What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[turbo]

We have walnut trees in our area, and we get hard freezes, and sometimes the temp gets down to -20°F (-28.9°C), or a little less.

I think parts of BC and ME have similar climates.

Interesting. With our steadily-warming winters and temperate summers, it may be possible to get walnut trees thriving here. Certainly, butternut trees are all over, and chestnuts used to be fairly common, I understand. I know your wife wants to move to a warmer place, but if you come up here to the Kennebec Valley, it will get warmer eventually and you and I can raise garlic, chilies, hops - whatever and try to cut a swath through the bland crap in the supermarkets. Really, the chilies in the markets are a joke, the garlic is snarly, offensive stuff, and consumers don't know the difference. When I think of this situation, I always flash back on a Guy Clark song "Home Grown Tomatoes" in which he sings the praises of a fruit that simply cannot be bought in a store.


"There's only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes."

 

[Astronuc]

Vegetables from our garden are SOOOOOOO much better than what we buy in the store!

"There's only two things that money can't buy, and that's true love and home-grown tomatoes."

How true!

 

[baywax]

Vegetables from our garden are SOOOOOOO much better than what we buy in the store!

How true!

Yeah! And the only beer that makes me think I'm indulging in fresh picked produce is Kilkenny from Ireland. Drinking it is like having a mountain stream pouring directly into your mouth. I only know this because I'm a g****** Frostback Canuck!

Tragically my son had never eaten an apple off of a tree. I think he was around 2 at the time when he finally did. We were on a long road trip and its always good to pull into a motel and swim and explore after sitting in the car for too long. This motel we stopped at, up the tip of the Okanagan Valley (which is really all about Orchards and Vineyards) had a big Golden Delicious apple tree on the property. We went into a frenzy of eating these apples and it really was so far removed from the refrigerated produce in the flourescent lit retail experience.

Then the owner had to let us know that those was just "pieing" apples. That's why the skin was so transluscent you could see the appleseeds. And its why they were bursting with juice and sugars. Perfect!

 

[baywax]

We have walnut trees in our area, and we get hard freezes, and sometimes the temp gets down to -20°F (-28.9°C), or a little less.

I think parts of BC and ME have similar climates.

Sorry my acrynomics is rusty. ME = ? is it Middle East? Wintersodae? Marylande?

I think Turbo can grow Sugar Maples... its never too cold for them. Quebec is famous for them and it goes very cold there. The last ice storm that happened there put a lot of tree farms out of bus for a year or two.

 

[turbo]

Sorry my acrynomics is rusty. ME = ? is it Middle East? Wintersodae? Marylande?

I think Turbo can grow Sugar Maples... its never too cold for them. Quebec is famous for them and it goes very cold there. The last ice storm that happened there put a lot of tree farms out of bus for a year or two.

ME is Maine. And yes we do have a thriving maple syrup industry, though the very odd warm winters have screwed up the sap flows and syrup production. There are very few concerns that could be described as "farms" and the big guys are dependent on leased tapping access to huge tracts of timberland.

 

[baywax]

ME is Maine. And yes we do have a thriving maple syrup industry, though the very odd warm winters have screwed up the sap flows and syrup production. There are very few concerns that could be described as "farms" and the big guys are dependent on leased tapping access to huge tracts of timberland.

Leased tapping! Another subtle reference to beer. I know what its like though. We've got scads of timberland and its leased out by the Govt to MacBlo or Fletcher's... mostly foreign companies. That is changing now with the onslaught of the Pine Beetle infestation. Its like there's one more harvest in many regions and then its time to come up with another industry. I'm still drafting a proposal to fight the beetle with coke a cola.

The Indian farmers use pepsi and coke to attract ants which in turn eat the larva of pests that eat their crops. It has so far proven very effective. My suggestion is to use the same technique on the pine beetle. There are ants up to a certain latitude here and I just need to find out if they extend up to Ft St John and Prince George etc...

If you have any knowledge about northern ants and pine trees please let me know.

 

[baywax]

Here's good news about ants in Northern BC.

Ants of Central Interior British Columbia
The insect fauna of Central Interior and Northern British Columbia is very poorly known. It is not surprising then, that very little is known about the ants of this region. Very few collections of ants have been made north of the Chilcotin, so it is difficult to estimate the number of ant species present in this region. Based on collections, Francoeur (1997) estimated a minimum of 25 species of ants in the Yukon. Similar numbers are likely in the Central Interior of British Columbia. To date, we have found 23 species in three subfamilies near Prince George, and an additional number of species near Houston, BC, and Williams Lake, BC.

http://web.unbc.ca/~lindgren/ants_main.html

This bodes well for an experimental spraying of pop on a pine beetle infested area of pine forest. I don't think ants are going to care if they're climbing 100 feet up a tree to get at that sugary smell! This could be the solution to these damn beetles. The reason they've flourished is because winters there, in central BC, have warmed up and the beetles die off only at -40 C.

