How does your garden grow?

[thelerner]

Gotta start planning out my gardens.  They've been piled up with 3 or 4 inches of highly caffeinated (thank you Whole foods) mulch (grass, leaves, coffee grounds), so it should be raring to go.  I've been very half assed about trellising the last few years.  And I've been over planting for the space.  

 

This year I'd like to go simpler; better trellising and fewer plants. 

 

I'm thinking of using PVC for the trellis.  I read you can use a sulfate solution to keep the plastic from leeching (or very thick bamboo if I can find it) and also use it to water through so water ends up deeper, supposedly its more efficient and keeps away weeds down through less water on top. 

 

I'm also thinking of using 3 pieces of very wide (6") PVC for a planting project.  Make a wide teepee and have one w/ cucumber growing off the top of one, and a few herbs 'plugged in' around the bottom, a shorter strawberry one; growing through cuts and a mixed variety, a flowery third as an experiment, see if I can get flowers up and down the whole thing. 

 

Below the teepee a low lying shrub tomato plant.  And a bit of chicken wire mesh around the whole thing for climbing.

 

So what are you guys planning?

Edited March 12, 2015 by thelerner

[Marblehead]

Sounds like you have one hellova project for yourself.  Best wishes to you with it.

 

I don't do the veggy thing, just the flowering plants and where I am it is an all-year project between the winter plants and then the summer (tropical) plants.

[Nungali]

I go 'fallow' this time of year, I concentrate on knocking back the enroaching grass (  which grew higher than me ! ), remulching all around the edges. Building up the beds with the compost and soil I made, weeding, newspapering and bamboo mulch.

 

The only thing really going at the moment is a late watermelon patch.

 

I will start replanting in about a month, if the wet season hasnt started.   If it does I will wait till near the beginning of winter ( which can be like spring anyway - as long as it doesnt frost ).   Mid summer to wet season things tend to rot and mildew l  So I go fallow and let it do its thing -   dig in, put out manures, fertilisers, mulch ... then start again. depending on how long 'the wet' is.

[GrandmasterP]

This will be our first season in this new to us seaside garden.

The cottage is 200+ years old and we've some ancient fruit trees.

Lots of bulbs coming up already and huge drifts of snowdrops already opened but I haven't mowed yet.

Mrs GMP has grand ( and expensive) landscaping plans.

I'm on board with her plans just so long as it doesn't involve me in heavy lifting.

We're that age now when getting someone in to do the donkey work is a viable option.

Edited March 13, 2015 by GrandmasterP

[thelerner]

Sounds like you have one hellova project for yourself. 

Quite the opposite, its hard to find a lazier gardener.  I didn't even trellis anything last year.  Things grew, then over grew, then stretched out across the lawn.  Much waste as tomatos and cucumbers lay on the ground, sometimes rotting before being picked.  But, they were remarkably healthy and vigorous.  

 

I don't think my PVC teepee idea should be too much work.  Cut an edge so they stand up better, fill'em with dirt and see what happens.

Edited March 23, 2015 by thelerner

[zerostao]

[Marblehead]

That's cheating.

[AussieTrees]

Yesterday was real hot again,water has all but dried up,our garden dam has about 6 inches of water left in it,found a large dead fish floating,partly eaten by yabbies,unsure of the type of fish,didn't,t even know there was a fish in the dam.

 

Overnight we finally got some rain,about 17mm or a bit less than 3/4 of an inch,has made a big difference to the chillies,they were looking very sad yesterday,leaves drooping,today after the rain,looking much better.

 

Only thing we have gone from sweltering heat,difficult to sleep,today cold and windy,like from shorts and t-shirt to coats,jackets and beany,forecast to warm up again tomorrow.

 

Pumpkins are nearly done as is mostly everything,mainly due to lack of water,still hope to get a good chilli crop.

Then will think about a winter planting,may get a chance to try kale and Brussel sprouts.

[Marblehead]

I got a nice rain yesterday.

 

My Violas and Rain Lilies (Spring-time flowers here) are doing well although I have had to hand water them as I hadn't been getting any rain.

 

I started cleaning the Day Lily beds as it is almost time for them to start doing their thing.

 

And the Lantana have started putting out lots of foliage so those flowers will be coming out very soon.

[Michael Sternbach]

When, some three years ago, Junko and I moved into our house, our garden (which is big, although at a steep angle) was overgrown with all sorts of flowers and other plants. In summer, I counted like 40 different species! I still regret that I had it cut, even though it did get more accessible. I hope that it will fully recover and we will see all those different kinds again in this spring and summer.

 

Also, hopefully our Damascene plum trees will bear fruits again this year (last year, we didn't get any - there had been too much rain in spring).

