What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[baywax]

Those look like the plums my grandfather used to grow! If he'd leave them long enough to get ripe, they were very tasty, but he always picked them too early and too sour (he liked them that way ).

Yeah, I've had old timers tell me they like the really sour stuff... like those green apples and stuff... I just think that the Depression of the thirties made anything taste good... even Rhubarb... ha (just kidding Turbo).

 

[turbo]

I just wandered out onto the back deck to stand there and hang out (yeah, that's the ticket - no bladder issues, nothing to see here, folks) and was rewarded with the songs of the spring peepers. We have had the leopard frogs, the larger common tree frogs, etc, and now the peepers are singing. Spring is here! Our two back-yard ponds and the beaver impoundment 1/4 mile back in the center of our lot are loaded with frog eggs - now the peepers will join in. This year's early heavy snow-cover has helped the amphibians survive the winter, and I'm happy about that.

 

[Ms Music]

I inherited a pruning plum tree... that's the only name I know it by. Instead of spraying it with diazinon like the orchardists all around us, I used onion water that seemed to keep the pests at bay. In the old days I hear they used crysthanthemum oils as an anti-pest agent.

These were great to eat fresh off the tree.

I think what you have there is an Italian Prune. I have a few trees myself, and will miss them when I move. But I will definitely have to replace them with a new one at my new house. Italian Prunes are loverly! (I will send you some, Evo!) Although I have more problems with bee bites than birds...

 

[Moonbear]

They aren't prunes until they're dried out.

 

[turbo]

Yeah, I've had old timers tell me they like the really sour stuff... like those green apples and stuff... I just think that the Depression of the thirties made anything taste good... even Rhubarb... ha (just kidding Turbo).

Look, wise guy( just kidding), I grew up getting lectured by a father that was born in 1926 whose farming family had zilch, and a mother that was born in 1930 to a French-Indian family who emigrated to central Maine from northern Maine to try to find SOME work. We ate a lot of stuff that was wild/free/gleaned when I was a kid so we could get by. My dad was a WWII vet (he quit HS and lied about his age) who joined the 82nd Ariborne. My three younger sisters got a free pass with him, but I was expected to pull my weight in the garden every day from a VERY young age. Some heritage/wild fruits and vegetables can be made quite palatable if you'll work at them. Dried beans were a staple, here, and if you've never experienced them turned into New England baked beans by a master cook, you're missing a great experience.

 

[Ms Music]

They aren't prunes until they're dried out.

No really! There is a variety named Italian Prune!

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/productdetails.cfm?productid=C120L"

I think they call the tree a prune because it does dry well... But don't call me a prune! <snicker>

 

[Evo]

Pictures from my patio garden.

Fuschia, impatiens, regal geranium, red impatien

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9200/fuschiapm8.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1277/impatienspinkyu6.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1751/geraniumregalbo5.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7159/impatiensredqd1.jpg

 

[Evo]

Vegetables.

Bell pepper, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9913/bellpeppernv2.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7987/cucumbersqa3.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4089/squashyz9.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3987/tomatoeswm7.jpg

 

[baywax]

Look, wise guy( just kidding), I grew up getting lectured by a father that was born in 1926 whose farming family had zilch, and a mother that was born in 1930 to a French-Indian family who emigrated to central Maine from northern Maine to try to find SOME work. We ate a lot of stuff that was wild/free/gleaned when I was a kid so we could get by. My dad was a WWII vet (he quit HS and lied about his age) who joined the 82nd Ariborne. My three younger sisters got a free pass with him, but I was expected to pull my weight in the garden every day from a VERY young age. Some heritage/wild fruits and vegetables can be made quite palatable if you'll work at them. Dried beans were a staple, here, and if you've never experienced them turned into New England baked beans by a master cook, you're missing a great experience.

That's probably a good thing your dad did that with you. There's nothing more basic than gardening... it will always pay off. I'm just glad my dad didn't take after his dad who was a Surgeon during the first WW. My granddad performed the circumcisions on my dad and his best friend out in Saskatchewan when they were around 5! He built his own houses then became one of the first Surgeons out of the West Coast. The only way my dad could keep up with him was to join the Tank Regiment and try to keep the fascists out of North America. I have a feeling that was a bit of a pipe dream judging from some of the activities of late.

So, rather than perform circumcisions on me and my brothers, my dad would get us to chop wood and do the weeding, mowing, and tend the flowers. He kept is prized vegetable garden withe the raspberries and everything for his own pleasure. Like I said, he preferred the garden hoe to his trusted Tommy (machine) Gun and Sherman Tank.