As for the dead wood, of which there is tons, some of it has made it into cabinetry because of the blue stains the larvae make. But, there's another solution probably taking place right now...

Ants utilizing dead wood
Many ants utilize dead wood for nest construction. The most well-known of these are the carpenter ants, Camponotus spp. These large, but often shy and non-aggressive ants construct their nests in decayed logs or standing trees, including heart-rotted live trees. Many other ants also utilize wood, e.g., species in the genus Formica often nest in stumps or coarse woody debris.

I'll be contacting the BC Forestry ministry about all of this. This is how "our garden grows".

 

[baywax]

Here's what I got back from the professor who wrote the above article about ants. He actually studies Bark Beetle management.

Dear (baywax),

Well, in principle your thinking has merit. There are some major differences between agricultural crops in India and pine forests in BC, however. I have looked at some pine stands with extremely high densities of ants which forage in these trees – all of these stands have been killed. These are the problems:

The sheer area that needs protection. It would simply not be feasible to spray anything except on high value trees at golf courses, city parks, and back yards etc.

The ants forage in the crown of the tree, so they aren’t really all that effective at preventing bark beetles from occupying the bark. In agricultural crops they are mostly after honeydew from aphids, which is why they like the sugary residue from pop (any sugar solution would do).

Many ant species are active in the morning and evening, whereas bark beetles are active in the middle of the day. Furthermore, the bark beetles are only on the bark for an hour or less (once they bore into the bark they are not accessible to the ants any more), whereas the pests you are referring to in India would be on the plants for weeks or months.

Finally, the damage to BC’s forests has pretty much been done.

I don’t mean to come across as overly negative, but because of my interest in ants (and bark beetles – bark beetle management is really my area of expertise rather than ants) I have thought about the potential effects of ants on bark beetles, and unfortunately there has been no effect at all.

Thanks for sharing your idea with me, though. Sooner or later one of these ideas will lead to something, so I do appreciate it.

Staffan

***************************************
B. Staffan Lindgren, Professor
Ecosystem Science and Management
University of Northern British Columbia
Prince George, BC

 

[Math Jeans]

My habanero plant is getting pretty big, and I am starting to fear that its roots might nit the edges of the pot and get burned.

I'm planning on moving it into the ground, however, I do not know how to move it. I imagine it is different than moving little plants.

 

[turbo]

My habanero plant is getting pretty big, and I am starting to fear that its roots might nit the edges of the pot and get burned.

I'm planning on moving it into the ground, however, I do not know how to move it. I imagine it is different than moving little plants.

Dig a hole slightly larger than the pot, and transplant the entire contents of the pot into that hole, trying not to disturb the roots. Fill any gaps with good potting soil and tamp it in with a stick or some other tool, then give the plant a good drink of water. That's all. Habaneros don't need a lot of nitrogen (that produces VERY leafy plants with fewer blossoms), but they like to have a pH of about 6.5-7 or so and a good mix of nutrients (compost is good because it has a complex mix of organic nutrients, not just simpler chemicals). If your plant seems to look kind of "flat" and doesn't perk up within a few days of transplanting, you might want to make up a weak solution of epsom salts and water and water the plant with that, making sure to wet the leaves. Do that in the evening, not in the bright sun.

 

[Astronuc]

Adding what turbo mentioned, make a hole in the ground about 2 to 3 times the diameter of the pot in which the plant is growing. File the hole around the potted soil with comparable soil, and water it initially. Doing in cool of evening let's the plant get accustomed to the new environment and doesn't stress it by water loss as would be the case in the daytime, especially in direct sunlight. One could even shade the plant for couple of days.

MJ, can you take a digital image?

 

[Evo]

This is a side note, not to do with the habenero, which is a more sensitive little plant. It just reminded me of the following.

Did you ever see Jim transplant plants in the Victory Garden show? My heart would stop at what he'd do to the roots. I was always so careful, but he'd knock those plants out, rip the roots up then stamp them into the ground, next thing you knew it was twice the size of the original.

But I learned that (especially when a plant was root bound) that breaking up the roots (in the right way) actually stimulated new root growth. It is customary to score into the roots about 1/4 to 1/2 inch depending on root ball size, you slice across them in a diamond shape. and gently fan out the bottom of the root ball. The reasoning behind this is that you want the roots to grow into the new dirt, rather than continue in a ball.

