Garden Thread #2

Chubbs

Can't find my garden thread so starting new one. 

Got my tomatoes from seed nice and healthy. Introducing them to sun this week and planting this weekend. 

Also have peppers, zukes, squash, snap peas, green beans, sun flowers, okra, carrots, watermelon going. 

fishlessman

i got a good start last fall, a nursery dropped off a load of really good composted mulch in my driveway, really black stuff loaded with sea urchin and crushed mussel shells, i did not order it and they didnt want to pick it up i thinned out the blueberry bushes this year so next year they will start harvesting big time. apple trees in my kitchen have 2 inch apples on them already. i think the fruit growers in the area are going to have a bad year, theres flowers on the fruit trees now and its about a month too early, we dont even plant the gardens til memorial day

northGAcock

@Chubbs  ....You sure you were working the leader board? I am thinking you might have really been working with the grounds crew over their at AN. 

Mickey

Very nice. We gave up to the deer. He was looking in the bedroom window and they eat everything  

northGAcock

Mickey said:

Very nice. We gave up to the deer. He was looking in the bedroom window and they eat everything  

What you need is a silencer. 

gdenby

Weather has been up and down for weeks. 1st too cold, then 10 - 15 degrees to warm, the back to snow cover for 3 days.

But I have some spinach and lettuce starts on the windowsill under an LED grow light. Should get some peas into the ground in the next few days.

I managed to start a ginger plant in January. Its growing like crazy, the 1st stalk is 30" high, with another starting. I may have to transplant it even before I can take it outside. My reading indicates that it takes about 10 months to reach harvest. At the rate its growing, if I can separate the rhizome successfully in the fall, I shouldn't have to buy any more from the market again.

JohnnyTarheel

Put my tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and peppers in containers to toughen up and grow some. Will plant first week of May here in Charlotte. 

HoustonEgger

Just moved in last year - so this is the first year in these beds. Built them myself and used the old patio pavers for the walkway. Vertical garden was made from old trellis from the previous owners and $.99 cent containers from Ikea - just finished that this weekend and already lost 2 plants to the squirrels 


Bed #1:

Left to right:

Back row: 

Green beans on trellis

Cherry tomatoes

Beefsteak tomatoes 3x

Matts pride tomatoes

Lemon boy tomatoes

San Marzano tomatoes 2x

Eggplant

Middle row:

Marigolds and lilies

Sun gold tomatoes

Early girl tomatoes 2x

Jumbo red tomatoes 2x

Sweet 100 tomatoes

Yellow bell pepper

Front row:

Thai and Genoese basil

Bush beans

Swiss chard

Draws blue kale

Multi color carrots

Radish

Green onion

Sage

Large Bed #2

Left to right: 

Back row -

Eggplant

Sugar snap peas

Large cayenne pepper

Red savina pepper

Eds carolina reaper pepper

Orange habanero 2x

Hot rod hybrid pepper

Eggplant

Middle row: 

Green bell pepper

Red bell pepper 2x

Biker billy jalapeño 2x

Big Jim new Mexico pepper

Poblano pepper 

Marigolds and lilies 

Front row:

Curly basil

Radish

Mesclun 

Purple kale

Bush beans

Chives

Swiss chard 

Yellow zucchini

Middle Bed has a variety of zucchini & herbs. Potato box is all Yukon golds - looks like I'll need to build a taller box soon!

pinballLooking

I have a passive solar greenhouse with an Aquaponics garden. Here are my 5’ tall tomatoes.

I have some peppers, strawberries, lettuce and romaine lettuce more coming soon.

BigWader

@houstonegger did you build those raised beds from plans?  Are the insides lined to protect the metal sheets?  Your set up looks like it could be in a magazine.

northGAcock

HoustonEgger said:

Just moved in last year - so this is the first year in these beds. Built them myself and used the old patio pavers for the walkway. Vertical garden was made from old trellis from the previous owners and $.99 cent containers from Ikea - just finished that this weekend and already lost 2 plants to the squirrels 

All I can say is wow. Beautiful.

Legume

We planted early here with the mild winter, already starting to see tomatoes.

Chubbs

Nice @HoustonEgger! Beautiful setup. 

Good start @Legume - yeah I am late getting ground this year. Kinda glad with the 35 degree mornings last week. Grow boxes and table are getting full. 