And all our dad's egging on and demands have paid off. We are now able to produce some good crops etc...

Do you have any Herons eating your frogs? We've got quite a few. They clear out the frog/fish pond regularly... along with the Bald Eagles. Actually, the Bald Eagles scare the Herons into dropping their catch... then abscond with it. In reality the Bald Eagle is a member of the Vulture family.

 

[baywax]

Vegetables.

Bell pepper, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant.

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/9913/bellpeppernv2.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7987/cucumbersqa3.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4089/squashyz9.jpg

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3987/tomatoeswm7.jpg

[PLAIN]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6899/eggplantnb1.jpg[/QUOTE][/URL]

Hot dog! Beauties... I see you're in for a plentiful summer! No pumpkin!?

edit... I have to scan some photos of what I think of as my prize pumpkin... just before I
started gutting it... (cry)... for halloween.

 

[baywax]

I think what you have there is an Italian Prune. I have a few trees myself, and will miss them when I move. But I will definitely have to replace them with a new one at my new house. Italian Prunes are loverly! (I will send you some, Evo!) Although I have more problems with bee bites than birds...

Italian Prune Plum... yum yum.

Sorry to hear about the bee bites. I'd gladly see more bees around. I'm a big fan of Bee Pollen... it contains all 21 amino acids... bee keepers in Russia have been reaching ages like 125. Often the only thing they eat is Royal Jelly and Bee Pollen.

I have now seen 4 or 5 really big bumble bees around the garden... this is a good thing since, like I said earlier, last year I saw diddly squat for bees.

 

[baywax]

Pictures from my patio garden.

Fuschia, impatiens, regal geranium, red impatien

Your Fuschia is blooming!? Egads... mine is still sprouting from the
twigs left over from last year.

You must live further south, eh?

 

[Evo]

Your Fuschia is blooming!? Egads... mine is still sprouting from the
twigs left over from last year.

You must live further south, eh?

I cheated and bought the flowers already in bloom. The vegetables I grew from seed.

 

[baywax]

I cheated and bought the flowers already in bloom. The vegetables I grew from seed.

It would be cool to build a hot house and get started really early with some of these vegis etc...

Anyone build their own hot house?

 

[Evo]

I had a very nice green house, I'll post a picture of it later.

 

[turbo]

I would love to have a little greenhouse and attached potting shed, but the climate here is not really conducive. My chili-head neighbor started some habaneros in February, but had to do that in his house, because his greenhouse was still buried in snow. My option for seedlings is to patronize greenhouses that can afford to use space-heaters for a few months until planting season in late May.

Today, I found a deal on some nitrogen-rich fertilizer and dosed the garden space with that. I used a rapitest multiple nutrient test kit on the garden and found out that the pH is fine, the phosphorus level is fine, and the potash level is fine. I just needed more nitrogen, and luckily I found some "lawn greening" fertilizer that was really rich in urea-based nitrogen for cheap. I spread one bag of it with a Scott's hand-held broadcast spreader, and I have another bag in reserve.

 

[Evo]

Here's my greenhouse right after it was built.

 

[Andre]

Looks good Evo, great potential. Do you still have it?

Turbo, don't you have an option to have a greenhouse directly attached to the house, it would accumulate less snow and would use part of the heat that dissipates from the house.

 

[baywax]

Here's my greenhouse right after it was built.

Very cool... er... hot! Evo.

 

[baywax]

I would love to have a little greenhouse and attached potting shed, but the climate here is not really conducive. My chili-head neighbor started some habaneros in February, but had to do that in his house, because his greenhouse was still buried in snow. My option for seedlings is to patronize greenhouses that can afford to use space-heaters for a few months until planting season in late May.

Or invade the mud room, what what?

Today, I found a deal on some nitrogen-rich fertilizer and dosed the garden space with that. I used a rapitest multiple nutrient test kit on the garden and found out that the pH is fine, the phosphorus level is fine, and the potash level is fine. I just needed more nitrogen, and luckily I found some "lawn greening" fertilizer that was really rich in urea-based nitrogen for cheap. I spread one bag of it with a Scott's hand-held broadcast spreader, and I have another bag in reserve.

I've found my compost to be the best soil going. The problem is to collect enough of it over the fall and winter plus the left overs from years before to spread over a 600 sq ft. area where the veggies and and sunflowers etc... grow. The other option is leaving the compost where it is and growing mammoth pumpkins in and around it and purchasing soil for the rest of the working garden.