 

But I won't do any gardening - just watch nature take its course. Perhaps Junko will plant some flowers though?

[Apech]

Raining here too - waiting to plant out lettuce, toms and onions.

[thelerner]

bump.

 

My gardens are going pretty good.  Grape tomatoes producing every day.  Peppers doing well.  Even watermelons are slowly plumping, though like children its sad to lose a few to wild beasts. 

 

The lettuce has done well, but we're not eating it, thus its going to seed.  Likewise animals have developed a taste for Brussel Sprouts and have stunted there growth, though my friend's plants are giant, I have yet to see many buds. 

 

One notable success is hanging strawberries.  I have several plants in a burlap metal hanger.  They're giving a couple of sweet slightly acidic strawberries each day the last couple weeks.  Stronger, truer flavor then store bought, where even the good ones, tend to be more sugary then strawberry flavored.  They also seem to rot on the vine if you don't pick and eat them as soon as they turn.  I'll definately do this again next year.  Great bang for the buck, as long as you can water them every day.

 

I did a hanging lettuce planter, drilling out holes so it'd look like a big ball of lettuce.  That's turned out just okay.  Holes were a little too small.   Some lettuce still grew out of them, but not the full ball effect I've seen elsewhere.   Plus, for some reason we're just not into eating it, though we have lettuce with dinner most days. 

 

How bout you guys, how's ur lettuce hanging??

Edited August 5, 2016 by thelerner

[Marblehead]

My garden is still only flowering plants.  I am making changes out front so there will be potential for new things next year.  I might try strawberries.  I do love eating them.  I might even do some radishes as many years ago I did them and always had great success.

 

I tried herbs one year but had very little success with them because of the heat and that they were in full sun.

[redcairo]

Gardening is great!

 

These pics are a bit dated, prior to some medical stuff that took me out of gardening. But it's been a bit of an obsession of mine I hope to start regaining before long. :-)

 

I made a 'standing garden' - using cinderblock in a 24" and 36" height. Then I arched 4"x4" cattle panels along the fence behind that.

 

You can get BIG tubs for not too much (esp at dollar stores although it's likely china's export of their waste in anything that can be liquified as a manufacturing material...) to use for making homemade earth-boxes for the giant trellising arches.

 

Every couple years I dump in a bunch of topsoil-compost from the local mushroom plant, which tragically does have a chemical base; aside from that I'm wholly organic. If the bugs eat the plants, then it's a good year for the bugs, I don't really treat them aside from once when I had to dump diatomaceous earth in one bed because through some freak of nature it became literally filled, I mean like you couldn't even see soil, with roly-poly bugs (ewww).

 

I don't grow melons/gourds because the bugs here would have to be treated for or I'd never get any.

 

I don't grow strawberries anymore because after FOUR YEARS of growing the suckers in this lovely BIG round garden bed, I got something like one. EVER. From all that work and money. Basically the birds dive bomb them, putting holes in them with their beaks, and then the ants and other bugs rush them, and literally "almost ripe!" berries one day are literally gone, not a single shred of them left the next morning. I finally lost my temper about it and just quit growing them.

 

But I grow a boatload of different types of tomatoes, peppers, basils and a variety of herbs, and sometimes garlic, onions, and a couple years a lot of greens early in the spring.

 

Being able to reach everything while just walking around is really just awesome.

 

RC

 

Pics to follow, if this works...

 

When we built it (in Winter)

 

 

An overview during a sweltering summer (bit droopy) in probably the most verdant year

 

 

The arch trellising with earthboxes (homemade sorts)

 

 

oh yeah, and

 

 

RC

[thelerner]

This year I'm still doing grape tomatoes but found ones called Rapunzels.  They grow high sporting 2 tomatoes next to each other flowing down the vine, like long red hair.  Hope they make it.  Also a Ghost Belle pepper, a large medium hot pepper, two  cucumbers, a celebrity tomato (hybrid),  some other hot pepper. 

 

I still have some room, so I'll probably buy a Brussel sprout or two.  Watering each morning with a can.  Afraid if I use the hose, it'll rip up the young plants.   Instead of buying fertilizer I bought a large bag of Miracle Grow soil and spread that around planted into it.  Trying to trellis better this year too. 

[AussieTrees]

Hi thelearner,

they say that coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen,did it work well for your garden?

[gendao]

On 10/26/2016 at 7:48 PM, redcairo said:

Sweet, I think I might have seen this one before...  But, what is it?

[Marblehead]

Looks like it might be a sub-species of zinnia.

 

[thelerner]

On 6/3/2017 at 6:09 PM, AussieTrees said:

Hi thelearner,

they say that coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen,did it work well for your garden?

I think so.   The local Whole Foods gives them away by the bucketful (strangely Starbucks often do not), from what I hear you can't use them 'straight' but aged and mixed with some mulch, like leaves and grass, they're a powerhouse of nitrogen.   Plus with Whole Foods they come with lots of used organic filters.  The filters add nice absorbancy, holding in moisture. 

 

A long time ago I read the secret of European home gardening was coffee grounds and grass clippings (aged as compost).  

[Apech]

15 hours ago, AussieTrees said:

Hi thelearner,

they say that coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen,did it work well for your garden?

 

 

The best fertiliser is urine - but you have to pee into a bottle and store it for a few months - also it stinks!!!  Otherwise I use compost and wood ash which seems to work fine especially for tomatoes (also cucumbers).

[thelerner]

I've been thinking of putting some urine around the garden.  Not on the plants, but around the perimeter.. perhaps after dark or wearing some disguise.  Nothing worse then getting arrested and having to use the excuse 'I did it for the plants', unless the judge is a gardener you might not get much sun for a while.

 

The thinking is less fertilizer and more an odor that would scare away varmints.  I could self dilute by drinking an extra liter or two of water earlier.. beer might add some needed B vitamins to the soil.   hmmn, if I wore a dress I probably wouldn't be recognized in the dark.  In the right dress I wouldn't even have to expose myself, just slowly pramble around the edges.  My wife has a pink knit that would flatter my eyes.   Nah  !  

 

 

Addon- also just got some brussel sprouts.  Nice discount seller (Minke on Touhy) too, 6 small plants for $1.69.  3 to plant and 3 to give away.  They had some large tomatoes for $4.95, I'm talking large plants that already had multiple tomatoes on them.  Might not be a bad idea next time.   At $9.95 they had Grafted Hybrid tomatoes, that were advertised to grow faster, taller and hardier, with only a few side affects (diarrhea, impotence, red skin etc.) .  Perhaps next year too. 

[Apech]

46 minutes ago, thelerner said:

I've been thinking of putting some urine around the garden.  Not on the plants, but around the perimeter.. perhaps after dark or wearing some disguise.  Nothing worse then getting arrested and having to use the excuse 'I did it for the plants', unless the judge is a gardener you might not get much sun for a while.

 

The thinking is less fertilizer and more an odor that would scare away varmints.  I could self dilute by drinking an extra liter or two of water earlier.. beer might add some needed B vitamins to the soil.   hmmn, if I wore a dress I probably wouldn't be recognized in the dark.  In the right dress I wouldn't even have to expose myself, just slowly pramble around the edges.  My wife has a pink knit that would flatter my eyes.   Nah  !  

 

 

Addon- also just got some brussel sprouts.  Nice discount seller (Minke on Touhy) too, 6 small plants for $1.69.  3 to plant and 3 to give away.  They had some large tomatoes for $4.95, I'm talking large plants that already had multiple tomatoes on them.  Might not be a bad idea next time.   At $9.95 they had Grafted Hybrid tomatoes, that were advertised to grow faster, taller and hardier, with only a few side affects (diarrhea, impotence, red skin etc.) .  Perhaps next year too. 

 

You can store the urine and dilute maybe 1:5 with water:

 

Pee!

[Nungali]

And the rest   ......   I have 2 large olive barrels full  and 1 3/4  full  of 'number twos'  ,  paper and cane mulch  .   Soon I will have  to  open barrel  1 and empty it and start using that again.

 

Gawd ,  I hope its well composted !     (It weighs a ton !  )  

 

The plan is to spread it over an old  disused bed, dig it in, plant comfrey, yarrow nettle chamomile, etc  and other good plants for compost. Harvest the plants, make compost out of that and use that on the  food garden. 

Edited June 4, 2017 by Nungali

[thelerner]

39 minutes ago, Nungali said:

And the rest   ......   I have 2 large olive barrels full  and 1 3/4  full  of 'number twos'  ,  paper and cane mulch  .   Soon I will have  to  open barrel  1 and empty it and start using that again.

 

Gawd ,  I hope its well composted !     (It weighs a ton !  ) 

Fascinating, .. the average Olive barrel is 60 gallons.. if 16 ounces of beer turn into 412 milliliters** of yellow liquid and Nungali drinks 2 beers in the morning and 3 at night, then I figure he should fill up the last 1/4 of the 2nd Olive barrel by July 3rd. 

 

 

 

**PS I'm American, and don't know what milliliter is. 

[Nungali]

Nooooo   .... number twos  ... from my home made dry composting toilet system .    Number ones just end up on the grass outside or poured onto the compost pile .

 

and the 2nd olive barrel is already full .

 

.... and I dont drink  beers .   

 

But you got my name right