What Are Some Tips for Successful Gardening?

[baywax]

Your's is the nobler solution. I only found one but it did major damage, prize plants down its gullet. I think I sicked it on the neighbouring red-neck orchardist.

 

[Evo]

I picked these from my garden yesterday.

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4753/cucumber1dg9.jpg

 

[turbo]

Woohoo! I'd like to have a few rows of bell peppers like that. They're coming along nicely, but we need a lot of heat and sun to grow peppers, and getting them to fully mature requires a long and cooperative (no frosts) season.

 

[Evo]

Woohoo! I'd like to have a few rows of bell peppers like that. They're coming along nicely, but we need a lot of heat and sun to grow peppers, and getting them to fully mature requires a long and cooperative (no frosts) season.

That bell pepper is bigger than my hand. It's a Keystone Giant. The down side is that's the only bell pepper that plant has produced, Perhaps now it will set more.

 

[rewebster]

That bell pepper is bigger than my hand. It's a Keystone Giant. The down side is that's the only bell pepper that plant has produced, Perhaps now it will set more.

you've paid for the plant, now, at least--and home grown!

 

[turbo]

you've paid for the plant, now, at least--and home grown!

Produce prices add up quickly, and you can't buy home-grown quality in a store. If this year's Bell peppers can match last years, I expect at least 6-8 full-sized peppers per plant, with at least half of them ripening or fully ripe. There is nothing like a garden-ripened red Bell pepper chopped into a cold salad!

The Hungarian Wax peppers are getting quite large and are developing rapidly. We had one tonight in a stir fry of summer squash, onion, parsley, garlic-scape pesto, etc. Mmm! The Hungarians are quite mild but tasty. The heat is about on a par with jalpenos, and they are quite large - maybe 5-6" long even this early in the season. I expect that they will join the jalapenos in my dill-pickled chili recipe.

 

[baywax]

Nice pepper etc... Evo... that would be near impossible to grow outside here. I'm amazed that some people pull off cauliflower and brussel sprouts up here... in the land of the Igloo.

Here's a coincidental story about how deadly those caterpillars can be... scarier than the wide-mouthed dingle duck...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080714/health/health_killer_caterpillars

 

[Evo]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080714/health/health_killer_caterpillars

She was barefoot in a Peruvian jungle? Or at the least wearing sandles that allowed her feet to touch the ground?

 

[turbo]

We should have a good crop of grapes this year as long as the weather cooperates. The season is short, so I have to let them endure a few light frosts before they're ripe enough to pick. The vines are growing all through the trees on the north side of my garden.

baywax, your state has some advantages for cold-tolerant crops like cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc. These plants can be transplanted quite early in the year, and your latitude allows much more sunlight/day than we can get.

 

[Evo]

I miss my grape vines!

 

[turbo]

I miss my grape vines!

You can't miss mine! The rascals climb 20-30 feet into the trees, so if you want those nice ripe purple grapes, you have to use a ladder for a lot of them. Once the bunches start ripening, they stick out like a sore thumb. Often, the branches of the trees are bent or broken from the weight of all the grapes. Aspen, birch, etc, just aren't built to handle that load.

 

[rewebster]

I miss my grape vines!

if you're going to be there where you live (and if you can find a 'safe' route down), plant some down in the 'The Evo Canyon'--they take off pretty well after two years

 

[Evo]

if you're going to be there where you live (and if you can find a 'safe' route down), plant some down in the 'The Evo Canyon'--they take off pretty well after two years

They have a guy that goes down there with a weed eater to keep things neat.

I have spread some of my plants off of the patio and onto the grass and rocks on the south side. The guy mowing is cool about it. I keep the little bit of grass around them trimmed myself. I just needed more sun.

 

[baywax]

I miss my grape vines!

Yeah... I totally miss my grape vines. By now they've strangled the barn.

 

[Borek]

My wine grows like crazy, something like Turbo described. It strangles my lilac at the moment.

 

[baywax]

My wine grows like crazy, something like Turbo described. It strangles my lilac at the moment.

It looks like they're strangling your head in the photo!

 

[turbo]

One tip for people who have Japanese beetle infestations - plant sunflowers. We planted them at the ends of the rows of the vegetable garden, and I find Japanese beetles eating the sunflower leaves rather than the vegetable leaves. They like these giant sunflowers, leaves of fruit trees, and leaves of our raspberry bushes. I don't know if planting the sunflowers along the garden is the best plan, but they might act as a natural "sacrificial" barrier by giving the Japanese beetles something to eat instead of the vegetables.

I just weeded about 1/2 the garden, and noticed that we have tiny string beans, already about 1" long. Wooh!

 

[Borek]

That's only if you don't like sunflowers

 

[turbo]

That's only if you don't like sunflowers

We're growing the sunflowers for the birds - they'll get plenty of seeds. Actually, they get them year-round at my feeders, but it's nice to give them a more natural food-gathering experience. Instead of killing thistles, I let them grow to attract pollinators and eventually to provide wild thistle seeds for the finches. They love those.

