What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[Astronuc]

Anyone have any idea what this is? I found it growing in my eaves trough (I know, I should clean it out more often), and thought it looked nice.

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If I don't clean the gutters, I may find maple tree seedlings growing near the down spouts.

It looks like a typical lawn weed.

 

[lisab]

Anyone have any idea what this is? I found it growing in my eaves trough (I know, I should clean it out more often), and thought it looked nice.

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I grew up in California, where those grew everywhere. We used to thread one of the needle things through another one, to make "scissors". But I have no idea what the name is, sorry!

 

[turbo]

We got a little over an inch of rain, and the level of my backyard pond jumped a foot. Apparently, my property is the recipient of groundwater from lots of uphill acreage.

 

[OmCheeto]

Anyone have any idea what this is? I found it growing in my eaves trough (I know, I should clean it out more often), and thought it looked nice.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1295/1003973o.th.jpg

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Looks a bit like http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/WEEDS/profile_herbrobert.shtml". But I may be mistaken. There appear to be about 12 billion variations of wild geranium.

I actually have something almost identical that covered most of my garden this year. This is why I spent the last two hours trying to figure out what it is. Most of it has died off from the heat and lack of moisture in the last month.

I'm tending to lean towards a definite positive identification on mine being Stinky Bob after reading the article.

Herb Robert is a branching, low growing winter and spring annual. It has light green leaves that are deeply dissected and release a pungent odor making this plant easy to recognize. As the plants mature the foliage turns red. This red color is very noticable under bright light conditions. The stems are highly pubescent, have multiple forks, and are brittle at the joints.

ps. My neighbor has it growing in his gutters also. Ah! I think I see a couple of little maple trees too.

 

[Astronuc]

Looks a bit like http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/WEEDS/profile_herbrobert.shtml". But I may be mistaken. There appear to be about 12 billion variations of wild geranium.

I actually have something almost identical that covered most of my garden this year. This is why I spent the last two hours trying to figure out what it is. Most of it has died off from the heat and lack of moisture in the last month.

I'm tending to lean towards a definite positive identification on mine being Stinky Bob after reading the article.

It definitely looks like a type of wild geranium, possibly Herb Bob (Geranium robertianum) or a variant thereof, is a possibility. It also resembles Geranium carolinianum - http://www.aragriculture.org/horticulture/ornamentals/weed_id/geranium_carolina.htm

See Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) on http://share3.esd105.wednet.edu/rsandelin/fieldguide/Plantpages/Flowers/Redflwers.htm

 

[turbo]

We are inundated with zucchinis. Luckily my wife has a friend that will take LOTS of them to grind up and freeze for making zucchini bread this winter. No matter how few plants I put in, we always seem to get more than we want or need.

 

[turbo]

The garden is producing very well this year unlike the last two marginal summers. On this end of the basket are Mariana tomatoes, with Moskvich tomatoes at the other end, partially covered by northern pickling cucumbers. I'm making sauce of the Marianas right now and will sauce the Moskviches later (I need to get another good copper-clad stew-pot so I can do two batches at once). This is typical of a day's production. I'll be able to get about the same volume of ripe tomatoes daily from now until the Marianas give up. The Moskviches are indeterminate tomatoes and will continue to provide ripe fruit daily until frost. The plants are loaded with green tomatoes, and they ripen gradually over weeks and weeks, unlike most determinate varieties that tend to swamp you with fruit and then peter out rapidly.

 

[turbo]

I have invested $45 with Amazon, to get a copper-clad 8-quart stock-pot made by Revere. The "pro-level" cookware is just ridiculous, and the "celebrity-chef" stuff is at least 2x what you have to pay for good serviceable cookware. Revere's copper-skinned bottoms make their SS pots heat up quite consistently, and they last for decades! I'm not going to pay >$300/pot for All-Clad stuff. Top-quality cutlery is one thing I won't skimp on, but there are pots and pans available to home cooks that are fairly-priced and very effective. My mother and grandmother both swore by copper-bottomed Revere-Ware, and they are my culinary heroes.

