How does your garden grow? This season

[thelerner]

Here in the U.S Midwest (Chicago) the summer started out unseasonably cold, but nonetheless, thanks to frequent rains gardens are doing great this year. My plantings are very close together and they're literally bursting out of the plots.

 

My secrets.. I try to get my hands on as much organic coffee grounds (free) as I can (thank you Whole Foods) and mix it with shredded leaves and grass clippings. I put a thick layer of this mulch over my garden to protect it from the winters harsh sun and freezing temperatures.

 

Come Spring instead of fertilizer I put down Miracle Grow soil on top of the mulch and plant into that. Its not organic, probably full of crazy plant steroids but plants love it.

 

I always do various peppers, cucumbers, herbs and grape tomatoes, usually the orange hybrid ones that are so sweet they're like candy. I'm also doing some strange black grape tomatoes this year. They're much slower to ripen. I also have 4 Brussel sprout plants that are huge and won't be pickable for another month.

 

 

That's my story. How are your gardens doing?

[Marblehead]

All is well here, thanks.

[GrandmasterP]

Bumper crops of tomatoes and runner beans so far.

Potatoes have been good too, plenty more to come and the christmas Day seed potatoes will be going into their pots this coming week and moving house with us.

Very little blight about this year.

Strawberries still coming but slugs have been at those of late due to wet weather.

Flowers-wise things have begun going over sooner than they did last year.

It'll be an early Autumn I reckon.

Good show of roses and those have held up well, we're doing less dead heading this year for early August than in previous seasons.

Edited August 2, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[BaguaKicksAss]

My weeds are doing tremendously well, thanks for asking .

[Vmarco]

I love composting, although haven't had the opportunity for years. In my system, I had 3 four-by-four covered bins with compressed side boards (meaning that two sides were only as high as the compost). My secret ingredient was adding finished compost from bin 3 into the un-composted material in bin 1 as an activator.

 

Having a Whole Foods or organic restaurant around would be a huge plus,...but one must be regular for pick-ups,...to the point that if you're going out of town, have someone do the pick-ups for you.

 

Once composted all of the ashrams kitchen scraps at Yogaville for a year, from which made a large raised bed garden. However, the compost isn't the only important ingredient,...it's the worms that bring about the best produce. Worms love finished compost.

 

Earthworms moving through soil produce a tremendous amount of crystal calcite,...an incredible subject within the field of biodynamics.

[beyonder]

One of my japanese maples died... >< The other 4 are growing as lush as ever, though. This year, I got some black bamboo from my grandma, which is also coming along nicely.

[Marblehead]

Any idea why the one died? Keep an eye on the others for a possible disease or insect.

 

I tried growing bamboo a few years back. No success. Likely too hot for them here.

[beyonder]

Any idea why the one died? Keep an eye on the others for a possible disease or insect.

The potting mix I made wasn't up to scratch. Too much vermicompost, which created a spongelike structure. And since maples hate wet feet...

The soil my other maples grow in is much more aerated, though.

I tried growing bamboo a few years back. No success. Likely too hot for them here.

The way I got my bamboo growing well, was through improving the soil life. I did this by adding grains of Bactoforce by Home and Garden, which are bioactive grains containing bacteria and funghi (mycorhizza). Not sure if that specific brand is available in the States, but you shouldn't have much trouble getting similar stuff from other brands. Edited August 4, 2014 by beyonder

[beyonder]

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://mycorrhizas.info/

Edited August 4, 2014 by beyonder

[Stosh]

Most Maples decline inevitably in most of florida , they require a cold period that we dont endure in order to 'reset' for a new spring.

They may sqeeze by for a few years without it but then they stagnate, Local Red 'swamp' maple is an exception , for bonsai you could also use a boxelder .

[Marblehead]

I actually had a Red Maple in my yard when I bought my house but I had to cut it down because whoever planted it planted it too close to the house and it was breaking the foundation and the wall. (Yes, it saddened me to have to cut it down as it was a really beautiful tree.)

[GrandmasterP]

We have a black bamboo that has spread nicely over the years.

I'm going to try to dig up some runners from it to transplant to the new house.

Not sure if that'll work but worth a try as the guy who has bought this place intends to run a drive through that part of the garden so it'll all be grubbed out in due course anyhoo.

Edited August 4, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Stosh]

We have a black bamboo that has spread nicely over the years.

I'm going to try to dig up some runners from it to transplant to the new house.

Not sure if that'll work but worth a try as the guy who has bought this place intends to run a drive through that part of the garden so it'll all be grubbed out in due course anyhoo.