 

[rewebster]

We're growing the sunflowers for the birds - they'll get plenty of seeds. Actually, they get them year-round at my feeders, but it's nice to give them a more natural food-gathering experience. Instead of killing thistles, I let them grow to attract pollinators and eventually to provide wild thistle seeds for the finches. They love those.

I get them even growing in my yard in town---but, sorry young thistles, I like going barefoot too much.

 

[rewebster]

These are some of my favorites:

This one has 8 blooms:

The stamen ends (?) are covered with a dust of rust colored pollen that are barely attached and tremble/wiggle/dance in a slight breeze.

I mentioned how sweet these specific ones smelled to the mailwoman, and she said she could smell them from across the street and wondered where the fragrance was coming from. They're as fragrant or more than hyacyths.

 

[turbo]

Beautiful blooms, rewebster! I spend all my time and effort on the herbs and vegetables, but I appreciate the dedication that goes into producing such nice floral displays. We have a couple of neighbors who landscape with flowering plants and their places look nice.

 

[Evo]

I had those same lilies at my old house. They are very fragrant. What's so nice about lillies is that you plant them once and ignore them, every year they come back bigger and with more plants. The bad part is that they only bloom in spring/early summer. Rew have you tried summer blooming lillies? They bloom all summer.

 

[rewebster]

I had those same lilies at my old house. They are very fragrant. What's so nice about lillies is that you plant them once and ignore them, every year they come back bigger and with more plants. The bad part is that they only bloom in spring/early summer. Rew have you tried summer blooming lillies? They bloom all summer.

no---got some varieties? (names) that could be looked up? or post?

(Homer like and drooling: hmmmm-low maintenance!)--yep, they are great for that, evo--and they are beautiful too

turbo--try lilies --easy and nice to look at

 

[Andre]

Problem with lillies here is a very nasty bug, eating the plant much faster than it can grow.

 

[Evo]

no---got some varieties? (names) that could be looked up? or post?

(Homer like and drooling: hmmmm-low maintenance!)--yep, they are great for that, evo--and they are beautiful too

turbo--try lilies --easy and nice to look at

I have the Stela D'oro lilies. They bloom from june until frost. This sight has them as late season bloomers, but they bloom all summer, as do many others.

http://www.bloomingfieldsfarm.com/frmindxb.html

 

[Ms Music]

Those are lovely, rewebster! I love stargazers.

One of my other favorite lillies is Stella d'Oro. Lovely profuse yellow blooms, but no heady fragrance.

(Evo - you beat me - it took me quite a while to post)

 

[rewebster]

got a couple small patches of stellas--they're in a 'dry' spot and need to be moved to some place a little more damp

(they're in my creeping charlie ground cover bed)

thanks for the link Evo--nice site

 

[turbo]

no---got some varieties? (names) that could be looked up? or post?

(Homer like and drooling: hmmmm-low maintenance!)--yep, they are great for that, evo--and they are beautiful too

turbo--try lilies --easy and nice to look at

I might plant lilies some time. We had tiger lilies and day lilies at our last house a few years back. I have blue-flag irises growing in my shady little frog-pond, and cat-tails and other water weeds growing in the larger pond. The areas bordering the lawn are loaded with wild-flowers like black-eyed Susans, daisies, wild carrot, asters, milkweed, thistle, buttercups, etc, etc. I pretty much let mother nature do the landscaping around here, and we have wildflowers from spring until hard frost.

 

[Evo]

I'm guessing no spider mites?

 

[rewebster]

I'm guessing no spider mites?

nope--well, I haven't seen any type of 'bug'--even on close looks

are you suggesting notaspidermite?

 

[Evo]

nope--well, I haven't seen any type of 'bug'--even on close looks

are you suggesting notaspidermite?

It could very well be notaspidermite. Any neighborhood dogs that could be relieving themselves on your plants? The Fruit Bat peed on my marigolds and they withered up and died.

 

[lisab]

Curious how not much else wants to grow in that spot near where the plant died.

 

[rewebster]

It could very well be notaspidermite. Any neighborhood dogs that could be relieving themselves on your plants? The Fruit Bat peed on my marigolds and they withered up and died.

I've got very bad squirrels and cats--but its almost 8 feet in diameter now



yeah, lisab, that what so funny--whatever was in that planter (8 inch) is radiating out from where it hit the ground.---it's only the violets and other 'weeds'--but I haven't seen or heard of anything like it from a 'planter'.

 

[Evo]

If it's spreading, should you perhaps rip up a trench to stop whateever is spreading? Better to sacrifice some before you lose it all. Have you contacted your local agricultural office? Maybe if you have a really good professional gardening center (not a Lowe's) you could take a sample in and see what they think.