 

[Astronuc]

I have invested $45 with Amazon, to get a copper-clad 8-quart stock-pot made by Revere. The "pro-level" cookware is just ridiculous, and the "celebrity-chef" stuff is at least 2x what you have to pay for good serviceable cookware. Revere's copper-skinned bottoms make their SS pots heat up quite consistently, and they last for decades! I'm not going to pay >$300/pot for All-Clad stuff. Top-quality cutlery is one thing I won't skimp on, but there are pots and pans available to home cooks that are fairly-priced and very effective. My mother and grandmother both swore by copper-bottomed Revere-Ware, and they are my culinary heroes.

I think we have or had some Revere-Ware with copper bottoms.

My habaneros, jalapeños, Carribean hot and Czech black peppers have numerous flowers and fruit. They got off to a slow start this summer, but they seem to be making up for lost time. Unfortunately, I have about 4 weeks before the weather becomes cool and the plants stop producing.

This summer has been rather dry and the plant growth has been stunted. A nearby crop of corn is half the height it should be. I'm guessing the farmer decided it wasn't worth irrigating.

 

[turbo]

This summer has been rather dry and the plant growth has been stunted. A nearby crop of corn is half the height it should be. I'm guessing the farmer decided it wasn't worth irrigating.

Or didn't have the facilities to irrigate. Some of the corn-fields on bottom-land along the river are producing marginally, but most corn-fields (including those needed for chopped silage for dairy cows) are burnt and dead. The drought this summer will spell big trouble for already-stressed dairy farms, and I'm afraid that some of the locals will have to go out of business. Already, one small operation along Rte. 201 (where my trucker used to pick up all his rotted manure) has folded, and the barn is being torn down. The land is going to be partitioned off for a development. Sad.

 

[turbo]

My wife's flower-gardens are growing. Before last weekend, the walkways and small border-beds were just plain lawn. Caution: wide panorama shot.

 

[Evo]

My wife's flower-gardens are growing. Before last weekend, the walkways and small border-beds were just plain lawn. Caution: wide panorama shot.

They turned out great turbo!

 

[turbo]

We scorched the grass with a propane torch before casting the pavers, so they would "bed-in" more evenly. Now to figure out how to border the walks and fill the spaces between the pavers.

 

[Evo]

We scorched the grass with a propane torch before casting the pavers, so they would "bed-in" more evenly. Now to figure out how to border the walks and fill the spaces between the pavers.

Under stepping stones I would put down the extra heavy black plastic, then fill in with a dense dirt/gravel. Makes picking any weeds that do manage to spring up very easy to pull.

 

[turbo]

Under stepping stones I would put down the extra heavy black plastic, then fill in with a dense dirt/gravel. Makes picking any weeds that do manage to spring up very easy to pull.

Currently, the plan is to fill the gaps with coarse sand, and border the walks with small screened stone. That way, there is no need to pull weeds - just a few minutes every couple of weeks to burn out any weeds with the torch. 1M btu/hr flame, and weeds just disappear.

 

[lisab]

Currently, the plan is to fill the gaps with coarse sand, and border the walks with small screened stone. That way, there is no need to pull weeds - just a few minutes every couple of weeks to burn out any weeds with the torch. 1M btu/hr flame, and weeds just disappear.

Boiling water works too.

 

[turbo]

I'm going to go to my friend's gravel/sand screening plant this afternoon and pick out some material. I'm thinking pea-stone with coarse sand would work very well. Spread it on the pavers, sweep it to drive it into the cracks, and the stones that are too large to go in the cracks can be swept off the pavers to form borders for the paths. He has so many piles of stuff there from various custom-screening projects that there is bound to be something that will suit my purposes.