What do you think about turning weeds into the soil rather than removing them? They end up adding nitrogen etc... The worry is that they will seed there and grow even worse but if they're turned in before going to seed that isn't a problem.

 

[rewebster]

yeah---really nice. I don't know how many people want (or, at least, talk about wanting) one that I know, but a lot.

I can't tell--it wasn't heated, was it?

 

[RedBarchetta]

My garden?

Just a bunch of weeds.

 

[Borek]

Let it grow approach, welcome to the club

 

[turbo]

baywax, I compost all weeds that have not gone to seed, plus all garden waste, vegetable peelings, leaves, etc. My garden is over 1500 sq ft, though, so there's never enough compost to go around. I used all of last year's compost to fertilize my garlic bed, and the garlic appears to be doing real well.

 

[baywax]

baywax, I compost all weeds that have not gone to seed, plus all garden waste, vegetable peelings, leaves, etc. My garden is over 1500 sq ft, though, so there's never enough compost to go around. I used all of last year's compost to fertilize my garlic bed, and the garlic appears to be doing real well.

Excellent news Turbo. I think I asked this before but what type of garlic?

Here's my promised pumpkin photos plus the barn where some potting was done... and tractor parking.

The pumpkin with the shovel (200 lbs) is in front of the compost box that nurtured its growth. This was supplemented by the fact that I learned how you have to pinch all the flowers of the plant once you have gambled on one of the first pumpkins to develop. The rest of the flowers get pinched off to redirect energy to the selected one or two promising pumpkins.

The next photo of a pumpkin is one that was in the garden, (with less compost) and hadn't had its leaves pinched or most of the other flowers tended to. It still made it to 50 pounds.

The barn is the jewel of this property. This photo shows it in late Oct. however in summer it is covered in red and seedless green grapes. The concords were further south of there, o which there were so many, some were packed in grape leaves and sold at market.

Thanks! (edit) eh?

 

[turbo]

I have 1/3 of the bed in German garlic and 2/3 in Russian garlic. I had equal numbers of bulbs of each, given to me by my neighbor, but German garlic generally only develops 4 large cloves/bulb while the cloves in the Russian garlic are smaller and more numerous. Since German garlic only propagates 4:1, if I want to double my crop next year, I'll have to reserve a lot of the German for planting. That will be tough, because it is wonderful stuff. Those big cloves are great for baking. This shot was from a few weeks ago. The garlic greens are about a foot over the straw mulch now.

 

[baywax]

I have 1/3 of the bed in German garlic and 2/3 in Russian garlic. I had equal numbers of bulbs of each, given to me by my neighbor, but German garlic generally only develops 4 large cloves/bulb while the cloves in the Russian garlic are smaller and more numerous. Since German garlic only propagates 4:1, if I want to double my crop next year, I'll have to reserve a lot of the German for planting. That will be tough, because it is wonderful stuff. Those big cloves are great for baking. This shot was from a few weeks ago. The garlic greens are about a foot over the straw mulch now.

I guess the straw is a hedge against a late freeze? The garlic sounds scrumptious. Its great for keeping vampires, bats, wolves and women at bay all in one breath.

edit... it must be nice to have your attachments approved automatically.

 

[turbo]

Actually, the mulch is for winter protection. You plant garlic late in the year and mulch the beds. I planted mine in December after the ground was frozen and had to punch the holes with a heavy iron digging/pry bar and fill them in with compost after placing the cloves. It worked out well. I appear to have gotten 100% sprouting out of the planting. In the summer, the tops throw off a central shoot that starts to curl. When the shoots curl and the flowers are still not starting to develop, you cut off the shoots and cook with them. Mince them and include them in stir-fry dishes, casseroles, soups, or whatever. They are very tasty. Then after the greens start turning brown and drying, it's time to harvest the garlic and dry it. My neighbor's garage/woodworking shop smells heavenly when the garlic is drying/curing and I'm planning on using my little detached garage as a drying room.

Regarding the attachments - I honestly don't know how that works, but it is nice to be able to post an image and have it show up in the refreshed post.

 

[turbo]

By the way, baywax, that looks like a gorgeous piece of property. Nice gourd-growing, too.

 

[baywax]

Actually, the mulch is for winter protection. You plant garlic late in the year and mulch the beds. I planted mine in December after the ground was frozen and had to punch the holes with a heavy iron digging/pry bar and fill them in with compost after placing the cloves. It worked out well. I appear to have gotten 100% sprouting out of the planting. In the summer, the tops throw off a central shoot that starts to curl. When the shoots curl and the flowers are still not starting to develop, you cut off the shoots and cook with them. Mince them and include them in stir-fry dishes, casseroles, soups, or whatever. They are very tasty. Then after the greens start turning brown and drying, it's time to harvest the garlic and dry it. My neighbor's garage/woodworking shop smells heavenly when the garlic is drying/curing and I'm planning on using my little detached garage as a drying room.