 

[Astronuc]

We typically score the sides of the root ball in 8 or more places depending on the size. The first time I did it, I cringed, but it works.

One has to get out the roots which wrap circumferentially around the root ball. One is supposed to do that for trees too.

 

[Ouabache]

Did you ever see Jim transplant plants in the Victory Garden show? My heart would stop at what he'd do to the roots. I was always so careful, but he'd knock those plants out, rip the roots up then stamp them into the ground, next thing you knew it was twice the size of the original.

Are you talking about Jamie Durie who hosted the show this past season, or the original James Underwood Crockett? Crockett gave me inspiration to explore the world of gardening. To this day, I steep a 5 gal bucket of manure tea, that he described. I use for both indoor and outdoor plants. They flower like crazy with that stuff.

 

[Ouabache]

How does my garden grow? Pretty dead, this time of year. Though the harvest preparations are still in full swing. I am putting up apples for pies & sauce, and baking pumpkins for breads, pie & soup.. Do you like pie?

 

[Evo]

Are you talking about Jamie Durie who hosted the show this past season, or the original James Underwood Crockett? Crockett gave me inspiration to explore the world of gardening. To this day, I steep a 5 gal bucket of manure tea, that he described. I use for both indoor and outdoor plants. They flower like crazy with that stuff.

The original Jim Crockett, that guy was amazing.

 

[turbo]

The temperature is not quite up to 20 deg F and the garden is covered with snow, but there's still stuff going on in there. Last sunday, I chopped frozen dirt (frozen quite deeply!) to plant my garlic, and there are parsnips in the ground, being conditioned and sweetened by the cold. Both crops are mulched with oat straw to help protect them from the worst of the cold, and we should get between 1-2 feet of snow Sunday-Monday, which will provide a mediating influence and more insulation.

 

[Math Jeans]

MJ, can you take a digital image?

Sorry for the delay. Yes, I'll try to get an image of the plant.

Yesterday, I planted another Savannah red habanero plant. This time I took a different approach.

I put soil into a cup, planted the seed in the cup, put wrap over the top to retain moisture, and then put the cup under the lamp in my Gecko's cage. Just for a head start on the plant so it isn't overwhelmed when I bring it outside. Although we don't get snow (and only four days of frost a year), the winters in phoenix get into the 30s.

I'll attempt to get a picture of my larger plant later today. I can't make any promises though. The plant just recently started budding again, so I have a few greens on there, but no orange yet (unless it has changed from yesterday). Maybe it has, I gave it Miracle Grow :D.

 

[turbo]

Here's my garden today. All tucked in for the winter.

 

[Math Jeans]

Here's my garden today. All tucked in for the winter.

OMG

 

[Math Jeans]

Eh. Sorry, I couldn't find my camera yesterday. I'll try this weekend.

One more question. How long does it usually take a seed to sprout? I need to know how long I should wait until I deem a seed as bad (seeing as I've had my seeds for a while and that is a possibility). If the seed is bad, would it be logical to plant a different type of plant? How good are tabasco peppers? Am I starting to get annoying?

 

[turbo]

Habanero seeds germinate in about 1-2 weeks, and will germinate better and grow faster if the soil is kept warm. That's why I get my plants from the greenhouse in town instead of starting mine from seed. I don't have any place near windows (for light) that can be kept around 80, and the greenhouse is perfect for that.

 

[Math Jeans]

Habanero seeds germinate in about 1-2 weeks, and will germinate better and grow faster if the soil is kept warm. That's why I get my plants from the greenhouse in town instead of starting mine from seed. I don't have any place near windows (for light) that can be kept around 80, and the greenhouse is perfect for that.

Ya. I planted my seed in a cup, and then put the cup in my gecko's cage under his heat lamp. I think it should be fine.

 

[baywax]

The honeysuckles are still flowering and its Dec 7. We've got about the same weather as Turbo. I credit this phenomenally extended blooming to the nutrients from the banana peel I stuck in the soil with the honeysuckle plants this fall. I also added to the plant's longevity by "pinching" old flowers and adding them to the potting soil.

 

[Astronuc]

While most gardening activities have been suspended for the winter, we still collect fallen leaves and mulch/compost them for use in the spring, and non-meat kitchen scraps still get added to the compost pile.

We have occasional guests looking for food. Last night it was an opposum scrounging around the bird feeders.