Chubbs

@northGAcock -- haha. Yeah I was there. Fortunately the plants got a nice watering before I left. Few years ago I lost a few plants during masters week. No bueno

fishlessman

any one here use cold frame gardens, might try it this year to see if i can keep it going thru the winter in maine. the kale in the raised beds made it so a cold frame might work with some items, hoping maybe on herbs

HoustonEgger

BigWader said:

@houstonegger did you build those raised beds from plans?  Are the insides lined to protect the metal sheets?  Your set up looks like it could be in a magazine.

@BigWader - I made the plans myself based on the spacing that I had available. The inside of the sheet metal are not lined, but I did caulk all of the seams and screws on the inside for extra protection. The framing is all cedar 2x4's that I ripped down - even the grids, which I made from scraps of the original build. 

Next step is to build an egg table that matches...

HoustonEgger

Same box as @Legume - I planted super early this year. I think the first tomatoes went in late Feb. Started all beans, peas, cucumbers and zucchini from seed middle of March.

Ordered most of my peppers from ChilePlants.com and got those in 2 weekends ago. Next year I will start most everything from seed - didn't have the time this year with building the beds.

Strawberry garden was an afterthought - just did that last weekend.

chrisc133

I have to use earth boxes and have limited areas that get sun...but I planted about a month before masters this year and have the jalapeños, squash and zucchini already coming in. 

HDmstng

Very cool beds.  I'm looking to put one in this spring.  Did you rip down the corrugated metal?  Most I've found is 39" wide, so you could get 19.5" tall beds if you ripped it lengthwise?  Are they strong with the ridges horizontal?  My plan is for one bed that is 16' x 2' x 2' using cedar with 4x4 corners for fence posts (have to keep the deer out) and have a hybrid raised bed/in ground garden.

E-ville Egg

Started seeds yesterday. Here in Michigan the earliest I can plant is Memorial Day. I started seeds a little earlier (1st of April) last year and they got a little too big inside. Peas will go in ground as soon as I get a load of dirt. 

tarheelmatt

HoustonEgger said:

Just moved in last year - so this is the first year in these beds. Built them myself and used the old patio pavers for the walkway. Vertical garden was made from old trellis from the previous owners and $.99 cent containers from Ikea - just finished that this weekend and already lost 2 plants to the squirrels 


Bed #1:

Left to right:

Back row: 

Green beans on trellis

Cherry tomatoes

Beefsteak tomatoes 3x

Matts pride tomatoes

Lemon boy tomatoes

San Marzano tomatoes 2x

Eggplant

Middle row:

Marigolds and lilies

Sun gold tomatoes

Early girl tomatoes 2x

Jumbo red tomatoes 2x

Sweet 100 tomatoes

Yellow bell pepper

Front row:

Thai and Genoese basil

Bush beans

Swiss chard

Draws blue kale

Multi color carrots

Radish

Green onion

Sage

Large Bed #2

Left to right: 

Back row -

Eggplant

Sugar snap peas

Large cayenne pepper

Red savina pepper

Eds carolina reaper pepper

Orange habanero 2x

Hot rod hybrid pepper

Eggplant

Middle row: 

Green bell pepper

Red bell pepper 2x

Biker billy jalapeño 2x

Big Jim new Mexico pepper

Poblano pepper 

Marigolds and lilies 

Front row:

Curly basil

Radish

Mesclun 

Purple kale

Bush beans

Chives

Swiss chard 

Yellow zucchini

Middle Bed has a variety of zucchini & herbs. Potato box is all Yukon golds - looks like I'll need to build a taller box soon!

Who the hell you think you are, Pintrest?  

Dang what a setup.  

HoustonEgger

@HDmstng Yes - I used a grinder with a metal cutting wheel to rip them down. The long beds are 8ft long - so I just bought 8ft by 2ft sheets. They are actually 29" wide, so I ripped about 5 inches off each and then simply cut the shorter supports in half.  Very sturdy - I can sit on it or stand and doesn't budget or even wiggle. 

johnmitchell

I just picked these really healthy looking rosemary bushes up from our local Costco.. $ 19,00 per bush.. They smell great, and will get planted this weekend..

gdenby

fishlessman said:

any one here use cold frame gardens, might try it this year to see if i can keep it going thru the winter in maine. the kale in the raised beds made it so a cold frame might work with some items, hoping maybe on herbs

I've been using a small cold frame for a couple of years. Harvested celery in December.  Late season spinach in January. Last year, picked my last cabbage for Christmas. Parsley appears to be indestructible. Made it easier to dig carrots thru the whole winter. They are getting woody now, so the remnant will be let go for seed.

I grew kale years ago, no cover or raised beds and it lasted until late November, so I would suppose a frame would extend the season to maybe February around here. By that time, there's enough snow that its not the cold, but lack of light, and the frame lid frozen shut that causes problems.

Much to my surprise, one celery plant that I cropped to the ground, but left under a plastic milk carton is re-sprouting. Wonder if it will taste OK or be very bitter.

GregW

I haven't had a lot of luck growing tomatoes in my raised bed. The bed id 4 Ft x 10 Ft.
Having only one bed prevents crop rotation. This quickly leads to disease problems. Blight is particularly bad.
I've tried to minimize the blight problem by planting disease resistant varieties, however that is only partially effective.
The key to disease control is crop rotation.

I've been thinking of going to hydroponic's for my tomatoes.
  

egger ave

we have 2 growing seasons in this part Texas, fall and spring. Tomatoes quit setting fruit when avg temp is above 85 degrees which is about mid to late June. Summer heat and lack of rain kills everything in the plot except Okra and some peppers. My spring garden went in about 3 weeks ago. Had some cold nights but no frost. Tomatoes, tomatillos, 4 varieties of peppers. herbs grow like weeds for me with little or no attention.
Planted the fall garden last September and had veggies until New Years. The loquat tree did well this year, picked 30lbs of fruit and shared with neighbors and the birds. Late freeze got the loquats last year.

Chubbs

egger ave said:

Summer heat and lack of rain kills everything in the plot except Okra and some peppers. 


 add drip irrigation. Mine cost maybe $100 and water every other day without me doing anything. I grow all summer in Columbia heat. Well over 100 before heat index. Water is key

NC_Egghead

@HoustonEgger, nice set up. 

I've been fighting the deer and rabbits for the past few seasons. Rabbits are jumping over the low chicken wire "fence" I rigged around my beans. I have to put up 7' tall netting to keep the deer out. I enjoy my vegetable garden but those varmints are getting the best of me. Oh yeah, the birds too! I was eyeballing this jug of deer and rabbit repellent at Costco the other day. Looks like it's a crystal-like product you sprinkle on the ground, sorta like fire ant killer. I could put it outside the perimeter of the garden so there's no worries about what I'm eating. According to the instructions, the animals don't like the smell so they move away from it. Just wondering how effective it could be and if it's a better mousetrap than what I've got going on now. I'm trying to not have to put up both a 3' chicken wire fence AND the 7' nylon netting. It's a real pita! Anyone have any experience with this product or something similar? 

My ultimate solution would be to have a pet mountain lion but I haven't seen any on Amazon lately!

Fred19Flintstone

We built some benches last year for some lightweight gardening.  I think we'll build another for herbs.  We learned a lot and will apply that to improve this year's garden.  This is from last year.

Chubbs

NC_Egghead said:

@HoustonEgger, nice set up. 

I've been fighting the deer and rabbits for the past few seasons. Rabbits are jumping over the low chicken wire "fence" I rigged around my beans. I have to put up 7' tall netting to keep the deer out. I enjoy my vegetable garden but those varmints are getting the best of me. Oh yeah, the birds too! I was eyeballing this jug of deer and rabbit repellent at Costco the other day. Looks like it's a crystal-like product you sprinkle on the ground, sorta like fire ant killer. I could put it outside the perimeter of the garden so there's no worries about what I'm eating. According to the instructions, the animals don't like the smell so they move away from it. Just wondering how effective it could be and if it's a better mousetrap than what I've got going on now. I'm trying to not have to put up both a 3' chicken wire fence AND the 7' nylon netting. It's a real pita! Anyone have any experience with this product or something similar? 

My ultimate solution would be to have a pet mountain lion but I haven't seen any on Amazon lately!

Try Milorganite. You can get a bag for $12 from big box store. Natural fertilizer but deer hate smell of it. 

Legume

@egger ave I don't live far from you.  Those galvanized tanks I have planted are on the west side of our house against a white brick wall.  It gets stupid hot there with the reflected heat and we can either grow tomatoes the whole summer through, or replant in July and get a second season.  Last year we let them go all year and they produced all summer and got to about 6'

We have them on drip, water every other AM as @Chubbs mentioned and we only grow small varieties of tomatoes, so they're not sitting there on the plant forever.  Drip works well for us.