Bamboos often have latent shoots at the base which may give you good results , I love the look of bamboo , but it generally has a bad reputation where I am , the running bamboos , tend to go berserk , youve got hard points poking out all over the yard and its nearly impossible to get rid of , they may string out thirty feet away from where you plant them.

Im under the impression that you have a clumping form which are better behaved , but somewhere I read that every x number of years , bamboos die off even the cutting /clones and all at the same time so one cant propagate them indefinitely vegetatively.

 

( possibly a five year cycle for black bamboo ?)

Edited August 4, 2014 by Stosh

[Stosh]

I actually had a Red Maple in my yard when I bought my house but I had to cut it down because whoever planted it planted it too close to the house and it was breaking the foundation and the wall. (Yes, it saddened me to have to cut it down as it was a really beautiful tree.)

Yeah, one of the few things down here with nice autumn color.

[Green Tiger]

This is my first attempt at a garden of my own. The dirt seems good. Pretty sure there was a garden on the spot before I moved in.

 

Problem is I'm near a creek with a small wooded area surrounding it. I've had all sorts of issues with deer, raccoons, and rabbits.

 

I planted 6 cabbages and the rabbits got after them when they were small. I put up a fence, but apparently I need to use chicken wire, as I've watched fully grown rabbits dive through the wire of my current fence as I chased them out.

 

I ended up getting 2 good cabbages. Ate one the other night, Indian stir-fry style and it was great. I got one tiny head of cabbage that I ended up using to bait a live trap. I thought I would catch some rabbits, but instead I caught a raccoon.

 

 

He lives on the other side of town now.

 

I've only dug up one row of potatoes but they look good. Many are small but very good for mashing.

 

Tomatoes are big and green. They're waiting for rain, I think, to ripen. Same with the peppers. We just got rain today for the first time in nearly a month. I probably should have been watering. I planted 20 pepper plants and 5 tomato plants. So far I've picked one banana pepper . . . hopefully this rain gets them producing.

 

The sweet potatoes . . . don't have tops. Something ate them. I'm hoping there are some potatoes underneath.

 

The onions were a complete loss. I think I planted them too close together to begin with and then the rain washed some of them out when they were small and the weeds overtook the rest.

 

Not a bad first year. Next year: better fence, better weed control, kill the rabbits.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Green Tiger

[GrandmasterP]

There's said to be good eating on a rabbit.

Our dogs love cooked rabbit.

Decent sized bags of diced frozen rabbit ( from China) in the frozen foods shop and that's quite cheap.

Never fancied it myself though and wouldn't dream of killing or skinning a fresh one at all.

We don't get much trouble with rabbits as we've good fences and the cat is outside most of the time.

Occasional fox after the hens, those lads can climb over fences.

Edited August 6, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Marblehead]

Hehehe. No killing the rabbits! They are doing only what rabbits are supposed to do. A better fence might help a lot.

 

I haven't been getting any rain to speak of for the past month either. I did have enough to water the gardens with rain water this morning but I had been using utility water and the pond has been totally on utility water for over a week now.

 

My Lantana isn't flowering this year like it shoud be. I think it is because of the lack of rain and the plus 100 degree days I have been getting for the past month and a half.

[Stosh]

This is my first attempt at a garden of my own. The dirt seems good. Pretty sure there was a garden on the spot before I moved in.

 

Problem is I'm near a creek with a small wooded area surrounding it. I've had all sorts of issues with deer, raccoons, and rabbits.

 

I planted 6 cabbages and the rabbits got after them when they were small. I put up a fence, but apparently I need to use chicken wire, as I've watched fully grown rabbits dive through the wire of my current fence as I chased them out.

 

I ended up getting 2 good cabbages. Ate one the other night, Indian stir-fry style and it was great. I got one tiny head of cabbage that I ended up using to bait a live trap. I thought I would catch some rabbits, but instead I caught a raccoon.

 

 

He lives on the other side of town now.

 

I've only dug up one row of potatoes but they look good. Many are small but very good for mashing.

 

Tomatoes are big and green. They're waiting for rain, I think, to ripen. Same with the peppers. We just got rain today for the first time in nearly a month. I probably should have been watering. I planted 20 pepper plants and 5 tomato plants. So far I've picked one banana pepper . . . hopefully this rain gets them producing.

 

The sweet potatoes . . . don't have tops. Something ate them. I'm hoping there are some potatoes underneath.

 

The onions were a complete loss. I think I planted them too close together to begin with and then the rain washed some of them out when they were small and the weeds overtook the rest.

 

Not a bad first year. Next year: better fence, better weed control, kill the rabbits.

I had very good luck with cayenne peppers , found them to be extremely productive.. ( down here) but the fresh rabbits would suit me just fine . ( Id skip raccoon, but am curious whether the relocation takes hold, they tend to be strongly territorial )