FYI -

Whether rural, residential or in the wilderness, opossums are a benefit to any area they inhabit. Their diet includes all types of bugs and insects including cockroaches, crickets and beetles. They love snails. They also eat mice and rats. The nocturnal opossum is attracted to our neighborhoods by the availability of water, pet food left out at night and overripe, rotting fruit that has fallen from trees. The opossum in turn helps keep our neighborhoods clean and free of unwanted, harmful garden pests and rodents, which may carry diseases. The opossum has earned the title of "Nature's Little Sanitation Engineer."

http://www.opossumsocietyus.org/opossum.html

 

[turbo]

We are a bit far north for possums, but one summer when we were living in Skowhegan, one regularly visited our bird-feeder. He never showed up alone, either. He was always in the company of a cat, a skunk, or a raccoon. Very sociable little fellow.

 

[turbo]

We got another foot of snow yesterday with a bit of sleet mixed in. I need to go out and clean that up, but the wind is howling away about 30mph with higher gusts, and that makes it pretty tough to run a snowblower without getting a lot of it right back in your face. My wife juiced a bunch of fruits yesterday to combine with the carrot juice that I made a while back. That meant that we had pulp to add to our (now frozen) compost bins, and she slipped on her tall rubber boots to make the trek to the bins. Those boots are no longer tall enough to keep out the snow. The ski areas and snowmobilers should have a good winter, if this weather holds, and my garlic and parsnips will be protected from extreme cold by a thick blanket of snow.

 

[Astronuc]

One interesting aspect of opossums -

Question: Do opossums carry rabies?

Answer: Any mammal can get rabies. However, the chance of rabies in an opossum is EXTREMELY RARE. This may have something to do with the opossum’s low body temperature (94-97º F) making it difficult for the virus to survive in an opossum’s body.

from the FAQ page of the opposum site.

So presumably, people with low body temperature may have some resistance to rabies? Actually, the apparent treatment for rabies in humans, assuming that it's too late for the shot, is to put the person in a drug-induced coma for about a week. This shuts down the brain activity and prevents the damage (apparently uncontrolled electrical activity) associated with the viral activity.

 

[rewebster]

We got about 8 inches after all two nights ago. Yesterday morning, I was having coffee thinking I should have replenished the salt/ice melt. Just then, I heard a 'clunk', 'grrack', 'clunk', 'clunk' from the street. It was a city plow waiting for its follow-up plow to catch up. I looked out a minute later, and where the first truck had stopped was a pile of salt--the truck must have had stopped few just a minute or two and kept putting out the salt. The pile was about six inches high. To prevent (uh--hmm) such a large pile 'contaminating' the surrounding area, I went out and scooped it up. It turned out to be about 80 lbs.

 

[turbo]

Interesting. We have opossums in the southern part of the state, but I don't remember any of them being implicated in a rabies incident. Raccoons, foxes, skunks, bats and feral cats seem to be the most common carriers.

 

[turbo]

We got about 8 inches after all two nights ago. Yesterday morning, I was having coffee thinking I should have replenished the salt/ice melt. Just then, I heard a 'clunk', 'grrack', 'clunk', 'clunk' from the street. It was a city plow waiting for its follow-up plow to catch up. I looked out a minute later, and where the first truck had stopped was a pile of salt--the truck must have had stopped few just a minute or two and kept putting out the salt. The pile was about six inches high. To prevent (uh--hmm) such a large pile 'contaminating' the surrounding area, I went out and scooped it up. It turned out to be about 80 lbs.

Our town's trucks "sand" the roads with sand that is loaded with stones in the 1/2"-1" range. I suspect that the road commissioner has a brother that owns a sand pit and doesn't want to bother screening the sand, and that he has another brother who owns an auto-glass business.

 

[Math Jeans]

The cold is starting to show on my habanero plant. I hope is survives the winter.

 

[Astronuc]

Our town's trucks "sand" the roads with sand that is loaded with stones in the 1/2"-1" range. I suspect that the road commissioner has a brother that owns a sand pit and doesn't want to bother screening the sand, and that he has another brother who owns an auto-glass business.

Or they use the same trucks for sand and stone, and don't bother to clean out the bin.

 

[turbo]

Or they use the same trucks for sand and stone, and don't bother to clean out the bin.

The dump bodies have motorized sanding inserts slid into them for road-sanding, and the inserts don't get used for hauling gravel. It's just poor-quality unscreened sand with lots of small stones in it.

 

[Math Jeans]

Christmas came early for me. The seed that I planted in a cup that I put in my gecko's cage sprouted last night! Woo hoo!