 

[turbo]

The sand/pea-stone mix is perfect. Once the rain settles it, I'll add more to the low spots. Eventually, there will be no grass on the front lawn, just flowering plants, trees, and mulch.

 

[Astronuc]

The sand/pea-stone mix is perfect. Once the rain settles it, I'll add more to the low spots. Eventually, there will be no grass on the front lawn, just flowering plants, trees, and mulch.

Nice job!

Meanwhile, my jalapeño and habanero plants are full of flowers and fruit. The habaneros have clusters of peppers - all green. And there's dozens more flowers!

 

[turbo]

Nice job!

Meanwhile, my jalapeño and habanero plants are full of flowers and fruit. The habaneros have clusters of peppers - all green. And there's dozens more flowers!

Good luck with the chilies! The weather is turning colder here, and I may have to use my chilies green AGAIN!

 

[Evo]

The garden is beautiful turbo! Really turned out well.

 

[turbo]

The garden is beautiful turbo! Really turned out well.

Thanks. It's a work in progress. I look forward to never mowing the front lawn ever again.

 

[rhody]

The sand/pea-stone mix is perfect. Once the rain settles it, I'll add more to the low spots. Eventually, there will be no grass on the front lawn, just flowering plants, trees, and mulch.

turbo,

Nice job, https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2877379&postcount=2478", after what I am sure was lots of hard work, what is that nice granite stone (it is granite, right ?) to the right ? From a grist mill perhaps ?

It's is hard to believe, but after two years of trying I got a few late season ghost (bhut jolokia) peppers, first image, the second one is of multi-color ornamental peppers (non-edible). I may grow more of these to maturity and give a few to friends as gifts, house-warmings, etc... I have six more ghost pepper plants germinating, funny too, in the winter, they germinate in eight days, in the summer it is more like twelve, same conditions too, heat mat, 85 degrees F, and given time and care they will mature.

No more plants from the grower in Florida I am afraid though, every plant he sold me eventually developed bugs, and/or disease, whereas mine if kept away from his did just fine. His plants took a few of mine with his as well.

Rhody...

 

[Borek]

Those ornamental ones look a little bit like what I have here under the name Ecuador purple - but these are edible. See this post: https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2839212&postcount=2414 - upper picture, pepper on the right.

 

[turbo]

turbo,

Nice job, https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2877379&postcount=2478", after what I am sure was lots of hard work, what is that nice granite stone (it is granite, right ?) to the right ? From a grist mill perhaps ?Rhody...

Thanks! My wife is the one with the vision. It's up to me to execute the ideas. That "stone" is a concrete ball given to us by a friend.

Congrats on your chilies.

 

[rhody]

Those ornamental ones look a little bit like what I have here under the name Ecuador purple - but these are edible. See this post: https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2839212&postcount=2414 - upper picture, pepper on the right.

Borek,

From the pics I have seen of the ones I grew, they always appear to keep their peppers facing up, like in my picture. After they mature, I will take a bite of one and report, but I don't think they are the same species. The little suckers were not easy to find. They look like Christmas lights to me. I think it is cool they express in different colors too.

edit:

I just looked them up in my pepper book, it says they are Capsicum annuum, 'NuMex Twilight', and in the picture, very bushy mature plant they are all small, like the ones in my picture and growing up instead of hanging down.

Rhody...

 

[Borek]

Mine do grow up, unfortunately there are several different peppers on the picture so they can be confusing. They are about an inch long, they have the same colors (purple/yellow/red when ripe), just the shape is slightly different, yours look like they are thinner.

 

[turbo]

The garden is taking over my life right now. I needed a break from saucing tomatoes, so I took a big bag of nice ripe Moskvich tomatoes to a neighbor who has no garden. He might plant a garden next year - he's been complaining about the cost of tomatoes and other produce in the stores. Once he tastes these tomatoes, he'll really have something to complain about - as Guy Clark sings "There's two things that money can't buy. And that's true love and home-grown tomatoes.:

 

[Astronuc]

Did the Garlic Festival today.

