-10" taps :)

[maikeru]

Here's my garden-in-the-making and the post has a selection of what I'm growing:

 

Gardening like the Wild - Science Forums

 

However, can't finish until it's warmer... It was about 20 degrees C last week when I started, but the cold snap and snow today have halted progress.

 

I'll take pics, comment further on it after it's completed, and stuff is planted. It's a complicated project but I hope it'll require little work after construction and planting. I want a low-maintenance garden. And I want one which basically in a couple ways takes care of itself.

 

I have plans to be on the road again this spring and summer and with my gal when she visits. :friday:

[DFINITLYDISTRUBD]

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!!! It snowed again!!! we got 3" overnight so glad I ain't got nothing planted yet.:(

[JMJones0424]

Well, my green beans died, as we had a few freezing nights the last few weeks. I also lost a few tomato plants (despite my attempts to protect them from frost). The rest of the tomatoes, tomatillos, and peppers are doing alright. Replanting the beans is no problem, but replacing the tomatoes and tomatillos will take a month or six weeks for the seedlings to grow, so it is a tad bit annoying. Mother nature failed to ask me about how she should carry about her business. Guess that's why they call it gardening rather than harvesting.

[Turtle]

... Mother nature failed to ask me about how she should carry about her business. Guess that's why they call it gardening rather than harvesting.

 

:D Well said. Mom's up here in the Great Pacific Northwest mucking about as well. :eek2: They are saying cooler than normal temps all the way through June & blaming it on La Niña. Snowed yesterday down to 1,000 feet, but in 2 days they expect it to hit 80º F. :thumbs_up

 

My indoor veggie starts are getting big and wanting to play outside. :ip: :) :hyper: I have put out some tester pumpkin, zuuchini, and cucumber starts and they are in a holding pattern under cut out gallon milk-jug covers. Fingers crossed. :ud: I ate 1 small radish this week and more coming; first harvest. Lettuce is coming up as are beets, spinach, green onions, and leeks.

 

The wildflower beds are taking off and I expect to have the foxglove bloom this year as it is biennial. :bouquet: Well, back to business then.

[Turtle]

Starting from top-left, Radishes, Green Onions (not really visible in this shot, but up :) ), Spinach, Lettuce, and Beets. Under the milk jug, an Acorn Squash start. Barely in the shot top-right, my peas, and the rest in the middle is weedage. :ip:

 

My tomato starts still living in my window-sill.

 

Tomato starts I have risked to the outside; so far, so good.

 

Cool & cloudy again today; recorded 9/10 inch of rain overnight. :)

[Racoon]

Lookin' Good Turtle-san.

 

I'll be getting stuff in the ground soon. My enthusiasm is a little waned this year.

But I enjoy a bit of yard work myself. I'm glad your here to pick up my slack :D:hyper::phones: