How does your Garden grow? part 2

[Evo]

But I've just been informed that I may not upload any more pictures. hmmmm... Perhaps I should have hosted them myself. hmmmmm...

No more pictures at all or just in this post?

Om, thank you for sharing your raised garden, so clever.

I just picked my first 2 tomatoes, I hid the plants from the squirrels after the first raid. I have a few tiny (thumb size, cajun peppers, I might try them tonight). The poblanos have yet to produce, but one plant just started flowering, so there is yet hope.

On hot days, since my plants are in containers, when they start looking fried, I have been dousing the soil with pitchers of ice water, perks them right back up.

 

[Borg]

No more pictures at all or just in this post?

Om, thank you for sharing your raised garden, so clever.

I just picked my first 2 tomatoes, I hid the plants from the squirrels after the first raid. I have a few tiny (thumb size, cajun peppers, I might try them tonight). The poblanos have yet to produce, but one plant just started flowering, so there is yet hope.

On hot days, since my plants are in containers, when they start looking fried, I have been dousing the soil with pitchers of ice water, perks them right back up.

There's a limit of six photos per post I think.

Nice pictures Om!

 

[OmCheeto]

Macht's nichts!

No more pictures at all or just in this post?

I think it's just for the post. But it's a moot point now. As I told Marcus a few months back, I discovered that I have about 4 bazzilion bytes left on my personal account that I can host pictures at.

Om, thank you for sharing your raised garden, so clever.

I just picked my first 2 tomatoes, I hid the plants from the squirrels after the first raid. I have a few tiny (thumb size, cajun peppers, I might try them tonight). The poblanos have yet to produce, but one plant just started flowering, so there is yet hope.

On hot days, since my plants are in containers, when they start looking fried, I have been dousing the soil with pitchers of ice water, perks them right back up.

Gutter garden 2.0 to follow!

 

[OmCheeto]

So, for the last few months, I've invested nearly $100 in the expansion of the fence.
The original fence cost me about $8.
Everything except for the gutter was scrounged from around the house.

But as you can see, in the above image, the strawberries and a few herbs, were the only kids in the gutter system.
There's a fish tank looking thing in the center, some big arsed plants to the left of that, and a meshy looking thing laying in the driveway.
At this point, I had designed a 3 dimensional fence garden, in my head.

Here's pretty much the final design, before everything was completed, and covered everything up.

And as far as the lawnmower picture from earlier?
Everything had to be elevated far enough off the ground, to be able to mow under it.

It worked!

Ps. @zoobyshoe , I took your advice, and bought a new mower. Thank you!

 

[dlgoff]

I've been hesitant about posting anything about my gutter garden, which I started around June 1st of last year, as I wasn't really sure it would work.

Being a sciencey kind of guy, I decided to expand.

Nice fence Om. I think you should have started a thread "Beauty of old gutters etc" giving some sciencey info as you go; similar to my Beauty of old electrical and measuring things etc.
But what sciencey forum?

 

[OmCheeto]

Nice fence Om. I think you should have started a thread "Beauty of old gutters etc" giving some sciencey info as you go; similar to my Beauty of old electrical and measuring things etc.
But what sciencey forum?

I adapt to my environment. This forum will do.

Some notes I've taken:

Plants growing under the garden:
Lemon yellow cucumbers
Acorn squash

Plants growing from the platforms:
Italian roaster peppers
Long red cayenne peppers
3 types of basil
Rosemary
Cherry red, yellow pear, brandywine, roma, and black krim tomatoes

Plants growing in the gutters:
Strawberries! (wintered over!)
French Tarragon (wintered over!)
Dwarf Greek Oregano (wintered over!)
A tasty basil volunteer from last year.
An as yet unidentified tomato volunteer from last year. (Silly plant! You're a tomato! You can't grow in a gutter!)

hmmm...
The title of the thread is; "How does your garden grow"
Answer: Everything is doing fine!

 

[OmCheeto]

My sciencey opinion of the merits of gutter gardens:

Neighborhood tom cats can't "mark" your garden food...
Slugs have yet to have made the journey. (You had a year. Is this why lazy humans are named after you?)
Weeding is as easy as picking your nose.
Cats are not interested in pooping in a gutter garden.
You never have to bend down!

 

[OmCheeto]

hmmm...

Sitting in my living room, I just spied upon some lady, eyeing my garden, scratching her head.
I went out and asked her, if I could answer any questions.

She said; "Are those potatoes"?
I said; "No, those are rocks".

hmmmm...

I suppose, people have been going by for the last year, wondering what the hell I've been doing.
So when something new shows up, its only natural for them to scratch their heads.

I've decided that 3 dimensional front yard gutter gardens, are the bomb.

 

[dlgoff]

I adapt to my environment. This forum will do.

My sciencey opinion of the merits of gutter gardens:

... I just spied upon some lady, eyeing my garden, scratching her head.

You dog you. Love it though. +1

 

[OmCheeto]

...

On hot days, since my plants are in containers, when they start looking fried, I have been dousing the soil with pitchers of ice water, perks them right back up.

My biggest single investment was a $35 digital watering thingamajig.
Best investment ever.
About 10 years ago, on my annual 4 day trip to the Oregon Country Fair, I murdered about a dozen bonsai plants which I had been grooming for about 15 years. Gutter gardens don't hold much soil, so it's the same situation.
You either have to be retired, or have an automatic watering system.
I water mine 6 times a day, 5 minutes at a time.

The fish tank looking thing in the background, I mentioned earlier, is of course, a fish tank.
It holds 35 gallons. To that I add Miracle Grow type fertilizer. I know how much water I use each day, so I can calibrate how much fertilizer I add to a tank full, so I neither under, nor over fertilize everything. It's powered by gravity.
I seldom use it now that I have the automatic system, though it's good to top off some of the bigger tomato plants, as they are real water hogs.

Oh. And about those rock/potato things. Those are 8" clear plant saucer/tray thingamabobs. The sprinkler has a bit of overshoot at that area, so rather than water the driveway, I put them there to collect the water, so I don't have to water my cats. The neighbor dogs also drink out of them, as do all manner of bees and wasps.
A west wind picked up today, and several of them ended up going completely dry, and escaped to the neighbors yard. Hence, todays addition of the rock/potatoes, and the lady's confusion.

 

[praveena]

So I planted 3 rhododendron about 3 years ago. One died, one did very well (purple flowers), and the last one, I wasn't sure of. The past 2 years, it didn't flower, and the plant didn't look very healthy at all. I continued to make sure it has mulch and fertilizers.

Then suddenly, this year, it grew healthy and it flowered for the first time!

It is a different plant then the other surviving rhododendron because the leaves are thicker, and the flowers are these deep, red color (the photos don't do it justice). I wish I had the specie name, but the tag has been lost for a long time. And unlike the other rhododendron that flowered early in the spring, this one comes a bit later and it is now at the peak.

I hope it will continue to thrive, because it adds needed color to the far corner of my yard. My neighbor loves it because it faces right at his family room.

Zz.

It's so beautiful. nice try

 

[OmCheeto]

It is quite possible, that I've been paying too much attention to the fence, and not enough, to the veggies.

Today's harvest:

Oops.

aaaand... back to the food thread, to figure out what to do with too many tomatoes!

 

[Evo]

It is quite possible, that I've been paying too much attention to the fence, and not enough, to the veggies.

Today's harvest:

Oops.

aaaand... back to the food thread, to figure out what to do with too many tomatoes!

Tomato sauce, canned tomatoes.

 

[DiracPool]

We are having a serious drought here on the west coast, USA. I typically grow tomato plants through the summer, but have held back to support the cause of water conservation. My half-acre property, however, just happens to be adjacent to a duplex unit where the inhabitants obviously have free utilities incorporated into their contract because they have the water sprinkler running all day and night.

 

[nsaspook]

Today harvest:

What to do with too many tomatoes? There are never too many good tomatoes.

 

[OmCheeto]

We are having a serious drought here on the west coast, USA. I typically grow tomato plants through the summer, but have held back to support the cause of water conservation. My half-acre property, however, just happens to be adjacent to a duplex unit where the inhabitants obviously have free utilities incorporated into their contract because they have the water sprinkler running all day and night.

Argh!
Now you've made me think about it.
My tomato plants can drink up to 5 gallons of water a day.
They've been going for at least two months, so that's about 300 gallons of water.

I just harvested 90% of this years crop, and simmered it down to spaghetti sauce.
I got about a quart.

And it smells funny.

 

[nsaspook]

Argh!
Now you've made me think about it.
My tomato plants can drink up to 5 gallons of water a day.
They've been going for at least two months, so that's about 300 gallons of water.

Don't worry, there's still 13.5 billion gallons left in the Bull Run water shed.

 

[jack476]

First we had hogweeds in one area of the woods right behind the yard that we were clearing out. These things are basically Satan in plant form. On the one hand, they do reach a very impressive size and I wish had thought to take some pictures. On the other hand, they can cause blindness and permanent disfigurement and the city has to call the EPA to remove (and guess who foots the bill, by the way?), and once the guys in the literal HAZMAT suits are done removing these Devil plants they fence off an area 15 feet around where the plant was located.

In that area, a poison ivy patch 2 feet high completely took over. I think my yard actually be trying to kill me.

 

[OmCheeto]

Don't worry, there's still 13.5 billion gallons left in the Bull Run water shed.

I've decided to go back to manual watering. The auto system was just for while I was away on vacation.
One problem though is mosquitoes in the fish tank. I covered it up with a towel about a month ago, and the mosquitoes are still alive!
Last year I solved the problem by putting fish in my rain barrels.

Tanichthys albonubes​

They did a great job. Unfortunately, a great plague wiped them all out this winter. (One reason I gave that "hex" tank the boot)
And I don't think they'll survive in the fish tank if it's full of fertilizer.
hmmmm...
Ah ha!

Rather than remove the watering system from the gutter, I just added a splitter, and I ran the alternate hose into the fish tank.
Problem solved!
It was quite distressing having to get out of my lawn chair every 3 days, and refill that stupid tank.

I just tested it, filled the tank to the brim, and will find out how long mosquitoes can hold their breath. Ha!

ps. Tanichthys albonubes, commonly called "White Cloud Mountain Fish", are sold as feeders, so you can buy 10 for a dollar. They are as durable as goldfish. When I go to the fish store, I pretend I have fish that want to eat them, but keep them as pets. Shhhhhh! If the pet store finds out, they'll charge me $2 a piece for these little guys.

 

[dlgoff]

Besides tomatoes and peppers, the only other things in the garden are my Zucchini and Cantaloupe. To my surprise there were two unknown "melons" amongst the Cantaloupe vines. Thinking it may be a cross between Zucchini and Cantaloupe, I took some pictures:

Zucchini, Cantaloupe, Zucchinaloupe?

The thing weighted out at 25 lb.

So I opened it up for a taste.

From the taste, it's a cross between my Cantaloupes and evidently my neighbors Cucumbers.

 

[Evo]

I've seen something like that before, but it does look scary. It reminds me of a green casaba melon, it supposedly tastes like a cross between a cantaloupe and a cucumber.

 

[Finny]

Zapper: "So I planted 3 rhododendron about 3 years ago. One died, one did very well (purple flowers), and the last one, I wasn't sure of. "

It is rather crazy how something that happens so often...I can plant six different plants, say cone flowers, all on the same day, all with healthy root systems apparently equally developed, put them in the ground together next to each other, water them equally...and four of five will do great...one or two either die or are laggards for several years. On the positive side, once I got my wife to stop clipping off dying blooms, and let the bees pollinate everything and the birds feed and knock off seeds, voila, they do spread year after year. Had to give a dozen or so clumps to friends this year to make room.