Regarding the attachments - I honestly don't know how that works, but it is nice to be able to post an image and have it show up in the refreshed post.

Wow... garlic shoots in the stir-fry...agh... sounds really too good man... are you sure you're not Chinese?

A drying room is a great idea. If you have some fruit trees dry some apples or pears and stuff and any kids will gladly eat them like they're bad for you. When its actually a great way to get scads of fruit in the gullet.

As for the property, it is to die for and a dream and nirvana all at the same time. Its the neighbours you have to factor into the equation for sure. Next move I'm doing about 2 years research on the area and the cliques involved etc... this area is pure orchardists and farmers... their "deliverance" of hospitality is nothing like what one would expect from social animals.

Thank you mind you. The hill in the distance is a great hiking spot. The history around there is deep. The archaeology is deeper and the fishing will blow your mind. The vineyards are abundant and rivaling Napa Valley... check out the Okanagan Valley next time you're googling.

 

[turbo]

I hear you about the neighbors. I didn't scope mine out very well before buying this little place, but I lucked out. I have a neighbor with a nice shooting range with a shooting bench and I can use that any time. I have another neighbor who is heavily into organic gardening and he is the one who started me out with these varieties of garlic, and in return, I have been keeping him supplied with hot salsas and chili relishes, including some habanero relish that is almost all chili peppers with garlic, dill, other herbs, and sugars and vinegar. He gave me an old set of bent-up iron boat racks that he salvaged from the landfill, and another neighbor helped me cut and re-weld them to fit my truck. I helped both of them saw logs into boards with the gardener's Wood-miser sawmill, and the gardener has given me free access to his wood-shop with planer, jointer, table saw, chop saw, etc, etc. It's a pretty nice little neighborhood. My wife gets discount coupons from her company (New Balance Athletic Shoe) several times a year and we pass them out to the neighbors so that they can enjoy her employee's 40% discount at the factory outlet store. When I moved in here, I didn't realize that the tree-line on the Western edge of my property is loaded with nice Concord grapes - they are a bonus!

 

[baywax]

I hear you about the neighbors. I didn't scope mine out very well before buying this little place, but I lucked out. I have a neighbor with a nice shooting range with a shooting bench and I can use that any time. I have another neighbor who is heavily into organic gardening and he is the one who started me out with these varieties of garlic, and in return, I have been keeping him supplied with hot salsas and chili relishes, including some habanero relish that is almost all chili peppers with garlic, dill, other herbs, and sugars and vinegar. He gave me an old set of bent-up iron boat racks that he salvaged from the landfill, and another neighbor helped me cut and re-weld them to fit my truck. I helped both of them saw logs into boards with the gardener's Wood-miser sawmill, and the gardener has given me free access to his wood-shop with planer, jointer, table saw, chop saw, etc, etc. It's a pretty nice little neighborhood. My wife gets discount coupons from her company (New Balance Athletic Shoe) several times a year and we pass them out to the neighbors so that they can enjoy her employee's 40% discount at the factory outlet store. When I moved in here, I didn't realize that the tree-line on the Western edge of my property is loaded with nice Concord grapes - they are a bonus!

I can see all my old neighbours feeding the hogs in their white shiney New-Balance tennys... not!

Thanks Turbo... I am so up for a beer its not funny.. cheers!

 

[Evo]

My first crop of radishes failed! I have NEVER had radishes fail. These were Burpee Scarlett Globe. They produced nothing but matchstick thin roots. Supposedly they mature in 22 days. It's been 90 days and they never formed. I am going to have to pull them up and throw them out.

Anyone have any idea why this would have happened? I've grown radishes for years.

 

[Andre]

Well, since you know how to handle them, and having never seen a failed radish crop myself too, it's likely to be something awkward, like a fungus infection perhaps?

http://agron.scijournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/1/60

 

[rewebster]

My first crop of radishes failed! I have NEVER had radishes fail. These were Burpee Scarlett Globe. They produced nothing but matchstick thin roots. Supposedly they mature in 22 days. It's been 90 days and they never formed. I am going to have to pull them up and throw them out.

Anyone have any idea why this would have happened? I've grown radishes for years.

having even a little too much fertilizer can burn the roots--

and if they get dry for even a day when young will kill them too