I bought some Music garlic and some hot/spicy Riesig garlic.

Four large bulbs are on their way to you, turbo.

The Riesig are from Gillie Brook Farm in Memphis, NY, which is just west of Syracuse.
http://www.gilliefarms.com/index.html

I think I'm going to go buy a truck load of their soil.

 

[Evo]

Did the Garlic Festival today.

I bought some Music garlic and some hot/spicy Riesig garlic.

Four large bulbs are on their way to you, turbo.

The Riesig are from Gillie Brook Farm in Memphis, NY, which is just west of Syracuse.
http://www.gilliefarms.com/index.html

I think I'm going to go buy a truck load of their soil.

I wish I could have gone. We don't have any garlic festivals here.

 

[Astronuc]

I wish I could have gone. We don't have any garlic festivals here.

I thought about you while browsing the different vendors of garlic. There were also folks selling various spicy/hot sauces and jellies. We bought some ginger-wasabi sauce. I tried somebody's hottest sauce, but it was too mild and rather salty.

I don't think you would have liked the weather - it was hot, nearly 90F, and sunny, and crowded. Some people looked like they got too much sun, and couple of folks were probably close to heat stroke.

Anyway, they did have a couple of great bands. One band played some blues and rock. They did some stuff that sounded like Jesse Colin Young and one piece sounded like Santana from the 70s. And one guy played a hammered dulcimer! I heard him tune it up, and even that sounded great!

Now there are other festivals that are less crowded, including one in Bennington.

 

[turbo]

Did the Garlic Festival today.

I bought some Music garlic and some hot/spicy Riesig garlic.

Four large bulbs are on their way to you, turbo.

The Riesig are from Gillie Brook Farm in Memphis, NY, which is just west of Syracuse.
http://www.gilliefarms.com/index.html

I think I'm going to go buy a truck load of their soil.

Ooh! thanks, Astro! I'll have to see if I can get a sustainable crop going and "spread the joy". Once you've got enough garlic to save for seed and enough to eat, it's fun to get others on the same path. Al and I each grow Russian and German hard-neck garlic, and dedicate enough space to garlic to propagate extra every year.

My organic-gardening neighbor got me started growing garlic when we moved up here, and as soon as I got sufficient harvests (2nd year for Russian, 3rd for German), I joined him in starting other growers. Fedco Bulbs (organic sources only) charges $12 for 3 bulbs of German white garlic, and $10.50 for 3 bulbs of Russian red garlic. We routinely give other gardeners 20-40 bulbs of each so they can get jump-started into production. He and I each plant enough garlic to get at least 1/2 dozen gardeners started, plus we give extra to the Community Garden project.

 

[NeoDevin]

I just bought 3 bulbs each of mexican purple and german white garlic to plant. Hopefully I get a good harvest next year, and have enough to keep going.

 

[turbo]

I just bought 3 bulbs each of mexican purple and german white garlic to plant. Hopefully I get a good harvest next year, and have enough to keep going.

Good luck! Depending on the rate of propagation (the number of cloves in a bulb is the prime limiter) you may have to take a couple of seasons to get going well. Russian reds often have 10-12 cloves or more per bulb while German whites rarely have more than 6. Seperate the cloves, plant them (root end down) at least 6" apart about 1-1/2 inches down when the soil is cold but not frozen. Mulch with straw, and enjoy the magic. They'll be the first plants in your garden next spring. You get two harvests - when the scapes (central stalks) emerge and start curling around. Use the base of the stalk where every you would normally use green onions/scallions. Harvesting the scapes forces the plants to push all the nutrients to the bulbs, so your bulbs will be big and healthy.

 

[lisab]

I just bought 3 bulbs each of mexican purple and german white garlic to plant. Hopefully I get a good harvest next year, and have enough to keep going.

Neo will be growing the United Nations Garlic Patch next year .