What I want to know is how can weeds grow so fast without water? During dry spells my grass is almost dormant, and that reduces the need to cut so often, but crab grass and other intrusive plants seem to grow even faster. That should be be allowed. Whom do I see to stop this??

 

[OmCheeto]

... Whom do I see to stop this??

Monsanto.
I've been saying it for years. If they'd simply manufacture strawberries with the drought tolerance of weeds, I'd lose all my reservations about their shenanigans.

ps. GMO bashing or non-bashing can go HERE!

 

[edward]

Monsanto.
I've been saying it for years. If they'd simply manufacture strawberries with the drought tolerance of weeds, I'd lose all my reservations about their shenanigans.

ps. GMO bashing or non-bashing can go HERE!

There is big money in weeds. : )

 

[dlgoff]

Compared to my first tomato pick 24 days ago,

today's pick is more like it.

 

[dlgoff]

I'm beginning to think I should make sure the deer get in the garden in the spring and chew the tomato plants down.
I ran out of daylight picking my 6 plants or there would be more to show. I'm going to be up late tonight.

 

[Evo]

I have two plants on my patio and I've been getting on average one small tomato per day. They are in small containers that I can move.

When I had my garden, I would have 6 plants and would be giving away bags of tomatoes, I would let the tomatoes sprawl along the ground, the branches root and every side shoot would produce like a new plant, I'd get hundreds of huge tomatoes each year.

 

[dlgoff]

I have two plants on my patio and I've been getting on average one small tomato per day. They are in small containers that I can move.

When I had my garden, I would have 6 plants and would be giving away bags of tomatoes, I would let the tomatoes sprawl along the ground, the branches root and every side shoot would produce like a new plant, I'd get hundreds of huge tomatoes each year.

I wish you could have a garden like that again Evo. I know exactly what you mean by having them sprawl. You have given me lots of insights over the years. Remember telling me about how tomatoe flowers are hard to get pollinated and bumblebees do the best job when I was trying to get some tomato fruit in the winter?

Wish I could push some of these through my monitor to you.

 

[nsaspook]

Sunflower in early fall bloom. Still plenty of tomatoes on the vine.

 

[Evo]

Well, I had two poblano pepper bushes, with 16-18 peppers and more coming. Yesterday, they squirrels raided the bushes and before I got outside, I was down to 5-6 small peppers left on each plant. I moved them to the front porch from the back, not much sun, but fewer squirrels.

 

[nsaspook]

Well, I had two poblano pepper bushes, with 16-18 peppers and more coming. Yesterday, they squirrels raided the bushes and before I got outside, I was down to 5-6 small peppers left on each plant. I moved them to the front porch from the back, not much sun, but fewer squirrels.

Leave a open beer for them to drink.

 

[Evo]

Leave a open beer for them to drink.

Oh NOES!

 

[Borg]

My neighbor has a persimmon tree. Unfortunately, the tree sits near a cut-through sidewalk that gets a lot of foot traffic for the metro. A couple of years ago, I had to chase away a couple of Asian women who decided it was OK for them to bring a long stick and try to harvest all of the fruit. There wasn't any fruit last year but there is this year. I have a security camera pointed at that area and there's an Asian woman who has been looking very carefully at the tree several times a day.

 

[dlgoff]

I have a security camera pointed at that area and there's an Asian woman who has been looking very carefully at the tree several times a day.

This may be a better alternative.

 

[lisab]

Well, I had two poblano pepper bushes, with 16-18 peppers and more coming. Yesterday, they squirrels raided the bushes and before I got outside, I was down to 5-6 small peppers left on each plant. I moved them to the front porch from the back, not much sun, but fewer squirrels.

Look at the bright side -- you might have no poblanos!

I'll see myself out.